How is Ancient Egyptian Religion as Seen in Art and Architecture
As the hot Egyptian sun beats down upon his head, the archeologist realizes his time is drawing to a close. The local government had allotted a period of two weeks for the expedition to take place, and the thirteenth day is now in its peak. The search for the tomb of the great king Menes has, thus far, been a complete failure. The archeologist begins to feel a bit queasy, realizing his sudden failure; however, a cavalcade of shouts suddenly penetrates the intensely hot air. He strains his burning eyes to find the source of the commotion. Then he sees it: the corner of some ancient edifice is peeking sleepily from the sand and grit that buried it so long ago. ³Could this be it,² the archeologist asks himself, still in awe over the pale stone that his eyes now gaze upon. It seems almost impossible that the tracks of a culture so great could be covered by such an inadequate foe as time. But even now as he gazes upon the tomb in success, the archeologist sees no culture behind these artifacts; he merely sees the makings of a fortune.
It will be nearly fifty years before the people represented by these pieces of time are honored for their diverse culture. Once vast and thriving, the Ancient Egyptian culture was a center of commerce, philosophy, and religion alike. The people had a culture like that of no other group in history; however, its complexity has led to many misconceptions about the Ancient Egyptian populace. The ever-popular archaic art style of a figure in profile surrounded by hieroglyphs has become the world¹s favorite view of the Egyptian. As a result of this ignorance, the cultural aspects of this society are not fully appreciated. One of the greatest little-known truths about the people of this society is that they based almost everything they did around their spiritual beliefs.
In the life of Egyptian people, religion [played] a far more...