A Journey to the Beginning of Time
EGYPT - everything began there.
Architecture, civilization, royalty, construction, medicine, philosophy, mythology, religion and beliefs were all born in Egypt. As you might know, Egyptian history began at least 7000 years ago, approximately 5000 BC.
The most significant icons of Egyptian history are the Pyramids of Giza. Built in 2500 BC, these man-made mountains have stood for 45 centuries. The biggest mystery is, how the hell did they manage to build such immense structures without cranes, bulldozers, steamrollers and transport trucks? I can only imagine how much manpower is needed for building such colossus monuments.
Ancient Egyptian mythology believes in some kind of religion (animism) involving the sun-god. The sun-god (Amun-Ra) is the God of all gods. Other popular gods are Anubis, the God of mummification; Horus, God of the sky; Osiris, God of death; and Sobek, the God of evil. Unfortunately, this religion is extinct after the Arabs conquered Egypt, therefore spreading Islam and abolishing the sun-god religion.
The other significant icons for ancient Egypt are the carvings and inscriptions on the walls of monuments and tombs. It's actually very interesting the fact that those carvings strengthen their belief in the sun-god. The carvings mostly tell about the gods' powers, sending a dead person to heaven or hell. Anubis is the god in charge of mummifying a dead pharaoh (king) to live in the next life.
Besides the pyramids, there are many other famous ancient Egyptian destination like Abu Simbel, Edfu Temple, Karnak Temple, Valley of the Kings and so on.
In Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple, there are obelisks protruding from the sandy ground. Obelisks are pyramids in the sky, signifying the power of the pharaoh. Examples of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt are: Khufu, who built the largest pyramid; Tutankhamun, who had a terrifying curse in his mummy tomb; Queen Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh and was a fan of obelisks; Cleopatra, another female pharaoh, died bitten by a snake; King Ramesses II, builder of the Abu Simbel Temple.
As time goes on, we would appreciate more, the historical richness in Egypt. Tombs, monuments, temples and more to come...
This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 12:45 pm and is filed under HistoricalMyths. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
