“The Nile, together with the sun, also shaped their essential beliefs.” (Honour and Fleming, “Ancient Egypt,” page 65) The Egyptians believed greatly in Ra, or the sun God. Many aspects of their daily life was focused around their beliefs. This was also very true of their beliefs for the after life. The Egyptians spent their whole lives preparing for death and the afterlife. Death is what they believed to be the real purpose for our time here on earth; it was just a stop over on the way to the afterlife. As a result, the effort and man power that was put into the preparation for the afterlife was enormous. Preparations for the afterlife began right after a Pharaoh or Queen was named. The Egyptians believed that proximity to the sun or the sky would help you

A great amount of man power was needed in order to construct these mammoth structures. It is thought that during the agricultural off season, between July and October, that the citizens of Egypt would devote their time to constructing these formations for their beloved Pharaoh. Local quarries provided the builders with the materials to construct and “stones that form the core of the pyramid were hauled up banks or ramps, which increased in height as it rose and then were gradually demolished as the surface was covered with more finely cut stone, working from the top downwards.” (Honour and Fleming, “Ancient Egypt,” page 68) This helped to reach the great heights of these immense configurations.

The people that were buried in these pyramids were people of great significance. They were the leaders of the land, and the closest thing to God on earth, they were the Pharaohs. In many instances the pharaoh was also buried with members of his family around him and sometimes even slaves and other people close to him that he would want to be with in the afterlife.

The other important type of art work was tomb painting and low relief carving. The function of this type of art was “to furnish the deceased ‘eternal castle’ with eternally durable effects and also to establish the status he had attained in his life and hoped to enjoy still more intensely in the hereafter.” (Honour and Fleming, “Ancient Egypt,” page 74) on the “Entrance Tomb of Mereruka,” at Saqqara, we are shown a man of great status. Mereruka is displayed with images of everyday activities including family, friends, and the deceased. (Honour and Fleming, “Ancient Egypt,” page 74) In tomb painting there were strict rules that had to be followed and innovation and creativity were not encouraged. The reliefs and paintings were biographical and helped to tell the story of the individual that tomb it is. The Egyptians did not have scale or view points to structure their works on. They lined figures up, one behind another, all with the same height, no differentiating from largest to smallest, closest to furthest.

Some topics in this essay:
Honour Fleming, Notes September, Pharaoh Queen, Khafra Menkaura, Egypt” Chapter, Greeks Romans, , Pharaoh Local, God Ra, Mereruka” Saqqara, fleming “ancient, “ancient egypt” page, “ancient egypt”, honour fleming “ancient, egypt” page, fleming “ancient egypt”, honour fleming, class notes, class notes september, notes september, pyramids themselves, september 23rd 2003, 23rd 2003, september 23rd, page 68,