Assignment # 1: Egypt & Greek Style

Ancient Egyptian religion was a very complicated system because of their polytheistic beliefs and rituals that was an essential part of ancient Egyptian society. It focused on the Egyptians communication with many god or goddess believed to be present in, and in authority of, the universe. They are surrounded by desserts on both sides of the Nile which reduced many of the outside impacts and kept their many years of styles steady for twenty five hundred years. The Nile River was a important part of the rural development of Ancient Egyptian civilization and it’s considered the longest river in the North. The Ancient Egyptian believed reincarnation and they buried people after their death. Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts originated from the civilization of ancient Egypt in the lower Nile Valley from year (3000 BC to 30 AD). Ancient Egyptian art attained a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly designed and had their own meaning behind it. The image below is called the "Ankh" which is also known as crux ansata by Coptic Christians, symbolizes life and immortality. It was also used to represent the merging between men and women, particularly the union of Osiris and Isis, which was believed to flood the river of Nile therefore it brings fertility to Egypt. That is the point why the ankh is also called the Key of the Nile.

There was some traits in common between the Ancient Egyptian and the Ancient Greek culture but in Greek, their poses are stiff but they seem more lively and more expressive. They had more relaxed poses capable of movements and emotions. The Ancient Greek culture has a different mindset towards being a human than the Egyptian. In Greek culture human form was examined the highest establishment of nature. It was considered the closest thing to perfection with an ideal proportional form connected with the capability to reason from which the democracy evolved.  The image below is an image of a pottery from Ancient Greek period known as “Food in Ancient Greece.” Food is talked about a lot in Greek and it reveals their true characteristics. Greeks had two types of symbolism in their food from which, one was religious. For example, a wine, related to Dionysos; bread with Demeter. Another symbolism for the Jews when it came to food was to differentiate themselves from their neighbors. Greeks used food to show that they were civilized in a savage world, meanwhile the Jews used food to show they were the chosen people religiously. The Greeks approached both eating and drinking moderately, to feature their idea of themselves as poor but independent people.