Such systems were designed to replace rainfall during periods of drought. Early evidence indicates that irrigation systems were used in ancient Egypt as early as the twelfth dynasty, using the lake Fayum, as the reservoir to store water surpluses. Prior to the Egyptian civilization, weapons used for protection, hunting or in combat were very basic.
During the ancient Egyptian civilization, weapons became more and more sophisticated. Examples are stone-tipped arrows, battle axes, chariots, the khopesh, maces, body armor, slingshots and much more. Ancient Egyptians had advanced knowledge of glass-working. They supposedly crafted glass beads of different colors as early as BC during the time period of the New Kingdom. Their glass working abilities gave them advantages in trade since such works were viewed as highly valuable.
Beads were made by winding molten glass around a metal bar and were believed to have had magical powers. The ancient Egyptians made more than glass beads, though. They also crafted glass jars and bottles as well as glass thread and cast glass that was placed into a mold. There is even evidence that the Egyptians invented a wide variety of furniture. The ancient Egyptians excelled at the sciences and had knowledge in various fields, from astronomy to mathematics.
Many of their most famous inventions were based upon the scientific principles they discovered. The Egyptians made observations about the night sky, and their religion and heavenly bodies were greatly influenced by the sky and elements. Egyptians studied the rise and fall of the stars and even built circular mud-brick walls to create false horizons where they could mark the position of the sun as it rose at dawn.
Then, they used plumb-bobs to make note of the solstices. They used their knowledge of astronomy to develop the lunar calendar based on the cycles of the moon and the star, Sirius. From their knowledge emerged the calendar that we use today, divided in 12 months, days and hour units.
Some of the earliest developments in medicine were made by the ancient Egyptian people. They had a variety of medicines and cures for both humans and animals, along with much knowledge of anatomy, as they practiced mummification and preservation of the dead.
One of the earliest accounts of medical texts originates in ancient Egypt. It attempts to describe and analyze the brain, providing the earliest insight into neuroscience. For instance, they used honey and human brains to cure eye infections, a cooked mouse to cure coughs and applied cow dung to wounds and piercing to ward off infections. There are indications that the use of such practices was one of the leading causes of people developing tetanus in ancient Egypt. Because the ancient Egyptians were highly spiritual people as well, it should come as no surprise that they also accompanied many of their cures with spells that were supposed to ward off the evil spirits that were making patients sick.
The great pyramids that the ancient Egyptians built required some knowledge of mathematics, especially of geometry. Mathematical principles were applied in the invention of simple machines, as well as for transactions and record keeping. Math and numbers were used to record business transactions, and the ancient Egyptians even developed a decimal system. When considering the idea of the temple as an embodiment of cosmic meaning, it should come as no surprise that an association developed between the builder, as a motif, and divine power.
If a supreme creator fashioned the cosmos, then the builder of a temple—a model of creation—symbolically filled this divine role. As a result, the veneration of the builder—or other creators like the carpenter, craftsman, and mason—appeared in the titles, religion, myth, philosophy, and symbology across ancient cultures.
Another example of the divine builder comes from the Vedic texts that originated as far back as the second millennium BC. Not only was the creator associated with building crafts, but it was thought in some cultures that the wisdom of architecture came to man from the gods themselves.
The Chaldeans believed that gods taught to them the proper rules for constructing towns and temples. In a similar vein, the Egyptian architect god Thoth, whose Greek counterpart Hermes became the central figure of hermetic tradition that emerged in late antiquity, not only bestowed upon mankind the gift of writing but also the knowledge of measurement, geometry , and architecture.
Architectural tools, as already touched upon, were often directly wielded by the gods of creation. The Indian deity Varuna of the Hindu Paranas used a measuring rod—the sun—to lay the foundations of the earth. Another tool, the plumb line—a levelling instrument used throughout antiquity—has appeared throughout ancient texts, often representing justice and impartiality. An exchange between Amos and God in the Old Testament incorporates the symbolism of the impartial plumb line as God uses it to reveal the sins of his people.
Example of a Roman plumb bob. According to Dr. A cursory review of the builder as a title reveals further traces of the connection between the building crafts and divine power or wisdom. As John Anthony West once noted in his acclaimed work Serpent in the Sky , Egyptian artwork includes widespread illustrations of common Egyptian professions of the day, such as boatwrights, brewers, and fishermen, but there are no images depicting an architect at work, pointing to a possible reverence, mysticism, or secrecy associated with the practice.
Imhotep, the first named architect, became elevated to the ranks of the gods and was one of only two mortals to attain divine status after death. Again, we find that the tradition is not limited to Egypt. One cannot examine this topic without mentioning the central figure of the Christian tradition and his long-established association with building crafts, both literal and figurative.
The portrayal of Jesus as a carpenter has been a staple since the first centuries. Yet some researchers have questioned the notion that Jesus was, in actuality, a poor carpenter or was originally looked upon as one.
Childhood of Christ by Gerard van Honthorst. Depiction of God as a geometer from a 13 th century Bible. For astrologers and astronomers , mathematicians, geometricians, and natural scientists as they existed in antiquity, the cosmos appeared to operate under the governance of precise designs and observable cycles, indicating a creator god or gods who set in motion or maintain a careful order.
As we have seen by an array of examples, building crafts and associated sciences like geometry were linked to not only higher thought but the power of creation. The philosophy, religion , and mythological systems of many cultures across the ancient world were deeply steeped in the language and allegory of architecture, a cross-cultural tradition that has persisted even into our modern era.
The marks of an architect god were seen in the shapes and cycles of the natural world, and as a result, architecture was elevated to a status incomparable to other disciplines. Top image: Temple of Edfu illustration by artist David Roberts. Date Unknown.
The Plumb Bob as a Symbol. Date Unknow. Cosmic Patterns and Cycles of Catastrophe. Sacred Geometry International. Ellis, R. Jesus: Last of the Pharaohs. Edfu Books. Griffith, T. The Vedas with Illustrative Extracts. The Book Tree. Holst, J. Architectural Histories. Architecture, Mysticism, and Myth. First Rate Publishers. Malkowski, E. The Spiritual Technology of Ancient Egypt.
Inner Traditions. Mark, J. Ancient History Encyclopedia. In their boats, they rowed stone across the river Nile, and then they pulled the big boulders on the land to where they needed them. This process obviously was a lot of work and took a lot of patience and large amount of workers. During the ancient Egyptian times, there was not much wood to build stuff out of so the two main building materials were limestone and mud brick that had been baked by the sun.
The stone was usually reserved to build temples and tombs and the bricks were reserved for fortresses, royal palaces, towns and temple precincts. The houses that were built in ancient Egypt were made from the mud that had been collected from the Nile River. The mud from the Nile River was placed in molds where it was left to dry in the sun so that it could harden. A lot of the architecture in ancient Egypt was destroyed by floods from the Nile River.
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