Fascination in Ancient Egypt (Essay Sample)

Name Professor Course Date Fascination in Ancient Egypt Introduction The modern society, particularly the American Society, has a long fascination by the accomplishments of the ancient civilization in Egypt. The fascination was first visible in 1782 when the Congress endorsed the design of the Great Seal. This design is today on the dollar bill. The Great Seal highlights an eye of God watching over the country from the top of the Great Pyramid. Moreover, in the mid-1800s, the United States built the obelisk, an Egyptian-style monument in honor of the first American president George Washington. Currently, this statue stands out as the tallest obelisk in the world, besides, being one of the famous symbols of the United States. These two examples underline the fascination in the Egyptian civilization, in spite of the Egyptian civilization being about five thousand years old. Whereas the presence of this fascination underscores the appreciation of human diversity that existed in the primitive ages, some elements of Egyptian civilization attempt to explain this fascination. These elements are their religion, their afterlife, exceptional contribution to architecture, art and sculpture, medicine as well as astronomy and mathematics. For this reason, the essay explains why humans are fascinated with the Ancient Egypt based on Egyptian religion, afterlife, contribution to architecture, art and sculpture, medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. The primary elements that explain the current societal fascination by the ancient Egypt are their contribution to architecture, art, and sculpture, medicine, astronomy and mathematics. At the outset, the contemporary society fascination in ancient Egypt attributes to the immense contribution of the ancient Egyptian civilization to architecture. Evidently, architecture is the greatest landmark of the ancient Egyptian civilization to the modern world. The ancient Egyptians during the Middle Ages in the Third Dynasty introduced the planning of the public project, which marked the advent of the modern architecture. The ancient Egyptians engaged in designing and creation of masonry structures, which attributed to their vast knowledge of mathematics. The first recorded architecture and philosopher in human history was Imhotep, who was the designer and creator of the first pyramid. This pyramid was at Sakkara in the reign of King Djoser. The contribution in the modern field of architecture by the ancient Egyptians include planning of the societies and public project, the creation of pyramids, the designing of columns, the vault as well as the artificial pools (Oppenheim, Dorothea, Dieter and Kei 62). These contributions are the basis of modern architecture as well as the current structures such as buildings. The modern society has borrowed immensely from this civilization hence the fascination. Secondly, the contribution of ancient Egyptian civilization in art and sculpture is another reason for the fascination in the ancient Egypt. According to Oppenheim, Dorothea, Dieter and Kei (62), the ancient Egyptian civilization was famous for their expressive art evident in paintings, sculptures, and relief. The ancient Egyptians combined worldly activities and affairs because of having hope in the afterlife. Their art was expressive because of being representational of their deeply held beliefs. To the ancient Egyptians, there was only semblance to death in an instance of life signs ceasing because human still existed. For this reason, mummification, painted images, statues and statuettes, tomb painting, and bas-reliefs perpetuated the afterlife. Moreover, they engaged in creating of scarabs, amulets, seals, decorative objects, and jewelry. These forms of art have had an immense contribution to the modern art, which heavily borrows from the ancient Egyptian culture (Bauval and Thomas 124). Persons interested in art and sculptures are fascinated with the ancient Egypt because of their influence on the modern art and sculpture. Another reason explaining the fascination in ancient Egypt is the contribution of the ancient Egyptian civilization to medicine. Medicine contribution is one of the critical early scientific contributions of ancient Egyptian civilization to the history of humans. Kerr (28) states that documented archives such as Ebers Papyrus, the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, and the Berlin Papyrus reveal the existence of titles of Egyptian physicians along with their specialization fields. Moreover, the civilization of classical world and ancient Near East recognized the reputation and ability of Ancient Egyptians in pharmacology and medicine. The Egyptians influenced the Greeks in medicine and pharmacology evident on prescriptions and remedies. This influence in the field of medicine explains the fascination by practitioners in the modern society medicine who understand the defining role that the ancient Egypt played in medicine. The fourth reason explaining the fascination with ancient Egypt attributes to their contribution to mathematics. The success of the massive ancient Egyptian architectural and sculptural monuments depended on mathematics evident in accurate measurements. Two critical mathematical papyri are from the Middle Kingdom, which are Moscow and ÉŒhind papyri. Ancient Egyptian mathematics was under three headings, which were algebra, geometry, and arithmetic. The Greek writers Strabo and Herodotus concurred that geometry was an invention of the Egyptians. This influence forms the basis of the modern day mathematics (Oppenheim, Dorothea, Dieter and Kei 63). The fifth element explaining the fascination in the ancient Egypt attributes to their contribution to astronomy. In spite of the reality that the input of the ancient Egypt to astronomy was minimal, it is observable that their contribution was in the introduction of the Egyptian calendar year with three seasons of four months each. The calendar had 365 days, which is the basis of the modern calendar (Kerr 30). From the time of Napoleonic expedition in Egypt, it was apparent that pyramids had four f...