Throughout the history of time art and architecture has become an inspiring and chronological interpretation of the vast skill and proficiency that is required to represent and embody period of time. While each culture has progressed in their interpretations of their era, some civilizations tend to stick out in our minds as displaying some of the greatest representations of their society. One of the greatest visually documented civilizations is that of Ancient Egypt.
"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 to become closer to God and to your eternity. They displayed this greatly in the building of pyramids. Pyramids were built to house the dead and to give the individuals a place to hold on to their Ka's after death. It was believed that the soul would wand to come back to its body and revisit its old life and belongings. This is why it was important to be buried with all of your most precious belongings; it was believed that having these possessions in your tomb would help your soul know where to come back to. The pyramids themselves were mass spectacles that to this day still baffle people with their enormous stature. (Class Notes September 18, 2003) The greatest of the pyramids were the Pyramids at Giza.