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There are several ancient artistic and architectural features in different parts of the world that say a lot about the past. The artistic features include paintings, sculptures and carvings, while the architectural features consist of ancient buildings, such as temples. All these explain a lot about the ancient beliefs and the way of life. A good example of where these ancient features are evident is Egypt. This North African country has plenty of ancient buildings and artistic materials that were developed many years back and some of the carvings are still available in museums. Firstly, there are the Egyptian frescoes which were paintings initially used to decorate walls and make houses more attractive. These frescoes comprised various images of nature such as animals, plants, oceans and humans. For instance, Egyptians used to have frescoes of men and women, birds, reeds and many more.
The frescoes were used on walls, floors of palaces and other buildings and also on the ceilings. These ancient artistic styles show how the ancient people enjoyed the nature and how different people took pleasure in their artistic skills. However, the art of frescoes has declined, and many paintings are now being done on furniture or wooden surfaces. The newer Egyptian generation has benefited well from the ancient frescoes, and they now make modern paintings that are traded commercially and are used to decorate houses and other social places such as churches (Botticelli 2).
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Secondly, there is the pyramid of Khufu, which is located around Cairo. The pyramid was built by slaves of the Egyptian leader Pharaoh Khufu. Its construction process is believed to have been tiresome since it was built using millions of extremely heavy blocks. It consists of three chambers including an aboveground chamber, the underground and the king’s chamber. The Underground chamber was used to keep Khufu’s statute. This pyramid, which is an ancient architectural feature shows how the ancient kings used to enslave their subjects. It also shows how early people had nice artistic skills which have motivated the current generation to even come up with new inventions based on their works. The pyramid is today used as tourist attraction scenery and people usually pay money to get inside and have a view of it (Adam 7).
Thirdly, there is the Hatshepsut’s Temple, which was build at around the 16th century and remained to be the only one of its kind in Egypt. The architect of this temple is known as Senenmout and is said to have been inspired by great works of other ancient architects. The temple was quite appealing and showed how well the art of architecture can be integrated with the beautiful nature of the world to produce attracting features. This temple shows that the ancient people used to be religious. People have been inspired by ancient architectural features such as temples, and it explains why other modern temples have been constructed in various countries. Much of the current features are usually modifications designed from ancient works (Adam 4).
Question 4
Over the centuries, cultures interact and share their values and practices. The interaction between various cultures usually yields a range of results. Some of the interactions can result in war, civilization of some communities, or the engagement in trade. For instance, the Greeks and the Romans have known each other for a long period of time. Basically, the two countries are merely separated by the stretch of the Mediterranean Sea. Both the Greek and Roman cultures have developed in a similar way. The two cultures agreed on certain beliefs and practices, enriching one another with various issues.
During their initial years of interaction, the two cultures usually came into conflict with each other. Political and religious differences raised some major issues between the two cultures. There were wars especially at the time when the Roman culture began to spread to the Mediterranean region. The interaction also involved trade whereby each culture wanted to benefit from the other and get whatever it could not produce for itself. This is because Greece is known to be the first to develop a strong political organization where a monarch was established before even Rome could rediscover itself. The two cultures thereafter interacted mutually, and it is the Roman culture that is known to have borrowed much from their Greek counterparts.
The Roman Empire adopted the Greece customs, architecture, literature and myths. Much of the Roman architectural designs were borrowed from Greece. For instance, the Romans embraced the way the Greeks built their houses using limestone blocks. The Romans also borrowed the Greek myths, in which men were the heads of the families and, therefore, they were the ones supposed to make rules which should be respected and obeyed. The interaction between the Greeks and Romans consisted of war, trade and resemblance of ideas. The people who benefited from the cultural interaction include the Greek artisans, the architects and also the merchants who were involved in trade. Moreover, the Greeks benefited from the interaction since were it not for the Romans adopting their values, some of their ideas would not be known today (Grecinger 3).