The reflection of idea “life after death” takes place in the temples that the two civilizations made. Ancient Egyptians created their pyramids and other temples such as the great Ramesseum had which had great importance for them. Similarly for ancient Greek, there is the great Acropolis. The Ramesseum is a temple complex that Ramesses II built between Qurna and the desert. Various historians have referred to this complex of temple as one of the biggest and beautiful temples ever built in Egypt (“The Great Temple of Ramses II”). Overall, it was an extremely large and lavish piece of architecture that worked to show the grandeur of the great pharaoh. The Acropolis which was built by Greeks in the Age of Pericles also contained a temple complex for many Greeks gods (Hurwit). There are many reasons to believe that Egyptians and Greeks placed a lot of importance to death and the afterlife. They were constantly being reminded about death and were very afraid of their fate after death.
Even though the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks had the different gods and temples for worship it is clear that they were created for the same function and goals. Moreover the gods from both sides had similar hierarchy between each other (the leader on the top and the others in subordination); each of the gods had their own mission and amount of rights; and each of them had controlled specific field of human activities. On the other hand, the temples had different structure and appearance but they served the same purposes (for worship, immolation, praying, etc.).This suggests that the religion aspect and way of worship between Egyptians and Greeks were almost the same.
Another interesting fact is that both of civilizations were trying to give the soul to their structures and buildings; they wore trying to put them in harmony with nature and each other by using special design techniques; it could be the reason of second similarity between Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.
Much of Egyptian architecture, including the pyramids, temples and the houses were based on strict rules of mathematics and geography. They used mathematics to construct the buildings in very symmetrical way. It has been noted that the numbers pi and phi have been greatly incorporated in the building and design of Ancient Egyptian architecture such as Great Pyramids of Khufu and Giza. Researchers have noted that dividing the perimeter of the houses made by Ancient Egyptians by their height gives a close approximation to 2pi, which is the same result one would get if one were to divide the circumference of a circle by its radius (“Pi and the Grate Pyramids”). The evidences suggest that maybe the ancient Egyptians were trying to emulate the spherical nature of the Earth by presenting this relation.
Also Egyptian use to plant gardens in front of their houses and temples; as like they are believed that gods influenced every aspect of nature and every human activity; “they believed that the gods liked gardens and so temples usually had gardens by them. In ancient Egypt gardens also had religious significance as different trees were associated with different gods” (“A brief history of gardening”). This use of plants and gardens gave the houses a very natural feel and it allowed the dwellers to find some sort of a peace of mind. Even in today's architecture, we find that the use of gardens, lawns, porches, and yards allow a more aesthetically pleasing look and feel to the houses. This not only helps in beautifying the houses, but also helps the residents to find their peace of mind. This allowed them to be in harmony not only with each other but also with nature.
Likewise Egyptian Ancient Greeks had the same ideas of harmony and they bring them in their architecture as well. The Greeks also considered the mental well-being of their people and worked to provide residential units that were designed to provide harmony and peace. Even according to the Greek religion, trees and gardens were considered to be places where the divine visited often. This is why most of the Greek houses in Athens had courtyards and gardens that were surrounded by walls. This is what was called a colonnaded garden. Some of the houses that were built on the hill sides of Athens included terraced gardens. The rich Greeks were known to have extensive and lavish gardens or pleasure grounds. The Greeks considered beauty to be a very important part of harmony and this is why they gave a lot of attention on making their abodes as beautiful as possible. This was usually done by landscaping and including gardens and courtyards in their houses. In the houses in Athens, people used to have delightful little gardens with running fountains. The inmates of that home heard these very fountains splash their refreshing waters among the flowers (“Ancient Gardens of Greece”). This is again consistent with the Greeks religion and how the use of gardens and fountains in dwellings worked to create harmony for the residents.
As demonstrated above this architectonic aspect of peoples life were different between Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks. However, there are many reasons to believe that their way of design and constructing techniques were used them for the same purposes. They wanted to show their respect to gods and to the mother Earth trough using of landscaping. Moreover, people from both sides wanted to live in a harmony with nature, with god and with themselves. Therefore they were carefully using environment because of the religion and they believed that it helps to improve relationship between them and forces of nature.
In conclusion, there exist many examples which could prove that ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece had many similarities not just only differences in almost every aspect of people’s lives. This research demonstrated just a few of them but it still makes sense. However, both civilizations were really great. They laid the foundation to vast number of important things such as religion architecture and which we are used to the present days, and our society should thank them for that.
Works Cited
"Body and Soul." Ancient Egypt:. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/religion/body_and_soul.htm>.
Grinberg, Ralph. "Pi and the Great Pyramid." Department of Mathematics, University of Washington. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.math.washington.edu/~greenber/PiPyr.html>.
Hurwit, Jeffrey M. The Acropolis In The Age Of Pericles. Cambridge: University of Cambridge, UK, 2004.
Kreis, Stiven. "Lecture 3: Egyptian Civilization." Lecture. 11 Oct. 2006. The History Guide. Web. 18 Mar. 2012. <http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture3b.html>.
Lamber, Tim. "A History of Gardening." A World History Encyclopedia. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.localhistories.org/gardening.html>.
Lefkowitz, Mary. Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths. New York: R.R. Doneelley & Sons, 2003.
Sullivan, Mary Ann. "The Great Temple of Ramses II." Lecture. Bluffton University. Web. 21 Mar. 2012. <http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/egypt/abusimbel/ramses/ramses.html>.
Varenya. "Ancient Gardens of Greece." HubPages. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://varenya.hubpages.com/hub/Ancient-gardens-of-Greece>.