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Egyptian influence on Ancient Rome The history of such city as Rome indeed is a history of the whole world that is almost impossible to be retold in several pages. Indeed this is the city with two natures in its history. Rome is the city that was the capital of the whole ancient world and it was the capital of Christianity. These two features, of course, put a great mark on the citys fate.
The Romans were able to control their large empire for a long period of time because they setup an organized government and a set of laws for everybody to follow. They created a republic, based on all the different kinds of government. They took parts that they liked from the each type of government and combined it all together. With this government things ran very well with very few problems. The Romans were also very advanced in technology during their time. They created concrete which enabled them to build roads and bridges.
With this traveling in Rome became much less bumpier and easier. Romans were able to build many public baths and water fountains once they created the aqueducts. This allowed people to get running water in their homes instead of traveling to a river to get water. To add to that they also created the arc. Buildings were much more artistic and fancier than before with the arc.
All these innovations were amazing in their time. If it werent for Rome we wouldnt have concrete, which is very important when it comes to build buildings. Let me know get a closer look at what influence did Egyptian culture had on Rome. And of course it is impossible to start saying anything unless we speak about Alexandre the Great. He conquered the city in 332 BC. Alexandria, the city that Alexander the Great had established in Egypt became a center of commercial and political operations in the country rules by Ptolemy I.
In 87 Egypt was given under teh Romes power by Ptolemy X Alexander I. Indeed Rome didnt agree to take Egypt because of the civil war that might have started. But nevertheless Egyptian influence on the Roman life was a great one. Despite the Egypt's decline inside the country, its influence in Rome was great. Egyptian religion, especially the worship of the goddess Isis, had spread throughout much of the Roman Empire even before the conquest of the country. Religion was very important to the Egyptians and it reflected in some way on the Roman culture.
Ancient Egyptians were pollythayous this meant that they worshipped many gods. Some of the gods and goddesses offered protection, others brought the flood of the Nile each year, and there were some who took care of people after they died. In order to live life smoothly and to be safe and healthy, they believed that they needed to worship these gods and goddesses and recognize them and their important. By doing so, they would live a good life on Earth and continue living even after they died, i.
e. in the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that death was almost more important than life. It was therefore very important for them to preserve the bodies of the dead through a process of mummification. The embalmed body would then be put into a tomb along with all their possessions to ensure that they had a happy afterlife.
The Egyptians believed that preserving the body was important because the ka was in the body and if the body was destroyed, it would have no place to live. This belief also speed to the Roman culture though many Romans where Christians. Another great influence of Egypt on Roman culture was the sculptures and moments taken from the Egyptian culture and religion. The temples of god Isis and the ones that were very close to her could be found in mostly all Roman cities, and Egyptian priests officiated in her mysteries.
In that time and even nowadays we can see many monuments taken at the emperors orders from the Egyptian temples. Egypt itself, and if narrowing to the island of Philae, had turned to a place of pilgrimage for the devotees if Isis. Another God called Sarapis, that closely related to Isis, combined the Egyptian Osiris with Roman Dionysos and Pluto. His vast temple at Alexandria city housed the Library, that was and still is the hugest warehouse of knowledge in the classical world. Egypt's ancient monuments were reflecting both the Greek and the Roman cultures and architecture and were the tourist sites. The function of most ancient Egyptian statues was to provide a physical place where a god or spirit could appear.
Most of the statues of kings and gods were housed in temples. Ancient Egyptian statues were not intended to serve as realistic portraits. Instead, they represented the ideal image of the subject, without any physical flaws. The name of the subject was inscribed on the statue. There were many conventions around the sculptures and paintings of that time. One of these was the heretic convention, which means that the more important a subject was, the bigger they were portrayed.
Sculptures were made out of various materials limestone, calcite, sandstone, quartzite, granite, diorite, basalt and wood. Cult statues of gods had precious metals such as copper and bronze. One of the most famous and popular monuments that can represent the Egyptian influence was the singing statue at Thebes, one of the two Colossi of Memnon's post by an earthquake in 27 BC. This monument was built in the honor of the Trojan hero, Motion, who had been killed in battle by Achilles. A lot of graffiti and various poems can be found on the status legs that prove the great amount of visitors. Another great influence that Egypt had on the Roman culture was the paintings.
The walls of ancient Roman temples and tombs were decorated with painted scenes. Most of these scenes were of kings performing a ritual act before a god. These rituals included offering food, drink or adoration. The scenes could also depict the god acknowledging the king by embracing him, suckling him, or handing him an ankh (the sign of life in Egyptian hieroglyphics. ) In these scenes, other human beings rarely appear.
Paintings were painted flat or in relief, meaning that the figures are raised more than the background. To do this, the background was cut away so that the figures stood out. This is called a raised relief. Similarly, the sunk relief would be the opposite the figures were cut at a lower level. Originally the sunk relief was designed to decorate the exterior walls because it was more visible in the sunlight.
Paintings were not only done on the walls of the temples and tombs. Funerary scrolls made of papyrus were also painted on and wooden coffins were decorated. Concluding all that I said Rome was the greatest empire of the ancient world. No other empire could compare to Rome in size. They were able to last for a long time with only a few difficulties because of gravitas and their superb government. Due to the Egyptian influence in sculptor, paintings and religion Rome got its unique history and culture.
Lastly, Romans were able to create many new inventions because they were so advanced in technology. Everybody else living outside Rome thought Rome was invincible and a huge superpower. Bibliography: web Stambaugh, John E. The Ancient Roman City. The John Hopkins University Press, 1988 Gregorovius, Ferdinand. Rome and Medieval Culture.
The University of Chicago Press. 1981 Dixon, Suzanne. The Roman Family/Ancient Society and History. The Viking Press New York. 1991
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Research essay sample on Egyptian Influence On Ancient Rome
