Introduction
Art History is an important concept in today’s society especially since it is very resourceful in understanding our past culture, generating positive and useful ideas, and portraying different aspects of meaning among many other reasons (Chin). In this paper, as we try to elaborate the similarities and differences between ziggurats and Khafre’s pyramid of structures, it will be important to make an analysis of the two arts separately in order to have a broad overview of the structures which is discussed below.
Discussion
Ziggurats were strong ancient structures which were built around 2050 BC in one of the most popular region of Mesopotamia valley (Architecturecourses.org). The wonderful structures whose images have been preserved up to date have taken the shapes of pyramid displaying a creative art that is very attractive due to its beauty. The Ziggurat art is a monument which has been preserved up to date because it was constructed using very strong solid mud-bricks that were covered with a thick cover of burned bricks (Architecturecourses.org).
The ziggurats structures were constructed to serve a multiple of cultural and religious practices in this region of Mesopotamia; in fact, the Ziggurat served as an administrative centre for the entire city due to its location (Architecturecourses.org). In addition to this, it also served as a religious place and it has been commonly known that the moon god known as nanna was dwelling here. For this reason, in the building there was an altar and shrine known as the bedchamber which was meant for the gods and was strictly placed at the ziggurat’s pinnacle (Architecturecourses.org).
The Khafre’s pyramid is among the most prominent and the second largest pyramid of the ancient Egypt (Bayuk). This monument which is also known as the pyramid of Chefren, was constructed by pharaoh’s son who was known as Khafre between the years 2532-2558 B.C and was a constructed using beautiful limestone block making the monument to be very attractive (Bayuk).
This pyramid has been preserved up to date and it has a wonderful design that makes it to look very unique in the way the top has been twisted. On the other hand, this pyramid also has an outstanding feature that makes it to be very perceptible; the color and texture of its top plus the unique design makes the pyramid to be very outstanding. The structure of the pyramid is horizontal in shape while its structure is made of very big stones at the bottom and small one at the top (Bayuk).
The Khafre’s pyramid was built to be a multi-purpose and one of the major functions that it used to serve was that, it was used as a burial chamber (Bayuk). Inside the pyramid there are many compartments with each being designed to serve a different function; towards the west on one of the passage sides, there is a burial chamber which was very distinct due to its outlook; it was also constructed using limestone beams in a rectangular shape measuring about 14m by 5m in size (Bayuk).
On the other hand, inside the pyramids of the original structure, there were many other chambers within that served as stores. Mainly, there was one chamber close to the burial hall that was used for storage of burial equipment and other related materials while on one side also, there was another store but which was rather different from the others (Bayuk). This particular store was used for storing offerings that were to be used at different functions.
There are several instances in which the two monuments are similar; one of the major similarities between the two structures is that, both monuments are pyramid structures that were built in the early period. Although, these structures were accorded different names such as the “ziggurats” and “Khafre”, it is no doubt that they were still pyramids even still though they had different shapes; these two pyramids were both dedicated to serve their gods and had been designed to serve many other purposes during this early time of civilization.
Additionally, the two monuments were a reflection of the culture and religious values of the people with each structure being designed in respect to the culture of the people around; the pyramid of the Khafre was constructed in manner that it could incorporate the cultural values of people of Egypt while the ziggurats monument was designed in a cultural artists way reflecting the cultural values of Mesopotamia people in the Iranian valley (Bayuk).Notably also is that, both structures had a secluded place for religious practices.
A comparison table
Conclusion
Through the study of this historical art, an individual is able to have a deeper and broad understanding relating to the structures of the ancient time. It is quite obvious that, the Nanna Ziggurats and Khafre’s pyramid were wonderful structures that reflected a great work of art in the early time. Through a broad study of the two structures, it also obvious that, the two structures were similar in one way or the other; although they were also different in a number of numerous ways as already discussed.
References
Architecturecourses.org. “The Ziggurat at Ur”. 2010, Web. <http://www.architecturecourses.org/ziggurat-ur>
Bayuk, A. “The Pyramid of Khafre”. 2002, Web. <http://guardians.net/egypt/pyramids/Khafre/KhafrePyramid.htm>
Chin, J. “The Importance of History”. 2007. Web.