Stonehenge is an ancient monument which is composed by barrows of hedged stones that are located in the Wiltshire county of England Salisbury Plains consisting of long and round, bowls, bells, discs in singles, twins, as well as triple barrows.
It is during this period that men improved their architectural skills, and consequently, built constructions that have been “alive” for centuries. These monuments served a religious purpose with a relation to the surrounding barrows, similar to that of a church to a churchyard, or a cathedral in later periods of England.
People of ancient times shifted from their nomadic lifestyle (hunters and gathers) to a much advanced food producing cultures, after settling in certain areas, and forming discrete villages, where they started using stones to put up magnificent structures.[1] Stonehenge society may be seen as egalitarian, structured by kinship who was worshiping its ancestors.
It is this culture that initiated the history of building castles in England; these are the people of that time who saw humans move out of un-civilized cave “houses” into grand builders.
That time was the time of architects who constructed monumental structures, which still, impress modern people. While entrenched in the land, they built permanent dwellings, shrines, granaries, and collective graves. In addition, to the religious role, the Stonehenge moment marked immensely to the passage of seasons that gave practical significance to the people of the time. Indeed, most megalithic structures can be credited to them.[2]
They fit the GREAT ROUND Archetypal Category because, they are characterized by stone circles, passage mounds, sacred caves and sanctuaries, all which describe the GREAT ROUND nature.[3] On the other hand, the spiritual focus is on the Great Goddess, and her sacred Womb-Cavern, which is a prevalent form motif that becomes the prototype for the holy-of-holies of nearly all later religions.
It is believed that the artistic-huge stones were paraphernalia that was used to mark extraterrestrial happenings such as solstices and eclipses in the delightful sphere of the Divine Feminine.[4] Stonehenge, presents a lunar and solar point of reference, which may well have been recognized through the “sacred marriage,” to get in touch with the body of the Goddess.
Probably this could be connected to a function of observing solar and lunar observations to predict solstices and eclipses, which was essential knowledge for people of the time who were exceedingly reliant on the growing season.
The Great Pyramids, Giza, Old Kingdom is located on the Giza Plateau, which borders the Sahara Desert, lying on the Nile River west bank, happens to be next to the contemporary Cairo. The name of this monument ensues from an Arabic meaning as “the father of terror.”
It is among a number of the biggest single-stone monuments globally, which happens to be carved out of a granite foundation. The age was symbolized by dynastic theocratic decree; respect for the World Mountain; the construction of architectural pyramids; as well as the entire elements of statecraft including standing armies, exhaustive farming, urban hubs, and class-structured cultures.[5]
The Great Pyramids, Giza, Old Kingdom do represent a classic period which can be termed as “the world where the Sacred Mountain of the Father-God.”
They fit the PYRAMID Archetypal Category, because, of the manner in which they generate spiritual emphasis from their logo principle of the head of a male and a lion body, which is an architectural that has continued to thrive on the Egyptian culture and other various country’s cultures.[6]
In addition, the architecture generates the idea that the universe happens to be secretly ordered according to divine laws, mystical geometric relationships, sacred names, and numbers imbued with magical power, all of which are accessible only to the ruler and his elite priesthood.
It was this dynastic ancestral divinity, which reigned at the height of a syncretism state-culture religious conviction that centered on the “godly” rulers ritualistic and symbolic mediation.
Bibliography
Marilyn, Stokstad and Michael Cothren. Art History. Volume 1, Fourth Edition.
Indianapolis: Pearson Higher Education & Professional Group, 2010.
Wikipedia. 2011. Stonehenge. Web.
Wikipedia. 2011. Great Pyramid of Giza. Web.
Footnotes
- Wikipedia. 2011. Stonehenge. Web.
- Wikipedia, 2011. Stonehenge. Web.
- Marilyn Stokstad and Michael Cothren, Art History, Volume 1, Fourth Edition. (Indianapolis: Pearson Higher Education & Professional Group, 2010), 71.
- Marilyn Stokstad and Michael Cothern, Art History, 72.
- Marilyn Stokstad, and Michael Cothren. Art History, 69.
- Marilyn Stokstad and Michael Cothren. Art History, 71.