The Nile River Valley and Egypt

The Nile River valley was a major player in the civilization of the Egyptians. This region which included the Nile River and its delta was ideal because of its fertile soils, rocky highlands and desert climate. This geographical location became the landscape of which the Great Pyramids and The Funerary Complex of King Zoser were built upon. My main focus will be on the Funerary Complex of King Zoser.

Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers is a place called Mesopotamia, which means "between rivers." This location was the site of many monuments such as the Ziggurat at Ur. These two monuments (Funerary Complex of King Zoser and Ziggurat at Ur) have many similarities and differences of which I will distinguish in this essay.

Egyptians developed a sophisticated culture sometime around 3200 B.C. Egyptians are greatly known for their culture, which includes: art, luxury, rituals and religion. All of these important factors can be visually understood in the monuments which have been constructed. Egyptians strived to create a developed landscape that would match the scale and magnificence of the river, the mountains and the desert.

Concerned about the supernatural, Egyptians believed that life was a brief, transient passage and was the other side of death. This is why I believe that possessions were so greatly admired. Possessions were also placed into tombs after death because the Egyptians believed that the dead required all of that which was needed by the living for the afterlife. Above ground tombs (mastabas) were created but soon transformed into the pyramid. The Funerary Complex of King Zoser was a stepped pyramid created mostly of stone and was among the first monuments to use columnar forms. These forms which imitated the Papyrus plants were used mostly for decoration purposes. This idea of monumental architecture was now not only for function, but started to also be symbolic which played a huge role in Egyptian life.

Egyptians believed that the pyramid was a stairway to the sky which the pharaoh might climb to join Amon-Ra (Sun God) This notion compliments the symbolism and the idea of the afterlife which was so important to the Egyptians.

Ziggurat at Ur was built by the Sumerians sometime around 2100 B.C. The Sumerians had neither stone nor timber so the Ziggurat at Ur was built from bricks derived from sun dried mud. The Ziggurat at Ur also utilized decorative columns