Compare And Contrast Mexico And Egyptian Pyramids
It is customary to establish comparisons between the pyramids erected by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt and the pre-Colombian pyramids built in Mexico and other regions of Central America. There are even those who, albeit without any plausible historical basis, claim that those two distant regions shared cultural and ideological relationships which would be the justification for an apparent and misleading similarity in shape. The Egyptian pyramids are funerary monuments of the kings of ancient Egypt, especially those of the Old
Kingdom. Sometimes funerary monuments of this kind were also built for queens, although smaller in size.
Pyramidal construction is as old as Egyptian history itself, going back to the beginning of the 3rd
millennium …show more content…
A good example of this is the Aztec pyramid of
Tenayuca, which reveals at least six stages in vertical and horizontal extension. In an impressive contrast of vertical and horizontal lines, the pyramids can look massive and immense such as the Temple of the Sun at
Palenque, or rise in steep verticality as in the Great Tikal Plaza (Guatemala). The highest Mexican pyramid was erected at Cholula (in its initial stages, an Olmec site), and was consecrated to Quetzalcoatl, wise and beneficial god.
There are important zones of pyramid concentrations at Chichén Itzá (pyramid of Kukulcan, the Maya name of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent), at Palenque, Teopalzolco, Monte Alban, «city of pyramids» in Teotihuacan, an urban centre, which started out as Olmec. The Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque proved to be an eight-story pyramid after the thick overgrowth was removed (1949). It also revealed in its interior, through a staircase that ran from the top of the structure to the underground level,
Kingdom. Sometimes funerary monuments of this kind were also built for queens, although smaller in size.
Pyramidal construction is as old as Egyptian history itself, going back to the beginning of the 3rd
millennium …show more content…
A good example of this is the Aztec pyramid of
Tenayuca, which reveals at least six stages in vertical and horizontal extension. In an impressive contrast of vertical and horizontal lines, the pyramids can look massive and immense such as the Temple of the Sun at
Palenque, or rise in steep verticality as in the Great Tikal Plaza (Guatemala). The highest Mexican pyramid was erected at Cholula (in its initial stages, an Olmec site), and was consecrated to Quetzalcoatl, wise and beneficial god.
There are important zones of pyramid concentrations at Chichén Itzá (pyramid of Kukulcan, the Maya name of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent), at Palenque, Teopalzolco, Monte Alban, «city of pyramids» in Teotihuacan, an urban centre, which started out as Olmec. The Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque proved to be an eight-story pyramid after the thick overgrowth was removed (1949). It also revealed in its interior, through a staircase that ran from the top of the structure to the underground level,