Guided
Tour of Ancient Egypt
by Darlene Bishop, Kent
School District, WA
Original Text
© Darlene Bishop
Obelisks
Obelisks were cult objects originating
in the Old Kingdom. They represented rays of sun. This one, of
a pink granite, had a pyramid-shaped top covered with a gold
and silver alloy to scatter the sun's rays. This particular obelisk
had a twin, which was stolen by the French in the 1800's and
placed in the Place de la Concorde, Napoleon's tomb.
The obelisk and other statues of granite
most likely came from the stone quarries of Aswan. The unfinished
obelisk helps us to understand just how the Egyptians carved
out the stone. Apparently they jammed wooden wedges into the
stone. As the wedges were soaked, they would expand and the stone
would split. The men would then dig out and chisel the granite
right out of the massive mountain of granite. This particular
unfinished obelisk would have been 41 meters high and would have
weighed 1,267 tons. But then how did they transport these enormous
pieces of granite several hundred miles to Lower Egypt? Even
in ancient times, the quarries were several miles from the Nile.
|
|
|
|
Complementary
Resources
CTCWeb Resources
Virtual
Ancient Museum
Roots
of English: an Etymological Dictionary
Ancient
Olympics
Scratch,
Glue, Foil & Paint: Connecting Classics and the Art Curriculum
Ancient Egypt
Knowledge Builders
Dress & Costume, Zeus,
Colonization, Homer's Iliad &
Odyssey,
and more.
Teachers' Companions
Dress & Costume, Zeus,
Colonization, Homer's Iliad &
Odyssey,
and more.
Other Resources
Mysteries
of Egypt
Egyptian Art and Archaeology
The Art of the Fake
Global Glossary Terms
- Alexander
the Great
- Caesar
- Ptolemy
- Caligula
- Cleopatra
- Medea
© 2000
AbleMedia.
All rights reserved. |
|
|
