History is a very unique subject because it encompasses the culture and life of those who lived before us, and analyzes it. Despite the fact that people lived in different parts of the world and for a long time didn’t know of each other’s existence, one thing they all had in common was death. Each culture valued life because they were aware of death. In the early phases of history, in the ancient world, roughly around 3000 BCE to 400BC the life one lived was important but the afterlife was valued as well. One of the most believing cultures of the afterlife was the ancient Egyptians.
The ancient Egyptians are the most well-known culture who believes in the afterlife due to their mummification process but also their unique architecture devoted to the dead. Pyramids were created as burial tombs for the important deceased and still stand today.
I ventured to one of the most well-known and diverse museums in DC, the Natural History Museum, to learn more and see artifacts from the ancient Egyptian world. The natural history museum has a great selection of artifacts from the ancient times. They have a real mummified person in an enclosure, and what I found most interesting were the masks the ancient Egyptians made to protect the head of a person once they were dead. The Egyptians had a strong believe in the afterlife and believed that you would essential live again in a different world, so you needed your body as well as your wealth to survive. Pharaohs and other important and wealthy people were buried with their possessions so they could use them again in the afterlife.
At the museum, they had placed all the head masks for the mummies in one casing so it was easy for the viewer to compare and contrast them. An important fact that the caption of them masks expressed was “ only one of the masks above exhibits human likeliness” while “ all the others present an idealized Egyptian whose features the gods would know.” The think this statement is very important because it captures the beauty Egyptians believed in. They made all the tombs, masks and case beautiful to express their love for beauty and how they believed it would carry over into the afterlife. The specific artifact that I was most drawn to was the man’s coffin mask which has the probable date of 760-520 BC. The reason I was so intrigued by it was because not only its size, it was much bigger than the other masks but because of its detail. The mask has a well sculpted face which resembles that of a human but has some exaggerated features such as the eyes. It also has a very long and exaggerated beard which I thought was unique because the other masks did not share this characteristic. Also beneath the facial features there is an interesting pattern which has color in it which contradicts the rest of the mask which is basically just clay color along with some earth tone green. Because of this, the masks size and uniqueness placed it in the center of the mask exhibit because it is truly a beautiful piece of not only art work but historical evidence.
I believe that the man’s tomb mask is a very accurate representation of the ancient Egyptian culture, not just in their death rituals. The emphasis they had on the face and how they viewed beauty illustrates how they viewed their lives. They took into account the beauty of life and relished it. Also the colors of the pattern show life which is symbolic of the afterlife. The mask itself is created for a dead mans head, but the colors and patterns at the bottom of the mask symbolize the joy and festivities of the afterlife. I think the most honorable traits about the ancient Egyptians was the way they conducted their lives. They believed in an afterlife and your afterlife was dictated by your actions on earth, so they would lead their lives in a manner that would lead them to a better afterlife. They would make sacrifices and offerings to ensure a better chance at an afterlife. They conducted themselves in a respectful way.
The Egyptians were an amazing civilization. They overcame many difficulties but also maintained life and learned to use their resources to their advantage. The Nile River was the main source of agriculture for them, and the Egyptians also learned and kept track of the fact that the Nile flooded regularly and grew their food according to the river. The Egyptians are also responsible for many important inventions and are used today. One of the most important being hieroglyphics and papyrus, without which we would not have writing or paper. Also another very important invention the Egyptians came up with was the number zero. This was a critical invention in the world of mathematics and without it math would not be the same.
The ancient Egyptians created a path for the rest of the civilizations to follow and if it weren’t for them and their inventions, our current society would be very different.