Ancient Egyptian Greek and Roman Stele Essay -- essays papers

Ancient Egyptian Greek and Roman Stele Just as we use tombstones to mark graves and commemorate our dead, so too did ancient civilizations. One way to do so in the ancient world was through the use of steles. A stele is a stone slab, usually decorated in relief and inscribed, that honored the death of a person. Three of the ancient cultures that had implemented the use of the stele were the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. In comparing an example from each civilization, it is possible to see the evolution of the stele from one period to another and the different influences each civilization had on a single element. The Egyptians had many ways to honor their dead, including the stele. Wealthy Egyptians, especially officials and priest, often had stele placed near their tombs. These steles usually told of the name, position/rank, and the epithets of the deceased along with a funerary prayer. (Gee 224) One such example is the Funerary Stele from Dendereh from the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2150 BCE). (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) This stele belongs to a man named Tjaunty, an official during the First Intermediate Period. The stele depicts Tjaunty on the far left of the rectangular slab. The other two-thirds of the stele are reserved for inscriptions of hieroglyphs. The depiction of Tjaunty is characteristic of the Egyptian style. The purpose of the Egyptian style was to represent the human form in the clearest and most complete way. The head is shown in profile but with the eye in a frontal position. The reason for this is that the head is more distinct from the profile position; the eyes, on the other hand, are more representative from the frontal view. The shoulders are presented frontally with the waist, hips, legs, and feet in profile. (Gee 18) In Tjaunty's funerary stele, Tjaunty is presented in this very distinct way. He is also shown with the symbols of his position as an official. This is known because Tjaunty's right hand is holding the same staff as in Hesy-ra's right hand in the Portrait Panel of Hesy-ra. (Janson and Janson 44) As for the inscriptions to the right of Tjaunty, this author is not able to definitively identify the meaning. It is assumed that it tells of Tjaunty's name, rank, and offers a funerary prayer. The Greeks were also another ancient civilization that i... ...d gives only a summed-up version of information about the owner. Granted, it is certain that a more glorified nature would be found in such as that of a pharaoh, but not so in those below the pharaoh. The Egyptian stele seems to represent an attitude of straight-forwardness (in keeping with the clarity and complete representation of the Egyptian style). As for the Greek stele, it is more intimate, a glance into a moment of that person's life (very naturalistic). The Roman stele is, without a doubt, glorifying. The Romans most certainly had an egotistical attitude about them. Why should it surprise anyone to see it within the art that was meant to memorialize them? Comparing these three civilizations has shown that a single element, used in different civilizations, may have the same intended use but the way each civilization goes about using this element can be quite different from one another. Bibliography: Gee, Robert. Egyptian Sculpture. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. Janson, H.W. and A.F. Janson. History of Art: the Western Tradition. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001. Rothermel, Johnathan Albert. The Art of Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Is Privacy in the 21st Century Possible Essay

Privacy in the 21st century will affect every human beings life as we know it in the future. Is privacy in the 21st century possible? No. Whether we are talking about issues like video surveillance detecting our every move or computer hackers stealing identities, privacy is dead as we know it. The only way to bring more privacy back is if we all come together and demand the privacy we deserve. Making correct decisions at home, work, and church, about who we vote for and the groups of people we support, will greatly impact our world around us and the freedoms we strive to keep for our children and generations to come. Three areas of concern for many people are having a government with too much information and too much control, having less and less privacy as the years go by, and how some religions are responding to certain privacy issues that some say are talked about in the bible. These three topics or issues are some of the most controversial areas of concern and is also growing at an exponential rate. When studying the fourth amendment and what our forefathers were trying to preserve and protect, we realize that we have been given the right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, and that is why we need to make sound educated decisions when trying to correct the negative problems in our world. Rights and freedoms do not need to be sacrificed. Having many wonderful rights and freedoms is one of the main reasons this country has become such an inventive and successful country, like the world has never seen before. As we venture into the 21st century, our freedoms and the way we are â€Å"supposed† to live and act, has changed dramatically. It seems that every time we turn around we have less privacy and government has more control. When it comes to our rights and freedoms, the government’s ability to make us feel safer and more secure has made us except policies and procedures that normally would not even been thought about in the past. Not all the â€Å"spy† technology that humans create is going to cause harm though. Biometrics is a technology that applies a person’s unique physical traits to a sophisticated electronic device or system to confirm identity. This kind of technology has its upsides and downsides. Facial recognition is one aspect or system of biometrics. Facial recognition biometric systems are everywhere today. We can find them in many places throughout large cities. Places like transit vehicles, city streets, casinos, banks, hospitals, and many other common places people are found have facial recognition technology. The upside to having this type of technology is that it would be a good crime deterrent. Crime is probably the number one reason having this type of technology would be a huge benefit. Law enforcement departments would be able to sometimes prevent crimes before they happen and definitely have concrete evidence if the crime is not stopped beforehand. Recently, after the Boston Marathon bomb exploded, the different law enforcement agencies used the cities video surveillance technologies to track down and find the criminals. Finding the bombers before they were able to do more damage would probably not have been possible without video surveillance. The downside to this technology is the assumption that people are secretly being videotaped. According to a study by the New York Civil Liberties Union, people in Manhattan are being secretly videotaped on public streets, outside buildings, and even in their backyard, by hidden surveillance cameras. Most hidden surveillance cameras are secured to rooftops, lampposts, and building entrances, but almost four hundred rotating cameras are hidden in light bulbs that look like street lights stated Dority (2001). People that are constantly in fear of crime will sometimes sacrifice freedoms to insure their family safety and security of the world around them. This could be the reason why so many are flocking to the idea of having security with video surveillance and other surveillance technologies without thinking about the consequences of what freedoms and rights might be given up. Video surveillance and other surveillance technologies are everywhere. We can find them at A. T. M.  machines, convenience stores, parking garages, corporate offices, hotels, storage facilities, amusement parks, supermarkets, and do not forget about all the webcams all over the world, stated Soat (2005). The political and commercial applications of invasive surveillance technologies, together with gathering large quantities of data made possible by the Internet and high-speed computers, have brought frightening scenarios uncomfortably close to the realm of possibility, according to Jasper (2003). When government  knows everything we say and do, including passport information, driver’s license information, etc, then what is to stop nefarious people from trying to carry out their own agendas? The right and the left wing people in this country will sometimes do anything to accomplish their goals, including attempting to use any type of technology at their disposal. These types of technology could be used on people that are behind on their taxes, having traffic violations, or people who just own gold and silver. In the past gold has been rounded up and confiscated said Jasper (2003). Tyrannical governments have been around since the beginning of time. Why would we not at least have some officials in our own government that have tyrannical tendencies and will do everything in their power to capitalize on new invasive technologies that will further their cause or propose? Talking to many people and researching the ways and means of some tyrannical governments in this world, one could only imagine what certain human beings will do for more money and power. The more privacy we give up empowers some government officials to use the system no matter how invasive on â€Å"we the people† to acquire their own agenda. Our forefathers fought very hard to protect the rights and freedoms that we are losing more and more of everyday. When too much money, power, and control is given to so few individuals, it seems they become corrupt. The old saying â€Å"Absolute power corrupts absolutely†. The bigger that our government becomes our freedoms disappear and we are told how to live by someone else. There have always been, and there always will be people that have evil tendencies and motives. If they are able to create this type of power, they will use it for selfish and evil deeds. Clark (2009) stated â€Å"when large corporations and governments get together they become an entity that believes their way is the only way†. When we look at the history of privacy and the human race, it has only been in the last forty to sixty years that we have had to really protect our privacy rights as governments work with large corporations to gain more control over us. Even before the digital revolution, the ability of individuals to maintain control over the improper discovery, dissemination, or misuse of their identity was threatened by the potential for governments to wiretap telephone lines or impose overly broad restrictions or burdens on speech for businesses to misuse customer data and for thieves to steal personal information said Jasper (2003). Privacy today is definitely a more pressing issue than ever before. If we as people ever needed to think about and make the correct decisions, now is the time. If there was ever a time in the history of the world to protect ourselves from the hand of â€Å"Big Brother†, and all of the devious ways it is coming up with to grow bigger and control everything it can touch, now is the time. One issue that stands out when it comes to privacy is religious beliefs. Religious Beliefs and Privacy when it comes to implanting human computer chips has very much intensified in recent decades. Not only has putting computer chips into animals been a hot topic, computer chipping everything from humans to the products we buy is also an issue many are concerned about. According to Katherine Albrecht (2005), when it comes to implanting computer chips into humans, some very powerful people are pushing for this very technology. This issue is gaining momentum in the religious communities because of its resemblance to the â€Å"Mark of the Beast† in the bible. Ever since the introduction of the implantable computer chip, the issue has been gaining momentum in religious circles because many are worried about going to money less economic systems that can only be accessed by a implantable computer chip. There is quite a bit of evil that is involved with this topic in the bible. Bamford (2002) stated that when there is such a large religious base, and one looks at how passionate people can become over different issues, it is easy to see that these kinds of decisions need to be well thought out to prevent riots and wars. Just about every person in America has some kind of data file on them by one or more of the big private companies, let alone the databases compiled by the Government. When we lose privacy we are told it is for our own good, or our own protection, or to make our lives better. But is it worth it? With companies like Google reading all the contents that travel through their computers then, handing all of the information over to the government, what are we supposed to do? Technology is like a gun. A gun is neither good nor evil. It is who is using the technology, or gun, and what their intentions are for using it. If people do not stand up for their rights, big government will take more and more freedoms and rights away. Since the beginning of time governments have become large and then they destroy the country from within before anyone realizes what has happened. Technology is clashing with privacy. We need to figure out how to have the benefits of technology while keeping the privacy we need and deserve. There needs to be a happy medium. Could you imagine the freedoms we would lose if we had to obey a one world government? Most other leaders from other countries do not believe the average person deserves the rights and privacy that we as Americans have. Our forefathers understood that if you give the government unchecked powers, you were inviting abuse of power and tyranny. Whether we are talking about the decisions we make today affecting or our world in the future, when it comes to privacy issues, it is safe to say that looking out for our own privacy is just going to be normal. Life as we know it can change in a heartbeat if we as human beings cannot make the right decisions to impact our world in a positive way.

The History of the Olmec Site of La Venta

The Olmec capital of La Venta is located in the city of Huimanguillo, in the state of Tabasco, Mexico, 9 miles (15 kilometers) inland from the Gulf coast. The site is perched on a narrow natural elevation approximately 2.5 mi (4 km) long which rises above the wetland swamps on the coastal plain. La Venta was first occupied as early as 1750 BCE, becoming an Olmec temple-town complex between 1200 and 400 BCE. Key Takeaways La Venta is a capital of the Middle Formative Olmec civilization, located in Tabasco state, Mexico.  It was first occupied about 1750 BCE and became an important town between 1200–400 BCE.Its economy was based on maize agriculture, hunting and fishing, and trade networks.  Evidence for early Mesoamerican writing has been discovered within 3 miles of the main site. Architecture at La Venta La Venta was the primary center of the Olmec culture and likely the most important regional capital in non-Maya Mesoamerica during the Middle Formative period (approximately 800–400 BCE). In its heyday, La Ventas residential zone included an area of about 500 acres (~200 hectares), with a population numbering in the thousands. Most of the structures at La Venta were built of wattle-and-daub walls placed atop earthen or adobe mudbrick platforms or mounds  and covered with a thatched roof. Little natural stone was available, and, apart from the massive stone sculptures, the only stone used in public architecture was a few basalt, andesite and limestone foundational support or internal buttresses. The 1 mi (1.5 km) long civic-ceremonial core of La Venta includes over 30 earthen mounds and platforms. The core is dominated by a 100 foot (30 m) high clay pyramid (called Mound C-1), which has been heavily eroded  but was likely the largest single building at the time in Mesoamerica. Despite the lack of native stone, La Ventas artisans crafted sculptures including four colossal heads from massive blocks of stone quarried from the Tuxtla Mountains approximately 62 mi (100 km) to the west. Plan of La Venta. Yavidaxiu, MapMaster The most intensive archaeological investigations at La Venta were conducted in Complex A, a small group of low clay platform mounds and plazas within an area of about 3 ac (1.4 ha), located immediately north of the tallest pyramidal mound. Most of Complex A was destroyed shortly after the excavations in 1955, by a combination of looters and civic development. However, detailed maps of the area were made by the excavators and, due primarily to the efforts of U.S. archaeologist Susan Gillespie, a digital map of the buildings and construction events at Complex A has been made. Subsistence Methods Traditionally, scholars have attributed the rise of Olmec society to the development of maize agriculture. According to recent investigations, however, the people at La Venta subsisted on fish, shellfish and terrestrial faunal remains until about 800 BC, when maize, beans, cotton, palm, and other crops were grown in gardens on relict beach ridges, called tierra de primera by maize farmers today, perhaps fueled by long-distance trade networks. U.S. archaeologist Thomas W. Killion conducted a survey of paleobotanical data from several Olmec period sites including La Venta. He suggests that the initial founders at La Venta and other Early Formative sites such as San Lorenzo were not farmers, but rather were hunter-gatherer-fishers. That dependence on mixed hunting and gathering extends well into the Formative period. Killion suggests that the mixed subsistence worked in the well-watered lowland environments, but that a wetland environment was not suited to intensive agriculture. La Venta and the Cosmos La Venta is oriented 8 degrees west of north, like most Olmec sites, the significance of which is obscure to date. This alignment is echoed in Complex As central avenue, which points to the central mountain. The central bars of each of La Ventas mosaic pavements  and the four elements of the quincunxes in the mosaics are positioned at intercardinal points. Complex D at La Venta is an E-Group configuration, a specific layout of buildings identified at over 70 Maya sites and believed to have been designed to track movements of the sun. Writing A cylinder seal and a carved greenstone plaque discovered at the San Andres site 3 mi (5 km) from La Venta provided early evidence that writing in the Mesoamerican region had its start in the Mexican Gulf Coast region by about 650 BCE. These objects bear glyphs that are related to but different from the laster Isthmian, Mayan, and Oaxacan styles of writing. Archaeology La Venta was excavated by members of the Smithsonian Institution, including Matthew Stirling, Philip Drucker, Waldo Wedel, and Robert Heizer, in three major excavations between 1942 and 1955. Most of this work was focused on Complex A: and the finds from that work were published in popular texts and La Venta quickly became the type site for defining the Olmec culture. Shortly after the 1955 excavations, the site was badly damaged by looting and development, although a brief expedition did retrieve some stratigraphic data. Much was lost in Complex A, which was torn up by bulldozers. A map of Complex A made in 1955 formed the basis for digitizing the field records of the site. Gillespie and Volk worked together to create a three-dimensional map of Complex A, based on archived notes and drawings and published in 2014. The most recent archaeological studies have been undertaken by Rebecca Gonzà ¡lez Lauck at the Instituto Nacional de Antropologà ­a e Historia (INAH). Selected Sources Clark, John E., and Arlene Colman. Olmec Things and Identity: A Reassessment of Offerings and Burials at La Venta, Tabasco. Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 23.1 (2013): 14–37.  Gillespie, Susan. Archaeological Drawings as Re-Presentations: The Maps of Complex a, La Venta, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 22.1 (2011): 3–36.  Gillespie, Susan D., and Michael Volk. A 3D Model of Complex a, La Venta, Mexico. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 1.3–4 (2014): 72–81.  Grove, David. Discovering the Olmecs: An Unconventional History. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014.  Killion, Thomas W. Nonagricultural Cultivation and Social Complexity. Current Anthropology 54.5 (2013): 596–606.  Pohl, Mary E. D., Kevin O. Pope, and Christopher von Nagy. Olmec Origins of Mesoamerican Writing. Science 298.5600 (2002): 1984–87. Print.Reilly, F. Kent. Enclosed Ritual Spaces and the Watery Underworld in Formative Period Architecture: New Observations on the Function of La Venta Complex A. Seventh Palenque Round Table. Eds. Robertson, Merle Greene, and Virginia M. Fields. San Francisco: Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, 1989.  Rust, William F., and Robert J. Sharer. Olmec Settlement Data from La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico. Science 242.4875 (1988): 102–04.