Ap_World_Essay

Rulers and Religious authorities in Africa and the Mesoamericans used art and architecture for similar and different purposes. Unlike in Mesoamerica where the architecture like the Chichen Itza was used to count days in the Mayan Empire, unlike the Axum Obelisks which were used as royal burial chambers. The Mesoamericans and the Africans had very advanced architecture in their towns, like a grid-like system of arrangement, urban centers, and monumental architecture. All of these things were used to accommodate all the people stopping or living in the town. This was most likely because the Axum controlled most of the Red Sea trade routes, so a lot of merchants and sailors stopped in the town, similarly in Teotihuacán where the city had one of the largest populations at the time, occupying more then 125,000 people. Africa and South Asia both had had similar artistic and architectural styles; however, the architecture and art was used in different ways. The purpose of the building was the biggest difference. In ancient Africa they used the pyramids and the obelisks as burial tombs for the royal families. Unlike in Mesoamerica, where they used the step pyramids as a platform for rituals like human sacrifices. Where a person would be cut in half and his heart ripped out and offered usually to the sun god. Although a lot of the structures in Mesoamerica where used as record keeping by the Mayan civilization using hieroglyphs, structures in Africa were not used for writing purposes. Even though they did have a language called Geez, it was instead used in courts, towns, and commerce. Unlike the Mayan architecture which left closely untouched by other civilizations, the African architecture was damaged or destroyed when the Europeans started conquering Africa. This made it harder for historians to learn about the African societies, and their culture and civilization. Since both the African and Mesoamerican civilizations were very religious it played a role in their life and it was incorporated into the art and architecture. In the Meroe civilization, people believed in the afterlife, so the pyramids were built to burry them with their belongings to send them to the afterlife. Similarly in the Maya Civilization people believed in sacrifice to please the gods, so special temples were built to let people sacrifice their hearts to a god. Both civilizations emphasized symmetry, geometry, and proportion in their architecture. The obelisks of Axum were proportionate on all 4 sides and they had a secret entrance, and a secret tomb. The Chichen Itza was also very impressive, it had exactly 365 steps, 91 steps on 4 sides and 1 step at the top. This was very impressive for a civilization of that time, to not only be able to incorporate the HAAB calendar (The Mayan Calander) into a architectural monument but to do it using symmetry and geometry. Both civilizations had very advanced cities which included a particular city structure, urban centers, and monuments. The Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan was especially extraordinary, it was one of the largest cities at the time, it had many pyramids, secret tombs, and living complexes. But the most unbelievable part about it was the “Avenue of The Dead”, the pyramids there aligned in perfect distance from each of the orbit’s of our planets in our solar system and the large Pyramid of the Sun is positioned at the center of the other structures showing that the Sun is at the center of our solar system and that the planets revolve around it. This was not known by other civilizations and it is amazing that a civilization of that time was able to figure out the solar system alignment. The city of Axum was also advanced in its own way, since the Aksum Empire controlled most of the Red Sea trade routes, merchants and sailors would stop in the city and cultural diffusion would occur. The city was also very large since it had to accommodate all of its citizens and the travelers that would stop in their city. Unlike the architecture of Mesoamerica the Meroe pyramids were influenced by the actual Egyptian pyramids. They had similar designs and structures, and they were most likely built in a similar way. The Meroe civilization most likely borrowed the Egyptian idea because they had similar religions and ideas because of cultural diffusion, so they thought they would make similar pyramids to burry people and send them to their afterlife. That is how rulers and religious authorities in Africa and the Mesoamericans used art and architecture for similar and different purposes. Most of their architecture still remains in the world today and it plays a big role in the history of the world.