Reading Comprehension #2

[1] Hersey describes a grammar for Greek architectural elements based on the idea of sacrifice. SPECULATE about the validity of his argument based on what you know about Greek design and the evidence (both visual and written) he provides. (5 points)

I honestly feel like I can believe what Hersey is saying about sacrifice in the Grecian times. He gives the example that talks about Oenomaus’s house in which the king’s daughter (Pelops) wanted to marry Hippodamia, but the king was fearful of a story that claimed he would be killed by his son-in-law. So Oenomaus killed thirteen of Hippodamia’s suiters and affixed their heads to the wooden columns of his palace. Such is the case with the Erectheion in which Patrick is said to be enslaved women that are pointing their way towards the main attraction... the Parthenon. He also said that this is where the men generally made announcements from, a building that was built with the female embedded within it (literally). And lastly Hersey talks about the columns and how those represent people starting at the very base which represents their feet and it goes through many other things but the most important is the capital which is said to represent the head of a person. 

[2] Meant in jest, Macaulay shapes a world of the future in which the main character claims meanings for archeological evidence uncovered at the Motel of the Mysteries. EXTRACT what you believe to be the lesson of mis-interpreting evidence and link that lesson to the real world phenomenon of the internet. In other words, EXPLAIN how you might avoid such a blunder as mis-reading evidence when you use the web as your major information source. (5 points)

I believe a mistake such as identifying evidence falsely can be avoided by your entire background on life. What you’ve experienced and what’d you’ve learned in my mind shapes what you know and how you label things. And when using the inter-web to get information about a particular object or whatever it may be make sure that it’s like an accredited website or something or you can find the same information on multiple sites and not just one site that doesn’t look too “professional” as you could call it. Even in my daily life I’m constantly Googling terms, places and objects to find out about them and just get a well rounded feeling to different things and broaden what I know overall. And books are a beautiful source to gather information about, it’s got something for anyone in any time frame your looking for. You can find anything you need to, you just have to know where to start looking at. 

[3] The funerary temple design of Queen Hatshepsut speaks a very different design language than the pyramidal forms for other pharaohs. From your readings and the ideas addressed in class, RECOUNT possible reasons why Queen Hatshepsut used this building form. (5 points)

I think the reason these two structures speak completely different languages is because the pyramids appear in my mind to be a sign from men showing off their power and just what they can accomplish; leaving their mark on the earth. And the burial place for the queen is surprisingly much more welcoming, in my mind. I think it appears the queens temple is built into the land, which means having to consider a lot more. Considerations could be anything from scale to location to form to anything really. I guess even in todays societies some women would say that they themselves are much more considerate than the opposite sex. But the pyramids to me are beautiful but less inviting for sure; if I saw them I think the only thing I would feel like I could do is look at them. The temple on the other hand I feel like I could ascend myself up the stairs and walk through the physical structure therefore providing a much more personal experience than the pyramids could. 

[4] Although some evidence suggests links between the Egyptian and Greek civilizations, and some building forms and details provide support for that linkage, the two societies produced design responses in great contrast to one another. Select a building type (house, tomb, or temple) from each culture and ELUCIDATE similarities and differences in the two forms over time. Provide an annotated illustration for each selected type. (5 points)

The form I’m going to compare/contrast is the temple form embedded in both the Egyptian and Grecian culture. First I would say that both share many things in common such as in the temple form they both share many horizontal and vertical elements. Columns are something in both cultures that are just beginning to appear, although I would say the Grecian period is where your seeing a more refined column structure. In scale your also seeing a similar take, both are grand in scale... usually. Both cultures places are usually meant to honor something or something; in the Grecian world it was usually built for a god/goddess and in Egypt it was usually meant for the dead or a particular person as well. Now to contrast the ways in which these two cultures are different; the Egyptians embedded rich stories within nearly all their structures and Grecians didn’t really tell a story that was literally put into the stone. The Grecians used their land in a good way, building with the landscape and using what they had. Egypt it was slightly different for most cases especially with the pyramids in which your seeing a mark left on the earth in a big way. 

Hatshepsuts Temple

Temple of Hera

[5] Harwood shows examples of Egyptian furniture on pp. 60-61. HYPOTHESIZE about the lightweight nature of Egyptian furniture when compared to tomb architecture, as at the Pyramids of Giza, which many characterize as massive and heavy. (5 points)

In some ways the furniture of the Egyptians was similar to there buildings forms, they both used a lot of vertical elements. In the building form, that element would create its columns and in the furniture form it creates the four legs needed to sit down properly in a chair. Hierarchy also played a vital role in everything we know about the Egyptian society so the higher the chair was built, generally the higher a person’s role was. The chairs were generally built in the same form but it was how these chairs were embellished for the classes that separated them. I believe the daintiness of these chairs were to prepare them for the afterlife because they believed that what they had buried with them in their tombs traveled alongside with them to the afterlife and possibly they though these pieces of furniture did the exact same thing. 

[6] Based on a careful reading of the visual evidence in these two images, DRAW OUT an explanation of design and gender roles as you see both depicted. As this language of urns represents essentially one of the main ways we know about Grecian culture, COMMENT on the validity of such a practice of reading evidence. (5 points)

Women’s role in the Greek society were what we would expect I’d say... they were to clean, cook and take care of the children unless the household owned a slave in which the he or she would take control of those daily duties. And I feel like both of these urns sort of show the same thing about the Grecian society early on. The woman were inferior to the men, they were looked down on in those early times and they were to obey and do as the man said. And I feel like both of these urns depict all of these things quite clearly by showing in both of them women leaning to hand the men sitting down something.