Staring Into the Past

I have a great fascination with Ancient Egypt. Today I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the opening of the King Tut exhibit in Atlanta. The exhibit included a 3D movie, 130 artifacts, and various pictures and multimedia presentations. It was a fantastic display, and it was incredible for me to view all these incredible art objects that were made 3,000 years ago.

For several thousand years the Egyptian empire existed, and their political and religious system changed very little during that time. In fact, their political and religious system were melded into one system — and it was this system that brought order, structure, and longevity to Egyptian society. This is perhaps why religion remains so popular today — because the rituals and belief systems create order and continuity.

Egyptian society was organized like a beehive, with the pharaoh serving as the queen bee. For an added touch, the pharaoh was turned into a god. This helped to create order and loyalty among the citizens. Obviously, not many people are going to disobey or disrespect a god, because, who knows, you might get cursed. So, the supernatural element helped to keep the citizenry obedient and submissive.

Today also confirmed something I've known for a few years — it was the Egyptians that invited our modern religion. Some of the parallels between Egyptian religion and modern Christianity gave me goosebumps. The Hebrews ripped the religion from the Egyptians, and the Christians are an offshoot of the Hebrews, with a little mix of Greek intellectualism. In other words, Christianity simply evolved in a continuum. And as for the Egyptian religion, they stole it from the early ancients who worshiped celestial bodies.

My final big observation today is the many parallels between Ancient Egyptian and modern Western Culture. No doubt, Ancient Egypt had a huge influence on the Greeks and Romans, who both invaded the nation at different times. In turn, all three of these ancient civilizations partly make us what we are today. Not only in fashion, but also in values and the way we think.

As I stared at the exhibits, I was amazed at the jewelry, furniture, and art objects. Many of these items haven't changed much in three millenniums. Many religious concepts haven't changed either. Wow, what a surprise. In some ways humans have progressed massively, but in other ways we haven't changed much at all.

One of the items that sticks out in my head were the toilet seats. Royal households had indoor plumbing. The only difference is that the poop from ancient royalty fell into a box, which was then removed by some unlucky servant. So, see, we have a lot to be thankful for today. Yeah.

Todd