2006-07-05 05:52:59 · 5 answers · asked by redskins71 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Sculpture
An obelisk is a tall, thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone (a monolith). The term stela (plural: stelae) is generally used for other monumental standing inscribed sculpted stones not of classic obelisk form.
The obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure.
It is hypothesized by New York University Egyptologist Patricia Blackwell Gary and Astronomy senior editor Richard Talcott ("Stargazing in Ancient Egypt," Astronomy, June 2006, pp. 62-67) that the shapes of the ancient Egyptian pyramid and obelisk were derived from natural phenomena associated with the sun (the sun-god Re being the Egyptians' greatest deity). The pyramid and obelisk would have been inspired by previously overlooked astronomical phenomena connected with sunrise and sunset: the zodiacal light and Sun pillars, respectively.
2006-07-06 02:53:31 · answer #1 · answered by samanthajanecaroline 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Obelisks is an architecture of the ancient Egyptians.An obelisk is a tall, thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone (a monolith).The obelisk symbolized the sun god.
2006-07-05 05:59:43 · answer #2 · answered by KD 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pharos in old Egypt used to carve in big stones a four sided tapering pillar which is pointed from the top. This shape is called obelisk. They used to write from the 4 sides of the obelisk in the Helogaraphic language(old Egyptian language). Some oblelisks tell you stories about kings or their conquests or......Oblisks are signed by the kings name and this signaure is called the cartouche. Oblisks can reach more tha 20 meters and Pharos had a very interesting way in raising them from the ground to stand up right. There are a lot of them in Egypt and there is one in France(taken from Egypt)
2006-07-05 06:08:53 · answer #3 · answered by mico 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a phalic symbol used to keep marauding tribe away from your village in ancient times
2006-07-07 11:28:46 · answer #4 · answered by DBM 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
try these links:
http://www.crystalinks.com/obelisks.html
http://members.aol.com/Sokamoto31/obelisk.htm
http://egipto.com/obeliscos/histo2.html
2006-07-09 20:42:45 · answer #5 · answered by K 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋