Myths/Architecture/Environment

Grade level: Adaptable for all grade levels, but especially good for students in global studies programs

Objectives for students:
· to gain competence in using three-dimensional art media

· to demonstrate how art forms reflect the beliefs, ideas, and views of ancient Egypt

· to participate in group production and exhibition of an "Egyptian temple"

· to create and decorate a temple to represent a particular environment and possible myths associated with it

Visual materials

Temple of Dendur
View of Luxor looking west across the Nile
Discovery of fragments of Hatshepsut's sculpture, Thebes

Advance preparation
Read the information accompanying each image as well as about the natural world.

Class discussion
Discuss the word environment and ask students to describe their own environment (city, country, small town, et cetera). List some of the features of the environment on the board (geographical features, weather, trees, plants, animals, et cetera.). Discuss what materials were used for building in this environment--wood, stone, bricks, sod, adobe. How does the architecture of a region reflect its natural resources? Buildings today can be made of many different materials, not necessarily reflecting the natural resources of the region. In fact, they tend to look alike and anonymous throughout the country because of this fact.

Environment not only affects the architecture of a region, it also shapes the beliefs and ideas of cultures. This is often evident in creation myths, legends from a particular culture of how the earth came to be.

Show view of Luxor looking west across the Nile. What natural features can students identify? Can they see the cultivated land, the water, the desert, and the sky? Which of these seems to be dominant? How might this affect the mythology of the area? What materials could be used for buildings and temples? Explain how the cliffs and hills are tunneled with tombs. There is even a mortuary temple at the base of the cliffs (see Discovery of fragments of Hatshepsut's sculpture, Thebes).

Briefly describe the Egyptian myth of creation as presented in "Cycles of Life." Ask students to note various features, such as the Nile River, the earth and its vegetation, the sky and the movement of the sun across it.

Look at Temple of Dendur. Ask students how this temple might relate to the environment in which it was created. It is made of sandstone, and the outer walls are carved in sunk relief. The brilliant Egyptian sun would strike the edges of the reliefs, creating crisp shadows to make them stand out clearly. The inner walls are carved in raised relief, which is easier to see in indirect light. Students may notice that the two columns on the porch are like stalks of papyrus. The reliefs are arranged in horizontal bands on the walls, much like the horizontal arrangement of the landscape elements in View of Luxor looking west across the Nile.

The temple is covered with symbols of the earth, sky, and water, and was an image of the natural world as the Egyptians knew it. Discuss how the figures of the king and the gods and goddesses are identified, even though they might be difficult to see in the work of art itself. Identify which symbols are associated with gods or goddesses.

Activity:
Materials:

boxes of various sizes and shapes
glue
scissors
cardboard pieces
cardboard rolls
paint or markers
construction paper

Preparation: Begin in advance to collect boxes, cardboard rolls, and flat pieces of cardboard.

Prepare several note cards that describe different environments, one card for each group of four or five students. These can include other regions studied, such as rain forest, desert, tundra, grass-lands, et cetera. Include as much information as is appropriate for the age group.

The teacher may wish to give a brief demonstration of how paper can be manipulated into three-dimensional shapes through folding and cutting techniques: rolling into columns, accordion-folding, cutting doors and windows, and so on.

Divide students into groups of four to five and give each group an index card that identifies a particular environment. Students should collaboratively discuss the features of that particular environment and list or sketch ideas for a temple that reflects it. They will need to think about materials available for building the temple, weather conditions, and decorative elements drawn from plants and animals of the region. Older students can concentrate on the symbolism and deities that might be present in such a region, using their knowledge of global studies.

As students come up with a plan for their temple, they may select boxes, cardboard, and other materials to begin building the structure. Decorative details can be added with colored construction paper, markers, or paint. Older students may wish to have geography books or magazines on hand for reference.

Connections
Language Arts: Ask students to write a creation myth from the region of their particular temple. Local deities should be identified with the environment, its animals and plants, weather, natural features, and so on. Display the written myths with the finished temples.

Social Studies: Read and compare myths from different parts of the world. How are they alike and how are they different? How do they relate to the environment? Which cultures have flood myths?

Did the ancient Egyptians attempt to control their environment? The story of how the Metropolitan came to own Temple of Dendur is connected with the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt. What other public projects to harness the environment can students identify?

If possible, take a field trip to see Temple of Dendur at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, or go to another museum with an Egyptian collection.

Science: Discuss the ecology of the Nile and the animals that lived in ancient Egypt, using the information in The Natural World.

Write a paragraph describing observations of a particular environment, perhaps one you visited on a vacation. What was the weather like? What did you notice about the animals, the rocks, the sand, or the trees? Was the sky an unusual color, or were the clouds different from what you are used to?

Math: Discuss the geometric forms that were used in the design and building of Temple of Dendur and the class-activity temples.

Dance/Drama/Music: Students may wish to dramatize their myths and present them to the class. This could be done in a variety of ways, through music and dance, dramatic readings, pantomime, or skits.