Tikal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tikal - Research Paper Example The temple pyramids were made of limestone blocks and lorded over other surrounding structures. Lattice of stone were also added in Maya roof comb to make it as a grand-looking edifice. Figure 2. The Mayan civilization (Schele & Mathews, 1999). Architects considered the Maya site in Tikal of Guatemala as most extraordinary construction of buildings as a work of art. The site is imposed with temples of the Giant Jaguar (ca. A.D. 700), Masks (ca. A.D. 699), and the North Acropolis (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010a). It was believed that at the core of the Giant Jaguar temple is a high priest’s tomb with hundreds of vases and jade as offerings. A quiet sanctuary was also built intended for worshipper at the top of the nine-tiered pyramid (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010a; Totten, 1926). The rooms in these temples are accordingly narrow and design for ritual or ceremonial activities only. Some perceived that the design and alignment of these rooms are significant and m ight have meanings too. Other eye-catching structures in the city are palaces in single-storey platforms with several rooms and with interior courtyards (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010b). The nunnery in Uxmal also looked like a palace (Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2010b). ... These structures are magnificently and impressively beautifying its plazas and courtyards. Architecture considered the Mayan city structures as expressive of sophisticated decoration of arts, carvings, and wall paintings of ancient symbols (Ching, Jarzombek, & Prakash, 2011). Those building are interconnected by roads made of stones, also known as causeways. Experts criticized that Maya city was built in an apparently unplanned manner and they observed that temples and palaces were torn but rebuilt repetitively in many centuries (Lees, 2011). Probably because local residents are incline to preserve these historic sites for tourism and for cultural reasons. Architects also described the site as wielded with defensive earthworks, especially those cities historically known to be resided by ancient Mayan civilization (Lees, 2011; Falk, 2012). For them, these protective walls are quiet unusual but they also thought that this could be a significant part of the conflict situations they had in those epoch (Lees, 2011). The Mayan civilization is prominent with its intricate but most accurate calendar system with such calculations that jibe with the solar years in tropical regions of the world (Dumois, 2012). They were combined geologists and astronomers who sourced their understanding of their relation to the world by seeking guidance to the movements and developments of heavenly body, like the sun, moon, stars and planets. They had their observatories, shadow-casting. Inspired by their studies of the celestial and astrological realities, they are able to make their Mayan calendar based on their chronicles. Experts opined that the constructions of their buildings are attuned with

English lesson 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English lesson 6 - Essay Example This is the reason for the argument by some scholars against the attainment of human longevity, because they acknowledge the inability to resolve diseases, which eventually cause death. Even so, as humans further research on longevity, they tend to move closer to achieving immortality. But because of the immature and unwise reasons for immortality, the author discredits it, citing the unpreparedness of humans to handle the associated challenges. As such, the author uses figurative language, repetition and irony to appeal to the reader’s pathos by arousing fear, doubt and disapproval on the attainability and attractiveness of immortality. This emotionally appeals to the reader’s appreciation of significant human longevity as having limits and not necessarily being a good thing. McCarthy extensively uses figurative language to appeal to the readers’ fear by suggesting that immortality is dangerous to human life. The author uses metaphorical comparison of â€Å"a h ighway of immortality† to instill fear of immortality to the reader (McCarthy 544). Highways are known to be wider and smoother than other roads, prompting reckless driving that poses the danger of crashes and subsequent injuries or loss of lives. In the same way, McCarthy considers immortality as a hurried idea which poses dangers to humans. Instead of improving on the quality of human life, it could end up destroying it. In fact, by comparing it to a kind of life that does not have â€Å"a weigh station of wisdom,† McCarthy (544) argues on the immaturity of the idea of immortality. Normally, weigh stations are meant to check on the vehicles transporting cargo to ensure that transporters abide by the set load limits so as to avoid damaging the roads. Thus, the use of this figurative language in this context suggests the recklessness in the pursuit of immortality without appropriate checks, which in turn exposes humans to the associated dangers. The author’s choi ce of examples enables her to sample similes that arouse disgust on immortality among the readers. The example of Steven Austad’s comparison of humans to an object, specifically a car, suggests that immortality would cause humans to lose their humanness and in turn be objectified (McCarthy 546). In order to keep a car on the move, the older worn-out parts need to be replaced with newer and more effective ones. In a similar way, in order to keep humans alive forever, their aged body parts would be replaced with fresher ones. Even though scientists are already replacing parts of human body so as to achieve healthier lives, the simplicity of replacement that this figurative language exhibits makes this argument doubtable and unreal; it makes it sound disrespectful to humanity. It portrays humans as simple objects that could be fixed as simply as a car would. This comparison that objectifies humans, likening them to a car, would most likely disgust the reader. This will subsequen tly portray immortality as an aspect that would cost humans their humanness, hence portraying it as unattractive. Repetition of words has also been used in this essay to emphasize the argument on longevity having limits. When describing Dr. Leonard Hayflick’s view on significantly increased longevity, McCarthy notes that â€Å"it won’t happen, it can’t happen, and if it did happen it would be a bad thing† (546). Without being categorical on moderate human longevity, this negation repetition of the word,