ABC Wednesday, Z for Zoomorphism

Zoomorphism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Zoomorph" redirects here. For the toy line, see Zoomorphs.

Zoomorphic decoration from the Book of Kells

Zoomorphism is the shaping of something in animal form or terms. Examples include:

• Art that imagines humans as non-human animals^.
• Art that portrays one species of animal like another species of animal
• Art that creates patterns using animal imagery, or animal style
• Deities depicted in animal form, such as exist in ancient Egyptian religion^.

The word derives from the Greek ζωον (zōon), meaning animal, and μορφη (morphē), meaning shape or form.
 Long before the common era, people tried to communicate by means of drawing images of animals. First these paintings were important for hunters to know where animals were available. Lateron the paintings got a religious meaning. Cave paintings were found all over the world in mountainous regions with caves

Emoe, Australia

Dingo, Australia

Bats, Australia

Rock paintings by Aborigines in Australia

Egyptian Religion

Thot with the head of an ibis

Horus  Zoomorphic representation in religion in Egypt.

Israel

Zoomorphic representation in religion

Some tribes of Israel are

 represented by animal symbols.

Read Gen.49

 

The stained glass windows by Marc Chagall  Israel

 

 

The Milbi Wall in Cooktown Australia represents a wall of stories told by the Aborigenes .

Each story is represented by an animal.

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  Tribal animals depicted by the Indigenous people of Australia
  
  
• Tribal animals depicted by the Indigenous people of Australia
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• We thank Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and we must thank Roger too for the weekly job to find  ten bloggers for each of the ABC Team members  to visit and to read their posts. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words   beginning with Z.

  Norway

  

  The Vikings used a dragon as their symbol.

  

  Norwegian legends often used animals.

  
  

  

  The dog Garm guards the entrance of the other world

  
  
  
  
  

  

  Odin on his eight-footed horse Sleipnir

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
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Weekend Reflections

 

 

 

 

This meme was started on 27 September 2009, by James. You can join this meme at some time during the weekend. Just post your photo and go to James to tell him that you are on, or click on the logo in the sidebar.This meme is created for any type of reflection.

ABC Wednesday,C for Culture

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Greek: 1100BC,
Viking:1000AD,
Aboriginal:50,000BC,
Egyptian:2000BC

Not so long ago a friend of mine rang me up and we started a conversation about culture. Where does the culture of people start? Does it start when a group of people is going to use written language and write books? We came to the conclusion that culture starts with the prehistoric storytellers, who laid the foundations for religion, philosophy and all kind of art forms, related first to legends, religions and daily life. The Celts and the Vikings had hardly any written literature, but that doesn't mean that they had no culture. They had a highly developed way of expressing themselves in paintings, woodcarving, jewelry, music, dance...The Australian Aborigines had no written proof of their culture either, but they had their storytellers. They created images in words, and in cave drawings each with a very important message. Their rituals are incomprehensible to Europeans, unless one of their elders explains them to us. The sound of clapsticks, bullroarer and digeridoo is unknown to many Europeans and Americans.
I believe that culture also depends on the living conditions of people. People who live in deserts live in tents, they are often nomads. Their food consists of what they find in the desert.
In the arctic regions, where there are no woods, people build their houses of ice. They eat fish and seals. Their clothes are made of skins or testines of fish.

Culture is a combination of living conditions, depending on environment, intelligence,ingenuity and creativity. Survival is the main goal. Food, housing and clothing are the first necessities. Communication is becoming more and more important to fill all those needs. Sounds and gestures are not enough, therefore language comes into being and customs arise. Then when a community is getting well organized, creativity can be used to create art. Language is now also used to amuse and teach people. Music and language together are even better means to tell stories and help to remember facts and legends. Language is now written down; first in stone or clay tablets, later paper is used. Housing is now not only used for accomodation, but people like to build beautiful dwellings, and so architecture becomes a new art form. Clothes are going to be designed not only to keep one's body covered and warm, but to become more attractive and colourful.

With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.We started a new round of the fascinating meme of ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with C.

ABC Wednesday V for Valley of the Kings

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The story of the Valley of the Kings begins with the decision of Tuthmoses I to seperate his tomb from his mortuary temple and to have his body buried in a secret place. His chief architect excavated a shaft tomb in a lonely ravine, cut a steep stairway into the rock, and at the bottom built the sepulchre; this plan was followed by all the later pharaohs. These graves were often disturbed by tomb robbers. So the priests decided to lay all the pharaohs in a large cave in the mountain of Deir el-Bahri. The forty pharaohs remained there for three thousand years. The tomb of Tutankhamen was found by Howard Carter in November 1922.It was a miracle that everything and especially the mummy was intact.The most impressive was the great sarcophagus; an enormous block of quartzite ,that housed four gilded wooden containers one inside the other. We believe Tutankhamen ruled Egypt between 1334 and 1325 BC. He was probably the 12th ruler of Egypt's 18th Dynasty.
Thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter V for ABC Wednesday. For more ABC posts click on ABC picture in my side bar.Join us in this wonderful meme!

ABC Wednesday: U for UNESCO

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A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that has been nominated for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's international World Heritage program. The program aims to catalogue and preserve sites of outstanding importance, either cultural or natural, to the common heritage of humankind.
Here are some of the buildings on the list of UNESCO for Egypt.

The Pyramid of Djoser(Zoser), or step pyramid is an archeological remain in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the city of Memphis. It was built for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by his vizier Imhotep, during the 27th century BC.

The Bent Pyramid is a unique example of early pyramid development in Egypt, about 2596 BCE. This was the second pyramid built by Sneferu.

Some believe that the pyramid of Cheops at Giza was built by slaves but this is not true. One hundred thousand people worked on it for three months of each year. This was the time of the Nile's annual flood which made it impossible to farm the land and most of the population was unemployed. He provided good food and clothing for his workers and was kindly remembered in folk tales for many centuries.

There are three pyramids at Giza, each of which once had an adjoining mortuary temple. Attached to this temple would have been a covered causeway descending down to a valley temple, near the Nile. The 'great' pyramid itself is truly an astonishing work of engineering skill - for over four thousands years, until the modern era, it was the tallest building in the world.

The Citadel and the Muhammad ‘Ali mosque..
In the 12th century, Saladin and his successors built an impenetrable bastion in the Citadel, using the most advanced construction techniques of the age. For the next 700 years, Egypt was ruled from this hill.
During the 1330s al-Nasir Muhammad, who ruled on three different occasions for a total of 42 years (AD 1293-1340) and was considered the greatest Mamluk sultan, tore down most of the Ayyubid buildings to make room for his own needs, which included several palaces and a mosque in addition to barracks for his army.
These, too, were not to last, for when the Ottoman Muhammad 'Ali assumed power in the 1800s he had all the Mamluk buildings razed and the complex entirely rebuilt; only the green-domed mosque and a fragment of al-Qasr al-Ablaq (the striped palace) remain. The Citadel's appearance today is the vision of Muhammad 'Ali, particularly the mosque that bears his name.
Source Wikipedia.

For more information: Here

Thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who has hosted this ABC game for the third round to the letter U for ABC Wednesday. For more ABC posts click on ABC picture in my side bar.Join us in this wonderful meme!

Camera Critters, Camel Head that cost me an Arm and a Leg.

 
 

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This camel head had cost me an arm and a leg. As soon as the cameldriver saw me taking a picture of his animal, he wanted money and as I only had one hundred Egyptian pound notes, I gave him one and asked 80 pounds back. He gave me 10. I said:"No, eighty!"He gave me 5 more. I said:"NO EIGHTY"...He went to one of his colleagues to change the hundred pounds, and gave me 50. I shouted at him:"EIGHTY"! Then he grabbed my hat, which I like very much, and put a strange white headgear on my head and his own filthy red-white checked scarf around my neck. I got so angry that I threw his things in his face and grabbed my hat back. Then at last he gave me seventy pounds, and I gave up my attempt to get the eighty pounds.

Facts about Camels.(from:fohn.net/camel-pictures-facts/)
Camels have lived in some of the most desolate corners of our planet, and not only do they live, they thrive. Most large animals are unable to survive in these kinds of desolate places. This is because of their large requirement for resources such as food and water. Camels are able to use this to their advantage as a survival strategy. By living in deserts, mountains, and other arid places Camels are able to avoid predators, and others who would compete for resources. Camels are only able to do this because of their amazing ability to efficiently use the resources their environments provide. A camel can travel long distances which allow them to take advantage of the maximum number of resources. They can withstand a massive amount of dehydration which allow them to survive not only between watering holes, but sometimes between seasons. When at a watering hole camels are able to gorge themselves and rehydrate quickly. For food, camels are omnivorous. They can eat almost anything be it vegetation, meat, or bone,-- salty or sweet, a camels stomach knows no limits. But it is their temperament that is truly endeared the camel to man. Docile and sweet under a caring hand, but stubborn and angry if ill treated, the camel both wins your heart and your respect


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