Painted Limestone Pair Statue of Ptahkhenwy and his Wife Essay Example for Free

Painted Limestone Pair Statue of Ptahkhenwy and his Wife Essay A serdab is a hidden chamber in an Egyptian tomb from which the deceased are believed to view the rituals of their cult. In 1906, a team led by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expeditions explored a tomb in Giza, Egypt and were thrilled to stumble upon a painted limestone statue of a couple in the serdab of the tomb. The finding of the statue from the tomb was the first of its kind, and it was received with much excitement by the trustees of the museum. An inscription at the base of the statue identifies the man as Ptahkhenwy, supervisor of palace trainers and his partner’s name is not legible. The couple is believed to have belonged to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, which flourished from 2465—2323 B. C. This statue of Ptahkhenwy and his wife was sculpted from limestone and was about 70. 14 cm tall. It was painted, and the paint was almost intact at the time of the find. This was quite unlike other Egyptian sculptures, which were often excavated with their colors lost. Though Ptahkhenwy wasn’t of royal descend, the artist who made this private sculpture had tried to add a royal touch to it. This is evident from the pose of Ptahkhenwy’s wife who, standing beside Ptahkhenwy, has an arm embracing her husband. This pose is similar to the sculpture of King Menkaure and his queen. The man poses with his left leg forward, a traditional pose of a male, and the woman has both her feet together. This is not a true portrait. It is evident from the fact that both their facial features are the same. The artist seems to have made them so to concede with their wish of being remembered in this beautiful form in posterity. The artist had retained a traditional touch to the sculpture. Ptahkhenwy is colored in red ochre. This is the traditional color for Egyptian men and it indicates the work that they do outside their homes leaving them sunburned. His wife is colored in yellow ochre. This indicates that she was mostly bound to the insides of her house. The negative space between the couple is painted gray. Both their garments are in white color. The wife wears a V-collared sheath dress that was the traditional costume of the women of those times. To add an aesthetic touch, the artist has made the dress cling to the body of the woman. It is so tight that it reveals every part of her body and, according to the Museum of Fine Arts, even â€Å"walking would have been impossible† in such a costume. However, it was not so in reality. Women wore much looser garments enabling them to carry on their chores. The man wears the customary wrap-around kilt that runs up to his knee. The artist has added bright jewelry to Ptahkhenwy and his wife. This was common of the Egyptians of the time. Both wear broad collars. Bright colors in the collars are indicative of semi-precious stones or glazed earthenware. The lady wears two anklets and a bracelet. The design and color are almost similar to actual jewelry found in other Egyptian tombs. Both wear black wigs—Ptahkhenwy’s has curls cut in rows and his wife’s is parted in the center and reaches her shoulder level.

fallacy :: essays research papers

Description of Fallacies In order to understand what a fallacy is, one must understand what an argument is. Very briefly, an argument consists of one or more premises and one conclusion. A premise is a statement (a sentence that is either true or false) that is offered in support of the claim being made, which is the conclusion (which is also a sentence that is either true or false). There are two main types of arguments: deductive and inductive. A deductive argument is an argument such that the premises provide (or appear to provide) complete support for the conclusion. An inductive argument is an argument such that the premises provide (or appear to provide) some degree of support (but less than complete support) for the conclusion. If the premises actually provide the required degree of support for the conclusion, then the argument is a good one. A good deductive argument is known as a valid argument and is such that if all its premises are true, then its conclusion must be true. If all the argument is valid and actually has all true premises, then it is known as a sound argument. If it is invalid or has one or more false premises, it will be unsound. A good inductive argument is known as a strong (or "cogent") inductive argument. It is such that if the premises are true, the conclusion is likely to be true. A fallacy is, very generally, an error in reasoning. This differs from a factual error, which is simply being wrong about the facts. To be more specific, a fallacy is an "argument" in which the premises given for the conclusion do not provide the needed degree of support. A deductive fallacy is a deductive argument that is invalid (it is such that it could have all true premises and still have a false conclusion).

Place-Names: Its Cultural Significance Among the Western Apache Essay

Between 1979 and 1984, Professor Keith Basso of he University of New Mexico conducted a study of Apache places and place-names. Specifically, this stud focused on the ways in which the Apache refer to their land, the legends behind these places, and the ways in which these place-names are used in everyday conversation. Basso’s ethnography can be considered as an attempt to correlate social landscape with culture. Basso attempted to examine the effects of landscape to the everyday social interaction of Apache men and women. The Western Apache construction of history is a ‘worn trail’ created by the tribe’s first ancestors. It was also the same path that several generations of Apache undertook. It was in these places that ‘special events’ took place. The ancestors gave names to landscapes based on the events that happened there. These place-names were passed down from one generation to another to serve as a bridge between the Apache and their ancestors. It was in every sense, a memorial of the past, a dedication to the ancestors. Even if the landscape changed, its name remained alive in Apache culture. Basso then examined the specifics of the language used by the Apache to refer to place-names. Basso found that the Apache usually manipulated language (with regard to place-names) in order to elicit acceptable behavior and moralistic values from the members of the tribe. It can be said that the creation of place-names tales was generally moralistic in nature. It was intended to influence patterns of social collectivity. Its purpose was multi-faceted: 1) to provide enlightenment, 2) to criticize, and 3) to warn. The general implied purpose of place-names was to promote the general interest and unity of the Apache tribe. This is the reason why place-names remained a central force in Apache cultural life. As in every tribe, a historical tale is intended to create a critical and remedial response to specific situations, mostly on the individual level. An individual ho committed crime would have to be judged based on its implied offense to the historical value of place-names. The Apache examined whether such offense created a gap between the individual and the place-names. The landscape, therefore, served as the moral guide of the Apache. It generally outlined the dos and don’ts of an ethical and moral living. It was in every sense, the Apache view of moral life (a reference to ancestral events that occurred in specific places). The place-names when spoken evoked moral truths. Those who spoke it must know its essence. By judging it to be morally relevant, an Apache was expected to proclaim it from the heart. The process of knowing the truth must be silent and critical. One need not study it. Only an invocation from the heart would provide images of the truth and serve as an infallible guide to moral life. This â€Å"evoking of images† provided a direct form of criticism or advice without so much linguistic references. Thus, it can be said that the value of place-names to Apache life is both direct and indirect. It is direct because it served as a guide to the ideal life. It is indirect because the individual understood it from the heart. It was, in every sense, a bridge not only between the individual and the past, but also between the individual and the society. For example, the place-names of ‘great dog mountain’, ‘pillar of fire’, and ‘hill of discontent’ provided the means by which the individual may connect to the past. The anchorage of his actions could not be independent of the ‘will’ of these places, since these places are the only ones which give meaning to life. For an Apache, the ‘pillar of fire’ signified the foundation of life and the solitude of existence. The Apache mind rested on the edifice of these place-names both as a testimony to the greatness of their ancestors as well as the worth of its society. Reference Basso, Keith. 1996. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.

Avenging his Fathers Death in Shakespeares Hamlett

Hamlet is revealed as indecisive through his attempts to avenge his father’s death. Throughout the play, Hamlet is overwhelmed with his emotions and the feeling of revenge. Hamlet hesitates in killing Claudius due to his fear of making the wrong decision. He is held back by his excessive religious morals and beliefs. This indecisiveness is part of Hamlet’s character for most of the play, but he undergoes a drastic change. He begins to show an intention of immediate bloody revenge on Claudius. Prince Hamlet is a student who enjoys contemplating difficult philosophical questions. When his father, king of Denmark, dies, he returns home to find evidence of foul play in his father’s death. The Ghost of Hamlet’s father tells Prince Hamlet that his uncle Claudius is the murderer. Throughout the rest of the play, Hamlet seeks to prove Claudius’ guilt before he confronts Claudius. At times he is constantly overusing his intellect while ignoring his emotions, and ignoring what is the right thing to do. His extreme logic causes him to delay his revenge against Claudius until the final scene of the play. Where Hamlet kills Claudius and proves that Claudius did murder his father. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet acts out of pure intellect and processed logic. He dismisses his natural instincts. He is afraid to act with them. For instance, when Hamlet encounters his father’s ghost; he does not believe it is his father. Even though he has an emotional reaction to the ghost.