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Egyptians built pyramids in order that their kings would live forever. The pyramids were not effective at allowing their kings to live forever so why did they b

by neilkk 3y ago

Egyptians built pyramids in order that their kings would live forever. The pyramids were not effective at allowing their kings to live forever so why did they build so many? Stone Age people painted the animals they were going to hunt on rocks so that the pictures would entrap the animals' spirit and they would be easier to catch. This method of ensuring a good hunt was not effective so why did they do so many paintings?

lupusreal 3y ago
The Egyptians believed their pyramids were effective. The nature of that belief made it difficult to challenge (who is to say those Pharaohs aren't still alive in their afterlife?) Military technology has to prove itself in this life, not the next. That's a more stringent test.
- neilkk 3y ago
  The Great Wall of China is military technology, would you consider that its effectiveness is proven?
  - samus 3y ago
    It was primarily built to create a geographical barrier where otherwise there was none. Even though all such barriers can in principle be crossed or bypassed, they can still cause considerable tactical and logistical issues for any attacker. Without the wall, raiding bands of any size could just slip through and cause havoc. Only large and well-organized forces had siege equipment to break through wherever they wanted. Similarly, traffic and migration of peoples could be controlled and tolls and customs could be enforced. It also acted as an infrastructure for fast transmission of messages. In those ways, like the Roman Limes and the European castle networks, it was mostly an infrastructure for peaceful times. But even in war, it was preferred to bypass it or to capture a gateway fortress, otherwise these forces could cause enormous problems for the attackers. For example, only allying with the Ming garrison at Liaoning made it possible for the Manchus to crush the short-lived Shun dynasty and establish the Qing dynasty.
  - reddit_clone 3y ago
    It must have yeah? It is not exactly the ice wall in Westeros. But it must have acted as a major speed bump for any invading army. Getting across animals and heavy equipment is not easy. Cause enough delay to send some more soldiers to deter them some more?
throwaway642 3y ago
> Egyptians built pyramids in order that their kings would live forever Pyramids were built for the after-life. Not as a way to extend their life on Earth. Nobody could verify if it actually worked, so it's mostly a question of faith. > Stone Age people painted the animals they were going to hunt on rocks so that the pictures would entrap the animals' spirit That's just speculation from historians. It may be that they are right, but there are also other theories. One other theory could be that it is a way of giving thanks to the animals, and a way to honor their loss. Personally I don't think there is a single reason why they painted animals. People have always had different motivations
- neilkk 3y ago
  Right so by analogy, it's possible that medieval castles were built a) for a reason that we don't understand or b) for a reason we do understand, but where the justification for why castles fulfil that requirement is dubious.
  - throwaway642 3y ago
    I simply replied to a statement that was false. We have a good understanding of why pyramids were built, and it does not match your statement. You made the following statements: 1. Pyramids were built so kings could live forever 2. The Egyptians saw that this did not work, but continued to build pyramids. The first statement is not true. The pyramids were built for the after-life. This invalidates the premise for your second statement, as the Egyptians could not verify that it worked in the after-life (or that there even is an after-life). Now that you see my reply in a different context, your castle analogy is also not relevant.
WalterBright 3y ago
> Stone Age people painted the animals they were going to hunt on rocks so that the pictures would entrap the animals' spirit and they would be easier to catch. This is pure speculation. The track record of speculations by archaeologists isn't very good. Probably the silliest speculation ever was when two gourds connected by a string were hypothesized to be an ancient telephone.

by neilkk 3y ago

lupusreal 3y ago

The Egyptians believed their pyramids were effective. The nature of that belief made it difficult to challenge (who is to say those Pharaohs aren't still alive in their afterlife?) Military technology has to prove itself in this life, not the next. That's a more stringent test.

neilkk 3y ago
The Great Wall of China is military technology, would you consider that its effectiveness is proven?
- samus 3y ago
  It was primarily built to create a geographical barrier where otherwise there was none. Even though all such barriers can in principle be crossed or bypassed, they can still cause considerable tactical and logistical issues for any attacker. Without the wall, raiding bands of any size could just slip through and cause havoc. Only large and well-organized forces had siege equipment to break through wherever they wanted. Similarly, traffic and migration of peoples could be controlled and tolls and customs could be enforced. It also acted as an infrastructure for fast transmission of messages. In those ways, like the Roman Limes and the European castle networks, it was mostly an infrastructure for peaceful times. But even in war, it was preferred to bypass it or to capture a gateway fortress, otherwise these forces could cause enormous problems for the attackers. For example, only allying with the Ming garrison at Liaoning made it possible for the Manchus to crush the short-lived Shun dynasty and establish the Qing dynasty.
- reddit_clone 3y ago
  It must have yeah? It is not exactly the ice wall in Westeros. But it must have acted as a major speed bump for any invading army. Getting across animals and heavy equipment is not easy. Cause enough delay to send some more soldiers to deter them some more?

throwaway642 3y ago

> Egyptians built pyramids in order that their kings would live forever Pyramids were built for the after-life. Not as a way to extend their life on Earth. Nobody could verify if it actually worked, so it's mostly a question of faith. > Stone Age people painted the animals they were going to hunt on rocks so that the pictures would entrap the animals' spirit That's just speculation from historians. It may be that they are right, but there are also other theories. One other theory could be that it is a way of giving thanks to the animals, and a way to honor their loss. Personally I don't think there is a single reason why they painted animals. People have always had different motivations

neilkk 3y ago
Right so by analogy, it's possible that medieval castles were built a) for a reason that we don't understand or b) for a reason we do understand, but where the justification for why castles fulfil that requirement is dubious.
- throwaway642 3y ago
  I simply replied to a statement that was false. We have a good understanding of why pyramids were built, and it does not match your statement. You made the following statements: 1. Pyramids were built so kings could live forever 2. The Egyptians saw that this did not work, but continued to build pyramids. The first statement is not true. The pyramids were built for the after-life. This invalidates the premise for your second statement, as the Egyptians could not verify that it worked in the after-life (or that there even is an after-life). Now that you see my reply in a different context, your castle analogy is also not relevant.

WalterBright 3y ago

> Stone Age people painted the animals they were going to hunt on rocks so that the pictures would entrap the animals' spirit and they would be easier to catch. This is pure speculation. The track record of speculations by archaeologists isn't very good. Probably the silliest speculation ever was when two gourds connected by a string were hypothesized to be an ancient telephone.