Ancient Egypt Essays (1992 words) - Museology, Museum, Egypt

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt The term culture is one that can be defined in many ways. Culture is defined as: the ideas, activities, and ways of behaving that are special to a country, people, or region. Museums such as the Field Museum attempt to give its visitors a sense of the culture and history of different countries, as well as a sense of US culture and history. In this quest however, museums often focus on one specific nature of the culture [of a country] and lose sight of the whole picture - the entire culture. After all, the US culture is primarily a capitalistic one, and museums - in addition to their quest to educate the American public - overemphasize what they feel is the most intriguing aspect of a specific culture. In this manner, museum officials are looking to attract more people and consequently bring in more money. Capitalistically speaking, it is in their best interest to overstress the parts of an exhibit to which the public will be attracted. In doing so, however, the museum visitor does not get an objective view of the culture of a country. The Field Museum's approach to Ancient Egyptian culture attempts to cover all bases of the culture, but falls seriously short of doing just this. The Museum focuses too much on the Ancient Egyptian approach to death and the afterlife in a serious, informative aspect. This is done by the sheer location of the exhibit, providing numerous historical plaques, and by the mysterious, alluring atmosphere of the pyramid exhibit that the Museum gives to the visitor. Yet the Museum downplays the daily life of the Ancient Egyptians by pushing this less intriguing exhibit behind the afterlife exhibit, by providing few informative historical plaques, and by filling the exhibit with cartoons of the everyday life of the Ancient Egyptian, thereby simplifying the exhibit. Therefore, although the Ancient Egypt exhibit preserves a good sense of the preparation of death and afterlife aspect of the ancient Egyptian culture, it lacks in providing such a sound exhibit for the daily life of the ancient Egyptians, thereby portraying a false impression of Egyptian culture to the public. Located on the first floor of the museum, the Ancient Egyptian exhibit attracts visitors immediately; the ominous immense pyramid creates a dark, mysterious presence, and invites visitors to step inside. The first impression of the exhibit is of a focus on death and the afterlife. This may lead to the false impression that the Ancient Egyptian culture was driven around embalming and entombing dead bodies. As one makes its way through the labyrinth of the pyramid, one is surrounded by recovered organ jars, tombs, mummified Egyptians and the artifacts that they were buried with. The walls of the pyramid are authentic limestone taken from actual sites in Egypt. Large woven tapestries hang from one of such walls and describe the afterlife and the gods involved. Gods are all represented as having animal heads, and bodies of humans. Wooden cases that would be placed inside the immense stone tombs, stand upright and are open for public viewing: hieroglyphics on the inside of the wooden encasing describe the procedure of the afterlife for the person entombed inside. The pyramid houses many mummies, some of whose wrappings have come undone and allow the visitor to see the actual body of the mummy. The pyramid is a very captivating exhibit, and it's location - its proximity to the entrance of the museum creates a false sense of the Ancient Egyptian culture. A visitor who knows nothing about the culture is lead to assume that the majority of Egyptian life was used to prepare for the after life. At the end of the pyramid, the visitor is lead to a small exhibit whose purpose is to portray a sense of the daily life of the ancient Egyptian. The location of this exhibit, behind the pyramid, gives the impression of being a less important and less frequent aspect of Egyptian culture. The visitor is lead through a less cramped exhibit of the every day live of an ancient Egyptian. There is a display in which one can "envision himself as an Egyptian": the visitor can put his face up to a pane of glass, behind which is a model of an Egyptian face. The visitor is shown how he would look as a typical ancient Egyptian. This exhibit, while interesting and entertaining, has very little to do with every day life of the ancient Egyptian. Through out the exhibit, there are few artifacts, and even less information on the daily events of

Free Essays on Sparta Vs. Athens

As Greece ascended from the dark ages, two very distinct city-states, Sparta and Athens, each possessing its own unique values, defined its development. Athens emphasized the importance of democracy and shared justice, while Sparta prided its military prowess. Athenians boasted their superior form of democracy, while the Spartans would subject the youth to rigorous military training. A good education and a superior political system define the society in Athens, while aspiration for manliness and military glory shapes Sparta’s sociological structure. The ideal for Sparta was to train soldiers from their youth- to have a country full of able fighters and warriors. In fact, despite the relatively sparse population of Spartans, the community had a strong military presence, and extraordinary power. The ideal life was one striving towards the military. Obedience was the main subject of study among young Spartans, as they were sent to a public guardian, known as a paidonomos, instead of being treated by a private tutor. At the same time that life as a warrior was held in highest regard, death as a soldier was also the most lauded form of decease, as can be seen from the first line of a poem written by Tyrtaeus, a poet active around the Second Messenian War in the mid-sixth century B.C.E, â€Å"Beautiful and honorable it is for a brave warrior to die, fallen among the foremost fighters, in battle for his native land†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tyrtaeus promotes soldiers to â€Å"not begin shameful flight of fear†¦and do not show love for you r lives when you are fighting with warriors.† When a young soldier falls in battle, it is â€Å"beautiful and honorable when he lies among the foremost fighters.† The Spartans are taught here that he most important ideal in life is the military. The Spartan youth were subjected to a life that would prepare them for every possible situation bound to arise in a military scenario. They did not wear shoes, which would serve only ... Free Essays on Sparta Vs. Athens Free Essays on Sparta Vs. Athens As Greece ascended from the dark ages, two very distinct city-states, Sparta and Athens, each possessing its own unique values, defined its development. Athens emphasized the importance of democracy and shared justice, while Sparta prided its military prowess. Athenians boasted their superior form of democracy, while the Spartans would subject the youth to rigorous military training. A good education and a superior political system define the society in Athens, while aspiration for manliness and military glory shapes Sparta’s sociological structure. The ideal for Sparta was to train soldiers from their youth- to have a country full of able fighters and warriors. In fact, despite the relatively sparse population of Spartans, the community had a strong military presence, and extraordinary power. The ideal life was one striving towards the military. Obedience was the main subject of study among young Spartans, as they were sent to a public guardian, known as a paidonomos, instead of being treated by a private tutor. At the same time that life as a warrior was held in highest regard, death as a soldier was also the most lauded form of decease, as can be seen from the first line of a poem written by Tyrtaeus, a poet active around the Second Messenian War in the mid-sixth century B.C.E, â€Å"Beautiful and honorable it is for a brave warrior to die, fallen among the foremost fighters, in battle for his native land†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Tyrtaeus promotes soldiers to â€Å"not begin shameful flight of fear†¦and do not show love for you r lives when you are fighting with warriors.† When a young soldier falls in battle, it is â€Å"beautiful and honorable when he lies among the foremost fighters.† The Spartans are taught here that he most important ideal in life is the military. The Spartan youth were subjected to a life that would prepare them for every possible situation bound to arise in a military scenario. They did not wear shoes, which would serve only ...

LEGAL ASPECTS OF HOSPITALITY Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

LEGAL ASPECTS OF HOSPITALITY - Research Paper Example As a means of drawing inference upon these specific sectors of interest, this particular student will analyze these factors based upon the determinant of seeking to become a hotel manager. Furthermore, when choosing this particular topic, it came to the attention of the researcher that the specific subject matter has a direct correlation to both the legal matters as well as the applicability and practicality of choosing this specific field as a potential future career path. The reasons for this are as follows: 1) hotel management provides the most direct link between the client, the employee, and providing a high quality of service/ensuring future profitability, 2) hotel management requires that the hotel manager should be perennially cognizant of the means by which legal issues impact upon the work that they engage in, 3) hotel management is a promising and rapidly growing sector that represents a high level of opportunity for the graduate that has a background in hospitality or tou rism related sectors. The Responsibilities of the Hotel Manager Given the role of a hotel manager or the Deputy or Operations Manager, in absence of the general manager, he is to run the hotel on a daily basis. The hotel manager is tasked to give solutions to the emergencies and problem the hotel faces each and every day. The hotel manager also take charge of the different departments of the hotel. But most of all, the operations manager reports to the general manager who will give the tasks and responsibilities to him. The general manager asks for jobs to be done and sometimes does not necessarily ask for any rationales as long as he gets what he wanted. Thus it can be said that being a hotel manager is one of the most challenging job a hotel industry major can ever pursue as a career having to ensure the job gets done under his management an he gives smiles to his boss at the end of the day. What should be done? What are the jobs to be done by the management team as well as the la bor force? As enumerated by ACCOR (n.d.), the hotel industry "has a key role to play in sustainable development. Indeed, every hotel faces at its level the main current environmental issues: building heating, water consumption, household (guest) and industrial (laundry, restaurant) waste management, site preservation†¦ A hotel is thus a real proving ground for exploring new technologies and new lifestyles." These responsibilities are not as easy as they seem. The ground work for everything to keep together in a daily basis while having different sets of guests, season, environmental and financial status as well as the unexpected calamities may hinder keeping the employees do their responsibilities. The hotel operation is 24/7 and does not have any break time or closing hours like any other business. From maintaining the cleanliness, serving the requests of the guests and keeping all the facilities up and running smoothly require enough knowledge and dedication from the staff. A ccording to the interview done by Harvey Chipkin (2013) to Ted Mandigo, a veteran