Sticks, Stones, and Shadows by Martin Isler

Sticks, Stones, and Shadows by Martin Isler

What do the pyramids of Egypt really represent? What could have driven so many to so great, and often so dangerous, an effort? Was the motivation religious or practical?Richly illustrated with more than 300 photographs and drawings, Sticks, Stones, and Shadows presents an entirely original approach to the subject of pyramid building. Unlike other books discussing these majestic structures, this book reveals the connection between devices that served both a practical need for survival and a spiritual belief in gods and goddesses. Few have closely examined Egyptian technologies and techniques from the origins of pyramid development to the step-by-step details of how the ground was leveled, how the site was oriented, and how the stone was raised and placed to meet at a distant point in the sky. Nevertheless, this is much more than a how-to-do-it book. Martin Isler also asks and answers questions virtually ignored for the last century. He discloses, for example, the ancient use of shadows--now denigrated to the ornamental back-yard sundial--but once an important tool for telling the height of an object, geographical directions, the seasons of the year, and the time of day. Isler also reinterprets the ancient ""stretching of the cord"" ceremony, which once was thought to have only religious significance but here is shown as the means of establishing the sides of a pyramid.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780806133423
ISBN 10	0806133422
Title	Sticks, Stones, and Shadows
Author	Martin Isler
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	University of Oklahoma Press
Year published	2001-11-30
Number of pages	368
Prizes	Short-listed for Connecticut Book Awards (Nonfiction) 2002
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.