Research Paper on:
Pyramid Architects from 2 Perspectives

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has also been the pyramids. The magnificent architectural accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians still astound and mystify each new generation. Scholarship in regards to ancient Egyptian art and architecture  can take any one of a number of approaches - historical, cultural, etc. However, one of the most fascinating approaches is from the orientation of art history. Two books  - Temples of the Last Pharaohs by Dieter Arnold of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Pharaohs Master-Builders by Henri and Anne Stierlin - look at the accomplishments of  this early civilization from this standpoint. These texts show the stylistic development that occurred down through the millennia when the colossal edifices of Egypt were an ongoing construction project.  While these books are similar in thematic content - i.e. they both address the same ancient Egyptian structures - and they both discuss the awe and wonder that the modern  viewer experiences when confronted with the degree of skill that this work required, these are, nevertheless, very different books. They each take different approaches that emphasize different aspects of the  study of ancient Egyptian art. First of all, Arnolds book is the more scholarly of the two. The statistics on each book say quite a bit about the emphasis  in each text. Arnolds book is 384 pages long, with 101 color halftones and 169 black-and-white halftones for 270 pictures in all. This still leaves considerable room for text (over  a hundred pages of plain text) as not all of the pictures are full or even half a page. On the other hand, the Stierlins book is 220 pages in  all, with roughly 200 illustrations. Even considering that not all illustrations are full page, these statistics show conclusively that there simply is not much room for text. As