Download The functions and rituals of these two temples are mostly different.

Example of how to organize and write a comparison/contrast essay…
Left
Topic
Right
Temple of Amun-Ra, Karnak,
Egypt, New Kingdom Egyptian,
c. 1280 BCE
Identification
Parthenon, Athens, Greece,
Classical Greek, c. 450 BCE
King Sety I
Patron
(different)
Pericles and the Athenian
democracy
Aristocracy/ monarchy
Politics
(different)
Democracy
Polytheistic, dedicated to
Religion
Amun-Ra as King of the Gods
(similar)
and god of revealed and hidden
creation. Focused on afterlife.
Polytheistic, dedicated to
Athena as Goddess of War and
Wisdom. Not focused on
afterlife.
Daily ritual, with a procession
from darkness into light and
the feeding and clothing of a
statue of Amun-Ra
Ritual and
frequency of
use
(similar;
frequency
different)
Annual Panathenaic procession
ending in dressing the cult
statue of Athena in a new
peplos and sacrifices/feasting.
Egyptian sandstone quarried
with heat and stone tools
Materials and
tools
(different)
Time and Place
(different)
Painted Pentelic marble
quarried with durable metal
tools
Decoration
(different,
reflecting
function)
Columns
(Similar
vocabulary)
Idealized scenes of the
Panatheaic process and the
Greek victories over monsters
(Centaurs)
Doric and Ionic columns
800 years older, 500 miles
southeast, across the
Mediterranean Sea
Hieroglyphic scenes of the
daily ritual in the Hypostyle
hall
Papyrus buds and blossoms
Wooden or stone statue of
Amun-Ra for the ka of god
Sculpture in
shrine
(different)
Chryselephantine sculpture of
Athena as treasury
Obelisks in Oakwood cemetery
Local
connections
(similar)
Doric and Ionic columns on
local buildings, such as Madden
Hall.
Limited to priests and king,
especially past third pylon
Access (similar)
Temple itself is limited to
priests, acropolis was full of
people during Panatheneic
procession.
1. Use this formula when writing an introductory paragraph to a
comparison/contrast essay:
These two objects are similar in that topic, topic, topic, and topic. However,
they are different in that topic, topic, topic, and topic. (Do not provide details
in the intro.)
For example, using the comparison of the Temple of Amun-Ra and the
Parthenon, the introduction would read as follows:
On the left is the Temple of Amun-Ra, in Karnak, Egypt (c. 1280 BCE, New
Kingdom Egypt) and on the right is the Parthenon, in Athens, Greece (c. 450
BCE, Classical Greece). They are similar in that they are monumental temples
designed for limited access and featuring large, stone columns and painted
decorations. In addition, both buildings were the focus of religious rituals,
and one can find features on both of these buildings in local structures.
However, they were mostly different. They were built many miles and years
apart using different materials, tools, and styles. They had distinctly different
patrons and cultures with distinctly different religious beliefs, rituals,
purposes and political practices. The sculptures on both of these temples
help to explain their distinctly different purposes.
2. To write a paragraph with a topic sentence, select one topic (or a cluster of
related topics) from your grid and elaborate on all of the details related to the
topics that appear in your grid. Start the paragraph with a topic sentence.
For example, using the topics of “functions” and “rituals” for the Temple of
Amun-Ra and the Parthenon, the paragraph might read as follows. (I have
marked the topic sentence in bold):
The functions and rituals of these two temples are mostly different.
While both temples were religious centers, King Sety I and his priests used
the Temple of Amun-Ra to keep the Egyptian god Amun-Ra happy. They did
this daily by processing through the darkness of the Hypostyle Hall into light
near the obelisks between the third and fourth pylons and attending to the
god’s needs, whose spirit, they believed, inhabited a sculpture of the god that
they kept in the Temple’s inner sanctuary. The relief carvings in the
hypostyle hall reflect these rituals, which include offering the statue incense,
food, drink, clothing, and make-up. By way of contrast, the Parthenon was a
bank for the community’s treasury, which took the form of a chryselephantine
sculpture of the goddess Athena in the Temple’s cella. The temple was also a
symbol of Greek unity, military strength, and intelligence and a site of an
annual ritual, the Panathenaic Procession. Scenes of the procession, in which
the Greeks deliver animal sacrifices and a new peplos to the statue of Athena,
appear on the Temple’s Ionic frieze.