Discuss the contributions of ancient Egyptian civilization to the modern world - Essay Example

Modern World Contributions of the Civilization of Ancient Egypt Table of Contents Contributions of Ancient Egyptian Civilization to the Modern World3Works Cited 5 Contributions of Ancient Egyptian Civilization to the Modern WorldThis paper discusses the contributions to modern civilization of the ancient civilization of Egypt. The literature provides a vast list of those contributions, spanning literature, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, the various sciences, architecture, and the preservation of human remains, as well as religion and the arts.

This wealth of contributions is still in the process of documentation up to the present time, especially with regard to certain aspects of ornamentation, and the way ancient mummification techniques lend themselves to making use of mummified remains to aid science and medicine in understanding ancient human tissues for use in modern medicine and similar disciplines, among others (Parmar; Tyldesley; Smith 22-35; Rice 5-26). The pyramids for one are a source of vital contributions to the modern world in the various arts and sciences that went into their construction, including in the realm of project management and architecture of the very large structures, the mathematics and civil works sciences that went into calculating with great precision the building blocks and the foundations of the pyramids, and the management of the workers, materials and the entire construction itself for the monumental works.

To this day the insights from the various disciplines that were utilized to create the pyramids and the vast public works infrastructure of ancient Egypt continue to inform modern day architecture, civil engineering, mathematics and artistic disciplines in the modern world, and the modern world owes the foundations of those disciplines in part from the high quality of those disciplines as practiced in ancient Egypt and as reflected in its monumental artifacts (Smith 22-35; Rice 5-26). Modern medicine too benefits from the ancient practices of Egypt with regard to the preservation of human remains and the extensive knowledge of physiology and the human body that such preservation knowledge implied.

The ancient Egyptians left behind numerous human remains carefully preserved and carefully documented in the documentation that they left behind as artifacts that continue to inform the modern world about rigorous methods of preservation, and a keen eye towards intimately knowing the inner workings of the human body. The human mummified remains too, in the modern world, are primed to allow modern scientists to gain insight into ancient humans, with implications for using such insights to improve human health and the practice of modern medicine.

The modern practice of medicine too benefits from the vast knowledge on the healing of the human body as bequeathed by ancient Egyptian doctors to posterity. There are aspects of the connection between soul and body, and mind and body, that were understood in ancient Egypt that remain to be further investigated in modern medicine too (Parmar; Tyldesley; Smith 22-35; Rice 5-26). Finally, there are the less tangible but more foundational contributions of ancient Egyptian civilization to the organization of modern European civilization and the formation of the culture, arts and sciences of modern Europe as they were fertilized from the culture, arts and ways of government and social organization of ancient Egypt (Parmar; Tyldesley; Smith 22-35; Rice 5-26).

Works CitedParmar, Pritika. “How the Ancient Egyptians Have Impacted Our Modern Day World”. Prezi. 20 November 2012. Web. 22 April 2014. Rice, Michael. Egypt’s Legacy: The Archetypes of Western Civilization 3000-30BC. Psychology Press/Google Books. 1997. Web. 22 April 2014. Smith, Elliot. The Ancient Egyptians and the Origin of Civilization. Gorgias Press LLC/Google Books. 2007. Web. 22 April 2014. Tyldesley, Joyce. “Ancient Egypt and the Modern World”. BBC History. 2011. Web. 22 April 2014.