wow. a newbie who can argue a point! i'm impressed mac. it's true, just think of how often people are making renovations to buildings today. they are beautiful examples of modern architecture, but wouldn't stand a change without regular upkeep.

i don't see why one kind of building has to be better than another. the pyramids are amazing because the task of construction on that scale without modern machenary was a huge undertaking, and they display some of the earliest examples of complex mathamatical thought and have withstood the test of time. modern skyscrapers are equally awe-inspiring for their sheer magnitude, the architecture they employ, and they fact that they are as functional as they are beautiful. why should one be more important or better than the other?

quote:

Steel is more resilliant than stone and brick. sounds pretty simple to me.

Resilient to what? Time? Stone and brick don't rust.

Steel is more resilliant than stone and brick. sounds pretty simple to me.

quote:

FreeMarket is right, the great monuments to capitalism will endure. our greatness is neverending.

I disagree. It would not endure as long as the pyramids I'm fairly certain. Have you even heard of Occam's Razor. The simpelst solution is probably the best one. Ancient civilizations buildings withstood time (A small amount at that) because for one we've renovated them several times and second they were made of very natural materials. Simple as they could get. As another person said they were more mountains than buildings. Todays buildings I'd guess wouldn't last long without maintenence checks and other things.

FreeMarket is right, the great monuments to capitalism will endure. our greatness is neverending.

Ziggurates didn't have running water.
Ziggurats were also built by slaves.
NO electricity.

Freemarket was saying the pyramids were better than the ziggurats. not sky scrapers. His point is that the pyramids still stand and skyscrapers are much better than pyramids. So certainly our modern skyscrapers will endure. you should read freemarkets original post on this forum.

I don't understand your post marine.

Built below the standard of the Egypitians?

The pyramids were buolt by slaves.

The pyramids did not have running water.

The pyramids did not have electricity.

The pryamids did not have central air conditioning.

The pryamids did not house live occupants, onluy mummies.

The pryamids did not have windows.

Big? Thats profound.

But that mespotaman thing looked real big.

They were built below the standard set by the egyptian's 500 years before. They bought cheaper buiding materials, they got a cheaper product. Since you think cheap building materials were the culprit, I'll resolve to saying the ziggurats were cheap. Cheaply built piles of rubble.There.

And Ikki, the ziggurat isn't more unique. it is a giant "step pyramid". those are seen around the world; yucatan, brazil, peru, early egypt. Egypt's great pyramids are unique, there aren't any like them in the world. Take an Art History class, you'll enjoy it.

You get the point, the Mesopotamias did have sound building techniques and knew geometry. And furthermore, the reason mud brick was used was because it was cheaper. It is hard to be able to afford to have stone blocks carried from Turkey to Kiwait when your country is about the size of New York City.

But you seemed to think they survived well on their own before. O well...

The Ziggurat does seem more practical than the pyramids though, and it is more unique.

You showed a link to a picture of the Nanna Ziggurat from the city of Ur south of the Euphrates. The Nanna Ziggurat doesn't have an infrastructure, it's solid earth in the middle. they were just built high to get closer to and in tribute to the moon god nanna. The first two levels of the Nanna Ziggurat were reconstructed recently. You can kind of see some rubble on the top. Thats what the whole thing looked like before they rebuilt it. The mud brick nanna was made of simply doesn't last 4000 years. It's a giant stepped retaining wall. Here is a picture of an actual peice of great building. The three taller pyramids below were built 500 years before the Nanna Ziggurat, were never rebuilt and have lasted longer. They also have a complex infrastrucure of hallways and rooms.And oh yeah; There's THREE of them!
The Ziggurat doesn't come close and it was built a half millenia later!

http://tinypic.com/1gghg6

Ur, 2100 BC

This is a poorly constructed building?

I wouldn't know, my friends uncle owns the ski-parke we went to. Colorado is the best skiing in the world(Alaska or Canada for backwoods).

skiing in Europe is expensive though. We had an exchange with a german girl, and she said the prices were peposterous there.

Good, switzerland was not too great this season. I'm yearning for some good skiing. But the nice thing about Skiing Swisse is no snowboarders, they're dirty.

You'll have fun, it's a great ski season this year.

I wish i were in denver. I just returned from france and am in Minneapolis for a fundraiser. The minnesotans think it's warm toaday. It was 17 Degrees! I will be in Winter Park, CO to go skiing in a few weeks though.

it was pretty too.