The Egyptians believed that hieroglyphs offered magical protection to people in this life and the afterlife, and inscribed the signs on monuments, statues, funerary objects, and papyri.
Ziggurats were mudbrick temples designed to bridge heaven and earth, anchoring religion, power, and architecture in the ancient Near East for thousands of years.
Kimberly Blaeser, a former poet laureate of Wisconsin, will accept a prize from the National Book Foundation next month for her collection of poems, Ancient Light.