Art for art’s sake is a relatively new thing. We can argue about that of course but building huge structures requires a purpose - ceremonial or practical is what I was getting at.
...except maybe for all those ancient cave paintings. Are they art? Are they invocations to assist with a hunt? A recording of events? At 40,000 years old, they're pretty sophisticated.
“We can argue about that of course but building huge structures requires a purpose - ceremonial or practical is what I was getting at”
There’s often little difference between saying something has a “ceremonial” purpose, and no purpose at all though. For example, the Colossus of Rhodes. It was dedicated to the “sun god”, so you could say it had a “ceremonial purpose”, but it wasn’t a temple, so there were no ceremonies performed there or anything like that. It was just, for all intents and purposes, a giant piece of public art, like our statue of Liberty.