Topic 2.2: Egypt

Background Information

  • Ancient Egypt is seen as the building blocks of Greek and Roman culture.

    • Civilization lasted for more than 3000 years.

    • Much more stable civilizations then the Near East civilizations. (Assyria, Babylon, Sumer)

      • Costumes displayed in 3100 BCE showed 3000 years later. (continuity)

  • Royal Egyptian imagery was governed by decorum.

    • decorum: behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety.

  • Though it can appear static, their strict adherence to depictions were meant to represent stability, balance, and cultural rectitude.

    • rectitude: morally correct behavior or thinking, righteousness.

  • Egypt’s Geography

    • Topographic and cultural duality of a fertile valley and a barren desert.

      • kemet: black lands of the valley

      • deshret: red lands of the desert

    • The Nile River overflowed annually, leaving behind a rich silt which fertilized the land.

      • Reliability of the flooding led to the development of their calendar.

      • akhet: inundation

      • peret: growing season

      • shemw: harvest

  • The Egyptians had cyclical and linear concepts of time associated with their two primary deities.

    • Osiris: lord of the dead

    • Ra: Sun god reborn each dawn

  • Periods:

    • Predynastic Period (6000-3150 BCE): era before the recognition of dynasties or a line of hereditary rulers

    • Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BCE)*: "age of the pyramid”, considered the period in Egyptian history when the monarch had reached the height of power and authority

    • Middle Kingdom (2050-1800 BCE)

    • New Kingdom (Amarna Period) (1550-1100 BCE)*

      • The Amarna Period during the New Kingdom was important because of cultural reforms and stylistic changes.

      • Late New Kingdom (343 BCE)

        • *most relevant in artistic development

  • The Pharoah

    • Both the head of state and the religious leader of Ancient Egypt

    • Regarded as the mediator between the gods and the Egyptian people

    • Maintained religious peace, held rituals, created laws, conducted war and collected taxes.

    • Narmer united Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt and became the first pharaoh.

    • How to Recognize a Pharoah

      • Ankh: Symbol of life and carried in the hand of a pharaoh.

      • Nemes: The cloth headdress made of cloth pulled tightly across the forehead and tied in the back. Two flaps hung on the sides.

      • Scarab: Since scarab beetles lay their eggs in dung from which they hatch, Egyptians saw this as the process of rebirth and the daily movement of the Sun.

      • Uraeus: A cobra with a flared hood worn on the forehead, symbolized protection and acted as the guardian of the gates to the underworld, warder of enemies of the royal family, and guide of the pharaoh to the underworld.

      • Cartouche: An oval enclosing a group of Egyptian hieroglyphs, typically representing the name and title of a monarch.

      • Lotus Flower: A flower that blooms in the morning and closes at night, similar to the sun rising and setting; also viewed as a symbol of rebirth and as a symbol of renewal and promising everlasting life.

  • Egyptian art uses mythological and religious symbolism centered on the Sun.​

    • Hierarchical proportion identifies a deified pharaoh and the lower classes. ​

    • Humans interacting with gods combine profile and three-quarter views.

    • Portraiture styles depend on the figures societal rank.

  • The innovations that occurred in art and architecture did not veer far from the established norms, except for the Amarna period.

  • Egyptian Architecture

    • clerestory construction originates in the temples of ancient Egypt.

      • clerestory: applicable to Egyptian temple; the lighting of the hall of columns was obtained over the stone roofs of the adjoining aisles, through slits pierced in vertical slabs of stone.

        • Clerestory appeared in Egypt as early as the Amarna period. ​

    • Prior to the age of pyramids, rock-cut tombs called mastabas were used.

    • pylon temples: consisted of two tapering towers, each topped by a cornice, joined by a less elevated section which enclosed the entrance between them.​

    • Pyramids were never built alone​ and were part of great complexes known as necropolises. They were burial sites purposely built away from the city​.

  • Hathor was the Egyptian goddess of the sky, ​women, fertility, and of love.

    • Known also as the primeval mother goddess of all gods and pharaohs.​

    • Her husband was Horus, god of all of Egypt​

Required Works

  1. Palette of King Narmer. Predynastic Egypt. Greywacke. ​c. 3,000-2,920 BCE.

    • 2 feet tall; elaborate and much larger version than normal palettes​

    • Bas relief sculpture; depicts a narrative​

    • Multiple ground lines where figures stand; divides the picture plane into registers

    • Includes hierarchy of scale, twisted perspective and the delineation of musculature.

    • Unknown patron

    • Ceremonial purpose, dedicated to Horus​

    • In great condition: must have been an important ritual object and was infrequently used​

    • Utilitarian purpose (prepare/grind eye makeup for blinding sun, put around eye to reduce glare)​

      • would have been used as a ceremonial palette to grind makeup to put on cult statues of gods and pharaohs

    • Political propaganda; reveals an interpretation of a historical event​

      • Records Narmer’s unification of Upper and Lower Egypt (no one else had been able to do this)​

      • Reveals Narmer’s political power and prestige​; ennobles, aggrandizes, and commemorates Narmer​

      • Reveals that he is divine and an excellent ruler​

      • Celebrates military victories like in the Standard of Ur​

      • Display how Narmer balanced order and chaos; (fundamental Egyptian idea of the cosmos) ​