Pre-Dynastic

Cosmetic Palette of King Narmer

• Ritually buried in a deposit within an early temple of Horus (falcon god)

• Made of smooth greyish-green siltstone

• Decorated on both faces with detailed low-relief

• King Narmer

• Daily use item for dark eyeliner

• Larger, far more elaborate compared to other palettes

• Used in temple ceremonies, perhaps to grind or mix makeup to be ritually applied to the image of the god

• Front Side

  • First (from bottom to top): Bull (representing the king?), knocking down the walls of a city

  • Second: Serpopads (mythical creatures)

  • Third:

    • Priest wearing a leopard skin following 4 divine standards

    • Narmer with a sandal bearer behind him, wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt

    • Boat preceded by a swallow and open door

    • Foes decapitated and castrated; severed parts placed together between legs

  • Fourth:

    • Head of the Goddess Bat or Goddess Hathor

    • Narmer’s name is written with symbols of a catfish and chisel within a palace

• Back Side

  • Bottom: Dead foes with a walled city, perhaps personifications of cities

  • Top:

    • Narmer wearing the “White Crown” of Upper Egypt, bull tail, Royal Beard, and a kilt associated with the Goddess Bat

    • An impotent foe

    • Sandal-bearer

    • Falcon with a human arm is the God Horus, shown holding a rope blinding foe’s head which is emerging from a marsh (likely a personification of Lower Egypt)

    • Mace-Pose used for the next 3,000+ years, also referred to as a “smiting” pose

• Historical narrative record of the initial unification of Egypt under one ruler

• Or ceremonial and related to the concept of unification in general

Old Kingdom

Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt

• Notable artwork from the Mastaba of Ti, a high-ranking official.

• Old Kingdom

• Saqqara, Egypt

• Ti is depicted as much larger than his surrounding figures

  • Emphasizing social importance rather than actual physical size

• Represented the triumph of order over chaos

  • Hippos were considered dangerous and destructive

    • Hunting them was seen as an act of restoring order.

• Twisted perspective

• Found in the Tomb of Ti

• In ancient Egyptian belief, hunting was not just a leisure activity

  • Symbolized the triumph of order (ma'at) over chaos (isfet)

  • Hippopotamus often representing destructive forces.

Great Pyramids

• Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure

• Smaller pyramids belonging to queens

  • A large cemetery of smaller tombs, known as mastabas

• Grid-like pattern and constructed for prominent members of the court

• Being buried near the pharaoh was a great honor and helped ensure a prized place in the Afterlife

• Solar reference, perhaps intended as a solidified version of the rays of the sun.

• A permanent group of skilled craftsmen and builders were supplemented by seasonal crews

Seated Statue of Enthroned King Khafre

• Sculpture of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Khafre that depicts him seated on a throne

• Valley Temple of Khafre's pyramid complex near the Great Sphinx

• The sides of the throne are decorated with a symbol of the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt

• Behind Khafre's head, the falcon-god Horus spreads his wings in a gesture of protection.

• Made from green diorite

New Kingdom

Funerary Mask of King Tutankhamun

• Rested directly on the shoulders of the mummy inside the innermost gold coffin

• Constructed of two sheets of gold that were hammered together

• Tutankhamen is depicted wearing the striped nemes headdress with the goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet

• Wears a false beard that further connects him to the image of a god

• Wears a broad-collar

• The back of the mask is covered with Spell 151b from the Book of the Dead

  • Egyptians used it as a road map for the afterlife

  • Protects the various limbs of Tutankhamun as he moves into the underworld

• Ka statue

Vocabulary

• Nile River

  • Vital part of ancient Egyptian life, providing water for crops, transportation, and other resources.

  • An important part of Egyptian spiritual life

    • Believed it was a causeway to the afterlife.

• Osiris

  • Judge of the dead, symbol of hope, god of fertility, and an embodiment of the dead king.

  • One of the most important gods in ancient Egypt

  • Often depicted as a mummified man with green or black skin,

  • Wears a pharaoh's beard and an atef crown and holds a crook and flail.

• Horus

  • God of the sky and kingship

    • Pharaohs were closely associated with him 

  • The left eye represents the moon and symbolizes healing

  • The right eye represents the sun and power

  • Symbolized divine power and protection

  • Often depicted wearing a double crown

    • Represented the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.

• Hathor

  • Goddess of the sky, mothers, fertility, love, and the dead.

  • Represented as a cow

  • So important to the Egyptians that she was worshipped throughout the entirety of ancient Egypt

• Set

  • God of chaos, violence, disorder, war, deserts, storms, and foreign lands.

  • Translated as "instigator of confusion" and "destroyer"

• Akhenaten

  • Name of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who changed his name after converting to the worship of the sun god Aten

  • Established the first monotheistic state religion in the world

  • Closed and destroyed temples dedicated to other Egyptian gods

  • Had references to Amun and the plural "gods" chiseled away from monuments

  • Canceled festivals that were important in Egyptian social life

• Amarna Period

  • Time of major religious, political, and artistic change

  • From polytheism to monotheism

    • Sun god Aten becomes the primary deity

  • New artistic style that depicted the human body in more realistic detail, with naturalistic details like earplugs, neck wrinkles, and distinguished toes.

  • The royal family was portrayed in more intimate ways

  • The capital was moved from Thebes to Akhetaten

  • Tomb paintings focused on the royal family worshipping the Aten, rather than the deceased's daily life.

• Elongated

  • Elongated head shapes were often a way to distinguish individuals or to mark someone as a leader

• Monotheism

  • The belief that there is only one god, and the term comes from the ancient Greek words mono (one) and theos (god).

• Iconography

  • Used to describe the entirety of ancient Egyptian art and the symbols used in it

  • Colors were used to communicate meaning to the gods

• Sunken Relief

  • Figures are carved into a flat surface, creating an image that is set below the surrounding surface.

  • Different from other types of relief, such as bas-relief or high relief, where the figures protrude from the background.

  • Most effective in strong sunlight, where the shadows emphasize the outlines and forms.

• Hieroglyphics

  • Stylized picture of an object representing a word, syllable, or sound, as found in ancient Egyptian and other writing systems.

• True Pyramid

  • Pyramids with smooth sides that maintain the same angle to the top, as opposed to the more common step pyramids.

  • The term "true" pyramid is used to differentiate between the ancient Egyptian pyramids and other types of pyramids

  • Built with extreme precision, requiring many points of measurement to ensure the geometry was carefully controlled.

  • Designed to have a chamber for the pharaoh's tomb above ground, rather than a burial place below ground.

• Rock Cut Tomb

  • Burial chambers were carved into natural rock formations and were a common form of burial for the wealthy

  • Built into cliffs or sloping rock faces but could also be cut into flat ground

  • Sometimes constructed with false corridors and blocked doors to confuse thieves

• Syncretism

  • Combining the names and natures of gods to create new composite deities

  • Could combine deities with similar characteristics or very different natures

• Ma’at

  • Egyptian goddess and concept that represented truth, balance, order, justice, harmony, and morality.

  • Believed that Ma'at regulated the actions of the gods and mortals, the seasons, and the stars.

  • Often depicted as a young woman with an ostrich feather on her head, or simply as the feather itself.

  • Egyptian temples were built to represent the establishment of Ma'at on Earth, with orderly interiors and chaotic exteriors.

• Canon of Proportions

  • Mathematical system used by the ancient Egyptians to create ideal human figures in their art

  • Used to create systematic figures with the same proportions

  • Developed during the Old Kingdom

  • Because everyone used the same formula, most Egyptian people look very similar.

  • Used to capture an ideal human form throughout history

• Stele

  • A monument made of stone or wood that was used to commemorate people or events, mark boundaries, or access the divine.

  • Marking graves, deifying kings, demarcating property, publishing decrees, and accessing the divine.

  • Often placed in the walls of chapels, but some were free-standing.

• Necropolis

  • Cemetery, especially a large one belonging to an ancient city.

• Ka figure

  • Statue that provided a resting place for the ka after death

• Mastaba

  • Ancient Egyptian tombs were rectangular with sloping sides and a flat roof, standing to a height of 17–20 feet

  • Consisting of an underground burial chamber with rooms above it in which to store offerings

• Step Pyramid

  • Large architectural structure with a geometric pyramid shape that's made of stacked stone layers and flat platforms that recede from the ground

  • Used as tombs, with tunnels underneath for burying bodies and funerary goods.

  • Chapels for placing offerings to the dead or gods

  • Monuments to local religions

  • Symbolize the power and prestige of rulers and leaders

  • Smaller and usually have flat tops while "true" pyramids have smooth sides and pointed tops

• Imhotep

  • "The one who comes in peace"

  • Name of an ancient Egyptian polymath who was a mathematician, physician, architect, astrologer, poet, priest, and chief minister to Pharaoh Djoser.

  • World's first architect whose name is known.

    • Invented the method of using columns and stone-dressed buildings.

    • Best known for designing the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara

  • Known for his medical writings

  • Worshipped as a deity after his death

    • Temples and shrines were built in his honor in Memphis and Philae.

    • One of only two Egyptians to be fully deified, the other being Amenhotep.

• Ka, Ba, Akh

  • Ka: life force

  • Ba: personality

  • Akh: spirit of a deceased person who has been judged and transfigured into a blessed being

• Mummification

  • A complex process used to preserve bodies for the afterlife where it was believed the soul would return to the body

  • The body was washed and purified as soon as possible after death

  • The brain was removed and liquified, and other organs were preserved.

    • The heart was usually left in the body because it was thought to be the center of intelligence and feeling.

  • The body was dried using a sodium salt mixture called natron.

  • The body was anointed with coniferous oils and perfumes.

  • The body was wrapped in linen strips glued together with resin.

  • The body was placed in a burial tomb or sarcophagus.

  • Mainly done for wealthy people

    • The quality of the mummification varied depending on the price paid

• Sarcophagus

  • Stone coffins or containers to bury the wealthy and leaders

  • Elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings

  • Protected the corpse from tomb robbers and scavenging animals

  • Served an important religious role

  • Included a door for the soul to pass through, eyes so that the decedent could continue to view the world, and a list of food offerings.

  • Usually displayed above ground, though they may also be buried.

• Ashlar Masonry

  • Type of stone construction that uses uniformly cut stones that are laid in horizontal layers with minimal mortar

  • Expensive because it uses quarried and dressed stones

• Serdab

  • Chamber in an ancient Egyptian tomb that housed a statue of the deceased

  • Used during the Old Kingdom to house the ka statue of a deceased person

  • Located in mastabas, a type of rectangular tomb with sloping walls and a flat roof.

  • Often concealed or only accessible through a narrow passage

  • Sealed chambers with a small hole or slit to allow the deceased's soul to move around and to let in the smell of offerings

  • May have contained inscriptions, such as the owner's testament and a mortuary cult.

• Pharaoh

  • Ruler of ancient Egypt and was both the head of state and the religious leader of the people

  • Considered a god chosen to lead the people and maintain order

  • Responsible for the economic and spiritual welfare of their people, and dispensed justice.

  • Believed to be the mediator between the gods and the world of men

  • After death, the pharaoh became divine and passed on their powers to their son.

  • Governed by royal decree and had a supreme will

    • Delegated responsibility to their chief assistant, the vizier, who was also the chief justice, head of the treasury, and overseer of records.

Other

• Evolution of Egyptian Tombs

  • Mastaba → Stepped Pyramid → True Pyramid → Rock Cut Tombs