Ancient Egypt

An Introduction
 Reporting Objectives
To share our knowledge of the following:
 Ancient Egypt
 Arts that represented each of the Egyptian
Division of Kingdoms
 Meaning behind the Arts
 Intoduction
 Geography
 The Nile and its importance
 The Pharaohs
 Concept of Kingship
 Division of Kingdoms
 Hieroglyphs
 Egyptian Clothes
Egyptian Geography
Egyptian Geography
 Located in the Northeastern
part of the African Continent
 The General landscape is bare
like a desert.
 It was defined by its most
important geographical
feature, the River Nile.
 The Nile River

 It is the longest river in the

World.
 Runs approximately 4000
miles from East Africa to
the Mediterranean
 The River flows from
South to North
 3 rivers from the South
flows in The Nile: The
Blue Nile, The White Nile
and the Arbara
Importance of The
Nile River

A list of ‘Why the Nile River is

important to Egypt’

Credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk
 Importance of The Nile River
1) Source of Water used as irrigation

2) Source of Fish, Flax, Game, Papyrus

3) The Delta and its mouth posed obstacles to invaders

4) Created Political unity (Shaped Political Thought)

 ② ③

①
①Flax
②Game (Ducks in
Nile Marshes)
③Papyrus
 The Pharaohs
 Egypt was ruled by Pharaohs
 And vast scale Egyptian Monumental Art began with
Pharaonic Rule
 The Egyptian Concept of Kingship

 Kings or their so-called ‘Pharaohs’ are also considered to be

gods.
 They ruled according to ‘maat’, a divinely established order
(Maat also refers to the goddess of truth, right and orderly
conduct.).
 Example: The god Ra (Re) was guised as the Third Dynasty
Pharaoh
 Incestuous marriages, monogamous, grounds for divorce
 Division of Kingdoms
 Predynastic and Early Dynastic Period

 Old Kingdom

 First Intermediate Period

 Middle Kingdom

 Second Intermediate Period

 New Kingdom

 Third Intermediate Period

 First Millennium Period BCE

Hieroglyphs
 Hieroglyphs
 Greek words, ‘Hieros’ (sacred) and ‘Glyphos’ (words or
signs)
 Egyptians called it, ‘Mdju Netjer’ or ‘Words of the Gods’
 Knowledge of the hieroglyphic was lost until Jean-Francois
Champollion used the Rosetta Stone to decipher the script.
 Hieroglyphs
The Rosetta Stone
- It contains 3 different scripts or
texts (Hieroglyphics, Demotic and
Greek) which means the same in all
3 different scripts except for minor
differences.
 Egyptian Clothing

Female
Nobility

Male Nobility Priest

 Egyptian Clothing

Male Peasants

Children
Female Peasants
The Gods and Goddesses
of Egypt
 Gods and Goddesses
 Egptians believed that before the beginning of time, the
primeval waters, called Nun, existed alone in the darkness.
At the moment of creation a mound rose out of the limitless
waters where the creator god appeared and brought light to
the world .
 In later times, the mound was formalized as a pyramidal
stone called the “ben-ben” supporting the supreme god ,
Amen , the god of the sun (Re).
 Gods and Goddesses
 Shu and Tefnut- the primary male and female forces in the
universe. They coupled to give birth to Geb(earth) and Nut
(sky) who bore Osiris, Seth , Isis , and Nephthys.
 Osiris- the eldest was the god of order and was revered as
the king who brought civilization to Egypt.
 Seth- brother and evil opposite of Osiris, is the god of
chaos. He murdered Osiris and cut him into pieces which he
scattered across Egypt.
 Maat

Anubis

Osiris
 Gods and Goddesses
 Isis (wife of Osiris) and Nephthys(wife of Seth) succeeded in
collecting Osiri’s body parts, and with Isis’ powerful magic,
Osiris was brought back to life.
 The resurrected Osiris fathered a son with Isis named Horus who
avenged his father’s death and displaces seth as king of Egypt.
 Osiris then became the lord of the Underworld.
 Horus- represented in art as either a falcon, considered the
noblest bird of the sky, or as a falcon-headed man.
 All Egyptian pharaohs were identified with Horus when alive
and with Osiris when dead.
 Gods and Goddesses
Other gods
 Mut- the consort of the sun god Amen
 Khonsu- the moon god and the son of Mut and Amen
 Thoth- another lunar deity and the god of knowledge and
writing. He appears in art as an ibis, a baboon, or an ibis-
headed man crowned with the crescent moon and the moon
disk. When Seth tore out Horus’s falcon-eye(wedjat), Thoth
restored it. Thoth was also associated with rebirth and the
afterlife.
 Ra (Re)

Isis

Amun
 Gods and Goddesses
 Hathor- daughter of Re, was a divine mother of a pharaoh,
nourishing him with her milk. She appears in Egyptian art
as a cow-headed woman or as a woman with a cow’s horn.
 Anubis- a jackal or a jackal-headed deity, was the god of
the Underworld and of mummification.
 Maat- another daughter of Re, was the goddess of truth and
justice.
Pre-Dynastic and Dynastic
Period
 Pre-Dynastic Period
 corresponds to the Late Neolithic (Stone Age), and covers
the cultural and social changes which occurred between the
late Palaeolithic period (hunter gatherers)and the early
Pharaonic era (the Early Dynastic Period)
 developed a written language and an institutionalised
religion
 developed a settled, agricultural civilization along the
fertile, dark soils (kemet or black lands) of the Nile
 Pre-Dynastic Period
 divided into four separate phases: the Early Predynastic
which ranges from the 6th to 5th millennium BCE
(approximately 5500 - 4000 BCE), the Old Predynastic
which ranges from 4500 to 3500 BCE (the time overlap is
due to diversity along the length of the Nile), the Middle
Predynastic which roughly goes form 3500 - 3200 BCE,
and the Late Predynastic which takes us up to the First
Dynasty at around 3100 BCE.
 Pharaohs
Narmer
 very first king
 from a big ceremonial siltstone
palette
 catfish (Nar) and a chisel (mer)
made up his name
 father of the next pharaoh to be
– Aha
 Pharaohs
Scorpion II
 the king famous for his two
ceremonial mace-heads made
of stone
 refer to the scorpion
goddess Serket
 Egyptian Art
 The term predynastic denotes the period of emerging
cultures that preceded the establishment of the 1st dynasty
in Egypt.
 Painting and Sculpture
Copy of a Wall Painting From Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis, Egypt
Painting and Sculpture
Palette of King Narmer
 Elaborate, formalized version of a utilitarian object
commonly used in Pre-Dynastic Period to prepare eye make
up
 Commemorate the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
 Shows that Narmer effortlessly defeats a foe on one side
 On the other surveys the beheaded enemy
 Architecture
 Egyptian tombs provide the principal, if not the exclusive,
evidence for the historical reconstruction of Egyptian
civilization
 Majority of monuments the Egyptians left behind were
dedicated to ensuring safety and happiness in the next life
 Architecture
Section (top), plan (center), and
restored view (bottom) of typical
Egyptian mastaba tombs.
 Architecture
 The standard early Egyptian tomb had an underground burial chamber
and rooms to house a portrait statue and offerings to the deceased. Scenes
of daily life often decorated the interior walls.
 Regular brick or stone structure with sloping sides erected over an
underground burial chamber.
 Originally housed single burials but later on accommodated multiple
family burials and became increasingly complex
 Main features of the tomb, other than the burial chamber, was the, chapel,
which had false doors through which the ka could join the world of the
living and partake in the meals placed on an offering table. Some
mastabas also had a serdab, a small room housing a statue if the deceased.
 Architecture
Imhotep, Stepped Pyramid
 Imhotep Pyramid
Imhotep, the first artist whose name is recorded, built the first pyramid
during the Third Dynasty for King Djoser. Djoser’s pyramid resembles a
series of stacked mastabas of diminishing size.
 Djoser Pyramid
Plan (top) and restored view (bottom) of the mortuary precinct of Djoser, Saqqara,
Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 2630-2611 BCE.
Djoser’s pyramid was the centerpiece of an immense funerary complex
that included a mortuary temple, other buildings, and courtyards. Its
network of underground galleries resembled a palace.
 Pharoah’s
Clothing
 Fabric
 False Beard
 Nemes
 Shendyt
 Robe
 Khol
 Scepters and Staff
 The Uraeus
 Pharaoh’s Clothing
 Fabric - pharaohs wore clothing made of linen
 False Beard - attached using thin leather wraps encircling
the head
 Nemes - head piece

- originally made of a single-colored piece of linen

and evolved in complexity over time
 Pharaoh’s Clothing
 Shendyt - a royal apron

- main piece of clothing in a pharaoh's ensemble

 Robe – Most transparent
 Khol – Substance made with a dark dye
 Scepters and Staff – General Sign of authority in Ancient
Egypt
 Pharaoh’s Clothing
 Uraeus – A rearing cobra

- Cobra represents a serpent goddess who rears up

and spits fire at the enemies of the king
Old Kingdom
 Old Kingdom
 First of the 3 Great periods
 Was one of the most dynamic period for Egyptian Art
 Architects and Masons mastered the techniques necessary
to build monumental structures in stone.
 Sculptors created the earliest portraits of individuals and
first life-size statues.
 Architecture and Sculpture
 2 principal functions of these images and structures were:

1) To ensure an ordered existence

2) And to defeat death by preserving life into the next world

which simply means that they were made to last
 Pyramids
 Was a monumental expression of the Egyptian Pharaoh’s
power, his burial place and zone of passage into the afterlife
 Before the great Pyramids, there were the ‘Mastabas’
 The next major development in pyramid design was the
purely geometric type.
 An example of this is the Giza Pyramids
The Pyramids of Giza
 Pyramids of Giza
 All three pyramids were built in a span of about 75 years
 These pyramids were for the Fourth Dynasty Pharaohs’
Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure
 This kind of construction is called ashlar masonry.
Pyramid of Giza (cross-section)
 Great Sphinx
 A lion with a human head
 Associated with the sun god which makes it an appropriate
image of the pharaoh
 Sculpture

Seated Statue of
Khafre from Giza
 Standing Lions on the Throne
 Horus protecting the back of
Khafre’s head
 Pharaonic Portraiture was NOT to
record individual features but
rather to proclaim the divine nature
of Egyptian Kingship.
 Sculpture

Menkaure and Queen

Khamerernebty
 Timelessness
 Woman’s arm around the man’s waist
showed their marital status
 Sculpture
The Scribe
 An example of a painted sculpture
 Conveys a highly intelligent and
alert individual
Middle Kingdom
Mentuhotep II – unite Egypt and established the
so called Middle Kingdom.

Sculpture
Senusret III – one of Mentuhotep II's successors
- his portraits represent a sharp
break from old Kingdom practice.
Fragmentary head
of Senusret III, 12th
Dynasty, ca . 1860
BCE. Red
Quartzite, 61/2"
high. Metropolitan
Museum of Art,
New York.
The portraits of Senusret
III exhibit an
unprecedented realism.
The king’s brooding
expression reflects the
dominant mood of the
time and contrasts sharply
with the impassive faces
of Old Kingdom
pharoahs.
 Architecture

Rock-cut tombs – most characteristic funerary

monuments of the Middle Kingdom
- largely replaced the mastaba,
standard Egyptian tomb type

Beni Hasan – where some of the best-preserved

Middle Kingdom tombs are found
Rock- cut tombs BH 3-5, Beni Hasan
Egypt, 12th Dynasty, ca. 1950 - 1900
BCE.

 The tombs of Beni Hasan

are charateristic of Middle
Kingdom. Hollowed out of
the cliffs, these tombs often
have a shallow columnar
porch, which leads into a
columned hall and burial
chamber.
The columnar hall
of Amenemhet’s
tomb was carved
out of the living
rock, which
explains the
suspended broken
column at the rear.
The shafts are
fluted in a manner
Greek architects
later emulated.

Interior hall of the rock-cut tomb of Amenemhet (tomb BH

2), Beni Hasan, Egypt, 12th Dynasty, ca. 1950 – 1900 BCE.
New Kingdom
 During the New Kingdom, Egypt extended its borders to
the Euphrates River in the east and deep into Nubia in the
south.
ARCHITECTURE
Temple of Hatshepsut
 The most majestic of royal mortuary temples
at Deir el-Bahri, Egypt of the 18th Dynasty
 Created to honor one of the most remarkable
women of the ancient world, female pharaoh
Hapshetsut
 It was designed by the royal architect Senmut
 Hatshepsut with
offering jars, from the
upper court of her
mortuary temple, Deir
el-Bahri, Egypt
 She took part in a ritual
in honor of the sun god
 The kneeling gesture of
a pharaoh shows that a
pharaoh will only kneel
before a god and never
a mortal
Façade of the Temple of Ramses II,Abu
Simbel, Egypt, 19th Dynasty
Interior of the Temple of
Ramses II
 Ramses was Egypt’s last great warrior pharaoh and he ruled
for two-thirds of a century.
 He proclaimed his greatness by placing four colossal
images of himself on the temple façade.
For the family of Ramses II:
 At Abu Simbel, north of his temple, he ordered a
construction of a grand temple for his principal wife,
Nefertari. (with four standing images of the king and two of
the queen at the temple’s façade.)
 For his sons, he constructed a huge underground tomb
complex in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes.
Temple of Amen-Re,
Karnak, Egypt
Hypostyle Hall, temple of Amen-Re, Karnak,
Egypt , 19th Dynasty
 The work of the 18th dynasty pharaohs including Thutmose
I and III and Hapshetsut. Ramses II(19th dyanasty) also
contributed sections.
 Chapels were added to the complex as late as 26th dynasty.
 Artificial sacred lake- refers to the primeval waters before
creation
 Only the pharaohs and priests can enter the temple
SCULPTURE AND
PAINTING
Senmut with Princess Nefrura, Thebes, Egypt,
18th Dynasty
 Hatshepsut’s chancellor, Senmut, holds the pharaoh’s
daughter by Thutmose II in his lap and envelops the girl in
his cloak.
 The frequent depiction of Senmut with Nefrura was meant
to enhance Senmut’s stature trough his association with the
princess(he was her tutor) and by implication, with
hapshetsut.
Fowling Scene from the Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes,
Egypt
Musicians and dancers from the tomb of Nebamun
Musicians and dancers:
 4 women, two of them was represented by the artist at the
left conventionally but the other two face the
observer(frontal pose. They sat cross-legged.- this
informality constituted a relaxation of the Old Kingdom’s
stiff rules of representation.
 The profile view of the two dancing women is consistent
with their lower stature in the Egyptian hierarchy.
 The mural paintings in the tomb of nebamun testify the
luxurious life of the Egyptian nobility, filled with good food
and drink, fine musicians, lithe dancers, and leisure time to
hunt and fish in the marshes.
 Successful hunts/nebamun hunting in his afterlife reminded
Egyptians of Horus, the son of Osiris, who hunted his
father’s murderer, Seth, the god of disorder. Successful
hunts are also metaphors for triumphing over death and
disorder, ensuring a happy existence in the afterlife.
 Music and dance-sacred to Hathor who aided the dead in
their passage to the other world.
 Sensual women at the banquet represents fertility, rebirth
and regeneration.
 AKHENATON AND THE AMARNA PERIOD – revolution
occurred in Egyptian society and religion
 Amenhotep IV / Akhenaton – abandoned the worship
 of most of the Egyptian gods in favor of Aton, identified with the
sun disk, whom he declared to be the universal and only god

- claimed to be the son and only

prophet of Aton
Akhenaton, from the
temple of Aton, Karnak,
Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca.
1353-1335 BCE.
Sandstone, 13’ high.
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Akhenaton initiated a
religious revolution, and
his art is also a deliberate
reaction against tradition.
This curious androgynous
image may be an attempt
to portray the pharaoh as
Aton, the sexless sun disk.
 THUTMOSE,
Nefertiti, from
Amarna, Egypt,
18th Dynasty, ca.
1353 – 1335
BCE. Painted
limestone, 1' 8''
high.
Agyptisches
Museum, Berlin.

Nefertiti, Akhenaton’s influential wife, is portrayed here as an

elegant beauty, with a pensive expression and a long, delicately
curved neck. The unfinished portrait was found in Thutmose’s
workshop.
Tiye, from Ghurab, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1353 – 1335 BCE. Wood, with
gold, silver, alabaster, and lapis lazuli, 3 ¾'' high. Agyptisches Musuem,
Berlin
This portrait of
Akhenaton’s mother is
carved of dark yew
wood, probably to
match the queen’s
complexion. The head
was remodeled during
her son’s reign to
remove all references to
traditional deities.
The Tomb of Tutankhamen and the Post-Armana Period

Tutankhamen – most famous figure of the Post-Armana

period.

- probably Akhenaton’s son by a minor

wife.

- ruled for a decade and died at 18

Howard Carter – discovered the boy-king’s tomb in 1922

with its fabulously rich treasure of sculpture,
furniture, and jewelry largely intact.
In this sunken relief the
Amarna artist provided
a rare intimate look at th
royal family in a
domestic settting.
Akhenaton, Nefertiti,
and three of their
daughters bask in the
life-giving rays of Aton,
the sun disk.

Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters, from Amarna, Egypt, 18 th Dynasty, ca.
1353-1335 BCE. Limestone, 1 ‘ 1/4’’ high. Agyptisches Museum, Berlin.
 Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen, from
his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty,
ca. 1323 BCE. Gold with inlay of enamel
and semiprecious stones, 6' 1'' long.
Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

The boy-king Tutankmen’s

fame today is due to the
discovery of his treasure-laden
tomb. His mummy was
encased in three nested
coffins. The innermost one,
made of gold, portrays the
pharaoh as Osiris.
Painted chest, from
the tomb of
Tutankhamen,
Thebes, Egypt, 18th
Dynasty, ca. 1333-
1323 BCE. Wood, 1
' 8'' long. Egyptian
Museum, Cairo

 Tutankhamen is here represented triumphing over Asian

enemies. The artist contrasted the orderly registers of Egyptian
chariots with the chaotic pile of foreign soldiers who fall before
the king.
Last judgement of Hu-Nefer, from his tomb at Thebes, Egypt,
19th Dynasty, ca. 1290-1280 BCE. Painted papyrus scroll, 1 ' 6''
high British Museum, London.

The Book of the Dead contained spells and prayers. This scroll depicts
the weighing of Hu-Nefer’s heart against Maat’s feather before the
deceased can be brought before Osiris, god of the Underworld.
Millennium BCE
FIRST MILLENNIUM BCE

Kingdom of Kush

During the New Kingdom, the pharaohs colonized Nubia

and appointed a viceroy to administer the Kushite kingdom.
But in the eight century BCE, the Nubians conquered Egypt
and ruled the land of the Nile as the 25th Dynasty.
 Taharqo as a sphinx, from
temple T, Kawa, Sudan, 25th
Dynasty, ca. 680 BCE. Granite,
1' 4'' by 2' 43/4''. British
Museum, London

Nubian Kings ruled Egypt

during the 25th Dynasty and
adopted traditional Egyptian
artistic types, but the sculptor
of the Taharqo sphinx
reproduced the Kushite
pharaoh’s distinctly African
features.
Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt, ca. 237-47 BCE.
Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt, ca. 237-47 BCE.
Ancient Egypt
End