Download Chapter 3: Art of Ancient Egypt In this chapter you will... In this

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Chapter 3: Art of Ancient Egypt
Art History 1
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In this chapter you will...
! Explore the pictorial conventions for representing the human figure in ancient
Egyptian art, established early on and maintained for millennia.
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In this Chapter You Will...
! Be able to trace the evolution of royal portrait styles form the Old Kingdom
through the New Kingdom and assess the differences between depictions of royalty
and ordinary people.
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In this chapter you will...
! Be able to analyze how religious beliefs were reflected in the funerary art
and architecture of ancient Egypt.
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In this chapter you will...
! Be able to appreciate the complexity of construction and decoration brought to New Kingdom
temple architecture rooted in the same post and lintel architectural tradition that has been used
since the Old Kingdom.
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Discoveries of Ancient Egypt
! On Feb. 16, 1923 the Times of London contacted the New York Times with news of an amazing discovery.
! The entrance to Egyptian king Tutankhamun’s sealed tomb chamber was opened & found within was the
preserved & untouched, mummified body of the king.
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Who was Responsible for the Discovery?
! The two men pictured here played an essential part in the discovery of the undisturbed inner
burial chamber of Tutankhamun.
! The man on the left is Howard Carter and to his right is George Herbert, better known as Lord
Carnarvon.
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The Lure of Hidden Treasures
! Since ancient times, tombs & their hidden treasures have attracted attention.
! More recently, archaeologists & historians have been attracted to the hidden
wonders of the ancient world & all of the knowledge the can be gained by studying
such artifacts.
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Ancient Treasures
! Here we see the prized Funerary Mask of Tutankhamun,
from the 18th dynasty (1332-1322 BCE).
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The Gift of the Nile
! The Greek traveler and historian Herodotus writes in the 5th century BCE that
“Egypt is the gift of the Nile”.
! We see this great river, the longest in the world, makes its way northward from
equatorial Africa, through Egypt, in a relatively straight path into the Mediterranean
Sea.
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Early Inhabitants
! Around 8000 BCE the valley’s inhabitants became relatively settled, living off the
abundance of fish, wild game & wild plant life.
! It was not until about 5000 BCE did they develop an agriculture based society like
the ones we have seen with the Neolithic cultures from chapter one.
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! The Predynastic Period was a time of important social & political transition that
comes before the unification of Egypt under a single ruler.
! We will go through periods in time, beginning with the Early Dynastic Period,
where we will see Egyptian history as it follows a succession of rulers inheriting
the throne from family members- these types of rule are known as Dynasties.
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Early Dynastic Egypt
! Around 3000 BCE Egypt became one large consolidated state.
! According to legend, the country had previously grown into two major kingdoms known as the
the Two Lands or Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt.
! According to ancient document, a powerful ruler from Upper Egypt eventually conquered
Lower Egypt, uniting the kingdoms.
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Egyptian Religion & Myth
! The Greek historian Herodotus thought the Egyptians to be the most religious people he ever
encountered.
! We see such religious beliefs throughout Egyptian art of all periods.
! Some of the earliest and most important of Egypt’s deities are introduced through a series of
creation myths.
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Creation Myths
! 1st version: the sun god Ra shaped himself out of the waters of chaos, or
unformed matter, and emerged sealed atop a mound of sand hardened by
his own rays
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Creation Myth #1 Continues...
! By spitting, Ra then creates the gods of wetness & dryness,
Tefnut & Shu
And the Myth Continues...
! Tefnut and Shu then have the male Geb (earth) and the female Nut (sky)
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More Gods Emerge
! Geb & Nut then produced two sons, Osiris & Seth, & two daughters, Isis & Nephthys.
! Osiris takes Isis as his wife and became king of Egypt.
! Seth, being envious of Osiris and in wanting Egypt for himself, kills him by hacking his body into pieces.
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The Myth Continues…
! Isis & Nephthys gather the remains of Osiris, with the help of the god
Anubis, patched him back together
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The Myth Continues…
! Isis then conceives a son, Horus- who defeats Seth & becomes king of the
earth while his father, Osiris, retires to the underworld as overseer of the
realm of the dead.
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Other Creation Myths
! 2nd Version: The creation of humans in the story that Ra looses an eye,
replaces it with a new one- the old eye is found, it cries because it is of no
use- Ra creates humans from the tears
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Yet Another Creation Myth
! 3rd Version: Tells of the god Khnum who creates mankind using his potter’s wheel
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The God-Kings
! By the Early Dynastic period, Egypt’s kings were seen as gods in human form
! The gods were depicted in different forms- some as humans, some as animals, &
others as humans with animal heads
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The Narmer Palette, Early Dynasty, 2950 BCE
! It represents the unification of Upper & Lower Egypt under the first king
named Narmer.
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Side A- Detail of The Narmer Palette
! He is shown wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt- he bashes the
enemy with a club & above his kneeling foe, the god Horus.
! Using the Hieratic Scale- the ruler appears much larger than the other
figures
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Side B- Detail from The Narmer Palette
! In the top register of the other side, he wears the red crown of
Lower Egypt, possibly to show how he now rules both lands
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Funerary Practice & Architecture
! Ancient Egyptians believed that an essential part of every human
personality is its life force, or spirit, called the ka, which lived on
after death of the body.
! The ka needed a body to live in, so a sculpted likeness was
adequate.
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The Ka & Funerary Practice
! They preserved the bodies through mummification & provided their
tombs with every luxury they could want in the afterlife.
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Early Funerary Architecture: The Mastaba
! In Early Dynastic Egypt, the Mastaba, a flat-topped, one-story building with slanted walls
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erected above an underground burial chamber- was the most common tomb
! Early mastabas were made of mud brick, but toward the end of the 3rd Dynasty we see the use
of cut stone as well.
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The Necropolis
! Kings of the third dynasty devoted large sums of money to design,
construct and decorate extensive funerary complexes
! The land of the dead was thought to be in the direction of the setting sun.
Djoser’s Complex at Saqqara
! For his tomb complex at Saqqara, the Third Dynasty King Djoser
commissioned the earliest known monumental architecture in Egypt
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The Step Pyramid- Funerary Complex at Saqqara
! First it seemed Imhotep intended to created a single-story mastaba, then later decided to enlarge
upon the concept.
! He creates a step pyramid formed by six mastaba-like elements of decreasing size placed on
top of each other
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The Pyramids at Giza
! The first pyramid structures as we know them were erected in the Fourth
Dynasty.
! These structures were built by kings Khufu, Khafre, & Menkaure.
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Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu
! The oldest and largest pyramid is Khufu- covering 13 acres at its base
! Originally it had a thick veneer of polished limestone that extended its apex (or
peak point) to almost 481 feet high
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Constructing the Pyramids
! The Pyramid was a triumph of engineering & design
! Most of the cut stone blocks- each weighing an average of 2.5 tons- used in
building the Giza complex were quarried either on the site or nearby
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Great Sphinx, Funerary Complex of Khafre, 2520-2494 BCE
! Khafre’s funerary complex is the best preserved & is most famous for the
Great Sphinx that sits just behind his valley temple.
Khafre, 2520-2494 BCE
! Egyptian artists were skilled in creating lifelike three-dimensional figures
! The figures were compact, solid, & block like which express a feeling of
strength & permanence
! As was custom of rulers, Khafre commissioned many portraits of himself
Menkaure and a Queen,
2490-2472 BCE
! King Menkaure’s sculpture is characterized by dignity, calm &
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permanence
! Discovered in his valley temple, from the Fourth Dynasty, this work
shows the king and queen linked by the stone and by her gesture of
embrace
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The Seated Scribe, 2450-2325 BCE
! Old Kingdom sculptors produced figures not only of kings, but of
less prominent people as well
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Butcher, 2450-2325 BCE
! Even more lifelike than the scribe were smaller figures of servants at work that were made for
inclusion in Old Kingdom tombs so that the deceased could be provided for in the next world.
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Tomb Decoration
! To provide the ka with the most pleasant possible living quarters for eternity, wealthy families
often had the interior walls and ceilings of their tombs decorated with paintings and relief
carving.
! Much of the decoration was symbolic or religious, especially in royal tombs, but it could also
include scenes of everyday events in the person’s life.
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The Middle Kingdom
! With the collapse of the Old Kingdom we see approximately 150
years of political turmoil referred to as the First Intermediate
Period
! Following came another high point in Egyptian history- the
Middle Kingdom- a period of a powerful and unified government
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Sculpture: Royal Portraits
! Some royal portraits from the Middle Kingdom express a special awareness of the hardship and
fragility of human existence
! Here we have the statue of Senusret III from the Twelfth Dynasty (1836-1818 BCE)
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Tomb Architecture: Rock-Cut Tombs, Beni Hasan (1938-1756 BCE)
! During the Eleventh and Twelfth dynasties, members of the royal family
and high-level officials commissioned a new form of tomb known as
Rock-cut tombs.
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Picking Figs, Twelfth Dynasty, 1890 BCE
! Painted scenes cover the interior walls of many tombs.
! Among the best preserved are those in the Twelfth Dynasty tomb of local noble
Khnumhotep.
Stele of the Sculptor Userwer, 1850 BCE
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! Only the wealthiest & noblest of ancient Egyptians could afford elaborately decorated mastabas
or rock-cut tombs.
! Prosperous people could commission funerary stelae depicting themselves, their family, &
offerings of food.
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Stele of Amenemhat 2000 BCE
! This is a more modest stele that brings the relief carving to life with vibrant
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painting.
! Under the inscription, inviting food offerings for the deceased Amenemhat, is a
portrait of his family.
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The New Kingdom: 1539-1075 BCE
! Following the Middle Kingdom is another time of turmoil known as the
Second Intermediate period
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Columns with Papyriform & Bud Capitals, Hypostyle Hall, Great Temple of Amun at Karnak
! One of the most prominent features of the complex at Karnak is the
enormous hypostyle hall set between two pylons at the end of the main
forecourt.
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Hatshepsut Kneeling,
1473-1458 BCE
! Across the Nile from Karnak is the Valley of the Kings & Queens
! It was near here that the pharaoh Hatshepsut built her funerary
temple
! Besides Hatshepsut, few women ruled Egypt
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Hatshepsut’s Temple at Deir El-Bahri
! At the height of the New Kingdom, rulers undertook extensive personal building
programs, & Hapshepsut is responsible for one of the most spectacular: her
funerary temple located at Deir el-Bahri.
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Ramose’s Brother May and His Wife Werener, 1375-1365 BCE
! As mayor of Thebes & vizier to both Amenhotep III & Amenhotep IV, Ramose
was second only to the pharaoh in power & prestige.
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Colossal Figure of Akhenaten
! Amenhotep IV was surely the most unusual ruler in the history of ancient Egypt.
! During his 17 year reign, he radically transformed the political, spiritual, & cultural
life of the country.
! He founded a new religion honoring a single god, the sun deity Aten, & changed
his own name in about 1348 BCE to Akhenaten.
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Akhenaten & His Family,
1353-1336 BCE
! This new style is also reflected in a panel in which the king & queen sit on cushioned stools
playing with their nude daughters, whose elongated shaved heads conform to the newly minted
figure type.
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Queen Tiy, 1352 BCE
! Akhenaten’s goals were actively supported by his wife Nefertiti & his
mother, Queen Tiy.
! She had been the chief wife of the king’s father, Amenhotep III, & had
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played a significant role in affairs of state during his reign.
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Nefertiti,
1353-1336 BCE
! Here we have another representation of an important woman from
Egyptian history, queen Nefertiti - wife to king Akhenaten who
ruled from 1353-1336 BCE.
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Tutankhamun: 1332-1322 BCE
! After Akhenaten’s reign, his son, Tutankhamun came into power
! When his tomb in the Valley of the Kings was found in 1922, it was just at it was
left so long ago- incredible riches were found as well as his body which lay in three
nested coffins, the innermost was in the shape of a mummy and was made of over
240 pounds of gold
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Ramses II & Abu Simbel
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! Ramses II was a powerful & long-lived king- he was a bold leader & effective political
strategist.
! In the course of a long & prosperous reign, he initiated building projects on a scale rivaling the
Old Kingdom Pyramids at Giza.
Queen Nefertari Making an Offering to Isis, 1290-1224 BCE
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Books of the Dead: (Detail) Judgment of Hunefer Before Osiris, 1285 BCE
! The dead were thought to undergo a last judgment consisting of two tests presided
over by Osiris, the god of the underworld, & supervised by the jackal-headed god
of embalming & cemeteries, Anubis.
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Karomama, Third Intermediate Period, 945-715 BCE
! After the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt was ruled by a series of new dynasties, whose leaders continued the
traditional patterns of royal patronage & pushed figural conventions in new & interesting directions.
! This bronze sculpture is one of the largest surviving examples from this period.
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Mummy Wrapping of a Young Boy,
100-120 CE
! The Late period in Egypt saw the country & its art in the hands & service of foreigners.
! Nubians, Persians, Macedonians, Greeks, & Romans were all attracted to Egypt’s riches &
seduced by its art.
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