Ancient Egypt

 The Gift of the Nile ◦ Annual floods created a fertile river valley ◦ Home of one of the most enduring and powerful civilizations in the ancient world  The Pharaohs ◦ Power over the people and land virtually absolute ◦ Monumental art on a vast scale begins with their rule ◦ Reigned mostly uninterrupted from the fifth millennium B.C. until 343 B.C in the Late Dynastic period ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.2

 The Egyptian Concept of Kingship ◦ Egyptian kings considered themselves gods ◦ Their behavior not an example for the public but a distinction from it  The Palette of Narmer ◦ Designed to project the ruler’s power ◦ Proclaims Narmer’s rule of both upper and lower Egypt ◦ Every image conveys Narmer’s might and importance ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.3

 The Old Kingdom (2649–2150 B.C.) ◦ Pyramids  Monumental expression of pharaoh’s power, and his burial place  Preceded by smaller funerary structures called mastabas  The best known were built for three pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty  Khufu—known as the Great Pyramid  Khafre—son of Khufu  Menkaure—son of Khafre ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.4

 The Old Kingdom (2649–2150 B.C.) (continued) ◦ Egyptian Gods ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.5 AmonGod of Thebes AnubisJackal god AtenGod of the sun disk BesHelper of women in childbirth HapyGod of the Nile flood HathorProtector of the palace; fertility HorusFalcon god Imhotep Chief minister of Zoser; god of learning and medicine IsisDivine mother MaatTruth, right, and orderly conduct MutWife of Amon OsirisGod of the underworld PtahCreator god of Memphis Ra (Re)Sun god and supreme judge SerapisCombination of Osiris and Zeus SethGod of storms and violence ThothGod of writing and wisdom

 The Old Kingdom (2649–2150 B.C.) (continued) ◦ Mummification  Death: a transitional phase to existence on another plane  Much of art and writings surviving today are funerary  Egyptians had great interest in continued material existence in the afterlife ◦ Sculpture  Certain conventions followed for sculpting  The more important the person represented, the more rigorously the conventions were observed  The Egyptian Canon of Proportion—commonly accepted guidelines for depicting the ideal human figure ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.6

 The Middle Kingdom (c. 1991–1700 B.C.) ◦ Monumental architecture continued ◦ New form of tomb replaced the pyramid ◦ With political turbulence, a new approach to royal representation emerged ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.7

 The New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 B.C.) ◦ Temple construction continued to be refined  Temples were considered a microcosm of the universe  Temple of Amon-Mut-Khonsu at Luxor  Temple entry reserved for the elite  Architecture had a careful transitional quality  Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple and Sculpture  Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh  Main architectural innovation of her reign was the terraced mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.8

 The New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 B.C.) (continued) ◦ Painting  Ancient Egyptians were the first to use synthetic pigments  Gypsum Plaster—in the tomb of Nebamun; abundant use of pale blue pigments made from lapis lazuli  Papyrus—painting on papyrus from the Book of the Dead used graphics and hieroglyphics to help illustrate a funerary ritual  The Tomb of Nefertari—one of the best- preserved group of New Kingdom paintings  Revealed the extraordinary richness of color and complexity of Egyptian royal burials ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.9

 The New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 B.C.) (continued) ◦ The Amarna Period (c. 1349–1336 B.C.)  Amenhotep IV replaced entrenched religious cults with an unpopular monotheistic religious system  Dramatic stylistic and iconographic changes occur  At the end of the period, traditional artistic style and the priestly hierarchy were reinstated ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.10

 Tutankhamon’s Tomb ◦ Tutankhamon reigned c. 1336–1327 B.C. ◦ His tomb was discovered intact in 1922 by English Egyptologist Howard Carter ◦ Effigy demonstrates the return to traditional iconography ◦ The contents of Tutankhamon’s tomb ultimately became one of the world’s most popular and widely traveled museum exhibits ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.11

 Egypt and Nubia ◦ Nubia was rich in natural resources and was often raided by the Egyptians ◦ In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties, the Egyptians built their most imposing temples in Nubia  The Rock-cut Temple of Ramses II—one of six colossal structures south of Aswan  Meroë—artistic style of artifacts derived from the Egyptian style but demonstrate artistic and architectural independence ©2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.12