1. Ancient Egypt
Unit 3

2. Map of the new Kingdom

3. Palette of King Narmer, from Hierakonpolis, Egypt, 3000-2920 BCE
These earliest preserved labeled historical reliefs commemorate the unification of upper and lower Egypt. Narmer, the largest figure effortlessly defeats a foe on one side and on the other surveys the beheaded enemy.
This palette (a stone slab with a circular depression) is one of the earliest historical artworks preserved.
It is a elaborate, formalized version of a utilitarian object commonly used in the pre- dynastic period to prepare eye make up

4. Imhotep, Stepped Pyramid and mortuary precinct off Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt 2630-2611 BCE
Imhotep, the first artist whose name is recorded, build the first pyramid during the third dynasty for king Djoser. Djoser’s pyramid resembles a series of stacked mastabas of diminishing size
Djoser’s Pyramid was the centerpiece of an immense funerary complex that included a mortuary temple, other buildings and court yards. Its network of underground galleries resembles a palace

5. Restored view of the mortuary precinct of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt

6. Plan of the mortuary precinct of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt

7. Detail of the façade of the North Palace of the mortuary precinct of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, BCE
The earliest known stone columns are in Djoser’s funerary precinct.
Those on the north palace façade are engaged to the walls and have shafts and capitals resembling papyrus stalks and blossoms

8. Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, 2551-2472 BCE
The great pyramids of Gizeh took the shape of the ben-ben, the emblem of the sun, Re.
The suns rays were the ramp the Egyptian pharaohs used to ascend to the heavens after their death and rebirth

9. Model of the Fourth Dynasty pyramid complex, Gizeh, Egypt Harvard University Semitic Museum, Cambridge
Like Djoser’s pyramid, the great pyramids were not isolated tombs but parts of funerary complexes with a valley temple , a covered causeway and a mortuary temples adjoining the pyramid

10. Section of the Pyramid of Khufu, Gizeh, Egypt, 2551-2528 BCE
Khufu’s pyramid is the largest at Gizeh.
It is constructed of roughly 2.3 million blocks of stone, weighing an average of 2.5 tons
The structure is an almost solid mass of stone quarried from the Gizeh plateau itself.

11. The Great Sphynx, at Gizeh, Egypt, 2520-2494 BCE
Carved out of the Gizeh stone quarry, the Great Sphinx is the largest statue in the Near East.
The sphinx is associated with the sun god and joins the body of a ion with the head of a pharaoh

12. Menkaure and Khamerernebty, from Gizeh, Egypt 2490-2472 BCE
The double portrait of Menkaure and his wife displays the conventional postures used for statues designed as substitute homes for the Ka.
The frozen gestures signify that the man and woman are married.

13. Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt, relief in the mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt, 2450-2350 BCE
In Egypt, a successful hunt was a metaphor for triumph over evil.
In this painted tomb relief, the deceased stands aloof from the hunters busily spearing hippopotami.
Ti’s size reflects his high rank

14. Interior Hall of the rock-cut tomb of Amenemhet, Beni Hasan, Egypt 1950-1900 BCE
The Columnar hall of Amenemhets 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

15. Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 1473-1458 BCE
Hatshepsut was the first great female monarch whose name is recorded.
Painted reliefs recounting her divine birth and significant achievements adorned her immense funerary temple
In Hatshepsut's day the terraces were not the barren places they are now but gardens with frankincense trees and rare plants the pharaoh brought from the faraway land of Punt of the red sea.

16. Façade of the Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt, 1290-1224 BCE
Four rock-cut images of Ramses ii dominated the façade of his mortuary temple at Abu Simbel in Nubia
The colossal portraits are a dozen times the height of a man even though the pharaoh is seated
Spectacular as they are, the rock cut statues nonetheless lack the refinement of earlier periods due to their size

17. Interior of the temple of Ramses II Abu Simbel, Egypt, 1290-1224 BCE
Inside Ramses II’s mortuary temple are 32 foot tall figures of the long reigning pharaoh in the guise of Osiris carved as one with the pillars, facing each other across the narrow corridor

18. Thutmose, Nefertiti, from Amarna, Egypt, 1353-1335 BCE
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 Thutmoses’s workshop

19. Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters, from Amarna, Egypt 1353-1335 BCE
In this sunken relief the Amarna artist provided a rare intimate look at the royal family in their domestic setting
Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three of their daughters bask in the life – giving rays of Aton, the sun disk

20. Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen from his tomb at Thebes, Egypt,, 1323 BCE
The boy-king Tutankhamen’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

21. Death mask of Tutankhamen, from the innermost coffin in his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, 1323 BCE
The treasures of the boy- king Tutankhamen’s tomb attest to the wealth of the Egyptian pharaohs.
Tutankhamen's mask is gold inlaid with gems.
Just one of the many treasures for him to prepare him for the after life.

22. Temple of Horus, Edfu Egypt 237-47 BCE
The pylon temple at Eduf is more than a thousand years later than that at Karnak but adheres to the same basic architectural scheme
Egyptian artistic forms tended to have very long lives