1. EGYPTIAN ART

2. CONTEXT
• What was one geographical feature of Ancient
Egypt that contributed much to its progress
and allowed for the growth of its villages and
towns?
• Explain how
• What are the 3 Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt?
• What are the two geographical divisions?
• What are some key events during the 3
Kingdoms?

3. Early inhabitants of the Nile
• 5,000 B.C.
• Each summer the Nile River would flood its
banks and deposit layers of fertile soil (at least
3 months at a time; rich soil deposits with a
depth of more than 9m (30 feet)
• Agriculture
• Increase in growth of villages and towns

5. Periods
• Pre-dynastic (4210 B.C.- 2680 BC)
• Old Kingdom (2680 BC- 2258 BC)
• Middle Kingdom (2258 BC -1786 BC)
• New Kingdom (1786 BC – 1085 BC)
• Amarna Period (1085 BC – 1055 BC)
• Third Intermediate Period, First Persian
Period, and Late Period of Ancient Egypt

6. The Old Kingdom
• Upper and Lower Egypt united by the Pharoah
named Menes
• Menes established capital at Memphis and
founded the first of the 31 Egyptian dynasties
• Period of about 500 years
• Ended when the Pharaoh's rule was weakened
by the rise of independent nobles
• Nobles- split the country into smaller states;
civil war and disorder

7. Middle Kingdom
• Time of law, order, and prosperity
• However around 1800BC, Egypt was overrun
by foreign invaders—the Hyksos (horse and
chariot riding) from western Asia
• Hyksos inhabited lower Egypt and for two
hundred years forced Egyptians to pay tribute
• Egyptians finally learned to use the horses and
chariots and drove the invaders out of their
country

8. The New Kingdom
• Most brilliant period of Egyptian history
• Warrior Pharaohs used knowledge of horses
and chariots to extend Egypt’s rule over
neighboring nations
• Thutmose III- greatest of these Warrior
Pharaohs
Reigned for fifty-four years; great Military
leader

9. • Amenhotep III- New Kingdom reaches peak of its
power and influence
• Amenhotep IV- break with tradition:
- changes in Egyptian religion
- moved capital from Thebes to El Amarna
- established Aton, symbolized by sun-disk as
supreme god vs. past recognition of many gods
• Name change to Ikhnaton (“it is well with Aton”)

10. • Ikhnaton’s new religion died with him
• Tel- Amarna destroyed and old religion with
many gods restored
• Ended with Alexander the Great’s conquest in
332 BC.

11. Egyptian Architecture

12. CONTENT
• What aspect of Ancient Egyptian culture
heavily influenced their art & architecture?
• What is the Ancient Egyptian soul?
• What would happen to the soul upon death?
• Why is it important to preserve the body?
• What was the purpose of the pyramids?
• How much power did the pharaohs possess?

13. Influence of Religion
• Importance on the resurrection of the soul and
eternal life in a spirit world after death
• Soul= ka
• At death, the ka would leave the body for a time;
however it would eventually return and unite
with the body again for the journey to the next
world and immortality
• If the body would be lost or destroyed it would
be forced to spend eternity in aimless wandering

14. Pyramids
• Tombs of Pharaoh
• Pharaoh was not only a king, but also a god in
the eyes of the people
• He was expected to join the other gods when
he died
- Ra/Re: the sun god
- Osiris: god of the Nile and the underworld
- Isis: the great mother god

15. FORM
• What are the three names of the Great Pyramid?
• How big is it?
• What is it made of?
• What is a sarcophagus?
• Where is it placed?
• What is a distinct feature about the passageways
within the pyramid?
• How did the shape of the pyramid evolve?

16. Pyrmid of Khufu, Giza, c.2650 B.C.

17. Pyramid of Khufu/ Cheops
• 5.3 hectares (13 acres) (five of the larges
cathedrals in the world could be placed within
its base with room to spare)
• Made by piling 2.3 million blocks of limestone,
each averaging 2.3 metric tons, to a height of
146.3 meters (480 feet)
• Wider than it is tall

18. • Sarcophagus- stone coffin where the Pharaohs
body was sealed in
• Placed in burial chamber located in the center
of the pyramid
• Dead end passages and false chambers were
also added to the building
• These were meant to confuse tomb robbers
and enemies

19. Evolution of the pyramid shape
• Originally, Egyptians buried dead in hidden
pits and piled sand and stone over the top
• Mastabas- low, flat tombs made from sun-
dried bricks; rectangular tombs had sloping
sides ; also contained chapel and false burial
chamber aside from the true one
• Step pyramids- in time, several mastabas of
diminishing size were stacked on top of each
other

20. • Finally, they were built without steps , and a
point was added to the top, and the true
pyramid form was completed

21. Mastaba tomb, Saqqara

23. Step Pyramid of King Zoser, Saqqara, c.2750 B.C.

24. Temples
• Evidence of genius of architects of New
Kingdom
• Built by the command of the Pharaoh and
dedicated to the Pharaoh’s favorite god
• Became a chapel when the Pharaoh died;
people would bring offerings for the Pharaoh’s
ka
• Often would be improved by succeeding
Pharaohs

25. Karnak Temple

26. CONTENT/ FORM
• What was the purpose of sculpture in Ancient
Egypt? (Especially sculpture, placed beside the
king’s sarcophagus)
• What was this sculpture made out of?
• What was the purpose of the Great Sphinx?
• What are some theories regarding its broken
nose?
• What are some main differences in the
sculpture between the 3 kingdoms?

27. Egyptian Sculpture
• Despite precautions, tombs of pharaohs were
soon broken into and robbed of treasures
• Sculpture of the king- carved by sculptors and
placed near the King’s sarcophagus ; acted as
substitutes for the body inside; alternative
option for the Ka to use for the journey to the
next world if the body were destroyed
• Egyptian word for sculpture translates as ‘He
who keeps alive’

28. Khafre, c. 2600 B.C

29. Portrait of Khafre
• seated portrait of the Fourth Dynasty Pharaoh
Khafre
• Made from hard diorite stone
• Pharaoh is shown sitting up straight and
attentive on a throne with inscriptions
proclaiming him King of Upper and Lower
Egypt
• Wears a pleated garment fastened to the
waist

30. • Left hand rests on knee, right hand forms a fist
which must have once gripped some symbol
of high office
• Descendant of Re (the sun god); to show
Pharaoh’s divinity, sculptor has added a falcon
• Head of Khafre, not as stiff and rigid as the
body; lifelike in appearance
• Beginning of a smile in firmly set mouth

31. Great Sphinx of Giza

32. Great Sphinx of Giza
• Carved from rock at the site
• Presents the head of the Pharaoh (most likely
Khafre) placed on the body of a reclining lion
• Towers to a height of almost 20 m (65 feet)
• Massive size intended to demonstrate power
of the Pharaoh
• Probably done to show the Pharaoh has the
courage and strength of a Lion

33. 2 theories on the missing nose
• Iconoclasm; A Sufi muslim named Muhammad
Sa im al-Dahr was outraged and destroyed the
nose when he found out that the Egyptian
peasants made offerings to the sphinx to
increase their harvest
• Nose was broken by a cannonball fired by
Napoleon’s soldiers

34. Fragment of a head of King Sesostris III

35. Portrait of a Middle Kingdom Ruler
• Realistic expression suggest none of the
confidence or aloofness noted in the portrait
of Khafre
• Firmly set mouth shows determination and
strength but eyes indicate trouble and
weariness

36. Ikhnaton (Amenhotep IV)

37. Portrait of Ikhnaton
• Many of Ikhnaton’s portraits show him as a
homely man with strange elongated
head, pointed chin, heavy lips, and
long, slender neck
• Showed the Pharaoh as he really looked
• Much of the sculpture during this period are
more natural and lifelike

38. Queen Nefertiti

39. Relief Sculpture and Painting

40. CONTENT/CONTEXT
• What is a relief?
• What was the purpose of reliefs & paintings?
• What is the reasoning behind the contorted
postures of people depicted in Egyptian relief
and paintings?

41. Portrait of Hesire
c.2700 B.C.

42. Portrait of Hesire
• Hesire: proud official of the Pharaoh Zoser
• Wooden door relief panel from Zoser’s
mastaba
• Hesire stands straight with Baton in hand
indicating high office
• Left hands hold staff and writing materials;
indicating he was a secretary to the Pharaoh

43. • Legs, arms and feet in profile
• Shoulder and eye are shown as if seen in front
• Appears as though Hesire has two left feet
since big toe is on the outside of each foot
• Figure looks as if it has been twisted in some
way, making it look flat
• All parts of the body seem to be the same
distance from your eye; no foreshortening

44. “ Every part of the body
must be shown in the most
familiar point of view”

45. Rules of Egyptian Art
• Carving unusual features not due to lack of
ability
• Head, arms, and legs are always shown in
profile
• It was more important to make sure that all
parts of the body were clearly shown than
making the image beautiful or accurate

46. • The ka also thrives in this images, if an arm
were hidden it would mean that the ka would
enter the body without an arm
• At one time it was customary to bury a
Pharaoh’s wife, servants and slaves in the
tomb when he died
• In time this practice was discontinued and
painted relief sculptures were substituted for
real people in the tomb of the dead king

47. Wall Painting from the Tomb of Nakht c.1450 BC

48. Paintings of Nakht and His Wife
• When it became difficult and costly to carve
reliefs in the Middle Kingdom, painting came
into its own separate art form.
• Rough walls of tombs were carved and
scraped till they were flat and smoothed with
a coating of plaster
• Artist then lined it with horizontal lines which
they would fill with drawings about the life of
the deceased

49. • Painting were colored with rich red and yellow
hues, with black and green added for contrast
• Little shading was used making the painting
appear flat
• Method of arranging in flat bands resulted in a
style similar to comic strips
• Same set of rules that applied to reliefs also
applied in paintings

50. • Figures of the priest and his wife are larger
than the other figures showing that they are
more important
• Stiff and solemn, because Egyptians believes
such a pose was fitting for people of high rank
• Smaller servants are shown in more natural
positions as they labor in the fields and take
care of animals

51. Egyptian Hieroglyphics
• Formal writing system which makes use of
symbols
• Emerged from preliterate traditions of Egypt

52. FORM/CONTENT
• What was the Egyptian form of writing called?
• What are the 3 kinds?

53. 3 kinds of heiroglyphics
a) phonetic – single consonant characters that
function like an alphabet
b) logographs- represent morphemes or small
units with semantic meanings
c) determinatives- symbols for
divinities, people, parts of the body, animals
, which helped in reading but were not
pronounced

54. Phonetic Hieroglyphics

55. ACTIVITY
• On a sheet of oslo paper, make a drawing of
your family in postures inspired by Egyptian
Art