Egypt-Ancient Art

Egypt

• Egyptians believed they were once two lands upper and lower Egypt
• Upper and lower Egypt were unified as a single nation
• Cairo became their new capital
• Rulers claiming to be gods, not intermediaries but rather actual gods, believed in gods above the pharaoh  
• Hieroglyphs are a form of pictograms
• The writing is a group of images, interesting relationship between the art and the written language
• The division between art and written language is blurred here
• Concept of afterlife, after we die, we go somewhere
• Fundamental to the Egyptians
• Tombs- would dig a pit, throw the body in it, bacteria cannot grow, example of Ginger
• If there was something you treasured in your life, people would imagine that they would want to take it with them to the afterlife
• As a result ancient Egyptians started to build more complex tombs, (however now since the bodies are not the in hot sand the bodies will begin to decompose)

The Pyramids

-At Giza (the three pyramids)

-Egypt was rich in resources (artists have lots of materials)

-the pyramids (of GIZA) were built out of stone, because they wanted them to last forever

-the tombs were built while they were alive

-Pyramid of Khufu (480 feet tall), solid stone quarried right at the site, were originally encased in white limestone, blocks are 17 ft thick,:

• we are not sure how the pyramid was built
• maybe a series of ramps, (that were spiraling around the pyramid)
• slaves used in the quarries, labour took place on the pyramids during the flood season because farmers could not work in the fields

• three burial chambers,
• the bottom was a decoy chamber
• there were air shafts (for the kings spirit to come and go)

• the kings are all supposed to be sons of Ra (the sun god)
• Each pyramid had a pair of temples that was associated with it
• The kings also had back up bodies
• Khafre (meaning to look like Ra) statues were portrayed as godly and kingly, sitting on a throne, there were hieroglyphs with symbols of upper and lower egypt, implying that he rules both and will continue to do so in the afterlife
• Headdress, fake beard (status of the king)
• There is a hawk, cradling and protecting the statue of the king, the hawk was a representation of the god Horus (son of Ra)

Pyramid of Menkaure:

-was smaller than the others

-husband and wife tomb (they presumable loved each other while they were alive)

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