Art of Ancient Egypt

For nearly 3,000 years since around 3,100 BC, Egypt held a polytheistic (multiple gods) belief system. Their sun god (variously called Amon, Re (Ra), or Aten), was considered greater than other Egyptian deity. Equally important was the Nile River. Which was Egypt's primary source of it's deep sense of order. Because of the regularity of the sun's daily cycle and the Nile's annual overflow, ancient Egyptians felt security.

Because of the sun's regular cycle of rising and setting, the ancient Egyptians perceived both the inevitability of death and the promise of birth. "The Hymn to the Aten," a song of praise probably accompanied rituals of renewal honoring Egypt's pharaoh, the divinely appointed representatives of the sun god. Depictions of such rituals have been found on the walls of Egyptian temples and tombs showing the pharaoh receiving the gift of immortality (in the form of the ankh, symbolizing "life") from Amon. In visual arts and poetry, the sun is exalted as the source of heat and light, and also as the proactive life force, the "creator of seed." The Hymn shows the optimism and security that the Egyptians felt. (Fiero, 19)

The Egyptians identified the Nile River with Osirus, ruler of the underworld and god of the dead. (Fiero, 20) According the Egyptian myth, Osirus was slain and restored to life by his wife Isis, Queen of Heaven. The myth vividly describes the idea of resurrection that was central to the ancient Egyptian belief system. There were more than 2,000 local gods and goddesses that made up the Egyptian pantheon. (Fiero, 21)

Local rulers governed the Neolithic villages along the Nile River until about 3150 BC, when they were united under the authority Egypt's first pharaoh, Narmer (aka Menes). This important event of having unity of lower and upper Egypt is commemorated on a 2 foot high slate object known as the Palette of Narmer. Narmer's conquest initiated Egypt's first dynasty. Which Egypt continued to be ruled by a succession of dynasties for the next 2,500 years. New Kingdom (1575-1085 BC) pharaohs created Egypt's first empire, extending their authority to Syria, Palestine, and Nubia. (Fiero, 22)

The Egyptians long believed that their land was sacred and owned by gods, ruled by pharaohs, and farmed by peasants with the assistance of slaves. The fruits of the harvest would be shared among the community. This divinely way of life was known as theocratic socialism. It provided Egypt with a surplus of food that encouraged trade. (Fiero, 22)

In the Egyptian theocracy (rule by god or god's representatives), reigning monarchs represented heaven's will on earth. (Fiero, 22) In the visual arts, rulers and gods alike were depicted with the attributes and physical features of powerful animals. Such as is the case with the Great Sphinx. A symbol of superhuman power and authority. Ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaoh on his death would join with the sun to govern Egypt eternally. (Fiero, 23) The king's corpse would be mummified and wrapped in fine linen and placed in an elaborate coffin, which was floated down the Nile to a burial site located at Gizeh and Saggara. The earliest Egyptian tombs were propably modeled on Egypt's domestic dwellings. These mud-brick tombs, called mastabas, consisted of an offering chamber room that held a statue of the dead, and a shaft that descended to the burial chamber some 100 feet below. Stacking five mastabas of decreasing size on top of one another. Imenhotep produced the impressive stepped pyramid for King Zoser (ruled around 2600 BC). The true geometric pyramid took shape with the fourth dynasty pharaohs of the Old Kingdom. (Fieor, 25) The Great Pyramid of Khufu, consists of more than two million stone blocks rising to approx. 480 feet and covering a base area of thirteen acres. The chamber walls were painted in fresco and carved in relief with images recreating the pharaoh's life on earth. Hieroglyphs formed an essential component of pictorial illustration. (Fiero, 26)

Intended primarily as homes for the dead, the pyramids were built to assure the ruler's comfort in the afterlife. The promise of life after death seems to have dominated at all levels of

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