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Egypt 1: The land, its people, and eternity
Egyptʼs early civilization was contemporary to the Mesopotamiansʼ: but as Sumer, and
Babylon, and Assyria rose and fell, Egypt endured.
The territory of modern Egypt is much the same as it was in ancient Egypt. The country is
bordered on two sides by water and on the other two by inhospitable nature. Its geography kept
Egypt relatively isolated for thousands of years, and
left to themselves, the Egyptians developed an exotic
culture unlike any other.
The Egyptian people have always lived along the Nile
which is a wide shallow river that flows the whole length of
the country from south to north.
The Nile drains water from the central uplands of
Africa, flows through the desert and empties into the
Mediterranean Sea. It runs through the middle of the
country and effectively divides Egypt into an East and a
West.
It also divides the country into an upper and a lower.
Upper Egypt (closer to the interior highlands) is where
the Nile originates. Here the river flows down through
rocky cataracts and is un-navigable.
In Upper Egypt life continues much as it always
has since ancient times: people grow crops and
herd livestock. They are poorer, less educated, more
isolated and more devout than their counterparts in
lower Egypt.
Lower Egypt is where the Nile delta reaches the
Mediterranean Sea and the outside world .
Cairo is Egyptʼs capital and also is the largest city
on the African continent. Cairo and her sister city ,
Alexandria, are modern, cosmopolitan, urbane centers
of international business and education. Their way of
life is far from traditional.
Upper and Lower Egypt have always been polarized
by their differences. They were once separate kingdoms with different rulers, until they were united
into a single country around 3200 BC
The first Pharaoh of the first Dynasty of united Egypt was Menes I (or Narmer), the Ruler of
Both Lands.
Menes apparently commissioned a carved stone tablet to memorialize his victory, and it has
miraculously survived. The Palette of Narmer is a shield-shaped flat stone, carved in relief on
both the front and the back with scenes from Menesʼ successful campaign (war) for unification.
It is called a palette because it is in the shape of a stone tablet for grinding eye makeup (the
famous kohl eyeliner seen in Egyptian portraits), except it is larger, and made for ceremonial
purposes. This work records the victory of Narmer over his enemies and the unification of the
two Egypts
On the front, the Great king, wearing the bowling pin
crown of upper Egypt subdues his enemy, under the
sponsorship of Hathor (the cow headed goddess) and
Horus (the hawk). Horus is holding a human-headed
papyrus plant captive (papyrus is the a symbolic flower of
lower Egypt).
Behind the king is his servant carrying the kingʼs sandals.
On the ground below the kingʼs bare feet (sacred ground?)
are two bodies.
On the back are
three scenes: Under
Hathor again, the
King, this time
wearing the cobra
crown of Lower
Egypt parades with
his procession and
his servant to view the
vanquished foe, whose heads have been chopped off and
neatly placed between their legs.
Two feline creatures with intertwined necks are held by
servants. The circular space between their necks is the
well for grinding makeup.
At the bottom, the king takes on the guise of a sacred bull
to butt down a cityʼs walls and subdue an enemy. Though
this is the first important work of Egyptian art, it defined the
characteristics of Egyptian style which lasted for the
next 3,000 years. Some of those characteristics are:
Symbolic proportion: Narmerʼs size is larger because he is more important.
Characteristic perspective: head in profile, frontal eye, torso frontal, legs profile. Everything is
depicted from the point of view that offers the most definitive image.
Idealism: the King is a godlike figure perfectly formed: unchanging, made more
perfect than in real life.
Egyptian life and religion
In the Egypt of Menes I and in Egypt today, life is defined
by the Nile In ancient times, its predictable cycles of flood
enriched the soil so that it was possible to harvest 2-3 crops
per year. A few irrigation ditches and a handful of tools
were all that were needed for successful farming. Egyptian
agriculture was the envy of the Ancient world.
The Nile neatly divided the country into Eastern and Western
halves. The eastern side of the river, in the direction of
the rising sun was the land of the living. Here was where
towns were founded and temples were built.
The Western side, in the direction of the setting sun, was
the land of the dead. There was where tombs were dug,
burials took place and pyramids were built.
Herodotus, the Greek historian, remarked that the Egyptians
were obssessed with religion. Perhaps their good
geographic fortune gave them a reason to show constant
devotion to the Gods that had provided such abundance for
them.
The Gods of the Egyptians represented many things: forces of nature, animal spirits, and
human concerns. They could appear in human form, as their animal
counterpart, or as a human body with an animal head.
The goddess Hathorʼs
symbolic animal was
the cow, but she
was usually shown in
human form, and could
be identified by her
headdress: a solar disc
between two cow horns.
Isis and Osiris were
brother and sister (and husband and wife).
When Osiris was murdered and dismembered
and thrown into the Nile, Isis retrieved his
remains, put him together again, and brought
him back to life. At right is an image of Osiris at the instant of his resurrection: he smiles as
he lifts his head and realizes he is alive again.
Osiris became god of the Afterlife where it was his responsibility
to rule over the land of the Dead. He is usually shown
wrapped as a mummy, and as a pharaoh (with the crown,
crook and flail) seated on a throne, and his skin color is
green.
Horus was the child of Isis and
Osiris. His animal symbol was a hawk,
and the all-seeing eye became his
signature sign.
Horus was associated with lifegiving forces and with the power of
the Pharaoh. Several sculptures of
Horus show a miniature pharaoh figure
standing in the space between his feet
as if being protected.
The importance of their Gods to the Egyptians in life, was an indication of
the power they held after death.
The Egyptian Afterlife
After a lifetime of devotion to his Gods on earth, an Egyptian expected to be met by them after
death and to be welcomed by them into the next world.
Egyptians believed in a pleasant personal afterlife and they wanted to attain it. In this part of
a painted scroll entombed with a nobleman of Thebes, we are shown the critical moment when he
must be judged as having lived a worthy life to enter Osirisʼ Kingdom of the Dead.
The mortal is a man named Hu-Nefer.
His judgment will be performed by
the gods, witnessed by Osiris, and
evaluated by a panel of judges who
are seated at the top of the panel.
He is escorted in by Anubis, the
Jackal-headed god.
Anubis, the
jackal god
was designated
guardian of the
tomb and protector of the body. He is often seen preparing a body for
mummification or guarding the box of organs in the tomb.
Hu-Nefer will meet Maat, the goddess
of truth. Her symbol is the feather,
which will be used to weigh his heart.
If his heart is heavy with injustice and
lies, it will be heavier than the feather
and the monster beneath the scales will
devour it. That would be the end of his
hopes of living eternally.
But the Ibis-headed Thoth (who is the
god of record-keepers and scribes)
records a positive result, and Hu-Nefer
is taken by Horus to meet Osiris, the
god of the underworld, who waits with his
wife Isis. They welcome Hu-Nefer into the land of the dead, and his eternal life begins.
Egyptians believed that the spiritual essence of an
individual, a personʼs “ka”, existed for eternity. It did not fly
away up to heaven like a soul, but after entombment, it resided
in the body of the deceased.
The ka could leave temporarily, but always returned to its home.
If the body was not preserved or if the ka could not find it, then
any hope for eternal life was lost.
This is the ka statue of King Hor, a pharaoh from the 13th
Dynasty. The ka is represented by two upraised arms and
hands atop the Kingʼs head. In his ka state, the King exhibits
an otherworldly expression, His eyes have a fixed stare and he
seems to be looking at something no one else can see.
Preserving the Body: making a mummy
Preparation of a body for entombment took several
weeks. First the internal organs were removed and
the body cavity was stuffed.
The brain was removed
through the nasal passage.
Four removed organs were
placed in separate jars : one
each for lungs, heart, liver, and
brain. The canopic jars which
held the four organs were
traditionally carved with an identifying animal head (and one human one).
After removal of the organs, a personsʼ veins were flushed with preserving
fluids. The body was placed in natron (a
desert alkalai and drying agent) until it became
dessicated.
When it was ready, each body part was
wrapped separately. The fingers were
wrapped individually, then the hand, then the
arm, and so on...then the whole body was
wrapped and and laid in its body case.
For a priest or successful member of the court,
the body case might be just one wooden coffin
carved and painted to resemble the deceased.
For a pharaoh, the body case might be a golden
likeness, and there might be more than one. (Tutankhamen had a total of
three, one nesting inside another.
When the burial rituals were finished, the
mummy was placed in its tomb with
its body preserved, guarded by gods
and goddesses and surrounded by
the objects it would need throughout
eternity..
There were personal items like furniture,
clothing, jewelry, games. Models
of farming and wine making activities seemed to suggest the
deceased would be hungry and thirsty.
Rather than human servants (as the Sumerians had done)
small doll-like figures called ʻshawbatisʼ were entombed with the
deceased to serve them in the afterlife. Small models of boats and
chariots were included in case the ʻkaʼ would like to travel.
Egyptian Tomb Art
The cost of constructing, furnishing and decorating a tomb was a substantial investment,
and it took time. The interiors were often just small burial chambers, but their walls were painted
with scenes of the Gods and the afterlife, as well as scenes of nature and daily activities in
the world they had left behind.
The Egyptians used fresco secco (they painted on dry rather than wet plaster) which is less
permanent than true fresco.. Many tomb paintings
faded and disintegrated over time, but the Tomb of
Nebamun in Saqqara yielded several delightful wellpreserved paintings that show us what a nobleman
wanted to enjoy in his afterlife.
Nebamunʼs ka would be able to enjoy this scene of
beautiful nature. Here is a Garden Pool, surrounded
by trees. Fish and ducks share the water. The mood
is peaceful, calm, and nature is abundant.
Notice how the use of characteristic perspective
results in an unusual landscape .These spatial
inconsistencies may trouble us, but not the
Egyptians. They understood it perfectly and we
should understand that illusions of space wee not
important to them.
In Fowling in the Marshes, Nebamun enjoys a
day on the water with his family. They are on a
boat in the marshes of the Delta, and Nebamun
appears to be hunting birds
.
Characteristic perspective and symbolic
proportion are evident in the treatment of the
three figures. , But while the humans conform
to conventions of style, the animals donʼt. The
fish, birds, and plant forms (even the cat) are
delightfully naturalistic, and so faithfully recorded
that a person who knew about birds could probably
identify them.
Entertainment at a banquet shows us the social
life of the upper classes in ancient times. Just as
they do now, people get together to eat, talk, and
enjoy themselves.
Dancing girls and musicians perform as part of the
eveningʼs entertainment (notice the musicianʼs feet)
The Reserve Portrait
The most important object in the tomb, besides the deceased, was a his or her portrait. Though
they could be painted, the majority of ʻreserveʼ portraits were sculpted to more accurately
duplicate the reality of the body. The reserve portrait was an insurance policy, it was ʻreservedʼ
as a substitute home for the ʻkaʼ if anything should happen to the mummy.
That ʻanythingʼ was grave-robbing, which was almost inevitable, and most tombs were
desecrated within a generation of the burial. Often the workers who built the tomb or the priests
who performed the mummification were involved. Tomb robbers were always in a hurry, so
they slashed through a mummyʼs wrappings to get to the valuables, so mummies found without
slashes and cuts are rare. Some were hacked to pieces, then hastily rewrapped with their body
parts out of order.
In the burial chamber of the great King Djoser beneath
his step pyramid at Saqqara , archaeologists found
only fragments of him: a few shreds of cloth and a
foot or hand. His tomb had been looted and everything
(even his mummy) had disappeared.
Stone was the material of choice for those who could
afford it . Diorite, used for this sculpture of Mycerinus
and his Queen, is a hard black volcanic stone. It was
favored by the Egyptians because it was the hardest
and most difficult stone to carve, and it was also the
most permanent. In the case of a pharaoh, he might be
portrayed full-length and he could be accompanied by
other figures.
Mycerinus has the
idealized body
considered appropriate
for Pharaonic figures.
The Pharaoh was
considered a god-king
who was eternally youthful,
strong and slender. Only
his face was individualized.
.
Egyptian sculpture was a ʻblock consciousʼ, due to the system
of proportions they used. Their measurements were based on a
square (for painting) and a cube (for sculpture)
Figures were drawn out on a grid. A figureʼs height, width of
shoulder, rise of ankle and knee were determined by counting squares up or across. For painting,
only one drawing (a frontal view) was necessary.
I
In preparing to sculpt, the Egyptian artist prepared two drawings: a frontal grid and a profile grid,
Then he carved into the block until
the two intersected,and the result
was a human form that echoed
the squareness of the stone block
it came from.
This portrait of Chephren (Kafre)
seated is a good example. Only
the most elite Egyptians could
afford full-length sculptures. The
rest had to do with less permanent
materials or with partial figures
like busts.
In contrast to the idealized
and ageless portraits of the
pharaoh, who was a god-king,
portraits of others, who were
merely mortals could be more naturalistic, more faithful
to their real age and appearance.
The
Pharaohʼs Vizier, Prince Ankh-Haf chose a bust,
which would have been less expensive than a full
figure.
He was carved from limestone rather than diorite
or granite. Then the stone was given a surface of
plaster, to smooth and contour it. He is portrayed
as a man neither young nor old, but somewhere
in his middle adult years, with his slightly fleshy
jowls and puffy
eyelids. He is
allowed to be
more real and
less ideal.
Ka-Aper, on
the right, was
probably a
highly placed
servant of the King. He managed a full-length portrait, but in
wood rather than stone.
Over thousands of years, the wood has checked and split, and
its original paint has worn away, but his likeness is still wellpreserved.
In spite of woodʼs impermanence, the material seems to have
freed the sculptor from a blocky look. Ka-Aper seems to be more
free, he is in action as he strides forward. His face is expressive
and its inlaid eyes are convincingly real.
He is not a god-king, he is just a man, so his paunchy
figure and double chin seem appropriate for his age and the
comforts his position affords..
The lesser elite may have had to be satisfied with lesser materials
or smaller portraits, but they did manage to prepare themselves
well for the afterlife. The common people of Egypt had no
alternative to a simple burial in the desert.
Ironically, the highly alkaline sand and constant heat of the desert mummified some of them
at no charge, so even the poorest Egyptian had the chance of eternal life.
In the preservation of their bodies, the preparation and decoration of their tombs, and the creation
of their portrait doubles the Egyptians hoped to defy death and to live eternally. Whether they
achieved that, we donʼt know, but in that pursuit they created some of the most compelling and
mysterious works of art to be found anywhere in the world.
Mummy links:
http://www.akhet.co.uk/clikmumm.htm A clickable mummy shows how its done
.http://www.secker.fsbusiness.co.uk/mummies.htm
the Pharaohs
http://members.tripod.com/anubis4_2000/Bookmarks.htm New Kingdom mummies