Ancient Egypt Artifact Analysis

The artifact in question allows for a great deal to be learned about the ancient Egyptians and their way of life. First of all, this artifact is significant to the culture of ancient Egypt because it connects to the social hierarchy and class system in place at that time. For example, Egypt was a patriarchy, although in many ways women had it better than in other civilizations of the same time period: women could own their own property, be a part of the legal system (serve on juries, take someone to court, etc.), and there were even some ruling Queens in the history of Egypt: “There are a number of cases where a queen mother ruled for her son who was still a child. Several queens also ruled in their own right, often at the end of a dynasty”

So, in order to have a way to cope with all of these events, explain them, the people created an intricate system of deities and beliefs. They “believed the universe and all events that occurred within it were governed by the will of the gods” (20) - gods like Isis and Wepwawet. This helped them make sense of why certain things happened and the way their world operated: “If the annual inundation of the Nile was too great or too scant, it was because the river was angry… Not because of weather patterns in central Africa,” and, “The gods embodied not only natural phenomena but also abstract concepts such as justice, kingship, protection, and truth” (20). Religion gave Egyptians a sense of purpose, belonging and security - it wiped away their fears of the natural world and gave them an explanation for anything that previously, they would not have been able to fully comprehend. Furthermore, the Egyptians often portrayed their gods as animalistic - the god Wepwawet (the figure on the right in the artifact), for instance, is portrayed with the head of a jackal. This is because, “An animal-headed image of a deity was an attempt to visualize the multiple aspects of that god. The human part of the image indicates that no ordinary animal is depicted and the animal part symbolizes the superhuman endowments of the

The artifact relates to art and technology because it is, without any possible room for debate, a work of art, and it is made out of limestone - whoever created it must have had tools advanced enough to carve directly from stone. In addition, the artifact includes many hieroglyphs (including an ankh, the symbol for life), and therefore, proves that the Egyptians had an advanced and effective writing system that was used in many aspects of life. And finally, the artifact depicts two deities (which is known not only because of the title of the piece or the animalistic portrayal of Wepwawet, but also through the fact that both figures are holding scepters - markers of gods and goddesses) and is tied to beliefs about life after death. It was made to belong in a tomb, and on the back of the artifact, there is a long prayer to Osiris, which is calling on him for aid in the Hereafter. As shown, ancient Egyptian art ties in greatly with their belief in the afterlife: “Many surviving Egyptian works of art have been discovered in ancient tombs. No people has created a greater variety of art forms to ensure the protection and well-being of the deceased in the afterlife” (27). The people loved life so much that they needed to create an afterlife (and a way to ensure that they made it into that afterlife) in