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Egypt civilization and its culture
Egypt civilization and its culture
The role played by religion in the development of ancient Egypt
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The Egyptian Heretic
The ancient Egyptians worshipped hundreds of gods and goddesses. The most important of these deities has always been believed to be the sun deity. This deity came in several forms depending on the time of day. For instance, in the morning, the sun God would be depicted as Khepri, a scarab beetle who moved the sun disc across the sky. The sun could also take the form ___________________ of Re-Harakhty (Fig. 1), the mighty hawk soaring in the sky, and ___________________ later as Atum, depicted as an elderly man, during the evening. The sun ___________________ was professed to be responsible for everything in creation. In this ___________________ deity’s full power, he was regarded as Amun-Re, king of the Gods. ___________________
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He was originally given the name Amenhotep IV, meaning ‘Amun is Satisfied.’ However, five years into his reign he re-identified himself as Akhenaten, meaning ‘Beneficence of the Aten.’ At this same time, he built a new capital at present-day Amarna, formerly known as Akhetaten (Oakes & Gahlin 377). Both of these prevalent issuances were used to steady the progression of Akhenaton’s heretic new philosophical and artistic values. His name change allowed him to portray the celestial association between the Aten, the now-monotheistic sun deity, and himself. Akhenaton believed he was the Aten’s earthly representation, and the masses regarded their pharaoh king as such (Strudwick 75). Following in suit, Akhenaten undermined the traditional pantheistic cult of Amun, the former king of the Gods, and instead built a new capital to honor the Aten. Akhenaton went further to reform this new religion by changing the way the masses were to worship their deity. Before his reign, the masses were to worship in dark, unlit sanctuary temples. Akhenaton instead built temples to the Aten without roofs, as a means to be in the open air and in broad daylight to bask in the Aten’s great life force (Oakes & Gahlin …show more content…
When carving statues, artists drew guidelines on all sides of the uncarved stone, paying close attention to the horizontal and vertical axes (Watts & Girsh 38). Instead of carving statues fully in the round, many artists opted to leave the main figure(s) connected to its base to support its own weight. Shown here (Fig. 4), is an example of the tradition style of figure statuary; the Pharaoh and his wife are stiff and rigid, showing to their people that their legacy will live on, unmoving, throughout the ages. Under the reign of Akhenaten, many of these traditional ________________________ Egyptian artistic values were cast away in favor of those that portrayed the royal family in a jarring, grotesque way.
One such example, (Fig. 5) exquisitely exhibits the new age artistic values during Akhenaten’s rule. These style changes included feminine curves, full lips, half closed eyelids, elongated faces and necks, as well as a heavy belly and thick thighs. This stylistic representation was the basis for the for the entire royal family during the early years of Akhenaten’s reign, with each royal family member being depicted as a clone of one another. This style quickly eroded when Thutmose, the new master sculptor, took charge
The Ancient Egyptian sculpture, “Statue of Nykara and His Family”, was sculpted during the late fifth dynasty. The sculpture is a depiction of Nykara, his wife, Nubkau, and son, Ankhma-Re. The statue is in poor condition with pieces of limestone missing and chips on the three subject’s faces and bodies. The painted limestone shows the conventional colors for the male and female subjects. There is a clear discoloration among Nykara and his son’s bodies. The brownish red color they once were has eroded to a light yellowish color, which resembles the purposeful color of Nykara’s wife. The hieroglyphs on Nykara’s seat insinuate that the sculpture is meant to be viewed from the front view. This is also evident by the way the three subjects are facing forward in frontal view. There are hieroglyphs on both the chair and base of the statue near Nykara’s wife and son’s feet.
These two statues are famous to the Egyptian art era. They represent the woman’s position and the man’s position at that day and age. Traditionally, the rulers of Egypt were male. So, when Hatshepsut, Dynasty 18, ca. 1473-1458 B.C., assumed the titles and functions of king she was portrayed in royal male costumes. Such representations were more for a political statement, rather than a reflection of the way she actually looked. In this sculpture, she sits upon a throne and wears the royal kilt and the striped nemes (NEM-iss) headdress with the uraeus (cobra) and is bare chested like a man. However, she does not wear the royal beard, and the proportions of her body are delicate and feminine.
Amenhotep IV was born in c. 1365 BCE during the 18th dynasty in Egypt to Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye (Aldred 11). He was given his name in honor of the Gods Amun and Re whom Amenhotep III sought to be the earthly representative of (Bratton 17). Amun-Re was the creator God, and Re was the God of the sun (Assmann 485-6). Combined, these two deities were the most powerful God and are therefore normally referred to by their conjoined name of Amun-Re (Redford 97). Although Re was the sole Sun God, there were others under him who were individually responsible for a specific detail of the sun-God. Aten was an aspect of R...
There is even a relief of Nefertiti sitting on Akhenaten’s lap, a closeness not previously seen in royal art. The Aten Great Temple reflects the changes in architecture that permeated temple architecture. Temples were built open to the air, allowing Aten to penetrate the sacred area with his rays. Also, temple reliefs evolved to depict scenes of daily life at Amarna and the activities of the royal family instead of that of gods, as previously seen in Egypt. The Great Temple contained nine hundred open air mudbrick offering tables, like the ones depicted in the relief, in which food offerings would be left for Amen.
Egypt is a city bound to its history and tradition. Portraiture in Egypt was the inspiration for many cultures and stood as heavy influence for the catalyst of portraiture development around the world. Portraiture in ancient Egypt was constant and predictable until the late eighteenth century when Amarna style portraiture was introduced. The Amarna style stands out in Egyptian history for its severe contrast and break in tradition. The rendering of the body changes completely and deviates from what is expected of Egyptian art. This falls into the same time when Amenhotep IV was introducing other changes into Egyptian culture as well. As Amarna style progresses it is accompanied by the institution of Egyptian henotheism. Over two thousand deities were to be abandoned during Amenhotep IV’s eighteen year reign. His name would become Akhenaten and the Amarna style would be grouped into a class of ancient art surrounding Akhenaten, his family, and the sole god Aten.
...ars after Khafre’s reign, the fourth dynasty was just the beginning. Monumental Egypt, although it existed in burial tombs before Khafre’s reign, truly became a traditional pattern in the fourth dynasty. Khafre’s seated ka statues were numerous and perhaps the beginning of the formulaic sculpting of Egyptian ka statues. The King Khafre Seated that is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art now is not only the best ka statue of Khafre in existence, but perhaps one of the best examples of classic Egyptian sculpture from the Old Kingdom.
In Ancient Egypt, women are typically shown as youthful and beautiful while more mature, older women are very rarely depicted. For men of the time, ageing is shown in art more frequently because it was a positive aspect of manhood. For ancient Egyptians, art wasn’t just made for pleasure or beauty; it was a very practical and necessary part of the day-to-day lives of the Egyptians. In art, Egyptian belief was that people needed to be depicted at their peak of energy and beauty in order to remain that way forever when they cross over into the afterlife. In most ancient Egyptian art, male ageing is represented more frequently than women since it was considered a positive image for men. Egyptian art seldom depicted older women or women growing older: "neither pregnancy nor the spreading waistline that many women must have had after years of bearing children is part of the image." However, there are examples that feature elements of ageing that are linked to elite and non-elite women alike. These demonstrations of older women are possibly an attempt to outwardly show on women the authority and honor in the same way the image of male ageing is represented. Though it is rarely depicted, we can use art to trace the portrayal of older women and women growing older in Egypt, from the Third Dynasty down to the end of the New Kingdom.
Egyptians worshiped many gods and goddesses. Some of the gods they worshiped were Ra the sun god, Isis the god of nature and magic, Horus the god of war and Osiris the god of the dead. The act of worshiping many gods is called polytheism. The Egyptians had a god for almost everything.
Roman portraiture was known to be one of the most significant and prominent periods in the development of portrait art. Roman portraits are characterized by two major styles the realistic or “veristic” and the idealized elements or “classicizing” both of these styles are known for their unusual realism and the desire to convey images of specific individuals such as gods and emperors. However it is important to understand the early background behind roman sculptures stretches back to the earliest days of Roman history, for example a commend tradition was to create a wax sculpture of the dace of a desist man, which were kept in a special place of the owners home. These sculptures were more of a record the persons existence than an actual work of art, there for it emphasis more realistic details than artistic beauty.
As the founder of the Akkadian Empire, Sargon’s story is found in the Legend of Sargon, which is composed of two cuneiform clay tablets that illuminate his character as a legendary individual born to an anonymous father, and a mother who set him adrift in a basket down the Euphrates River (parallel to the story of Moses in the Hebrew Bible). Eventually he grew up and conquered cities, starting with Kish. He rose to wield power throughout all of Mesopotamia and established the first universally cultured empire in history. His great courage was even showcased when he defeated Lugalzegesi, the first Sumerian king to successfully subjugate city-states throughout Sumer and the final Sumerian king preceding the formation of Akkad. Taking the throne-name Sharru-ki, “the king is legitimate”, Sargon founded the Akkadian empire whose foundation was attained through military sieges carried out by a tenacious, organized army at Sargon’s disposal. Maintaining Akkad was another challenge in itself, and Sargon managed to establish a period of stability wherein his empire thrived—he created an efficient postal system involving clay tablets written in cuneiform Akkadian style. In addition, he promoted expansion of trade and development of road networks. He even endowed his daughter Enheduanna to be High Priestess of Inanna at
Although the people of both Lower and Upper Egypt believed in one creator who was referred to as the Ikka Nour, the two kingdoms referred to this religious figure by different names and meanings. In the northern kingdom, the Ikka Nour was known as “Ra”. Ra was associated with the sun giving rise to the quote “the sun that shines brilliantly everywhere”
The sculptures and paintings produced during the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty set the standard of Egyptian art until the end of the dynastic periods. Egypt was a culture steeped in religion and bound by the ideas of order and balance; and so was their artwork. Because most pieces produced were depictions of reigning pharaoh’s divine relationship with the Egyptian gods and his role as king of Egypt (Hawass), the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty gave life to specific cannon in Egyptian art called the “law of frontality (Egyptian Art).” All gods, pharaohs and noblemen would be depicted based on this standard. These standards left little room for artistic innovation until the reign of Akhenaten at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The pharaoh Akhenaten abandoned the artistic style and religion of the Old Kingdom and created his own called the Armarna Style. Both periods produced beautiful architecture and artwork but the artist of Akhenaten’s reign were given more creative liberties and produced more life-like pieces.
The Colossal Statue of King Tuthankhamun and the Lamassu are amazing works of art. Of the eight works assigned, these two particularly caught my eye. The two pieces, though very different, have many similarities. In this paper, I will discuss these similarities and differences of style in terms of their overall shape, proportions, and individual parts.
A Comparison between The Royal Acquaintances Memi and Sabu and the Statue of Gudea Introduction It is well know, that sculpture is one of the artistic method the ancient ancestors adopted in the preservation of figures and their culture. In a literary meaning, a sculpture is refers to as the art of making two- or three-dimensional representative or abstract forms, especially by carving stone or wood or by casting metal or plaster. (Oxford Dictionary 2013). The history of sculpture can be throw back to the Ancient Greek.
Ancient Egyptians tried to understand their place in the universe. This is why their mythology is centered on nature such as the earth, sky, moon, sun, stars, and the Nile River. There are many Egyptian myths of creation, but the Heliopolitan Tradition, Hermopolitan Ogdoad, and the Memphite Theology are the most commonly used. They all have some common elements and gods. For example, many of t...