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The importance of animals and animal symbols in Egypt
The importance of animals and animal symbols in Egypt
The importance of animals and animal symbols in Egypt
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The Authority of King Narmer
The Palette of King Narmer reinforces King Narmer’s authority as the first king of the Early Dynasty showing his power over his people and both Upper and Lower Egypt. It is from the temple of Horus at Hierakonpolis, c. 2950, made from green schist, and is 63.5cm in height (Stokstad and Cothren, 51). It depicts King Narmer and his authority over both Upper and Lower Egypt by showing him wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt and striking at a man who is believed to represent Lower Egypt according to Stokstad and Cothren (51). In this essay I will talk about how the Palette of King Narmer reinforces the authority that King Narmer has over both Upper, and Lower Egypt from the visual art of carved into the palette
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as well as the form itself. The palette makes a statement on how glorified King Narmer is and the power he has. On both sides of the palette it shows King Narmer in hieratic scale to show his importance over everyone else.
He is shown standing at twice the size of over his people to confirm his authority and importance over everyone else. The hieratic scale is a visual system to show the greater power someone of importance has over other people according to Dickerson (35). In this piece of work, King Narmer is shown alongside his followers and using the hieratic scale helps distinguish him. The use of the hieratic scale plays a very important part to the piece of work because it ensures the knowledge of authority King Narmer has (Dickerson, …show more content…
34-35). The Palette of King Narmer was unlikely used for makeup but instead used for cermonial purposes. According Kleiner (56), the palette is a formalized version of a makeup palette which would be used to prepare eye makeup used to protect their eyes from the glare of the sun. The palette was mainly used as a decorative piece because of its size which is 63.5cm (Stoksad and Cothren 51). The main circular area of the back side of the palette which would be used to grind up makeup is most likely not actually used since the palette itself is undoubtedly only used for cermonial purposes according to Stoksad and Cothren (51). Although the palette is unlikely to be used for makeup, it displays many images that show how much authority King Narmer has from unifying Upper and Lower Egypt. There are many images carved from the green schist to make the Palette of King Narmer and each visual image is done with a purpose to show King Narmer’s authority over his people.
At the top of both sides of the palette, hieroglyphs are shown with King Narmer’s name on it; a horizontal fish (nar) and a veritcal chisel (mer), then a top view groundplan is shown surrounding the hieroglyphs to ensure his kingship (Stokstad and Cothren, 51). To the left and right of Narmer’s hieroglyphic name on both faces of the palette are cow heads with human facial features that represent the goddess Hathor (El-Shahawy and Farid, 24). The goddess Hathor is depicted as a cow in many forms of Egyptian art because she is a symbolic mother of the pharaoh (Hart, 76). On the first side of the palette a figure appears to be standing on his own groundline which signifies that he is standing on sacred ground according to Stokstad and Cothren (51). He is King Narmer’s personal sandal-bearer who follows him around and continues onto the the other side (Stokstad and Cothren, 51). The god Horus is shown in the form of a falcon with a human head and holds a rope tied around the neck of a human head in which according to Stokstad and Cothren (50), represents Lower Egypt to show that King Narmer is now the ruler of both Upper and Lower Egypt unifying both lands into a single Egypt. The man who King Narmer is attacking is said to be someone of importance and likely the leader of Lower Egypt which enforces
his authority as the new ruler over two lands (Stokstad and Cothren, 51). On the bottom register of the front side of the palette shows two defeated enemies in which is depicted on the register below King Narmer to show that he is stepping ontop of them because he is the powerful and they are the powerless. Next to the enemies are symbols of a city and a gazelle which is believed to represent Narmer’s rule of both city and countryside according to Stokstad and Cothren (51). The front side of the palette is seen as the front because of the larger register image of King Narmer which shows a clearer image of him. On the back side of the palette where the makeup would be grounded shows King Narmer wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt standing next to his person sandal-bearer once again. The back side shows three registers, each showing its own statement. The bottom one shows a bull he supposively represents the king himself destroying a fortress while trampling on his foes (El-Shahawy and Farid, 23). Above this image is the middle register where two mythical lion-like animals intertwine their necks created the circle where normally the makeup for the palette would sit. Each head of the lion-like animals are firmly grappled by men with ropes symbolizing the unifycation of Upper and Lower Egypt in which Narmer has power across according to El-Shahawy and Farid (23). Depicted on the final register, King Narmer is seen holding his mace in one hand and a nekhekh in the other in which becomes a typical royal sceptre symbolising authority (El-Shahaway and Farid, 23). The nekhekh (or flail) later becomes an iconic symbol all throughout the history of Ancient Egypt. It is seen in most images of Osiris
The pharaoh named Khafre was an ancient Egyptian king of the 4th dynasty during the old kingdom. Khafre enthroned shows the pharaoh is shown in a seated potion on a throne with a look of deep serenity in his face. The king is sitting rigidly upright with one of his hands on his knee and the other one making a fist on his thigh. Khafre is also wearing a headdress as well as a strapped on beard. Khafres’ face and body are both idealized with the help of bilateral symmetry. Khafre is perfectly symmetrical on both sides; his pose is also both frontal and ridged. The Sculptor shows all movement, however, still showing eternal stillness (Kleiner, 2013). The statue of Khafre is an image of unbridled power. This work, life-sized and carved from diorite (an extremely hard and difficult-to-work stone) portrays the Pharaoh Khafre, sitting immobile. This piece of art uses the Egyptian canon of proportions, creating a very idealized figure (Kleiner,
Information from the textbook and Hays’s article help illuminate the events depicted and their significance in culture and art of the New Kingdom, and how the style ties into the art of the time.
The Greeks named the city Hierakonpolis, or “City of the Falcon”, in reference to a local god. The falcon god was the predecessor of Horus, the god of order and symbol of Egypt’s kings. Nekhen’s rulers received both ideological and political power through their link with, or personification of, Horus. A statue of Horus placed upon a pole, guarded a large and colorful shrine in the middle of Nekhen where worshippers deposited their sacrificial offerings. The ideological power exuded by Nekhen made it an important spiritual destination. Political power was also expressed in the tombs of the elites and rulers. Tomb 100, located in a cemetery outside of Nekhen, is a royal tomb with painted walls that show how the occupant fought against chaos and upheld the ideals of Horus. Palettes found in Nekhen, similar to the Narmer palette, illustrated the military prowess of rulers and were likely tools of propaganda used to proclaim superior political power over rival
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.
The pieces of sculpture are both carved using the subtractive method of sculpting from stone. However, the types of stone used were very different. The sculpture of Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II was carved from a stone called greywacke, a dark colored, very hard stone the Egyptians prized for sculpture despite the fact t...
Compare and contrast the imagery of the Egyptian Palette of Narmer with the Akkadian Stele of Naram-Sin. How do they represent their respective kings, as rulers and also as human figures? How are the other figures represented? How do the artists approach the narrative (storytelling) process?
In conclusion, the portrayal of ancient rulers is dependent not only on the style of art popular during the era, but also on the evolution of the political climate. The portrayal of Menkaure, a pharaoh of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt, is of complete authority, control and power. His face does not show concern or grief over his people, because he is not challenged politically, the image of control coincides with his sole power over the kingdom. While the depiction of Alexander the Great, in ancient Greek coins is deified. Alexander’s leadership ended with world domination; therefore, his deified portrayal on monetary funds is particularly appropriate. By contrast, Philip the Arab’s portrait sculpture almost resembles a present day photograph with its capture of fleeting expression. This expression of anxiety and sadness is a representation of the political turmoil during the time period of his rule. Taking the progress of ancient cultures into account, how does the art of sculpting improve in the manipulation of the medium used?
The Palette of Narmer was created on a flat stone surface; the artists then carved the story into the flat stone in a very specific manor. This palette is known for representing the coming together of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt (Stokstad and Cothren, 52). At the top of the palette on both sides shows two bulls that were said to possibly represent the goddess Hathor. Hathor was known as the goddess of protection, and is depicted in other Egyptian art as a woman with cow ears (British Museum, no page). In between the heads of Hathor is the name of the King Narmer, written with iconography called serekh. In this serekh, one can see the Horus falcon head and below it is the name of the king. The falcon head is said to protect the Egyptian ruler (Kinnaer). Although this is just one small piece of the top of the palette, it already starts to depict an enormous part of history in Egypt.
...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.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ‘Egyptian Art’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Art. New Series, Vol. 41, No. 3, Egyptian Art (Winter, 1983-1984): pp. 1+3-56
Let’s begin with what was going on during the time period for each sculpture. During the 2458-2446 BCE. Userkaf was thriving over his brother Sahure, and he became the new ruler of Egypt. In the start of 2446 BCE, Neferirkare beings his dominant over Egypt. King Sahure and Nome God is a high relief it is still attached to a surface of a stone. The Pharaoh sitting on his thorn wearing a Nemes headdress (it is usually blue and gold striped), fake beard. The king has an emotionless facial expression. It was made for a decoration for the king pyramid complex. The symbol behind this statue could be the gathering of the Nome gods form Upper and Lower Egypt around t...
The Egyptians were big lovers of all beauty and fashion. They were such lovers of beauty that some of their names were based on the word ‘nefer’, which means beautiful. Examples of such were Nefert, Nefertiti, and Nefertari. The goddess associated with adornment was “Hathor the Golden”, who is seen as the ideal of beauty in love and poetry of the time.
Something I noticed after viewing several pieces of ancient Egyptian art is that a great deal of it is religious. It only takes a basic knowledge and understanding of the ancient Egyptians’ religion to know that they have numerous gods and goddesses. They are not exclusive in this way, as there are many other cultures and faiths which have multiple deities. However, the manner in which they portray their many gods through their art is very distinguishable and well-known. This could also be because of the style they use. The use of animals is one of the features that make a...
The use of iconographic symbols in art began as early as 3000 BC, when the Neolithic civilizations of the Middle East used nonhuman or animal figures to represent their gods. Thus, the Egyptian mother goddess Hathor was associated with the cow and usually appeared in relief sculpture and wall paintings as a cow-headed woman. The sun god Ra had a hawk's head, and the creator Ptah appeared as a bull.
The “Sacred Tree,” (fig. 1) was originally positioned behind the king’s throne. The scene shows two genii, sometimes with birds’ heads and sometimes with men’s heads and the horned hats of gods. Each of the winged figures holds a bucket and reaches out with an oval object toward a stylized “tree.” The composition has been read as being based on bilateral symmetry, with the vertical stalk-like structure crowned by a palmette. A meticulous examination reveals that although balanced, it has many discrepancies on both sides that deviate from perfect mirror symmetry. Ashurnasirpal appears twice, shown from two sides, dressed in ceremonial robes and holding a mace connoting his authority. The figure of the king on the right makes an invocative gesture a god in a winged disk in the top center of the relief. Ashur, the national god or Shamash, the god of the sun and justice, may be identified as the god who confers the king divine right. On the left, the king holds a ring, an ancient Mesopotamian symbol of divine kingship, in one...