Egyptologist Kara Cooney describes in a nutshell why we are all still fascinated with Ancient Egypt today. Other resources include Smarthistory’s excellent Ancient Egypt section, in particular the opening essay, which highlights some of the key themes for this content area: longevity, constancy and stability, geography, and time Jan 26, · The Ancient History Sourcebook also includes links to visual and aural material, since art and archeology are far more important for the periods in question than for later history. The emphasis remains on access to primary source texts for educational purposes Nov 22, · Ancient egypt essay pdf | reference for uni essay & gen z mental health essay ? Write a narrative essay about overcoming a challenge
Art of Ancient Egypt | Art History Teaching Resources
As Ancient Egyptian Art spans a wide time frame, a thematic approach is helpful to conceptually link the wide range of objects that will be viewed during the lecture. An icebreaker to begin the lecture might be to simply ask what students associate with the art of ancient Egypt. This can lead to a discussion of how museum exhibitions, Hollywood films, and the media shape perceptions of certain cultures that may or may not correlate with historical truths.
Initial discussions can also build off of local museum collections if availablewith students considering how objects in the museum differ from the objects in their original contexts.
For example, what does it mean to view funerary objects in a museum, ancient egypt essay opposed to within sealed tombs that were never meant to be seen by the public?
At the time of uploading this content, newspaper headlines reflect the state of civil turmoil in present-day Egypt. When the class looked at objects and sites from Prehistory and the Ancient Near East, they may have discussed architecture and design as statements of power and control.
During the Arab Spring, and in its still-unstable aftermath, the role of the artist is still important, giving voice to political opinion and potentially stabilizing or subverting power. You might begin the lesson by asking the students what they know about the Arab Spring or about the activities in Tahrir Square. The ancient egypt essay will have seen prehistoric cave paintings by this point and might look at wall paintings in the ancient egypt essay of mastabas and pyramids during this lesson.
Compare and contrast ancient motivations for creating visual imagery on walls communication of ideas, ritual, tradition, commemoration, status with, ancient egypt essay, for example, Arab Spring graffiti and further examples from the Occupy movement to demonstrate that wall art continues and still means some of the same things. The simple reclaiming of these public surfaces was an act of ancient egypt essay in itself against the government, ancient egypt essay.
You might want to use your survey textbook, and one of the comprehensive educator guides from the Met Museum, ancient egypt essay. Egyptologist Kara Cooney describes in a nutshell why ancient egypt essay are all still fascinated with Ancient Egypt today.
There are further at-home readings for students in the AHTR online syllabus. There are a variety of video resources available on Ancient Egypt that can be selected and customized based on the interests of your class as well as the museums in your area. Included in the PPT is a brief video by History Channel on how to make a mummy. Glossary: Canon of proportions Composite view Hieratic scale Idealization Ka : the immortal spirit of the deceased, in Egyptian religion.
Mastaba : a key term referring to the standard tomb type in early Egypt characterized by a rectangular stone or brick structure with sloping sides and a flat top over an underground burial chamber. Although the images are ordered primarily by chronology, they can be used to address a variety of themes throughout the lecture to guide discussions and related assignments.
You might start discussion around the first object by asking your students how we prepare for major life events, posing the following questions to them:. How many of you prepare for going out on a weekend night getting dressed up, inviting friends over, deciding where to go out? Chances are, many of your students will be able to relate to this.
How many of you prepare for your birthday or help prepare for the birthday of a great ancient egypt essay or family member getting a cake, candles, gifts, arranging a party?
How many of you have made plans for when you die, your funeral, and your trip into the afterlife having a tomb or coffin built, deciding what to have buried with ancient egypt essay, figuring out what the afterlife might look like?
It is less probable—although not completely unlikely! Ancient Egyptian culture was predicated in large part on a very close relationship to death, and to understand much of the material culture in this lesson, ancient egypt essay, students need to understand from the beginning that Ancient Egyptians thought about death and what happened after death in a radically different way than we do today.
Death was always immanent for the peoples of the Ancient Near East, as there was so much civil unrest. It was quite the opposite in Ancient Egypt, where ancient egypt essay ruling dynasties of kings and pharaohs created a stable atmosphere where people could plan for the end of their lives and their afterlife, much the same way some people have Ks and retirement plans today. The Narmer Palette, c. The palette was found in Hierakonpolisthe ancient Pre-Dynastic capital located in the south of Egypt, by a British archaeologist in the late nineteenth century.
The Pre-Dynastic Period just means the Neolithic settlement era in Egypt before Narmer came along and unified it around — BCE. The Palette of Narmer provides an excellent starting point to discuss how art in Ancient Egypt was created by and for elites. Often, as it is in this case, a pharaoh commissioned artworks in order to proclaim his divine power and absolute authority through set visual conventions.
The unnatural and stylized human figures in the Palette of Narmer introduce many of the standard ways of portraying the human body including hieratic scale and the composite view.
Rather than seeking to represent humans as they look in real life, bodies in ancient Egyptian art are often idealized and abstracted according to a certain canon of proportions. The depiction of the pharaoh as an idealized, youthful, and athletic figure also reinforces the political message of the artwork, with the ruler appearing more eternal and divine than human.
The majority of the images appearing in this lecture are from the Old Kingdom, ancient egypt essay, which is considered a period of immense development of Egyptian art, much of which was created with a concern for preserving life after death. Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt is typical of wall reliefs that were popular with wealthy patrons at the time.
Like in the Palette of Narmer, he figure of Ti is shown in hieratic scale, meaning he is much larger than then hunters around him, illustrating his elite status, ancient egypt essay.
Although Ti was not a pharaoh, he was a government official who was wealthy enough to have a lavishly decorated tomb.
These images, carved onto the walls of his tomb, were meant to ensure his everlasting success in the afterlife, ancient egypt essay. This overwhelming concern for the afterlife is evident in the most canonical Egyptian Monuments, ancient egypt essay, the Great Pyramids. Pyramids developed from the smaller mastaba tomb form. The intermediary architectural form was the stepped pyramid, exemplified by the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser, ancient egypt essay.
The Great Pyramids at Gizeh took these architectural forms to the next level. Each pyramid has a funerary temple next to it with a causeway leading to the Nile; when the pharaoh died, his body was ferried across the river.
The pyramids themselves have elaborate internal plans with false passageways and corridors to thwart potential grave robbers. While many questions still remain regarding how the pyramids were built, they also remain as monumental evidence of the advanced engineering skill of the ancient Egyptians, their ability to mobilize a massive labor force, and again, the overwhelming importance of the afterlife. Although they are still built within massive tomb complexes, each pyramid serves as a lasting monument to the individual pharaoh that created it.
Originally faced ancient egypt essay white limestone, the pyramids would have been spectacular, reflecting the hot desert sun, ancient egypt essay. This association with the sun was ancient egypt essay accidental, in fact, the form of the pyramids themselves was meant to echo the suns rays shining down on earth, emphasizing the belief that deceased pharaohs climbed up the rays to join the sun god Ra.
If ziggurats have already been discussed, they could provide a fruitful comparison to look at how architectural forms refer to their sacred content and strive to connect with the heavenly realm. This is a concept that can be returned to when looking at the development of Gothic cathedrals later in the semester. Along with the treasures and objects within the tombs, the interiors of pyramids were filled with statuary, relief sculpture, ancient egypt essay, and wall paintings such as those found in the tomb of Nefertiti, the powerful wife of the New Kingdom pharaoh Akhenaton.
All of these ancient egypt essay and images were meant to ensure the survival of the deceased in the next world. An image depicting an offering being made to the dead, for example, would ensure that the represented items would be available in the next world, ancient egypt essay. The lavish burial practices of the ancient Egyptians also involved the ritual mummification of the bodies of the deceased, which were dried out with salts and wrapped in linen strips and sheets soaked with resin, so that they would remain unchanging and whole forever, providing a preserved resting place for the spirit of the deceased.
Although he died at age 18 and was a minor ruler, King Tutankhamen is well known for his magnificent tomb that was discovered in by the British archaeologist Howard Carter. The innermost coffin was made of over pounds of gold covered with glass and semi-precious stone inlay. Funerary statues were also central to burial practices, ancient egypt essay.
Rather ancient egypt essay serving as realistic portraits of their patrons, Egyptian funerary statues such as that of Menkaure and his wife from the Fourth Dynasty were meant to serve as eternal homes for the spirit of the deceased, or the ka. Although the mummified body of the deceased was intended to last forever, these figures, ancient egypt essay, carved in exceptionally hard stone, were meant to provide a more permanent and guaranteed home for the ka, should anything happen to the mummified body.
In this example, Menkaure is shown striding forward with his hands clenched alongside his idealized youthful, muscular body, which conforms to the same Egyptian ideals visible in the Palette of Narmer. The positioning of his wife, with her hand on her husband, speaks to their marital status. As was common in Egyptian statuary, the figures are not fully freed from the stone blocks, reflecting an interest in permanence.
As in the Palette of Narmer, the figure of the pharaoh and his wife are idealized, rather than naturalistic, evidenced by their stiff and generalized features, ancient egypt essay, and abstracted anatomy. These conventions can also be seen in Khafre Ancient egypt essay, another funerary statue from the Fourth Kingdom, accentuating their role as homes for the ka, rather than as portraits of living individuals, ancient egypt essay. In contrast to the statue of Menkaure and his wife and that of Khafre Enthronedancient egypt essay, the Seated Scribe from Saqqara is a ancient egypt essay sculpture that exhibits a high level of naturalism.
The Seated Scribe has a lifelike quality achieved through the painting of the plaster and the use of inlaid eyes. Despite looking more like a lifelike individual, his protruding stomach, seated pose, and the stylus he was once holding still reflect prevalent conventions, indicating his occupation as a scribe.
Scribes had an elevated position in Ancient Egyptian society and were highly valued, ancient egypt essay, yet they were not shown with the same level of idealism as the divine pharaohs. Further discussion can consider if similar dichotomies exist in our own image culture, with the acknowledgement that standards of the ideal vary over time and between cultures. The New Kingdom c. It is marked by increasingly complex and monumental building projects that were filled with statuary, painted images, and wall reliefs.
Looking more closely at such architectural monuments can make it clearer how ancient egypt essay now found in museums were originally part of larger architectural complexes and were intended to be seen with other visual images. The interrelation of ceremony and images can be seen with the Mortuary temple of Hatshepsutwho is ancient egypt essay first recorded female monarch in history.
The temple, carved out of the rock face, is a notable change from the use of pyramids in the Old Kingdom but has an equally monumental effect, with its massive colonnaded terraces. This incredible complex was one of several building projects executed by the female pharaoh, evidencing a desire to use art as propaganda to affirm her power and status which was even more pivotal to her reign as a female monarch.
Within the massive complex, painted reliefs celebrate the female ruler, emphasize her divine birth, and highlight her achievements. Statues such as Hatshepsut with offering jars, ancient egypt essay, which show the queen making offerings to the gods, lined the entry to the temple and were found throughout the complex.
Other statues depicted her as a sphinx or as Osiris, ancient egypt essay, god of the afterlife. These multiple images of the queen reinforce her associations with the gods and her divine birth, as well as her absolute power as pharaoh. The statues of Hatshepsut also demonstrate her unusual position as a female monarch. In artworks like Hatshepsut with offering jars, therefore, she is depicted with conventional symbols of royal males, such as a false ceremonial beard and male anatomy, despite also being shown with feminine attributes, ancient egypt essay.
The consideration of sculpture in relation to architecture is even more relevant in the Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. Ramses II ruled for almost 75 years and is renowned for the ancient egypt essay successes throughout his reign. Together, they serve as emphatic and everlasting statements of the power and authority of the great pharaoh and bear witness ancient egypt essay the image the ruler strove to leave for posterity, ancient egypt essay.
Such grand architecture and artworks of the New Kingdom again strove to provide lasting monuments and homes for the elite in the afterlife, simultaneously serving to reinforce their power, authority, and divinity for eternity.
Façade of the temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, New Kingdom, c, ancient egypt essay. The artworks seen in this lecture adhere to conventions and formulaic depictions of the human body that persisted for thousands of years. The focus was not on the genius of individual artists, nor do Ancient Egyptian artworks adhere to a modern notion of aesthetic beauty.
Instead, the symbolic meaning of artworks took precedence, in order to reinforce the social order and influence the outcome of the afterlife. Visual conventions only began to shift during the more unstable Amarna Period exemplified by the sandstone statue of Akhenaton from the temple of Aton at Karnak c, ancient egypt essay.
For homework or discussion during lectures on Ancient Greek Art, ask students to consider why art in Greece was created, as opposed to its function in ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt, ancient egypt essay, artists were not guided by creative impulses like they are today but instead were valued for their technical skills as specialists. Artwork was almost exclusively created for elites, to emphasize their status. Conventions were used over time, demonstrating the symbolic role of visual images over an interest in naturalism.
How would this change in Ancient Greece?
Ancient Egypt 101 - National Geographic
, time: 6:14Ancient Egypt, an introduction – Smarthistory
Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World by Gerald Massey LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - Volume ANCIENT EGYPT- The Light of the World Book No. Page No.: 1 APT, THE FIRST GREAT MOTHER 1 THE MUMMY-BABE 3 ILLUSTRATION FROM A THEBAN TOMB 4 HIPPOPOTAMUS AND HAUNCH 5 SHU THE KNEELER 6 HORUS STRANGLING SERPENTS 7 HORUS IN Nov 21, · How to write an ib history essay Ratings 92 % () Ancient egypt essay example? - what is the essay about being a man what is its thesis. finding dory essay Jan 26, · The Ancient History Sourcebook also includes links to visual and aural material, since art and archeology are far more important for the periods in question than for later history. The emphasis remains on access to primary source texts for educational purposes
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