Chapter 3 Egypt from Narmer to Cleopatra
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CHAPTER 3 EGYPT FROM NARMER TO CLEOPATRA Overview ● Stones of various hues were available for carving statues and fashioning blocks for building were available. ● Burials were a big deal. Overview ● 2040 - 1640 BCE Middle Kingdom ○ Egyptian sculptors introduce a more emotional style of ● 3500 - 2575 BCE Predynastic and Early royal portrait Dynastic ○ Rock cut tombs become the ○ Egyptian artists produce narrative preferred form of Egyptian reliefs and paintings, including the burial monument earliest preserved historical ● 1550 - 1070 BCE New Kingdom artwork, the Narmer Palette ○ Architects construct grandiose ○ Imhotep, the first artist whose pylon temples on the banks of the name is recorded, builds the nile featuring hypostyle halls stepped pyramid and funerary with clerestory lighting complex of King Djoser at Saqqara ○ Akhenaton introduces a new ● 2575 - 2134 BCE Old Kingdom religion and new art forms during ○ Sculptors formulate the canonical the short lived religious and artistic Egyptian statuary types expressing revolution of the Amarna period the eternal nature of divine ● 1000 - 30 BCE First Millennium kingship ○ Egyptian artistic traditions continue ○ Workers Quarry millions of blocks under Dushite and of stone for the construction of 4th Greek Rule dynasty pyramids at Gizeh Nile River/Backbone of Egyptian Civilization The nile river brings fresh silt (soil) from thousands of miles of African hills. The Nile was a regular river, flooding at the exact time, dispersing nutrient rich silt for agricultural use. Its regularity created a stability in culture and state that compares drastically with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that shaped constant conflict of Mesopotamian culture. https://youtu.be/Z3Wvw6BivVI Egyptology Since Egypt was an old and stable civilization, the first Egyptologists were ancient Egyptians themselves. Thutmose IV 1401 - 1391 BCE restored the Sphinx, New Kingdom era. Prince Khaemweset (son of Ramesses II 1279 - 1213 BCE ) known as the first Egyptologist for restoring historic ancient egyptian buildings. Napoleon Bonaparte led a military expedition to Egypt in 1799 with a troop of scholars, linguists, antiquarians, and artists. They Found the Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone https://youtu.be/OFXY9-pec1I The stone contains three languages, 196 BCE, found 1799 CE, granodiorite material. ● Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs ● Demotic Script ● Greek Script Napoleon’s scholars were able to use the Greek Script to translate the other two languages, this forms the basis of understanding every written document found from ancient egypt. Fun fact: This stone is in the British Museum due to the British defeating Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. Predynastic and Early Dynastic 3500 - 2575 BCE ● Divided politically between upper and lower Egypt. ● Upper egypt Southern, more fertile. Egyptian Civilization started in upper Egypt. ● Lower egypt, Northern, River Delta. Predynastic and Early Dynastic 3500 - 2575 BCE ● Hierakonpolis is a predynastic site. ○ Discovery of early egyptian mural paintings on the walls of a tomb 3500 - 3200 BCE.. ● Palete of King Narmer, Hierakonpolis, Egypt, predynastic ca 3000 BCE. ○ Depicts King Narmer, the king responsible for uniting Upper and Lower Egypt, creating the first dynasty. Predynastic and Early Dynastic 3500 - 2575 BCE ● Palete of King Narmer, Hierakonpolis, Egypt, predynastic ca 3000 BCE. ○ Earliest historical artwork preserved (historical, in a period of written documentation) ○ It is debated, but this stone palette probably depicts the unification of the two lands. Predynastic and Early Dynastic 3500 - 2575 BCE ● Palete of King Narmer, Hierakonpolis, Egypt, predynastic ca 3000 BCE. ○ Back (left) King Narmer is shown killing a captured enemy. ○ Slaying (motif) is a common convention that signifies the inevitable triumph of the Egyptian God-Kings over their foes. ○ Below the king are two fallen enemies, the falcon and person hieroglyph with papyrus plant signifies a symbolic retelling of the story. ○ The falcon also signifies a living horus a god that watches over the stability of Egypt. Predynastic and Early Dynastic 3500 - 2575 BCE ● Palete of King Narmer, Hierakonpolis, Egypt, predynastic ca 3000 BCE. ○ Front (right), elongated headed felines, the circle would hold eye makeup in a small vessel. The twisting necks might signify Egypt’s unification of upper and lower. ○ Top (REGISTER) signifies Narmer’s reign of power, with the dead bodies of his foes piled up. The bodies have their heads neatly severed and placed between their legs, reminiscent of paleolithic cave paintings at Altamira. Bottom register, a bull is knocking over the city of the foe. Architecture of Early Dynastic Egypt Typical artwork of the time period comes from predynastic murals found in tombs, where the monuments to the deceased were dedicated to ensuring safety and happiness in the next life. ● Right: A typical Mastaba, (arabic- Bench), a typical tomb of the period. ● They were either for single persons, or complexes for entire families. ● They included a chapel, a false door so the Ka (spirit) could join the physical world to partake offerings like food. Some Mastabas had a serdab, a small room, or niche that a sculpture of the deceased could be placed. Everybody could go to the afterlife, not just the kings. Architecture of Early Dynastic Egypt The kings had the biggest tombs. IMHOTEP, Stepped Pyramid of King Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 2630 - 2611 BCE. ● IMHOTEP is one of the most renowned figures of ancient Egypt and is the first recorded name of an artist associated to works anywhere in the world. ● Saqqara was an ancient Necropolis (Greek-city of the dead). ● 200 feet high, it is a series of mastabas of diminishing dimensions. Resembling Mesopotamian Ziggurats. ● This is not a temple, like a ziggarat, rather it is a tomb for the memory and remains of King Djoser; it signifies his godlike power in death. ● The basement housed a large complex resembling a palace, for Djoser’s afterlife. Architecture of Early Dynastic Egypt IMHOTEP, Stepped Pyramid of King Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 2630 - 2611 BCE ● Complex was surrounded by walls had tightly regulated access. This is in sharp contrast to mesopotamian civilizations who did not have elaborate complexes for their deified dead. ● Priests performed daily rituals outside the entrance hall. Architecture of Early Dynastic Egypt IMHOTEP, Stepped Pyramid of King Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 2630 - 2611 BCE ● North facade detail ● Shows imitation of plant stems to celebrate the jubilee festival, which affirmed the royal existence in the hereafter ● Beginnings of stone structural forms being translated into plant forms. ● The capitals (heads at the top) take the form of papyrus blossoms of lower Egypt. the columns (shafts) resemble papyrus stalks. ● These are not freestanding columns, they are engaged columns, attached to the walls. ● These are the earliest known stone columns in the history of architecture. Old Kingdom, 2575 - 2134 BCE The Old Kingdom is the first of 3 great periods of Egyptian history, starting with Snefu, 2575 - 2551 BCE, the first king of the 4th Dynasty. Ends with the breakup of the Eighth Dynasty in 2134 BCE. ● Rulers dispensed great wealth, of which is shown in the fourth dynasty pyramids of Gizeh. ● The oldest of the seven wonders of the ancient world. ● The three large pyramids were constructed over the course of 75 years. ● Served as tombs of kings Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. ● These pyramids are a symbol of the sun, influenced by the seat of power Heliopolis, of the cult of Re, whose emblem was a pyramidal stone. Was more than the progression of a mastaba, to a step pyramid, to these examples. Benben stone The Old Kingdom is the first of 3 great periods of Egyptian history, starting with Snefu, 2575 - 2551 BCE, the first king of the 4th Dynasty. Ends with the breakup of the Eighth Dynasty in 2134 BCE. ● Benben stone, emblem of the cult of Re. ● It was a sacred stone, also serving as the capstone of the Pyramids at Gizeh, where the sun’s rays hit first in the morning. ● This stone served a prototype of other architectural forms including Obelisks. Gizeh Pyramids Old Kingdom. ● The four sides of the pyramid corresponded to cardinal direction points. Like Ziggurats of Mesopotamia civilizations ● Pyramids constructed of large stones quarried from the empire, contrasting the mud brick of Mesopotamian structures. ● Pyramids are symbols of the sun. The pyramid texts, inscribed in the pyramid walls refer to the sun’s rays as the ladder the god-king uses to ascend to the heavens. ● An entire funerary complex served as the king’s palace in the afterlife ● https://youtu.be/C1y8N0ePuF8 . The Great Sphinx The Great Sphinx, Gizeh, Egypt Fourth Dynasty, 2520 - 2494 BCE ● Valley temple of Khafre, carved from a mass of rock. ● The image is a lion body with a human head, possibly Khafre, possibly Khufu. ● The composite form of lion and human is appropriate for a king combining human intelligence with fearsome strength and authority of a lion. ● https://youtu.be/xJWjOoEsspc Khafre enthroned, from Gizeh, Egypt, 4th dynasty, 2520 - 2494 BCE Diorite 5’ - 6” Height. ● Diorite, like ancient Mesopotamia leaders Gudea of Lagash loved this stone so much he started importing it from Egypt to Girsu. ● This is a convention of displaying Egyptian kings, wearing a kilt and headdress with beard, sitting in a rigid pose. ● On the King’s head a falcon signifying the king as the “Living Horus,” a god signifying the protector of Egypt. ● Flawless face and body, regardless of his real age or appearance. ● He radiates serenity/calm, like the calmness of the Nile. ● Smoothness was achieved by abrasion, like a sandpaper or grinding smooth. Menkaure and Khamerernebty, from Gizeh, Egypt, 4th Dynasty. Graywacke, 4’ - 6 ½” Height. ● Another formula of King sculpture portraits was standing, either alone or in a group. ● Menkaure and one of his wives? Don’t know for sure, maybe the goddess Hathor. ● The figures are wedded to the stone block.