CHAPTER 3

EGYPT FROMNARMER 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● 3500 - 2575 BCE Predynastic and Early

Dynastic○ Egyptian artists produce narrative

reliefs and paintings, including the earliest preserved historical artwork, the Narmer Palette

○ Imhotep, the first artist whose name is recorded, builds the stepped pyramid and funerary complex of King Djoser at Saqqara

● 2575 - 2134 BCE Old Kingdom○ Sculptors formulate the canonical

Egyptian statuary types expressing the eternal nature of divine kingship

○ Workers Quarry millions of blocks of stone for the construction of 4th dynasty pyramids at Gizeh

● 2040 - 1640 BCE Middle Kingdom○ Egyptian sculptors introduce a

more emotional style ofroyal portrait

○ Rock cut tombs become the preferred form of Egyptianburial monument

● 1550 - 1070 BCE New Kingdom○ Architects construct grandiose

pylon temples on the banks of the nile featuring hypostyle hallswith clerestory lighting

○ Akhenaton introduces a new religion and new art forms during the short lived religious and artistic revolution of the Amarna period

● 1000 - 30 BCE First Millennium○ Egyptian artistic traditions continue

under Dushite andGreek Rule

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 Euphratesrivers that shaped constant conflict ofMesopotamian 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 apredynastic 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 unificationof 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 livinghorus a god that watches overthe 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 upperand 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 ofEarly 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 ofthe 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 justthe kings.

Architecture ofEarly 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 signifieshis godlike power in death.

● The basement housed a large complex resembling a palace, for Djoser’s afterlife.

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Architecture ofEarly Dynastic Egypt

IMHOTEP, Stepped Pyramid ofKing 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 theirdeified dead.

● Priests performed daily ritualsoutside the entrance hall.

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Architecture ofEarly Dynastic Egypt

IMHOTEP, Stepped Pyramid ofKing 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.

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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 theancient 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.

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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.

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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

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The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx, Gizeh, Egypt Fourth Dynasty, 2520 - 2494 BCE

● Valley temple of Khafre, carved froma 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 arigid 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.● This could be classified as a “high relief sculpture” due

to its connection to the original block.● A rigidly frontal prose, he clinches his hands into fists

with thumbs forward and advances his left leg slightly. No contrapposto or shifting of the hips to balance the figures weight of the body.

● Aim was not to portray the living figures, but to suggest the timeless nature of the stone statue that might need to serve as an eternal substitute homefor the Ka or human spirit.

Seated scribe, from Saqqara, Egypt, 4th dynasty, ca 2500 BCE, Painted Limestone, 1’ - 9” Height.

● https://youtu.be/cxs1d3N60UI● The head displays a sense of sensitivity. ● He is of high class, he is a scribe but

not a king.● Fat around the middle, signifier of

his wealth.● When a person’s importance decreases,

formality is relaxed and realism increases.

Tomb of Ti,5th Dynasty 2450 - 2350 BCE

● Old kingdom tombs often hadrelief sculpture of the deceased.

● Ti, his men and his boats move slowly thru the marshes hunting hippopotami and birds in a growth of

towering papyrus. ● Ti is twice the size of his men, stating his importance.● Ti’s stately and rigid/smooth approach is contrasted

with the realism of handling of his men. ● Egyptian artists did not sketch their subjects

in life, they applied a strict canon of proportions.● Like typography, a grid would be placed on the wall to

map out the key points of the body.

Middle Kingdom 2040 - 1640 BCE

● 2150 BCE, Egyptians challenged the power of the weak kings of the 6th Dynasty. Nile river valley was unpredictable. Might have been a mega drought with crop failure. Geologic record suggests massive fires

and drought. ● http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-

2189802/Egyptian-kingdom-died-4-200-years-ago-following-mega-drought-caused-climate-change.html

● King of Upper Egypt, Mentuhotep II 2050 - 1998 BCE, united Egypt again to start the Middle Kingdom, lasting 400 years.

Middle Kingdom 2040 - 1640 BCE

Sculpture

● Middle Kingdom used the conventionsstarted in Old Kingdom sculpture.

● Fragmentary head of Senusret III saw a break of the idealized kingly features, bringing an unprecedentedrealism to the features.

● Wrinkles, pessimistic expression, meditation,shows a king who has been in the world. Possibly a show of intelligence and competence.

● Anxiety of troubled times.

Middle Kingdom 2040 - 1640 BCE

Architecture

● Tomb of Khnumhotep II tomb 3, Beni Hasan, Egypt, 12th Dynasty 1900 - 1880 BCE.

● No pyramids, no mastabas. Tombs are hollowed out of mountain cliffs.

● Columns are more formal, with the shafts having flutes or carved lines verticallyup the column.

● Middle Kingdom columns closely resemble greek columns of the doric order(the greeks emulated many aspects of Egyptian architecture).

● Archaeologists believed that fluting derived from the carving of softwood tree trunks with the rounded cutting edge of an adze, forming concave tracks in the surface.

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

● Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt 18th Dynasty, ca. 1473 - 1458 BCE.

● Female Pharaoh Hatshepsut ● Temple rises from the valley floor in 3

column lined terraces connected by ramps on a central axis.

● Long horizontal lines and vertical lines of the colonnades.

● This was part of a much larger temple complex that was lost.

● Incorporated shrines to Amen, Hathor, and Anubis (Gods, Goddesses), also Hatshepsut and her father Thutmose I

● 8 colossal kneeling statues in Red Granite lined the way to the entrance of the Amen-Re sanctuary.

● During the reign of Thutmose III, vandals smashed statues, but were pieced back together by conservators.

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

● Facade of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1290 - 1224 BCE. Sandstone.

● Just recently, in 1968 CE, this entire monument was cut up by engineers and moved 700 feet to positioning it on a newly built artificial mountain, saving it from submersion in the Aswan High Dam

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, major construction occurred 15 - 13th century BCE.

● These complexes would be built over generations reaching gigantic sizes.

● This style of temple had axial plans, symmetrical down an axis.

● Known as pylon temples named for their massive gateways.

● An avenue moves into a colonnaded courtyard, then into the sanctuary.

● Pylons were typically covered in reliefs, depicting the glory of their leaders in the roles of defender of order and stability, keeping Egypt stable, like the Nile.

● Only Pharaohs and priests could enterthe dark inner shrine.

● The interior was a hypostyle hall (a large interior hall, full of columns).

● Columns looked like papyrus andhad hieroglyphics.

● The hall was lit by Clerestory Lighting (a high section of wall with openings or windows).

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, major construction occurred 15 - 13th century BCE.

● These complexes would be built over generations reaching gigantic sizes.

● This style of temple had axial plans, symmetrical down an axis.

● Known as pylon temples named for their massive gateways.

● An avenue moves into a colonnaded courtyard, then into the sanctuary.

● Pylons were typically covered in reliefs, depicting the glory of their leaders in the roles of defender of order and stability, keeping Egypt stable, like the Nile.

● Only Pharaohs and priests could enterthe dark inner shrine.

● The interior was a hypostyle hall (a large interior hall, full of columns).

● Columns looked like papyrus andhad hieroglyphics.

● The hall was lit by Clerestory Lighting (a high section of wall with openings or windows).

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070BCE

Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, major construction occurred 15 - 13th century BCE.

● These complexes would be built over generations reaching gigantic sizes.

● This style of temple had axial plans, symmetrical down an axis.

● Known as pylon temples named for their massive gateways.

● An avenue moves into a colonnaded courtyard, then into the sanctuary.

● Pylons were typically covered in reliefs, depicting the glory of their leaders in the roles of defender of order and stability, keeping Egypt stable, like the Nile.

● Only Pharaohs and priests could enterthe dark inner shrine.

● The interior was a hypostyle hall (a large interior hall, full of columns).

● Columns looked like papyrus andhad hieroglyphics.

● The hall was lit by Clerestory Lighting (a high section of wall with openings or windows).

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, major construction occurred 15 - 13th century BCE.

● These complexes would be built over generations reaching gigantic sizes.

● This style of temple had axial plans, symmetrical down an axis.

● Known as pylon temples named for their massive gateways.

● An avenue moves into a colonnaded courtyard, then into the sanctuary.

● Pylons were typically covered in reliefs, depicting the glory of their leaders in the roles of defender of order and stability, keeping Egypt stable, like the Nile.

● Only Pharaohs and priests could enterthe dark inner shrine.

● The interior was a hypostyle hall (a large interior hall, full of columns).

● Columns looked like papyrus andhad hieroglyphics.

● The hall was lit by Clerestory Lighting (a high section of wall with openings or windows).

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, major construction occurred 15 - 13th century BCE.

● These complexes would be built over generations reaching gigantic sizes.

● This style of temple had axial plans, symmetrical down an axis.

● Known as pylon temples named for their massive gateways.

● An avenue moves into a colonnaded courtyard, then into the sanctuary.

● Pylons were typically covered in reliefs, depicting the glory of their leaders in the roles of defender of order and stability, keeping Egypt stable, like the Nile.

● Only Pharaohs and priests could enterthe dark inner shrine.

● The interior was a hypostyle hall (a large interior hall, full of columns).

● Columns looked like papyrus andhad hieroglyphics.

● The hall was lit by Clerestory Lighting (a high section of wall with openings or windows).

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070BCE

Sculpture and Painting

Senenmut with Princess Nefrura, from Thebes, Egypt 18th Dynasty 1470 - 1460 BCE Granite 3.5’ Height.

● Block statues were popular during the New Kingdom. ○ It was believed that Ka could find an eternal home in the

cubic stone image of the deceased in an even more radical simplification of form than was common inOld Kingdom Statuary.

○ Sculpture depicts Senenmut, Hatshepsut's chancellor and possible lover with her daughter Princess Nefrura. Enhancing Senenmut’s status in sculpture depicting him and the Pharoah’s daughter.

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

Tomb of Nebamun, 18th Dynasty ca 1400 - 1350 BCE.

● Some of the best Preserved Mural paintings of the New Kingdom come from the Theban tomb of Nebamun

● Fresco, application of plaster on the wall as a substrate before painting.

● Fresco Secco (dry fresco) is a technique where the plaster is applied, allowed to dry before the painting is started

● https://youtu.be/74E1YlJZt2E

New Kingdom, 1550-1070BCE

Akhenaton, colossal statue from the temple of Aton, Karnak,Egypt, 18th Dynasty 1353 - 1335 BCE. Sandstone 13’ Height.

● Amenhotep IV later known as Akhenaton abandoned the worship of most of the Egyptian gods in favor of Aton, identified with the sun disk, whom the pharaoh declared to be the universal and only god.

● Made a system of Monotheism.● This statute retains the standard frontal pose of traditional egyptian

royal portraits. However, the effeminate body with curving contours, mannerist representation with long face with full lips and heavy lidded stylized eyes are a large disconnect with the more correctly proportioned figures of Old Kingdom sculpture. This was a short lived convention, as it is one of the only examples found.

New Kingdom, 1550-1070BCE

Thutmose, bust of Nefertiti, from Amarna,Egypt, 18th Dynasty 1353 - 1335 BCE.Limestone, painted, 1’-8” Height.

● https://youtu.be/cZuYdIRAIAs● This was found in the artist studio, and is

thought to be a 3-D sketch of Nefertiti, to be used for other sculptures.

● It is constructed in limestone, but is coated with a layer of plaster before painted to achieve an unprecedented level of smoothness and subtlety in detail and effect.

New Kingdom, 1550-1070BCE

Tomb of Tutankhamen

● Mock-up of the burial chamberof King Tutankhamen.

● King Tutankhamen ruled 1333 - 1323 BCE, began at age 8 and died at 18.

● He was classified as an ineffectual leader, but history remembers him most because of having his burial temple looted during antiquity.

● Like most of the pharaoh's burial sites, this site was hidden, and in 1922 CE was discovered by British archaeologists completely intact.

New Kingdom, 1550 - 1070 BCE

Tomb of Tutankhamen

● Mock-up of the burial chamberof King Tutankhamen.

● King Tutankhamen ruled 1333 - 1323 BCE, began at age 8 and died at 18.

● He was classified as an ineffectual leader, but history remembers him most because of having his burial temple looted during antiquity.

● Like most of the pharaoh's burial sites, this site was hidden, and in 1922 CE was discovered by British archaeologists completely intact.

New Kingdom, 1550-1070BCE

Tomb of Tutankhamen

● Mock-up of the burial chamberof King Tutankhamen.

● King Tutankhamen ruled 1333 - 1323 BCE, began at age 8 and died at 18.

● He was classified as an ineffectual leader, but history remembers him most because of having his burial temple looted during antiquity.

● Like most of the pharaoh's burial sites, this site was hidden, and in 1922 CE was discovered by British archaeologists completely intact.

New Kingdom, 1550-1070BCE

Tomb of Tutankhamen

● Mock-up of the burial chamberof King Tutankhamen.

● King Tutankhamen ruled 1333 - 1323 BCE, began at age 8 and died at 18.

● He was classified as an ineffectual leader, but history remembers him most because of having his burial temple looted during antiquity.

● Like most of the pharaoh's burial sites, this site was hidden, and in 1922 CE was discovered by British archaeologists completely intact.

New Kingdom, 1550-1070BCE

Tomb of Tutankhamen

● Mock-up of the burial chamberof King Tutankhamen.

● King Tutankhamen ruled 1333 - 1323 BCE, began at age 8 and died at 18.

● He was classified as an ineffectual leader, but history remembers him most because of having his burial temple looted during antiquity.

● Like most of the pharaoh's burial sites, this site was hidden, and in 1922 CE was discovered by British archaeologists completely intact, even the body, which has been the subject of testing as medical technology has improved.

● King Tut's Final Secrets: https://youtu.be/euEZkUILBjM

● The mummification process: https://youtu.be/-MQ5dL9cQX0

First Millenium BCE 1000 - 30 BCE

Temple of Horus, EDFU, Egypt ca 237-47 BCE

● Follows the basic pylon plan worked out

in New Kingdom architecture.

● Stylistic changes were the norm in other civilizations across the mediterranean, but in Egypt conventions of style and formal qualities that endured for over 4000 years. Again, stable like the Nile.

● This period ended with Cleopatra VII bequeathing the territory to the Roman Empire becoming the breadbasket of the Mediterranean.