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The Art of Ancient Egypt

Part 1

Background

The lush Nile River valley in northeastern Africa had been occupied since Paleolithic and

Neolithic times.

During the ice age, all of North Africa was lush grassland, but at its end, climate changes

turned this area into a desert. More people migrated to the Nile River, already a lush spot

for hunting, where they now learned the arts of managing water for agriculture. The Nile has

its origin deep in Africa, flowing north (one of very few rivers in the world to flow from

south to north) to the Mediterranean where it deposits topsoil in a fertile delta with plentiful

game and reliable conditions for farming.

A delta is a triangular flood plain, so-called after the Greek letter delta, which is a triangle.

Annual floods brought a new layer of rich soil into the delta every year, but people learned

how to regulate and divert the flow of water through dams and irrigation upstream as well.

Coming north from Ethiopia, the Nile falls over several cataracts and then creates a long

narrow valley before spreading out into the delta. The cataracts marked the southernmost

natural boundary of Egypt (they couldn't navigate beyond them). The Mediterranean marked

the northern border, and the east and west boundaries were determined by the desert on either

side of the river.

The long river valley and the delta marked two natural definable areas called Upper Egypt

and Lower Egypt. These two regions are so-called not because of direction, but of altitude.

Lower Egypt was almost at sea level in the northernmost region. The higher southern river

valley was called Upper Egypt. It is located upstream on the Nile. Upper Egypt was rural

and populated sparsely in villages, while Lower Egypt was more populous, urban, and richer.

Egyptian History

Egyptian history is divided into two periods: Predynastic and Dynastic. The Predynastic is

the long, mostly unrecorded time that leads from the Neolithic village settlements to the

conquest of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt (unification) about 3100 BC by the king named

Narmer or Menes.

There are several important facts to remember from this conquest. It was unification as much

as conquest and continued over several centuries before it became permanent, around 2700

BC. The Egyptians themselves always referred to Egypt as the land of two kingdoms and

the crown of the pharaoh was a composite of the two crowns of the two regions, consisting of

the vulture head representing the goddess Nekhbet, from Upper Egypt and the cobra head

representing the goddess Wadjet/Uraeus, from Lower Egypt. A good example of this is the

burial mask of King Tut, shown below. The presence of these two symbols on the crown

represents the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. One of the pharaoh's names was He of

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the Two Ladies, referring to the two parts of the kingdom. A new city on the Nile was built

during the conquest, placed strategically where the two regions joined, a city known as the

White Walls, today called Memphis.

image courtesy bjornbjornfree.com

Another crown worn by the king symbolizing their authority over the two kingdoms was the

double crown which incorporated the cobra crown of Lower Egypt and the bowling pin hat of

Upper Egypt. This style is shown below on the incised relief of Ramses II.

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Chronogical Table [note]: There are some opinions about the age and the division

Proto Dynastic Period; c.6000 B.C.-c.3200 B.C. (Prehistory)

Early Dynasty; c.3200 B.C.-c.2700 B.C.

I-II Dynasty

Old Kingdom; c.2700 B.C.-c.2200 B.C. (Memphis) III-VI Dynasty

First Intermediary Period; c.2200 B.C.-c.2100 B.C. (rivalry of powerful barons) VII-X Dynasty

Middle Kingdom; c.2100 B.C.-c.1750 B.C. (Thebe)

XI-XII Dynasty

Second Intermediary Period; c.1750 B.C.-c.1550 B.C. (Hyksos domination. Rebirth of Thebes and expulsion

of Hyksos at XVII Dynasty)

XIII-XVII Dynasty New Kingdom; c.1550 B.C.-c.1085 B.C. (Thebe)

XVIII-XX Dynasty

Intermediary Period; c.1085 B.C.-c.712 B.C.

XXI-XXIV Dynasty

Late Period; c.712 B.C.-c.332 B.C. (Ethiopian kings at XXV Dynasty and Saitic Kingdom in Delta at XXVI Dynasty. Egypt becomes satrapy of Persian Empire and then

begins last Dynasty)

XXV-XXXI Dynasty

Greco-Roman Period; c.332-c.395 A.D. (Alexander the Great annexes Egypt to his empire. Founding of Alexandria in c.332 B.C.)

Macedonian Dynasty; c.332 B.C.-c.304 B.C.

Ptolemaic Dynasty; c.304 B.C.-c.30 B.C. .

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The Dynastic period is called that because the Egyptians measured their history by

dynasties.

1. A dynasty is the period during which the descendants of a founding family rule a country.

2. This period is further divided into three major kingdoms: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom, sometimes called the period of the Empire.

Intermediate periods of turmoil and conquest fall in between the three kingdoms, and at the

very end of their history, the Egyptians were ruled by the Persians, by the Greeks, and finally

by the Romans, but throughout the three-thousand year BC period of ancient Egypt, there

was a strong culture marked by a profound sense of continuity and tradition, regularity and

permanence.

Egyptian art reflects the stability and permanence of Egyptian culture. Even from the

Predynastic period there are patterns that establish the way Egyptian painting will look

throughout its history.

The Palette of King Narmer and the beginnings of

pharaonic style

The first known art that commemorates a historical event is The Palette of King Narmer.

Dating from around 3100 BC it already shows the patterns that would dominate Egyptian art

for the rest of its history. The palette is a device for mixing kohl, or eye-blackener, and was

for ceremonial use rather than daily utilitarian use. It was probably a votive offering and

used top mix eye makeup for the statue of a god (cult image). Basically triangular in shape,

the palette has two sides. On the obverse, a depiction of King Narmer killing an enemy

dominates the "scene." This is not a scene in the way we think of it. There is no depiction of

depth. Figures are larger or smaller depending on their importance, not whether they are

closer or further away. The king is central and largest, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt,

holding a captive by the hair and preparing to hit him. At the left is a smaller figure holding

the king's sandals. The king is barefoot, maybe symbolizing that the ground is sacred and that

this is a holy event. Below the king, but not under the ground, are two enemy bodies.

Although some people say that these figures are running away because of the position of

their legs, it is more likely that they are dead. At the upper right a falcon perches on some

papyrus plants, holding an elongated tongue which comes from a head attached to its ground-

line. This is a symbol for the land of papyrus, or Lower Egypt. The falcon is the god Horus,

god of the sky, and personal protector of the King. The meaning is that the king, with the

divine approval of the gods, has conquered Lower Egypt and is its legitimate ruler. On the

front the king is shown again, wearing the high-backed red cobra crown of Lower Egypt in

front of a pile of headless bodies. At the bottom is a bull battering down a city wall, symbolic

perhaps of the king's strength in battle.

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Above: Palette of Narmer, bas relief sculpture c. 3100 BC, Egypt

The characteristics of Pharaonic Art

The Egyptian figure "canon" or formula for depicting a human is set forth in the Palette of

Narmer. This style remained fairly consistent through the history of Ancient Egypt. It shows the

profile of the head, with the eye in full front view; shoulders and torso in front view; legs in

profile again.

Why treat the figure in this way rather than the way we see it? Perhaps because this is the way

we know the figure to be, each part shown in way in which is easiest to recognize. The bull,

which is seen in profile, also has horns which are shown in front view, a continuation of a very

old tradition of twisted perspective going back to the bulls in Paleolithic cave painting.

This small sculpture is an example of bas relief, or low relief. The figures are basically flat and

the stone around them is cut away just enough to allow the subject to suggest a separate plane of

existence. The outlines of the figures are crisp and well-defined. The pharaoh is depicted in a

typical heroic way: tall, slim, broad-shouldered and athletic. His legs and arms are carefully

defined in terms of muscles. His pose is stationary, dignified, confident, triumphant and

timeless. This is clearly no ordinary mortal, and in fact, he was meant to be seen as a god.

The Egyptians portrayed status through art. They could and did portray figures in full profile, but

they are usually ordinary people, and they are shown in different proportions--stockier, less

dignified, often with movement. Foreigners were sometimes shown as caricatures. These

patterns simplify, not so much for the human viewer, who very often never saw the art buried

deep in tombs, but simply to make clear a concept, to make sure that there is no confusion about

what is being portrayed. This is not "optical" art, as we are used to seeing in painting, but

"conceptual" art, portraying ideas rather than fact.

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Other interesting facts about the pharaohs, and a list of them, can be found at this site:

http://www.livius.org/pha-phd/pharaoh/pharaoh.htm

Types of Sculpture

Artistically, sculpture is classified in several ways. The types of sculpture we will pay

particular attention to in this section are described as Relief sculpture-meaning that it is a

design or figure that is always attached to the background or object on which it is carved.

Relief sculpture has several classifications. The first of which is bas or low relief sculpture.

This form, as the name implies is carved very shallow into the surface. The background is

carved away and the figure sticks out beyond the background.

Above: Mayan bas relief sculpture.

High relief sculpture, as the name implies is carved deeply into the surface with the

background removed. While it looks free standing, it is still attached to the structure.

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Roman High Relief Sculpture

A type of sculpture that is sunken deeply below the level of the surface then modeled with

the background remaining raised is called incised relief sculpture and pictured below.

Old Kingdom Art

Egyptian Architecture

When one thinks of Egyptian architecture, the first thing that comes to mind is the Great

Pyramid of Giza. This pyramid was the culmination of a long evolution of pyramid type

structures. The evolution began with the building of the Mastaba or bench structure that was

used as a tomb. With the Mastaba, the structure was built on the surface on top of a deep

underground tomb.

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Above: a typical stone mastaba.

The Mastaba and the Cult of the Dead

Mastaba tombs

Very early in Egyptian prehistory it became important to preserve the body. Perhaps because

the desert soil and climate conditions naturally preserved organic forms and suggested

timelessness, the Egyptians began to help this process by mummification. Mummification

took several weeks to complete and was essential to the preservation of the soul in the

afterlife. The concept of the spirit was complex. There was both a spirit which hovered near

the mummy and a soul which went on to the otherworld. The spirit which remained near the

body was the ka and the other was the ba, which went into the underworld where it would

pass through a kind of initiation and was weighed and judged. During the mummification

process the organs were removed and preserved then stored in special containers called

canopic jars. These jars generally were carved from alabaster and the lid was in the form of

the various gods.

The cult of the dead focused around a special document called the book of the dead. This

book was actually a scroll that was written on papyrus, a form of paper made from layers of the papyrus plant. On this scroll, was written various information that would help the soul

pass a variety of tests during the afterlife. Often found with the mummy was a decorative

carving or piece of jewelry called a scarab. The scarab is a beetle form and represents the

sun. This is due to the Egyptians observations of the beetle pushing a spherical piece of

dung.

It was important that some representation of the body remained in the tomb in case the

mummy was damaged. Shabti figures were made representing the deceased, and in some

cases a portrait called a reserve head was made and incorporated into hidden chambers in the

structure so it would never be found.

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In addition, the grave was protected from jackals by piling rocks on top. In the Old

Kingdom an early form of tomb was made by shaping the rocks into a solid rectangular

structure over a grave shaft. Called a mastaba after the Arabic word for "bench" because

that's what they resemble, the structure would also have an entrance leading to a chapel

where offerings could be made for the afterlife of the dead.

Imhotep and the Step Pyramid of Zoser

In the Old Kingdom the mastaba evolved into a grander form when mastabas were placed on

top of one another in five successively smaller stages in the Step-Pyramid of Zoser.

Some 200 feet high, this pyramid is the oldest known large-scale stone structure in the world.

Credit for its design and execution is given to the priest Imhotep, the world's first known,

recorded architect. It was made for the pharaoh Zoser (Djoser), founder of the third dynasty

around 2700 BC.

The pyramid was enclosed in a complex of single-story buildings and courtyards with a wall

thirty feet high. Stone columns representing bundles of papyrus were used along with half-

columns of single papyrus stems decorating the facades.

Above: The Step Pyramid of Zoser and surrounding complex,

Post and Lintel Construction

When monumental Egyptian architecture made the transition into stone, one single

architectural principle dominated. That was the post and lintel. Like the trilithons at

Stonehenge, it consisted of uprights (columns or walls) covered with a lintel or beam. This

was used for doorways and for colonnaded hallways. Domestic structures were made of

adobe with beamed ceilings.

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Post and Lintel construction of The hypostyle hall of Karnak Temple

Great Pyramid at Giza

The pyramid form evolved through several examples of trial-and-error engineering into its

classical form of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. In the early attempts there were numerous

issues in trying to find the angle that would be stable. This resulted in several collapses and

one called the bent pyramid where engineers changed the angle to avoid collapse.

The Great Pyramids of Giza had smooth sides of limestone casing with a gold-plated

pyramidical stone at the very top called a ben-ben and may have been painted on its sides.

The ben-ben began as a fetish representing the sun and was thought to be the shape that

inspired the form of the pyramid. The Great Pyramid as well as the Great Sphinx was built

during the period of the Old Kingdom. Inside many of the chambers of various structures the

artists painted scenes on the dry plaster walls. This art form is called fresco secco.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/explore-ancient-egypt.html

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Above: the pyramids of Giza

link: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/greatpyramid1.htm

Link to the red pyramid: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/red.htm

Egyptian Sculpture

Khafre, c. 2500 B.C., Diorite, 66 high.

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Egyptian sculpture has a very distinct for that follows the geometrical form of the original

block. They used a variety of materials such as the one above which is made of diorite, a

hard dark stone, that could be very difficult to carve. The freestanding forms generally

represent the form in a very rigid manner. This presents the subject with great dignity. The

artists also used symmetry and frontality in the pose. Pharaohs were represented in a god-

like manner showing them in the prime of their life.

Menkaure and his Wife, Queen Khamerenebty, c.2515 B.C.E. Slate, 54". Their equal size

shows her importance.

Menkaura flanked by the goddess Hathor (left) the goddess Bat (cow goddess) (right). Basalt

statue in Cairo Museum.

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Ka-Aper was a priest who lived in Memphis at around 2500 B.C. He was in charge of

reciting prayers for the deceased in temples and funerary chapels. The statue of him is made

of a single block of sycamore wood apart from the arms which are attached to the trunk with

pieces of wood. It shows remarkable carving skill and more realism than other

representations during the Old Kingdom, which tended to be more idealized. The statue is

only 37 tall. The eyes are inlaid; the rim is made out of copper and the white is of opaque quartz, while the cornea is made out of rock crystal.

Art of the Old Kingdom can be characterized/described in the following ways: It uses size to

distinguish importance, people, especially royalty, are shown with dignity, it has formal

balance, and forms were generally massive and blocky.

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The Great Sphinx

In front of the pyramid was the huge statue of a sphinx, a man's head on a lion's body. This

may have been a portrait of Khafre. The area around the sphinx was excavated as a quarry for

stone for the mortuary temple. Considerable erosion on the side of the lion's body has

suggested that the statue is actually much older than the Old Kingdom, and some believe that

it was sculpted in a much earlier time. The head might have been a yardang, or a naturally

protruding rock suggesting a lion's head. This rock might have been refined into a lion's head

facing the rising of the constellation Leo. It might have been recarved into a portrait of

Khafre at the time his pyramid was built. The head is relatively small for the body of the lion,

suggesting a reworking. The face has been disfigured. In spite of this, it shows less

weathering than the body, suggesting that it was carved later. The figure was buried for

centuries in the sand, and because is built of soft sandstone and would have disappeared long

ago had it not been buried for so long. The body is over 200 feet in length and 65 feet tall.

The face of the sphinx is 13 feet wide and its eyes are 6 feet high.

What happened to his nose? That is a question that has a lot of various tales associated

with it. For many years it was thought that Napoleons army blasted the nose with a cannon but recent research attributes the damage to Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, a religious fanatic

from Arabia. In 1378, upon finding the Egyptian peasants making offerings to the Sphinx in

the hope of increasing their harvest, Sa'im al-Dahr was so outraged that he destroyed the

nose.

Old Kingdom Tomb Painting: The Mastaba of Ti

In this well-preserved and restored mastaba tomb from the Saqqara necropolis, paintings

from the interior of the mastaba of Ti show the way in which aristocratic tombs were

decorated in tiers with scenes from the daily life of well-to-do Egyptians. The scenes depict

episodes from running the estate, preparing food, etc., providing the deceased with all the

amenities he would require in the afterworld. The paintings are done in fragile tempera colors

on dry plaster. In typical Old Kingdom style, the paintings are uncomplicated and

uncrowded.

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http://www.philae.nu/akhet/Saqqara13.html Follow this link to see the images of the

Mastaba of Ti.

The Middle and New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt

After a period of civil wars ended the Old Kingdom, Egypt stabilized again in the Middle

Kingdom. Marked change occurred in burial practice when replaced mastabas and pyramids.

These tombs were cut deep into the rock of cliffs, hollowing out a chamber with columns

fronted by a vestibule. Pyramids continued to be built, but on a much smaller scale. Sculpture

began to record more "psychological" likenesses instead of the idealized passive faces of the

Old Kingdom. Portraits of Sesostris III demonstrate this. The pharaoh seems more

personalized with greater attention to his facial features as seen below.

New Kingdom Art. Hatshepsut and her mortuary temple

The New Kingdom began with the 18th Dynasty under Amose I in 1570 B.C. Both the 18th

and 19th Dynasties were great periods of artistic activity with important new characteristics

at the service of commanding and interesting royal personalities. The first of these is the

great funerary complex of Queen Hatshepsut at Dier-el-Bahri in the Valley of the Kings.

Unlike the Old Kingdom, when tombs were prominently displayed as pyramids or mastabas,

or the Middle Kingdom, when they were carved into the rock and fronted with a mortuary

porch for offerings and rituals, New Kingdom tombs of rulers were located a canyon called

the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Because tombs were almost always looted in ancient

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times, this new plan was devised to conceal tombs by tunneling into the rock, but hiding the

entrance under rubble. The most famous of these tombs is that of Tutankhamen, not

discovered until 1922.

The early New Kingdom tombs, however, continued the practice of fronting the tomb with

mortuary temples. The most famous of these is that of Queen Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was

followed by her son Tuthmoses III, who performed the damnatio memoriae (removal from

memory)on his mothers statues, then by his son Amenhotep II, then Tuthmosis IV,

Amenhotep III, and one of the most memorable of all pharoahs, Amenhotep IV, who initiated

a revolution in Egyptian religion and art. He is known to us as Akhenaton.

Above: Hatshepsuts Mortuary Temple

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image from bjornfree.com/galleries

Use the following links to read about her and her monument.

http://www.bediz.com/hatshep/story.html

Akhenaton and the Amarna Style

The accession of Amenhotep III's son, Amenhotep IV (later known as Akhenaten, c. 1350 -

1334), ushered in a revolutionary period in Egyptian history. Often called the Amarna

Period or Interlude, it saw the seat of government moved to the new, short-lived capital of

Akhetaten (known today as el-Amarna, hence the name of the period). That would be the

equivalent to a new president deciding to relocate the capital of the U.S. from Washington

D.C. to Pittsburgh. He introduced of a new artistic style, and the ditched of the old

polytheistic form of worship in favor of the monotheistic worship of the Aten (the sun's disc).

Akhenaten recognized the growing power of the priesthood of Amun (the chief god of the

old order). He saw their power as a threat. Aten, which would become the only god

worshipped by Akhenaten, had been worshipped since the Old Kingdom, but had always

been part of the sun god. What Akhenaten did was remove it from its previous position and

set it up as something to be worshipped on its own. Nevertheless, there were early attempts at

coexistence between the old and the new - there was a temple to the Aten built by the king

next to the temple of Amun at Karnak, but it became quickly clear that polytheism and

monotheism could not exist together, with the result that the cult of Amun was proscribed

and its temples closed. Akhenaten designed his new religion in a way that served to enhance

his power. Instead of the priests being the go-betweens between the normal people and the

gods. Akhenaten made it clear that he was the only one who had access to the Aten. It would

appear, however, that despite his attempts to introduce the Aten worship throughout his

realm, he met with only limited success, the upper echelons of society being the only ones to

embrace it wholeheartedly (or at least to appear to - what they really thought of all this

innovation is unknown). Even in his new capital of Akhetaten, the place where the power of

the Aten was supposed to be all-pervasive, excavations have shown that the ordinary people

continued to identify with the gods of old.

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As Akhenaten became ever more wrapped up in his new religion, so the administration of

Egypt started to suffer. The boundaries of the empire began to decrease.

With the new religion and the new capital came a new artistic style, almost certainly started

by the unusual physical characteristics possessed by the king himself (in some carvings, it is

hard to tell him apart from his wife), probably as the result of some sort of a disease. In one

fresco from the Amarna Period, Cretan diplomats are shown attending the royal court. The

contact with Crete, just north of Egypt in the Mediterranean, with its very naturalistic and

lively artistic tradition, has suggested that perhaps the Egyptians had been influenced by

Cretan craftsmen in the Amarna Period.

One person who managed to avoid the grotesque excesses of Amarna art was Akhenaten's

Queen, Nefertiti. Some historians believe her to have been allocated more power than was

traditionally allowed, since she is depicted in some carvings smiting the enemies of Egypt, a

privilege normally only reserved for a pharaoh. Whatever the truth about this, she died in

about year 12 of the reign, and 1 of Akhenaten's daughters became Chief Royal Wife.

Sometimes known as the Berlin bust, it was found in the workshop of the famed sculptor

Thutmose. This bust depicts Nefertiti with full lips enhanced by a bold red. Although the

crystal inlay is missing from her left eye, both eyelids and brows are outlined in black. Her

graceful elongated neck balances the tall, flat-top crown which adorns her sleek head. The

vibrant colors of her necklace and crown contrast the yellow-brown of her smooth skin.

Because this remarkable sculpture is still in existence, it is no wonder Nefertiti remains 'The

Most Beautiful Woman in the World.' To view the bust and read more about Nefertiti follow

the link: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nefertiti.htm

It remains a mystery exactly what happened to Akhenaten's body after his death. It is highly

probable that he was interred at Akhetaten, where his tomb was smashed by the vengeful

masses when orthodoxy returned toEgypt. It is unlikely that those who still remained loyal to

his memory would have allowed his body to be desecrated along with his former capital, so it

might well have been moved back to Thebes or the Valley of the Kings. However, unless

new evidence turns up, we will probably never know the truth.

Sculpture of Akhenaten from wikipedia, by Grard Ducher

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The Egyptian Pylon Temple In architecture, a hypostyle hall has a flat ceiling which is supported by columns, as in the

Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. In this case the columns flanking the central avenue are of

greater height than those of the side aisles, and this allows openings in the wall above the

smaller columns, through which light is admitted over the aisle roof, through clerestory

windows.

The typical Pylon Temple consists of the following elements:

Avenue of sphinxes

Pylon.

Courtyard.

Hypostyle hall.

Sanctuary used only by the pharaoh or priest.

Enclosure wall.

Colossal statues of the Pharaoh.

Obelisks.

Avenue of sphinxes

Above: the first feature one sees when approaching the temple of Karnak is a row of

Sphinxes.

The next feature approached is the Pylon Gate.

After entering through the Pylon Gate the visitor will enter the courtyard followed by the

Hypostyle Hall (below). Hypostyle is an architectural term meaning that the roof is

supported by columns. The capitals of the columns were in the form of lotus and papyrus

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flowers. However, these columns in Egyptian architecture could also be based on palm

trees, and bundled reeds. These forms symbolized the primordial marsh (from which life

sprang).The center columns are raised higher (66), which allows for the addition of light. This elevated section is called the clerestory. Eventually, one enters a space called the

sanctuary. This space was reserved for the Pharaoh and high priests.

Because of the layout of the temple, it can be described as bilateral symmetry along a single

axis, meaning that when it is divided down the center, it is the same on both sides.

Abu Simbel

The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock temples in Nubia, southern Egypt. The twin

temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses

II in the 13th century BC, as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari. The

complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s, on an artificial hill made from a domed

structure. The relocation of the temples was necessary to avoid their being submerged during

the creation of Lake Nasser. As with many other temples the structure called an atlantid was

used in the interior spaces. An atlantid is a male figure used to serve as a column.

The Temple of Nefertari, Abu Simbel

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Above: The Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel.

Tutankhamen

His original name, Tutankhaten, means "Living Image of Aten", while Tutankhamun means

"Living Image of Amun." The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter of Tutankhamun's intact

tomb received worldwide press coverage. There was much discussion of a curse on the tomb

due to the untimely death of Carter and several other archaeologists. The results of DNA

tests confirmed that Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten and his sister/wife (see

Akhenaten above).

This tomb was the first to be discovered intact. Because it was concealed so well all of the

riches of the tomb were still present.

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Tutankhamens burial mask, image by http://bjornfree.com/galleries.html

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