Egyptian Pyramids

Ancient Egyptian Art:

Day 2

The Old Kingdom:

• Most people associate pyramids with the

great Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza.

• The gigantic stone pyramids were actually

built over the course of three generations:

• Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure.

• Egypt has over 90 royal pyramids which span

a period of a thousand years, plus over 180

pyramids which were built in Nubia over the

course of another thousand years.

• The primal archetype of the Egyptian obelisk

and pyramid was the sacred Ben-Ben stone in

the temple of Heliopolis, the oldest center of

the sun cult.

• The original stone at Heliopolis, symbolizing

the primeval mound, was believed to have

been the point at which the rays of the rising

sun first fell.

• The gilded capstone of the pyramid, which

would sit at the apex, or the tip of an obelisk

was known as a ben-benet.

Old Kingdom Pyramid Complexes

• The Age of the Pyramids was one of the

most glorious in human history.

• Known as the Old Kingdom

• 2650 to 2150 B.C.

• Third through Sixth dynasties

• During these five centuries:

• Egyptians created their famous pyramids—the

world's most abstract building form

• Defined once and for all the essence of their

civilization's art.

• At the center of Egyptian art are the human figure

and the animals and plants of the Nile Valley.

• Artists of the Old Kingdom created a limited

number of conventions to depict this rich

environment; the resulting artistic canon governed

Egyptian art for the next three thousand years.

• Predominantly youthful and vigorous, Old Kingdom

images exude an air of utter confidence in human

achievement. At the same time, gentle gestures

express the intimate relationships between:

• king and deity

• man and wife

• mother and child.

• The primary medium of Old Kingdom art was

stone, a material whose durability best served the

culture's all-encompassing goal of defeating

death.

• Most works of art were created for temples

attached to the royal pyramids and for the

surrounding tombs of officials and their families.

• Some sculptures have been discovered in middle-

class tombs of administrators, scribes, and

craftsmen.

• The peasants and servants of Old Kingdom society

have left almost nothing of themselves to

posterity, but their lives are depicted in the reliefs

and small sculptures of elite tombs.

The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara

3rd Dynasty

• The first pyramid

funerary complex was

designed and built by

Imhotep.

• Developed from the

mastaba tombs, the step

pyramid was gradually

extended until it became

a superstructure.

• Basically adding smaller

mastaba to larger

mastaba.

The Pyramids of Snefru - 4th Dynasty

The Bent Pyramid of Dahshur

• Probably the first

pyramid to be

conceived as a "true"

pyramid.

• This pyramid owes its

characteristic bend due

to the marked change

of angle part way up

the profile.

• The explanation for the

shape of this pyramid

is uncertain.

The Red Pyramid of Dahshur.

• The first successful

"true" pyramid of

Snefru was constructed

with a constant angle.

• The Red pyramid (or

northern pyramid) was

known as "Snefru

appears in glory".

• It was probably in this

northern pyramid that

Snefru was buried.

• With such resources

available to him, Snefru

was able to leave a

strong inheritance to

his son Khufu.

Pyramids of Giza - 4th Dynasty.

• Snefru's son Khufu took his father's

achievements to the extreme of pyramid

building by the construction of the Great

Pyramid complex at Giza.

• It stands alongside the smaller pyramids of

Khafre and Menkaure, and the three

pyramids of Khufu's queens.

Graphic of Giza

Temple of Isis Graphic

• In purely architectural terms, pyramids can

be divided into two broad types:

• the step pyramid

• The first step pyramids appear to have evolved and

developed from the royal and private mastaba tombs of

the early Dynastic Period.

• the true pyramid

• by the early 4th Dynasty the first true smooth sided

pyramid had been built by Snefru at Dahshur.

• The full scale pyramid complex consisted of:

• a true pyramid with mortuary

• valley temples

• a causeway between the two

• usually a number of smaller subsidiary pyramids

The Middle Kingdom Pyramids

• During the First Intermediate Period,

pyramid building had practically stopped.

• The form of the pyramid complex was revived

during the Middle Kingdom by the 12th

Dynasty pharaoh Amenemhet I (1991-1962

BC).

• Pyramids tended to be built with mudbrick

inner cores and then faced with limestone.

• Once completed the effect would look similar

to the Old Kingdom stone pyramids.

• If this outer casing of limestone was

removed, the pyramid was "unprotected" and

would deteriorate badly.

Middle

Kingdom

map

Middle Kingdom Pyramids of Senwosret I (top) and

Amenemhet I (bottom)

The Nubian Pyramids

• The kingdom of Kush, as Nubia was known to

the Ancient Egyptians, grew from a trading

post established on Egypt's periphery around

the time of the Middle Kingdom.

• During the early New Kingdom, Nubia

became a province of Egypt.

• During the Third Intermediate Period, a

Kushite dynasty emerged from Thebes, led by

a ruler called Kashta, from Napata in Nubia.

• Kashta's successor Piye (Piankhi) led a

campaign and claimed kingship of Upper and

Lower Egypt.

• The first Nubian pyramids were built at

the site of el-Kurru, downstream from

the Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal.

• The site at el-Kurru contains the tombs

of Kashta and his son Piye (Piankhi),

five earlier generations, together with

Piye's successors Shabako, Shabatko

and Tanutamun, and fourteen pyramids

of the queens.

• The re-emergence of the pyramid after

such a significant interval shows the

transfer of an architectural idea from

one region and culture to another.

• The Nubian pyramids are:

• much smaller

• far more numerous

• considerably more standardized than

those of Egypt's classic pyramid age.

Temple of Karnak