HW9
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Egypt's impact on later cultures was immense. You could say that Egypt provided the building blocks for Greek and Roman culture, and, through them, influenced all of the Western tradition. Today, Egyptian imagery, concepts, and perspectives are found everywhere; you will find them in architectural forms, on money, and in our day to day lives.
Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for more than 3000 years and showed an incredible amount of continuity. Egypt’s stability is in stark contrast to the Ancient Near East of the same period, which endured an overlapping series of cultures and upheavals with amazing regularity.
Geography
Egypt is a land of duality and cycles, both in topography and culture. The geography is almost entirely rugged, barren desert, except for an explosion of green that straddles either side of the Nile as it flows the length of the country. The river emerges from far to the south, deep in Africa, and empties into the Mediterranean sea in the north after spreading from a single channel into a fan-shaped system, known as a delta, at its northernmost section.
The influence of this river on Egyptian culture and development cannot be overstated, without its presence, the civilization would have been entirely different, and most likely entirely elsewhere. The Nile provided not only a constant source of life-giving water, but created the fertile lands that fed the growth of this unique and resilient culture.
The Nile River
Each year, fed by melting snows in the far-off headlands, the river overflowed its banks in an annual flood that covered the ground with a rich, black silt and produced incredibly fertile fields. The Egyptians referred to this as Kemet, the “black lands,” and contrasted this dense, dark soil against the Deshret, the “red lands” of the sterile desert. The visual effect is rigid, appearing almost artificial in its precision.
Benefits of the Nile for the Egyptians
Permits some trade
Defense from invasion
Predictability
The annual inundation of the Nile was also a reliable, and measurable, cycle that helped form their concept of the passage of time.
Cyclical and Linear Time
The calendar we use today is derived from one developed by the ancient Egyptians.
They divided the year into 3 seasons: inundation, growing and harvest.
Each season was, in turn, divided into four 30-day months.
Although this annual cycle, paired with the daily solar cycle that is so evident in the desert, led to a powerful drive to see the universe in cyclical time, this idea existed simultaneously with the reality of linear time.
These two concepts—the cyclical and the linear—came to be associated with two of their primary deities: Osiris, the eternal lord of the dead, and Re, the sun god who was reborn with each dawn.
The success of ancient Egyptian civilization
The success of the Ancient Egyptian civilization did not depend on how the land was governed or a particular event that occurred; the success of the Egyptian people is due to various factors accumulating together to create a foundation of living that continued over thousands of years. These factors include the geographical location, agricultural development and successful irrigation systems.
But also their ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River Valley and the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley which produced surplus crops.
Impact of the Nile on Religion
Divided life - living and dying.
East (sunrise) is land of the living - cities, temples
West (sunset) is land of the dead - tombs
Religion
The religion of Ancient Egypt lasted for more than 3,000 years, and was polytheistic, meaning there were a multitude of deities, who were believed to reside within and control the forces of nature.
Formal religious practice centered on the pharaoh, or ruler, of Egypt, who was believed to be divine, and acted as intermediary between the people and the gods. His role was to sustain the gods so that they could maintain order in the universe.
The Egyptian universe centered on Ma’at, which has several meanings in English, including truth, justice and order. It was fixed and eternal; without it the world would fall apart.
The most important myth was of Osiris and Isis. The divine ruler Osiris was murdered by Set (god of chaos), then resurrected by his sister and wife Isis to conceive an heir, Horus. Osiris then became the ruler of the dead, while Horus eventually avenged his father and became king.
Artistic depictions of gods were not literal representations, as their true nature was considered mysterious. However, symbolic imagery was used to indicate this nature.
Temples were the state’s method of sustaining the gods, since their physical images were housed and cared for; temples were not a place for the average person to worship.
Certain animals were worshipped and mummified as representatives of gods.
Oracles were used by all classes.
The Afterlife
Egyptians were very concerned about the fate of their souls after death, and built tombs, created grave goods and gave offerings to preserve the bodies and spirits of the dead.
They believed humans possessed ka, or life-force, which left the body at death. To endure after death, the ka must continue to receive offerings of food; it could consume the spiritual essence of it.
Humans also possessed a ba, a set of spiritual characteristics unique to each person, which remained in the body after death. Funeral rites were meant to release the ba so it could move, rejoin with the ka, and live on as an akh. However, the ba returned to the body at night, so the body must be preserved.
Mummification involved elaborate embalming practices, and wrapping in cloth, along with various rites, including the Opening of the Mouth ceremony. Tombs were originally mastabas (rectangular brick structures), and then pyramids.
Pyramids
Belief in the afterlife demanded:
Bodies be buried whole
Material goods for use in afterlife must be present
The need to protect the bodies demands good burial tombs.
Mastabas
Pyramids
Mummies
Not known when it started in Egypt
The mummified body provided a place for a person's ba, or spirit, to return to the body after death.
Canopic Jars made of alabaster for storage of heart, stomach, intestines and liver which were also treated.
Mummy
Inner coffin
Second inner coffin
Second inner coffin lid
Writing
Hieroglyphics
The word hieroglyph literally means "sacred carvings". The Egyptians first used hieroglyphs exclusively for inscriptions carved or painted on temple walls. This form of pictorial writing was also used on tombs, sheets of papyrus, wooden boards covered with a stucco wash, potsherds and fragments of limestone.
Hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphics are an original form of writing out of which all other forms have evolved. Two of the newer forms were called hieratic and demotic.
Hieratic was a simplified form of hieroglyphics used for administrative and business purposes, as well as for literary, scientific and religious texts.
Demotic, a Greek word meaning "popular script", was in general use for the daily requirements of the society. In the third century A.D., hieroglyphic writing began to be replaced by Coptic, a form of Greek writing.
The last hieroglyphic text was written at the Temple of Philae in A.D. 450. The spoken Egyptian language was superseded by Arabic in the Middle Ages.
Rosetta Stone
It was not until the nineteenth century that Egyptian hieroglyphs were deciphered. Several people had been trying to crack the code when the brilliant young Frenchman, Jean-François Champollion discovered the secret to this ancient writing.
A decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, on March 27, 196 B.C.E. was inscribed on the Rosetta Stone in three scripts: hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek.
After Thomas Young deciphered the demotic text, Champollion used the information to break the code of the hieroglyphic text in 1822. In 1828, he published the famous "Précis" that marked the first real breakthrough in reading hieroglyphs.
Rosetta Stone
Papyrus Sheets
Papyrus is first known to have been used in ancient Egypt.
Is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant and was used as a writing material.
Literature: The Book of The Dead
Is an ancient Egyptian funerary text.
The original Egyptian name for the text, is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day".
The text consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld, and into the afterlife.
The Book of The Dead
Ancient Egyptian Inventions
The Egyptian’s inventions were many and it might be easier to list the things they did not invent such as the wheel; not unexpected in a country where everyone travels on water.
Some of the most known are:
Black Ink. The Egyptians mixed vegetable gum, soot and bee wax to make black ink. They replaced soot with other materials such as ochre to make various colors.
The Ox-drawn Plough. Using the power of oxen to pull the plough revolutionized agriculture and modified versions of this Egyptian invention are still used by farmers in developing countries around the world.
The Sickle. Is a curved blade used for cutting and harvesting grain, such as wheat and barley.
Irrigation. The Egyptians constructed canals and irrigation ditches to harness Nile river’s yearly flood and bring water to distant fields.
Ancient Egyptian Inventions
Shadoof. The Shadoof is a long balancing pole with a weight on one end and a bucket on the other. The bucket is filled with water and easily raised then emptied onto higher ground.
Egyptian toothpaste. Its ingredients included powdered of ox hooves, ashes, burnt eggshells and pumice. A how-to-brush guide was written on a papyrus from the fourth century C.E. describes how to mix precise amounts of rock salt, mint, dried iris flower and grains of pepper, to form a “powder for white and perfect teeth.”
Cosmetic Makeup. The Egyptian invented eye makeup as far back as 4000 B.C.E. They combined soot with a lead mineral called galena to create a black ointment known as kohl. They also made green eye makeup by combining malachite with galena to tint the ointment. Both men and women wore eye makeup; believing it could cure eye diseases and keep them from falling victim to the evil eye.
Ancient Egyptian Wigs. During the hot summers many Egyptians shaved their heads to keep them clean and prevent pests such as lice. Although priests remained bald as part of their purification rituals, those that could afford it had wigs made in various styles and set with perfumed beeswax.
Clocks. In order to tell the time Egyptians invented two types of clocks. Obelisks were used as sun clocks by noting how its shadow moved around its surface throughout the day. From the use of obelisks they identified the longest and shortest days of the year. A water clock made from a stone vessel with a tiny hole at the bottom which allowed water to dripped at a constant rate. The passage of hours could be measured from marks spaced at different levels. The priest at Karnak temple used a similar instrument at night to determine the correct hour to perform religious rites.
Technology
The Egyptians created their own decimal system.
A 365 day calendar. Their calendar had 365 days and 12 months with 30 days in each month and an additional five festival days at the end of the year. However, they did not account for the additional fraction of a day and their calendar gradually became incorrect. Eventually Ptolemy III added one day to the 365 days every four years.
Early Egyptians knew how to mastered advanced forms of shipbuilding as early as 3000 BC.
Surgical Instruments
The Edwin Smith Papyrus shows the Egyptians invented medical surgery. It describes 48 surgical cases of injures of the head, neck, shoulders, breast and chest. It includes a list of instruments used during surgeries with instructions for the suturing of wounds using a needle and thread. This list includes lint, swabs, bandage, adhesive plaster, surgical stitches and cauterization. It is also the earliest document to make a study of the brain. The Cairo Museum has a collection of surgical instruments which include scalpels, scissors, copper needles, forceps, spoons, lancets, hooks, probes and pincers.
Egyptian Art
Art is an essential aspect of any civilization. Once the basic human needs have been taken care of such as food, shelter, some form of community law, and a religious belief, cultures begin producing artwork, and often all of these developments occur more or less simultaneously.
Egyptian society was based on the concept of harmony known as ma'at which had come into being at the dawn of creation and sustained the universe. All Egyptian art is based on perfect balance because it reflects the ideal world of the gods.
The same way these gods provided all good gifts for humanity, so the artwork was imagined and created to provide a use. Egyptian art was always first and foremost functional. No matter how beautifully a statue may have been crafted, its purpose was to serve as a home for a spirit or a god. An amulet would have been designed to be attractive but aesthetic beauty was not the driving force in its creation, protection was.
Tomb paintings, temple tableaus, home and palace gardens all were created so that their form suited an important function and, in many cases, this function was a reminder of the eternal nature of life and the value of personal and communal stability.
Egyptian Art
Ancient Egyptian art must be viewed from the standpoint of the ancient Egyptians to understand it. The somewhat static, usually formal, strangely abstract, and often blocky nature of much Egyptian imagery has, at times, led to unfavorable comparisons with later, and much more naturalistic, Greek or Renaissance art. However, the art of the Egyptians served a vastly different purpose than that of these later cultures.
Egyptian art is known for its distinctive figure convention used for the main figures in both relief and painting, with parted legs (where not seated) and head shown as seen from the side, but the torso seen as from the front. The figures also have a standard set of proportions, measuring 18 feets from the ground to the hair-line on the forehead. Other conventions make statues of males darker than those of females.
Egyptian art uses hierarchical proportions, where the size of figures indicates their relative importance. The gods or the divine pharaoh are usually larger than other figures while the figures of high officials or the tomb owner are usually smaller, and at the smallest scale are any servants, entertainers, animals, trees, and architectural details.
Egyptian Artwork
Egyptians were obsessed with order and it is reflected in their art, never changed in 3000 years.
Notice, all people drawn from the side – even when looking right at you!
Built in big Scale
Majestic Sculptures