Chapter 3: Egypt under the Pharaohs

Preview: The ancient cultures established along the Nile River in Egypt between 3500 BCE and 30 CE were characterized by complex social organizations under the leadership of Pharoahs. Much of their art and architecture was produced to honor these rulers, who were thought to be divine, as well as the gods in the Egyptian pantheon, the most important of which were Amen, the supreme god, and Re, god of the sun. Ancient Egyptian culture is divided into periods according to dynastic rule: the Predynastic and Early Dynastic period (ca. 3500-2575 BCE), the Old Kingdom (c. 2575-2040 BCE), the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040-1550 BCE), the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1070 BCE), and the final period, the First Millennium (ca. 1070 BCE – 30 CE), in which Egypt came increasingly under foreign rule. The early 19th century discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a kind of translator’s tablet, allowed scholars to read Egyptian hieroglyphics, linguistic symbols included on many works of Egyptian art and architecture. Among the most significant of these are the Great Pyramids at Gizeh, constructed during the Old Kingdom; Middle Kingdom rock-cut tombs; and enormous New Kingdom Temple of Amen-Re at Karnak. With notable exceptions, the stylistic features of Egyptian painting and sculpture evolved slowly, remaining remarkably consistent through three millennia.

Key Terms:

  • palette, amulet, scarab,uraeus
  • mastaba, ka, serdab, canopic jars, mummification
  • engaged columns, papyrus, temple, ashlar masonry, courses, fluted columns, rock-cut tombs, axial plan, colonnades, pier, pylon, hypostyle hall, lintel, clerestory,
  • bilateral symmetry, subtractive sculpture, high relief, idealism, canon, sunken relief, atlantid, caryatid, sphinx, block statues, fresco secco

Key Place Names: Upper and Lower Egypt, Saqqara, Gizeh, Heliopolis, Dashur, Beni Hasan, Deir el-Bahri, Thebes, Abu Simbel, Karnak, Amarna, Kush, Edfu

Key Egyptian Deities: Amen, re, Osiris, Isis, Hathor, Anubis, Unas, Aton, Maat, Thoth, Horus

Pharoahs: Early Dynastic: Menes (Narmer), Djoser

Old Kingdom: Sneferu, Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure

Middle Kingdom: Mentuhotep, Senusret III, Thutmose II, Hatshepsut

New Kingdom: Ramses II, Amenhotep IV/Akhenaton (Amarna Period), Tutankhamen

First Millennium: Taharqo

Other Historical Figures: Imhotep, Ti, Senmut, Nefrura, Khamerernebty, Thutmose, Nefertiti, Tiye, Nebamun, Mentuemhet, Howard Carter

Lecture Notes:

Introductory Notes:

Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods: Dates ______

Key Historical Developments:

Artworks:

  • Mural painting in Tomb 100, Hierakonpolis, ca. 3500-3200 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Description & subject:
  • Function & significance:
  • Palette of King Narmer, from Hierakonpolis, Egypt, ca. 3000-2920 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Size/Scale:
  • Figures/narrative represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Egyptian mastaba tombs, section, plan, and restored view
  • General Description:
  • Materials:
  • Function:
  • Stepped pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 2630-2611 BCE
  • Architect:
  • General Description:
  • Materials:
  • Function & significance:
  • Mortuary precinct of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt, Third Dynasty, ca. 2630-2611 BCE
  • General Descriptioin:
  • Architectural features:
  • Entrance hall, Djoser precinct, Saqqara, ca. 2630-2611 BCE
  • Description:
  • Architectural features:

Old Kingdom:Dates: ______

Key Historical Developments:

Artworks:

  • Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty
  • Pyramid of Menkaure, ca. 2490-2474 BCE
  • Pyramid of Khafre, ca. 2520-2494 BCE
  • Pyramid of Khufu, ca. 2551-2528 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Construction methods:
  • Size/Scale of each:
  • Interior structures:
  • Function:
  • Symbolism & significance:
  • Section of the pyramid of Khufu, Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 2551-2528 BCE
  • Description:
  • Architectural features and location in section diagram:
  • Model of the pyramid complex, Gizeh, Egypt
  • Description:
  • Architectural features and location in model:
  • Great Sphinx, Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 2520-2494 BCE
  • Location relative to Great Pyramids:
  • Materials:
  • Figure represented:
  • Function & significance:
  • Khafre enthroned, from Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 2520-2494 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Figure represented:
  • Symbols represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Rahotep and Nofret, Maidum, ca. 2575-2550 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Subjects:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Sculptors at work, Thebes, ca. 1425 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Subject:
  • Menkaure and Khamerernebty (?), from Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 2490-2472 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Figures represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Seated scribe, from Saqqara, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, ca. 2500 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Figure represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Ka-Aper, Saqqara, ca. 2450-2350 BCE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Hemiunu, Gizeh, ca. 2550-2530 BCE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Ti watching a hippopotamus hunt; Goats treading seed and cattle fording a canal; reliefs in the mastaba of Ti, Saqqara, Egypt, Fifth Dynasty, ca. 2450-2350
  • Materials:
  • Subjects represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:

Middle Kingdom:Dates: ______

Key historical developments:

Artworks:

  • Fragmentary head of Senusret III, 12th Dynasty, ca. 1860 BCE.
  • Materials:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Lady Sennuwy, Kerma, 1960-1916 BCE
  • Description:
  • Subject & significance:
  • Rock-cut tombs BH 3 to 5, Beni Hasan, Egypt, 12th Dynasty, ca. 1950-1900 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Size/Scale:
  • Construction technique:
  • Architectural features:
  • Function & significance:

New Kingdom:Dates ______

Key historical developments:

  • Stele with the laws of Hammurabi, from Susa, Iran, ca. 1760 BCE
  • Materials (and their significance):
  • Size/Scale:
  • Subject (Laws of Hammurabi):
  • Figures represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1473-1458 BCE
  • Built for:
  • Materials/Construction Techniques:
  • General description—architectural arrangement, locale:
  • Function & significance:
  • King and queen of Punt and attendants, relief from the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 18th dynasty, ca. 1473-1458 BCE
  • Materials/medium:
  • Subjects/narrative represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Hatshepsut with offering jars, from the upper court of her mortuary temple, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1473-1458 BCE
  • Materials/medium:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1290-1224 BCE
  • Façade: Description
  • Interior: Description
  • Construction methods:
  • Subjects/symbols represented:
  • Function & significance:
  • Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, begun 15th century BCE
  • General description:
  • Construction method:
  • Architectural features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Temple of Amen-Re, Luxor, begun early 14th century BCE
  • Description:
  • Architectural features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Hypostyle hall of the temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1290-1224
  • Description:
  • Architectural features:
  • Sculptural features:
  • Model of the hypostyle hall, temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt
  • Description:
  • Architectural features:
  • Decorative features:
  • Senmut with Princess Nefrura, from Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1470-1460 BCE
  • Materials/medium:
  • Subjects represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Painted scenes from the tomb of Nabamun (funerary banquet, hunting fowl), Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1400-1350 BCE
  • Materials/medium:
  • Subjects represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:

Akhenaton and the Amarna Period

Key figures:

Key deity:

Stylistic characteristics of artworks:

Amarna period artworks:

  • Akhenaton, from the temple of Aton, Karnak, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1353-1335 BCE
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/Scale:
  • Subject represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Nefertiti, from Amarna, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1353-1335 BCE
  • Sculptor:
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Tiye, from Ghurab, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1353-1335 BCE
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters, from Amarna, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1353-1335 BCE
  • Materials/medium:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subjects represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:

The Tomb of Tutankhamen and the Post-Amarna Period

  • Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen, from his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1323 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Subject & objects represented:
  • Function & significance:
  • Death mask of Tutankhamen, from the innermost coffin in his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1323 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Subject and objects represented:
  • Function & significance:
  • Painted chest, from the tomb of Tutankhamen at Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, ca. 1323 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Size/Scale:
  • Figures & narrative represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Last judgment of Hunefer, from his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1300-1290 BCE
  • Materials:
  • Size/Scale:
  • Figures & narrative represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:

First Millennium BCE: Dates: ______

Key Historical Developments:

  • Portrait statue of Mentuemhet, from Karnak, Egypt, 26th Dynasty, ca. 660-650 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Figure represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Taharqo a a sphinx, from temple T, Kawa, Sudan, 25th Dynasty, ca. 680 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Figure represented:
  • Stylistic characteristics:
  • Function & significance:
  • Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt, ca. 237-47 BCE
  • General description:
  • Construction techqnique:
  • Architectural features:
  • Function & significance:

Concluding notes:

Exercises for Study:

1. Find at least one artwork to correspond to each of the following key terms:

  • Engaged columns
  • Axial plan
  • High relief
  • pylon

2. In Egyptian art, what is the canon, and what is an idealized style? Identify examples.

3. Identify works of painting and sculpture that represent stylistic innovation or departure from the normal conventions of style in Ancient Egyptian art.

4. Compare and contrast the following pairs of artworks, using the points of comparison as a guide.

A. Pyramid of Khufu, Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty (Figs. 3-7 and 3-8); Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 18th Dynasty (Fig. 3-19)

  • Periods
  • Structural composition
  • Location & orientation
  • Function

B. Menkaure and Khamerernebty (?), from Gizeh, Egypt, Fourth Dynasty (Fig. 3-12); Akhenaton, from the temple of Aton, Karnak, Egypt, 18th Dynasty (Fig. 3-30)

  • Periods
  • Medium/materials
  • Subjects
  • Stylistic features