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 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. GeographyĮgypt is a land of duality and cycles, both in topography and culture. They were understandably impressed by the works of their ancestors and endeavored to continue that ancient legacy. The earliest recorded tourist graffiti on the planet came from a visitor from the time of Ramses II who left their appreciative mark at the already 1300-year-old site of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the earliest of the massive royal stone monuments. This belief led to an active resistance to change in codified depictions. If the image of the bread loaf was omitted from the deceased’s table, they had no bread in the Afterlife if the king was depicted with the incorrect ritual implement, the ritual was incorrect and this could have dire consequences. This consistency was closely related to a fundamental belief that depictions had an impact beyond the image itself-tomb scenes of the deceased receiving food, or temple scenes of the king performing perfect rituals for the gods-were functionally causing those things to occur in the divine realm. The Egyptians were aware of their consistency, which they viewed as stability, divine balance, and clear evidence of the correctness of their culture. This is why, especially to the untrained eye, their art appears extremely static-and in terms of symbols, gestures, and the way the body is rendered, it was. (left) and Ramses III smiting at Medinet Habu (1160 B.C.E.) (right)Ī vast amount of Egyptian imagery, especially royal imagery that was governed by decorum (a sense of what was ‘appropriate’), remained stupefyingly consistent throughout its history. The earliest royal monuments, such as the Narmer Palette carved around 3100 B.C.E., display identical royal costumes and poses as those seen on later rulers, even Ptolemaic kings on their temples 3000 years later. Consistency and stabilityĮgypt’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. Contrast that span to the modern era we get excited when a record lasts longer than a decade. It took humans nearly 4000 years to build something–anything–taller than the Great Pyramids. While today we consider the Greco-Roman period to be in the distant past, it should be noted that Cleopatra VII’s reign (which ended in 30 B.C.E.) is closer to our own time than it was to that of the construction of the pyramids of Giza. That is more than 15 times the age of the United States, and consider how often our culture shifts less than 10 years ago, there was no Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube. Cerise Myers (CC-BY)Īncient Egyptian civilization lasted for more than 3000 years and showed an incredible amount of continuity. Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, Old Kingdom, c. Many cosmetic surgeons, for example, use the silhouette of Queen Nefertiti (whose name means “the beautiful one has come”) in their advertisements. 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. You could say that Egypt provided the building blocks for Greek and Roman culture, and, through them, influenced all of the Western tradition. Hunefer’s Judgement in the Presence of OsirisĮgypt’s impact on later cultures was immense. New Kingdom as Usual: Tutankhamun’s tomb (innermost coffin and death mask).Model bust of Nefertiti: a conversation.House altar depicting Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and three of their daughters.Paintings from the tomb chapel of Nebamun.Temple of Amun-Re and the hypostyle hall at Karnak.Middle Kingdom Egypt: Senusret III & Block Statues.In these instances, the representation itself serves this function. For instance, the name of a figure in the text on a statue will regularly omit the determinative (an unspoken sign at the end of a word that aids identification–for example, verbs of motion are followed by a pair of walking legs, names of men end with the image of a man, names of gods with the image of a seated god, etc.) at the end of the name. The lines blur between text and image in many cases. \( \newcommand\): Highly detailed raised relief hieroglyphs on the White Chapel of Senusret I at Karnak (Middle Kingdom).
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