A Brief Look at Ancient Egypt and Their Legindary Stele Essay

The pharaoh was undoubtedly the most important terrestrial figure in ancient Egypt and played a significant role in the functioning of Egyptian society. Entrusted with governing the realm of Egypt and providing a link between the Egyptian people and the gods, pharaohs were “an essential element in the maintenance of the position of society in the order of creation”. This idea has been substantiated through the various artefacts located in tombs in the Valley of the Kings, particularly that of Tutankhamun. These finds have shed light on the role and lifestyle of the pharaoh in ancient Egypt. Through the discovery and analysis of these items, historians and archaeologists alike have been able to glean considerable amounts of information in

The revised back side "... is taken up by a finely carved...raised relief showing a king, undoubtedly Narmer, ready to strike down a foe whom he grabs by the hair. This pose would become typical in Ancient Egyptian art. He wears a short skirt, an animal's tail and the crown that at least in later

What makes the sculpture different from others of this time period are two things; the subject matter, in that it depicts no god, nor Pharaoh only a mortal human writing in a mostly illiterate society. Secondly it demonstrates age shown in sagging muscles and rotund belly. Due to this relaxed style we can gather that the subject is not a Pharaoh as it was dishonourable to insinuate that they aged as they were supposed to be gods on earth.

At the time, the lower kingdom was ruled by chiefs and the upper kingdom was united under Narmer. When the chiefs refused to fall under the King’s rule, Narmer gathered his men and prepared for war. Historians had to excavate multiple sights to discover exactly how the two kingdoms came together as one. They found Narmer’s grave in in Abydos, and it was very modest for an Egyptian king, especially one that ruled both kingdoms. Historians also pointed out that other pharaohs had depicted themselves as heroes of great battles even though they had never fought in one. Narmer might have done the same on the palate that was found depicting

Similar to most Egyptian art, the figures in the stele are drawn with a twisted perspective – the frontal view of their faces and the profile view of their bodies. This is also seen in the relief of “King Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions.” This twisted perspective was common in most Ancient Egyptian art.

The statue of King Sahure and a Nome god is an interesting piece of Ancient Egyptian art ( c. 2500 BC ) that shows signs of Ancient Egyptian culture and beliefs. The statue is a small relief sculpture, meaning the sculptural elements are attached to the solid background of the sculpture and appears to be emerging from the material. The piece clearly depicts two figures side by side, one standing on the left and one sitting on the right (facing foreward). The purpose of this piece was probably to depict a certain symbolic interaction between the two characters.

The reliefs of Ankh-neb-ef are limestone panels with paint that originated from the Old Kingdom of Egypt in 2150 BC during the reign of Pharaoh Pepy II. The delicate carving of the panels in the sunken relief presents a magnificent image. They portray Ankh-neb-ef, an ancient Egyptian priest whose name translates to “may his lord live.” In the reliefs, Ankh-neb-ef holds a Kherep-sceptor and a walking stick, which were symbols of authority in ancient Egypt. Egyptian civilization was extremely religious and most ancient Egyptian artworks involved the portrayal of gods, goddesses, and Pharaoh, as well. Moreover, the Egyptian reverence for order and conservative ideals led to the institution of intricate rules that governed how artists represented both humans and gods (Saylor.org 4). For instance, the apparel worn by Ankh-neb-ef in the painting is not a simple fashion statement. The priest is wearing a prestigious sarong and ornamentation, bracelets, and a wide collar. The jewelry kept their owner safe in a dangerous passage to the afterlife. This formula for representing the human figure in a painting remained popular over several centuries (Robins 24).

The carving in real sense depicts the victory of Naram who was the fourth king of the Semite dynasty in the Akkadian empire. This carving depicts a different point of

The Granite Sphinx of Ramses II wears a headdress and false beard to signify representation of a king and serves as a protective entity to temples and pyramids. The false beard was tied to the divinity of the Pharaoh (Redford 308). The beard is an innovation of the New Kingdom and did not exist during the Old or the Middle Kingdom (Zivie-Coche 148). Many

In the late 19th century, the Seated Statue of Ramesses II was uncovered in the Temple of Harsaphes, Heracleopolis, by Sir William Flinders Petrie (Horne 1985, 22). Currently, it rests in the Mummies Gallery in the Egyptian section of the Penn Museum. The king sits heroically with his hands resting on his lap and wears the nemes headdress on his head. Made of quartzite sandstone, the statue sits at an impressive height of 226 cm, with a width of 74 cm and length of 149 cm. On his arms, there are faint traces of red and the nemes headdress has touches of blue and yellow. When it was originally crafted, the statue’s colors would have been more prominent than they currently are; there also would have been a false beard inset that has been lost to history.

The intertwined necks of the animals may be a representation of Ancient Egypt’s Unification. The Palette has been discovered in the city of Hierakonopolis located in Egypt. The palette shows the King (Narmer) displaying his dominance over both Upper and Lower Egypt, which raises a theory from scholars of whether or not he unified the two kingdoms of Egypt. As the two sides of the palette shows the king depicted wearing a white crown of Upper Egypt, and on the other side of the palette it shows the king wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt. This may be a good argument of whether or not Narmer unified Egypt but what these two depictions do show is King Narmers complete dominance over Ancient

The Apis bull is viewed as a manifestation of Ptah. Ptah was known as the “Creator God”, meaning that he was responsible for creating the world we are living in and the universe. The last object, would be the “Artist’s Sketch of Pharaoh Spearing a Lion” and what you can notice on the right side of the Pharaoh is a dog. This dog shows that it is loyal and willing to protect its master at any cost.

The bear (v. 5) represents Medo-Persia. The three ribs in its mouth portray the three kingdoms this coalition defeated in its rise to power: Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. It was “raised up on one side,” which symbolized the Persians’ subsequent dominance over the Medes. The leopard with four wings (v. 6) serves as an appropriate representation of Alexander the Great’s conquest as he established the Greek empire.

I find this piece to be very mysterious. Why does the head become narrow at the top? The face seems to be of an older woman, as shown by the wrinkles indented within the sides of the nose and the mouth, although they are not as prevalent as the one of NYC. There’s a soft jaw line of a woman. What is interesting to me is the indented/concave region of the eyes. Instead of forming an extruding eye with a pupil, the sculptor chose to extract the material to form the eye, unlike the piece we saw of Abu, with eyes stamped with bitumen tar. The lips are very well sculpted, and textured well. It seems like it would mean a lot to a Pharaoh who has lost his mother, or who hopes to forever remember his family. To see the portrait of his family along with himself would’ve made him feel happy and in the presence of his family. I feel this way much of the time when seeing photos of lost family members with me beside them within the photos. It’s like an everlasting memory of that person and being with them in the memory.

The background on which these images are painted on was made of yellow-ochre to imitate a gold colour and decorated using white, black, red, blue, and green paints. The first scene depicts the Opening Of The Mouth Ceremony being performed on Tutankhamun by the New King Ay who is represented here as youthful and smaller than the old King. Ay is wearing the panther skin cloak of sem-priest, and the blue crown (the Khepresh) complete with the uraeus, and has white sandals on his feet. Tutankhamun is represented as Osiris. He is wearing the Atef crown with a gold-plated uraeus (an image of a serpent used as an emblem of power usually worn on headdresses ), and in each of his hands he is holding a Nekhakha (flail) whip as a sign of his power. In between the old and new kings lays a casket which contained all the tools and materials used in the ceremony. The inscription reads: "The good god, Lord