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Egyptian Art and Architecture Essay examples

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Egyptian Art and Architecture

Egyptian Art and Architecture, the buildings, paintings, sculpture, and allied arts of ancient Egypt, from prehistoric times to its conquest by the Romans in 30 bc. Egypt had the longest unified history of any civilization in the ancient Mediterranean, extending with few interruptions from about 3000 bc to the 4th century ad. The nature of the country, fertilized and united by the Nile, and its semi-isolation from outside cultural influences, produced an artistic style that changed little during this long period. Art in all its forms was devoted principally to the service of the pharaoh, who was considered a god on Earth, to the state, and to religion. From early times a belief in a life after death …show more content…

Copper was used in limited quantities for beads and simple tools, but most implements were knapped from stone. Palettes made of stone were used for grinding eye paint. Small sculptures and figurines were either carved from ivory and bone or modelled in clay.

III THE OLD KINGDOM

The Old Kingdom of Egypt, ruled by the 3rd to the 6th dynasties, spanned the five centuries between about 2755 bc and 2255 bc. In about 3100 bc the country was united under one rule by strong chieftains from the south. The idea, however, that Egypt was divided into two distinct parts—Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the north—persisted. The unification of Egypt, or one of the stages leading to it, is commemorated on the carved stone Palette of King Narmer (c. 3100 bc, Egyptian Museum, Cairo), on which the king, wearing the crown of the south, is shown subjugating peoples of the north.

A Architecture

At Abydos and Saqqara tombs for the kings of the early dynasties were built in imitation of palaces or shrines. The large amounts of pottery, stonework, and ivory or bone carving found in these tombs attest to a high level of development in Early Dynastic Egypt. Hieroglyphic script (picture writing), the written form of the Egyptian language, was in the first stages of its evolution.

In the 3rd

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