1. Ancient Egyptian Art Pre-Dynastic Egypt
4,800-3,000 BCE (think c BCE
Old Kingdom Egypt
c. 2,675-2,475 BCE (think c. 2,500 BCE)
Middle Kingdom Egypt
c. 2,000-1,900 BCE (think c. 2,000 BCE)
Amarna Period
1,353 to 1,335 BCE (think 1,350 BCE)
New Kingdom Egypt
c. 1,500 to 1,162 BCE (think c. 1,325 BCE)

2. Prevailing winds
Prevailing winds

4. Goals
Recognize the characteristic features of Egyptian art, including:
Symbolic representation:
Of Upper and Lower Egyptian gods, etc
Falcon = Horus (upper Egypt god of sky), etc
Hieroglyphic writing—symbolic and phonetic
Decoded in the first quarter of the 19th century
Composite/conceptual representation of human bodies
Hieratic scale: more important figures are depicted larger
Rectilinear forms
Canon of proportions

5. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE

6. Pre-dynastic Palette of Narmer
earliest surviving “historic” artwork, c. 3,100 BCE, includes some text
ceremonial palette used to prepare and apply eye makeup
features hieroglyphs (pictographs) of catfish + chisel
pronounced n’r + m’r, therefore King Narmer.
depicts ceremony reenacting a battle that unified upper and lower Egypt
bas (low) relief, slate, 2’ tall
two-sided, shows Narmer on one side as ruler of Upper Egypt and on the other side as ruler of Lower Egypt
discovered in 1898 by the archaeologist James E. Quibell in the Upper Egyptian city of Nekhen (today, Hierakonopolis)

7. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE

8. Palette of Narmer, Egyptian, c. 3,100 BCE
Warka Vase, Sumerian, c. 3,100 BCE

9. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE

10. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE

11. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE

12. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
The god Horus symbolically represented as the falcon

13. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Narmer’s name appears three times

14. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE
Narmer’s name appears three times

15. Rosetta Stone, 196 BCE (British Museum)
Discovered by Napoleon’s armies in 1798.
Written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Egyptian Demotic script and Archaic Greek
Decoded by Jean-François Champollion by 1824

17. Detail of the Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE

18. Palette of Narmer, c. 3,100 BCE

19. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Typical Old Kingdom, mud-brick mastaba tomb
c BCE

20. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Typical Old Kingdom sarcophagus,c BCE
Sarcophagus is a Greek word meaning flesh eater.

21. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Mummified remains

22. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
The mummy’s vital organs were removed and saved in storage jars. The brain was not considered to be vital, so it was removed with a hook through the nose and thrown away.

23. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Book of the Dead, c. 1275
By the 13th century BCE, the mummified body of those with sufficient resources was entombed with a copy of the Book of the Dead to provide instructions on how to pass a series of challenging tests and thereby pass into the afterworld.

24. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Horizontal section of a mastaba: A=chapel, B=false door with serdab behind, C=burial shaft

25. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Reconstruction of a mastaba chapel interior with false door to the right

26. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Reconstruction of a mastaba chapel interior with false door to the right

27. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Old Kingdom false door

28. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Archeological site showing the opposite side of the false door with a seated ka statue in its serdab
Old Kingdom false door

29. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Archeological site showing the opposite side of the false door with a seated ka statue in its serdab
Seated ka statue of Djoser, c. Saqqara, c BCE

30. Old Kingdom Egypt, c BCE
Archeological site showing the opposite side of the false door with a seated ka statue in its serdab
Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre, diorite, c. 5’6”, c BCE

31. Detail of Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre with god Horus protecting his head and signifying him as king.
Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre, diorite, c. 5’6”, c BCE

32. Seated Ka Statue of King Khafre, diorite, c. 5’6”, c. 2500 BCE
King Mankaure and his queen, c BCE, graywacke, c. 4’ 6” tall, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

33. The Old Kingdom canon of proportions
King Mankaure and his queen, c BCE, graywacke, c. 4’ 6” tall, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

34. Prehistoric Aegean Art
Cycladic Art, c. 2,500 BCE
Minoan Art, c. 2,000-1,400 BCE
Mycenaean Art, c BCE

35. The Aegean Sea
The Cyclades or Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea were home to a pre-historic culture that created marble sculptures known as Cycladic Idols or Cycladic figurines.

36. The Aegean Sea
The Cyclades or Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea were home to a pre-historic culture that created marble sculptures known as Cycladic Idols or Cycladic figurines.

37. Cycladic Art, c. 2,500 BCE
Prehistoric figures made of local marble, originally decorated sparsely with paint.
the surface of the marble was painted with mineral-based pigments—azurite for blue and iron ores or cinnabar for red
First scholarly reference to Cycladic “idols” was in 1818.
They were first collected in European museums in the 1840s.
First archaeological exploration was by James Theodore Bent in 1883.
Most figures seem to have come from graves, where they were lying down.
A few have been found in Greek settlements.
Major influence on Modern Art of the early 20th century
Highly desired by modern art collectors for their geometric simplicity and abstraction.
Looting, forgeries, and poorly documented excavations make scholarly study nearly impossible.

38. Cycladic figurine of a woman from the island of Syros, c
Cycladic figurine of a woman from the island of Syros, c. 2,500 BCE, Cycladic culture,
1’ 6” tall, National Archaeology Museum, Athens (NAMA)
Cycladic
Male lyre player from the island of Keros, c. 2,500 BCE, Cycladic culture, 9” tall, National Archaeology Museum, Athens (NAMA)

39. The large Island of Crete defines the southern edge of Aegean Sea and was home to a civilization known as “Minoan” that emerged just as the Cycladic civilization began to decline.

41. Minoan Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 to 1400 BCE

42. Excavated by Minos Kalokairinos in 1878 and Arthur Evans (above) 1900-1930.
Minoan Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 to 1400 BCE

43. Plan of the Minoan Palace at Knossos, Crete, 1700 to 1400 BCE
Throne Room with gryphon frescos (20)

44. Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c
Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long

45. Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c
Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long

46. Detail of a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c
Detail of a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long

47. Warka Vase (presentations to Inanna), c. 3,200 to 3,000 BCE, ~3’
Detail of a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long

48. Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c
Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long

49. Detail from a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c
Detail from a Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, Crete, c BCE, limestone painted with frescos, 4’ 6” long
Snake goddess from the Palace of Knossos, Crete, c BCE

50. Aegean island of Thera

51. Aegean island of Thera

52. Aegean island of Thera

55. Reconstruction drawing of Mycenae
Aerial view of Mycenae

56. Reconstruction drawing of Mycenae
What purpose did the wall that juts out serve?
Lion Gate with “cyclopean” walls at Mycenae, c BCE
Later Greeks thought the stones (up to 12 tons each) were so large only the giant Cyclops could have put them into place

57. Megarons at Tiryns… Mycenae… and Athens

59. Megaron at Tiryns