User:Raf274/sandbox

The Late Period

In 525 B.C., the political state of Egypt was taken over by the Persians, almost a century and a half into Egypt's Late Period. By 404 B.C., the Persians were expelled from Egypt starting a short period of independence. These 60 years of Egyptian rule consisted of an abundance of usurpers and short reigns. Again the Egyptians were plagued with Persians as they conquered Egypt again until 332 B.C.with the arrival of Alexander the Great. Sources state that were cheering when Alexander entered the capital since he drove out the immensely disliked Persians. The Late Period is marked with the death of Alexander the Great and the start fo the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Although this period marks political turbulence an immense change for Egypt, its art and culture continued to flourish.

Nectanebo I temple on Philae.

Starting with the Thirtieth Dynasty, the fifth dynasty in the Late Period, and extending into the Ptolemaic era. These temples ranged from the Delta to the island of Philae. While Egypt was outside fluencies through trade and conquered by foreign states, these temples were still in the traditional Egyptian style with very little Hellenistic influence.

Another relief originating from the Thirtieth Dynasty was the rounded modeling of the body and limbs. This rounded modeling refers to giving the subjects the sculpture or painting a more fleshy or heavy effect. For example, for women, their breast would swell and overlap the upper arm in painting. In more realistic portrayals, men would be fat or have wrinkled.

Magical stela or cippus of Horus

Another piece of art that increasingly common during was Horus stela. Horus stela originates from the late New Kingdom and intermediate period but was increasingly common during the fourth century to the Ptolemaic era.These statues would often depict a young Horus holding snakes and standing on some kind of dangerous beast. The depiction of Horus comes from the Egyptian myth where a young Horus us saved from a scorpion bite resulting in him gaining power over all dangerous animals. These statues were used "to ward off attacks from harmful creatures, and to cure snake bites and scorpion stings."

Sculpture

Facsimile of the Narmer Palette, c. 3100 BC, which already shows the canonical Egyptian profile view and proportions of the figure.

<figure class="mw-default-size" data-ve-attributes="{"typeof":"mw:Image/Thumb"}"><figcaption>Menkaura (Mycerinus) and queen, Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, 2490 – 2472 BC. The formality of the pose is reduced by the queen's arm round her husband.</figcaption></figure>The monumental sculpture of ancient Egypt's temples and tombs is world-famous, but refined and delicate small works exist in much greater numbers. The Egyptians used the technique of sunk relief, which is best viewed in sunlight for the outlines and forms to be emphasized by shadows. The distinctive pose of standing statues facing forward with one foot in front of the other was helpful for the balance and strength of the piece. The use of this singular pose was used early on in the history of Egyptian art and well into the Ptolemaic period, although seated statues were particularly common as well.

Egyptian pharaohs were always regarded as gods, but other deities are much less common in large statues, except when they represent the pharaoh as another deity; however the other deities are frequently shown in paintings and reliefs. The famous row of four colossal statues outside the main temple at Abu Simbel each show Rameses II, a typical scheme, though here exceptionally large. Most larger sculptures survive from Egyptian temples or tombs; massive statues were built to represent gods and pharaohs and their queens, usually for open areas in or outside temples. The very early colossal Great Sphinx of Giza was never repeated, but avenues lined with very large statues including sphinxes and other animals formed part of many temple complexes. The most sacred cult image of a god in a temple, usually held in the naos, was in the form of a relatively small boat or barque holding an image of the god, and apparently usually in precious metal – none have survived.

<figure class="mw-default-size" data-ve-attributes="{"typeof":"mw:Video/Thumb"}"><video poster="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Freer_Gallery_of_Art.webm/220px--Freer_Gallery_of_Art.webm.jpg" width="220" height="124" resource="./File:Freer_Gallery_of_Art.webm" controls="" preload="none" data-ve-attributes="{"resource":"./File:Freer_Gallery_of_Art.webm"}"></video><figcaption>Head of Pharaoh & face from a coffin</figcaption></figure>By Dynasty IV (2680–2565 BC) at the latest the idea of the Ka statue was firmly established. These were put in tombs as a resting place for the ka portion of the soul, and so we have a good number of less conventionalized statues of well-off administrators and their wives, many in wood as Egypt is one of the few places in the world where the climate allows wood to survive over millennia, and many block statues. The so-called reserve heads, plain hairless heads, are especially naturalistic, though the extent to which there was real portraiture in ancient Egypt is still debated.

Early tombs also contained small models of the slaves, animals, buildings and objects such as boats necessary for the deceased to continue his lifestyle in the afterworld, and later Ushabti figures. However the great majority of wooden sculpture has been lost to decay, or probably used as fuel. Small figures of deities, or their animal personifications, are very common, and found in popular materials such as pottery. There were also large numbers of small carved objects, from figures of the gods to toys and carved utensils. Alabaster was often used for expensive versions of these; painted wood was the most common material, and normal for the small models of animals, slaves and possessions placed in tombs to provide for the afterlife.

Very strict conventions were followed while crafting statues and specific rules governed appearance of every Egyptian god. For example, the sky god (Horus) was essentially to be represented with a falcon's head, the god of funeral rites (Anubis) was to be always shown with a jackal's head. Artistic works were ranked according to their compliance with these conventions, and the conventions were followed so strictly that, over three thousand years, the appearance of statues changed very little. These conventions were intended to convey the timeless and non-aging quality of the figure's ka.

Head from a statue of an old man, probably Mentuemhat from the 25th Dynasty.

A common relief in ancient Egyptian sculpture was the representation between men and women. Women were often represented in an idealistic form, young and pretty, and rarely shown in an older maturity. While men were shown in either one of two way; either in an idealistic manner or in more realistic depiction. Sculptures of men often showed men that aged, since the regeneration of aging was as positive thing for them, women are shown as perpetually young.

Notes/ Research for Wiki Project

The Backview of Human Figures in Ancient Egyptian Art

• ". . . this backview of a figure is exceptional, not to say unique, in Egyptian Art."

Images of Time in Ancient Egyptian Art

• "To the ancient Egyptians life in this world rep resented the phase preceding life in the next world, which itself was sanctioned by death, a phenomenon viewed as a necessary transition that allowed the individual to get access to a new form of existence."
• "The Egyptian concern for everlastingness is ob served to be expressed characteristically in the selection of hard materials, massive proportions, youthful and idealized portrayals of individuals, who typically are shown in repose and lacking facial expressions."
• Space and time important in telling a story
  • Scholars have problem with thinking as time 2-dimensional
• "The phenomenon of time was probably perceived at first through the observation of the cyclical rhythm of nature, such as the alternating of day and night, the succession of seasons, and the recurrence of the annual inundation of the Nile."
  • Early experiences --> concepts of nature of time
• Time = either human or divine
  • human
    • "viewed as the 'here-time' as opposed to the 'there-time'"
    • "According to the texts, 110 years represent the ideal length of time the Egyptians, in their quest for additional time, wished to spend on earth before dying and proceeding to the afterlife."

The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt

• new emphasis on anatomical detail, stylized in a particular way in which is suggestive of the treatment of muscles in contemporary Assyrian beliefs
  • Alter of Atlanersa, 653-643 BV, from Temple B700 at Gebel Barkal. Boston, Museum of Fine Art
    • pronounced attention to muscles an bone structure, specifically torso and legs
      • Kushites pushed out of Egypt by Assyrians at the pint, still chose to employ old symbolism of a Unite Egypt from the First Dynasty
        • king has both hands raised to support the sky-sigh while on a platform formed by the emblem of union
        • Horus representing northern Egypt, Thoth representing southern Egypt
        • continuation of Egyptian thought
  • Brocchoris with gods and goddesses. Design on a vase from Tarquinia
    • continuation of old-tradotion
      • palm tree with monkey and bond people (Kushites)
  • Gold vase of Aspelta, 593-568 B.C. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts
    • very Egyptian tradition
    • Phoenician high standard of metal work continuation of Egyptian ideals
  • Egypt continue to hold on to old traditions
    • little of monuments reflect the turbulent times
  • Brief occupation by Assyrians left little to no mark of Egyptian art, started Cambyses in 525 BC
    • contact of the Ionian Greeks with Egypt
      • "rise of Sais was evidently in great part due to the shift in foreign trade away from Tanis to western Canopic branch of the nile"
      • contact wth Greeks for over 400 years left little impact
        • "Egypt was to prove extraordinary resistant to Hellenic conceptions of art even under Ptolemies."
      • "Kushites rules during Dynasty XXV had close religious ties with Thebes and a long tradition of Egyptian civilization --> revival of Egyptian art and Egyptian spirt
        • replicating old Kingdom styles and new hard realism, evident in royal wrk in Sudan
      • In statues and some hieroglyphs, hyper realistic head especially coming to aging --> difficult traditions of Assyrian occupation of Thebes

The Art of Ancient Egypt - Gay Robins

• The Late Period (II) and the Ptolemaic Period (27th Dynasty)
  • Egypt taken over by Persians 525 BC
    • expelled by 404 BC
  • 60 years of independence
    • short reigns and lots of usurpers
  • 343 BC Persian conquered Egypt again
    • rules until Alexander the Great 332, real happy
      • Egyptian hated Persians
    • under his rule until death in 323 Bc
    • Then Ptolemy made himself king 304 BC
      • descendants rule for 2 and half centuries til 31 BC
    • Ptolemaic royals tombs all lost, but more than likely Hellenistic then Egyptian
    • 30th and Ptolemaic greatest amount of temple building
      • 30th large range, but most lost to antiquity
        • Delta to island of Philae
      • Ptolemaic temples very traditional Egyptian , very little Hellenistic influence
        • "The decoration of monuments followed the traditional principles of two-dimensional art, with the use of registries, baselines and composite figures, without ant attempt to render depth through perspectival devices such as foreshortening, as in the Hellenistic tradition."
      • 30th Dynasty
        • rounded modelling of body and limbs
          • ex: heavy, fleshy effect
          • female breast swell and overlap the upper arm
          • Women is statues usually young and pretty
          • men in statues are either idealistic or realistic (fat and wrinkles)
          • Horus stela
            • late New Kingdom and Intermediate Period
              • increasingly common in 4th cent to Ptolemaic
              • "to ward off attacks from harmful creatures, and to sure snake bites and scorpion stigs
                • come from the myth where young Horus saved from scorpion bite, given power over all dangerous animals