El arte egipcio antiguo se refiere al arte producido en el antiguo Egipto entre el VI milenio a. C. y el siglo IV d. C., que abarca desde el Egipto prehistórico hasta la cristianización del Egipto romano . Incluye pinturas, esculturas, dibujos en papiro, loza , joyas, marfiles, arquitectura y otros medios artísticos. Era una tradición conservadora cuyo estilo cambió muy poco con el tiempo. Gran parte de los ejemplos supervivientes proceden de tumbas y monumentos, lo que da una idea de las antiguas creencias egipcias sobre la vida después de la muerte .
El antiguo idioma egipcio no tenía una palabra para "arte". Las obras de arte tenían un propósito esencialmente funcional que estaba ligado a la religión y la ideología . Retratar un tema en el arte era darle permanencia. Por lo tanto, el arte egipcio antiguo retrataba una visión idealizada y poco realista del mundo. No había una tradición significativa de expresión artística individual, ya que el arte tenía un propósito más amplio y cósmico de mantener el orden ( Ma'at ).
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El Egipto predinástico, correspondiente al período Neolítico de la prehistoria de Egipto , abarcó desde aproximadamente el año 6000 a. C. hasta el comienzo del período dinástico temprano , alrededor del 3100 a. C.
La continua expansión del desierto obligó a los primeros antepasados de los egipcios a establecerse alrededor del Nilo y adoptar un estilo de vida más sedentario durante el Neolítico . El período de 9000 a 6000 a. C. ha dejado muy poca evidencia arqueológica, pero alrededor del 6000 a. C., los asentamientos neolíticos comenzaron a aparecer en todo Egipto. [1] Estudios basados en datos morfológicos , [2] genéticos , [3] y arqueológicos [4] han atribuido estos asentamientos a migrantes del Creciente Fértil que regresaron durante la Revolución Neolítica , trayendo la agricultura a la región. [5]
Entre los años 5000 y 4200 a. C., aproximadamente, floreció en el Bajo Egipto la cultura Merimde , conocida únicamente por un gran asentamiento en el borde del delta del Nilo occidental. La cultura tiene fuertes vínculos con la cultura Fayum A , así como con el Levante. La gente vivía en pequeñas chozas, producía cerámica sencilla sin decorar y tenía herramientas de piedra. Se criaban vacas, ovejas, cabras y cerdos, y se plantaba trigo, sorgo y cebada. El pueblo Merimde enterraba a sus muertos dentro del asentamiento y producía figurillas de arcilla. [6] La primera cabeza egipcia de tamaño natural hecha de arcilla proviene de Merimde. [7]
La cultura badariense , que se desarrolló entre el 4400 y el 4000 a. C., [8] recibe su nombre del yacimiento de Badari , cerca de Der Tasa. Siguió a la cultura tasiana (c. 4500 a. C.), pero fue tan similar que muchos consideran que forman un solo período. La cultura badariense siguió produciendo cerámica de superficie negra (aunque de una calidad mucho mejor) y se le asignaron los números de datación secuencial (SD) 21-29. [9] La principal diferencia que impide a los investigadores fusionar los dos períodos es que los yacimientos badarienses utilizan cobre además de piedra y, por lo tanto, son asentamientos calcolíticos , mientras que los yacimientos neolíticos de Tasiana todavía se consideran de la Edad de Piedra . [9]
La cultura Naqada es una cultura arqueológica del Egipto predinástico calcolítico (c. 4400–3000 a. C.), llamada así por la ciudad de Naqada , en la gobernación de Qena . Se divide en tres subperíodos: Naqada I, II y III.
La cultura amratiana ( Naqada I ) duró desde aproximadamente el 4000 al 3500 a. C. [8] Siguen apareciendo cerámicas con tapa negra, pero también se encuentran cerámicas blancas de líneas cruzadas (un tipo de cerámica que ha sido decorada con conjuntos cruzados de líneas blancas paralelas y cercanas) en esta época. El período amratiano se sitúa entre el 30 y el 39 d. C. [10]
La cultura gerzeana (Naqada II), que se desarrolló entre el 3500 y el 3200 a. C., [8] recibe su nombre del yacimiento de Gerzeh . Fue la siguiente etapa del desarrollo cultural egipcio y durante esta época se sentaron las bases del Egipto dinástico. La cultura gerzeana es en gran medida un desarrollo ininterrumpido de la cultura amratiana , que comenzó en el delta del Nilo y se dirigió hacia el sur a través del Alto Egipto, pero no logró desalojar a la cultura amratiana en Nubia. [13] A la cerámica gerzeana se le han asignado valores SD de 40 a 62, y es claramente diferente de las cerámicas amratianas de líneas cruzadas blancas o de la cerámica con la parte superior negra. [10] Estaba pintada principalmente en rojo oscuro con imágenes de animales, personas y barcos, así como símbolos geométricos que parecen haber derivado de animales. [13] Las asas onduladas, que eran raras antes de este período (aunque ocasionalmente se encontraron ya en el año 35 SD), se volvieron más comunes y más elaboradas hasta que fueron casi completamente ornamentales. [10]
Durante este período, entraron en Egipto objetos y formas de arte claramente extranjeros, lo que indica un contacto con varias partes de Asia, en particular con Mesopotamia. Se han encontrado en Egipto objetos como el mango del cuchillo Gebel el-Arak , que tiene relieves mesopotámicos evidentes, [14] y la plata que aparece en este período solo puede haber sido obtenida de Asia Menor . [13] Además, se crearon objetos egipcios que imitan claramente las formas mesopotámicas. [15] Aparecieron en Egipto sellos cilíndricos, así como arquitectura de paneles empotrados. Los relieves egipcios en las paletas cosméticas se hicieron en el mismo estilo que la cultura mesopotámica contemporánea Uruk , y las cabezas de maza ceremoniales de finales de Gerzean y principios de Semainean se elaboraron en el estilo "en forma de pera" mesopotámico, en lugar del estilo nativo egipcio. [16]
La ruta de este comercio es difícil de determinar, pero el contacto con Canaán no es anterior a la dinastía temprana, por lo que generalmente se asume que fue por agua. [17] Durante la época en que la teoría de la raza dinástica era popular, se teorizó que los marineros de Uruk circunnavegaron Arabia , pero es más probable una ruta mediterránea , probablemente por intermediarios a través de Biblos , como lo demuestra la presencia de objetos biblianos en Egipto. [17]
El hecho de que tantos yacimientos gerzeanos se encuentren en las desembocaduras de los wadis que conducen al mar Rojo puede indicar que hubo cierta cantidad de comercio a través del mar Rojo (aunque el comercio bibliano podría haber cruzado el Sinaí y luego haber llegado al mar Rojo). [18] Además, se considera poco probable que algo tan complicado como la arquitectura de paneles empotrados pudiera haber llegado a Egipto por intermediarios, y a menudo se sospecha que hubo al menos un pequeño contingente de migrantes. [17]
A pesar de esta evidencia de influencia extranjera, los egiptólogos generalmente coinciden en que la cultura Gerzeana es predominantemente indígena de Egipto.
El período Naqada III, desde aproximadamente 3200 a 3000 a. C., [8] generalmente se considera idéntico al período Protodinástico , durante el cual Egipto se unificó.
Naqada III es notable por ser la primera era con jeroglíficos (aunque esto es discutido), el primer uso regular de serekhs , la primera irrigación y la primera aparición de cementerios reales. [19] El arte del período Naqada III era bastante sofisticado, ejemplificado por las paletas cosméticas . Estas se usaban en el Egipto predinástico para moler y aplicar ingredientes para cosméticos faciales o corporales. Para el período Protodinástico, las paletas decorativas parecen haber perdido esta función y en su lugar eran conmemorativas, ornamentales y posiblemente ceremoniales. Estaban hechas casi exclusivamente de limolita , que se originó en canteras en el Wadi Hammamat . Muchas de las paletas se encontraron en Hierakonpolis , un centro de poder en el Alto Egipto predinástico. Después de la unificación del país, las paletas dejaron de incluirse en conjuntos de tumbas.
El Período Dinástico Temprano de Egipto siguió inmediatamente a la unificación del Alto y el Bajo Egipto , alrededor del 3100 a. C. En general, se considera que incluye la Primera y la Segunda Dinastía , que se extienden desde el final del período arqueológico de Naqada III hasta aproximadamente el 2686 a. C., o el comienzo del Imperio Antiguo . [8]
Las paletas cosméticas alcanzaron un nuevo nivel de sofisticación durante este período, en el que el sistema de escritura egipcio también experimentó un mayor desarrollo. Inicialmente, la escritura egipcia estaba compuesta principalmente por unos pocos símbolos que denotaban cantidades de diversas sustancias. En las paletas cosméticas, los símbolos se usaban junto con descripciones pictóricas. A finales de la Tercera Dinastía, esto se había ampliado para incluir más de 200 símbolos, tanto fonogramas como ideogramas . [20]
El Imperio Antiguo de Egipto es el período que abarca aproximadamente entre el 2686 y el 2181 a. C. También se lo conoce como la «Era de las Pirámides» o la «Era de los Constructores de Pirámides», ya que abarca los reinados de los grandes constructores de pirámides de la Cuarta Dinastía . El rey Seneferu perfeccionó el arte de la construcción de pirámides y las pirámides de Giza se construyeron bajo los reyes Keops , Kefrén y Micerinos . [22] Egipto alcanzó su primer pico sostenido de civilización, el primero de los tres períodos denominados «Reinos» (seguidos por el Imperio Medio y el Imperio Nuevo ) que marcan los puntos culminantes de la civilización en el valle inferior del Nilo .
El Imperio Medio de Egipto ( también conocido como "el Período de la Reunificación") está marcado por una división política conocida como el Primer Período Intermedio . El Imperio Medio duró desde alrededor de 2050 a. C. hasta alrededor de 1710 a. C., desde la reunificación de Egipto bajo el reinado de Mentuhotep II de la Dinastía XI hasta el final de la Dinastía XII . La Dinastía XI gobernó desde Tebas y la Dinastía XII gobernó desde el-Lisht . Durante el período del Imperio Medio, Osiris se convirtió en la deidad más importante de la religión popular . [24] El Imperio Medio fue seguido por el Segundo Período Intermedio de Egipto , otro período de división que involucró invasiones extranjeras del país por parte de los hicsos de Asia Occidental.
Tras la reunificación de Egipto en el Imperio Medio, los reyes de las dinastías XI y XII pudieron volver a centrarse en el arte. En la dinastía XI, los monumentos del rey se hicieron en un estilo influenciado por los modelos menfitas de la dinastía V y principios de la dinastía VI, y el estilo de relieve tebano anterior a la unificación prácticamente desapareció. Estos cambios tenían un propósito ideológico, ya que los reyes de la dinastía XI estaban estableciendo un estado centralizado y volviendo a los ideales políticos del Imperio Antiguo. [25] A principios de la dinastía XII, las obras de arte tenían una uniformidad de estilo debido a la influencia de los talleres reales. Fue en este punto cuando la calidad de la producción artística para los miembros de la élite de la sociedad alcanzó un punto alto que nunca fue superado, aunque fue igualado durante otros períodos. [26] La prosperidad de Egipto a finales de la dinastía XII se reflejó en la calidad de los materiales utilizados para los monumentos reales y privados.
Los hicsos , una dinastía de gobernantes originarios del Levante , no parecen haber producido ningún arte cortesano, [33] en lugar de eso se apropiaron de monumentos de dinastías anteriores escribiendo sus nombres en ellos. Muchos de estos están inscritos con el nombre del rey Khyan . [34] Se ha descubierto un gran palacio en Avaris , construido en estilo levantino en lugar de egipcio, muy probablemente por Khyan. [35] Se sabe que el rey Apepi patrocinó la cultura de los escribas egipcios, encargando la copia del Papiro matemático de Rhind . [36] Las historias preservadas en el Papiro de Westcar también pueden datar de su reinado. [37]
Las llamadas "esfinges hicsas" o "esfinges tanitas" son un grupo de esfinges reales que representan al faraón anterior Amenemhat III (Duodécima Dinastía) con algunos rasgos inusuales en comparación con la estatuaria convencional, por ejemplo, pómulos prominentes y la espesa melena de un león, en lugar del tradicional tocado de nemes . El nombre de "esfinges hicsas" se le dio debido al hecho de que estas fueron reinscritas más tarde por varios de los reyes hicsos, y inicialmente se pensó que representaban a los propios reyes hicsos. Los eruditos del siglo XIX intentaron utilizar las características de las estatuas para asignar un origen racial a los hicsos. [38] Estas esfinges fueron confiscadas por los hicsos de las ciudades del Reino Medio y luego transportadas a su capital, Avaris, donde fueron reinscritas con los nombres de sus nuevos propietarios y adornaron su palacio. [32] Se conocen siete de esas esfinges, todas procedentes de Tanis , y ahora la mayoría se encuentran en el Museo de El Cairo . [32] [39] Otras estatuas de Amenehat III se encontraron en Tanis y están asociadas con los hicsos de la misma manera.
El Imperio Nuevo , también conocido como el "Imperio egipcio", es el período comprendido entre los siglos XVI y XI a. C., que abarca las dinastías XVIII , XIX y XX de Egipto . El Imperio Nuevo siguió al Segundo Período Intermedio y fue sucedido por el Tercer Período Intermedio . Fue la época más próspera de Egipto y marcó el apogeo de su poder. [49] Esta tremenda riqueza se puede atribuir a la centralización del poder burocrático y a muchas campañas militares exitosas que abrieron rutas comerciales. Con la expansión del Imperio egipcio, los reyes obtuvieron acceso a productos básicos importantes como el cedro del Líbano y materiales de lujo como el lapislázuli y la turquesa .
Las obras de arte producidas durante el Imperio Nuevo se dividen en tres grandes períodos: Pre-Amarna, Amarna y Ramesside . Aunque se produjeron cambios estilísticos como resultado de los cambios en el poder y la variación de los ideales religiosos, las estatuas y los relieves de todo el Imperio Nuevo siguieron encarnando los principios fundamentales del arte egipcio: frontalidad y axialidad, jerarquía de escalas y composición compuesta.
El período Pre-Amarna, el comienzo de la decimoctava dinastía del Imperio Nuevo, estuvo marcado por el creciente poder de Egipto como imperio expansivo. Las obras de arte reflejan una combinación de técnicas y temas del Imperio Medio con los nuevos materiales y estilos de tierras extranjeras. [50] Una gran parte del arte y la arquitectura del período Pre-Amarna fue producida por la reina Hatshepshut, quien dirigió una amplia campaña de construcción para todos los dioses durante su reinado de 1473 a 1458 a. C. La reina hizo importantes ampliaciones al templo de Karnak , emprendió la construcción de un extenso templo funerario en Deir el-Bahri y produjo una prolífica cantidad de estatuas y relieves en piedra dura. La magnitud de estos proyectos de construcción fue posible gracias a la centralización del poder en Tebas y la reapertura de las rutas comerciales por parte del anterior gobernante del Imperio Nuevo Ahmosis I. [51]
El elaborado templo funerario de la reina en Deir el-Bahri ofrece numerosos ejemplos bien conservados de las obras de arte producidas durante el período anterior a Amarna. El enorme templo de tres niveles y columnatas fue construido en los acantilados de Tebas y adornado con amplios relieves pintados. Los temas de estos relieves iban desde imágenes funerarias tradicionales y la legitimación de Hatshepsut como gobernante divina de Egipto hasta escenas de batallas y expediciones en tierras extranjeras. El templo también albergaba numerosas estatuas de la reina y de los dioses, en particular de Amón-ra, algunas de las cuales eran de escala colosal. Las obras de arte del reinado de Hatshepsut se caracterizan por la reintegración de la cultura y el estilo del norte como resultado de la reunificación de Egipto. Tutmosis III, el predecesor de la reina, también encargó grandes cantidades de obras de arte a gran escala y, a su muerte, Egipto era el imperio más poderoso del mundo. [51]
Durante el Imperio Nuevo (especialmente la XVIII Dinastía) era habitual que los reyes encargaran la construcción de grandes y elaborados templos dedicados a los principales dioses de Egipto. Estas estructuras, construidas con piedra caliza o arenisca (materiales más permanentes que el adobe utilizado en los templos anteriores) y rellenas con materiales raros y vibrantes pinturas murales, ejemplifican la riqueza y el acceso a los recursos de los que disfrutó el Imperio egipcio durante el Imperio Nuevo. El templo de Karnak , dedicado a Amón-ra, es uno de los ejemplos más grandes y mejores que se conservan de este tipo de arquitectura patrocinada por el Estado. [50]
El arte de Amarna recibe su nombre del extenso yacimiento arqueológico de Tel el- Amarna , donde el faraón Akenatón trasladó la capital a finales de la dinastía XVIII . Este período, y los años que lo precedieron, constituyen la interrupción más drástica en el estilo del arte egipcio en los Reinos Antiguo, Medio y Nuevo como resultado de la creciente prominencia de la Nueva Teología Solar y el cambio final hacia el Atonismo bajo Akenatón. [54] El arte de Amarna se caracteriza por una sensación de movimiento y una "percepción subjetiva y sensual" de la realidad tal como aparecía en el mundo. Las escenas a menudo incluyen figuras superpuestas que crean la sensación de una multitud, lo que era menos común en épocas anteriores.
Las obras de arte producidas bajo el reinado de Akenatón eran un reflejo de los dramáticos cambios en la cultura, el estilo y la religión que se produjeron bajo su gobierno. A veces llamada la Nueva Teología Solar, la nueva religión era un culto monoteísta al sol, Atón. Akenatón se ponía de relieve a sí mismo como "corregidor", junto con Atón, así como portavoz del propio Atón. Dado que en esta nueva teología se adoraba al disco solar como el máximo poder dador de vida, todo lo que tocaban los rayos del sol era bendecido por esta fuerza. Como resultado, los sacrificios y el culto probablemente se realizaban en patios abiertos y la técnica del relieve hundido , que funciona mejor para las tallas al aire libre, también se utilizaba para las obras en interiores.
La representación del cuerpo humano cambió drásticamente bajo el reinado de Akenatón. Por ejemplo, muchas representaciones del cuerpo de Akenatón le otorgan cualidades distintivamente femeninas, como caderas grandes, pechos prominentes y un estómago y muslos más grandes. Las representaciones faciales de Akenatón, como en la Estatua de Akenatón de piedra arenisca , lo muestran con un mentón alargado, labios carnosos y mejillas hundidas. Estas características estilísticas se extendieron más allá de las representaciones de Akenatón y se emplearon más en la representación de todas las figuras de la familia real, como se observa en el Retrato de Meritatón y Fragmento del rostro de una reina. Esto es una divergencia con el arte egipcio anterior que enfatizaba la juventud idealizada y la masculinidad para las figuras masculinas.
Una innovación notable del reinado de Akenatón fue la elevación religiosa de la familia real, incluida la esposa de Akenatón, Nefertiti , y sus tres hijas. [55] Mientras que los períodos anteriores del arte egipcio representaban al rey como el vínculo principal entre la humanidad y los dioses, el período de Amarna extendió este poder a los de la familia real. [55] Como se visualiza en el relieve de una familia real y los diferentes bloques de talatat , cada figura de la familia real está tocada por los rayos de Atón . Se cree específicamente que Nefertiti tuvo un papel de culto significativo durante este período. [56]
No han sobrevivido muchos edificios de este período, en parte porque se construyeron con bloques de tamaño estándar, conocidos como talatat, que eran muy fáciles de quitar y reutilizar. Los templos de Amarna, siguiendo la tendencia, no seguían las costumbres tradicionales egipcias y eran abiertos, sin techos y sin puertas que se cerraran. En las generaciones posteriores a la muerte de Akenatón, los artistas volvieron a los estilos egipcios tradicionales de períodos anteriores. Todavía había rastros del estilo de este período en el arte posterior, pero en la mayoría de los aspectos, el arte egipcio, como la religión egipcia, recuperó sus características habituales como si el período nunca hubiera sucedido. Amarna fue abandonada y se realizó un esfuerzo considerable para desfigurar los monumentos del reinado, incluido el desmontaje de edificios y la reutilización de los bloques con su decoración hacia adentro, como se ha descubierto recientemente en un edificio posterior. [57] El último rey de la dinastía XVIII, Horemheb , trató de eliminar la influencia del arte y la cultura de Amarna y restablecer la poderosa tradición del culto a Amón. [58]
Con un esfuerzo concertado de Horemheb, el último rey de la dinastía XVIII, para erradicar todo el arte e influencia de Amarna, el estilo del arte y la arquitectura del Imperio pasó al Período Ramésida durante el resto del Imperio Nuevo ( Dinastías XIX y XX ). [51] En respuesta a la revolución religiosa y artística del período de Amarna, las obras encargadas por el estado demuestran un claro retorno a las formas tradicionales y una renovada dedicación a Amón-ra. Sin embargo, algunos elementos de la proporción corporal de Amarna persisten; la parte baja de la espalda no vuelve a su altura inferior, del Reino Medio, y las extremidades humanas permanecen algo alargadas. Con algunas modificaciones, los reyes de las dinastías XIX y XX continuaron construyendo sus templos funerarios, que estaban dedicados a Amón-ra y ubicados en Tebas, en el estilo de sus predecesores. Los reyes de Ramsés también continuaron construyendo estatuas colosales como las encargadas por Hatshepsut. [50]
Durante el periodo ramésida, los reyes hicieron más contribuciones al templo de Karnak. La Gran Sala Hipóstila, encargada por Seti I (XIX Dinastía), constaba de 134 columnas de arenisca que sostenían un techo de 20 metros de altura y cubrían un acre de tierra. Seti I decoró la mayoría de las superficies con intrincados bajorrelieves, mientras que su sucesor, Ramsés II, añadió relieves hundidos a las paredes y columnas del lado sur de la Gran Sala. Las tallas interiores muestran interacciones entre reyes y dioses, como escenas tradicionales de legitimación de poder, procesiones y rituales. Amplias representaciones de campañas militares cubren las paredes exteriores de la Sala Hipóstila. Las escenas de batalla que ilustran a enemigos caóticos y desordenados esparcidos por la tierra conquistada y al rey victorioso como la figura más prominente, son características del periodo ramésida. [50]
El último período del Imperio Nuevo muestra un retorno a la forma y el estilo egipcios tradicionales, pero la cultura no es puramente una regresión al pasado. El arte del período ramésida demuestra la integración de las formas egipcias canonizadas con innovaciones y materiales modernos. Los avances, como la decoración de todas las superficies de las tumbas con pinturas y relieves y la adición de nuevos textos funerarios a las cámaras funerarias, demuestran la naturaleza no estática de este período. [50]
El Tercer Período Intermedio fue un período de decadencia e inestabilidad política, que coincidió con el colapso de las civilizaciones de Oriente Próximo y el Mediterráneo oriental (incluida la Edad Oscura griega ) a finales de la Edad del Bronce. Estuvo marcado por la división del estado durante gran parte del período y la conquista y el gobierno de extranjeros. [59] Después de un período inicial de fractura, el país fue firmemente reunificado por la Dinastía XXII fundada por Sheshonq I en 945 a. C. (o 943 a. C.), que descendía de inmigrantes meshwesh , originalmente de la antigua Libia . El siguiente período de la Dinastía XXIV vio la creciente influencia del reino nubio al sur que aprovechó al máximo esta división y la consiguiente inestabilidad política. Luego, alrededor de 732 a. C., Piye marchó hacia el norte y derrotó el poder combinado de varios gobernantes egipcios nativos: Peftjaubast, Osorkon IV de Tanis, Iuput II de Leontopolis y Tefnakht de Sais. Estableció la Vigésima Quinta Dinastía de los "Faraos Negros" originarios de Nubia.
El Tercer Período Intermedio generalmente ve un retorno a los estilos egipcios arcaicos, con particular referencia al arte del Imperio Antiguo y Medio . [60] El arte del período consiste esencialmente en estilos egipcios tradicionales, reintroducidos por razones desconocidas ya en Shoshenq V u Osorkon III , [61] a veces con la inclusión de algunas características extranjeras, como la iconografía particular de las estatuas de los gobernantes nubios de la Dinastía XXV . [60] Aunque la Dinastía XXV controló el Antiguo Egipto durante solo 73 años, ocupa un lugar importante en la historia egipcia debido a la restauración de los valores, la cultura, el arte y la arquitectura tradicionales egipcios, combinados con algunas creaciones originales como la columna monumental de Taharqa en Karnak . [62] [63] Durante la Dinastía XXV, Egipto fue gobernado desde Napata en Nubia , ahora en el moderno Sudán , y la Dinastía a su vez permitió la expansión de los estilos arquitectónicos egipcios al Bajo Egipto y Nubia . [60]
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En el año 525 a. C., los persas tomaron el control del estado político de Egipto, casi un siglo y medio después del inicio del Período Tardío de Egipto. En el año 404 a. C., los persas fueron expulsados de Egipto, lo que dio inicio a un breve período de independencia. Estos 60 años de gobierno egipcio estuvieron marcados por una abundancia de usurpadores y reinados cortos. Luego, los egipcios fueron reocupados por los aqueménidas hasta el año 332 a. C. con la llegada de Alejandro Magno . Las fuentes afirman que los egipcios aplaudieron cuando Alejandro entró en la capital, ya que expulsó a los persas, que eran inmensamente desagradables. El Período Tardío está marcado por la muerte de Alejandro Magno y el comienzo de la dinastía ptolemaica . [66] Aunque este período marca turbulencia política y un cambio inmenso para Egipto, su arte y cultura continuaron floreciendo.
Esto se puede ver en los templos egipcios a partir de la Dinastía Trigésima , la quinta dinastía en el Período Tardío, y extendiéndose hasta la era ptolemaica. [ cita requerida ] Estos templos se extendían desde el Delta hasta la isla de Philae . [ 66 ] Si bien Egipto sufrió influencias externas a través del comercio y la conquista por parte de estados extranjeros, estos templos permanecieron en el estilo egipcio tradicional con muy poca influencia helenística . [ cita requerida ]
Otro relieve que se originó en la Dinastía XIII fue el modelado redondeado del cuerpo y de las extremidades, [66] que daba a los sujetos un efecto más carnoso o pesado. Por ejemplo, en las figuras femeninas, los senos se hinchaban y se superponían a la parte superior del brazo en la pintura. En representaciones más realistas, los hombres aparecían gordos o arrugados.
Another type of art that became increasingly common during this period was the Horus stelae.[66] These originate from the late New Kingdom and intermediate period but were 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 is saved from a scorpion bite, resulting in his 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".[66]
Discoveries made since the end of the 19th century surrounding the (now submerged) ancient Egyptian city of Heracleion at Alexandria include a 4th century BC, unusually sensual, detailed and feministic (as opposed to deified) depiction of Isis, marking a combination of Egyptian and Hellenistic forms beginning around the time of Egypt's conquest by Alexander the Great in 332–331 BC. However, this was atypical of Ptolemaic sculpture, which generally avoided mixing Egyptian styles with the Hellenistic style used in the court art of the Ptolemaic dynasty,[68] while temples in the rest of the country continued using late versions of traditional Egyptian formulae.[69] Scholars have proposed an "Alexandrian style" in Hellenistic sculpture, but there is in fact little to connect it with Alexandria.[70]
Marble was extensively used in court art, although it all had to be imported and use was made of various marble-saving techniques, such as using a number of pieces attached with stucco; a head might have the beard, the back of the head and hair in separate pieces.[71] In contrast to the art of other Hellenistic kingdoms, Ptolemaic royal portraits are generalized and idealized, with little concern for achieving an individual portrait, though coins allow some portrait sculpture to be identified as one of the fifteen King Ptolemys.[72] Many later portraits have clearly had the face reworked to show a later king.[73] One Egyptian trait was to give much greater prominence to the queens than other successor dynasties to Alexander, with the royal couple often shown as a pair. This predated the 2nd century, when a series of queens exercised real power.[74]
In the 2nd century, Egyptian temple sculptures began to reuse court models in their faces, and sculptures of a priest often used a Hellenistic style to achieve individually distinctive portrait heads.[75] Many small statuettes were produced, with the most common types being Alexander, a generalized "King Ptolemy", and a naked Aphrodite. Pottery figurines included grotesques and fashionable ladies of the Tanagra figurine style.[69] Erotic groups featured absurdly large phalli. Some fittings for wooden interiors include very delicately patterned polychrome falcons in faience.
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The Fayum mummy portraits are probably the most famous example of Egyptian art during the Roman period of Egypt. They were a type of naturalistic painted portrait on wooden boards attached to upper class mummies from Roman Egypt. They belong to the tradition of panel painting, one of the most highly regarded forms of art in the Classical world. The Fayum portraits are the only large body of art from that tradition to have survived.
Mummy portraits have been found across Egypt, but are most common in the Faiyum Basin, particularly from Hawara (hence the common name) and the Hadrianic Roman city Antinoopolis. "Faiyum portraits" is generally used as a stylistic, rather than a geographic, description. While painted cartonnage mummy cases date back to pharaonic times, the Faiyum mummy portraits were an innovation dating to the time of the Roman occupation of Egypt.[78]
The portraits date to the Imperial Roman era, from the late 1st century BC or the early 1st century AD onwards. It is not clear when their production ended, but recent research suggests the middle of the 3rd century. They are among the largest groups among the very few survivors of the panel painting tradition of the classical world, which was continued into Byzantine and Western traditions in the post-classical world, including the local tradition of Coptic iconography in Egypt.
Egyptian art is known for its distinctive figure convention used for the main figures in both relief and painting, with parted legs (where not seated) and head shown as seen from the side, but the torso seen as from the front. The figures also have a standard set of proportions, measuring 18 "fists" from the ground to the hair-line on the forehead.[80] This appears as early as the Narmer Palette from Dynasty I, but this idealized figure convention is not employed in the use of displaying minor figures shown engaged in some activity, such as captives and corpses.[81] Other conventions make statues of males darker than those of females. Very conventionalized portrait statues appear from as early as the Second Dynasty (before 2,780 BC),[82] and with the exception of the art of the Amarna period of Ahkenaten[83] and some other periods such as the Twelfth Dynasty, the idealized features of rulers, like other Egyptian artistic conventions, changed little until the Greek conquest.[84] Egyptian art uses hierarchical proportions, where the size of figures indicates their relative importance. The gods or the divine pharaoh are usually larger than other figures while the figures of high officials or the tomb owner are usually smaller, and at the smallest scale are any servants, entertainers, animals, trees, and architectural details.[85]
Ancient Egyptian artists rarely left their names. The Egyptian artwork is anonymous also because most of the time it was collective. Diodorus of Sicily, who traveled and lived in Egypt, has written: "So, after the craftsmen have decided the height of the statue, they all go home to make the parts which they have chosen" (I, 98).[86]
Symbolism pervaded Egyptian art and played an important role in establishing a sense of order. The pharaoh's regalia, for example, represented his power to maintain order. Animals were also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art. Some colors were expressive.[87]
The ancient Egyptian language had four basic color terms: kem (black), hedj (white/silver), wadj (green/blue) and desher (red/orange/yellow). Blue, for example, symbolized fertility, birth, and the life-giving waters of the Nile.[88][failed verification] Blue and green were the colors of vegetation, and hence of rejuvenation. Osiris could be shown with green skin; in the 26th Dynasty, the faces of coffins were often colored green to assist in rebirth.[89]
This color symbolism explains the popularity of turquoise and faience in funerary equipment. The use of black for royal figures similarly expressed the fertile alluvial soil[87] of the Nile from which Egypt was born, and carried connotations of fertility and regeneration. Hence statues of the king as Osiris often showed him with black skin. Black was also associated with the afterlife, and was the color of funerary deities such as Anubis.
Gold indicated divinity due to its unnatural appearance and association with precious materials.[87] Furthermore, gold was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as "the flesh of the god".[90] Silver, referred to as "white gold" by the Egyptians, was likewise called "the bones of the god".[90]
Red, orange and yellow were ambivalent colors. They were, naturally, associated with the sun; red stones such as quartzite were favored for royal statues which stressed the solar aspects of kingship. Carnelian has similar symbolic associations in jewelry. Red ink was used to write important names on papyrus documents. Red was also the color of the deserts, and hence associated with Set.
Egyptian faience is a ceramic material, made of quartz sand (or crushed quartz), small amounts of lime, and plant ash or natron. The ingredients were mixed together, glazed and fired to a hard shiny finish. Faience was widely used from the Predynastic Period until Islamic times for inlays and small objects, especially ushabtis. More accurately termed 'glazed composition', Egyptian faience was so named by early Egyptologists after its superficial resemblance to the tin-glazed earthenwares of medieval Italy (originally produced at Faenza). The Egyptian word for it was tjehenet, which means 'dazzling', and it was probably used, above all, as a cheap substitute for more precious materials like turquoise and lapis lazuli. Indeed, faience was most commonly produced in shades of blue-green, although a large range of colours was possible.[91]
Although the glassy materials faience and Egyptian blue were manufactured in Egypt from an early period, the technology for making glass itself was only perfected in the early 18th Dynasty. It was probably imported from Levant, since the Egyptian words for glass are of foreign origin. The funerary objects of Amenhotep II included many glass artefacts, demonstrating a range of different techniques. At this period, the material was costly and rare, and may have been a royal monopoly. However, by the end of the 18th Dynasty, Egypt probably made sufficient quantities to export glass to other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. Glass workshops have been excavated at Amarna and Pi-Ramesses. The raw materials – silica, alkali and lime – were readily available in Egypt, although ready-made ingots of blue glass were also imported from the Levant and have been found in the cargo of the Uluburun shipwreck off the southern coast of Turkey.[92]
Egyptian blue is a material related to, but distinct from, faience and glass. Also called "frit", Egyptian blue was made from quartz, alkali, lime and one or more coloring agents (usually copper compounds). These were heated together until they fused to become a crystalline mass of uniform color (unlike faience in which the core and the surface layer are of different colors). Egyptian blue could be worked by hand or pressed into molds, to make statuettes and other small objects. It could also be ground to produce pigment. It is first attested in the Fourth Dynasty, but became particularly popular in the Ptolemaic period and the Roman period, when it was known as caeruleum.[93]
The color blue was used only sparingly even up until as late as Dynasty IV, where the color was found adorning mat-patterns in the Tomb of Saccara, which was constructed during the first Dynasty. Until this discovery was made, the color blue had not been known in Egyptian art.[94]
While not a leading center of metallurgy, ancient Egypt nevertheless developed technologies for extracting and processing the metals found within its borders and in neighbouring lands.
Copper was the first metal to be exploited in Egypt. Small beads have been found in Badarian graves; larger items were produced in the later Predynastic Period, by a combination of mould-casting, annealing and cold-hammering. The production of copper artifacts peaked in the Old Kingdom when huge numbers of copper chisels were manufactured to cut the stone blocks of pyramids. The copper statues of Pepi I and Merenre from Hierakonpolis are rare survivors of large-scale metalworking.
The golden treasure of Tutankhamun has come to symbolize the wealth of ancient Egypt, and illustrates the importance of gold in pharaonic culture. The burial chamber in a royal tomb was called "the house of gold". According to the Egyptian religion, the flesh of the gods was made of gold. A shining metal that never tarnished, it was the ideal material for cult images of deities, for royal funerary equipment, and to add brilliance to the tops of obelisks. It was used extensively for jewelry, and was distributed to officials as a reward for loyal services ("the gold of honour").
Silver had to be imported from the Levant, and its rarity initially gave it greater value than gold (which, like electrum, was readily available within the borders of Egypt and Nubia). Early examples of silverwork include the bracelets of the Hetepheres. By the Middle Kingdom, silver seems to have become less valuable than gold, perhaps because of increased trade with the Middle East. The treasure from El-Tod consisted of a hoard of silver objects, probably made in the Aegean, while silver jewelry made for female members of the 12th Dynasty royal family was found at Dahshur and Lahun. In the Egyptian religion, the bones of the gods were said to be made of silver.[95]
Iron was the last metal to be exploited on a large scale by the Egyptians. Meteoritic iron was used for the manufacture of beads from the Badarian period. However, the advanced technology required to smelt iron was not introduced into Egypt until the Late Period. Before that, iron objects were imported and were consequently highly valued for their rarity. The Amarna letters refer to diplomatic gifts of iron being sent by Near Eastern rulers, especially the Hittites, to Amenhotep III and Akhenaten. Iron tools and weapons only became common in Egypt in the Roman Period.
Because of its relatively poor survival in archaeological contexts, wood is not particularly well represented among artifacts from Ancient Egypt. Nevertheless, woodworking was evidently carried out to a high standard from an early period. Native trees included date palm and dom palm, the trunks of which could be used as joists in buildings, or split to produce planks. Tamarisk, acacia and sycamore fig were employed in furniture manufacture, while ash was used when greater flexibility was required (for example in the manufacture of bowls). However, all these native timbers were of relatively poor quality; finer varieties had to be imported, especially from the Levant.[96]
Lapis lazuli is a dark blue semi-precious stone highly valued by the ancient Egyptians because of its symbolic association with the heavens. It was imported via long-distance trade routes from the mountains of north-eastern Afghanistan, and was considered superior to all other materials except gold and silver. Coloured glass or faience provided a cheap imitation. Lapis lazuli is first attested in the Predynastic Period. A temporary interruption in supply during the Second and Third Dynasties probably reflects political changes in the ancient Near East. Thereafter, it was used extensively for jewelry, small figurines and amulets.[97]
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The monumental sculpture of ancient Egypt's temples and tombs is well known,[98] 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. This singular pose was used early in the history of Egyptian art and well into the Ptolemaic period, although seated statues were 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.[99] Most larger sculptures survived 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 of these are known to have survived.
By Dynasty IV (2680–2565 BC), 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 there is 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 (and later ushabti figures) necessary for the deceased to continue his lifestyle in the afterlife.[100] However, the great majority of wooden sculpture have 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 used for expensive versions of these, though painted wood was the most common material, and was 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 the appearance of every Egyptian god. For example, the sky god (Horus) was to be represented with a falcon's head, the god of funeral rites (Anubis) was to be 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-ageing quality of the figure's ka.[citation needed]
A common relief in ancient Egyptian sculpture was the difference between the representation of men and women. Women were often represented in an idealistic form, young and pretty, and rarely shown in an older maturity. Men were shown in either an idealistic manner or a more realistic depiction.[49] Sculptures of men often showed men that aged, since the regeneration of ageing was a positive thing for them whereas women are shown as perpetually young.[101]
A stele is an upright tablet of stone or wood, often with a curved top, painted and carved with text and pictures. Numerous examples were produced throughout Egyptian history for a variety of purposes, including funerary, votive and commemorative. Funerary stelae, attested from the early 1st Dynasty, typically bore the name and titles of the deceased. This basic form, which served to identify the tomb owner, evolved into a key component of the funerary equipment with a magical function. Hence, from the 2nd Dynasty onward, the owner was usually shown seated before an offering table piled with food and drink; in the Middle Kingdom, the offering formula was generally inscribed along the top of the stele. Both were designed to ensure a perpetual supply of offerings in the afterlife. Votive stelae, inscribed with prayers to deities, were dedicated by worshipers seeking a favorable outcome to a particular situation. In the Middle Kingdom, many hundreds were set up by pilgrims on the "terrace of the great god" at Abydos, so that they might participate in the annual procession of Osiris. One particular variety of votive stele common in the New Kingdom was the ear stele, inscribed with images of human ears to encourage the deity to listen to the prayer or request.
Commemorative stelae were produced to proclaim notable achievements (for example, the stela of Horwerra, recording a mining expedition to Serabit el-Khadim, and the Restoration Stela of Tutankhamun, celebrating the restoration of the traditional cults at the end of the Amarna period); to celebrate military victories (for instance, the Merneptah Stele); and to establish frontiers (for example the Semna stele of Senusret III and the boundary stelae around Amarna).[103]
A pyramidion is a capstone at the top of a pyramid. Called benbenet in ancient Egyptian language, it associated the pyramid as a whole with the sacred Benben stone. Pyramidia may have been covered in gold leaf to reflect the rays of the sun; in the Middle Kingdom, they were often inscribed with royal titles and religious symbols.[105]
Not all Egyptian reliefs were painted, and less-prestigious works in tombs, temples and palaces were merely painted on a flat surface. Stone surfaces were prepared by whitewash, or if rough, a layer of coarse mud plaster, with a smoother gesso layer above; some finer limestones could take paint directly. Pigments were mostly mineral, chosen to withstand strong sunlight without fading. The binding medium used in painting remains unclear: egg tempera and various gums and resins have been suggested. It is clear that true fresco, painted into a thin layer of wet plaster, was not used. Instead, the paint was applied to dried plaster, in what is called fresco a secco in Italian. After painting, a varnish or resin was usually applied as a protective coating, and many paintings with some exposure to the elements have survived remarkably well, although those on fully exposed walls rarely have.[106] Small objects including wooden statuettes were often painted using similar techniques.
Many ancient Egyptian paintings have survived in tombs, and sometimes temples, due to Egypt's extremely dry climate. The paintings were often made with the intent of making a pleasant afterlife for the deceased. The themes included journeys through the afterworld or protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld (such as Osiris). Some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity.[citation needed]
From the New Kingdom period and afterwards, the Book of the Dead was buried with the entombed person. It was considered important for an introduction to the afterlife.[107]
Egyptian paintings are painted in such a way to show a side view and a front view of the animal or person at the same time. For example, the painting to the right shows the head from a profile view and the body from a frontal view. Their main colors were red, blue, green, gold, black and yellow.[citation needed]
Paintings showing scenes of hunting and fishing can have lively close-up landscape backgrounds of reeds and water, but in general Egyptian painting did not develop a sense of depth, and neither landscapes nor a sense of visual perspective are found, the figures rather varying in size with their importance rather than their location.[citation needed]
Ancient Egyptian architects used sun-dried and kiln-baked bricks, fine sandstone, limestone and granite. Architects carefully planned all their work. The stones had to fit precisely together, since no mud or mortar was used. When creating the pyramids it is unknown how the workers or stones reached the top of them as no records were kept of their construction. When the top of the structure was completed, the artists decorated from the top down, removing ramp sand as they went down. Exterior walls of structures like the pyramids contained only a few small openings. Hieroglyphic and pictorial carvings in brilliant colors were abundantly used to decorate Egyptian structures, including many motifs, like the scarab, sacred beetle, the solar disk, and the vulture. They described the changes the Pharaoh would go through to become a god.[109]
As early as 2600 BC the architect Imhotep made use of stone columns whose surface was carved to reflect the organic form of bundled reeds, like papyrus, lotus and palm; in later Egyptian architecture faceted cylinders were also common. Their form is thought to derive from archaic reed-built shrines. Carved from stone, the columns were highly decorated with carved and painted hieroglyphs, texts, ritual imagery and natural motifs. One of the most important types are the papyriform columns. The origin of these columns goes back to the 5th Dynasty. They are composed of lotus (papyrus) stems which are drawn together into a bundle decorated with bands: the capital, instead of opening out into the shape of a bellflower, swells out and then narrows again like a flower in bud. The base, which tapers to take the shape of a half-sphere like the stem of the lotus, has a continuously recurring decoration of stipules. At the Luxor Temple, the columns are reminiscent of papyrus bundles, perhaps symbolic of the marsh from which the ancient Egyptians believed the creation of the world to have unfolded.
The ancient Egyptians exhibited a love of ornament and personal decoration from earliest Predynastic times. Badarian burials often contained strings of beads made from glazed steatite, shell and ivory. Jewelry in gold, silver, copper and faience is also attested in the early Predynastic period; more varied materials were introduced in the centuries preceding the 1st Dynasty. By the Old Kingdom, the combination of carnelian, turquoise and lapis lazuli had been established for royal jewelry, and this was to become standard in the Middle Kingdom. Less sophisticated pieces might use bone, mother-of-pearl or cowrie shells.
The particular choice of materials depended upon practical, aesthetical and symbolic considerations. Some types of jewelry remained perennially popular, while others went in and out of fashion. In the first category were bead necklaces, bracelets, armlets and girdles. Bead aprons are first attested in the 1st Dynasty, while usekh broad collars became a standard type from the early Old Kingdom. In the Middle Kingdom, they had fallen from favor, to be replaced by finger-rings and ear ornaments (rings and plugs). New Kingdom jewelry is generally more elaborate and garish than that of earlier periods, and was influenced by styles from the Ancient Greece and the Levant. Many fine examples were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Jewelry, both royal and private, was replete with religious symbolism. It was also used to display the wealth and rank of the wearer. Royal jewels were always the most elaborate, as exemplified by the pieces found at Dahshur and Lahun, made for princesses of the 18th Dynasty, favored courtiers were rewarded with the "gold of honor" as a sign of royal favor.
The techniques of jewelry-making can be reconstructed from surviving artifacts and from tomb decoration. A jeweler's workshop is shown in the tomb of Mereruka; several New Kingdom tombs at Thebes contain similar scenes.[110]
An amulet is a small charm worn to afford its owner magical protection, or to convey certain qualities (for example, a lion amulet might convey strength, or a set-square amulet might convey rectitude). Attested from the Badarian period onward, amulets were produced both for the living and the dead. Particular amulets were placed at specific places in the mummy wrappings. The heart scarab was a specialized form of amulet to protect the heart of the deceased in the afterlife. Amulets were made from a wide variety of materials, including faience, glass, and precious stones – with color often playing an important symbolic role – and in a wide variety of forms. They might depict sacred objects (such as the Djed pillar, Tyet girdle or Wedjad eye); animals (bull's head amulets were particularly common in the late Predynastic period); or hieroglyphs (for example, Ankh or Sa). From the New Kingdom onward, deities – especially household deities such as Bes and Taweret – were popular subjects for amulets.[111]
The protective amulet for the heart was in the form of the scarab beetle, the manifestation of the creator and solar deity Khepri. It was a symbol of new life and resurrection. The scarab beetle was seen to push a ball of dung along the ground, and from this came the idea of the beetle rolling the sun across the sky. Subsequently, the young beetles were observed to hatch from their eggs inside the ball, hence the idea of creation: life springs forth from primordial mud.
The heart scarab was a large scarab amulet which was wrapped in the mummy bandaging over the deceased's heart. It was made from a range of green and dark-colored materials, including faience, glass, glazed steatite, schist, feldspar, hematite and obsidian.[112] Black was also associated with the afterlife, while blue and green were associated with the birth and the life-giving waters of the Nile.
Different types of pottery items were deposited in tombs of the dead. Some such pottery items represented interior parts of the body, such as the lungs, the liver and smaller intestines, which were removed before embalming. A large number of smaller objects in enamel pottery were also deposited with the dead. It was customary for the tomb walls to be crafted with cones of pottery, about 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 in) tall, on which were engraved or impressed legends relating to the dead occupants of the tombs. These cones usually contained the names of the deceased, their titles, offices which they held, and some expressions appropriate to funeral purposes.
Egyptian writing remained a remarkably conservative system, and the preserve of a tiny literate minority, while the spoken language underwent considerable change. Egyptian stelas are decorated with finely carved hieroglyphs.
The use of hieroglyphic writing arose from proto-literate symbol systems in the Early Bronze Age, around the 32nd century BC (Naqada III), with the first decipherable sentence written in the Egyptian language dating to the Second Dynasty (28th century BC). Egyptian hieroglyphs developed into a mature writing system used for monumental inscription in the classical language of the Middle Kingdom period; during this period, the system made use of about 900 distinct signs. The use of this writing system continued through the New Kingdom and Late Period, and on into the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. Late use of hieroglyphics are found in the Roman period, extending into the 4th century AD.
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Although, by modern standards, ancient Egyptian houses would have been very sparsely furnished, woodworking and cabinet-making were highly developed crafts. All the main types of furniture are attested, either as surviving examples or in tomb decoration. Chairs were only for the wealthy; most people would have used low stools. Beds consisted of a wooden frame, with matting or leather webbing to provide support; the most elaborate beds also had a canopy, hung with netting, to provide extra privacy and protection from insects. The feet of chairs, stools and beds were often modeled to resemble bull hooves or, in later periods, lion feet or duck heads. Wooden furniture was often coated with a layer of plaster and painted.
Royal furniture was more elaborate, making use of inlays, veneers and marquetry. Funerary objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun include tables, boxes and chests, a gilded throne, and ritual beds shaped like elongated hippos and cattle. The burial equipment of Hetepheres included a set of travelling furniture, light and easy to dismantle. Such furniture must have been used on military campaigns and other royal journeys.[113] Egyptian furniture has highly influenced the development of Greco-Roman furniture. It also was one of the principal sources of inspiration of a style known as Empire.[114] The main motifs used are: palm and lotus leaves, flowers, lion heads and claws, bull hooves, bird heads, and geometric combinations. Everything is sober and with a monumental character.[115]
Artistic representations, supplemented by surviving garments, are the main sources of evidence for ancient Egyptian fashion. The two sources are not always in agreement, however, and it seems that representations were more concerned with highlighting certain attributes of the person depicted than with accurately recordings their true appearance. For example, women were often shown with restrictive, tight-fitting dresses, perhaps to emphasize their figures.
As in most societies, fashions in Egypt changed over time; different clothes were worn in different seasons of the year, and by different sections of society. Particular office-holders, especially priests and the king, had their own special garments.
For the general population, clothing was simple, predominantly of linen, and probably white or off-white in color. It would have shown the dirt easily, and professional launderers are known to have been attached to the New Kingdom workmen's village at Deir el-Medina. Men would have worn a simple loin-cloth or short kilt (known as shendyt), supplemented in winter by a heavier tunic. High-status individuals could express their status through their clothing, and were more susceptible to changes in fashion.
Longer, more voluminous clothing made an appearance in the Middle Kingdom; flowing, elaborately pleated, diaphanous robes for men and women were particularly popular in the late 18th Dynasty and the Ramesside period. Decorated textiles also became more common in the New Kingdom. In all periods, women's dresses may have been enhanced by colorful bead netting worn over the top. In the Roman Period, Egypt became known for the manufacture of fine clothing. Coiled sewn sandals or sandals of leather are the most commonly attested types of footwear. Examples of these, together with linen shirts and other clothing, were discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun.[116]
Use of makeup, especially around the eyes, was a characteristic feature of ancient Egyptian culture from Predynastic times. Black kohl (eye-paint) was applied to protect the eyes, as well as for aesthetic reasons. It was usually made of galena, giving a silvery-black color; during the Old Kingdom, green eye-paint was also used, made from malachite. Egyptian women painted their lips and cheeks, using rouge made from red ochre. Henna was applied as a dye for hair, fingernails and toenails, and perhaps also nipples. Creams and unguents to condition the skin were popular, and were made from various plant extracts.[117]
On secular and religious occasions, music played an important part in celebrations. Musicians, playing instruments such as the castanets and flute, are depicted on objects from the Predynastic Period. A wide range of percussions, wind and string instruments were known to the ancient Egyptian. They include rattles, clappers, drums, tambourines and the sistrum; pipes, flutes and trumpets; and harps (particularly popular at feasts). The lyre and lute were introduced from the Levant. Musical notation is not attested until the early Ptolemaic Period. Groups of musicians, either mixed gender or female only, are known from the Old Kingdom. Women singers and sistrum-players had an important role in temple cults, especially those of Hathor and Isis. Tomb decoration from all periods indicates that, as today, groups of workers sang to generate a sense of solidarity and to maintain their enthusiasm.[118]
A sistrum (plural: sistra) is a rattle used in religious ceremonies, especially temple rituals, and usually played by women. Called a "seshsehet" in Egyptian, the name imitates the swishing sound the small metal disks made when the instrument was shaken. It was closely associated with Hathor in her role as "lady of music", and the handle was often decorated with a Hathor head. Two kinds of sistrum are attested, naos-shaped and hoop-shaped; the latter became the more common.[119]
The earliest purpose-built funerary containers for bodies were simple rectangular wooden boxes, attested in the 1st Dynasty. A coffin swiftly became an essential part of the burial equipment. Known euphemistically as the "lord of life", its primary function was to provide a home for the Ka and to protect the physical body from harm. In the 4th Dynasty, the development of longer coffins allowed the body to be buried fully extended (rather than curled up on its side in a foetal position). At the end of the Old Kingdom, it became customary once more for the body to be laid on its side. The side of the coffin that faced east in the tomb was decorated with a pair of eyes so that the deceased could look out towards the rising sun with its promise of daily rebirth. Coffins also began to be decorated on the outside with bands of funerary texts, while pictures of food and drink offerings were painted on the inside to provide a magical substitute for the real provisions placed in the tomb.[citation needed]
In the First Intermediate Period, decorated coffins became a substitute for tomb decoration; in the Middle Kingdom, coffin texts made their first appearance, sometimes accompanied by detailed maps of the underworld. Middle Kingdom coffins show a number of distinct regional styles, echoing the cultural fragmentation of the preceding period. In the 17th and early 18th Dynasties, the Theban area produced characteristic anthropoid rishi (feathered) coffins. These were replaced (except for kings) by other styles of anthropoid coffins which became the standard form throughout the country for the remainder of Egyptian history. The predominance of decorated tombs in the New Kingdom removed the need of object friezes, so coffins were generally undecorated on the inside. However, this situation was reversed again in the Third Intermediate Period when new types of coffin decoration focused on the Osiris myth and extracts from the Book of the Dead, to aid the resurrection of the deceased. In the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, a cartonnage mask was often fixed directly onto the mummy wrappings as a substitute for a coffin.[citation needed]
Coffins were generally made of wood; those of high-status individuals used fine quality, imported cedar. From the Middle Kingdom onward, wealthy individuals were often provided with a set of two or three nested coffins. The most sumptuous coffins might be inlaid with glass or precious stones, while royal coffins were often made from gold or silver.[120]
Canopic jars are vessels which were used for storing the internal organs removed during mummification. These were named after the human-headed jars that were worshiped as personifications of Kanops (the helmsman of Menelaus in Greek mythology) by the inhabitants of ancient Canopus. The practice of evisceration is first attested in the burial of Hetepheres[clarification needed] in the early 4th Dynasty. Her organs were stored in a travertine canopic chest divided into four compartments. Later, each organ – the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines – was provided with a separate jar, of stone or pottery, and placed under the symbolic protection of one of the Four sons of Horus. During the First Intermediate Period, the stoppers of canopic jars began to be modeled in the form of human heads. From the late 18th Dynasty, they were more commonly modelled to resemble the heads of the protecting genii (baboon, jackal, falcon and human). This became the standard for canopic equipment in the 19th Dynasty. In the Third Intermediate Period, the mummified organs were generally returned to the body, but wealthy burials could still include a dummy set of jars. The last known royal set of canopic jars were made of Apries. The manufacture of canopic equipment continued into the Ptolemaic Period but ceased by Roman times.[121]
Funerary masks have been used at all periods. Examples range from the gold masks of Tutankhamun and Psusennes I to the Roman "mummy portraits" from Hawara and the Fayum. Whether in a funerary or religious context, the purpose of a mask was the same: to transform the wearer from a mortal to a divine state.[122]
Ushabtis (a.k.a. shawabti or shabti) are funerary figurines. Their purpose was to act as a substitute for the deceased when he was called upon to perform agricultural work or corvée labor in the afterlife. Ushabtis evolved in the Middle Kingdom from the servant statues included among grave goods. The earliest examples were crude statuettes in wax, clay or wood; later, they were fashioned as mummiform figures and, from the end of the 12th Dynasty, they were customarily inscribed with the "ushabti text" (chapter 6 of the Book of the dead which specifies the ushabti's duties).[123]
Ancient Egypt shared a long and complex history with the Nile Valley to the south, the region called Nubia (modern Sudan). Beginning with the Kerma culture and continuing with the Kingdom of Kush based at Napata and then Meroë, Nubian culture absorbed Egyptian influences at various times, for both political and religious reasons. The result is a rich and complex visual culture.
The artistic production of Meroë reflects a range of influences. First, it was an indigenous African culture with roots stretching back thousands of years. To this is added the fact that the wealth of Meroë was based on trade with Egypt when it was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty (332–330 BC) and the Romans (30 BC – 395 AD), so Hellenistic and Roman objects and ideas were imported, as well as Egyptian influences.
Egyptian Revival art is a style in Western art, mainly of the early nineteenth century, in which Egyptian motifs were applied to a wide variety of decorative arts objects. It was underground in American decorative arts throughout the nineteenth century, continuing into the 1920s. The major motifs of Egyptian art, such as obelisks, hieroglyphs, the sphinx, and pyramids, were used in various artistic media, including architecture, furniture, ceramics, and silver. Egyptian motifs provided an exotic alternative to the more traditional styles of the day. Over the course of the nineteenth century, American tastes evolved from a highly ornamented aesthetic to a simpler, sparer sense of decoration; the vocabulary of ancient Egyptian art would be interpreted and adapted in different ways depending on the standards and motivations of the time.[124]
Enthusiasm for the artistic style of Ancient Egypt is generally attributed to the excitement over Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and, in Britain, to Admiral Nelson's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Napoleon took a scientific expedition with him to Egypt. Publication of the expedition's work, the Description de l'Égypte, began in 1809 and came out in a series though 1826, inspiring everything from sofas with sphinxes for legs, to tea sets painted with the pyramids. It was the popularity of the style that was new, Egyptianizing works of art had appeared in scattered European settings from the time of the Renaissance.
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![Estatua de un guardián que refleja los rasgos faciales del rey reinante, probablemente Amenemhat I o Senwosret I, y que funcionaba como guardián divino de los imiut. Realizada en madera de cedro y yeso, c. 1919–1885 a. C.[27]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/GuardianStatueofAmenemhmatII.jpg/1280px-GuardianStatueofAmenemhmatII.jpg)
![Un grupo de pueblos del oeste de Asia (posiblemente cananeos y precursores de los futuros hicsos) representados entrando en Egipto alrededor de 1900 a. C. Procedente de la tumba de un funcionario de la dinastía XII, Khnumhotep II.[28][29][30][31]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Procession_of_the_Aamu,_Tomb_of_Khnumhotep_II_(composite).jpg/1280px-Procession_of_the_Aamu,_Tomb_of_Khnumhotep_II_(composite).jpg){kind=small}
![Un funcionario con el peinado de "cabeza de hongo" que también se ve en pinturas contemporáneas de extranjeros asiáticos occidentales, como en la tumba de Khnumhotep II, en Beni Hasan. Excavada en Avaris, la capital de los hicsos. Colección estatal de arte egipcio.[40][41][42][43]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Asiatic_official_Munich_(retouched).jpg/1280px-Asiatic_official_Munich_(retouched).jpg)
![León con el nombre del gobernante hicso Khyan inscrito, hallado en Bagdad, lo que sugiere relaciones con Babilonia. El prenombre de Khyan y el epíteto aparecen en el pecho. Museo Británico, EA 987.[44][45]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Khyan.jpg/1280px-Khyan.jpg)
![Empuñadura de daga de electrum de un soldado del faraón hicso Apepi, que ilustra al soldado cazando con un arco corto y una espada. Inscripciones: «El dios perfecto, el señor de las dos tierras, Nebkhepeshre Apepi» y «Seguidor de su señor Nehemen», encontradas en un enterramiento en Saqqara.[46] Actualmente se encuentra en el Museo de Luxor.[47][48]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Hyksos_dagger_handle.jpg/1280px-Hyksos_dagger_handle.jpg)
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![Sirios que llevan presentes a Tutmosis III, en la tumba de Rekhmire, alrededor de 1450 a. C. Están etiquetados como "Jefes de Retjenu".[52][53]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Syrians_bringing_presents_in_the_tomb_of_Rekhmire_(actual).jpg/1280px-Syrians_bringing_presents_in_the_tomb_of_Rekhmire_(actual).jpg)
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![Taharqa ofreciendo jarras de vino al dios halcón Hemen;[63] 690–664 a. C.; bronce, grauvaca, oro y madera; largo: 26 cm, alto: 19,7 cm, ancho: 10,3 cm; Louvre](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Taharqa_offering_wine_vases_to_Hemen-E_25276-IMG_0506-gradient.jpg/1280px-Taharqa_offering_wine_vases_to_Hemen-E_25276-IMG_0506-gradient.jpg)
![Hombre egipcio con traje persa, c. 343–332 a. C., número de acceso 71.139, Museo de Brooklyn.[67]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Egyptian_Man_in_a_Persian_Costume,_ca._343-332_B.C.E.,_71.139.jpg/1280px-Egyptian_Man_in_a_Persian_Costume,_ca._343-332_B.C.E.,_71.139.jpg)
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![Amenhotep III; 1390–1352 BC; quartzite; height: 2.49 m; Luxor Museum (Luxor, Egypt)[102]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Luxor_Museum_Amenophis_III._Statue_05.jpg/1280px-Luxor_Museum_Amenophis_III._Statue_05.jpg)
![Kamose stela; circa 1550 BC; limestone; height: 2.3 m, width: 1.1 m, depth: 28.5 cm; from the Karnak Temple (Egypt); Luxor Museum (Luxor, Egypt)[104]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Kamose_Siegesstele_Luxor_Museum_02.jpg/1280px-Kamose_Siegesstele_Luxor_Museum_02.jpg)
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)A head from a statue of an official dating to the 12th or 13th Dynasty (1802–1640 B.C.) sports the mushroom-shaped hairstyle commonly worn by non-Egyptian immigrants from western Asia such as the Hyksos.
The foreigners of the fourth register, with long hairstyles and calf-length fringed robes, are labeled Chiefs of Retjenu, the ancient name tor the Syrian region. Like the Nubians, they come with animals, in this case horses, an elephant, and a bear; they also offer weapons and vessels most likely filled with precious substance.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2024 (link)Trajan was, in fact, quite active in Egypt. Separate scenes of Domitian and Trajan making offerings to the gods appear on reliefs on the propylon of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. There are cartouches of Domitian and Trajan on the column shafts of the Temple of Knum at Esna, and on the exterior a frieze text mentions Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian
Hill, Marsha (2007). Gifts for the gods: images from Egyptian temples. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588392312.
