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Akhenaton and Nefertiti

How about that! The New Empire was full of untypical Pharaohs. Overnight, Pharaoh Akhenaton decide to merge all the gods into a single image, that of Aton, the sun.

And to drive the point home, he modified the rules of Egyptian art – no way did he want to look like his predecessors!

The same was true of his wife, Queen Nefertiti.

Bust of Nefertiti,

around 1340 BC, limestone, stucco; beeswax and crystal, 1’7” x 9” x 14”, Neues Museum, Berlin. Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0

Amenhotep III, 1400 – 1350 BC, Luxor Museum, Egypt. Photo: Rüdiger Stehn, CC BY-SA 2.0

Representation codes before Akhenaton

Osirian giant representing Akhenaton, around 1350 BC, stoneware, Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0

Akhénaton lengthens his body and skull.

He accentuates his features.

He has a round, protruding stomach, whereas before this the preference was for lean muscular frames.

In a nutshell

Akhenaton and Nefertiti created the cult of Aton as the only deity and overturned Egyptian art codes.

Hatchepsout, the Pharaoh queen

Hatchepsout was a special kind of Pharaoh – a woman!
Dates : 1478 – 1458 BC.
Her husband, the Pharaoh, died whilst his heir was still a child. She therefore became his successor.
She reigned over the whole of Egypt and discovered the “Land of Punt”, an abundantly rich region in the south-east of Egypt.
The next Pharaoh, her son-in-law, wanted to ensure she was forgotten so he destroyed numerous works where she was represented – all to no avail!
For her portraits, the craftsmen used the same symbols of power as for any Pharaoh, such as the false beard.

Queen Hatshepsut

around 1460 BC, pink granite, 5’7” (height), Luxor, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Photo: Rob Koopman, CC BY-SA 2.0

Queen Hatshepsut

Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahari, Theban Necropolis, Egypt. Photo: Rémih CC BY-SA 3.0

In a nutshell

Hatchepsout was a woman Pharaoh who lived two thousand years before our time.

The Pharaoh’s accessories

Nothing could be easier than recognizing the Pharaoh on the works of art! He often wore the same accessories:

The Nemes: a headdress in striped fabric.
The Uraeus: a protective cobra on the front of the Nemes.
The sceptres: one in the shape of a cross and the other shaped like a whip.
The double crown: to show that he ruled over Upper and Lower Egypt!
The False Beard: this false beard was a symbol of the king’s power.

Gold death mask of Tutankhamen,

14th century BC, gold and semi-precious stones, Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Photo: Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0

Replica of the external sarcophagus of Tutankhamen,

14th century BC, gold and semi-precious stones. Photo: Mary Harrsch, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Replica of the external sarcophagus of Tutankhamen,

14th century BC, gold and semi-precious stones. Photo: Philippe Kremer, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Osirian Pillars

Hatshepsut Funeral Temple, Deir el-Bahari Photo: Steve F-E-Cameron (Merlin-UK), CC BY-SA 3.0

Thutmosis III

basalt, Luxor Museum

In a nutshell

The Pharaohs’ accessories – sceptres and false beard or nemes – have become iconic.

The New Kindgom

The next kingdom was a period of great prosperity. The Pharaohs had conquered extremely rich territories and wanted to show it!

For example, in Karnak, temples were built and decorated in honour of Amon, the god responsible for the great military victories.

Plan of Karnak Temple, Luxor

A vast entrance known as a pylon, greets arrivals in the world of the gods.
As you move further to the back of the temple where the statues of the god are located, the ceiling gets lower and the floor higher. This is the most sacred part.

Sometimes history is “slightly” rewritten. This is the case in this portrayal of Ramses ll on the Temple of Abu Simbel. We see him during the battle of Kadesh crushing his enemies with great ease. It is said that, in reality, it was not far from a catastrophe…

Battle of Qadesh, Ramses II crushes and tramples on his enemies,

around 1300 BC, Abou Simbel Temple, Abydos Egypt. Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0

In a nutshell

The Pharaohs liked to portray their military victories, sometimes enhancing them.

The Middle Kingdom

In the Middle Kingdom, the Pharaohs had their work cut out…

…protecting the kingdom, conquering new territories and building fortresses.

**Fortress of Bouhen,**
12th Dynasty. Photo: UNESCO, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Sesotris as an old man

around 1850 BC, diorite and gabbro, Temple of Medamoud, Louvre Museum, Paris. Photo: © Louvre Museum, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Christian Decamps

To make sure everyone knew who the boss was, the Pharaohs had a lot of portraits of themselves painted. Paintings of Pharaoh Sesostris lll portrayed him as old and tired. Why did he have shadows under his eyes and wrinkles? This was the first time it had happened to an Egyptian Pharaoh, usually portrayed as perfect.

The Pharaoh, however, wanted to be seen as more human and closer to his people in those difficult times. We should note that he was still the strongest because his body looked like that of a young, fit athlete!

In a nutshell

Portraits of the Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom showed their power and beauty (even to the point of exaggeration).

In summary, you have discovered:

The egyptian empires
The pyramid of Kheops and the Sphinx
The building of the pyramids
The egyptian tombs
Aspective
The Egyptian gods
Jean-François Champollion and the hieroglyphics

Jean-François Champollion and the hieroglyphics

Why do we know so much about Egyptian civilisation? It’s all thanks to Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832).

Hieroglyphics is the name given to an extremely famous system of writing invented in Egypt during the fourth century BC.

The scribes, who could read and write; used simplified versions of the hieroglyphics, such as hieratics or demotics, for everyday administrative paperwork.

Léon Cogniet, Portrait de Jean-François Champollion (Portrait of Jean-François Champollion),

1831, oil on canvas, 28 x 24 inches, Louvre Museum, Paris.

The Rosetta Stone,

2nd century BC, granite, 4’5” x 2’4” x 11”, British Museum, London. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum

Champollion deciphered hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone.

There is writing on this stone in both hieroglyphics, demotics and ancient Greek, a language that he was totally fluent in!

In a nutshell

Champollion managed to decipher hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone and the writing in three languages on it.

The Egyptian gods

Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians believed in several gods.

Amon, illustration from the Egyptian Pantheon: A collection of Ancient Egyptian mythological characters as they appear on monuments, with explanatory notes by Leon Jean Joseph Dubois,

1825, The New York Public Library. Photo: From The New York Public Library

Anubis, Opening of the Mouth

around 1275 BC, detail from the Hounefer Papyrus, British Museum, London

Isis and Horus as a child

between 680 and 640 BC, bronze with traces of silver, 22 x 6 x 9 inches, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Osiris, the Weighing of Hounefer’s Heart,

around 1275 BC, detail from the Hounefer Papyrus, British Museum, London

Amon

Distinctive Sign His skin is blue and he is wearing a feather crown.
Profession : King of the gods in charge of protecting the Pharaoh.
Key Fact: His skin colour suits him because he is connected with the sky.

Anubis

Distinctive Sign Human Body, Jackal’s head. Some Egyptian deities borrowed features from the sacred animal they were associated with.
Profession : Guide of the dead
Key Fact: Said to have invented the mummifying technique of embalming.

Isis

Distinctive Sign She is crowned with a solar disc or cow’s horns, wears a close-fitting dress
Profession : Healing goddess
Key Fact: She is the best magician of all the Egyptian gods. She would also be revered the longest, several centuries after the fall of the Pharaohs.

Osiris

Distinctive Sign This is a mummy with a two-feathered crown and two sceptres.
Profession : God of the Dead
Key Fact: His brother cut him up into pieces. It was Isis, wife of Osiris, who gathered, then put the pieces of him back together, wrapping him in bandages, to ensure that no pieces were missing from her husband’s body.

In a nutshell

Amon, Osiris, Isis and Anubis were the main gods revered by ancient Egyptians.

Aspective

Sesotris I White Chapel,

around 1900 BC, white limestone, Karnak. Photo: Didia CC BY-SA 3.0

Using the magic arts to send what was drawn into the afterlife was a good idea, but the problem was that a wall is a flat surface and only a part of the objects drawn two-dimensionally can be seen!

To solve this problem, the Egyptians had set up a rule so as to have several viewing points on an object and this was known as “aspective”.

So what was the result for the human body?

1. Profile of the head with front-facing view of the eye.

2. Front-facing view of shoulders.

3. Profile view of the abdomen but front view of the navel.

4. Profile view of the hips.

5. Legs apart with a side view.

6. The feet are also in profile but the big toes are visible on both feet.

If you try to hold a pose, it’s at your own risk!

In a nutshell

The Egyptians used aspective to show several viewing points of an object drawn on a two-dimensional surface.

The egyptian tombs

What happens when we die? Ancient Egyptians believed that they went to the afterlife. To get there, there were all sorts of guidebooks containing magical formulas.

They were written on the walls of the tombs, because people believed that everything represented there would be recreated in the next life. Art was magical in Egypt! Sometimes they included drawings of food in case the dead person felt peckish on the way.

Nefertiabet’s headstone,

around 2590 BC, painted limestone, 15 x 21 x 3 inches, Louvre Museum, Paris. Photo: Mbzt, CC BY 3.0

Ounas Pyramid Funeral Chamber,

Fifth Dynasty. Saqqara. Photo: Jon Bodsworth

Internal coffin of intendant Sopi, Deir el-Bercheh Cemetery,

2033 – 1710 BC, painted wood, Louvre Museum, Paris. Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais (Louvre Museum) / Daniel Arnaudet / Gérard Blot / Christian Jean / Jean Schormans Sarcophagus Texts: Reserved for certain deceased