1. Egyptians used art to document their human experiences…
What is one popular method used today to document our
human experiences?
2.
3. Civilization is an exciting new
development for the human race.
For nearly all of
the last 100,000
years, humans
have almost
always worked
and lived
together in small
tribal bands,
staying on the
move, hunting
wild animals and
gathering wild
food.
4. Clumping together and
Staying P
ut
(Above picture of downtown Egypt
as it looks today.)
Nomadic activities
work well for keeping
population numbers
under control…
Recently, however,
no more than 10,000
years ago something
radically different
began to happen:
Humans began to
organize themselves
in big numbers.
5. The big change from tribes to traffic jams started in China, in
the Indus Valley. It also happened in an area of the globe that
we now call the Near East.
Aerial photograph of what is left of the
original ancient Egyptian cities (we call
these architectural leftovers ruins )
7. Here is a map of the world…
←Here you are.
← Here is Egypt
8.
9. •A few of the tribes found
themselves in a paradise like
place. The waters of the Nile
allowed things to grow. The
desert and sea protected the
tribes from outside invaders. It
was an “island of plenty.”
•So the tribes did a history
making thing…
•They stopped moving. In time
they learned to plant seeds in
the black soil of their river’s
delta and wait for them to
sprout.
•The Nile fed them. The
desert protected them.
12. Egyptians used art to document their human experiences…
Egyptian,
Throne Back Depicting Tutankhamen and Queen
, New Kingdom, 18th Dyn., c. 1360
BCE, Cairo Museum, Egypt.
13. Characteristics of Egyptian Style Art
•
•
•
•
•
•
flattened space- few details and little
to no shading is used. There is not a
concern with creating the illusion of
form.
Faces are almost always shown in
profile (sideways).
Feet are also usually in depicted in
profile.
The direction of the feet and face can
give chronology to the picture. They
can tell you if the figure was going
toward or running away from the
event.
The figures are drawn to show off the
heart, which was valued greatly in
Egyptian culture.
There is very little overlapping in the
Egyptian’s artwork.
14. Characteristics of Egyptian Style Art
Walk like an
Egyptian—stand
up and try to walk
like the Egyptian in
this painting… Pay
attention to how the
face, legs & feet are
oriented.
Be sure not to
block the heart!
15. • Ankh is commonly known
to mean life in Ancient
Egyptian language.
• It symbolizes eternal life
and also power.
• Sometimes it is used as an
amulet to provide the
wearer with protection
from the evil forces of
decay and degeneration.
16. • Egyptian Gods and
Kings are often shown
carrying the Ankh to
distinguish them from
mortals.
• As the Christian era
eclipsed Egypt's
pharaonic pagan
religion, the sign was
adapted by the Coptic
church as their unique
form of a cross, known
as the crux ansata.
• Interesting blurb about
Restored Church of
God
20. • It lays eggs in dung, which
the hatched beetle babies eat.
• The Egyptians believed that
the scarab beetle represented
their sun god, Ra. Ra was the
Egyptian god who rolled the
sun across the sky and buried
it each night.
• It was used as an amulet to
protect the mummy from
harm.
• Scarab beetle amulets
portrayed the beetle's
persistence in rolling a dung
ball and the reemergence of
the beetle from its hole in the
ground.
Scarab
21. Try to answer without looking at your notes—
1. What do each of these Egyptian symbols mean?
2. How did the meaning of the first and last symbol change? Why?
3. How might the meaning of the symbols change if they were viewed by
someone who did not know about Egyptian culture?
The scarab is a visual metaphor for the sun rising and setting.
4. Try to think of a natural phenomenon that you have seen that
you do not understand. Describe it.
5. How might you visually symbolize this phenomenon?
Illustrate this symbol in your sketchbook.
22. Eye of Horus
• Was believed to have
protective and healing power.
• Used as a medallion, placed
inside the wrappings of a
mummy to protect it from
sickness.
• The Masonic all seeing eye, the
Eye of Providence symbol
found on American money,
and our modern Rx
pharmaceutical symbol are all
descended from the Eye of
Horus.
23.
24.
25.
26. Osiris
• Egyptian God of the afterlife
and judge of the dead.
• Osiris was killed by his
brother Seth, who shut his
body in a chest and threw it
into the Nile, where it
washed up onto the shore
and was trapped in a huge
tree. The King Byblos turned
it into a pillar in his palace.
• Isis, Osiris’s wife, (who had
been searching for her
husband) discovered the
trunk and retrieved the body.
27. Osiris cont.
• While Isis was away, Seth found the
body, and chopped it up into many
pieces, and scattered them throughout
Egypt.
• Isis and her sister, Nephthys, found the
pieces and made wax models of them to
give to priests to be worshipped.
• When they found all of his pieces, they
were so sad they wailed loudly enough
for Re, the father god, to have pity on
them. He sent Anubis and Thoth to help.
They mummified Osiris, and put his
body in a lion headed pier. Isis changed
into a kite and fanned breath into Osiris.
The reassembled pieces, helped father a
son.
• Osiris was not allowed to stay in the
land of the living, and was sent to the
underworld to serve as king, and to
judge the souls of the dead.
28. The Egyptian sphinx
is an ancient iconic
mythical creature
usually comprised of
a recumbent lion –
an animal with
sacred solar
associations – with a
human head, usually
that of a pharaoh.
29. Evolution of the pyramid
• When anyone thinks of
Egypt they automatically
think pyramids.
• Prior to the old kingdom
kings or Pharohs were
not entombed in
pyramids, but instead laid
to rest in Mastabas
• Mastabas- Were bench
shaped Ancient Egyptian
tombs.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35. Evolution of Pyramid Cont.
• It wasn’t until the
beginning of the old
kingdom that Pharohs
began to be entombed in
legit pyramids.
• Event then non royalty
continued to use
mastabas.
• Even after the use of
pyramids, many still
chose to be stored in a
different way.
Great Pyramids of Giza
36. Original Great Pyramid
• The 1st of the great
pyramids, known
simply as the great
pyramid, is the largest
of the three.
• This pyramid is the
oldest of the Seven
Wonders of the
Ancient world.
• Constructed c.25602540
37. You will be creating a visual documentation of your family’s history &
stories in the style of Egyptian art.
Homework—Ask and Listen.
Ask your parents and your grandparents to tell you about your
past. Maybe a story from their childhood, the story of how they
met? A story of hardship? Of celebration? Of world events they
have lived through? Have they always lived in Cleveland
County? NC? United States?
www.insecta-inspecta.com/ beetles/scarab/
Amulets were believed to endow the wearer with the characteristics depicted in the art.
Article "Osiris" created on 20 April 1997; last modified on 28 January 2002 (Revision 2). 230 words.http://www.pantheon.org/articles/o/osiris.html
