What does B.C. mean? It stands for Before Christ, and it means the number of years before the birth of Jesus Christ. That was 2000 years ago, so the date 552 B.C. means 2552 years ago.

What does A.D. mean?A.D. stands for Anno Domini, which is Latin for "year of our Lord," and it means the number of years since the birth of Jesus Christ. That was 2000 years ago, so the date 500 A.D. means 1500 years ago.

Objectives:

• Explain why a strong belief in the after life was an essential ingredient in Egyptian art and culture

• Explain the relationship of religion to the pyramids.• Discuss the uses of sculpture, relief sculpture, and painting

in ancient Egypt.• Explain the strict set of rules imposed on Egyptian artists.• Explain who pharaohs were• Make an Egyptian Cartouche using hieroglyphics • Make a decorative Egyptian painting• Decorate a sarcophagus

Ancient Egypt

The Formation of Kingdoms

• As the prehistoric period came to an end, there were only two large kingdoms in Egypt.

• Lower Egypt, which included the fan-shaped delta region of the mouth of the Nile.

• Upper Egypt, which was the valley carved in the desert by the Nile.

The Three Major Periods of Egyptian

History• The Old Kingdom 2686-2150 BC

• The Middle Kingdom 2100-1700 BC

• The New Kingdom 1500-1085 BC

• Thus, an Egyptian civilization emerged along the banks of the Nile more than 3,000 years before the birth of Christ.

• During that period, Egypt became a thriving nation in which a pharaoh, or ruler, governed with complete authority.

• Agriculture and trade grew, art flourished, and majestic monuments and temples were constructed.

Pharaohs• Pharaoh is the name we use for

an Egyptian king. It comes from the Egyptian per-aa or “great house” which in the Bible came out as “pharaoh.”

• Most pharaohs were men but some well-known pharaohs, such as Nefertiti and Cleopatra, were women.

• The pharaoh was the most important and powerful person in the kingdom and was considered a god.

Queen Nefertiti. About 1360 BC, 18th Dynasty. Painted limestone, 20” high, El Amarna. Agyptische Museum, Berlin.

Pyramids• A pyramid is a massive structure built as a

tomb or grave to house and protect the body of a pharaoh for the afterlife and as a monument to honor the pharaoh.

• It has four triangular sides that meet at a point made from huge blocks of stone each weigh 5,000 lbs on average.

Evolution of the Pyramid Shape

• The pyramid shape developed gradually.

• Originally, the Egyptians buried the dead in hidden pits and piled sand and stone over the top.

• Later, they began to build mastabas, a low, flat tomb.

• In time, several mastabas of diminishing size were stacked on top of each other to form a step pyramid.

Step Pyramid of King Zoser. Saqqara, Egypt. C. 2681-2662 BC

The Great Pyramids of Giza

• Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Khufu's (Cheops) Pyramid is the first, and only survivor.

• It covers an area of 13 acres and is made up of two and a quarter million blocks.

• Was the tallest structure in the world, until modern skyscrapers pierced the skies some 4,500 years later.

• Originally it was faced with polished limestone to reflect the sun.

Pyramids

Mummies and Mummification

• A mummy is a dead body or corpse that has been preserved so that it does not rot or decay.

• The Egyptians believed that the dead would need their bodies in the afterlife.

• They believed that each person had a life-force or ka, that continued to live after a person died.

The Process of Mummification

• Cleaning the body, inside and out. The organs had to be removed before the body could be preserved.

• The brain was removed with an iron hook and the other organs and intestines were taken out through a cut made in the side of the body.

• The organs were placed in containers called canopic jars which were placed inside the tomb.

• The body was then treated with natron ( a soduium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate) and spices to preserve the body and then wrapped in linen bandages.

Mummies and Mummification

• The mummy was then sealed inside a

sarcophagus, a stone coffin.

• It was then placed in a burial chamber located in the center of the pyramid.

Hieroglyphics• A system of writing in

which the characters consist of realistic or stylized pictures of actual objects, animals, or human beings (whole or part).

• The Egyptians wrote with signs called hieroglyphs instead of letters like ours.

• They were written in lines straight across or up and down without spaces or punctuation marks.

• This complex system of writing contains more than 600 characters.

Hieroglyphics from the Book of the Dead, ca. 300 B.C. From "Hieroglyphics." Ca. 300 B.C. London, British Museum.

The Rosetta Stone

• Hieroglyphics remained a mystery until Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1799.

• An officer in the army found a stone, now known as the Rosetta Stone, with an account of the crowning of Ptolemy V, an Egyptian ruler, carved in three languages.

• The first was Egyptian hieroglyphics, the second was Demotic, the native script used for daily purposes , and the third was Greek.

Ankh

• The ankh is an ancient Egyptian symbol of life. Also known as an Ansata cross, it is a visual representation of a sandal strap.

• The horizontal and vertical bars of the lower tau cross represent the feminine and masculine energy, respectively. This combination of male and female symbols (the cross and circle) in the ankh suggest fertility and creative power. The top loop also symbolizes the sun on the horizon, and suggests reincarnation and rebirth.

Papyrus• Papyrus is a plant that

was common in Egypt.• The stems of the plant

were used to make a writing material similar to paper which was also called papyrus.

• Papyrus was formed by soaking the stems in water, cutting them into thin strips and then beating them flat with a hammer.

The Temple of Amon

• A temple built to honor a particular god often was enlarged by several pharaohs until it reached tremendous proportions.

• Usually associated with the wind, or things hidden. At Thebes he became Amon-Re, king of the gods. Hypostyle Hall, Temple of Amon.

Karnak, Egypt. C. 1279-1212 BC

Details of the Temple of Amon

A wide avenue led directly to the front of this massive temple complex.

• The great door way was flanked by obelisks, tall, four-sided, pointed stone shafts.• Statues of the pharaoh and huge banners opened onto the uncovered courtyard.• The massive stone columns reached a height of nearly 70 feet.

The Great Sphinx• The Great Sphinx is a statue with the body of a male

lion with the head of a human.• The Great Sphinx was excavated and carved from a

relatively soft, natural limestone outcropping on the Giza Plateau.

• The extensions which fan out at the sides of the head are part of the royal nemes (striped headcloth). At one time there was a uraeus (rearing cobra headpiece which protected from evil forces) and a narrow beard.

• It looms 241 feet long and 65 feet high.

The Great Sphinx

• Great Sphinx of Giza is the largest structure created from a single piece of stone.

• It is also a figure synonymous with ancient Egyptian culture and remains shrouded in mystery

• There were three tunnels built in the Sphinx, but the passage of time has left the destinations unreachable and the tunnels themselves seem to basically stop short. Because of the limited resources and writing found on and around the sphinx, very little else is known about the structure (hence the "Riddle of the Sphinx"). All that we can be sure of is its immensity and the level of craftsmanship required to build it.

Funerary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, at Deir el-Bahari, about 1480 BC, 18th dynasty.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

• The Great Pyramids• The Hanging Gardens

of Babylon• Statue of Zeus at

Olympia• The Temple of Artemis

at Ephesus

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• The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

• The Colossus at Rhodes

• The Lighthouse at Alexandria

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0123829/Index2.html

Project: Decorate a Pharaoh

• Choose an Egyptian coloring sheet.• Color it with markers, pencil colors,

watercolors or acrylic paint. (metallic paint is best)

• Decorate it with glitter pens, glitter glaze and sequins.

• Cut out the design and paste it to a piece of construction paper.

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Project: Egyptian Cartouche

• Use the handouts on hieroglyphics to decipher your name.

• Draw you Egyptian name on the Cartouche handout.

• Add color.

The Cartouche is a name plate used by pharaohs and other Egyptians of high status.

Project: Design a Sarcophagus

• Use the Sarcophagus template to draw a design on the stone coffin.

• Use any media. Add glitter etc.

• Cut the Sarcophagus out and paste it to a piece of construction.

Student Sarcophagus Designs

The Wadjet Eye• The Eye of Horus (previously wadjet and

the Eye of the Moon; and afterward as The Eye of Ra) is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power from deities, in this case from Horus or Ra. The symbol is seen on images of Horus' mother, Hathor, and on other deities associated with her.

• The ancients believed this symbol of indestructibility would assist in rebirth. Thus, funerary amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus.

The Wadjet Eye