Ancient Egypt
I. In 3100 BCE, Upper and Lower Egypt were united. This is essentially the beginning of formal Egyptian history. What is “upper” and what is “lower?”
A. Narmer, king of Upper Egypt, is depicted on “The Palette of Narmer.”
1. Relief sculpture.
2. Register system.
3. Other characteristics of the sculpture.
a. Size of figures.
b. Physiological portrayal of figures. It depicts the views with which we are most familiar.
c. Narrative elements.
d. Practical function of palette.
4. Egyptian depiction of the human figure is “conceptual,” not “perceptual.”
II. Egyptian history is divided into three categories:
A. Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BCE)
B. Middle Kingdom (2040-1786 BCE)
C. New Kingdom (1552-1069 BCE)
D. Intermediate periods of instability, but for the most part, life is extremely secure and regular (compare to the Mesopotamian experience).
1. The desert is like a fortress.
2. The Nile floods and irrigates the land on a regular basis.
3. The government is centralized.
4. Both religion and art reflect a sense of constancy and permanence.
E. The Rosetta Stone, dated to 196 BCE, was discovered in 1799, translated in 1822.
1. Three languages: Greek, Demotic (common language of Egyptian people) and Hieroglyphic (pictographs).
2. Up until that time, most scholars regarded hieroglyphic symbols as expressions of ideas, as opposed to indicating actual phonetic sounds.
3. By translating the Greek and Demotic (already known), it was realized that each text was expressing the same thing. There- fore the hieroglyphic was cross-referenced against the knowledge of the other two. Hieroglyphs can be both ideas and sounds.
III. Religious Beliefs.
A. Primarily polytheistic, Egyptian theology is concerned primarily with 3-4 figures (although there are dozens).
1. Aten (the Sun, the life force).
2. Isis (the “Queen mother,” the maternal creative force).
3. Osiris (the Nile, the Underworld, fertility, rebirth).
4. Horus (the son of Isis, incarnated in the ruling Pharaoh, and therefore protected by Isis).
B. These gods are reflected in the regularity of the cosmos.
1. A circular view of time.
2. The “rising” and “setting” of the sun, the coming and going of seasons.
3. The seasonal flooding of the Nile.
C. The afterlife.
1. While the living of a moral and ethical life is important, the emphasis is not so much on how one ought to be “here,” but on how one can get “there.”
2. If daylight, the Nile, vegetation can arise again, why not the self?
3. The nature of the self.
a. The body: corporeal, temporal.
b. The Ka: the life force; a kind of “replica” of the self. May be loosely equated with the concept of a “soul.”
4. Mummification: to preserve the body so that the Ka may rejoin it in the afterlife.
a. In an arid desert climate, it was observed that physical matter was easily preserved.
b. The organs were therefore removed and placed in separate canopic jars (for liver, stomach, lungs and intestines.
c. The heart was left inside, as it was considered to be the seat of one's intelligence.
d. The brain was removed through the nostrils (!).
e. The body cavity was treated with natron, and filled with various spices and other dehydrating substances.
f. The body was then thoroughly wrapped in linen strips.
5. Judgment before Osiris.
a. The Nile was the “road” to the underworld.
b. Upon arrival in the underworld, one is judged-- one's heart is weighed upon a scale against a feather.
c. Regardless of how one's life was led, one must be prepared for this judgment. The hand (or sometimes the mouth) of the deceased carried a rolled up scroll containing ritual hymns and incantations from what we know today as The Egyptian Book of the Dead. An excerpt from chapter 125.
d. Assuming that one passes the examination, his/her eternal being is assured in “the happy field of food;” otherwise one is condemned to lie forever in the tomb, to be fed upon by crocodiles!
D. The Priestly Class in Egypt.
1. Adept in magic and ritual, they became indispensable in approaching the gods (the priests held the PIN numbers!).
2. Supported by offerings, exempt from taxation, military service, labor.
3. Not “teachers” as much as “fixers.”
4. The aforementioned Book of the Dead was one of the primary “fix-it” manuals.
5. The priests could even help one to deceive the gods through various charms and talismans.
6. Through the influence and power of the priestly class, religious consciousness was not as much about morality and ethics as about magic and charms. Not about preventing obstacles through the living of a good life, but coming up with magical ways to sidestep the obstacles when they appeared at the time of judgment. Not about “process” but “goal.”
IV. Ancient Egyptian Arts.
A. Sculpture: in the Old Kingdom, an unwavering style that suggests the security and reliance upon an unchanging, regulated cosmos.
1. Chefren.
2. Mycerinus and his wife.
3. A scribe.
4. Rameses II (Abu Simbel).
B. Architecture: emphasis on the afterlife.
1. Evolution of the tomb.
a. The mastaba.
b. The stepped pyramid.
c. The “true” pyramid.
d. Hidden royal burial chambers.
V. The Monotheistic Revolution of Akhenaten.
A. As discussed above, ancient Egyuptian culture is grounded in a strong and complex religious consciousness.
1. Recall centrality of the Sun and the Nile River as embodiments of the divine (Aten and Osiris, respectively).
B. As discussed above, the priestly class became indispensible in approaching and dealing with the gods.
1. Recall the complexities of ritual and magic to assure the disposition of one's afterlife.
2. The primacy of the priestly cult is implicit in the Egyptian mindset: they are the ones who are “in the know.” The abuse of such power and privilege on the part of the priests was not unheard of.
C. Enter Amenhotep IV: the visual images of him are totally different than anything previously seen in Egypt.
1. Compare his sculptural images of with those of the Old Kingdom rulers.
a. Delicate profile, slender frame, a seemingly misshapen skull, but the spirit of a poet and visionary.
2. Amenhotep revolted against the complexities of polytheism and the ritual abuses of the priests.
3. While he should have followed a path of compromise in his religious reform, he made a new declaration.
a. There is but one God: Aten (the Sun).
4. Amenhotep then changed his name to Akhenaten, which means “Aten is satisfied.”
5. He composed the “Hymn to Aten” (in our text).
a. The hymn portrays Aten as being lord over the entire world, not simply Egypt alone. Aten is therefore not a “tribal” or national deity.
b. Aten's presence is found not in battles and judgments but in the very creation itself, in an almost pantheistic way.
c. There is no attempt at an anthropomorphic theology; combined with the artistic depiction of Akhenaten himself, does this suggest a highly developed sense of the holy as something subjectively “experienced” but not objectively “seen?”
d. Is Akhenaten's appearance “odd,” or was every king before simply “glorified?” Despite his unusual appearance, note the emphasis on home and family that is depicted in the sculptures.
6. Wth their legitimacy and cultic practices condemned and/or outlawed (and therefore much of their livelihood), the priests were, of course, not pleased with this new order of things.
a. The priests more than likely had a hand in his downfall.
7. The decline of the Egyptian empire came when conquests against Egypt's dependencies led to calls for assistance. Akhenaten hesitated and many of Egypt's territorial holdings were overrun.
8. He died at the age of 30; Egypt returned to its polytheistic beliefs and practices.
9. His son-in-law: Tutenkhamen.