Egyptian Artifacts Exhibit

Statuette of Nedjemu

Date: Old Kingdom, Dynasty V (c. 2500-2350 B.C.E.)

Material: Limestone

Provenance: Giza

Nedjemu ("sweet one") illustrates several aspects of Egyptian funerary sculpture which remained typical for almost 3000 years. His body indicates the use of the canon of proportion within an eighteen-square grid. His rigid posture and the quiet expression on his face reflect the Egyptian desire to represent the deceased in a manner appropriate for eternity.

Nedjemu wears a wrap-around kilt which would have been made of unbleached linen, a product of flax. (Cotton textiles in Egypt date no earlier than the third century B.C.E.) He holds two small pegs in his hands, probably abbreviated scepters as symbols of public office. His wig would have been made of human hair if he could afford it. However, cheaper wigs of sheep or goat hair were also available. Traces of reddish-brown paint on his legs illustrate the skin color associated most frequently with men. The left foot strides forward, the traditional pose for male statues. This stance suggests movement and strength.

This little statuette was probably a quick, "off-the-shelf" purchase after Nedjemu's death. Some lightly inscribed hieroglyphs on the base tell us that it was acquired for Nedjemu's tomb by his son.

Model Granary

Date: Middle Kingdom, Dynasty XII (c. 1938-1759 B.C.E.)

Material: Painted wood

Provenance: El Bersheh

Model scenes of daily life activities were popular for use in tombs during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. They complemented the paintings of similar scenes on the walls of the tombs. It is interesting to note, however, that the New Kingdom pursued an interest in wall paintings and statuary with a religious, not an everyday, emphasis.

The men in the granary perform various functions. In the larger room, a man delivers threshed grain to a kneeling man who grinds it. Another man standing in this room packs flour in a storage container. In the smaller room, a seated supervisor watches as a worker places flour in large storage jars. The figures are painted reddish-brown, the traditional skin color for men in Egyptian art. Also, they wear long linen kilts. The carving is rather crudely executed, and the long arms are out of proportion with the rest of the body; nevertheless, the sense of action generated by the figures creates a lively scene.

Triangular Loaf of Bread

Date: First Intermediate Period, Dynasty XI, reign of Mentuhotep II (c. 2008-1957 B.C.E.)

Material: Bread

Provenance: Deir el Bahari, Mentuhotep II's mortuary temple

This loaf of bread is approximately 4000 years old. It was placed with other objects under the foundation of Mentuhotep II's mortuary temple at Deir el Bahari in Western Thebes. The objects placed in foundation deposits for ancient Egyptian temples were intended to symbolically stabilize and protect the four corners and the boundary walls of the temple, because the temple itself was believed to be a microcosm of the universe. One reward gained from a stable universe was food in abundance. This loaf of bread symbolizes that value.

During the bread-making process, the grinding of flour and the mixing of dough, small stones and the ever-present sand became part of any bread which was made, whether for offerings or for domestic use. These gritty elements wore down the enamel of the teeth which led to abscesses. Cavities, caused today by refined sugar, were not the culprits in tooth loss in ancient Egypt.

Block Statue of Nedjem

Date: New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX, reign of Ramesses II (c. 1279-1213 B.C.E.)

Material: Quartzite

Provenance: Memphis

Nedjem ("sweet one") sits on a cushion, his body covered with a robe, his knees bent so that they are almost level with his chin, his feet flat on the ground, and his arms crossed over his knees. The outline of his figure suggests a block, hence the term, "block statue." He has a small beard, full wig, and sandals. Between his legs is a smaller figure, which represents the god Ptah-Tatenen, a form of the Memphite god, Ptah, who was believed to be not only the creator god but also the land from which all was created. Ptah-Tatenen wears, on top of his wig, a crown composed of two feathers and a sun disk. He is wrapped as a mummy and holds a scepter. The hieroglyphic inscription in sunk relief on Nedjem's back pillar tells us that he was the "King's Scribe, Great Steward, King's Messenger to every foreign land, and Overseer of the Granaries of the Western Border."

The statue was placed in the Temple of Ptah in ancient Memphis to represent Nedjem for eternity. There is much evidence that lets us know that Nedjem is from Memphis. First, and most important, an Egyptologist found records of an excavation in ancient Memphis which took place about 1840. The discovery of this statue of Nedjem is recorded in this report. Also, the quartzite of Nedjem's statue is a stone found particularly in the Memphis area.

During the American Civil War, a Yankee sea captain trading in the Mediterranean docked at Alexandria, Egypt, with a half-empty ship. He bought the statue of Nedjem, along with some others, to serve as ballast. As the ship neared the American coast, it was captured by Confederate forces and escorted to New Orleans, where its cargo, including Nedjem, was taken to the Customs House. After the war, the statue was taken to Boston, where it stayed in a garden for years. Eventually, it entered the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1975, it was sold to The University of Memphis, together with 43 other Egyptian antiquities. Today, these artifacts form the core of the permanent collection of the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology.

Iret-iruw: Mummy

Mask and Pectoral: cartonnage, painted and gilded

Coffin: wood, painted and gilded

Date: Ptolemaic Period (305-30 B.C.E.)

Provenance: Attributed to Akhmim

Iret-iruw's name (pronounced "ear-et ear-oo") means "may the eye (of the god) be against them." In other words, may the eye of the god protect Iret-iruw from his enemies. His mummified body reminds us of the importance of mummification in ancient Egyptian funerary rites.

Iret-iruw's mask and pectoral (broad collar or necklace) would have been positioned directly over the face and upper chest of his mummy after it was placed in the coffin. The mask depicts the facial features in a traditional manner. The features are not individualized to look like Iret-iruw but picture him as if in the prime of life. Note that the mask is similar to the face painted on the coffin lid.

Iret-iruw's coffin lid is decorated with many images which are derived from the Book of the Dead, a series of spells to help the deceased successfully negotiate the journey past the guardians of the gates of the underworld to the land of the dead or the land of Osiris. The outstanding feature of the coffin lid is the gilded face of Iret-iruw framed by a huge blue wig. The gilded face suggests that at death Iret-iruw became like the sun god, whose face was gold.

Painted on top of his wig is an image of the sun rising over the horizon, the hieroglyph for rebirth. On either side are baboons with upraised arms, heralding the rising sun. A multi-colored pectoral decorates Iret-iruw's chest. Below this pectoral is an image of Maat, the goddess of truth and order. She wears the sun disk on her head, and her arms extend into wings which wrap protectively around the mummy.

In her hands are feathers, symbolic of truth. The deceased had to have his heart weighed against a feather of truth in his last judgment. If his heart was "heavy" with misdeeds, then his heart was eaten by a monster named Ammit. If, however, his heart was "as light as a feather," the deceased entered into the kingdom of Osiris. Below the image of Maat is a lion bier (bed) on which the mummy is outstretched.

The bier is flanked by images of Isis and Nephthys. Isis, the wife of Osiris and goddess of magic, is on the left and wears on her head the hieroglyph for her name, the throne symbol. Nephthys, the sister of Isis and the protectress of coffins and canopic jars, is on the right and wears on her head the hieroglyphs for her name. The ba bird hovers above the bier, while the four canopic jars are underneath it.

Below this are figures with feathers of truth in their hands. At the bottom of the coffin lid, placed upside-down so that Iret-iruw could see them, are images of Anubis, the funerary god, portrayed as a jackal. Knife-holding guardian figures form a band around the edge of the coffin.

In 1987, Iret-iruw spent the day in the hospital while a medical team from the University of Tennessee Medical School examined him. He spent three hours going through a C.A.T. scan, and pathologists closely examined him. Later, an E.N.T. (ear, nose, and throat) specialist looked inside Iret-iruw's head with sophisticated equipment. This exam, along with the C.A.T. scan, confirmed that Iret-iruw died of a ear infection which ultimately invaded his brain.

The hole on the side of his head, which was first thought to have happened before his death, turns out to be post-mortem. Also, he is younger than expected. He died around age 30.



Egyptian Mythology

Egyptian Mythology Aaru: Abode of the blessed dead. Amen (Amon, Ammdn): One of chief Theban deities; united with sun god under form of Amen-Ra. Amenti: Region of dead where souls were judged by Osiris. Anubis: Guide of souls to Amenti; son of Osiris; jackal-headed. Apis: Sacred bull, an embodiment of Ptah; identified with Osiris as Osiris-Apis or Serapis. Geb (Keb, Seb): Earth god; father of Osiris; represented with goose on head.

Hathor (Athor): Goddess of love and mirth; cow-headed. Horus: God of day; son of Osiris and Isis; hawk-headed. Isis: Goddess of motherhood and fertility; sister and wife of Osiris. Khepera: God of morning sun. Khnemu (Khnum, Chnuphis, Chnemu, Chnum): Ram-headed god. Khonsu (Khensu, Khuns): Son of Amen and Mut. Mentu (Ment): Solar deity, sometimes considered god of war; falcon-headed.

Min (Khem, Chem): Principle of physical life. Mut (Maut): Wife of Amen. Nephthys: Goddess of the dead; sister and wife of Set. Nu: Chaos from which world was created, personified as a god. Nut: Goddess of heavens; consort of Geb. Osiris: God of underworld and judge of dead; son of Geb and Nut. Ptah (Phtha): Chief deity of Memphis. Ra: God of the Sun, the supreme god; son of Nut; Pharaohs claimed descent from him; represented as lion, cat, or falcon.

Serapis: God uniting attributes of Osiris and Apis. Set (Seth): God of darkness or evil; brother and enemy of Osiris. Shu: Solar deity; son of Ra and Hathor. Tem (Atmu, Atum, Tum): Solar deity. Thoth (Dhouti): God of wisdom and magic; scribe of gods; ibis-headed.



Egyptology
{ee-jip-tahl'-uh-jee}

Egyptology is the study of Ancient Egyptian civilization. It is generally extended to include the language and archaeology of the Copts, the Christian descendents of the ancient Egyptians. The initial impetus for developing the discipline was provided by Napoleon I's ill-fated invasion of Egypt in 1798, which opened the country to European collectors and scholars and led to the formation of important collections of Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, the Louvre, and the museums of Turin and Berlin.

Napoleon was accompanied by a large body of savants whose function was to record Egypt's historical, cultural, and natural heritage. The results of their work were published in 20 massive folio volumes entitled Description de l'Egypte (Description of Egypt). A more important result of the invasion was the chance discovery of the ROSETTA STONE, whose bilingual inscriptions in Greek and the ancient language of Egypt enabled Jean Francois CHAMPOLLION to make (1822) the decisive breakthrough in the decipherment of the HIEROGLYPHIC script.

The two chief branches of Egyptology are the study of inscriptions and written documents and the study of archaeological evidence. During its life of more than 3,000 years, the language underwent substantial changes in grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, as well as in the number and character of the hieroglyphic signs used in writing it. Moreover, from a very early date (before 2650 BC), scribes, when writing in ink, often adopted a cursive hand, known as hieratic, which developed until it bore little resemblance to the hieroglyphic script. An even more cursive script, called demotic, evolved from hieratic in about the 7th century BC and continued as late as the fifth century AD.

Documents in these three scripts cover a wide variety of subjects, including religion, magic, practical wisdom, belles lettres, history, business, personal and legal matters, medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. Egyptologists of many nations have worked on these documents, publishing the texts with translations and commentaries, writing grammars, and compiling dictionaries. Many of the original documents are damaged or incomplete, so that interpretation presents considerable difficulties.

Archaeological investigation is no less varied in scope than linguistic studies and is just as important for understanding the nature and development of the Egyptian civilization. Among its many branches are scientific excavation, the classification and analysis of objects, technology, architecture, art history, and natural history. The number of monuments and the quantity of objects available for study are enormous, chiefly because of the long history and prehistory of the ancient Egyptians, the use from an early date of stone, the preservative effects of Egypt's dry climate, the rapid accumulation of wind-blown sand over edifices, and the burial of so much material of all kinds with the dead.

Pictorial representations on the walls of temples and tombs shed invaluable light on ritual ceremonies, historical events, and human activities. Relatively few traces of habitations or settlements have survived, however, the most notable exceptions being the city of Akhenaten at Tell el-AMARNA and the village, now called Deir el-Medinah, of the artists and craftsmen who constructed the tombs at THEBES.

In spite of all the progress made in the rediscovery of ancient EGYPT, much still remains to be learned, even from further study of what has already been found. No one knows what still lies beneath the sand, but many sites, particularly in the Nile Delta, have not yet been systematically explored, and there is every reason to hope that they will yield new evidence to fill some of the gaps in present-day knowledge.

Embalming

Embalming, preservation of the body after death by artificial chemical means. It was highly developed in dynastic EGYPT, where immersion in a soda solution and filling of body cavities with resins and spices were common. Modern embalming grew from 17th-cent. attempts to preserve anatomical specimens. Formaldehyde, infused to replace the blood, is the most common embalming agent.



Enamel

Enamel, a siliceous substance that fuses with metal. Transparent or opaque, clear or colored, it adds a decorative surface. Enamel was used in making jewelry in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and was perfected in the Byzantine world, often in the CLOISONNÉ technique. Fine enamel-work was created in 12th-cent. France and Spain. The most famous enamelist was the 16th-cent. French artist Léonard LIMOUSIN. In England from the 17th cent. on, enamel was used for miniature portraits. Enamel-work declined in the 19th cent. but was revived in the 1960s.



Encaustic

Encaustic, painting medium in which the binder for the pigment is wax, or wax and resin. Thought to have been widely used in ancient times, the technique is exemplified by remarkably preserved tomb paintings from Roman Egypt.



ENCLOSING WALL AND ENTRANCE

Mortuary Complex of King Zoser Saqqara Dynasty III, 2780-2680 B.C.

The entrance to the complex. Like the pyramid, the enclosing wall is made of small stones and the

surface is broken up and textured.



ENGAGED COLUMNS WITH PAPYRUS CAPITALS

Mortuary Complex of King Zoser Saqqara Dynasty III, 2780-2680 B.C.

Slender papyrus half-columns on the east end of the northern palace. The papyrus symbolizes the

Delta.



Famous Ancient Structures

Famous Ancient Structures The Great Sphinx of Egypt, one of the wonders of ancient Egyptian architecture, adjoins the pyramids of Giza and has a length of 240 ft. It was built in the 4th dynasty. Other Egyptian buildings of note include the Temples of Karnak and Edfu and the Tombs at Beni Hassan. The Parthenon of Greece, built on the Acropolis in Athens, was the chief temple to the goddess Athena.

It was believed to have been completed by 438 B.C. The present temple remained intact until the 5th century A.D. Today, though the Parthenon is in ruins, its majestic proportions are still discernible. Other great structures of ancient Greece were the Temples at Paestum (about 540 and 420 B.C.); the Temple of Poseidon (about 460 B.C.); the Temple of Apollo at Corinth (about 540 B.C.); the Temple of Apollo at Bassae (about 450-420 B.C.); the famous Erechtheum atop the Acropolis (about 421-405 B.C.); the Temple of Athena Niké at Athens (about 426 B.C.); the Olympieum at Athens (174 B.C.- A.D. 131); the Athenian Treasury at Delphi (about 515 B.C.); the Propylaea of the Acropolis at Athens (437-432 B.C.); the Theater of Dionysus at Athens (about 350-325 B.C.); the House of Cleopatra at Delos (138 B.C.) and the Theater at Epidaurus (about 325 B.C.).

The Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater) of Rome, the largest and most famous of the Roman amphitheaters, was opened for use A.D. 80. Elliptical in shape, it consisted of three stories and an upper gallery, rebuilt in stone in its present form in the third century A.D. Its seats rise in tiers, which in turn are buttressed by concrete vaults and stone piers. It could seat between 40,000 and 50,000 spectators.

It was principally used for gladiatorial combat. The Pantheon at Rome, begun by Agrippa in 27 B.C. as a temple, was rebuilt in its present circular form by Hadrian ( A.D. 110-25). Literally the Pantheon was intended as a temple of “all the gods.” It is remarkable for its perfect preservation today, and it has served continuously for 20 centuries as a place of worship. Famous Roman arches include the Arch of Constantine (about A.D. 315) and the Arch of Titus (about A.D. 80).



Famous Pharaohs

Akhenaton - was pharaoh of Egypt from about 1350 to 1334 BC, and husband of Nefertiti who was known for her beauty.. Akhenaton was the last important ruler of the 18th dynasty and he substituted a religion based on one god. He established the cult of Aton, the sun god, the sole creator of the Universe. Akhenaton was originally called Amenhotep but changed his name Akhenaton meaning "Aton is satisfied". He moved his capital from Thebes to Akhenaton, a new city devoted to the celebration of Aton he ordered the obliteration of all traces of the polytheistic religion (belief in many gods) of his ancestors. He also fought bitterly against the powerful priests who attempted to maintain the worship of the state god Amen. Even the work of artists changed to much more realistic statues and pictures.

After the death of Akhenaton his son-in-law Tutankhamen moved the capital back to Thebes and restored the old polytheistic religion.

Tutankhamen - was the son-in-law of Akhenaton. He became pharaoh at about 9 years of age. His uncle Ay, who probably had something to do with the sudden and mysterious death of Akhenaton, was the highest minister and he ruled Egypt for Tutankhamen while he was a boy. Tutankhamen was married to Ankhsenoomun. He was only 18 when he died and he may have been murdered by Ay who probably did not want to lose power. Ay married Tutankhamen's widow, even though he was her grandfather, in order to help retain power. The reason that Tutankhamen is so well known today is that his tomb, containing fabulous treasures, was found early this century (1922) by British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Caernarvon.

Cleopatra VII - ascended to the Egyptian throne when she was only 17. She died at the age of 39 and was the last pharaoh. Cleopatra was Greek. She was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty who were of Macedonian (Greece) descent. The demise of the Ptolemies power coincided with the rise of The Roman Empire's power. Having little choice, and seeing city after city falling into Rome's grip, the Ptolemies decided to ally with the Romans, a pact that lasted for 2 centuries.

During the reign of the late Ptolemies Rome gained more and more power over Egypt and was even declared guardian of the Ptolemeic dynasty. Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII, had to pay tribute to the Romans to keep them away from his kingdom. Upon his death the fall of the dynasty seemed even closer. Cleopatra not only had to contend with the Romans but her her younger brother also wanted the throne.

To try and hold power she had a strong friendship with Julius Caesar and with Mark Antony, Roman leaders of invasion armies. Mark Antony's wife Octavia was very angry that her husband had abandoned her so her brother Octavian set off from Rome to defeat Antony and Cleopatra. He did this at Alexandria and Mark Antony, who was dying from his wounds, asked to be taken to Cleopatra.

He died in her arms and was buried as a king. Cleopatra was captured and she decided to kill herself. It is said that she used a poisonous snake called an asp. With the death of Cleopatra a whole era in Egyptian history was closed.



Fertile Crescent

Fertile Crescent, historic region of the Middle East, flanked by the Nile R. (W) and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (E). A well-watered area, it includes parts of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. It was the cradle of many ancient civilizations, e.g., EGYPT and MESOPOTAMIA.


The civilization of ancient Egypt

The civilization of ancient Egypt is significant in several ways. Together with those of Mesopotamia, India, and China, it was one of the earliest civilizations, and it is perhaps the best example of continuous cultural evolution based on internal stimuli, rather than the complex mix of internal and external factors found, for example, in Mesopotamia. Egyptian influence on other peoples was also significant.

Its HIEROGLYPHIC writing system and other cultural elements were adapted by ancient kingdoms of the Sudan. Syria-Palestine was strongly affected by Egyptian religion and art. And the cults of some Egyptian gods had followers in both Greece and Rome. The two last regions and the Bible are the most important antecedents of the modern western world that owe something to Egypt. The western alphabet is derived from a Phoenician one possibly modeled on Egyptian hieroglyphs; Egyptian ideas are found in some parts of the Bible; and Greek sciences and especially, art were originally influenced by Egypt. Finally, archaeology and historical writing have made Egypt a subject of great public interest, stimulating many books, novels, exhibits, and movies.

The image of Egyptian history moves continually closer to reality as new facts are discovered and new kinds of research-- anthropological and other--supplement more traditional archaeological techniques. Egypt's well preserved pyramids and cemeteries on the dry desert, and sturdy stone-built temples, have been studied by archaeologists since the early 19th century, but river-plain town mounds and all sites in densely settled northern Egypt now receive more attention than previously.

Funerary and temple inscriptions survived well, but they paint an idealized, oversimplified picture of history and society. PAPYRUS exists and ostraca (pottery fragments) are rarer but more realistic. They now are better studied and are supplemented by new types of archaeological analysis.

Environment strongly affected history. In a largely rainless climate, Egypt's high agricultural productivity depended on a long but very narrow floodplain; on average 19.2 km (11.9 mi) wide, it reached a maximum of 248 km (154.1 mi) in the Delta and was formed by the Nile's annual inundation. Periodic, long-term decreases in its volume might create social stress and political and military conflict; increases in volume increased food supplies and favored stability and centralized government.

The deserts to the east and west had valuable stones and minerals and helped protect Egypt from much external attack or infiltration. To the south (northeast Africa) and northwest (Syria-Palestine), however, important kingdoms developed. Egypt traded with and exploited these kingdoms but was also sometimes threatened by them. Beyond Syria-Palestine greater powers--in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran--were alternately Egypt's allies and its rivals in imperial expansion, but none was a direct threat before the 7th century BC.

Achievement, continuity, and innovation characterized Egyptian civilization. Major achievements included a continuous drive toward political unity and social stability; the creation of a surplus in food and materials that supported a superstructure of administrators, soldiers, priests, and craftsmen; and the invention or adoption of a writing system (c.3100 BC). Literacy made government more effective, stabilizing and enriching religious, intellectual, and scientific information. In turn, these developments promoted the growth of elaborate and often colossally scaled architecture in brick and stone; and the growth of highly accomplished art forms (statuary, relief, and painting), which were among the most distinctive of the ancient world.

Continuity was very strong. Egypt's religion , its concepts of social order, and its system of strong monarchical government remained fundamentally the same for over 3,000 years. Environmental stability helped, as did ethnic and linguistic continuity; unlike other areas of the Near East, Egypt did not periodically have to absorb large new populations with languages and ideas different from those already established.

Equally important was a powerful and tenacious worldview shared by all Egyptians--an orderly cosmos, enfolding gods, humans, and nature, had been created in complete and perfect form at the beginning of time; its perfection held off the destructive, chaotic forces that surrounded it. Adherence to traditional forms of belief, politics, and culture was believed necessary to maintain perfection and prevent the collapse of the universe.

Egyptian art and religious architecture (temples and tombs) closely followed established conventions of style and content because their role was to depict this ideal order--and thus be one of several means ritually integrating Egypt with the cosmos. Art for decorative, aesthetic, and propagandistic purposes was also real, but very secondary.

Change and innovation nevertheless occurred, sometimes violently. Egypt's periodic interludes of disunity were politically disorderly and economically painful in part because inherent problems and contradictions (for example, obvious weakness in "perfect" institutions such as kingship) came to the surface and demanded solutions. Less obviously, change also took place in more stable periods. Bureaucracies were periodically reformed or restructured in the interests of both royal power and fairer government.

Religious concepts became increasingly rich and complex. Styles in art and architecture changed subtly to meet new needs and tastes, but all successful innovation required adherence to basic, traditional norms.

Predynastic Egypt

Egyptian history is usually divided into periods roughly corresponding to the 30 dynasties of kings listed by Manetho, an Egyptian chronicler of the 3d century BC. The period before c.3100 BC, a time for which no written records exist, is called the Predynastic era.

Well before 5000 BC many communities of Paleolithic hunters and gatherers lived in the Nile valley and across savanna lands stretching far to the east and west. As rainfall decreased, especially after 4000 BC, the western lands became arid deserts and human settlement was confined to the valley and its fringes. However, here exotic fauna such as elephants and giraffes persisted as late as 2300 BC before finally retreating southward.

Annually inundated, and with natural irrigation basins that retained floodwaters, the Nile valley was an ideal setting for Mesolithic economies with incipient agriculture to evolve into Neolithic ones based on sedentary agriculture, with domesticated crops and animals. The process is hard to follow in Egypt because major Predynastic sites, on the floodplain, are inaccessible or destroyed and most data come from peripheral settlements and low-desert cemeteries.

In northern Egypt, however, the development of Neolithic life can be traced at Merimdeh and in the Fayum (5000-4000 BC); there and elsewhere in the north the pervasive northern culture emerged, characterized by monochrome pottery using incised and applied decoration. The earliest Neolithic phases of southern Egypt are not yet identified, but two cultures existed there by c.4000 BC: the Tasian, influenced by the north, and the Badarian, which originated in the eastern desert.

The former evolved into phases labelled Nakada I (Amratian) and II (Gerzean), representing a material culture very different from that of the north. In the south, among other differences, pottery is more varied in fabric, often has a black top, and favors painted decoration (white on red and red on light-colored desert clays).

Historically significant patterns can be discerned. Political elites developed, supported by agricultural surplus, partly through control over valuable resources that were beginning to be used in new technologies. Originally, tools and weapons were made of stone and organic materials, but in southern (and slightly later in northern) Egypt copper and precious metals became increasingly important.

By Nakada II times, larger, more efficient river ships were built and trade along the Nile was expanding. These and other factors stimulated the emergence of an elite class whose graves are larger and richer than normal, and ultimately regional political leaders are identifiable by "chieftains's tombs" at several sites. According to later traditions, by late Predynastic times (c. 3300 BC) chiefdoms had coalesced into two competitive kingdoms, northern and southern.

Gradually, the characteristic material culture of the south had been spreading, and it replaced the once different one of northern Egypt in Nakada III times.

Throughout the period 5000-3100 BC foreign influences were significant, but direct ones are hard to distinguish from indirect. Domesticated grains and some domesticated animals may have come via Syria and Palestine, perhaps at the time of Merimdehs's earliest phase, which shows influences from these regions in material culture also. Both northern and southern Egypt traded with Syria, Palestine, and northeast Africa throughout Predynastic times. Particularly striking and so far found mainly in southern Egypt (Nakada I and II) are Mesopotamian-style cylinder seals, pottery, and artistic motifs, but these may have come through intermediaries rather than by direct contact.

Predynastic architecture, using wood, matting, and mud brick, is best attested in cemeteries, where pit graves were lined with wood or brick and roofed with matting or stone slabs; eventually, some graves had small, solid superstructures of brick and rubble. Some settlements have been partially excavated; and a possible Predynastic temple was recently found at HIERAKONPOLIS. Art was well developed but small scale.

Figurines and statuettes of individual humans or animals, some modeled realistically, were made in mud, pottery, and ivory; slate cosmetic palettes might be in bird or animal form; and painted designs on pottery placed humans, animals, and boats together in sometimes complex designs. Most of these art forms were from tombs and were magical or religious representations. In later Predynastic times, however, ivory knife handles and ceremonial palettes, perhaps dedicated to temples, bore scenes in relief, possibly including depictions of historical events, as did a wall painting in a chieftains's tomb at Hierakonpolis.

Battles, hunts, and ceremonial scenes were favorite motifs. In all areas, conventions typical of historical art were emerging.

Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom

The two kingdoms were apparently unified by King Narmer (later called MENES or Meni, "the founder"); a ceremonial slate palette shows him surveying slaughtered prisoners, striking a northern enemy, and wearing the regalia of both kingdoms. He and his immediate predecessors were buried at ABYDOS, at or near the southern capital; Buto in the northwest Delta had been the northern capital.

Narmer's successors were the pharaohs (kings) of the 1st and 2d dynasties. Some argue that the 1st dynasty kings were buried at Abydos, in pit tombs topped by moundlike superstructures and surrounded by cult buildings, possible prototypes for the later PYRAMID complexes. This theory assigns the pharaoh unique status from the outset. However, MEMPHIS was the new capital of united Egypt, and 1st dynasty tombs at nearby SAQQARA are also claimed as royal. Similar in size and type to other elite tombs (implying that royal status was yet to grow), 2d dynasty royal tombs are less well documented; two were at Abydos, with cult complexes, and the rest were at Saqqara.

Royal power had greatly increased by the 3d dynasty (c. 2686- 2613 BC), when much larger royal tombs, now dominated by step pyramids in stone, were built at Saqqara. The best preserved is Zoser's (Djoser's); the pyramid was 62 m (190 ft) high and surrounded by a complex of buildings, representing both a funerary cult place and eternal palace, the whole protected by a towered stone wall. Even more dramatic were the pyramids of the 4th dynasty at Giza and elsewhere. KHUFU's (Cheops's) Giza pyramid, the largest ever, has a volume of 2.59 million cubic meters (91.46 million cubic feet). Pyramids of the 5th and 6th dynasties at Abusir and Saqqara were smaller but still impressive.

In its totality, the pyramid complex served the dead king but also linked kingship and cosmos together. The complex consisted of temple and imitation palace, with the pyramid a means of ascent; scenes within the complex, however, depicted the king's role in the cosmos as overthrower of chaos, and the pyramid also represented the primeval mound upon which the creation of the universe had taken place. During the 5th dynasty, temples of the sun god Ra (Re), the creator and maintainer of the universe, were built near pyramids, reflecting the unique relationship between sun god and king; the latter was habitually called "son of Ra" from the 6th dynasty on.

The materials, organization, and labor required by the pyramids, and the many estates supporting the cult and personnel of each, clearly reveal the king's firm control over Egypt and its resources. This was achieved through a complex government, consisting of a central bureaucracy, directly under the pharaoh's supervision, and more than 30 provincial bureaucracies reporting to the center. Periodically, kings restructured aspects of the system; royal sons were first used, then excluded to avoid rivalries; high central officials were reduced in power if they threatened royal control, but restrengthened if the lower ranks and provinces became too independent. Throughout the Old Kingdom, revenues were collected, labor and resources exploited, and justice and arbitration provided; literary works extolling the bureaucracy and advising on proper behavior were popular.

Internal strength encouraged expansion and aggression abroad. In the Early Dynastic period, the Egyptians already had extensive trade contracts with Syria, Palestine, and northeast Africa; they pushed into the Sinai and northern Nubia, creating both buffer zones and Egyptian-dominated trade routes. Later, in the 4th and 5th dynasties, Egyptian armies went further, raiding Palestine and southern Nubia; by the 6th dynasty, however, regional kingdoms in these areas were stronger, and Egypt, still campaigning, was on the defensive.

Initially, the royal court with its adjacent cemeteries was the major center of intellectual, artistic, and architectural activity, but as towns began to develop in various parts of Egypt, they too shared in the cultural life of the time. Royal relatives and central officials were buried under MASTABAS, rectangular superstructures of brick or stone. The mastabas contained chapels and other rooms, increasing in number over time and opening up more wall space to be covered with reliefs and paintings. These depicted the funerary cult and also scenes showing the preparation of a multitude of foods, liquids, and objects for the benefit of the deceased.

Such art, appearing realistic, actually followed conventions that were to remain dominant for millennia thereafter. In painting and relief, human and animal figures are always drawn according to a set of fixed proportions, and reality is ignored so as to present the most characteristic aspects. Humans, for example, always have heads, legs, and feet in profile but eye and torso presented frontally. Figures were scaled according to their importance, and perspective was ignored. Landscapes were depicted in schematic form, but architecture was rarely attempted. Subject matter is also highly selective, for an idealized world is shown; aging, disease, injury, and death are omitted, except for inferior beings such as foreigners and animals.

Statuary was intended at all times mainly for temples and tombs, and consisted of representations of gods, kings, and deceased individuals. Complex compositions were avoided, although sometimes two or more figures might be shown side by side. Life-size statues were not uncommon, but most were smaller; colossal royal figures embellished temples. As in painting, set conventions were closely followed in statuary; whether seated or standing, figures are always facing forward, with arms and legs in standardized positions. Technically, the carving was often superb, although many clumsy works were also produced. Materials included hard stones, softer stones such as limestone, and wood; statues were often painted in bright colors. Sculptors depicted the ideal human; true portraiture in any form was hardly every attempted.

First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom

Centralized rule began to break down under the 7th dynasty. In the ensuing First Intermediate period (c.2181-2040 BC), the Memphite monarchs were powerless to prevent provincial warlords from fighting each other over territory; eventually two separate kingdoms emerged, one ruled by the 9th and 10th dynasties from Heracleopolis, the other by the 11th dynasty from THEBES. They tried to dominate each other but were impeded by the semi-independence of provincial rulers, and they also had to be simultaneously aggressive against foreigners to protect their rears, secure trade advantages, and recruit or compel the valuable services of Palestinian and Nubian warriors for the civil wars. Finally, in the 20th century BC, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep of the 11th dynasty conquered the north and rebuilt a centralized monarchy, inaugurating the Middle Kingdom.

The intensity and causes of these disruptive events are uncertain. Later Egyptian writers, appalled by the deviation from accepted norms, exaggerated the revolutionary aspects; they also described an imaginary environmental deterioration, actually a poetic cosmological counterpart to social disorder. More significant were external pressure and internal political instability that long endured; even the 11th dynasty may have been ended by a coup, and the victor, AMENEMHET I was himself later assassinated.

The 12th dynasty, which he founded (1991 BC), worked hard to restore royal prestige, seriously damaged by civil war and periodic famine. Its kings, living near Memphis, reduced provincial power and developed a loyal central elite, using subtly propagandistic literature to encourage recruitment and transform the royal image from insecure war leader to confident, semidivine ruler. The external situation remained dangerous. The northern Nubian and Sinai buffer zones were reoccupied and, for the first time, heavily fortified. Foreign trade and diplomatic contact expanded, but Egyptian activity was more restricted than in the Old Kingdom.

Social change was considerable. People had become more conscious of their individual rights, and royal policy had to both satisfy and temper this. Religion was affected; funerary beliefs and rituals once largely restricted to kings now spread throughout all classes. First Intermediate period Egyptians had felt less dependent on the state, stressing their economic self-sufficiency, and even under the 12th dynasty royal policies encouraged the growth of a middle class, buried in well-furnished tombs and active at cult centers such as Abydos. OSIRIS, formerly a royal funerary god, became accessible to all.

Architectural remains are now more varied. At Kahun, a large town was divided up into zones of better and poorer houses, reflecting socioeconomic differences; superbly designed fortresses were built in Nubia; and the ground plans of several temples have survived. Some kings built cenotaphs (dummy tombs) at Abydos, where many private memorial chapels of unique type have also recently been discovered.

Funerary remains continue to be the best source of artforms. At Thebes a new type of royal tomb developed, culminating in the unique terraced monument of Nebhepetre topped, not by a pyramid, but by a cubical version of the primeval mound. The pharaohs of the 12th dynasty, anxious to be identified with the autocratic Old Kingdom, revised the classic complex pyramid but included unusual subterranean elements evoking the mythical tomb of Osiris. Royal statues were often idealized, but some depicted a care-worn and more realistic figure. The elite continued to be buried in mastabas and rock-cut tombs, decorated first in awkward but striking styles reflecting the breakdown in centralized stylistic norms, but later returning to more sophisticated, traditional modes.

Second Intermediary Period

Decline and invasion marked the Second Intermediate period (1786-1567 BC). High officials became so powerful in the 13th dynasty that they manipulated and fought over the royal succession. Much shorter reigns imply depositions, assassinations, and possible short-term "elections" of kings. As a result, Egypt's military presence in the vital buffer zones weakened and invasions occurred.

The Cushites of Upper Nubia occupied Lower Nubia, while Syro-Palestinians conquered Egypt itself and established the 15th dynasty. These HYKSOS (from the Egyptian for "ruler of a foreign land") exploited Egyptian ideology but remained Syro-Palestinian in culture. Eventually, Theban vassals (17th dynasty) began a war of independence, resisted by an alliance of Hyksos and Cushites.

New Kingdom

Expelling the Hyksos, the Theban insurgents founded the 18th dynasty, inaugurating ancient Egypt's most brilliant period, the New Kingdom (1570-1085 BC). Its rulers included HATSHEPSUT, THUTMOSE III, AKHENATEN, SETI I, and RAMSES II. Under their leadership Egypt became more expansionist than ever before. The early rulers of the 18th dynasty reconquered southern Nubia and Palestine.

Thutmose III (c.1504-1450) tried to wrest domination of Syria from Mitanni, a north Mesopotamian power, but failed. Thutmose did set up efficient imperial governance, with viceroys controlling foreign vassals who paid rich tribute and sent their successors to be raised in Egypt. International relations were widespread. Babylonia, Assyria, the Hittites, and the Mycenaeans had strong diplomatic and commercial links with Egypt, as did Punt, an incense-producing region on the Red Sea depicted in vivid detail in Hatshepsut's funerary temple at DEIR EL-BAHRI.

Internally, the pattern of royal succession was deviant for a while. Hatshepsut, regent for her young nephew Thutmose III, declared herself pharaoh and ruled for 22 years. Female pharaohs were very rare, and Thutmose resentfully destroyed her monuments after her death. More significant in general was the transformation of the earlier system of Hyksos vassals into a centralized autocracy. The kings' large armies, generated by foreign wars, cowed internal rivals, and they set up a streamlined bureaucracy, with a chief minister over each half of the country.

There was neither council nor parliament, all appointments being made and revoked directly by the kings, who made frequent tours of inspection.

A special feature of this period was the increasingly wealthy priesthoods, on which the king lavished estates, personnel and gifts; they eventually owned one-third of Egypt's arable land. Nevertheless, they could not easily rival the king, for they were appointed directly by him. Moreover, pharaoh had always had a dual nature, human and divine, and the latter was heavily emphasized. Royal dogma taught that each king was possessed by the divine ka, or soul of kingship; he was HORUS, son of Osiris, mythically the last god to rule earth in primeval times, and was identified with Amun-Ra (AMON-RE).

This god, combining the Theban deity with the sun god, was tutelary deity of the empire.

The religious reformer Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV, 1379-1362 BC) carried royal absolutism to an extreme. During his reign, all endowments were transferred to a single god, a cosmic pharaoh who manifested himself as the Aten or sun-disk. At Tell el-AMARNA (Akhetaten) in Middle Egypt, Akhenaten built Aten's cult center and a new royal capital. There he, his queen NEFERTITI, and their children were a holy family, with the king appearing as virtually the Aten on earth.

Possibly mentally unstable, Akhenaten was nevertheless a strong and skillful ruler. Government was staffed by loyalists, and Akhenaten was aggressive abroad. Armies campaigned in the Sudan, and Egypt's allies and vassals were supported against the Hittites, who now dominated Syria instead of Mitanni, and were attacking Egyptian-held territory. As the archives of Amarna show, Akhenaten maintained contact with great powers and closely followed rivalries and rebellions among his vassals.

Akhenaten's innovations were ended by his successors, who restored polytheism and returned to Thebes; one, TUTANKHAMEN, had the richest royal tomb ever to survive. Later, a new royal line, the 19th dynasty (1320-1200 BC), destroyed Akhenaten's monuments, but the dynasty maintained the same efficiently centralized government and regained territory lost in Palestine. Seti I and Ramses II fought several campaigns against the Hittites, but ultimately a peace treaty was signed.

Palestine and Nubia were secure, but new threats appeared. Ramses's son Merenptah had to fight off a major invasion by hitherto minor enemies, the seminomads of Libya, who were aided by the SEA PEOPLES, warriors of western Anatolia and the Aegean. Internally, the 19th dynasty continued to stress the king's divinity and skillfully divided preeminence and economic benefits between Amun-Ra and the gods PTAH of Memphis and Ra of HELIOPOLIS. It was thus less likely that any priesthood would be unduly powerful.

Social history is now richly documented. The careers of many high officials or royal sons are known; for example, Ramses's son Prince Khaemwase was an early archaeologist, restoring many ancient monuments. Social strata were clearly defined. The highest priests, soldiers, and officials received lavish rewards but were liable to disgrace or removal. Middle-class people, who included many craftsmen, were well off, as can be seen from the prosperous village of Deir el Medinah, housing for 400 years the artisans who cut and decorated the royal tombs.

Law, always a major responsibility of pharaonic government, was well developed. It was probably codified, many magistrates were available, and sometimes a god's image, carried in public procession, was called on for legal judgements. Women's legal status was high; they owned and bequeathed property, initiated divorce, and sometimes served as deputies representing a husband who was an official. Land remained the basis of wealth; foreign and internal trade was dominated by the pharaoh and state institutions, but private sales were common and often recorded in writing.

New Kingdom art and architecture were varied and revealing. Gods' temples include the earliest in Egypt to have survived relatively intact; stone-built, they could be colossal in scale. Amun-Ra's Theban temple (KARNAK) came to occupy over 3.2 ha (8 acres). Every temple was designed to integrate Egypt ritually with the cosmos. Exterior scenes of royal victories magically protected the god's image within, while the interior walls of the courtyards and chambers were covered with scenes depicting public festivals and the hidden, inner rituals.

These derived cosmological significance from the temple's form; the sanctuary was the primeval mound of creation, the ceilings were painted as skies and supported by columns representing giant vegetation, and the two-towered pylon, or entryway was identified as the notched horizon where the sun god rose and renewed the universe. Royal palaces, although built in brick, deliberately copied temple architecture so as to stress the pharaoh's divine nature; floor frescoes depicted resurgent nature, wall paintings illustrated royal victories and ceremonies, and ceilings were painted as celestial vaults.

Domestic architecture is best known from Amarna and Deir el Medinah. At the former, many upper-class houses , with numerous rooms, service areas, and gardens, have been excavated; at both sites the other end of the scale is represented by small, five-roomed houses, with extensive use made also of the flat roof. Generally, houses were not lavishly decorated with wall paintings or carpets, but the minor arts were very well developed.

Tutankhamen's thrones and chairs were well crafted in exotic woods and exquisite jewelry, and containers in stone, metal, and other materials were frequent. Even here, art had a purpose; for example, furniture often incorporated figures of Bes, a demigod warding off evil spirits. Specifically, funerary items, such as coffins and BOOKS OF THE DEAD (collections of magical texts and pictures on papyrus), could also be works of art.

Royal tombs show a radical change. The pyramid was abandoned, to be taken over in a smaller scale by private tombs. Nearly all New Kingdom royal tombs are tunnels cut in the walls of the remote VALLEY OF THE KINGS, their walls covered with a brightly painted underworld full of gods and demons. Royal funerary cult rites were performed in temples separate from the tombs and at the foot of the cliffs fronting the valley.

Amarna art and architecture is unusual in several respects. Akhenaten modified the traditional temple type, stripping it of roofs and lintels so that its interior was completely filled with sunlight and removing the sanctuary as unnecessary. The royal tomb, now badly damaged, was at Amarna, as were the nobility's tombs. The latter minimize offering-cult and traditional daily-life scenes, but emphasize royal ceremonies and depict the city with a fullness and detail unique in Egyptian art. The Amarna style is more fluid and realistic in depicting humans and animals, yet it adheres to many old traditions, such as making important people larger in scale than others and ignoring perspective.

Historically, the 20th dynasty represents deterioration. An early king, RAMSES III (c.1198-66 BC), did repulse major invasions by Libyans and Sea Peoples and build a magnificent funerary temple, but thereafter the empire shrank and ambitious royal building programs failed. Government was impeded by officials' independence, as offices became hereditary and corruption and inefficiency increased. The New Kingdom ended in a civil war under Ramses XI.

Late Dynastic, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods

After 1085 BC, Egypt split between a northern 21st dynasty claiming national recognition and a line of Theban generals and high priests of Amun who actually controlled the south. The 22d dynasty rose from long-settled Libyan mercenaries and used a decentralized system, with kings based in the north and their sons ruling key centers elsewhere. Rivalries and sporadic civil wars resulted, and by the 8th century BC Egypt had divided into 11 autonomous states, their subjects dependent on congested, walled towns for security and exhibiting increased anxiety by adherence to local rather than national gods.

Thus weakened, the country fell to Cushites, whose 25th dynasty brought limited unity and resisted Assyrian expansion into Syria-Palestine. Assyria, provoked, occupied Egypt (617, 667-664 BC), but a 26th dynasty regained independence, only to fall before Persia. The Persians ruled Egypt from 525 to 404 BC, and again from 341 to 333 BC.

Despite these vicissitudes, the country was often prosperous in the Late Dynastic period. Great temples were built but survived poorly, and artisans produced a steady stream of statues, often in bronze. Several much earlier styles and even specific scenes were copied in temple and tomb reliefs, partly to link Egypt ritually with its "perfect" past. There was also a quasi-realistic style, especially in statuary; but in this and reliefs softer, rounded contours later became popular.

In the 4th century BC Egypt was wrested from Persia by Alexander the Great; Alexander's general Ptolemy (PTOLEMY I) established a Macedonian dynasty that ruled the country for over 300 years. Strong centralization and expansion abroad brought prosperity first, but later internal dynastic conflicts encouraged rebellions. Although the Ptolemies supported traditional religion, native Egyptians resented the Greek officials and soldiers. A Roman takeover followed the death of CLEOPATRA VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler, in 30 BC. For about two centuries, conditions were favorable under the Romans; Egypt was protected from invasion, private land ownership grew, and irritating distinctions between Hellenized and traditional Egyptians were broken down.

The details of Hellenistic and Roman social, legal, and economic life are better known in Egypt than anywhere else, because many papyri (written in Greek and demotic, a script developed from hieroglyphs) survived in the dry climate. Traditional life continued everywhere, Greek civilization being confined to Alexandria and a few other towns. Temples continued to be built in traditional form, but art had a hybrid quality. Wall scenes in tombs show a sometimes skillful but often clumsy mix of Egyptian and Hellenistic Greek styles and subjects. Later, emperors' faces in realistic Roman style were grafted incongruously onto traditional statues of the pharaoh, and realistic portraits, painted on wood, were integrated with Egyptian-style mummies and coffins. Sacred bird and animal cults were now especially popular, and many, sometimes striking, images were produced.

Eventually, Roman policies created great problems for Egypt. Government had been by officials salaried by the state via general revenues, but a new "liturgical" system required the middle class to pay administrative costs directly. Peasants, forced to cultivate poorer lands to increase yield and onerously taxed, began to flee the countryside. In the late 3d century AD, Diocletian's reforms met the resulting economic crisis, but administrative disintegration had begun. Egypt, like the rest of the empire, became Christian, but was rebellious and heretical, and eventually was divided up among four ruling families. Distressed and divided, it feel easily before the Arab conquest of 639-642.