School encyclopedia. The history of the development of the statues of ancient Egypt See what the "Sculpture of Ancient Egypt" is in other dictionaries

ARTANCIENT EGYPT, art of the state located in the lower reaches of the river. Nile (North-East Africa), where one of the oldest centers of civilization arose. The following periods are distinguished in the history of ancient Egyptian art:

• - The ancient kingdom (31-22 centuries BC),
• - the Middle Kingdom (21-16 centuries BC),
• - The New Kingdom (16-11 centuries BC);
• - Late period (11th century BC - 6th century AD).

A special period is the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten (the so-called Amarna era; 1365-48 BC).

Great Sphinx at Giza. 27-26 centuries. BC NS.

The art of Ancient Egypt was closely related to religion and mythology. All works of art were created according to strict rules - canons. In honor of the gods, grandiose temples were erected. In sculpture and painting, they were depicted both in human form (the sun god Amon-Ra, the ruler of the afterlife Osiris and his wife Isis - the goddess of love and motherhood, the goddess of justice and cosmic order Maat, etc.), and in the form of animals or people with animal heads (Horus - in the form of a falcon; the god of wisdom, justice and writing Thoth - the ibis birds; the patron saint of embalmers and the guide of the dead to the afterlife Anubis - the jackal; the goddess of war, disease and patroness of healers Sokhmet - lionesses, etc.).

Isis Thoth Set Osiris Anubis

Unlike other cultures of the Ancient East, the Egyptians emphasized in the images of the gods not frighteningly terrible features, but greatness and solemnity. Pharaohs (kings) were revered as living gods. Art was oriented towards the afterlife. The Egyptians believed in the continuation of life after death if the body was preserved. The bodies of the dead were treated with special compounds that turned them into mummies. According to the ideas of the Egyptians, after death, the vital essences of man continued to exist. One of them - Ba, life force - was depicted as a bird flying out of the mouth of the deceased. The other is Ka, the invisible double.

In the tomb statues and reliefs, not the person himself was depicted, but his Ka, who was born with the person, but did not have age and did not change, therefore the deceased was represented in the form of a blooming, healthy youth. All images were signed with the name (Ren), which was also considered one of the essences of a person. A statue without an inscription was considered unfinished.

Inlaid or painted eyes in sculptures and reliefs were of particular importance. For the Egyptians, sight was the most important condition of life, and the dead were thought of as a blind man. According to Egyptian myths, the god Osiris, treacherously killed by his brother Seth, was resurrected by his son Horus, who gave him his eye to swallow. Before the burial of the mummy, it was necessary to perform a special ritual of "opening the lips and eyes", "reviving" her for eternal life. A similar ceremony was completed and the creation of the statue, which was supposed to replace the mummy in case of its loss. Already in their youth, wealthy Egyptians began to decorate their "eternal homes" - tombs - with reliefs and wall paintings, not intended for inspection, but designed to provide the deceased with abundance and contentment in the afterlife. The images were perceived as something "alive" with magical powers. The word artist meant "creator of life."

Burial mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Gold. 14th century BC NS. Egyptian Museum. Cairo

The art of the Old Kingdom became a model for the Egyptians of subsequent eras: in their view, it was a time when the order established by the gods who once ruled the earth reigned. The capital city was Memphis.

Architecture, as in later eras, played a major role. The buildings were built of stone (limestone); they are distinguished by strict geometrized forms, grandiose scale. Types of structures were developed that are still used today (pyramids, obelisks, pylons). Temples were decorated with powerful columns with capitals in the form of a blooming lotus or papyrus. The oldest form of tomb was mastaba.

Later, huge burial complexes were built, which included royal tombs - pyramids surrounded by small pyramids of queens and tombs of nobles, and funeral temples (step pyramid of Djoser, 28 century BC, architect Imhotep; "great pyramids" (27-26 centuries BC) of the pharaohs Khufu (Cheops; architect Khemiun); Khafre (Khefren) and Menkaura (Mikerin) in Giza (see Art. Egyptian pyramids). Nearby towered, like a formidable guard, the statue of the Great Sphinx.

Step pyramid of Djoser. 28th century BC e., architect Imhotep.

Djoser's pyramid - not only the first pyramid, built in Ancient Egypt by order of the ruler of the III dynasty, Pharaoh Djoser, but also the first large stone structure of the monumental nature of the Ancient world. The height of the pyramid corresponds to a modern twenty-storey building - 61 m, and the length of one of the sides is 125 m - this is more than the length of a football field. The construction of this structure most likely took place in the XXVIII century BC.

The architect of the pyramid was, according to the ancient Egyptian tradition, the highest dignitary of Djoser - Imhotep. He directly supervised the construction of the pyramid. According to the Egyptian tradition recorded by Manetho, Imhotep was considered the ancestor of all stone construction.

The construction of the Djoser pyramid was an unprecedented event in the history of the Ancient World. As soon as the construction of the pyramid came to an end, Imhotep was immediately proclaimed a sage and began to show him the highest honors along with the gods. And in the era of the Ptolemies, the Egyptians also revered him as the god of medicine.

At the base of the pyramid of Djoser, like almost all later pyramids, there is a rock. Leveling its surface horizontally is clearly a laborious operation, but there was no shortage of manpower, and the ability to destroy hard stone with fire, water and diorite hammers was accumulated earlier. It is more difficult otherwise to get a plane with an area of ​​more than one and a half hectares. The sample was - receding after the spill, the Nile water left fields between the dams shining with a chocolate sheen, but here, in the place now called Sakkara, there was no water. Nevertheless, a flat platform was created with almost no reference, no lining of stones, that is, by cutting off all the protrusions above a predetermined horizontal mark. This is not technically feasible without applying a level.

Apparently, the leveling was carried out with the help of stands with marked and them marks and an elementary, but rather reliable device, which consisted of a tripod, a horizontal rail forming the base of the triangle, and a weight hanging from its top. Knowing how regular land surveying procedures were in Egypt, associated with the breakdown of sites after a river flood, we can assume that in Saqqara the means of solving problems in one area of ​​practice was deliberately used to solve a problem in another. If this is so, then for the first time we are faced with the operation, which is most important for the entire evolution of architecture, of the conscious transfer of skill "from the outside" of the sphere of construction "inside".

We are clearly faced with the same procedure in the case of the problem of the orientation of the pyramid's sole along the cardinal points. Again, the hypothetical reconstruction is sufficiently reliably supported by a long subsequent practice: only with the help of the so-called artificial horizon (keeping a fixed observation point and fixing on the wall-screen the points of rising and setting of the chosen star (for the Egyptians it is always Sirius), and then dividing the distance between the marks in half, You can get the north-south direction with an accuracy of a fraction of a degree.) It was possible to achieve a high accuracy of orientation.So, from the very first steps we are dealing with the borrowing of techniques in the field of building art.

The construction of the pyramid took place in several stages. At the first stage, Djoser ordered to erect a pyramid as a traditional mastaba) with a square horizontal base with sides of 63 m and a height of 9 m.It should be mentioned here that the mastaba was a special tomb in the form of a rectangular structure with inclined walls. It was built from raw bricks and was intended to preserve the body of the deceased pharaoh. The only new thing was that Djoser ordered to build the tomb not from traditional material, but from limestone boulders, which were overlaid on the outside with slabs of thinner limestone.

Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops). 27-26 centuries. BC NS. architect Hemiun

Accurately determine the initial parameters pyramids of Khufu (Cheops) is not possible, since its edges and surfaces are currently mostly dismantled and destroyed. This makes it difficult to calculate the exact tilt angle. In addition, its symmetry itself is not perfect, so there are deviations in the numbers with different measurements. The pyramid of Cheops most likely in antiquity reached 146 m, now the upper part of the pyramid of Cheops is destroyed and its height is 137 meters. The construction of the Cheops pyramid took 2.3 million stone blocks with an average weight of 2.5 tons each. At the time of Cheops, the faces of the Cheops pyramid were faced with polished slabs of fine-grained sandstone. According to the calculations of English scientists, less material was spent on the construction of all Christian churches in England than for one pyramid of Cheops.

The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rock eminence with a center height of about 9 m.

The pyramid was originally faced with white sandstone that is harder than the main blocks. The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - the pyramidion. The veneer shone in the sun with a peach color, like "a shining miracle, to which the sun god Ra himself seemed to have given all his rays." In 1168 A.D. NS. the Arabs plundered and burned Cairo. The inhabitants of Cairo removed the cladding from the pyramid in order to build new houses.

The entrance to the Cheops pyramid was originally located on the north side, at the level of the 13th row of granite slabs. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch. This entrance to the pyramid was sealed with a granite plug. Now this entrance to the Cheops Pyramid is closed. You can get inside the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops through a manhole left by ancient robbers. A narrow corridor leads at first almost horizontally to the surface inside the pyramid, then gradually rises higher and higher. On it you get into the chamber of the wife of the pharaoh, which is located in the middle of the pyramid of Cheops, about 120 meters from its top. Having returned a little back and climbed a narrow wooden staircase to a granite gallery, leaving at an angle of 30 degrees, you find yourself in the burial chamber, where the sarcophagus of Cheops is located.

Khafra's pyramid and the Great Sphinx on the Giza plateau

Pyramid of Khafre (more precisely - Khafre) - the second largest ancient Egyptian pyramid. Located next to the Great Sphinx, as well as the pyramids of Cheops (Khufu) and Mikerin in Giza. Built in mid. XXVI century BC. the structure (215.3 × 215.3 m and height 143.5 m) was named Urt-Khafra ("Khafra is great" or "Honored Khafra").

Although Khafra's pyramid is smaller than that of his father Khufu, its position on a higher hill and its steeper slope make it a worthy rival to the Great Pyramid. Two rather large chambers and two intersecting passages that lead to a horizontal corridor represent a rather modest space in relation to the Khufu pyramid. The burial chamber located under the pyramid is no longer lined with granite, although this protective material was abundantly used inside the pyramid (the high passage itself, fences and sarcophagus), as well as outside (facing the foundations of the pyramid and temples). The roof of the chamber was provided with a roof on rafters, regarded as more durable than the horizontal crossbars of the Khufu pyramid. Khafre's rectangular sarcophagus of classical shape, made of superbly polished granite, was placed in the lining of the burial chamber. The canopy niche, located near Khafre's sarcophagus, was an innovation that would become common at a later time. Now this pyramid is in good condition, although its dimensions have decreased slightly, and today they are 210.5 × 210.5 m and height. 136.5 m. Pyramid of Khafre at Wikimedia Commons

The Khafre pyramid was just a part of a memorial complex, which included a small companion pyramid, probably built for Khafre's wife, a fence wall, a memorial temple, a road, a temple in the valley and a port, which also needed to be built. The current state of preservation of the complex allows us to say that all of its elements have been completed. The temples of Khafra, which became models for the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, were built from multi-ton blocks of granite and limestone. The stone blocks at the entrance to his funeral temple are 5.45 meters long and weigh up to 42 tons. These were vast buildings: 113 m by 49 m - a memorial temple, and 45 m by 50 m - a temple in the valley, the preserved height of which is currently 13 m.Taking into account the fragments found, the total number of sculptures of the lower temple of Khafr has more than 200 statues ... Among them is the famous, wonderfully preserved statue of the king, made of dark green diorite. The ruler proudly sits on a throne with an elegant scarf on his head and an urey on his forehead, and behind him flies the falcon-like god Horus.

The base of the pyramid is a square with sides of 215.16 meters (i.e. 410 cubits); the error from an ideal square is no more than 8 cm. Parallel approach is almost ideal and is equal to 1 "15. The side faces are oriented to four cardinal points with an error of no more than 5" 26 ". The curvature of the sides from deformation leads to the appearance of an error from the correct one in the upper part pyramids by 3 "46". The angle of inclination of the faces is 53 ° 10 "and 52 ° 02", which is very close to the theoretical values ​​corresponding to a slope of 4/3. This slope of the Egyptian triangle (right-angled triangle 3,4,5, with theoretical tilt angle 53 ° 07 "48"), was mentioned in four sections of the Papyrus Ahmes (see Mathematics in Ancient Egypt.) The pyramid was originally 143.87 meters high and was covered with limestone, which is still visible today at 45 meters at the very top.

The pyramid was decorated with a pink granite pyramidion, which is now lost. We have no information as to whether the granite was adorned with limestone, gypsum, or gold.

Great Pyramids and Great Sphinx of Giza. 27-26 centuries. BC NS.

Pyramid of Mikerin at Giza.

Pyramid of Mikerin (more precisely - Menkaure) - the southernmost, latest and lowest of the three Egyptian pyramids at Giza. Contrary to the nickname "Heru" (high), it barely reaches 66 m in height, and the length of the side of its base is 108.4 m. Its volume of 260,000 m³ is only a tenth of the volume of the Khufu pyramid: this was the end of the era of the great pyramids. The interior of the pyramid reveals the lack of unity of the plan: probably, the original modest dimensions, calculated not for the heir to the throne, increased with his accession. The pyramid of Menkaur stands out somewhat from the general picture of buildings in Giza, and in antiquity its construction was sometimes attributed not to Mikerin, but to the hetera Rodopis who lived in the time of Amasis II.

Despite the small size of the pyramid (considered a sign of decline), according to eyewitnesses, the Menkaur pyramid was the most beautiful of all pyramids. The potential of the builders of the Menkaur pyramid was enormous, as evidenced by one of the monoliths used in the memorial temple of Menkaur. Its weight is estimated at over 200 tons. Replacing a block of this size, the heaviest on the Giza plateau, was a true technical feat. The colossal statue of the seated king from the central chapel of the temple - one of the largest in the era of the Old Kingdom - is an excellent proof of the skill of the pharaoh's sculptors. The sculptures during the reign of Menkaur were characterized by the highest quality of artistic performance. Her best examples were the graywake statues, including a new type of sculptural group: the triad. The meticulous workmanship brought into the construction of the royal pyramid, called Necheri-Menkaura ("Divine Menkaure"), is another testament to this commitment to quality workmanship.

About a third of its height, the pyramid was faced with red Aswan granite, then it was replaced by white slabs of Tours limestone, and the top, in all likelihood, was also red granite. This pyramid remained for four millennia, until at the beginning of the 16th century the Mamluks removed the cladding.

The choice of granite, predominantly protective material, for facing the pyramid, perhaps made it useless to build a huge pyramid to protect the royal mummy.

From the point of view of architectonics, it was not necessary to erect a very high pyramid, since the burial chamber was now located at ground level, and after Khufu the idea of ​​a high-altitude arrangement of chambers was no longer embodied, probably due to the technical difficulties in lifting the ceiling blocks of the burial chamber.

The Menkaur pyramid is a reflection of the end of this era, but it, in particular, expresses the beginning of another era, during which the dimensions of the pyramids acquired a standard.

Indeed, since the reign of Menkaur, the height of the pyramids has stabilized and the deviations rarely exceed twenty meters.

The funeral complexes at the foot of the pyramids (memorial temples connected by long covered corridors with entrance pavilions, the majestic figure of the Sphinx, the strict rows of mastaba-like courtiers' tombs) reflect the ceremonial order and hierarchy of Egyptian society.

The sculptural portrait was greatly developed. According to the ideas of the Egyptians, the portrait statues played the role of doubles of the dead and served as a receptacle for their souls.

Huge statues of gods and pharaohs were erected, personifying their power and power, but never - evil demons. There were three types of royal statues:

1. "Walking" Pharaoh with his leg extended forward (twin statue of Mikerin and Queen Hamerernebti, 27th century BC);

Pharaoh Mikerin and Queen Hamerernebti II, c. 2548-2530 BC BC, Boston

Mykerinus (actually Menkaura, Min-kuu-Ria, literally "Keeping the Ka of the great Ra" forever) is one of the Greek transcriptions of the name of the fifth pharaoh of the IV ancient Egyptian dynasty Menkaur, the builder of the third pyramid in Giza. Rules around 2520-2480 BC NS. (2494-2471 BC) after Pharaoh Khafre.

Little is known about Mikerin, apart from legends. According to Herodotus, he was the son of Cheops (Khufu).

In general, folk and ancient traditions tried to present Mikerin as the complete opposite of his father and grandfather - other builders of the pyramids in Giza.

In particular, Herodotus characterizes him as a kind and just ruler: “He opened temples and freed the people exhausted by hardships, letting them go to work and make sacrifices. He was the most righteous judge of all kings, for which he is especially praised by the Egyptians among all the kings who have ever ruled over them. After all, he was not only a righteous judge, but even gave money from his good to those who were dissatisfied with his sentences in order to satisfy their requests. "

Folk legends about him told, among other things, that Tsarevich Gordedef, who was sent by him to revise the temples, found part of the Book of the Dead in Hermopolis; talked about his piety, wisdom, in particular, how he outwitted the oracle, who predicted a short reign for him, by the fact that he doubled the time with night feasts.

In the retelling of Herodotus, this story reads as follows: “The divination of the oracle from the city of Buto announced that he had only six years to live, and in the seventh year he would die ...

In response to the divination, the tsar complained that his father and uncle, who locked the temples, forgot the gods and oppressed the people, lived a long time, but he, a pious man, should nevertheless die soon ...

Mikerin realized that rock was inevitable and ordered the manufacture of many lamps. At night, the king ordered them to light, began to drink wine and ceaselessly rejoice day and night.

He wandered through meadows and groves and wherever he found suitable places for pleasure. So he did, turning nights into days in order to catch the oracle in a lie and make twelve years out of six ”.

2. Seated on a throne with hands on his knees (statue of Khafre, 27th century BC);

Seated statue of Khafre; Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Khafra, or Khafren in the Greek version, is the fourth pharaoh of Egypt from the IV dynasty; reigned, according to the Turin papyrus, 24 years (presumably between 2558 and 2532 BC).

It is believed that Khafra was either the brother and heir of Cheops (Khufu), or the son of Khufu and the heir of Pharaoh Djedefr.

The worship of Khafra as a god existed until the period of the Late Kingdom.

The name of Pharaoh IV of the Khafre Dynasty today can be read in different ways.

The Greek reading of the name sounds like Chephren, but if you read the hieroglyphs (transliteration of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs: Ḫˁjˁ.f Rˁ), then this name sounds like Chaefre. Approximate meanings of the name: "Like Ra", "Being (incarnate) Ra".

However, another reading is also possible: Rahaf (RˁḪˁjˁ.f or Rachaef), i.e. "Ra-incarnate."

The latter variant arose after studying the grammar of the ancient Egyptian language.

It turned out that there was a special sequence of signs: in the name of the pharaoh there is a symbol of the god Ra, which must be read before all other symbols of the name of the pharaoh.

Greek historians knew little about Khafren. Herodotus also mentions him in the second book of his History and Hecateus of Abdera.

Khafren was usually portrayed as his father - Cheops, a tough despot.

However, it is also noticeable and significant among the Egyptians veneration of this pharaoh for a long time.

Diodorus reports that the Egyptian people hated the son of Cheops, Khaphren, so much that, fearing for the safety of their tombs intact, the tombs of Khaphren and his relatives had to be made not in the pyramids, but in secret places.

Statues of Pharaoh Ramses II.

3. In the guise of the god Osiris - a standing figure with hands folded on his chest and holding symbols of royal power (a rod and a whip).

Wooden figurines depicting the king

In the likeness of the royal ones, sculptures of nobles were created.

Sculptors used stone, wood, ivory. Hard rocks were preferred (granite, basalt, porphyry, etc.).

The statuary image was drawn on the edges of a rectangular block of stone, and then carved; therefore, the original cubic volume is always felt in Egyptian sculptures.

The statues are facing Eternity; from them everything that is accidental and secondary has been expelled.

Strict symmetry, immobility, laconism and generalization of forms enhanced the feeling of monumentality, inviolability, solemn grandeur.

At the same time, the statuary images are amazingly vital: the connection between the sculptural image and the funeral cult required the transfer of portrait resemblance (bust of Prince Ankhhaf, middle of the 3rd millennium BC; statues of the architect and vizier Khemiun, 27th century BC. ., the scribe Kai, mid. 3rd millennium BC., Tsarevich Kaaper, mid. 3 mil. BC; portrait groups of Tsarevich Rahotep with his wife Nofret, first half of the 3rd millennium BC BC, and the dwarf Seneba with his family, 25th century BC).

Bust of Prince Ankhhaf

Hemiun statue, Pelsaue Museum, Germany

Hemiun is an ancient Egyptian architect of the period of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom.

Hemiun is the alleged architect of the Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) at Giza. Son of Nefermaat, a relative of Khufu. He had the titles of "Master of Work" and the Vizier of the Pharaoh. He died of illness shortly before the completion of the construction of the Great Pyramid, and is buried in a nearby mastaba.

"Scribe Kai". Ser. 3rd millennium BC NS. Louvre. Paris

During the excavation, the statue of the scribe Kai caused a stir among the workers who helped during the excavation: they took it for a living person when a ray of light penetrated into the eternal darkness of the tomb and Kai's gaze flashed directly into their eyes.

At that time, the eyes of the statues were inlaid with rock crystal and shiny ebony.

Statue of Tsarevich Kaaper. Ser. 3rd millennium BC Egyptian Museum. Cairo. Wood.

Sheikh El Balad (V dynasty)

This statuette is known under the name "The Village Headman" not at all because it really depicts the Headman. This is a member of the royal family Kaaper. When it was found during excavations in Sakkara, one of the fellahs exclaimed: "Yes, this is our village headman!" Since then, this nickname has been assigned to Kaaper.

This famous wooden statue dates from the Old Kingdom. She represents the dignitary Kaaper, also known as the Great Priest. His features express calm dignity. The eyes are made of quartz, the eyelids are made of copper. The statue is made up of several pieces of painted fig tree.

Prince Rahotep with his wife Princess Nefert

4th dynasty. Medum. (limestone, 120 cm high).

The statues of Prince Rahotep and his wife Nefert originate from the mastaba in Medum. The princess wears a headband, necklace, linen dress, and a wig. The prince is wearing a simple necklace with an amulet. Behind the figures are hieroglyphs - symbols that evolved from a perfect pictorial font. Rahotep (with a mustache) was probably the son of King Snefru. He held senior positions and, according to ancient Egyptian custom, wore only a short apron.

Dwarf Seneb and his family (VI dynasty)

This is a masterpiece of the ancient Egyptian sculptor who brilliantly depicted the dwarf Seneb - an important official - with his wife hugging him with his right hand, and with two children under the dwarf's short legs.

This group of painted limestone was found in the Seneba mastaba in Giza, north of the Khafre pyramid.

The statues and reliefs were painted: the bodies of men - red-brown, women - light yellow; designated white clothes, black wigs, bright jewelry.

The Egyptians created two types of relief: very low, barely receding from the plane of the background, and incised, deepened into the thickness of the stone.

Outstanding monument - stele Pharaoh Narmer (late 4th - early 3rd millennium BC), dedicated to the victory of Upper (Southern) Egypt over the Lower.

Stele of Pharaoh Narmer. Around 3000 BC NS. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

According to legend, the first pharaoh of the 1st dynasty Menes (about the 3rd millennium BC), who united Upper and Lower Egypt, founded the city of Memphis on the right bank of the Nile.

The stele of Pharaoh Narmer, whom some researchers identify with the mythical Menes, is a small vertical slab sixty-four centimeters high. The reliefs and inscriptions on both sides of the stele tell of the victory of Upper Egypt over the Lower and their unification into one kingdom.

Memphis became the main religious and artistic center of the country, the kingdom - the era of the creation of writing, religious and secular basic principles of artistic creation - can be considered a truly golden age of Egyptian art.

Man and his activities are the main themes of tomb reliefs and murals (tombs of the nobles of Ti, c. 2450 BC, and Ptahhotep, c. 2350 BC; both in Sakkara).

Ty was an influential and wealthy man, the guardian of several royal pyramids and temples of the sun, lived during the 5th Dynasty (Old Kingdom). Ti's tomb is in Saqqara. The walls of the interior of the tomb are decorated with magnificently executed reliefs and paintings depicting scenes from the life of Tee, as well as various chores carried out in his domain. The relief, executed in the technique of the bas-relief, depicts Ty sailing in a boat through a swamp overgrown with papyrus. The figure of Ti is several times larger than the servants in the boat. Ty pulls out two stems of papyrus from the swamp.

The relief of Ti's tomb. XXV-XXIV centuries BC. Fragment. Stucco on stone, cutter, tempera. Sakkara, Egypt

The relief, executed in the technique of bas-relief, depicts a scene of boat construction.

A typical example is the painting of a very famous tomb of the nobleman Ti (mid-3rd millennium BC). On closer examination, the “carpet” breaks up into a huge number of separate episodes, fused by a common rhythm and spatial laws - the tomb of Khnumhotep. Here it is already difficult to talk about stiffness and the like. Liveliness and spontaneity in the images of people and their occupations is beyond criticism. Perhaps these qualities of genre scenes in comparison with the predetermined fixity and solemn representativeness of ceremonial portraits can be explained by the difference in what sacred function the various images performed: they presented Pharaoh himself to the gods, or told about the life of his subjects. In the latter case, it was important to vividly and realistically display the functions of the characters so that they would continue to serve the master so vividly. Nor should we be surprised at the many images of animals in tombs. Many animals in Ancient Egypt were deified and their images were images of the gods. "Geese". Fresco of the tomb of the architect Nefermaat in Medum. 27th century BC NS. Cairo. Egyptian Museum. Fragment The gradation of sizes and scales of figures within one composition, giving decorative liveliness and light melodious variability of rhythm, was for the Egyptians, first of all, a gradation of values. The main character of the murals was portrayed as the largest. His close relatives and confidants were portrayed a little smaller than himself, and minor characters were portrayed even several times smaller than him, for example the reliefs in the tomb of Ti and in the mastaba in Saqqara. Such a scale was the most universal table of ranks, which did not require displaying special , different for every rank of luxury and social accessories. Even the greatness of the power of the Pharaoh himself, who was worshiped by God, was not even indicated by any expensive clothes, almost nothing, except for the exceptional size of his figure and the spectacular pose predetermined by the canon. It is also impossible to say unequivocally that some figures in paintings or reliefs are developed more carefully than others. And the paintings and reliefs give a picture of the current life equally measured and inevitable for everyone. The composition is usually line-by-line, symmetrical and balanced. The images on the reliefs and murals were carried out as in the round sculpture, observing strict subordination to architectural forms, with an orientation to their proportions and rhythms, to their scale. The relief of the Mereruk tomb. XXIV-XXIII centuries BC. Fragment. Stucco on stone, cutter, tempera. Sakkara, Egypt Mereruka was the son-in-law of Pharaoh Teti, the first pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty (Old Kingdom). The tomb of Mereruk is located in Sakkara. One of the largest tombs in the necropolis, it contains over thirty different rooms, including burial chambers for Mereruk's wife and son. The walls of the interior of the tomb are decorated with reliefs and paintings depicting scenes of everyday life. The relief, executed in the technique of bas-relief, depicts a boat sailing through a swamp teeming with crocodiles and hippos. Relief of the tomb of Mereruk. XXIV-XXIII centuries BC. Fragment. Stucco on stone, cutter, tempera. Saqqara, Egypt The relief, made in the technique of bas-relief, depicts scenes of feeding wild animals - antelopes and hyenas. In the burials of the era of the Old Kingdom, there were no images of the gods, the sun and the moon. The world imprinted on the walls was not a mirror image of earthly existence; it was an artificially created environment that provided all the needs of the owner of the tomb. Reliefs and paintings are split into stripes and "read" like text; they represent the daily life of the Egyptians so accurately and in detail that they serve as a reliable source for studying it. However, in comparison with reality, certain changes were made to the image of the afterlife "twin world". There were no scenes of civil service indicating a subordinate position. Wall paintings are distinguished by flatness, brightness of colors. Egyptian craftsmen worked with glue paints, usually without mixing them; semitones appeared only in the later period. The expressiveness of the painting was based on the clarity of the silhouettes, the outlines of which were filled with bright colors. The person was depicted not as they were seen, but in such a way as to give the most complete picture of him: the shoulders, torso and eyes on the person's face were depicted full-face, the face and legs - in profile.

Art of Ancient Egypt. Portrait sculpture of the Ancient Kingdom.

As already mentioned, the funeral cult largely determined the appearance of portrait sculpture. But he also limited its development to certain frameworks. The monotony of calm motionless (sitting or standing) postures of statues endowed with the same attributes, the conditional coloring of their bodies (male - red-brown paint, female - yellow, hair - black, clothes - white) - all this was dictated by the requirements of the cult, which intended these statues are for the "eternal" life of the soul of the deceased.

The eyes of the statues were often inlaid with other materials, which achieved greater expressiveness and vitality.

The statues are not designed to be viewed from different angles; they seem to be leaning back against the plane of the stone block that serves as a background for them. Viewers only see them from the front, they are entirely frontal. The statues are also characterized by absolute symmetry, the strictest balance of the right and left halves of the body. This rule is strictly observed not only when depicting a standing figure, but also when rendering all other poses characteristic of Egyptian sculpture of all times.

The Egyptian artist usually began his work by applying a drawing of the image he wanted to get on a rectangular block of stone from which the statue was to be carved. Then, by carving, he removed the excess stone, processed the details, grinded and polished the statue. But even in the finished work of art, one always felt the rectangular edges of the block from which it was “released” by the artist. This explains the "geometrism" of Egyptian sculpture, which is its most characteristic feature.

Along with the statues of kings and nobles, the type of scribe sitting at work is developing, usually with a scroll of papyrus in his lap. The variety of compositions was limited. The pose of Pharaoh Khafr, seated on a throne, is typical for all seated figures of the Old Kingdom and for most statues of subsequent times. In a standing figure of a man, the left leg is always extended forward, the arms are either lowered along the body, or one of them rests on a staff. The female figure usually stands with closed legs, the right arm is lowered along the body, the left one lies in front of the waist. The neck is almost absent, the head sometimes rests almost directly on the shoulders, the gaps between the arms and the body, between the legs are almost always not drilled out, and these parts of the remaining stone are conditionally painted over in the so-called colors of emptiness, black or white. It was impossible, due to the special tasks of the funeral cult, to convey instant moods, random postures.

Physical power was emphasized in the figures of the pharaohs and noble persons. Preserving some of the undoubtedly portrait features, the authors discarded minor details, imparted a dispassionate expression to the faces, generalized the mighty, stately-monumental forms of the body.

But the most talented sculptors, even within the constraining framework of the canon, managed to create a number of remarkable, striking portrait works. Examples of such individualized statues are the sculptures of the 4th dynasty - statues of noble people Rahotep and Nofret (Cairo Museum) and a bust of the king's son Ankhhaf (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts), architect Hemiun (Cairo Museum), as well as the head of a male statue from the Salt collection (Paris , Louvre) and statues of the V dynasty - nobleman Ranofer (Cairo Museum), scribe Cai (Paris, Louvre) and Prince Kaaper (Cairo Museum).

These portraits do not just repeat the appearance of this or that person. These are images created by selecting the most characteristic features of the person being portrayed.

Sculptors of the 5th-6th dynasties are beginning to increasingly resort to expensive wood, which makes it possible to solve such problems that seemed insoluble in round plastic, despite all the brilliance of the achievements of stone sculpture of the 3rd and 4th dynasties. The movements of the statues become freer, although the basic canon remains in force when transferring the human figure.

Before us is the face of the Louvre scribe, then the smiling, good-natured face of a plump, elderly dignitary of the 5th Kaaper dynasty, whom the fellahs who found him called "the village headman" for his striking resemblance to the headman they knew. It is not for nothing that the Egyptian sculptor was called "sankh", which means "who creates life." By creating a form, the artist, as it were, magically brought it to life.

Dozens of statuettes depicting servants and slaves were also placed in the tombs, which differed from the portraits of pharaohs and noble persons by conveying only typical ethnic features of the Egyptians, without any hint of portraiture. Their purpose is to serve their masters in the afterlife. Made of brightly colored wood and stone, they bring out the realism of peasants, cooks, porters, etc.

Details Category: Fine arts and architecture of ancient peoples Published on 12/21/2015 10:46 Hits: 8850

The art of Ancient Egypt is divided into three periods:

Old Kingdom Art, Middle Kingdom Art, and New Kingdom Art. In each of these periods, its own style was formed, its own canons were developed and innovations were introduced. These periods can be briefly characterized as follows.

General characteristics of the art of Ancient Egypt

The Art of the Old Kingdom (XXXII century-XXIV century BC)

The main canons of Egyptian art, which were then preserved over the centuries, were formed in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. NS. It was a monumental style, due to the fact that the art of Egypt was an integral part of the funeral ritual, is closely associated with religion, which deified the forces of nature and earthly power.
The Great Pyramids and the Great Sphinx date back to this time.

Egyptian pyramids

The Egyptian pyramids are the greatest architectural monuments of Ancient Egypt. These are huge pyramidal stone structures that were used as tombs for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. In total, more than 100 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt.

Pyramid of Neferefra in Abusir

Great sphinx

The Great Sphinx in Giza is the oldest surviving monumental sculpture on Earth. It is carved out of a monolithic limestone rock in the shape of a sphinx - a lion lying on the sand, whose face is given a portrait resemblance to the pharaoh Khefren (c. 2575-2465 BC). The length of the statue is 72 m, the height is 20 m; between the forepaws in ancient times there was a small sanctuary (an altar dedicated to a deity).

Great Sphinx and Cheops pyramid
Since ancient times in Egypt, it was customary to depict the pharaoh in the form of a lion, destroying his enemies. The circumstances and the exact time of the construction of the Sphinx have not yet been precisely determined. For local residents, the Sphinx was a kind of talisman, the ruler of the Nile. They believed that the flood level of the great river and the fertility of their fields depended on him.

Great Pyramid of Cheops

Cheops - the second pharaoh of the IV dynasty of the Ancient Kingdom of Egypt (2589-2566 BC or 2551-2528 BC presumably), the builder of the Great Pyramid in Giza. Cheops had a reputation as a classic oriental despot and a brutal ruler. He reigned for about 27 years. The pyramid is his greatest achievement, as well as the first of the seven wonders of the world in the ancient world. She is the only one of the wonders of the world that has survived to this day. The original height of 146.6 m (today only 137.5 m), was considered the tallest structure in the world for 3500 years.

Art of the Middle Kingdom (XXI century-XVIII century BC)

The art of the Middle Kingdom carefully observed the traditions and canons of the Ancient, but also introduced its own characteristics. The beginning of the Middle Kingdom: after a long period of turmoil and the disintegration of Egypt into separate nomes, it united under the rule of the Theban rulers. But now centralization was not as absolute as before. Local rulers (nomarchs) became richer and more independent and appropriated royal privileges to themselves. The tombs of the nobles began to be located not at the foot of the royal pyramids, but separately. pyramids have become more modest and smaller in size. During this period, the development of jewelry began.
With the decrease in the pathos of monumentality, genre diversity begins to develop. The portrait develops, and the individual traits gradually intensify in it.

Art of the New Kingdom (XVII century-XI century BC)

In the art of the New Kingdom, the manifestation of human feelings and reflections became noticeable.
The tombs have ceased to be above ground and are hiding in gorges. The architecture of temples began to prevail. The priests became an independent political force, competing even with the power of the king. Although the pharaohs were glorified in the temples, their exploits and conquests.
For several centuries, the famous temples of Amun-Ra in Karnak and Luxor, near Thebes, were built and completed.

The main temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak
An innovative stage is associated with the reign of the reformer Pharaoh Akhenaten in the XIV century. BC NS. Akhenaten opposed the Theban priesthood, abolished the entire ancient pantheon of gods, made the priests his implacable enemies.

Akhenaten
The art of Akhenaten's time appealed to the simple feelings of people and their states of mind. Lyrical scenes of Akhenaten's family life appear in art: he hugs his wife, caresses the child.
But the reaction to his reforms began already under one of his closest successors, Tutankhamun. All the old cults were soon restored. But many of Akhenaten's innovative ideas and techniques have survived in ancient Egyptian art.

Ramses II
The last glorified conqueror, Ramses II, began to cultivate a solemn and monumental style, and after Ramses followed a period of long wars, the conquest of Egypt by Ethiopians and Assyrians. Egypt lost its military and political power, and then cultural primacy. In the VII century. BC NS. For a time, the Egyptian state unites again around the Sais rulers, and ancient Egyptian art in its traditional forms was revived. But in him there was no longer the former vitality, fatigue is felt, the depletion of creative energy. The world historical role of Egypt has been exhausted.

Ancient Egyptian architecture

Early Kingdom architecture

Monuments of monumental architecture of this period have practically not survived, tk. The main building material was raw bricks, which were easily destroyed. Clay, reed and wood were also used. The stone was used only as a finishing material. The type of palace facades belongs to this era. Religious and memorial buildings are better preserved: sanctuaries, chapels and mastabas. During this period, there were some design techniques: concave cornices, ornamental friezes (painting or sculptural), the design of the doorway with a deep ledge.

Ancient Kingdom architecture - "time of the pyramids"

During this period, a powerful centralized state was created under the rule of the pharaoh, who is considered the son of the god Ra, this also dictated the main type of architectural structure - the tomb. The largest in size royal tombs-pyramids were created, on the structures of which not only slaves, but also peasants worked for tens of years. The pyramids indicate that exact sciences and crafts were well developed in Ancient Egypt at that time.

Step pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara
Other pharaohs of the 3rd dynasty also built step pyramids. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom period, a new type of building appears - a solar temple, which was usually built on a hill and surrounded by a wall.

Memorial Temple of Seti I at Abydos

Middle Kingdom architecture

After Mentuhotep I in 2050 BC. e re-united Egypt and restored the unified power of the pharaohs under the auspices of Thebes, the psychology of individualism began to dominate: everyone began to care about their own immortality. Now not only the pharaoh, but also mere mortals began to claim privileges in the other world. The idea of ​​equality after death arose, this immediately reflected on the technical side of the cult of the dead. Mastaba-type tombs have become a superfluous luxury. To ensure eternal life, one stele was already enough - a stone slab on which magical texts were written.
But the pharaohs continued to build tombs in the form of pyramids, although their size decreased, the material for construction was not two-ton blocks, but raw bricks, the way of laying changed. The base is 8 solid stone walls. The other 8 walls departed from these walls at an angle of 45º, and the gaps between them were filled with fragments of stone, sand, and bricks. From above, the pyramids were faced with limestone slabs. The upper memorial temple adjoined the eastern side of the pyramid, from which there was a covered passage to the temple in the valley. Currently, these pyramids are heaps of ruins.

The funeral temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II
A new type of burial structures also appeared: tombs. The main part of the burial vault was a memorial church decorated with a portico; in the center, a ramp led to a second terrace, where a second portico surrounded a columned hall on three sides, in the center of which a pyramid made of boulders rose. Its base was a natural rock. On the west side there was an open courtyard. The pharaoh's tomb was located under the columned hall.

New Kingdom architecture

Thebes began to play a major role in the architecture and art of the New Kingdom. Magnificent palaces and houses, magnificent temples are being built in them. The glory of the city has been preserved for many centuries.
The construction of the temples was carried out in three main directions: ground, rocky and semi-rocky temple complexes.

Facade of the rocky temple of Ramses II

Late Kingdom architecture

Since the era of the XXVI dynasty, Thebes lost their political and artistic significance, and the city of Sais became the new capital of Egypt. The architectural monuments of the Sais period have hardly survived. In the few that have survived, there are ground and rock structures, some elements of temple architecture: hypostyle, pylons, hall chains.
Hypostille - a large hall of a temple or palace supported by columns with numerous, regularly placed columns.

Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak (Egypt)
In the architecture of the era of the Persian domination, there is a gradual abandonment of the type of monumental ensembles; temples are getting much smaller. The type of the classical colonnade from the times of the New Kingdom is preserved, but the splendor and detailed elaboration of the decor are noticeably increasing.
After the conquest of Egypt by the Greeks, the local artistic culture was synthesized with the traditions of antiquity.

Philae Temple - Evidence of the Evolution of Ancient Egyptian Art Traditions during the Hellenistic Period

Sculpture of ancient egypt

The sculpture of Ancient Egypt is original and strictly canonically regulated. It was created and developed to represent the ancient Egyptian gods, pharaohs, kings and queens in physical form. Statues of gods and pharaohs were put on public display, usually in open spaces and outside temples. The most sacred image of God was in the temple. Many carved figurines have survived. Such figurines were made of wood, alabaster, or a more expensive material. Wooden images of slaves, animals and property were placed in tombs to accompany the dead in the afterlife.

Statues of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III (Karnak)
There were also many images of Ka in the tombs of ordinary Egyptians, mostly in wood, some of which have survived. Ka is the spirit of a person, a being of a higher order, divine life force. After the death of the man, Ka continued to exist inside the tomb and accepted offerings.
Ka was depicted as a man with raised arms bent at the elbows on his head.
Inanimate objects also had ka. The gods had several Ka.
The canon of the creation of ancient Egyptian sculpture: the color of a man's body should be darker than the color of a woman's body, the hands of a seated person should be exclusively on his knees. The rules for depicting Egyptian gods: the god Horus should be depicted with the head of a falcon, the god of the dead Anubis - with the head of a jackal, etc. The sculptural canon of Ancient Egypt existed for 3 thousand years.
The flowering of small-scale sculpture began in the art of the Middle Kingdom. Although it was still associated with a funeral cult, the figurines were already covered with soil and painted, and whole multi-figured compositions were created in a round sculpture.
In the New Kingdom, monumental sculpture began to develop actively, the purpose of which began to go beyond the confines of the funeral cult. Traits of individuality appear in the Theban sculpture of the New Kingdom. For example, portraits of Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut is a female pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt from the 18th Dynasty. Hatshepsut completed the rebuilding of Egypt after the Hyksos invasion and erected many monuments throughout Egypt. She, along with Thutmose III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Ramses II and Cleopatra VII, is one of the most famous Egyptian rulers.

Hatshepsut
In the art of the New Kingdom, a sculptural group portrait also appears, especially images of a married couple.
An innovation was the image of the figures entirely in profile, which was previously not allowed by the Egyptian canon. The fact of the preservation of ethnic traits in the portrait was also new. The lyrical beginning is manifested in the Amarna reliefs, filled with natural plasticity and do not contain canonical frontal images.
The culmination of the development of fine art is rightly considered the works of the sculptors of Thutmes' workshop. Among them is the famous head of Queen Nefertiti in a blue tiara.

Bust of Nefertiti. New Museum (Berlin)
Neferti is the “main wife” of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty Akhenaten (c. 1351-1334 BC). It is believed that never before has Egypt spawned such a beauty. She was called "Perfect"; her face adorned temples all over the country.
In the sculpture of the Late Kingdom, the skills of the ancient high craftsmanship of sculpture are partly extinguished. The static nature, conditional outlines of faces, canonical poses and even a semblance of an "archaic smile", characteristic of the art of the Early and Ancient Kingdoms, are again becoming relevant. Sculptures of the Ptolemaic period are also mainly made in the traditions of the Egyptian canon. But the Hellenistic culture influenced the nature of the interpretation of the face, there is a greater plasticity, softness and lyricism.

Statue of Osiris. Louvre (Paris)

Painting of Ancient Egypt

All sculptural images in Ancient Egypt were brightly colored. Paint composition: egg tempera, viscous substances and resins. No real fresco was used, only “fresco a secco” (wall painting done on hard, dried plaster, re-moistened. Paints crushed on vegetable glue, egg or mixed with lime are used). From above, the painting was covered with a layer of varnish or resin in order to preserve the image for a long time. Most often, small statues, especially wooden ones, were painted this way.
Many Egyptian paintings have survived thanks to the dry climate of Ancient Egypt. The paintings were created to improve the life of the deceased in the afterlife. The scenes of travel to the afterlife and a meeting in the afterlife with a deity (the judgment of Osiris) were depicted.

Part of the Book of the Dead from Ahmim, depicting the judgment of Osiris (IV-I centuries BC)
The earthly life of the deceased was often depicted to help him do the same in the kingdom of the dead.
In the New Kingdom, together with the deceased, they began to bury the Book of the Dead, which was considered important for the afterlife.

Book of the Dead

In the era of the Old Kingdom, there was a custom of reading aloud spells for the deceased king. Later, similar texts began to be recorded in the tombs of Egyptian nobles. By the time of the Middle Kingdom, collections of memorial incantations were already recorded on the surface of the sarcophagi and became available to anyone who could purchase such a sarcophagus. In the New Kingdom and later, they were recorded on papyrus scrolls or on leather. These scrolls are called "The Book of the Dead": a heap of prayers, chants, praises and incantations associated with the funeral cult. Gradually, elements of morality penetrate the Book of the Dead.

Osiris Judgment

This is the 125th chapter, which describes the posthumous judgment of Osiris (king and judge of the underworld) over the deceased. To the chapter illustration: Osiris with a crown and a rod sits on a throne. Above there are 42 gods. In the center of the hall there are scales on which the gods weigh the heart of the deceased (a symbol of the soul among the ancient Egyptians). On one scale is the heart, that is, the conscience of the deceased, light or burdened with sins, and on the other is Truth in the form of a feather of the goddess Maat or a figurine of Maat. If a person led a righteous life on earth, then his heart and feather weighed the same, if he sinned, then his heart weighed more. The justified deceased was sent to the afterlife, the sinner was eaten by the monster Amat (a lion with the head of a crocodile).
At the trial, the deceased turns to Osiris, and then to each of the 42 gods, justifying himself in mortal sin, which this or that god knew. The same chapter contains the text of the excuse speech.

The gods weigh the heart of the deceased (Book of the Dead)
The main colors of painting in Ancient Egypt were red, blue, black, brown, yellow, white and green.

The most important feature of the religious ideas of the Egyptians was that a necessary prerequisite for the successful existence of the soul of the deceased in the afterlife was the safety of his "material shell", his body. This led to the appearance of tombs and the emergence of the mummification of corpses. Mummy of Queen Hatshepsut

In that distant era, the custom arose to install portrait statues of the deceased in tombs: they were supposed to become a kind of "duplicates" of the human body. The true masterpieces of ancient Egyptian sculpture are the portrait statues of Prince Rahotep and his wife Nefert, found in the tomb of Rahotep in Medum. Portrait funeral statues of Tsarevich Rahotep and his wife Nefert from their tomb in Medum. The beginning of the XXVI century. BC NS.

The depictions of characters without divine dignity are much more natural and less formal than the depictions of the pharaohs. This manifests itself in freer postures and gestures; in a more lively and natural expression of faces; in the reflection of individual personality traits, such as age, appearance, hairstyle, clothing, jewelry. Rahotep's clothes are minimal: he wears only a short white schenti legguard. These were the usual clothes of Egyptian men of that time. Nefert is dressed in a tight, figure-hugging dress made of fine fabric, the so-called kazalis. A light cloak is thrown over the kazaliris.

The clothes of men and women of the era of the Old Kingdom are also conveyed by another sculptural group of a figurine depicting Tenti and his wife. Tenti wears a pleated legguard. His wife is wearing traditional kazaliris, tight-fitting to the body. Tenti and his wife. A statuette from the era of the Old Kingdom. C. BC NS.

The clothing of the Egyptians was a legguard. Commoners and slaves were content with a simple bandage of coarse cloth, while the schenti of high-ranking persons, and even more so the pharaoh, had a very refined form. They were made of pleated fabric and supported by a leather belt. statue of Amenhotep III in Luxor Temple (XIV century BC.

The grandee Ptahkhenui served as "chief of the palace servants" and was buried in a tomb located in Giza not far from the pyramids of the pharaohs. In this tomb, a pair of sculptural group was found, depicting Ptahkhenui and his wife. The grandee Ptahkhenui and his wife. Sculpture from the tomb at Giza. Reign of the 5th Dynasty

A fine example of Egyptian sculpture of the Middle Kingdom is a group carved from wood, found in the tomb of a certain Jehutinakht (he lived in the era of the Middle Kingdom), depicting female servants carrying boxes of food and birds, all this was supposed to provide food and drink for the owner of the tomb, who passed into another world. Bearers of gifts from the tomb of Jehutinakht in Deir el-Bersha. To the right is a maid carrying a box of sealed beer jars. Middle Kingdom, late 11th or early 12th dynasty (late 20th century BC)

The bearer of gifts. A figurine from the Middle Kingdom era from a tomb in Thebes. The beginning of the XX century. BC NS. The statuette of the "bearer of gifts", which is kept in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, belongs to the same period of the Middle Kingdom. Dated to the period of the rule of the Twelfth Dynasty. It is believed that this statuette depicts one of the servants of the Temple of Isis.

There are a large number of statues and bas-reliefs in which the pharaoh is depicted in a special ritual striped shawl, the ends of which hang down on the shoulders. This scarf was called "nemese". The most famous image of the pharaoh in Nemes is the famous Great Sphinx, whose head repeats the facial features of the pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty Khafre.

A huge statue of the Great Sphinx, half a lion - half a man, in Giza near present-day Cairo on the west bank of the Nile River. In the background of the Sphinx is the pyramid of Khafre (Khafre). The Great Sphinx is the largest monolithic statue on Earth, carved, as is commonly believed, by the ancient Egyptians in the 3rd millennium BC, somewhere between 2520 and 2494 BC.

There are also such statues in which the head of the pharaoh is adorned with both a nemes and a crown worn over it. It is these headdresses that adorn the heads of those granite sphinxes standing on the embankment of the Neva in St. Petersburg, which depict the pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty Amenhotep III, who lived in the XIV century BC. NS.

"Western" Sphinx Amenhotep III from Kom el-Hettan. Granite. St. Petersburg.

Artistic canons of Ancient Egypt The idea of ​​Eternity, belief in the possibility of eternal existence in the other world, as mentioned above, formed one of the most important artistic qualities of the art of Ancient Egypt, their monumentality. Relatively small statues are also monumental, and sometimes quite miniature works by Egyptian sculptors, such as those stone statues of scribes from the collection of the State Hermitage and the Moscow State Museum of Fine Arts named after V.I. A. S. Pushkin, quite small in size. Statuette of a scribe Gray talcumstone slate, End of the Middle Kingdom, c. XVIII century BC. Museum them. A.S. Pushkin Hall of Ancient Egypt. Statue of the scribe of grain counting Maa-ni-amon. Ser. XV century BC, Hermitage.

Huge stone statues of Amenhotep III are part of the composition of the pylon, built during his reign in the temple of Amun-Ra in Luxor. Pharaoh sits on the throne, and his main wife, Tia, depicted on a completely different scale, stands nearby, affectionately touching the shins of her master.

The ratio of the sizes of the figures of the pharaoh and his wife could be different depending on the location and ritual function of the image. In the compositions of the colossal statues of the pharaohs that adorned the pylons and colonnaded courtyards of the temples, the queen consort was depicted in such a reduced scale that her head barely reached the knees of the statue of the pharaoh. The beloved wife of Ramses II, the beautiful Nefertari, is also depicted on a reduced scale at the feet of the statues of the pharaoh that adorn the Goth portal of the temple of Amun-Ra in Luxor, which was erected during the reign of Ramses II.

The postures of scribes were very traditional. The most famous architects were sometimes depicted in the same seated positions, whose portrait statues were honored to be placed in the temples they built. Architect Amenhotep, son of Hapu, is the builder of the Amun-Ra temple in Karnak. XIV century. BC NS. Architect Senmut in the role of educator of the royal daughter. The beginning of the 15th century. BC NS.

The axirical statues of the pharaohs, installed along the walls of the temples, have their legs always parallel and the heels are moved together. In the same poses, there are memorial statues in niches and along the walls in the tomb of the nobleman Irukaptah: they depict the deceased in the traditional clothing of Egyptian men of that era. The poses of the statues are static and resemble soldiers standing in a formation on the command "at attention!" Osiric statues of Pharaoh Ramses III in the temple of Amun-Ra in Karnak. XII century. BC NS.

Art of the Early Kingdom Period. In ancient times in Egypt, there was a ritual that was unpleasant for the leaders: the aged, but still full of strength and energy, the king had to, safely reigning for a certain period (usually thirty years), prove that he was still fully functional. And that the ruler, like any person, was still getting old, we are reminded of the unique and very touching bone figurine of the pharaoh in the high crown of southern Egypt. A statuette of an aged pharaoh. Bone. Early kingdom

And in ritual statues, the seated pharaoh remained forever young and strong, as evidenced, for example, by the well-preserved statue of the Pharaoh of the Second Dynasty Hasekem (XXIX century BC), carved from a dark slate stone. This is perhaps the oldest example of a monumental portrait statue of this type. A statue of the Pharaoh of the Second Dynasty, Hasekhem, was found in Hierakonpolis. It is considered one of the oldest statues depicting the royal person of the Tunisian era.

Pharaoh Djoser Pharaoh Djoser ruled for almost two decades in the middle of the XXVII century BC. NS. (according to the modern Egyptologist P.A.Clayton from about 2668 to 2649 BC). In the famous list of pharaohs compiled by Manetho, Djoser is designated as the ancestor of the Third Dynasty. In ancient times, the statue of Djoser was damaged by robbers: they broke out a manhole made of rock crystal and alabaster. Now this statue looks at visitors with its empty eye sockets, which gives the pharaoh's face an even more severe expression. A portrait statue of Pharaoh Djoser. XXVII century BC NS.

The creator of the Djoser memorial complex is the architect Imhotep. His name is written in hieroglyphs next to the name of Djoser on the stone slab left from the statue of the pharaoh. It was a great honor for the architect, and such an arrangement of his name testifies to the great respect for him and his high social status. Imhotep was not only an architect, but also Djoser's vizier - his closest adviser. Architect Imhotep is the creator of the Djoser pyramid ensemble. Bronze statuette, created two thousand years after his death.

Sculpture of Egypt Ancient Kingdom. One of the finest examples of wooden sculpture in the Old Kingdom, the figure of the priest Kaaper, chief of reciters or ceremonial (height 109 cm), which is currently kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Discovered in his own mastaba in Saqqara, this sculpture, created in the late 4th or early 5th Dynasty, is commonly known as Sheikh el-Beled, which means "village headman."

The seated scribes are sculptural representations of great realism. Undoubtedly, two of the most important are scribes dating from the 5th Dynasty. The eye socket is copper. The protein is alabaster. The iris is rock crystal. A cone filled with soot is carved in the crystal, which imitates the pupil and the gaze itself. The Seated Scribe is an ancient Egyptian (BC) statue of a scribe in the Louvre.

Physical power was emphasized in the figures of the pharaohs and noble persons. Preserving some of the undoubtedly portrait features, the authors discarded minor details, imparted a dispassionate expression to the faces, generalized the mighty, stately-monumental forms of the body. But the most talented sculptors, even within the constraining framework of the canon, managed to create a number of remarkable, striking portrait works. Bust of the royal son of Ankhhaf (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts)

Sculpture of Egypt in the Middle Kingdom. Since the time of the XII dynasty, ritual statues have been more widely used (and, accordingly, made in large quantities). This type includes the Cheb-Sednaya statue of Mentuhotep-Nebhepetra, depicting the pharaoh in an emphatically stiff posture with arms crossed on his chest .. The same deviation from the deviation from the canon of the Old Kingdom is expressed in more slender proportions of the human body.

A completely different, more realistic direction is also observed in the work of the Thebans. The Theban masters perform a number of magnificent portrait heads of the pharaohs of the XII dynasty. Head of Senusret III, Pharaoh of the XII Dynasty, from the former MacGregor collection (now the Gulbenkian collection) A sculptural portrait of Amenemkhet III. One of the most famous workmanship from the collection of V.S. Golenishchev. XII din.

Sculpture of Egypt New Kingdom. During the times of the New Kingdom, Egypt, on the basis of military conquests, is drawn into relations with the Asian world. These attitudes have led to the development of close cultural ties that enrich works of art. In sculpture, unprecedented figures are created, called colossi, which are installed outside the temples. The most famous colossi are located in Thebes and since the time of the Greeks have been called "Colossi of Memnon".

The facade of the temple, built in Abu Simba-le (Nubia) by order of Ramses II in honor of Queen Nefertari, his main wife in his youth, and in honor of the goddess Hathor. This rock-cut façade has seven buttresses, the central of which provides access to the interior of the temple, while the rest are inscribed in six niches, which house four standing statues of this pharaoh and two Nefertari, adorned with the attributes of the goddess Hathor.

A bust of one of the 28 colossi of Pharaoh Akhenaten, erected in the Temple of Hematon in Karnak (Cairo, Egyptian Museum). The religious reform of this pharaoh made a real revolution in art, which was embodied in a conscious desire, unique throughout the evolution of Egyptian art, to establish a break with traditional pictorial norms. So, the elongated face and the special expression of the monarch's gaze seek to convey, like new symbols of divinity, his inner spiritual strength

Bust of Queen Nefertiti (painted limestone 48 cm high). This creation is kept in the Archaeological Museum of Florence (Italy) and is considered one of the most perfect artistic expressions in world art. Nefertiti shared with Ehna-ton, her husband, a deep admiration for Aten. As in other depictions of the heretic monarch's wife, this sculpture emphasizes the length of the neck and other facial features in order to represent it in accordance with the Eastern ideal of voluptuousness. Sculpture of the Late Period In the Late Period, Egypt is significantly more connected with other civilizations of the ancient world. Although stylistically the sculpture of the first millennium BC. NS. does not constitute a single whole, the general approach to the transfer of the human body in stone does not change, the statues of the Late Period retain all the main features and types of statues inherent in the canon of sculpture of earlier eras. The figurine was first published and identified as a portrait of Pharaoh Taharka (years BC) by ND Flittner, and then it was repeatedly cited in the literature. It is an excellent testament to the high level of the art of royal and private portraiture during the XXV, Ethiopian dynasty.

Statue of Osiris. Black granite. H. 0.52 m. The statue gives the impression of an unfinished work; the bridge between the artificial goatee and the neck is left the same width as the goatee, when it should be narrower. The outlines of the whip, wand and hands are not clear. Figures of goddesses and hieroglyphs are outlined in relief, but not finished. The entire surface of the statue was left rough and not finished.

Statuette of the priest Irefo-en-Hapi. Brown quartz. H. 0.205 m. The figurine depicts a man sitting on the ground with his legs pressed to his body and his hands folded on his knees. He is all wrapped up in clothing that leaves only his hands and feet open. Such statues, which convey the usual pose in which the Egyptian fellahi like to sit, resembling a "bag with a head", as Maspero put it, are characteristic only of Egypt. They appear in the Middle Kingdom, but are also made later throughout the New Kingdom and the Late Period.

Part of the statue of a man. Basalt. H. 0.098 m. Facial features are given softly, even somewhat indistinctly, without sharp lines and excessively prominent details. The face is somewhat asymmetrical: the left eye is positioned higher than the right and set slightly deeper. Small ears are tighter to the skull than is usually the case with Egyptian statues.

Excellent ART PRESENTATION for everyone ART PRESENTATION

“Ta-Meri -“ Beloved Country ”. This is how the ancient Egyptians called their land. And they had every reason to love and admire their country. The unique nature allowed a very early civilization to emerge on the banks of the Nile in ancient times. This civilization, developing over many centuries, has created the highest culture that has presented to mankind wonderful works of architecture, literature and art. "

Historical, economic and social conditions for the formation of the culture of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt! The narrow valley of the Nile among arid deserts and bare rocks. More than 90% of the territory of Egypt is occupied by the desert, the so-called "Red Land". Life there was possible only in oases and in the valleys of dry rivers. But thanks to the floods of the Nile, this land was one of the most fertile in the world. That is why the economy of Ancient Egypt was based on agriculture in the fertile Nile Valley. It was only necessary to be able to retain water and improve agriculture. This required general efforts, general organization, which are possible only with a strong centralized state.

At the end of the 4th millennium BC, while Europe lived in the Stone Age, in North Africa, a highly developed civilization was already ripening in the Nile Valley.
Ancient Egypt developed in the lower and middle course of the Nile.
Already in the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC, during its heyday - in the era of the New Kingdom, the power of the pharaohs extended to the fourth Nile rapids in the south and spread over large territories in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as on the coast of the Red Sea.
All Egypt from the early Dynastic period was divided into two large regions: Upper and Lower Egypt. And these, in turn, had several dozen regions, which the Greeks called nomes.

The beliefs of the Egyptians and their reflection in art.

The ancient Egyptians, like many people in ancient times, and in our time, believed that a person has a soul that leaves his body after death. They believed that the soul after death flies between two worlds - earthly and otherworldly. So that the soul could freely leave the grave and then return there, a symbolic exit was arranged in the wall of the aboveground part of the tomb in the form of a slightly recessed niche.

Among the Egyptian amulets, the image of the scarab beetle was widespread. The ancient Egyptians believed that the scarab had life-giving power. He was a symbol of eternal life. A scarab rolling a ball is a symbol of the movement of the solar disk across the sky.

First of all, the art of Ancient Egypt reflected the concern of the ancient Egyptians for eternal life and the other world. These are tombs, sarcophagi, funeral and ritual statues.
The ancient Egyptians believed that for the safe existence of a spiritual person in the afterlife, the safety of his "material shell" is necessary. Hence the capital stone structures - tombs and the appearance of portrait statues of the deceased and his entourage (deputy mummy).

Much has been done for the blissful eternal life in the afterlife.

Another important component of Egyptian art: the cult of the Pharaoh - the God-equal ruler of Egypt. This was necessary to strengthen the power and unity of the state. In art, the cult of the pharaoh was reflected in the grandiose monumentality of architecture and the creation of numerous statues, colossi, sphinxes, reliefs and paintings.

The main features (features) of the art of Ancient Egypt
Egyptian civilization was the creator of:
- magnificent monumental stone architecture
- a sculptural portrait, remarkable for its realistic truthfulness
- wonderful products of artistic handicrafts.

1. The monumentality of stone architecture.

2. The realism and truthfulness of sculptural portraits is combined with generalization and stylization.

3. A striking feature of the art of Ancient Egypt was devotion to traditions in art and adherence to certain canons.
The reason for this was that the overwhelming majority of the monuments of art of Ancient Egypt had a religious and cult purpose. Therefore, the creators of these monuments were obliged to follow the established canons.

4. Canonization of the simplest image techniques. This happened due to the fact that the religious views of the Egyptians ascribed a sacred meaning to the artistic appearance of the first, most ancient monuments of Egyptian art.

In the art of Ancient Egypt, a number of conventions persisted, dating back to primitive art and becoming canonical:
- the image of objects and animals that are invisible to neither the viewer nor the artist, but which can definitely be present in this scene (for example, fish and crocodiles under water).
- an image of an object using a schematic listing of its parts (foliage of trees in the form of a set of conventionally arranged leaves or plumage of birds in the form of individual feathers);
- a combination in the same scene of images of objects made from different angles. For example, the bird was depicted in profile, and the tail was on top;

The combination of different angles was also used when depicting a human figure:
- head in profile,
- eye to face,
- shoulders in front,
- arms and legs - in profile.

5. Another feature of the ancient Egyptian style is the emphasized geometry of forms in architecture and sculpture.
In this way, the Egyptians achieved the generalization or stylization required by the canon. There are suggestions that geometrization and special proportionality were due to the work of the ancient Egyptians mainly with stone, and not clay, as was the case, for example, in Mesopotamia.

In ancient Egypt, the sculptor was called "sanh", which means "creating life." Recreating the image of the deceased, he seemed to recreate a double in case the mummy decays ...
Egyptian art was recreated for the glory of kings and the ideas of the divinity of the king (pharaoh). It is important that it was conceived not as a source of aesthetic pleasure, but first of all as a statement in amazing forms and images of these ideas themselves and the power that the pharaoh was endowed with - “the good god”, according to his official title.

Periodization

(after Mathieu M.E. Art of Ancient Egypt.)
1. Pre-dynastic period. Con. 5 - 4 thousand BC Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. OK. 3000 BC
2. Early kingdom. Beginning 3 thousand BC (from 3000 to 2800 BC)
3. The ancient kingdom. 3rd millennium BC
4. Middle Kingdom. 21 c. - 18th century BC.
5. New kingdom. OK. 1600 - 11th century BC.
6. Later time. 11th century - 9th century BC.
7. Hellenistic Egypt. 332 BC (conquered by Alexander the Great) - 30 BC

Pre-dynastic period

Con. 5 - 4 thousand BC

Already during the pre-dynastic period, the ancient Egyptians, who lived in tribal communities, especially carefully decorated the tomb of the leader, since it was believed that his "eternal" existence ensured the well-being of the entire community.
In the visual arts of this time, a system of certain ways of conveying the surrounding reality gradually begins to take shape - the ancient Egyptian style. This can be clearly seen in a group of monuments important for the history of art - tiles with relief images. Small flat stone plates were used for grinding and mixing paints used during cult rites.
The first monument, very clearly showing the addition of the ancient Egyptian style, and of national importance is the Narmer plate.

OK. 3000 BC NS. Slate. Height - 64 cm.

It refers to an important time in the formation of Egyptian civilization and the emergence of the first ancient Egyptian state.
The slab was made to commemorate the unification of Upper (southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt into a single state.

After the victory, King Menes founded a new capital in Memphis, on the border of the two countries, which allowed him to more successfully rule the united state.
The stove has come down to us from his successor, Narmer.

Content:
On one side, a king in the crown of southern Egypt kills a northerner, below - fleeing northerners.
On the other side above is a celebration of victory: the king in the crown of the defeated North goes with his entourage to look at the decapitated corpses of enemies, and below - the king in the form of a bull destroying an enemy fortress and trampling the enemy; the middle part of this side is occupied by a symbolic cult scene of obscure content.

In this monument, you can already trace the main features of the emerging ancient Egyptian style:
- Line by line image
- Adding a finished composition with a compositional center (the principle of dominance and subordination)
- Expressiveness of silhouettes.
- Consistency and symmetry in the image of the figures.
- Individual figures are made larger than others to emphasize their important role.

Early kingdom

From 3000 to 2800 BC architecture

Architecture took the leading position in Egyptian art from the earliest times.
Residential architecture made of wood and raw bricks (from unbaked clay) has not survived.
In the field of tomb architecture, by the end of the Early Kingdom, the appearance of the burials of Egyptian kings and nobility was formed.
The brick and stone building included underground burial chambers and a rectangular structure above the ground. Its walls were inclined inward, and from above it ended with a flat roof.
In the above-ground part, religious premises were arranged for the statues of the gods and the owner of the tomb with an altar in front of the so-called false door, that is, in front of the image of the door, as it were, leading to the “eternal dwelling” of the deceased.
The name of these buildings is mastaba (from the Arabic bench).

Ancient kingdom

28 - 23 centuries BC.

The time of the final addition of all the main forms of Egyptian art.
Architecture
It was during the period of the Old Kingdom that the most famous Egyptian type of tomb, the pyramid, was formed.

The ancient Egyptian architects were faced with the task of making an impression of the overwhelming power and strength of the pharaoh's power. For this purpose, a pyramid shape was invented to enlarge the above-ground part of the tomb.

Old Kingdom, mid 27th century BC. Architect Imhotep. Most likely, the architect's intention was to put several mastabas of decreasing size on top of each other.

Transitional view -. The beginning of the 26th century BC. The ancient kingdom.

Egyptian necropolises have always been located on the west bank of the Nile.

Pharaohs of the IV dynasty chose a place for their burials near Saqqara - in modern Giza.

Three great classical pyramids of the pharaohs Cheops (Khufu), Khafren (Khafre) and Mikerin (Menkaura). They are composed of giant limestone blocks, with an average weight of 2.5 tons, which are supported by their own gravity.
The ensemble includes small pyramids of queens and funeral temples adjoining the pyramid on the east side.

A sphinx was often placed near the lower memorial church.
Sphinx- a lying lion with a human face. He embodied the superhuman essence of the pharaoh.

The Great Sphinx is located at the lower memorial temple of Khafre. It is believed to have a portrait of the pharaoh. Carved out of a monolithic limestone rock. The statue is missing a nose, damage one meter wide.
Versions: this detail of the statue was knocked off by a cannonball during the battle of Napoleon with the Turks (1798); the falsity of this opinion is indicated by the drawings of a Danish traveler who saw the noseless sphinx already in 1737 - in other versions of the legend, the place of Napoleon is taken by the British or the Mamelukes.

19th century photograph. Architect Hemiun. Second quarter of the 26th century BC. One of the "seven wonders of the world." It was built on a massive natural rock eminence, which turned out to be in the very middle of the base of the pyramid, its height is about 9 meters. The facing of the pyramid was made, making it shine in the sun.

Towards the end of the Old Kingdom period, a new type of building appears - the solar temple. It was built on a dais and was surrounded by a wall. In the center of the spacious courtyard with chapels, a colossal stone obelisk was erected with a gilded copper top and a huge altar at the foot.

... Obelisk with Egyptian characters.

Sculpture

Sculpture, like all Egyptian art, had ritual significance.
In the pyramids, in a special room, a statue of the deceased was necessarily placed in case something happened to the mummy.

In the era of the Old Kingdom, the main features of the sculpture were formed:
- symmetry and frontality in the construction of figures
- clarity and calmness of poses.
- geometrism and generalization of form.
- mandatory preservation of portrait features.

Full figure image:
1. standing with the left leg extended forward - the pose of movement in eternity.
2. Sitting on a cube-shaped throne. 3. In the scribe's pose with crossed legs on the ground.

Triad of Mikerin (Cairo).
Pharaoh Mikerin, accompanied by the goddesses. A sculptural group from the memorial temple of Mikerin in Giza. The ancient kingdom.
Pose of movement in eternity. The theme of the unity of the godlike pharaoh with the patron goddesses. Immaculately beautiful shapes.

The ancient kingdom. Symmetry and frontality in the construction of the figure.

... 27th century BC NS. The ancient kingdom. Cairo Museum.
The noble spouses are solemnly seated before us. According to the canon, the male figure is painted brick red, the female figure yellow. The hair on straight heads was always black, and the clothes were white. No halftones, decorativeness.

Scribe Kai. From his tomb at Saqqara. Limestone with coloring, inlaid eyes. 25 - 1st floor 24 c. BC. H - only 53 cm. The body is tinted in the traditional "tan color" for male figures. Shown without wig. A close, attentive gaze, ready to write.
The statue was found during excavations in the con. 19th century When the workers made their way into the tomb, the statue's eyes flashed so brightly that the poor fellows fled in horror. And then, taking her for the incarnation of the devil, they wanted to break it. The head of the excavation had to defend the ancient statue with a pistol in his hands. So the statue of Kaya almost died thanks to the power of the artistic effect of the inlaid eyes.
Proteins were made from opaque quartz; the cornea is made of crystal covered with brown resin, which, shining through the crystal, created the illusion of brown eyes. A droplet of black resin served as the pupil, filling a small depression on the back of the "cornea".

Middle kingdom

21st - 18th centuries BC.

From the 23rd to the 21st centuries as a result of the war, the decline of the idea of ​​the divine power of the pharaoh, the country collapsed. This influenced the development of individualism in art.
Individualism manifested itself in the fact that everyone began to take care of their own immortality - not only the pharaoh and noble nobility, but also ordinary people. The cult of the dead has become very simplified. Mastaba-type tombs have become a superfluous luxury. To ensure eternal life, one stele was enough - a stone slab on which magical texts were written.
The pharaohs continued to build pyramid-shaped tombs, but their size decreased significantly. The material for the construction was no longer stone blocks, but raw bricks, so now these pyramids are heaps of ruins.

With a new stage in the centralization of power during the Middle Kingdom, construction again intensified.
Along with the pyramids, a new type of burial structures appeared - a half-rock temple. It combined the traditional shape of a pyramid and a rock tomb.

(Valley of the Kings). Middle Kingdom.

Sculpture

On the head is the dress of the pharaohs: a striped scarf with a convex image of a sacred snake above the forehead. Sits regally on the throne. More individual than previous sculptures (for example, the statue of F. Khefren, The Old Kingdom).

... The gaze, the energetic expression on the face with wide cheekbones betray the tough temper of this king.

New kingdom

OK. 1600 - 11th century BC.

After the split of the Middle Kingdom, united Egypt rebelled with renewed vigor in the New Kingdom. This is the period of the highest prosperity, the triumph of Egyptian power. The king of the then powerful state of Mitanni testified that in the state of the pharaoh "gold is like dust."
Construction is still aimed at affirming the divine nature of the king's power. But instead of the pyramids, temples are now being erected.
The tombs of the pharaohs are being built in the so-called "Valley of the Kings" - Deir el-Bahri opposite Thebes.

An example of a half-rock memorial temple is.

OK. 1500 BC Architect Senmut.
All parts of the temple are located along the horizontal axis. Three terraces rise one above the other. Alternating horizontal lines represent infinity or eternity. On the terraces, ponds were placed, densely lined with trees. The halls of the temple are carved into the rock.

(Senenmut, the Queen's favorite) with Hatshepsut's daughter little Nefrura.

The halls of the temple were decorated with magnificent paintings and sculptures depicting expeditions to distant countries.

Like the temples themselves, everything in front of them breathed solemnity and grandeur: the alleys of sphinxes, giant statues of pharaohs - colossi.
Gigantomania is characteristic of many monuments of the New Kingdom era.

Ramses II is one of the most powerful pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

The statues of the pharaoh at the entrance to the temple are striking in their size - 20 m in height. The temple is dedicated to Pharaoh and three gods: Amon, Ra, and Ptah.

Head of Colossus Ramesses II at Abu Simbel

The most grandiose buildings of the New Kingdom are the Karnak and Luxor temples.

Architect Ineni. Dedicated to the supreme god - Amon. It was built for several centuries - from the Middle Kingdom to the era of the Ptolemies. Each pharaoh tried to perpetuate his name here.
The temple was an elongated rectangle surrounded by a high massive wall.

Karnak. Plan. 1. Avenue of the Sphinxes. 12th century BC NS. 2. Large courtyard with temples of Pharaohs Seti II and Ramses III. 3. The Hypostyle Hall. 15-13 centuries. BC NS. 4. Courtyard. 5. The main part of the temple of the god Amon-Ra (16-12 centuries BC) with the ruins of the temple of the Middle Kingdom and the temple of Pharaoh Thutmes III. 6. Temple of the god Khonsu. 12th century BC NS. The pylons are marked with Roman numerals.

The temple consisted of a complex of structures located along the longitudinal axis of the temple: From the Nile to the temple there was a road - an alley of sphinxes.

starts from the ancient pier on the banks of the Nile and leads to the first pylon. The alley was created under Ramses II (XIX dynasty, New Kingdom). Sphinxes with the body of a lion and the head of a ram. The ram is the sacred animal of the god Amun.
During the reign of Pharaoh Nectanebo I (30th Dynasty, Ptolemies, Late Period), the three-kilometer road connecting the temples of Luxor and Karnak was decorated with stone sculptures of sphinxes. The part of the alley that began at Karnak consisted of sphinxes with the body of a lion and the head of a ram; from the Luxor temple there was an alley in which the sphinxes had human heads.
The entrance to the temple is called pylons. Usually gigantic statues of the pharaoh and gilded obelisks were erected in front of them.

After the pylon, several courtyards followed, replacing each other: a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade - peristyle (peristyle). A sacrificial stone was located in the center of the courtyard.


Then there was a hall completely filled with columns - hypostyle (hypostyle).
Pharaoh Ramses II built a giant hypostyle courtyard (hall) in Karnak.
Its S is 5000 m².
Counts approx. 134 columns arranged in 16 rows.
Central H - 23 m.
The capitals of each of them could fit 100 people.
Here, in the twilight, the subjects with special power felt the greatness and incomprehensibility of the divine principle of the Pharaoh, who created this temple.

Behind the courtyards-halls, in the depths of the temple, there was a chapel, consisting of several rooms. Its center was the hall, where on the sacrificial stone there was a sacred boat with a statue of the main god - Amun.

The structure of the temple included numerous utility rooms.

Sacred ponds were necessarily arranged on the territory of the temple.

Temple in Luxor
A little less Karnak, but harmony and clarity brighten up the "excess". It is also dedicated to the sun god Amon-Ra. Located on the right bank of the Nile, in the southern part of Thebes, within the modern city of Luxor.
It was connected to Karnak by a paved alley of sphinxes.
The oldest part was founded under Amenhotep III. Ramses the Great added the northern peristyle and pylon.

At the northern entrance of the Luxor Temple there are four colossus and two obelisks, of which one was transported in the 1830s. to Paris, to the Place de la Concorde.

Amenhotep III was one of the greatest builder pharaohs Egypt has ever known. Near the ruins of his funeral temple in the last century, an alley of sphinxes carved from pink Aswan granite was excavated.
Two of them now stand on the University Embankment in St. Petersburg opposite the Academy of Arts.

Luxor. The Ramesseum is a hypostyle hall built by Ramses the Great. The slenderness of the columns with capitals in the form of open panicles and papyrus buds makes an indelible impression.

Luxor. An old photograph of the Column Hall of Amenhotep III.

Art of the middle of the New Kingdom During the reign of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten)

- Amarna periodfirst half of the 14th century BC.

Art of the second half of the New Kingdom

2nd floor 14th - early 11th centuries BC.

conclusions

The main features of the art of Ancient Egypt: canonicity, symbolism, geometry, massiveness, a combination of stylization and naturalism in one image, the stability of traditions, etc.
The ancient kingdom - the creation of a single state, art expressed primarily the power of the state and the incomprehensibility of the deified power.
Middle Kingdom - fluctuation of foundations, reassessment of values.
The new kingdom is a period of prosperity, the triumph of Egyptian power.