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Egyptian Pyramids
Ancient Egyptian Art:
Day 2
The Old Kingdom:
• Most people associate pyramids with the
great Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza.
• The gigantic stone pyramids were actually
built over the course of three generations:
• Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure.
• Egypt has over 90 royal pyramids which span
a period of a thousand years, plus over 180
pyramids which were built in Nubia over the
course of another thousand years.
• The primal archetype of the Egyptian obelisk
and pyramid was the sacred Ben-Ben stone in
the temple of Heliopolis, the oldest center of
the sun cult.
• The original stone at Heliopolis, symbolizing
the primeval mound, was believed to have
been the point at which the rays of the rising
sun first fell.
• The gilded capstone of the pyramid, which
would sit at the apex, or the tip of an obelisk
was known as a ben-benet.
Old Kingdom Pyramid Complexes
• The Age of the Pyramids was one of the
most glorious in human history.
• Known as the Old Kingdom
• 2650 to 2150 B.C.
• Third through Sixth dynasties
• During these five centuries:
• Egyptians created their famous pyramids—the
world's most abstract building form
• Defined once and for all the essence of their
civilization's art.
• At the center of Egyptian art are the human figure
and the animals and plants of the Nile Valley.
• Artists of the Old Kingdom created a limited
number of conventions to depict this rich
environment; the resulting artistic canon governed
Egyptian art for the next three thousand years.
• Predominantly youthful and vigorous, Old Kingdom
images exude an air of utter confidence in human
achievement. At the same time, gentle gestures
express the intimate relationships between:
• king and deity
• man and wife
• mother and child.
• The primary medium of Old Kingdom art was
stone, a material whose durability best served the
culture's all-encompassing goal of defeating
death.
• Most works of art were created for temples
attached to the royal pyramids and for the
surrounding tombs of officials and their families.
• Some sculptures have been discovered in middle-
class tombs of administrators, scribes, and
craftsmen.
• The peasants and servants of Old Kingdom society
have left almost nothing of themselves to
posterity, but their lives are depicted in the reliefs
and small sculptures of elite tombs.
The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara
3rd Dynasty
• The first pyramid
funerary complex was
designed and built by
Imhotep.
• Developed from the
mastaba tombs, the step
pyramid was gradually
extended until it became
a superstructure.
• Basically adding smaller
mastaba to larger
mastaba.
The Pyramids of Snefru - 4th Dynasty
The Bent Pyramid of Dahshur
• Probably the first
pyramid to be
conceived as a "true"
pyramid.
• This pyramid owes its
characteristic bend due
to the marked change
of angle part way up
the profile.
• The explanation for the
shape of this pyramid
is uncertain.
The Red Pyramid of Dahshur.
• The first successful
"true" pyramid of
Snefru was constructed
with a constant angle.
• The Red pyramid (or
northern pyramid) was
known as "Snefru
appears in glory".
• It was probably in this
northern pyramid that
Snefru was buried.
• With such resources
available to him, Snefru
was able to leave a
strong inheritance to
his son Khufu.
Pyramids of Giza - 4th Dynasty.
• Snefru's son Khufu took his father's
achievements to the extreme of pyramid
building by the construction of the Great
Pyramid complex at Giza.
• It stands alongside the smaller pyramids of
Khafre and Menkaure, and the three
pyramids of Khufu's queens.
Graphic of Giza
Temple of Isis Graphic
• In purely architectural terms, pyramids can
be divided into two broad types:
• the step pyramid
• The first step pyramids appear to have evolved and
developed from the royal and private mastaba tombs of
the early Dynastic Period.
• the true pyramid
• by the early 4th Dynasty the first true smooth sided
pyramid had been built by Snefru at Dahshur.
• The full scale pyramid complex consisted of:
• a true pyramid with mortuary
• valley temples
• a causeway between the two
• usually a number of smaller subsidiary pyramids
The Middle Kingdom Pyramids
• During the First Intermediate Period,
pyramid building had practically stopped.
• The form of the pyramid complex was revived
during the Middle Kingdom by the 12th
Dynasty pharaoh Amenemhet I (1991-1962
BC).
• Pyramids tended to be built with mudbrick
inner cores and then faced with limestone.
• Once completed the effect would look similar
to the Old Kingdom stone pyramids.
• If this outer casing of limestone was
removed, the pyramid was "unprotected" and
would deteriorate badly.
Middle
Kingdom
map
Middle Kingdom Pyramids of Senwosret I (top) and
Amenemhet I (bottom)
The Nubian Pyramids
• The kingdom of Kush, as Nubia was known to
the Ancient Egyptians, grew from a trading
post established on Egypt's periphery around
the time of the Middle Kingdom.
• During the early New Kingdom, Nubia
became a province of Egypt.
• During the Third Intermediate Period, a
Kushite dynasty emerged from Thebes, led by
a ruler called Kashta, from Napata in Nubia.
• Kashta's successor Piye (Piankhi) led a
campaign and claimed kingship of Upper and
Lower Egypt.
• The first Nubian pyramids were built at
the site of el-Kurru, downstream from
the Temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal.
• The site at el-Kurru contains the tombs
of Kashta and his son Piye (Piankhi),
five earlier generations, together with
Piye's successors Shabako, Shabatko
and Tanutamun, and fourteen pyramids
of the queens.
• The re-emergence of the pyramid after
such a significant interval shows the
transfer of an architectural idea from
one region and culture to another.
• The Nubian pyramids are:
• much smaller
• far more numerous
• considerably more standardized than
those of Egypt's classic pyramid age.
Temple of Karnak
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