HIEROGLYPHICS, ART, ARCHITECTURE

By: Tracy Wong, FeiFei Lo, Annette Yuen

Ancient Egyptian Art

Ancient Egyptian art was mainly inspired by familiar images taken from nature. The function of the art was originally either religious or funerary or both. Majority of art such as paintings and sculptures was made to decorate the darkness of temple interiors, away from public view or buried with the dead in tombs to protect and sustain them in afterlife.

Ancient egyptian art

Every example of Egyptian art from any time period strictly adheres to the same style called frontalism, which means that the head of the character is always drawn in profile, while the body is seen from the front. Colour was important, especially with deities black and green = Osiris, god of underworld and vegetation, red = Seth, god of chaos, blue = sky as reflected in the Nile, to represent divinity, golden yellow = protective hue, ruddy shade = males, paler tones = females

Architecture
Most of the architecture was made out of stone, the most durable of all building materials. Architecture includes: pyramids, tombs, temples and palaces. Pyramids were built to be royal tombs.

The design of the first temple was laid down by the gods, and each successive temple was a copy of the first one.

Palaces consisted of complicated designs

Hieroglyphics
AD 391 Emperor Theodosius I closed all pagan temples language was lost Rosetta stone (1799)

Hieroglyphics
developed about 4000 BC direction: read either way, depending on symbols number system

Hieroglyphics
Hieratic: another form of writing in Egypt at the same time

Sample of Hieratic

Influences on World History

Hieroglyphs were far more than a language. They were an influential force in the spreading of ancient Egyptian culture for over three thousand years; used as monumental art, as a means of distinguishing the Egyptians, and for communication with the gods. Hieroglyphs also influenced other, but similar forms of writings by other ancient civilizations and may be the oldest form of writing. Hieroglyphs continue to provide information about life in ancient Egypt today.

The architecture and the hieroglyphics showed the amazing technological advancement as many still continue to search for the answers to the baffling mysteries of how the pyramids were built and the hieroglyphics weren't decoded until the discovery of the Rosetta Stone.
There is consensus among historians and Egyptologists that the ancient Egyptians were the first builders ever known to man; they taught humanity how to design and create buildings; thus laying grounds for human civilization, urbanization and man's settlement in a specific place of his own for the first time in history. Ancient Egyptian art, despite being often seen as simplistic, was perhaps the most-detailed art at the time (developed the technique of formalism) and sculptures and pottery have evolved as a result of the creativity and artistry of ancient Egyptians.

Impact on Egypt
Various impacts to different aspects of life, like religious, technological, social and political

The ancient Egyptians were considered to be extraordinarily religious as the art was often symbolic and intended to preserve the images of things. The architecture (mainly pyramids) housed the deceased people and their symbolic art/possessions for the afterlife. Both also helped to explain the divinity of the pharaohs and the relationship of the gods.
In the world of politics, Egyptians used symbolic pictures to explain the relationship of the god-king pharaohs to their inferiors. For instance, height, even if not physically true, did accurately represent a pharaoh's social and political status. Anyone shown barefoot, belonged to an inferior class. Hieroglyphics impacted all aspects of ancient Egyptian life as it provided a method for communication and information recording (creation of papyrus). In ancient Egypt, scribes used hieroglyphs to record state documents and important historical events (social impact). Hieroglyphs with religious purposes also were painted on tomb walls and wooden coffins. Overall, most, if not all of the art, architecture and hieroglyphs impacted the ancient Egyptian's religious and political life the most.

Bibliography
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