Term
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Definition
• The Nile flowed from two sources, the White Nile - through Lake Victoria in Uganda, which provided a small portion of water but a constant flow. And the Blue Nile - from Lake Tana in Ethiopia which was the cause of the regular inundation.
• The Nile was the main traffic way of the Egyptians, even after the use of the wheel was introduced.
• Upper Egypt is the strip of land located close to the Nile River, extending from Cairo to Aswan. The Delta was Lower Egypt which extended from Cairo to the Mediterranean.
• Distinctions were made by the Egyptians in regards to the differences in the landscape the term Deshret meant “Red Land” (the desert) and Kemet ‘Black Land” (irrigated and sown land) |
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Term
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Definition
| observation of waxing and waning of the moon (used for ritualistic/cultic calendars) Mostly useful for regional calendars. “Hours-stars” determined the nighttime hours. |
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Term
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Definition
| observation of rising stars and constellations and of the sun (daytime) |
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Definition
| count the regnal years of kings and begin anew with every new ruler. |
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Term
| Four ways to determine time |
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Definition
Agricultural
Astronomical
Royal Annals
Lunar Calendar |
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Term
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Definition
| Inundation (July - November) |
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Term
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Definition
| Winter (Emergence of crops) (November - April) |
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Term
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Definition
| Summer (Harvest of crops) (April - July) |
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Term
| Three seasons of 4 months each |
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Definition
• Akhet = Inundation (July - November)
• Peret = Winter (Emergence of crops) (November - April)
• Shemu = Summer (Harvest of crops) (April - July) |
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Term
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Definition
| The agricultural year began with the onset of inundation, which at one point coincided with the “heliacal rising” (first visibility after a period of invisibility) of the star dog-star Sirius (Greek Sothis), making it July 17-19. This is when the Egyptians would start the agricultural clocks over to be in sync with the astronomical cycle, however this only happened every 1460 years |
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Term
King Lists
The Table of Karnak |
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Definition
| (from the reign of Thutmosis III, Dynasty 18) |
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Term
King Lists
The Table of Abydos |
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Definition
| (from the reign of Sety I, Dynasty 19) |
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Term
King Lists
The Turin Canon |
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Definition
| (from the reign of Rameses II, Dynasty 19) This artifact includes 300 names and actual divisions of rulers into dynasties, it also provides precise duration of each reign and reckons up to the years passed since the reign of first ruler Menes. |
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Term
King Lists
The Table of Saqqara |
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Definition
| (from the Ramessid Period) |
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Term
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Definition
| The most famous document is the Palermo Stone, this king list records the political and ritual deeds of rulers from Predynastic up to Dynasty 5. It claims to go all the way back to mythical rulers who are claimed to have ruled for many thousands of years. |
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Term
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Definition
| He was an Egyptian priest that was commissioned by Ptolemy II, one of the Greek/Macedonian rulers. He divided Egypt’s history into 30 dynasties, a convention that has remained with us, although this is not always accurate. |
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Term
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Definition
| Menes (identity still disputed) - founder of the Egyptian state, although the Old Kingdom is generally only said to begin with Dynasties 3, 1-2 are generally known as Early Dynastic periods before that is Predynastic |
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Term
| Founder of Middle Kingdom |
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Definition
| Mentuhotep II-Nebhepetre - Middle Kingdom |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Problems in Establishing an “absolute chronology” |
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Definition
• Incompleteness of sources.
• Cyclical time keeping of Egyptians (counting regnal years)
• So-called co-regencies of certain kings mean overlap of some reigns
• Contemporary dynasties during Intermediate Periods
• Egyptian King lists leave out certain rulers (women, foreign invaders, kings fallen into disrepute). |
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Term
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Definition
• Evidence in the early period is sparse (10,000 - 5,000 B.C.E.)
• Nile is swampy, and the river levels are higher than today, therefore the area was not a barren desert as we think of Egypt today.
• Then after the last ice age at 10,000 B.C.E., the Sahara slowly drys out and the Nile valley attracts more people where there is still fertile land, they come from the Sahara desert and NE Africa.
• Transition from food gathering economy to food producing economy
• This allows for more leisure time which permits creation of specialists
7,000 B.C.E., some evidence for climatic changes |
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Term
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Definition
• Two distinct cultural traditions for Upper and Lower Egypt
• 5,500 B.C.E., the last great wet phase came to an end another humid phase in Northern Africa caused a large leap in agriculture.
• Sahara was not a complete desert yet so it is believed that it would have been easier to communicate with their neighbours.
• A little before 5,000 B.C.E., introduction of agriculture into northern Egypt. Egypt may have borrowed technology from Western Asia. Egypt was not good at inventing on its own.
• Predynastic settlements were essentially in the same spot as later dynastic ones. This is because it is easier to build on top of existing settlements and it raised the village level so there would be no flooding. |
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Term
| Introduction of Chicken to Egypt |
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Definition
| Introduced in the New Kingdom |
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Term
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Definition
Lower Egypt
(5,500 B.C.E.) to date the earliest attested neolithic culture in Egypt
• Stone/flint tools, coarse pottery - often red polished with no decoration, bone pins and harpoons, sea-shell spoons and ostrich eggs as decorations.
• 168 silos and granaries found - unprecedented level of organization. They stored wheat, barley and flax.
• Some evidence for the domestication of goats, sheep, and pigs.
• Influences from Eastern Sahara, the Near East and also from the Nile Valley itself. |
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Term
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Definition
Lower Egypt
(5,000 - 4,500, contemporary with Tasian/early Babarian and part of Naqada I in Upper Egypt)
• Relatively small community - discussion whether one small settlement that shifted over time, or accumulation of villages with up to 16,000 inhabitants.
• Earliest evidence for a fully sedentary lifestyle.
• Burial of the dead within the village itself (mostly children found).
• No grave items - no social stratification.
• Pottery resembles Fayyum A but more refined.
• Stone mace heads resemble Asiatic ones.
• Fish bones - hooks, nets, weights, harpoons - importance of fishing.
• Some evidence for village life organization - granaries and huts laid out in rough rows. The houses were at first simple wind breakers and later mud brick huts were made. |
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Term
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Definition
Lower Egypt
(4,600 - 4,400 B.C.E.)
• Burials in mat-lined pits, foetus-position, head pointing south and face west and not placed within the village.
• Men, women, and children were in separate areas of the grave.
• Grave goods were generally sparse, there was always one pot and one evidence of a grave covered in flowers.
• This suggests that there is a development of religious and funerary beliefs and slight social stratification.
• Jewelry was made from Red Sea shells, the pottery is unrefined and evokes certain Palestinian styles, both of which suggest trade with Palestine.
• First Egyptian site in which donkeys are seen.
• Food: fish, pigs, goats, and various grains which suggests that their agricutlure was not very refined. |
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Term
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Definition
Lower Egypt
(4,000 - 3,200 B.C.E., contemporary with Naqada II)
• Evidence of not only agriculture and herding, but also of advanced craft specialization.
• Copper axe-heads and masses of copper ore. This is the oldest place that copper has been found in Egypt. The copper probably came from the east as there is no evidence that the Egyptians mined it this early.
• Possibly an entrepot handling trade between the Nile Valley, the Sinai Peninsula, and Palestine.
• Also Palestinian ceramic imports found. |
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Term
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Definition
Lower Egypt
(earliest levels are 3,500 B.C.E.)
• Maadian culture of the Delta region
• Tendency towards imitation of Naqada styles. Local version of Upper Egyptian vessels were produced by the Buto people themselves, not traded.
• The cultural influences predate unification, suggesting a slow change versus a military domination.
• Buto settlements were nested between two traditions, a more ‘African culture’ of Upper Egypt, and an ‘Oriental culture’ of Palestine. They also had more direct contact with Sumerians of the Uruk VII - VI phase in southern Mesopotamia |
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Term
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Definition
Upper Egypt
(Middle Egypt, from Tasa to Hierakonpolis) (5,500 - 4,000 B.C.E.)
• Semi-sedentary way of life, pastoralists, hunters, fishers, but also some proper settlements and agriculture.
• A typical grave was an oval rectangular pit roofed over with sticks. The body may be clothed in a loin cloth of linen or hide, and given jewellery and beaded belts as ornaments. Placed a few feet deep in the sand and covered with matts or hides, or inside a hamper of woven twigs. There was however, no or little stratification between the burials, some may have received more than others.
• Food and other offerings - pigments were given along with stone palettes for cosmetics, ivory spoons and combs and small ivory or stone vases, also ostrich eggs and feathers.
• This evidence is linked to a belief in the afterlife.
• Pottery - reddish-brown colour with black area around the rim, successor of earlier types found throughout the Nile and predecessor of later Naqada ware.
• Increasing importance on copper tools, especially pins and beads.
• Images of the human form were recreated, more female represented than male, as well there are some animal forms such as hippos and gazelles.
• Domestication of a variety of animals including cattle, sheep, antelopes, cats, dogs, and some animals were buried between human burials. |
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Term
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Definition
Upper Egypt
(Naqada close to Coptos; el-Amra close to Abydos) (4,000 - 3,500 B.C.E.)
• Cemeteries appear to be little changed from Badarian times.
• Pottery - red with white decorations, as well as “Badarian” black-top reddish brown ware.
• Some of the pottery suggest contact with western Asia, while the presence of imported commodities such as lapis lazuli and turquoise indicates a flourishing trade.
• Great advances in stone cutting, stone vessels. |
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Term
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Definition
Upper Egypt
(Gerzea east of Fayyum)(3,500 - 3,200 B.C.E.)
= A Period of Rapid Change
• Contacts with south-western Asia
• Evolution of complex social and economic institutions as well as increased urbanization.
• Increasing social stratification expressed in the various sizes and design of the tombs and in their grave goods.
• Fancy pottery, famous ones of boats with standards.
• Copper working much more common, the copper comes from the eastern desert and the Sinai, also gold and silver.
• Slate palettes and other ceremonial objects/prestige goods, decorated in low relief clearly intended for ceremonial use. Eg. Gebel el Arak knife (handle), mace-head of King Scorpion, culminates in the Narmer Palette (now in the Cairo Museum, was though to represent the final battle for the conquest of Upper over Lower Egypt) |
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Term
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Definition
Individuality and originally were not the concerns of the Egyptian artist. The art held practical purposes it was not art for arts sake. Often it was not even meant to be on display because it was used for the afterlife. The purposes were religious, rituals, and social.
There was a close relationship between art and writing, often a painting in a tomb was meant to be read like a story. |
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Term
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Definition
| Art for the elite was about decorum, fitting into the ‘perfection’ of the king who was also a god. Therefore whatever the king’s art looked like the elite tried to copy in terms of facial features and style, the only indicator of a personal touch would be an inscription with the name of the person and their deeds. |
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Term
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Definition
There is little known about the actual artists
In tomb paintings there are groups of artists working under a head draughtsman
Artists were however, respected groups of people. They had houses given to them by the king where the living conditions were of high quality. And the were trained in the “House of Life” in order to write hieroglyphs. This also emphasizes how closely related art and religion was. |
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Term
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Definition
Statues were often created as a vessel for the person’s ‘ka’ or personality
The earliest sculptures appear around the 4th millennium B.C.E.. The human form was reduced to the most essential elements, the female shape being more common which shows and emphasis on fertility aspects. Later the male plays an increasingly important role |
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Term
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Definition
Consistency in representation was achieved by means of grids determined by a cannon of proportion. The grid system used parts of bodies that relate to each other by natural ratios.
• Standing figures: 18-square grid system from hairline to feet.
• Seated figures: 14-square grid system from hairline to feet.
Historical changes within this system:
• Under King Akhenaten there is a 20-square grid system where the legs are shorter and the torso is longer, there is also a longer neck.
• They return to the 18-square grid system after Akhenaten
• In the Late Period there is a 21-square grid with longer legs. |
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Term
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Definition
perspective - representing the object as the artist sees it.
Aspective - representing the object with as many important aspects as possible.
Egyptian’s believed that to show the object as one sees it would not make it recognizable and it distorts the image as it truly is. Therefore they drew their scenes with various perspectives throughout in order to show each individual object in it’s most identifiable form. This combined profile and frontal views throughout the scene even on one individual object there could be 2 different views simultaneously. |
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Term
| Royal and Divine Iconography |
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Definition
| Royal figures are shown larger than anyone else, but the same size as gods. He is the main character of the scene and is distinguishable by their crowns and headdresses and other symbols such as scepters, and dress |
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Term
| Conventions of Gender in Art |
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Definition
| • Men and women were depicted differently, men were taller and stronger looking, and more active than the women. They were also a darker colour indicating their work outdoors. Sometimes males were represented older showing their wealth and prime of their career, whereas women were always young and ageless. |
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Term
| Conventions of Status in Art |
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Definition
• The most important figure in a scene would be taller than everyone else around them regardless of proportions and space. The nobility were depicted in a static state to indicate their importance while the servants were much more active scurrying around to serve them
• Registers were there to indicate the sequence of the story, the top register being the most important therefore most read from bottom to top.
• The foreigner and non-elite were less bound by conventions therefore individual artists could be more expressive in their depictions of them. |
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Term
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Definition
The 4th Dynasty sees the perfection of Egyptian ideals into art. The human form has been perfected both in conception and execution (with exception) this is adherent until the introduction of Christianity
The human form was ageless, classical, and beautiful
Males had broad shoulders, small waste, muscular legs, no signs of age or emotion, and they were generally depicted striding forward or in some sort of active motion. They were painted a reddish-brown probably to indicate that they worked outside and were physical creatures
The females had narrow shoulders, slim wastes, small round breasts, figure hugging dress probably to emphasize their fertility, they were depicted often with their legs closed, passive, and were painted yellow to show that they did not work outside |
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Term
| Introduction of Block Statues |
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Definition
| Block statues came in around Dynasty 12, they have a religious and practical significance and they provided a large surface for writing |
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Term
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Definition
| During the Armana period the rules were completely broken. It was almost like a caricature of the past representations. This is caused by Akhenaten and the depictions of him and his family indicate the enormous change. As a result of this period in art, the art that followed was much more expressive, there was more movement and dynamism, more life-like depictions, new fashions, and more nature imagery |
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Term
| 25th and 26th Dynasty Style in Art |
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Definition
| Nubian influence due to usurpation by foreigners. Also a tendency to imitate past styles. |
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Term
| Greco-Roman Period Art Style |
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Definition
| The human form was fleshier around dynasty 30. The Ptolemies used both Greek and Egyptian style, but never mixed them. The Romans in contrast mixed Egyptian and Roman style often with hideous results. The private funerary arts flourishes at this time with mummy portraits that are surprisingly realistic. |
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Term
| Ancient Egyptian Language |
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Definition
| Ancient Egyptian (and it’s descendant, Coptic - still used today by Christian Egyptians in their church liturgy) forms one of the branches of the Afro-Asiatic (also called “Hamito-Semitic” in older works) language family. |
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Definition
| word signs (man, woman, etc.) |
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Term
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Definition
fall into a number of groups:
• Unilateral signs, or alphabetic signs, one consonant. • Bilateral signs, two consonants (e.g., mn, nb).
• Trilateral signs, three consonants (e.g., nfr, twt). |
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Term
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Definition
used Greek characters to write the ancient Egyptian language (after 3000 years).
the last “language” to be spoken and written in Egypt. Coptic uses the Greek alphabet capitals only, plus 6 extra signs derived from demotic, for letters unknown to Greek, such as “h”.
Coptic was used by Christian Egyptians and is still used today in the church liturgy. |
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Term
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Definition
| a more cursive version of hieroglyphs. Think of hieroglyphs as printing and hieratic as handwriting. Hieratic was used for everyday letters, administrative memoranda, mathematical and medical papyri, Book of the Dead papyri, etc.. |
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Term
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Definition
both a further more cursive development of a later version of the hieratic script, and the late Egyptian language. It is closer to Coptic.
Demotic is the successor of late Egyptian in an extremely cursive script replaced earlier Hieratic, and it was used for administration. During the Ptolemaic period it was used for religion, literary, and scientific texts as well as monuments. The last purely demotic document date to the 2nd century CE. |
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Term
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Definition
| appear the same time as the 2D pictures around 3100 B.C.E., both are pictograms and phonograms. It makes them recognizable on a number of levels. Illiterate people can appreciate them on a visual level, while the literate elite could read as text. It was also used as a decorative element in architecture, furniture, and the minor arts such as amulets |
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Term
| Dynasty 0 (3200 - 31500 B.C.E.) |
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Definition
• A line of early kings that predates Dynasty 1, these kings were found after the chronological order of dynasties was created and therefore it was given the name Dynasty 0.
• The sequence of rulers is still somewhat disputed:
1. Scorpion I 2. Hathor 3. Irj(-Hor) 4. Ka 5. Scorpion II 6. Narmer
• The royal tombs of these rulers are located at Abydos. Their royal imagery can be found as far north as Memphis.
• The Tomb of Scorpion indicates that there was an early state and religious administration. Also it shows a growing stratification of the social order
• As more resources came under royal control, need and use for writing becomes more important. Economic use of writing suggest that there must have been a state administration as well. |
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Term
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Definition
| • Though to be a representation of the “final battle” for the victory of Upper over Lower Egypt. These days some scholars think that a king Hor-Aha (likely Narmer’s son/successor) is the founder of the unified state. The reason that the Narmer Palette is though to represent the final battle is because both crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt are depicted being worn by the same king. |
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Term
| Dynasty 1 (3000 - 2890 B.C.E.) |
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Definition
• Approximately 110 - 120 years.
• Notice a sudden proliferation in the use of writing.
• The capital city of the Old Kingdom is founded, Manetho ascribes this to Menes, however, this is disputed.
• Tomb of Hor-Aha is the earliest found in Memphite necropolis of Saqqara, therefore this leads people to believe that he could be the same person as Menes and the founder of the capital.
• There is evidence that there is less centralization at this time then in the advanced Old Kingdom. |
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Term
| Burial Place of Early Kings (Dynasty 1 and 2) |
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Definition
Saqqara is burial place of important nobles
• Abydos is the burial place of the early kings. Tombs reflected political order on a new scale.
• artifacts found reflect work of full-time craftsmen and artists. Also importance of copper indicates that there was either trade or mining expeditions.
• Only the subterranean chambers of mudbrick remain. Originally there would have been roofs covered with a mound of sand.
• There were also stone stelae with the royal names in front.
• Hor-Aha tomb has traces of large wooden shrines in 3 chambers.
• Rows of subsidiary graves surrounded each tomb, the numbers increased over time, then decreased. This suggested that people were sacrificed to serve their masters in the afterlife, but was no longer used later in religious burials. |
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Term
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Definition
"The Two Powers Appear"
seems to convey an appreciation of the gods Horus and Seth as representatives of Upper Egyptian sites Hierakonpolis and Ombos - potential strife between the two
Possible Dynastic troubles in late Dynasty 2 - statue base showing battle scenes |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Consolidated over the first 2 Dynasties: |
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Definition
• Ideology of the god-king legitimized.
• Unifying belief system
• Some festivals known this early e.g.. King den’s Sed Festival
• Rewards for bureaucrats - large tombs.
Early attempts at preserving body can be seen in elite burials with the use of resin and coffins. |
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Term
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Definition
• The reigning pharaoh was the link between humans and gods.
• He had to prove continuously that he could maintain the cosmic equilibrium, Maat “justice, righteousness” also the correct structure of life including social solidarity and responsible governing.
• Since the king was placed there by the gods to maintain Maat, it was under threat every time the king died. Therefore the new king had to prove that he could bring order back to Egypt by uniting the two lands and smiting Egypt’s enemies.
• When the king ascends the throne he is believed to merge with the Ka of his predecessors. |
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Term
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Definition
• was Horus, son of Osiris and Isis
• was the Son of Re
• was the son of every god and goddess
• ruled “like” Re on earth, “in his place”
• in later periods (NK onwards) popular cults arose, with people actually worshiping statues of the king. |
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Term
| Pharaohs that were worshiped as Gods themselves: |
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Definition
| Amenhotep I and III, and Rameses II. These cults usually came from outside (Nubia) and then moved into Egypt. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
• The status of the king was expressed in his titulary. The fully developed titulary had 5 elements
(1) Horus = embodiment of Horus on earth.
(2) Nebty = (protected by) the Two Ladies, that is, the tutelary goddesses and crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt.
(3) (Horus of) Gold = still debated. May have something to do with the early cultic center of the god Seth, Nubet/Ombos.
(4) Niswit-biti = Dual King (of Upper and Lower Egypt), which stresses the political instituation of the kingship and is given at his accession to the throne and may express a political program.
(5) The Sa-Re “Son of Re” name is the personal, or birth, name of the individual king. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| Crown of the unified country |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Nemes-headdress of the deceased ruler and Son and representative of Re; also associated with the Horus-aspect |
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Term
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Definition
| Atef-Crown of Osiris and the “representative” of Re |
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Term
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Definition
| appears from the NK onwards, and particularly often in scenes that show the ruler physically active. |
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