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The role of women in ancient Egyptian society
The role of women in ancient Egyptian society
The role of women in ancient Egyptian society
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Compare the statue of Haremhab with the statue of Queen Hatshepsut
These two statues are famous to the Egyptian art era. They represent the woman’s position and the man’s position at that day and age. Traditionally, the rulers of Egypt were male. So, when Hatshepsut, Dynasty 18, ca. 1473-1458 B.C., assumed the titles and functions of king she was portrayed in royal male costumes. Such representations were more for a political statement, rather than a reflection of the way she actually looked. In this sculpture, she sits upon a throne and wears the royal kilt and the striped nemes (NEM-iss) headdress with the uraeus (cobra) and is bare chested like a man. However, she does not wear the royal beard, and the proportions of her body are delicate and feminine.
A sense of royal dignity, composure, and stability are created by the facial expression, the fixed pose, and the rectangular throne and high base from which the proportioned and frontal figure emerges. Cracks in the face, neck, and torso indicate ancient damage sustained by the sculpture.
Haremhab was a royal scribe and generalissimo of the army under King Tutankhamun or Aya, Late Dynasty 18, 1327-1323 B.C. He continued to serve during the reign of Aya, and then became king himself. This statue was made before he ascended the throne. Haremhab’s own choice to be represented as a scribe indicates the importance of literacy in Egypt; it ...
Looking at this Palette, it isn’t hard to see how the old Egyptian subjects were so entranced by their leaders and how that compares to our modern viewpoints. Where we view politicians and leaders as a wiry group, always keeping an eye on them lest today be the day they raise their daggers against us, the ancient Egyptians saw their leaders as infallible, godlike beings to be trusted, obeyed, and adored. Standing just over 2 feet tall and 1.4 feet wide, this Palette was carved out of a majestic shade of grey-green siltstone, almost shield-like in appearance. Both sides are exquisitely carved out, each one uniquely decorated but both sides containing a central serekh used to identify and in this case even confirm the subject as royalty. This serekh contains the symbols n’r and mr, which as you may have noticed, phonetically spell Narmer. These symbols are surrounded by two bovine heads, which could either represent the Goddess Hathor or Bat. The front s...
While having a female pharaoh was not unprecedented, Hatshepsut was the first to take on the full traditional garb, with male clothing, accessories, and even the traditional pharaoh’s false beard.... ... middle of paper ... ... Why would someone filled with hate Egyptologists claim he was waiting so long to get rid of her images? Hatshepsut had twin obelisks built to frame the entrance to the Temple of Karnak, where it was tradition for Pharaohs to build monuments for themselves.
The Ancient Egyptian sculpture, “Statue of Nykara and His Family”, was sculpted during the late fifth dynasty. The sculpture is a depiction of Nykara, his wife, Nubkau, and son, Ankhma-Re. The statue is in poor condition with pieces of limestone missing and chips on the three subject’s faces and bodies. The painted limestone shows the conventional colors for the male and female subjects. There is a clear discoloration among Nykara and his son’s bodies. The brownish red color they once were has eroded to a light yellowish color, which resembles the purposeful color of Nykara’s wife. The hieroglyphs on Nykara’s seat insinuate that the sculpture is meant to be viewed from the front view. This is also evident by the way the three subjects are facing forward in frontal view. There are hieroglyphs on both the chair and base of the statue near Nykara’s wife and son’s feet.
The statue of Hatshepsut seated down is made with the material limestone. This limestone is lightly colored, which created a larger contrast with the other statues nearby. Her face was carved bringing out her eyes, eyebrows and other facial features. Her eyebrows also come slightly together towards the middle. Her lips forming a slight archaic smile. The dimensions are larger than an average female size. The statue is of great size, yet still in proportion. The body and head fit well with each other overall. However, it is greatly exaggerated in size.
The pharaoh named Khafre was an ancient Egyptian king of the 4th dynasty during the old kingdom. Khafre enthroned shows the pharaoh is shown in a seated potion on a throne with a look of deep serenity in his face. The king is sitting rigidly upright with one of his hands on his knee and the other one making a fist on his thigh. Khafre is also wearing a headdress as well as a strapped on beard. Khafres’ face and body are both idealized with the help of bilateral symmetry. Khafre is perfectly symmetrical on both sides; his pose is also both frontal and ridged. The Sculptor shows all movement, however, still showing eternal stillness (Kleiner, 2013). The statue of Khafre is an image of unbridled power. This work, life-sized and carved from diorite (an extremely hard and difficult-to-work stone) portrays the Pharaoh Khafre, sitting immobile. This piece of art uses the Egyptian canon of proportions, creating a very idealized figure (Kleiner,
Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh of Egypt. She reigned between 1473 and 1458 B.C. Her name means “foremost of noblewomen.” (O. Jarus, The First Female Pharaoh, 2013) Some sources state that queen Hatshepsut was the first great woman in recorded history; according to Jennifer Lawless she was the forerunner of such figures as Cleopatra, Catherine the Great and Elizabeth I. (J. Lawless, Personalities of the past. Pg. 33-34), yet other sources testify. Hatshepsut came to power at the death of her husband, Thutmose Il. She denied her nephew's claim to the throne and stated Amun-Ra had spoken and declared that she would be Pharoah. “She dressed like Pharoah, even wearing a fake beard to give traditional image of a King to her people who accepted her without issue.” (R. Stevenson, Hatshepsut; the Woman Who Was King, 2009) Despite...
Throughout history, the idea of what a ruler is has evolved. In ancient societies the style of leadership evolved from royal leadership to politically appointed emperors. Inheritance of a throne and kingship subsided after Alexander the Great’s world domination. Instead, leaders came to power through political and military prowess, and if their leadership was unsatisfactory they would usually be overthrown. With the evolution of leadership throughout ancient times, came the evolution of art portraying the rulers of the era. The personality and authority portrayed in portraits, employ different means of expression. In the ancient Egyptian sculpture of King Menkaure and his Queen, a tetradrachm coin of ancient Greece depicting Alexander the Great, and the portrait sculpture of the emperor Philip the Arab from Rome, it is evident that portrayal of ancient rulers in art evolves in accordance with the political climate.
Hatshepsut was bold because while she was her nephew, Tuthmosis III’s regent, she gathered power and influence to unexpectedly name herself pharaoh. In paragraph eleven, it states, “Gradually, over seven years, her power and influence grew. In the end, Hatshepsut was ruling Egypt in all but name.” In addition to this quote, in paragraph twelve, it states, “...Hatshepsut took a bold and unprecedented step: She had herself crowned pharaoh with the large, heavy, red-and-white double crown of the two Egypts…” These quotes explain that Hatshepsut knew that her nephew was too young to be effective and used this to her advantage. Hatshepsut was also bold because she did not want to break the tradition of a male. Instead of dressing as a woman, Hatshepsut appeared as a man in public and took the name of Maatkare. In paragraph fourteen, it states, “She was concerned with preserving and continuing traditional order as much as possible, so to the people of Egypt she made herself look like a man in her role as pharaoh.” This quote supports that Hatshepsut was aware that she broke the men as pharaoh tradition, but wanted people to take her seriously and continued to dress as a man so it did not seem like she was a woman. Despite her dressing as a man, Hatshepsut continued her feminine delights. In paragraph sixteen, it states, “Hatshepsut might have had to look and act like a man in public, but she never gave up feminine pleasures.”
Egyptian art is infamous across the world - classified by the monumental pyramids, and the Sphinx. Although these are both valid forms of Egyptian art, they do not make up the entire artistic history of the country. On the contrary, perhaps the most replicated example of classic Egyptian art, from the Old Kingdom, can be found in their rendering of the human form. An interest in portraiture developed early in Egypt. (Gardner, 75) Whether painted on pottery, or cut into rock, the figures all had notably Egyptian characteristics. "The seated statue is one of only a very small number of basic formulaic types employed by the sculptors of the Old Kingdom." (Gardner, 75)
The Palette of Narmer was created on a flat stone surface; the artists then carved the story into the flat stone in a very specific manor. This palette is known for representing the coming together of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt (Stokstad and Cothren, 52). At the top of the palette on both sides shows two bulls that were said to possibly represent the goddess Hathor. Hathor was known as the goddess of protection, and is depicted in other Egyptian art as a woman with cow ears (British Museum, no page). In between the heads of Hathor is the name of the King Narmer, written with iconography called serekh. In this serekh, one can see the Horus falcon head and below it is the name of the king. The falcon head is said to protect the Egyptian ruler (Kinnaer). Although this is just one small piece of the top of the palette, it already starts to depict an enormous part of history in Egypt.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ‘Egyptian Art’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Art. New Series, Vol. 41, No. 3, Egyptian Art (Winter, 1983-1984): pp. 1+3-56
...nt through the women. The power to rule was passed from wife to husband. Kha-merer-nebty II is shown here presenting her husband, Mycerinus, as the pharaoh. Unlike the sculpture of Augustus, this sculpture also has a religious purpose. The Egyptians believed that in order for the “ka” (spirit) to live forever, the body had to be preserved which is why they mummified their bodies. As an extra precaution, sculptures like these were made to serve as a “replacement body” for the ka should something happen to their body.
There are many similarities between the sculpture of the kouros and King Menkaure and His Queen. Since the Greeks used the same technique as the Egyptians, the statue of the kouros is posed stiffly with his arms straight down at his sides in the same manner that Egyptian pharaohs were often depicted. His left foot is slightly in front of the right, just as King Menkaure’s left foot is. Both figures are looking straight ahead, have their feet planted on the ground, and have long hair. The kouros represented the ideal form of a young male to the Greeks, just as the figures of King Menkaure and his queen depict the ideal notion of beauty to the Egyptians. The kouros emulates the stiff pose
Queen Hatshepsut was one of the most powerful females in Ancient Egyptian history. Not only was she the longest reigning female pharaoh in all of Egypt, but she made lasting impacts on the nation during and far after her reign. Although she was a woman, and this type of power had never been given to a woman before, she is considered one of Egypt's most successful pharaohs.
Here, we will be looking at a rendition of the high marble statue of Augustus Caesar known as “Augustus of Prima Porta.” Originating from 1st Century A.D., it is said that there is a possibility that the original sculpture could have been of greek descent. Upon a general overview of the sculpture, one can see that Augustus fulfils a millitarial role of some kind. From his very stance to the garments portrayed on him, Augustus is draped in a decorative cuirass and a tunic, accompanied by a figure of Cupid clutching on to his right calf. After taking the general themes of the work into account, one can then began to start unraveling the many symbolic elements embedded into the sculpture that allude to godly themes. Starting from the crown of his head, the very chiselment and structure of his face gives the work a youthful element to it, even though some say that Augustus was around 40 years old. A recurring theme within Greek and Roman culture is the matter of godliness and immortality amongst idolized figures themselves. This idea is usually depicted by displaying powerful human being in a younger light. This