The Culture Of Ancient Egypton Summary

I recently finished reading “The Culture of Ancient Egypt” by John A. Wilson. This book is about the story of Egypt and tells the story of history itself the endless rise and fall, the life and death and life again of the eternal human effort to endure, enjoy, and understand the mystery of our universe. Emerging from the ancient mists of time, Egypt met the challenge of the mystery in a glorious evolution of religious, intellectual, and political institutions and for two millenniums flourished with all the vigor that the human heart can invest in a social and cultural order. Then Egypt began to crumble into the desert sands and the waters of the Nile, and her remarkable achievements in civilization became her lingering epitaph. John A. Wilson

The culture has also been one that has been both complex and stable for over a millennia, which has greatly influenced both the cultures of Europe and the Middle East and Africa. A major factor of their culture to acknowledge is the fact that the majority of Egyptians practices Islam, and in return this directs many personal, political, and economic aspects of their lives, and has a factor in the common language also,

Art symbolized Egyptian beliefs and everyday life. Today in western culture we generally consider art a form of self-expression. However for the Egyptians it was almost religious. The Egyptians took art very seriously and strictly followed very specific rules though over time as Egypt grew so grew the standards and styles of the arts. Egyptians believed that imperfect art art that did not adhere to the strict rules upset the gods. Egyptian art emphasized three basic elements engraving, sculpting, and painting. Engravings lined the inside of tombs and are the most common and well-known form of Ancient Egyptian art. The engravings depicted the pharaohs life the gods and legends about them. Paintings another common art form usually depicted legends about the gods with hieroglyphic captions explaining them. The last common form of Egyptian art was sculpting. Sculptures usually honored pharaohs and gods. However archaeologists have also discovered sculptures of animals. Many of these animal sculptures were cats, which Egyptians believed were sacred. The Egyptians strictly upheld the style of frontalism adhering carefully to stylistic rules. First the subjects head is always drawn in profile with the full eye shown. The upper body however is depicted from the front and the legs face in the same direction as the head with one foot in front of the other. The person in the