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Cartouche

Cartouche, in architecture, is an ornamentation in scroll form, applied especially to elaborate frames around tablets or coats of arms. By extension, the word is applied to any oval shape or even to a decorative shield, whether scroll-like in appearance or not. The oval frame enclosing Egyptian hieroglyphs that represent a name is also called a cartouche.

Color in Ancient Egypt

Modern cultures consider many of the materials used by the ancient Egyptians to be semi-precious (like turquoise) or cheap (like glass). To the Egyptians it was not just the value or scarcity of the materials that mattered (although of course gold and silver were particularly highly prized), but the symbolic meaning of the colours and the beauty of the image that they could construct from them. Colors were not used randomly, but were intended to convey meaning and imbue an image with greater power.

The word “iwn” (color) also translates as “disposition”, “character”, “complexion” and “nature”, confirming that color was seen as being intimately linked to the essence of being.

The ancient Egyptian palette was formed around six main color groups: green (wadj); red (desher); blue (irtyu or khesbedj); yellow (khenet or kenit); white (hedj or shesep); and black (kem).

The ancient Egyptians used mineral compounds to add color to their art. As a result, some of the colors are still vibrant and beautiful thousands of years later. They made jewellery out of amethyst, garnet, jasper, onyx, hematite, turquoise, lapis lazuli, copper, malachite (a form of copper ore), gold, silver, faience and shells.

Egyptomania

Egyptomania: the madness for things related to ancient Egyptian culture.

The Ancient Romans became captivated by Egyptian art after Emperor Augustus conquered the lands in North Africa in 31 BC.

Europeans developed “Egyptomania” after Napoleon Bonaparte’s 1798 campaign in Egypt, which included the modern discovery of the famed Rosetta Stone.

When British archaeologists uncovered the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922, public curiosity about Egyptian culture took off with “Tut-mania.”

Though fashions shifted in and out, American and European designers would return to reference Egyptian ornament for much of the nineteenth-century.

The popularity for Egyptian ornament remained through the century, finally becoming an integral part of the 1920s–30s Art Deco style.

Fresco Painting

Fresco painting is a method of painting water-based pigments on freshly applied plaster, usually on wall surfaces. The colors, which are made by grinding dry-powder pigments in pure water, dry and set with the plaster to become a permanent part of the wall. Fresco painting is ideal for making murals because it lends itself to a monumental style, is durable, and has a matte surface.

Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a giant 4,500-year-old limestone statue situated near the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt. Measuring 73 meters long and 20 meters high, the Great Sphinx is one of the world’s largest monuments. It is also one of the most recognizable relics of the ancient Egyptians, though the origins and history of the colossal structure are still debated.

A sphinx (or sphynx) is a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human, with some variations. It is a prominent mythological figure in Egyptian, Asian, and Greek mythology.

In ancient Egypt, the sphinx was a spiritual guardian and most often depicted as a male with a pharaoh headdress—as is the Great Sphinx—and figures of the creatures were often included in tomb and temple complexes. For instance, the so-called Sphinx Alley in Upper Egypt is a two-mile avenue that connects the temples of Luxor and Karnak and is lined with sphinx statues.

Sphinxes with the likeness of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut also exist, such as the granite sphinx statue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the large alabaster sphinx at the Ramessid temple in Memphis, Egypt.

Hypostyle Hall

Hypostyle hall, in architecture, is an interior space whose roof rests on pillars or columns. The word means literally “under pillars,” and the design allows for the construction of large spaces—as in temples, palaces, or public buildings—without the need for arches. It was used extensively in ancient Egypt—where the Temple of Amon at Karnak provides a good example—and in Persia—where the ruins at Persepolis give evidence of outstanding examples of hypostyle construction.

Imhotep

Imhotep (born 27th or 26th century BC) was a vizier, sage, architect, astrologer, and chief minister to Djoser (reigned c. 2592–c. 2566 BC), the first king of Egypt’s Third Dynasty. He was later worshipped as the god of medicine in Egypt and in Greece, where he was identified with the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius. He is considered to be the architect of the step pyramid built at the necropolis of Ṣaqqārah in Memphis. It is the oldest extant monument of hewn stone known to the world.

Imhotep’s high standing in Djoser’s court is affirmed by an inscription bearing his name on a statue of Djoser found at the site of the Ṣaqqārah pyramid. The inscription lists a variety of titles, including chief of the sculptors and chief of the seers. Although no contemporary account has been found that refers to Imhotep as a practicing physician, documents on Egyptian society and medicine during the Old Kingdom (c. 2543–c. 2120 BC) show that the chief magician of the pharaoh’s court also frequently served as the nation’s chief physician. Imhotep’s reputation as the reigning genius of the time, his position in the court, his training as a scribe, and his becoming known as a medical demigod only 100 years after his death are strong indications that he must have been a physician of considerable skill.

Labdanum

Labdanum’s earliest recorded uses as a fragrance ingredient date back three thousand years ago to the civilization of Ancient Egypt, when it was used to make kyphi incense. Kyphi incense was an aromatic material used for ceremonial purposes, which gave off fragrant smoke when burned.

The Book of Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, talks about labdanum being carried to Egypt from Canaan, a region on the territories of modern-day Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and the southern portions of Syria and Lebanon.

Ma'at

Ma'at (pronounced may-et) is the ancient Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, harmony, and balance (a concept known as ma'at in Egyptian) who first appears during the period known as the Old Kingdom (c. 2613 - 2181 BC) but no doubt existed in some form earlier. She is depicted in anthropomorphic form as a winged woman, often in profile with an ostrich feather on her head, or simply as a white ostrich feather. The feather of Ma'at was an integral part of the Weighing of the Heart of the Soul ceremony in the afterlife where the heart of the soul of the dead person was weighed in the scales of justice against the feather.

Necropolis

Necropolis (from Greek nekropolis, “city of the dead”) is an extensive and elaborate burial place of an ancient city. In the Mediterranean world, the necropolis was customarily outside the city proper and often consisted of a number of cemeteries used at different times over a period of several centuries. The locations of those cemeteries were varied. In Egypt many were situated across the Nile River opposite the cities, as was western Thebes, but in Greece and Rome a necropolis often lined the roads leading out of town. One of the most famous necropolises was discovered in the 1940s under the central nave of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Orientalizing Period

The Orientalizing Period in Greece refers to a roughly 100-year period in which Greek art was greatly influenced by eastern, and specifically Near Eastern and Egyptian, ideas, myths, and decorative styles.

The Orientalizing Period lasted from about the mid-8th until the mid-7th centuries B.C.

Papyrus

Papyrus, a writing material of ancient times and also the plant from which it was derived, Cyperus papyrus (family Cyperaceae), also called paper plant. The papyrus plant was long cultivated in the Nile delta region in Egypt and was collected for its stalk or stem, whose central pith was cut into thin strips, pressed together, and dried to form a smooth thin writing surface.

The English word 'paper' comes from the word 'papyrus.'

Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone is an incomplete grey and pink granodiorite stela dating from 196 BC which presents a priestly decree concerning King Ptolemy V of Egypt. The text is in three different versions: Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek, a fact which immeasurably helped to finally decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Shabti Dolls

The shabti dolls of Ancient Egypt are a fascinating aspect of their funerary practices, reflecting the Egyptians' beliefs about the afterlife and the continuation of one's duties beyond death. These small figurines, often inscribed with a spell known as the shabti formula, were intended to act as servants for the deceased in the afterlife, performing any labor that was asked of them. This practice was rooted in the Egyptian concept of the afterlife as a reflection of earthly life, where the soul, having successfully navigated the trials of the underworld, would reside in the idyllic Field of Reeds. Here, amidst the familiar comforts of home and community, the shabti dolls ensured that the deceased could enjoy eternal rest without the burdens of daily toil. The integration of such practices highlights the ancient Egyptians' deep connection to their community and their meticulous attention to the spiritual journey that awaited them after death.

Stela

A stela is an upright monument containing information in the form of texts, images or a combination of the two. Stelae have been used to commemorate people or events, to delineate physical spaces or as objects through which to access the dead or divine. Such monuments were made by a variety of cultures in the ancient world.

Egyptian stelae originated during the first dynasty as burial markers in the necropolis at Abydos, in the form of round-topped stone pillars inscribed with the king’s name and stone slabs with the names and titles of his officials.

Temples in Ancient Egypt

In the religious customs of ancient Egypt the temple was considered 'the horizon' of a divine being, the point at which the god came into existence at creation, and thus every sacred site had a link to the very distant past and honored the specific god whose temple it was. The temple also was a mirror of the universe and a representation of the ben-ben, the sacred mound which rose out of chaos by the will of Amon at the beginning of time. At the same time, the temple was a site set aside for communion with the gods, as at the famous temple of Karnak.

Tombs in Ancient Egypt

The most elaborate tombs in ancient times were those built by the Egyptians for their kings, the pharaohs. In the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-c. 2613 BC), the Egyptians built mastabas, tombs made of dried clay bricks which were then used to shore up shafts and chambers dug into the earth. In every mastaba there was a large room for ceremonies honoring the spirit of the deceased and an adjoining smaller room, the serdab, where a statue of the dead person would be placed so that the spirit could witness and enjoy the ceremonies. The mastaba - the oldest form of the tomb in Egypt - continued in use for the common people but for royalty it was replaced by the structure known as the pyramid during the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BC).

Commencing with the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the royal pyramids would reach their height in splendor in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza (built for King Khufu, r. 2589-2566 BC). The royal pyramids were adorned with paintings depicting the life and accomplishments of the deceased king and filled with all those necessities the spirit would need in the afterlife in the Field of Reeds, the Egyptian paradise. Monarchs were also interred in the area known as The Valley of the Kings and their tombs were elaborate eternal homes, highly ornamented, which reflected their status as divine rulers.

Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmer

The Two Lands (Upper and Lower Egypt) became united around 3000 BC under a single king, Narmer (or Menes), who ruled as the first king of Upper and Lower Egypt. Already in this early period, many of the distinct characteristics of Egyptian culture, including kingship ideology, writing system, social structure, religious beliefs, and modes of artistic representation were introduced and codified.

Yardang

Yardang is a large area of soft, poorly consolidated rock and bedrock surfaces that have been extensively grooved, fluted, and pitted by wind erosion. The rock is eroded into alternating ridges and furrows essentially parallel to the dominant wind direction. The relief may range from one to several metres, and there may be unconnected hollows and other irregular shapes. Yardangs occur in various deserts of the world.

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