Ancient Egypt

Question 1

Define the 4 time periods of ancient Egypt

Answer 1

1 - Pre dynastic & early dynastic (3500-2575 BCE)
2 - Old Kingdom “age of the pyramids” (2575-2134 BCE)
3 - Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BCE)
4 - New Kingdom (1550 - 1070 BCE)

Question 2

Define “Registers”

Answer 2

horizontal bands conventionally used to nearly order pictorial elements (preferred mode for narrative art)

Question 3

Define “Composite View”

Answer 3

Convention of representation in which a part of a figure is shown in profile and another part of the same figure is shown frontally.

Question 4

What does hierarchic scale represent?

Answer 4

It represents that size indicates relative importance.

Question 5

Define “Idealization”

Answer 5

The depiction of a human figure in a way considered to be most ideal according to the values or conventions of a culture.

Question 6

What are canon proportions?

Answer 6

system of proportions using a grid to create a standard, ideal system for depicting the human figure.

Question 7

What is a Mastabas?

Answer 7

mastabas means the beginning of pyramids. “bench” in Arabic.
First made of sun dried bricks and later faced with solid rock, with shafts and passages leading to subterranean crypt (tomb). No top!

Question 8

How are Egyptian Pyramids in a complex? (hint: great pyramids of Giza)

Answer 8

Built for Pharohs to help them travel into the afterlife. Four equilateral triangles merging to make a square base. The pyramids were originally encased in white limestone with a gold capstone. Each side oriented to a point of the compass.

Question 9

How did the ancient Egyptians respond to pyramids being continually grave robbed?

Answer 9

They made Mortuary Temples. Burial sites came to be secretive, in tombs carved out of cliffs. Pharaohs also created public mortuary temple complexes dedicated to the sun god, Amun, with whom the pharaohs were associated.

Question 10

What does Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple look like?

Answer 10

Colonnaded limestone terraces, linked with gentle sloping ramps, set in the mountains.

Question 11

what is Temples of Amun-Re an example of?

Answer 11

That temples are built to honor more than one God and added by various Pharaohs. Two main examples are Amun-Re at Luxor and Amun-Re at Karnak.

Question 12

Why is the statue King Menkaure and queen important?

Answer 12

Because the posture (feet position and stance) of the queen indicates that she was his mom.

Question 13

Is the statue of the Seated Scribe idealistic or naturalistic?

Answer 13

Naturalistic.

Question 14

What changes were brought on from the Amarna period?

Answer 14

polytheistic to monotheistic
the god Amun to the god Aten

anatomical distortions
intimacy of the scene
relaxed postures of the figures

Question 15

Who are Aten’s representatives?

Answer 15

Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Akhenaten shared his power with his wife Nefertiti.

Question 16

What was the Bust of Queen Nefertiti used for?

Answer 16

Used as a prototype for making other sculptures of Nefertiti. New art style and new idea of beauty in the Amarna period. Realistic details on the face, and beautiful triangle shapes.

Question 17

How was Tutankhamun’s coffin prepared?

Answer 17

In layers. Sarcophagus, stone a coffin holding another coffin inside.

Outer coffin: Wood covered in gold and semiprecious stones.
Inner coffin: Solid gold with an inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones. Holding Egyptian crook and flail: symbols of the king’s right to rule. Protected by winged goddesses.

Gold death mask + his mummy.