Flashcards
Study guide
- Learn the map! Where are the major sites of ancient Egypt located?
- What factors make it seem that ancient Egypt was a civilization without cities?
- A state can be defined as a centralized political organization with the power to enforce its laws. Are cities an essential component of a state, or can a state exist without cities? To answer this question, fascinating but difficult, you will have to do some outside reading.
- The Narmer Palette is the major art work from the beginning of dynastic Egypt. Examine its imagery in detail. Some elements are narrative, while others are symbolic. How do these images illustrate Narmer’s victory against Lower Egypt?
- Tomb design in the Archaic period and Old Kingdom. Describe the evolution from mastaba to step pyramid to true pyramid, in terms of design and construction materials. Why did these changes happen?
- What vision of kingship is expressed in the statues of kings seen in this chapter (Djoser, Khafre, and Menkaure and his queen?). Remember that these statues had a religious function, to serve as a home for the king’s ka after his death.
Useful websites
- About Giza: The Giza Archives (from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston): http://www.gizapyramids.org
- About Saqqara: Saqqara.nl, a website (in English) maintained by the Friends of Saqqara Foundation, a group that supports Dutch archaeological research in Egypt: http://www.saqqara.nl
- For Egyptian art: Timeline of Art History (Metropolitan Museum of Art), http://www.metmuseum.org/toah
Images
Figure 5.1
Egypt
Figure 5.2
Narmer Palette: obverse, cross section, and reverse. Slate palette, from Hierakonpolis. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Figure 5.3
Mastaba tomb of Queen Merneith (reconstruction), Abydos.
Figure 5.4
Mastaba tomb of Queen Merneith (reconstruction), Saqqara.
Figure 5.5
Overall site plan, Abydos.
Figure 5.6
Plan, the Archaic cemetery, Abydos.
Figure 5.7
Royal funerary enclosures, Abydos.
Figure 5.8
Plan, the Step Pyramid and Funerary Complex of Djoser, Saqqara.
Figure 5.9
The Step Pyramid and Funerary Complex of Djoser (reconstruction), Saqqara.
Figure 5.10
Djoser, seated statue, from Saqqara. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Figure 5.11
The Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Menkaure (left) and Khafre (right), Giza.
Figure 5.12
Plan, the Necropolis, Giza.
Figure 5.13
Cross sections, Pyramids of Djoser (at Saqqara), Khufu (at Giza), and Khafre (at Giza).
Figure 5.14
Khafre, seated statue, from the Valley Temple of Khafre, Giza. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
Figure 5.15
Menkaure and Khamerernebty, statue from the Valley Temple of Menkaure, Giza.
Figure 5.16
Sun Temple of Niuserre (reconstruction), from Abu Gurab.