ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Art and Architecture of Eastern, Geometric, and Archaic Greece Civilizations



Art and Architecture of Eastern, Geometric, and Archaic Greece Civilizations

Eastern Civilization

Egypt

A cursory look at the monuments of ancient Egypt reveals that this ancient civilization was not only impressive but also important to regional cultural development. The mere mention of ancient Egypt brings to mind Pharaohs, enormous pyramids, elaborate temple complexes, and hieroglyphics-Egypt's picture language. Not only was ancient Egypt the longest existing ancient civilization, but also it was a unique civilization in that, unlike Mesopotamia, desert and the Mediterranean Sea surrounded its arable land and isolated the Egyptians from other groups of people. Also, Egypt was distinctive in that life and culture centered on, depended on, and were shaped by the Nile River.

Although people lived in the area from 5500 BCE, historians typically define the kingdom of ancient Egypt as the time between the beginning of the dynastic period around 3100 BCE and the conquest of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. The dynastic period began with the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt under one ruler. Little is known about this ruler (commonly associated with Menes, or Narmer) or the unification of the two kingdoms due to a lack of written and tangible evidence. What is known is that Early Dynastic Egypt (ca. 3100-2640 BCE) was a peaceful kingdom in which the rulers established a standard for the following dynastic periods. They traded as far south as Nubia and into the Levant as far as Syria and had already begun to exploit turquoise mines. During this time, the Egyptians advanced religion, promoted the notion of kingship, centralized governmental administration, developed sophistication in art and architecture, introduced hieroglyphic writing, and initiated the building of pyramids as funerary monuments.

Art and Architecture

In the Old Kingdom period (ca. 2640-2160 BCE), the Egyptians advanced monumental architecture to levels never seen before and rarely reached afterward. During this period, the pharaohs built the Great Pyramids at Giza, Saqqara, and elsewhere. Such building feats demonstrate that the pharaoh had centralized control of a willing population in addition to having a highly developed bureaucracy needed to undertake such projects. This development also demonstrates that the Egyptians had knowledge of higher mathematics and skill in moving extremely heavy building materials.

Egyptian art became standardized into “Egyptian” form during the Old Kingdom. It became elegant in style, with attention given to linear and rectilinear control and to baselines. The artists paid meticulous attention to normal forms. For example, they drew animals in a normal posture as found in the wild so that they looked realistic. Egyptian artists drew humans in an ideal form. They depicted men as being tall, lean, and fit, having broad shoulders and a slender waist. They depicted women as young, slender, and well shaped, without any excess fat. Artists portrayed both men and women as having an air of self-confidence, balance, and proper proportions.

Almost all pharaohs of the 18th and 19th dynasties made military campaigns outside of Egypt's traditional borders and then returned home to ...