Art historians, Egyptologists, and archeologists have made fascinating discoveries about the artifacts, pharaohs, and culture of Egypt since the discovery in 1799 of the Rosetta Stone. It led to the decoding of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Pharaonic names, dates, places, and events could then be reliably organized for linear presentation of ancient Egypt's long 4,000 year history. Egyptian innovations in burial architecture, mummification, picture language, and huge monument building had both amazed and puzzled scholars for nearly 1,500 years. Pyramid building, obelisk lifting and colossal statue carving reveal a sophistication and simplicity which are at once both attractive and intriguing. This paper will review several specific aspects of Egyptian art ranging from 4000 to 30 B.C.E.

First will be, a brief discussion of Egyptian history, kings, geography and art. They will be followed by an examination of invention and innovation. Next, the decoding of hieroglyphics will be reviewed and followed by an overview of ancient Egyptian fascination with the afterlife. Finally, the major discovery in 1922 of King Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings and its exquisite treasures will be off

Egyptians always fantasized and focused a massive amount of energy in their belief of an afterlife. During the early kingdom of Egypt no less than ninety huge granite stone pyramids were built to provide a gateway from this life into the afterlife for Egyptian pharaohs. One of these monumental structures remains a wonder of the ancient world simply because of its huge dimensions. The pyramid of Cheops on the Giza plateau, when measured from it's underground foundation to it's top, is 451 feet high. Taller than a forty-story building and covers an area of nearly thirteen acres. To build this tomb, over one million laborers took more than twenty-three years to cut and stack 2.3 million granite rocks weighing from 4000 to 30,000 pounds apiece. Inside the tomb are thirty granite rooms, many precious gems, weapons, and massive amounts of gold. We will never be sure of the amount of precious items in the tomb because it was broken into and everything was stolen, even King Cheops' corpse. Therefore one can imagine how focused the pharaoh and workers were on the afterlife. The Egyptians strongly believed in the "Ka" or the soul of a human being. The "Ka" could be preserved by embalming a dead body and preserving it's tissue and organs for the afterlife. The normal procedure, depending on the amount of money the family had, was to remove the internal organs and place them in canopic jars. After this, they filled the body with either straw or sand. This was followed by wrapping the body with muslin and placing it in the sarcophagus. This whole procedure was done to dry the entire body and to prevent as much rot and decay as possible. If the body was to decompose, no Egyptian could be assured of everlasting life after death. Therefore huge emphasis was in preserving, embalming, and mummifying the corps. Not only were humans mummified, but pets were as well. Cats were considered sacred. Over 500 million ancient Egyptians were mummified by recent counts, which indicates a fascination and a perception of life after death. Western man owes the Egyptian culture a great deal of respect and gratitude because we used their "Ka" and their belief in a afterlife as the foundation of our Christian faith.

The Old Kingdom, from about 4000 to 2280 B.C., was the age of the great pyramids such as Cheops (wonder of the ancient world), Chefren, and Mycerinus. Also on the Giza plateau is the largest freestanding statue in Egypt, the Sphinx. The Sphinx was a sculpture of a lion's body with the face of Chefren. The statue is sixty-five feet high and about 240 feet in length, making it the largest freestanding statue in Egypt. The Nile River was key in the development of these Ancient Egyptian cities the Nile would flood in the summer which fertilized the crops and making the desert lush and fertile. Its most important role was it supplied clay for bricks and pottery for transporting water. The Nile was even an asset to the prehistorics. The Egyptians developed their agricultural economy from prehistoric communities such as Hierakonpolis. Menes, the first recorded king of early Egypt, had an architect named Imhotep. Imhotep built and constructed many types of pyramids such as the mastaba, step, bent, and smooth-sided. The next era of the Egyptian kingdom is known as the Middle Kingdom. This kingdom lasted from about 2065 to 1785 B.C. In this era, the city of Thebes was built. Thebes was known as the mo

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Approximate Word count = 2290
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)