Ancient Egyptian paintings

07/05/2021

The Egyptian Afterlife
Ancient Egyptian religion was based on a firm belief in the afterlife. Rather than a complete cessation of life, death was taken as a temporary interruption. They strongly believed that eternal life was possible through the means of piety and mummification.

It was thought that an individual’s afterlife would be decided by the Egyptian gods, as clearly depicted in the above painting. The pharaohs were staunch believers in the idea of the afterlife, and for that reason used to make grand preparations for their funerals, making sure all the arrangements were made to ensure they had the essentials available when they were resurrected.

07/05/2021

Book of the Dead
Those who have seen the pop culture movie The Mummy, will know that the Book of the Dead is an ancient script that contains texts on how to bring back the dead in the afterlife. But is this really true? The answer would be yes and no! The original name for the text is rw nw prt m hrw which in literal translation is “the book of coming forth by day” or “the book of emerging forth into the light.”
This book consists of a number of magical spells that are supposedly used to assist a dead person’s journey through the underworld once they have died and been resurrected into the afterlife. The earliest of the spells and manuscripts date back to 3000 BC, and the newer spells were added later in Egyptian history, most recently during the 11th to the 7th centuries BC.

07/05/2021

Tomb Paintings
The Egyptians made the most elaborate and beautiful tombs for their pharaohs. In fact, ancient Egypt boasted the most remarkable memorial tombs of all, most of which still survive today: the pyramids. There are a number of famous pyramid tombs, noticeably three massive tombs from the fourth dynasty. But even more spectacular are the paintings engraved inside them, often depicting the journey of the deceased into the afterlife.

This particular painting in the tomb of Irinefer depicts the deceased standing in the barge of the phoenix, the symbol of the sun god of Heliopolis. Most tombs have a number of paintings reflecting the lives of the deceased, and the royal tombs are even more vividly carved with paintings and cartouches reflecting their journey before their death and then into the afterlife.

19/04/2021

Egyptian Deities

Ancient Egyptian society had a complex system of polytheistic beliefs, meaning the Egyptians believed in and worshiped multiple gods. More often than not, these gods were grouped in a pantheon along with their religions and rituals. The entire civilization was rich with diverse religions, each of them with their own deities, rituals and beliefs, and they had many staunch followers. It was said that different cities had different gods specific to them, and followers worshiped their individual deities with devotion. The most popular of the gods were the sun god Ra; Anubis, the god of death and embalming; and Horus, the god of the sky. Osiris, Anubis, and Horus were important in the ancient pantheon of Egyptian gods.

19/04/2021

Mummification in Ancient Egypt


Mummification was an important part of the concept of an afterlife. A proper ritual had to be followed to mummify a dead person to ensure his or her resurrection after receiving judgment from the Egyptian gods. Before the Old Kingdom (the earliest of the Egyptian civilizations) bodies which were buried in the desert were naturally preserved by desiccation. But as time passed, wealthier Egyptians started to arrange for more elaborate artificial mummification.

By the time of the New Kingdom, people had perfected the art of mummification. The best of the techniques took almost 70 days and involved preserving the internal organs, including the brain, and the desiccation of the body in a mixture of salts called natron. In the Old Kingdom, the jackal-headed god Anubis would look after the burials of the kings. He was later replaced by Osiris somewhere during the Middle Kingdom.

19/04/2021

Egyptian Dance

Dancing played a major role in the culture of the ancient Egyptians. Music and dance were the norm. A rhythmic dance was imprinted into the hearts of the Egyptians, with people often working along to the sounds of songs and percussion instruments. The ancient Egyptian era also saw the birth of street dancers who would entertain passersby. Egyptian dance was divided into different categories depending on the participants and the occasion.

This painting, in particular, shows “pair dancing” where two women dance together in a pair while another group plays music. Pair dancing involved either two men or two women dancing together in unison. There were also group dances where a group of trained performers would entertain spectators, but even more popular were the festival dances with each dance unique to its particular celebration.

19/04/2021

19/04/2021