Online Study Guide

The Land Of The Nile :: The Predynastic And Early Dynastic :: The Old Kingdom :: The Middle Kingdom :: The New Kingdom :: The Late Period

Images courtesy of
Saskia Ltd.

THE NEW KINGDOM

The Middle Kingdom ended with the invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos from the east. Soon after Ahmose came to the throne in 1550 BCE, the Hyksos were expelled and Egypt entered the period known as the New Kingdom.

Egypt at its height:

Like its predecessor, the Middle Kingdom disintegrated, and power passed to the Hyksos, or shepherd kings, who descended on Egypt from the Syrian and Mesopotamian uplands.

Architecture

Hatshepsut's temple:

New Kingdom architecture is dominated by grandiose temples, often built to honor pharaohs and queens, as well as gods. The most majestic of these royal mortuary temples, at Deir el-Bahri, was constructed for the female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, on of the most remarkable women of the ancient world.

3-21: Mortuary temple of Hatshepsut (with the Middle Kingdom mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II at left), Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1473-1458 BCE.

A woman portrayed as a man:

As many as 200 statues in the round depicting Hatshepsut in various guises complemented the extensive relief program. Hatshepsut was repeatedly portrayed as a sphinx.

3-22: Hatshepsut with offering jars, from the upper court of her mortuary temple, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, ca. 1473-1458 BCE. Red granite, approx. 8' 6 high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Colossi carved in a cliff:

Hatshepsut's mortuary temple never fails to impress visitors by its sheer size, and this is no less true of the immense rock-cut temple of Ramses II (r. 1290-12:24 B.C.) at Abu Simbel.

3-23: Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel (now relocated), Egypt, Dynasty XIX, ca. 1290-1224 BCE. Sandstone, colossi approx. 65' high.

Pillar statues:

The pillars located in the interior of the temple of Ramses II, are 32 feet tall, carved from the cliff and have no load-bearing function.

3-24: Interior of the temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel (now relocated), Egypt, Dynasty XIX, ca. 1290-1224 BCE. Sandstone, pillar statues approx. 32' high.

The family of Ramses:

Ramses fathered many sons. The most important members of his family were honored with immense monuments of their own.

Immense pylon temples:

Distinct from the pharaonic mortuary temples built during the New Kingdom are the edifices built to honor one or more of the gods.

3-25: Restored view of the temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, begun fifteenth century BCE (Jean-Claude Golvin).

Hypostyle halls:

The dominating feature of the statuary-lined approach to a New Kingdom temple was the monumental façade of the pylon, with was routinely covered with reliefs glorifying Egypt's rulers. Inside, was an open court with columns on two or more sides, followed by a hall between the court and sanctuary, its long axis placed at right angels to the corridor of the entire building complex. This hypostyle hall (one where columns support the roof) was crowded with massive columns and roofed by stone slabs carried on lintels. The lintels rested on cubical blocks that in turn rested on giant capitals.

3-26: Hypostyle hall, temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, Dynasty XIX, ca. 1290-1224 BCE.

3-27: Model of hypostyle hall, temple of Amen-Re, Karnak, Egypt, Dynasty XIX, ca. 1290-1224 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Sunken reliefs on columns:

In the hypostyle hall at Karnak, the columns are indispensable structurally, unlike the rock-cut columns of the tombs at Beni Hasan and Abu Simbel. But their function as vertical supports is almost hidden by horizontal bands of painted sunken relief sculpture.

Architecture after Alexander:

Once formulated, Egyptian traditions tended to have very long lives, in architecture as in other arts. The pylon temple of Horus at Edfu, built during the third, second, and first centuries BCE, after Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt, still follows the basic scheme architects worked out more than a thousand years before.

3-28: Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt, ca. 237-47 BCE.

Sculpture and Painting

Senmut and Nefrua:

Extremely popular during the Middle and New Kingdoms were block statues. In these works the idea that the ka could find an eternal home in the cubic stone image of the deceased was expressed in an even more radical simplification of form than was common in Old Kingdom statuary.

3-29: Senmut with Princess Nefrua, from Thebes, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1470-1460 BCE. Granite, approx. 3' 1/2 high. Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.

Painting at Thebes:

The art of adorning tomb walls with paintings, attested already in the Predynastic period, flourished in the New Kingdom.

3-30: Fowling scene, from the tomb of Nebamun, Thebes, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1400-1350 BCE. Fresco on dry plaster, approx. 2' 8 high. British Museum, London.

A feast for the dead:

New Kingdom artists did not always adhere to old standards for figural representation. In the following fresco, the overlapping of the dancers; figures, their facing in opposite directions, and their rather complicated gyrations were carefully and accurately observed and executed.

3-31: Musicians and dancers, detail of a fresco from the tomb of Nebamun, Thebes, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1400-1350 BCE. Fragment approx. 1' x 2' 3. British Museum, London.

Akhenaton and the Amarna Period:

The shift in religious focus imposed by the pharaoh Akhenaton introduced profound but short-lived changes into Egyptian art. In sculpture and painting, the traditional rules of proportion were abandoned and a more expressive intimacy replaced the earlier stiffness and formality.

Religious upheaval:

Not long after Nebamun was laid to rest in his tomb at Thebes, a short but violent upheaval occurred in Egyptian society and in Egyptian art-the only major break in the continuity of their long tradition. In the mid-14:^th century BCE, the pharaoh Amenhotep IV, later known as Akhenaton, abandoned the worship of most of the Egyptian gods in favor of Aton, whom he declared to be the universal and only god, identified with the sun disk.

Artistic revolution:

During the brief heretical episode of Akhenaton , however, profound changes occurred in Egyptian art. This can be seen in a statue of Akhenaton form the temple of Aton. In this staute, Akhenaton is given an effeminate body, with curving contours, a long face with full lips and heavy-lidded eyes. This is vastly different from the heroically proportioned figures of the pharaoh's predecessors.

3-32: Akhenaton, from the temple of Aton, Karnak, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1353-1335 BCE. Sandstone, approx. 13' high. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Nefertiti and Tiye:

The famous painted limestone bust of Akhenaton's queen, Nefertiti, exhibits a similar expression of entranced musing and almost mannered sensitivity and delicacy of curving contour. The sculptor seems to have adjusted the actual likeness of his subject to meet the era's standard of spiritual beauty.

Queen Tiye, mother of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, figured prominently in the art of the Amarna age.

3-33: THUTMOSE, Nefertiti, from Tell el-Amarna, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1353-1335 BCE. Painted limestone, approx. 1' 8 high. Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.

3-34: Tiye, from Gurob, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1353-1335 BCE. Wood, with gold, silver, alabaster, and lapis lazuli, approx. 3 3/4 high. Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.

Royal intimacy:

Such an intimate portrayal of the pharaoh and his family is unprecedented in Egyptian art, however, the style is familiar. We see the undulating curves and prominent bellies that characterize figures of the Amarna school.

3-35: Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and three daughters, from Tell el-Amarna, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1353-1335 BCE. Limestone, approx. 12 1/4 high. Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin.

The Tomb of Tutankhamen and the Post-Amarna Period:

Following the death of Akhenaton, the traditional cult and priesthood of Amen was re-established and all traces of the worship of Aton were eradicated. Eventually, Egyptian art returned to its traditional form, but the changes introduced during the reign of Akhenaton lingered for a while and can be detected in the fluid, curvilinear forms seen in the art and artifacts found in the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Treasures of a boy king:

The legacy of the Amarna style may be seen, however, in the fabulously rich art and artifacts found in the largely unplundered tomb of Tutankhamen (r. 1333-13:23 BCE), who was probably Akhenaton's son by a minor wife.

3-36: Innermost coffin of Tutankhamen, from his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1323 BCE. Gold with inlay of enamel and semiprecious stones, approx. 6' 1 long. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

3-37: Death mask of Tutankhamen, from the innermost coffin in his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, ca. 1323 BCE. Gold with inlay of semiprecious stones, 1' 9 1/4 high. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Tutankhamen the conqueror:

Although Tutankhamen probably was considered too young to fight, his position as king required that he be represented as a conqueror.

3-38: Painted chest, from the Tomb of Tutankhamen, Thebes, Egypt, ca. 1333-1323 BCE. Wood, approx. 1' 8 long. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

The book of the dead:

Tutankhamen's mummy case shows the boy king in the guise of Osiris, god of the dead and king of the underworld, as well as giver of eternal life.

3-39: Last judgment of Hu-Nefer, from his tomb at Thebes, Egypt, Dynasty XIX, ca. 1290-1280 BCE. Painted papyrus scroll, approx. 1' 6 high. British Museum, London.

The Land Of The Nile :: The Predynastic And Early Dynastic :: The Old Kingdom :: The Middle Kingdom :: The New Kingdom :: The Late Period