been seriously studying up on this for a month now and it's been a
focus of mine for a while.
In the tombs they had miniatures of daily life: bakers, weavers,
butchers, all doing the things that they do every day, all in
wonderful miniature. These representations were to provide those
daily needs for the dead in the afterlife.
What was in this afterlife? Egypt, the best of all possible worlds,
with her coveted fertile soil in the middle of the desert. Where
you're never cold, never hot, never sick, never get old, and never
die. Where you plant grain and harvest it and hang out with your
loved ones.
Over the 30 centuries of Egyptian Pharonic culture the Gods and
Goddesses ebbed and waned, some more popular in certain times and
locales than others, all being kaboshed for a while by the belief of
one God, the God of the Sun. That only lasted for a short generation
and it was back to the Gods and Goddesses.
There's no one set belief but an evolution of beliefs. Imhotep was
a guy, just a guy, and he was raised to the level of a God and he
wasn't royal. Cleopatra was from a Greek blood line that inserted
into the King's royal line through Alexander the Great. The Nubians
occupied the throne and the art of Egypt at that time took on an
exciting color and designs. Goddess worship was big during the Nubian
reign.
James asked me what the Ancient Egyptians looked like and I asked
him, during which time? Libya is near by, Africa is near by, the
Mediterranean brought sea faring folks like the Greeks. So if we see
tomb paintings and the folks looked Greek or Roman, then that's ok.
If we see statues of folks who look decidedly African, then that's ok
too. If we see the Tomb incantations go from carved reliefs on the
rock walls of the Royals to a more democratization of magic by way of
the Book of the Dead, which took these incantation and put them on to
papyrus, then that's ok too.
Our word for Desert and Paper come from Desret...an old Egyptian term
and Papyrus. They invented chewing gum, deodorant, eye make up that
prevented eye infection. Everyone wore make up, moisturizer, and
loads of perfume, even the men who worked on the tombs, who went on
strike because of a make up shortage. There's medical beliefs that
influenced science centuries later during the Renaissance that stem
from Egypt. From the Pharos, to the Jewish People, to Coptic
Christians to Muslims underlying beliefs and practices of the Ancient
Egyptians can be see.
The more I study the more I realize that the influence of Egypt
touched the western world and therefore us.
So if there is enough interest in art forms of Ancient Egypt I'm
ready.