The rulers established a national administration and appointed royal governors. The buildings of the central government were typically open-air temples constructed of wood or sandstone. State formation in Egypt was primarily indigenous in character, and it is likely that a common language, namely Egyptian, was spoken in Upper and Lower Egypt in variant dialects, which facilitated the unification.
The earliest hieroglyphs appear just before this period, though nothing is certain about the spoken language represented by the writing at the time. According to the historian Manetho , the first king was Menes likely reign circa — BC. However, the earliest recorded king of the First Dynasty was Hor-Aha reign c.
His name is known because it is written on a votive palette the Narmer Pallette used for grinding minerals for kohl, used by ancient Egyptians to outline the eyes. Funeral practices for the peasants would have been the same as in Predynastic times, but the rich demanded something more. Thus, the Egyptians began construction of the mastabas which became models for the later Old Kingdom constructions such as the Step pyramid.
Cereal agriculture and centralization contributed to the success of the state for the next years. It has also so been interpreted that King Menes and the whole traditional story of an Egypt unified under a single conquering ruler, who led his armies and conquered lower Egypt to establish the first dynasty in the lower Egyptian city of Memphis , is just mythology as are the twin kingdoms story.
The crocodile god Sobek, depicted in the sunken relief below and possibly in the imagery of the plate above , served a variety of purposes including fertility, military prowess, and protection. On the other hand, the god Seth also known as Set , sometimes symbolized by a hippopotamus, symbolized chaos and disorder.
Colors were more expressive rather than natural. For instance, red skin painted on characters implied vigorous, tanned youths; yellow skin was used for women or middle-aged men who worked indoors; blue or gold indicated divinity because of its unnatural appearance and association with precious materials; and the use of black for royal figures expressed the fertility of the Nile from which Egypt was born.
Stereotypes were employed to indicate the geographical origins of foreigners. Art forms were characterized by regularity and detailed depiction of gods, human beings, heroic battles, and nature, and were intended to provide solace to the deceased in the afterlife.
Media ranged from papyrus drawings to pictographs hieroglyphics and included funerary sculpture carved in relief and in the round from sandstone, quartz diorite, and granite. Describe the building materials and characteristics of Egyptian architecture during the Early Dynastic Period. Due to the scarcity of wood, the two predominant building materials used in ancient Egypt were sun-baked mud brick and limestone. After the end of the Early Dynastic Period , stone became used in tombs and temples, while bricks were used even for royal palaces, fortresses, and the walls of temple precincts.
Ancient Egyptian houses were made of mud collected from the Nile River. The mud was placed in molds and left to dry in the hot sun to harden. Many Egyptian towns situated near the cultivated area of the Nile Valley have disappeared, either by flooding as the river bed slowly rose during the millennia, or the mud bricks of which they were built were used by peasants as fertilizer.
Fortunately, the dry, hot climate of Egypt preserved some mud brick structures. Large tombs of pharaohs at Abydos and Naqada, in addition to cemeteries at Saqqara and Helwan near Memphis, reveal structures built largely of wood and mud bricks, with some small use of stone for walls and floors. Stone was used in quantity for the manufacture of ornaments , vessels , and occasionally for statues. Tamarix was used to build boats such as the Abydos Boats. A variation of this joint using a free tenon eventually became one of the most important features in Mediterranean and Egyptian shipbuilding.
It creates a union between two planks or other components by inserting a separate tenon into a cavity mortise of the corresponding size cut into each component. The stepped pyramid at Saqqara : Large tombs of pharaohs at Abydos and Naqada, in addition to cemeteries at Saqqara and Helwan near Memphis, reveal structures built largely of wood and mud bricks, with some small use of stone for walls and floors. Human sacrifice was practiced as part of the funerary rituals associated with all of the pharaohs of the first dynasty.
The tomb of Djer is associated with the burials of individuals. The people and animals sacrificed, such as donkeys, were expected to assist the pharaoh in the afterlife. For unknown reasons, this practice ended with the conclusion of the dynasty, with shabtis taking the place of actual people to aid the pharaohs with the work expected of them in the afterlife. Ancient Egyptian temples were aligned with astronomically significant events like solstices and equinoxes, requiring precise measurements at the moment of the particular event.
Measurements at the most significant temples may have been ceremonially undertaken by the pharaoh himself. The Early Dynastic Period of Ancient Egypt reached a high level in painting and sculpture that was both highly stylized and symbolic. Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture , and was both highly stylized and symbolic. Much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments, and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and the preservation of knowledge of the past.
All Egyptian reliefs were painted, and less prestigious works in tombs, temples, and palaces were just painted on a flat surface. Stone surfaces were prepared by whitewash, or, if rough, a layer of coarse mud plaster, with a smoother gesso layer above; some finer limestones could take paint directly.
Pigments were mostly mineral, chosen to withstand strong sunlight without fading. The binding medium used in painting remains unclear; egg tempera and various gums and resins have been suggested. It is clear that true fresco , painted into a thin layer of wet plaster, was not used. Instead the paint was applied to dried plaster, in what is called fresco a secco in Italian. After painting, a varnish or resin was usually applied as a protective coating, and many paintings with some exposure to the elements have survived remarkably well, although those on fully exposed walls rarely have.
Small objects including wooden statuettes were often painted using similar techniques. The paintings were often made with the intent of making a pleasant afterlife for the deceased. The themes included journey through the afterworld or protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld such as Osiris.
Some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity. Egyptian paintings are painted in such a way to show a profile view and a side view of the animal or person—a technique known as composite view. Their main colors were red, blue, black, gold, and green.
Wall painting of Nefertari : Egyptian paintings are painted in such a way to show a profile view and a side view of the animal or person. This painting, for example, shows the head from a profile view and the body from a frontal view. The main colors used were red, blue, black, gold, and green.
The monumental sculpture of Ancient Egypt is world famous, but refined and delicate small works exist in much greater numbers. The Early Dynastic Period begins with the unification of Egypt into a single political entity around BC, and consists of the very first two dynasties.
The unification of Upper and Lower Egypt was in reality a very gradual process, but one of its final stages appears to have taken place during the reign of King Narmer. One of the most important treasures in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, the Narmer Palette, is a record of his historic event.
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