Air Travel Discount
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Ancient
Egyptian Art
A couple of things surface
for this culture hog when I contemplate ancient Egyptian art.
One is the magnitude of the ancient Egyptian art pieces we have
uncovered throughout history; and the other is the mystique behind our
uncovering that which was purportedly not to be uncovered.
Granted, you’d have to be rendered absolutely senseless by a
turnip truck crashing into your motorbike or something…to
not appreciate the beauty and appeal of ancient Egyptian
art—the sculptures; the stone carvings; the cave, tomb, and
other paintings; and, of, course, the pyramids. The technique
of frontalism (the full body face-front but the head in profile) is
astounding. The methods of pigmentation (using berries, kohl,
and other natural items to induce color—which the Egyptians
used for makeup and other dying needs, as well) are nothing short of
genius. The symbolism ascribed with the sun, the scarab, the
asps, and the sacred cat are highly influential. And the
ensconcing of hieroglyphs, as representative and characteristic of
communication and expression at once, has not been eclipsed by any
other language system…or has not been studied to the same
extremes, anyway.
I mean, yes, the artifacts as we consider them are important to our
understanding of ancient civilization as a forerunner to all of our
culture, medicine, and cosmic experience, but we also reduced ourselves
to the most common form of thieving—as grave
robbers. So this treatment of ancient Egyptian art
(though typically reverent) creeps me out. And with good
cause: the Egyptians, advanced as they were, somehow foretold
of their getting looted and had specially designed curses to
post. One appears, for example, in the Dynasty 5 pyramid
texts, and reads: “As for anyone who shall lay a finger on
this pyramid and this temple which belong to me and my ka, he will have
laid his finger on the Mansion of Horus in the firmament, he will have
offended the Lady of the Mansion ... his affair will be judged by the
Ennead and he will be nowhere and his house will be nowhere; he will be
one proscribed, one who eats himself.”
Okay, so one curse does not the whole phenomenon make, but thereafter,
many grave diggers or excavation scientists, archaeologists, and
related assistants died miserable deaths within days (or hours?) of
uncovering and “touching” the ancient Egyptian art
and artifacts. So the double-edged sword (if you are a
believer in the myths and mystique as heartily as you are a follower of
science and history and all) is one we continue to wield, use, and
impale ourselves on. Though, replicas are a whole another
story. I bought a Goddess Selket statue for my friend one
year and nothing has happened to either of us. Yet.