Victory's Museum Trip II - The Museo Egizio of Turin VI

victory622 (66)in #history • 6 years ago (edited)

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From this post, we will enter the Old Kingdom period. The old Kingdom (3rd - 6th Dynasty, 2600-2100 BC) is the period of the pyramids, the standardisation and spread of writing, and the creation of specific canons of artistic representation: these three elements were closely connected to the formation of an imposing administrative and religious apparatus that revolved around the pharaoh and involved the gradual establishment of new social classes linked in various ways to court circles. As indicated by the epithets used in royal protocol, which at least from the 4th Dynasty also included the epithet 'Son of Re', the pharaoh was considered the son of the gods and a kind of divine being himself. Besides having an important religious role: he acted as an intermediary between humans and the gods and ensured the order of the cosmos.

Fragment of a relief from the wall of a shrine of King Djoser (2592 - 2543 BC)

Numerous rulers of the Old Kingdom are known from a variety of sources, but generally more as builders of monuments than as clearly defined historical figures; only a few written sources mention military campaigns, trade expeditions or censuses. The city of Heliopolis, where Imhotep was high priest, was an important religious centre until the 3rd Dynasty, as shown by fragments of the wall decoration of a chapel built there by the pharaoh Djoser (an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty during the Old Kingdom and the founder of this epoch). The fragments shown in below figures are discovered in 1903 and transported to Turin.

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The decoration of the chapel may have originally referred to the celebration of the Sed festival (an ancient Egyptian ceremony that celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh). These fragments show the images of the gods Seth and Geb who were the children of the demiurge Atum-Re. One piece of these fragments shows two minute female figures at the feet of the pharaoh who can be identified from hieroglyphics as his daughter Intkaes and the royal bride Hotephernebty, and therefore represents one of the incredibly rare pieces of evidence that adds a missing piece to the complex jigsaw of the family tree of the 3rd Dynasty. [//]:# (!steemitworldmap 45.0684296 lat 7.6843041 long ME6 d3scr)

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The statue of Princess Redji (2592 - 2543 BC)

The inscription on the base indicated that this statue belong to a king's daughter named Redji. Although the name of her father is not mentioned, the style of the state dates it to the beginning of the Old Kingdom. Statues like this were not intended as faithful portraits of the deceased; rather, they served as substitutes of the deceased in the tomb, somehow preserving his or her bodily integrity. This is hence an idealised image of the subject. The style is typical for the period: a rigid posture, a very short neck, and a voluminous wig. Fine details such as the wig texture or the eyebrow line are skillful sculpted in the very hard rock.

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In the next post, we will continue to see the valuable works of art in Old Kingdom period. I am not the researcher of history or archaeology. Just want to share with you some beautiful antiquities. If I made some critical errors in my post, please feel free to help me correct them, thank you very much.