After analyzing the monuments of art, handed down to us from a distant era of the ancient Egyptian civilization, we can definitely identify the two main themes in the art of Egypt in the period around the IV millennium BC to 332 BCE. This is the theme of power and the theme of death. The power of the Pharaoh over the borders of Egypt, the Egyptian state supremacy over the neighboring tribes and kingdoms became firmly established. The question was how to combine it with the death, which is the worst thing that awaits man? It is not possible to find such a vivid, concrete and complete expression of protest against the death in any other civilization as in Egypt. This impertinent and stubborn protest has been inspiring Egypt for a few millennia already. "If once was capable of creating such a subjugate power on Earth, is it not possible to perpetuate it, continue beyond the threshold of death? Because nature is being renewed every year, because the Nile - and Egypt, as Herodotus wrote, is "the gift of the Nile" - overflowing enriches our mud surrounding land, gives rise of life to them and prosperity, and when it goes back, there comes a drought. However, it is not death, for then and so every year - the Nile overflows again. "Now faith is born in Egypt according to which the deceased awaits the Resurrection! Pharaoh is a divine being and the supreme power holder and at the end of his mission on the Earth he should return to the gods, among whom he resided prior to birth. (J. Gwyn Griffiths, Jan., 1966) According to the beliefs of the Egyptians, the tomb was to be the "house of eternity" for Pharaoh. The mighty autocrats forced thousands of slaves work hard on them from year to year - carving granite blocks in the quarries, transporting them to the construction site, lifting and stacking by using the most primitive technology - and so on until the tomb is ready to accept the body of the ruler. "No other nation and no ruler could not bring himself to such costs and such works for the erection of a tombstone. But in the eyes of the pharaohs and their servants the pyramids were subjects of great practical importance. Apparently, it was assumed that the rising to heaven pyramid will help them to reach the gods." (Ancient Egypt, n.a.)
Ancient Egyptian superstitions about death and life after death were quite complex in general. Egyptians were convinced that every living creature was the Ka, which had a spirit or life spark. While the man lived, Ka was always within him. As soon as he or she died, Ka disappeared as well. The reason for this was that fact that when people lived, all the food and drinks that they used fueled Ka. However, after his death, when a man apparently stopped taking food, Ka existence becomes impossible. (Allen, James Paul, 2001). Thus, so to save Ka eternally alive, the food was brought. At the same time, there still was Ba - the human soul. Comparing to the Ka, which leaves the person after death, Ba was left with a man even when he or she passed away. Egyptian sepulchral customs had an object to separate Ba from the body of the late, and combining it with the Ka in order to allow both face the afterlife and spend immortal existence. Nevertheless, according to the legends, Ba returned to his body every night in order to obtain a new life. In case the body has not been preserved, Ba did not recognize him, and could not go to the beyond ever again, thus ending the life of a man in the real sense. Mummification contributed to the preservation of a dead body, allowing Ba to acknowledge it and go into it at night to rejuvenate oneself.
Afterlife was an idea of a great importance in religion of ancient Egypt. The average life expectancy of the Egyptians was about forty years. The idea of immortality was of great importance because the Egyptians mummified the dead. The reason why the ancient Egyptians made mummies is quite simple. They believed that death brings a person into the afterlife, where he or she will receive an immortal existence. Nevertheless, for this, the afterlife was necessary to preserve the body of the deceased, and then the soul could identify whom it belonged. In other words, the Egyptians believed that there is no afterlife for a person if the servants did not save his or her body. It is for this reason that the Egyptians came up with the idea of mummification of the dead so that they could enter the afterlife, and live a happy life there. (David, Rosalie, 2002)
(Stephen Metcalfe-Davies, n.a.)
Although the death in ancient Egypt recognized the same "abnormal" for all means to deal with it, i.e., reliable burial vaults are not available, equipped with an abundance of everything necessary for the deceased, had the privilege of only those in power, and in the first deified pharaoh. Thus, the mortuary cult is inextricably intertwined with the cult of the king. This intertwining did define the objectives of ancient Egyptian art. Having found their solution, it has relatively few modify, staying on for thousands of years as immutable and incomprehensible, as well as their expressed ideas. Ancient Egyptian art in general appears to us as an "art of death design." Funeral cult in ancient Egypt was not a cult of death, but the negation of its celebration, the desire to prolong life and make death - an abnormal phenomenon - not to impair the beauty of life. "Death is terrible, when the deceased is not waiting for a decent burial, allowing the soul to reconnect with the body, terrible outside Egypt, where the ashes" wrapped in sheep skins and buried behind a simple fence "against all rituals. (Egyptian Afterlife May, 6, 2012). The art of mortuary cult was not a dark art. All in the tomb, in its architecture, paintings and sculptures, and all the luxuries that it filled for "gratification" of the deceased, was to express the beauty of life, so majestically tranquil beauty as it pictured the imagination of the ancient Egyptians. It was the beauty of the sun in the blue sky, the beauty of the vast river, giving cool and an abundance of fruits of the earth, the beauty of bright green palm groves amid the grand scenery of boundless yellow sand. Smooth distance spots - and the colors of nature, sonorous under the blinding light, no haze, no halftones. This beauty of a resident of Egypt cherished in his heart and wished to enjoy it forever, levies death. (Dodson, Aidan; Hilton, Dyan, 2004)
(Prehistoric Mummification, August 18, 2014)
The main embodiment of the funeral cult and ideas about a superhuman power has been the pyramid of Pharaoh, so architecture became the leading form of art in Egypt. All other submitted to him, depended on him, that is, in other words, the art of ancient Egypt was a complex, is synthetic, and this is his main and most characteristic feature. Egyptian art is one in painting, and in the relief and sculpture in the round, as it largely developed as a decoration, as a complement of what was regarded as a major to please the gods, for the deification of Pharaoh, and to fight to the death, that is, architecture. (Dr Joann Fletcher, February 17, 2011). We have almost nothing well- known about the architects who built the cathedrals and castles of feudal Europe. And those names which have reached us, faceless because architects often considered simple artisans, and they did not use any special honor, surrounded by secular and spiritual rulers. Architects of ancient Egypt are in a better position. The names of many of them carved in stone on monuments created by them. The very purpose of these unfathomable majestic monuments is to exalt in the eyes of the Egyptians and their creators. And they are the creators, aware of their merits and their fame.
It may thus be concluded that the cult of the ancient Egyptians was built around the idea of eternal life. Symbols of this idea were River Nile and the Sun. Religion gives people the belief that life after death does not end. The deification of the Pharaoh helped strengthen the power in the country and create unique hand-made masterpieces.
References
Aidan Dodson, Dyan Hilton (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt.
Allen James Paul (2001). "Ba". In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 1 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press
Ancient Egypt (n.a.). History. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from <http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-egypt>
David Rosalie (2002). Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt. Penguin. p. 93.
Dr Joann Fletcher (February 17, 2011) The 'Death in Sakkara' Gallery. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/death_sakkara_gallery_07.shtml>
Egyptian Afterlife (May 6, 2012). Crystal Links. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from <http://www.crystalinks.com/egyptafterlife.html>
J. Gwyn Griffiths. (Jan., 1966) Journal of Near Eastern Studies. Hecataeus and Herodotus on "A Gift of the River". Retrieved June 21, 2016, from < https://www.jstor.org/stable/543141?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>
Prehistoric Mummification (August 18, 2014). Sciencesource. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from < http://www.history.sciencesource.com/blog/2014/8/18/prehistoric-mummification>
Stephen Metcalfe-Davies (n.a.) The Pyramid & The Eye - Lifting the Veil. Retrieved June 21, 2016, from < http://www.spiritualunite.com/blog/10712/the-pyramid-the-eye-lifting-the-veil/>
