The main goal of these two articles is to identify whether there was any Egyptian influence on the Greek archaic kouroi. Both authors use the comprehensive study of the proportions of the archaic kouroi. In fact, Guralnick states that there is a clear evidence that Egyptians influenced archaic kouroi sculptors (Guralnick, 1978). It was found that most of the kouroi had an Egyptian canon span, which makes it clear that Greek sculptors must have been influenced by Egyptian sculptures. Additionally, after thorough researchers, it was concluded that the Greek sculptors were both innovators and professional copyists. Apparently, some of the Greek statues had a very evident resemblance with Egyptian sculptures. Therefore, the Greek kouroi were influenced by Egyptian. At the same time, in his article Carter claims that most of the proportions of the Greek statues were very similar to those that were used by Egyptians (Carter, 2010). According to the author soft and not muscular proportions were popular in the early kouroi from the ancient Greece. According to analysis, it was found that both Egyptian and Greek figures were similar in having naturalistic, slender and idealized proportions. The evident traces and resemblance found in the Greek kouroi made it clear that the Greek sculptors must have learnt their skills from Egyptian scripts.
In my opinion, considering all the evidence and similarities of the archaic Greek kouroi and the Egyptian figures, it is clear that the Greek sculptors were influenced by Egyptians. “Some of the kouroi were made in accordance with the Egyptian second canon,” says Guralnick (1978). Starting from the naturalistic proportions and ending linearly articulated anatomy, I can state with confidence that both Egyptian and Greek kouroi were similar.
References
Carter, J. (2010). Kouroi and Statistics. AJA, 114(1), 103-128. http://dx.doi.org/10.3764/aja.114.1.103
Guralnick, E. (1978). The Proportions of Kouroi. AJA, 82(4), 461-472.
