OLD KINGDOM (Dyn. IV-VI)

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Society and belief

• divine kingship
  • pharaoh an incarnation of sky/falcon god Horus who is linked to sun god Re; pharaoh is regarded as the son of Re. When he dies, the king becomes identified with Osiris, god of the dead.
  • evidence comes from funerary cult, and from contemporary texts (Pyramid Texts inscribed in tombs, and Memphite theology which probably goes back to Old Kingdom or before) and a Middle Kingdom ritual papyrus
    • these give mythical reason for two unified parts of Egypt, for Memphis as capital, for supremacy of Horus etc.
    • they state mythical and current reality, and stress continuity; they don't give us true history
  • concept of ma'at (personified as a goddess), clearly linked to piety in men
    • refers to "the ideal state of the universe and society" (B. Trigger, Ancient Egypt: A Social History, p. 74)
    • sometimes translated 'justice', 'truth'
  • pharaoh is supreme ruler of unified land, shepherd of the people, responsible for maintenance of ma'at in human society
• administration: Old Kingdom capital is Memphis, throughout
  • very few administrative documents survive, but we know many official titles
    • some are more informative than others; what did the 'mouth of Nekhen' do??
    • titles may indicate rank in any case; apparently hierarchy is: literate men with authority from king; their subordinates (e.g. soldiers, quarrymen); illiterate peasants
    • chief official is the vizier, with fiscal, judicial and administrative duties
  • individuals, as well as state and religious foundations, could own land
  • individuals owed either taxes or labor (or both) to government; personnel employed received rations--bread, meat, date cakes, vegetables, beer

Dynasty IV. 2597-2471 BC

History

• King Snefru [pyramid x-sections]
  • step pyramid at Meidum
  • bent pyramid at Dahshur (angle changes part way up)
• Kings Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren), Menkaure (Mykerinus)
  • each has a pyramid at Gizeh--the great pyramid [Giza pyramids; building theories]

Monuments

• pyramids: symbolized pharaoh's divine rule
• Standard elements of a pyramid complex
  • Valley Temple
  • T-shaped hall; series of entrances
    • Khafre's near Sphinx; Khufu's buried under modern town
  • Causeway leading to:
  • Pyramid Temple next to Pyramid
    • narrowing entrance hall; long hall; great court; chapels
  • Pyramid [cartoon]
    • shafts; corridors leading nowhere; corridors to burial chamber
    • limestone rubble walls cased with granite
  • careful and sophisticated measurements [nifty pyramid math]
• neat web links: Nova on-line adventure site about Pyramid exploration; Giza mapping project

Consider this excerpt from B. Trigger, Ancient Egypt: A Social History (Cambridge 1983):

Whilst it is common to emphasize the mortuary character of pyramids and to see them primarily as tombs with temples ancillary to them, the way in which they were in fact organized and referred to suggests that the emphasis should be reversed, and they be regarded first and foremost as temples for the royal statues with a royal tomb attached to each, which...gave enormous authority to what was, in essence, an ancestor cult and an important factor in the stability of government. (p. 85)

Trigger also notes that the massive effort needed to build funeral complexes, and the placing of so much wealth and craft work in them kept the economy strong-- demand continued high for goods and services. Nagle makes the same point, p. 27-28.

• Private tombs are still mastabas
  • more massive than before; solid superstructure instead of corridors and rooms
  • sculpture, wall-paintings supply owner with food; scenes of hunting, fishing, banquets [stable; granary]
  • statues provide a body for owner's ka (soul)
  • in the Old Kingdom only the pharaoh, his family and close officials actually thought to achieve immortality after death
  • private funerary cults repeat the notion of ancestor cult
    
• Provincial towns each have a temple to a local god; often containing statues of individuals or pharaoh
  • temple a center of economic and administrative activity; men of power were associated with it--in Dyn. VI same man may be chief priest and chief of nome (district)
    
• Sculpture
  • ivory statuette of Khufu: only known image of him
  • seated statue of Khafre; diorite, from Valley Temple (height 66")
  • sphinx of Khafre by his Valley Temple, face with his likeness
  • seated statue of Menkaure; alabaster, from Pyramid Temple (ht. 92.5")
  • standing statue of Menkaure and wife; painted slate, from Valley Temple, ht. 57"
  • seated statue of Khufu's vizier Hemiunu from Giza western cemetery; limestone, ht. 61.5"
    • fat, flabby body but still stiff, serene, sculpted in smooth planes
  • Rahotep and his wife Nofret; limestone seated statues from tomb at Meidum (ht. 47"); reign of Snefru
  • painted limestone bust of prince Ankh-haf, son-in-law of Khufu; 23". c. 2635
    • more plastic, modelled
  • reserve heads: extra statue heads placed in tomb
    
• Painting and relief
  • relief of hippo hunt: limestone relief from tomb of Ti, Saqqara, ht. 48"
  • wall painting of geese, Meidum
    
• Furniture of Queen Hetepheres I (Snefru's wife; Khufu's mother)
  • moved to unmarked shaft by Hemiunu after her tomb was robbed
  • gold casings and inlay found in position around decayed wood
  • bed with canopy; 2 arm-chairs; carrying-chair; leather holder for walking sticks

Dynasty V. 2471-2355 B.C.

Monuments

• sculpture
  • seated scribe; painted limestone, ht. 21"
  • Ka-aper ('Sheikh el-Beled', Arabic for 'village mayor'): standing wooden statue from Saqqara, ht. 43"
  • Ranofer, high priest of Memphis
  • two limestone statues from tomb at Saqqara, hts. 73", 71"

Dynasty VI. 2355-2195 B.C.

Monuments

• sculpture
  • kneeling statue of king Pepy I
  • alabaster statue of king Pepy II seated in mother's lap