There were many different art forms in Ancient Egypt. Last time we took a look at paintings and discussed their importance, meanings, and symbolic significances. Now let’s examine two other important arenas of art: sculpture and hieroglyphs.
The ancient art of Egyptian sculpture evolved to represent the gods, goddesses and Pharaohs (the divine kings and queens). Statues were built to represent the gods (such as Isis, right); to give eternal life to the Pharaohs and queens; and also to enable the subjects to see them in larger-than-life physical form (below left). .jpg)
The ancient Egyptian artisans followed very strict conventions while crafting statues: male statues were darker than the females; in seated statues, hands were required to be placed on knees and specific rules governed appearance of every Egyptian god. Let’s take a look at Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, who was represented with a falcon’s head (see below right)..jpg)
He is the sky god, sporting the ruling Pharaonic headgear.
He is the sky god, sporting the ruling Pharaonic headgear.Artistic works were ranked according to exact compliance with all the conventions, and – like the tomb paintings discussed in the previous article - the conventions were followed so strictly that very little changed in the appearance of statutes for nearly 3,000 years.
Let’s move on now to hieroglyphs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, hieroglyphic script is one consisting of a variety of pictures and symbols. Many symbols had independent meanings, whereas some symbols were used in combinations. In addition, some hieroglyphs were used phonetically, in a similar fashion to the Roman alphabet. Some symbols also conveyed multiple meanings; for instance, legs could mean to walk, to run, to go and to come. The script was written in three directions: from top to bottom, from left to right, and from right to left (see below left). This style of writing continued to be used by the ancient Egyptians for nearly 3500 years, from 3300 BC till the third century AD. 
Many art works of the period contain hieroglyphs. Knowledge of hieroglyphic script was lost after it was superseded by other forms of written communication. However, a Frenchman named Champollion, who studied the Rosetta stone for 14 years, discovered the key to deciphering the basic meanings of the hieroglyphs.
In the next article we will examine Egyptian art as a means of depicting everyday life and gender roles. Stay tuned.
Comments
dis iz so lame
mor info on the sculptures!????where?when?how?...
i have this picture
how is it used today?
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