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AP Art History: Egypt & Mesopotamian Art Questions And Answers 2024/2025 Update
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AP Art History: Egypt & Mesopotamian Art Questions And Answers 2024/2025 Update
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AP Art History: Egypt & MesopotamianArt Questions And Answers 2024/2025
Update
Egypt Longetivity: Answer: Consider how long the United States has existed as a nation... Think
about how different this nation is now versus when it was first conceived by our founding fathers 250
years ago.
Now consider the fact that Ancient Egypt civilization lasted for more than 3,000 YEARS and showed an
incredible amount of continuity. That is more than 15 TIMES THE AGE OF THE UNITED STATES, and
consider how often our culture shifts; less than 25 years ago, there was no Facebook, Twitter, or
Youtube.
While today we consider the Greco-Roman period to be in the distant past, it should be noted that
Cleopatra VII's reign (which ended in 30 BCE) is closer to our own time than it was to that of the
construction of the pyramids of Giza. It took humans nearly 4000 years to build something--anything--
taller than the Great Pyramids. Contrast that span to the modern era; we get excited when a record
lasts longer than a decade.
Looking at the two artworks, both cropped images from larger 250 pieces. Besides one being a relief
sculpture and the other a painting, they don't look stylistically different, but were created 1,700 years
apart
Ancient Egypt Impact on the West Answer: In a way, Egypt PROVIDED THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR
GREEK AND ROMAN culture (literally and figuratively), and, through them, influenced the whole of
Western tradition. Today, Egyptian imagery, concepts, and perspectives are found everywhere; you
will find them in ARCHITECTURAL forms, on MONEY, and in our day to day lives. Egyptians were one
of the FIRST TO USE PAPER (PAPYRUS) INSTEAD OF STONE OR CLAY TABLETS FOR WRITTEN
COMMUNICATION.
Ancient Egypt Consistency and Stability Answer: Egypt's stability is in STARK CONTRAST TO THE
ANCIENT NEAR EAST (Mesopotamia) of the same period, which endured an overlapping series of
cultures and upheavals with amazing regularity. The earliest royal monuments, such as the Narmer
,Palette carved around 3100 B.C.E., display identical royal costumes and poses as those seen on later
rulers, even Ptolemaic kings on their temples 3000 years later.
Ancient Egypt Time - Cyclical and Linear Answer: The ANNUAL INUNDATION OF THE NILE was also
a reliable, and measurable, cycle that helped form their concept of the passage of time. In fact, the
calendar we use today is derived from one developed by the ancient Egyptians. They divided the year
into 3 seasons: akhet "inundation," peret "growing/emergence." and shemw "harvest." Each of the
three seasons, in turn, were divided into four 30-day months (hence the 30 day month and 12 month
year).
Ancient Egypt Dynasties Answer: Dynastic divisions were created in the first Western-style history
of Egypt, written by an Egyptian priest in the 3rd century B.C.E. Each of the 33 dynasties included a
series of rulers usually related by kinship or the location of their seat of power. Egyptian history is also
divided into larger chunks, known as "kingdoms" and "periods," to distinguish times of strength and
unity from those of change, foreign rule, or disunity.
Ancient Egypt The Pharaoah (Not just a king) Answer: Rulers in Egypt were complex
intermediaries that were considered BOTH GODS AND KINGS. They were, obviously, living humans,
but upon accession to the throne, they also embodied the eternal, divine aspects of their role. THE KA,
OR SPIRIT, of kingship was often depicted as a separate entity standing behind the human ruler and
gave authority to the human ruler. The LIVING KING WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE GOD HORUS...
whom we'll talk about more later in the unit
Pre-dynastic Period time Range Answer: 3,500-2,600 BCE
UPPER EGYPT Answer: Narrow tract of grassland for hunting.
Barren
Hunting
Flow from
Mountain Snow
, * LOWER EGYPT Answer: Silt carried down and created large agricultural areas and animal
husbandry
The Flood
Agriculture
Animals
Nile Delta
Egypt Geography Answer: The geography is almost entirely rugged, barren desert, except for an
explosion of green that straddles either side of the Nile as it flows the length of the country. The river
emerges from far to the south, deep in Africa (Sudan & Ethiopia), and empties into the Mediterranean
sea in the north after spreading from a single channel into a fan-shaped system (a delta) at its
northernmost section. Egypt is a land of duality and cycles, both in topography and culture.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE NILE CANNOT BE OVERSTATED—The Nile provided not only a constant source
of life-giving water, but created the fertile lands that fed the growth of this unique (and uniquely
resilient) culture.
Each year, fed by melting snows in the far-off headlands, the river overflowed its banks in an annual
flood that covered the ground with a rich, black silt and produced incredibly fertile fields. The
Egyptians referred to this SILT AS KEMET, THE "BLACK LANDS," and contrasted this dense, dark soil
against the DESHRET, THE "RED LANDS" OF THE STERILE DESERT; the line between these zones was
(and in most cases still is) a literal line. The visual effect is stark, appearing almost artificial in its
precision.
Egypt EARLY DEVELOPMENT: PREDYNASTIC Answer: The period before the pharaohs, kingdoms,
or vast established governance, lasting from about 5000-3100 B.C.E., until unification, is referred to as
Predynastic by modern scholars. Prior to this were thriving Paleolithic and Neolithic groups, stretching
back hundreds of thousands of years. During the Predynastic period, ceramics, figurines, mace heads,
and other artifacts such as slate palettes used for grinding pigments, begin to appear, as does imagery
that will become iconic during the Pharaonic era...what's to come.
APPRECIATING & UNDERSTANDING ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ART: Answer: Ancient Egyptian art must
be viewed from the standpoint of the ancient Egyptians to understand it. The somewhat static, usually
formal, strangely abstract, and often blocky nature of much Egyptian imagery has, at times, LED TO
UNFAIR AND UNFAVORABLE COMPARISONS WITH LATER, and much MORE "NATURALISTIC" ART (ex.
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