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Johns Hopkins University | AS.130.131

It'S Alive! Statues in Ancient Egypt

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Statues in ancient Egypt were extremely powerful images. Following the appropriate rituals, a statue could eat, breath, smell, and see. Wealthy men and women, including the king and his high officials, commissioned statues of themselves to erect in temples and their tombs. This allowed them to benefit from offerings set in front of the statues and essentially live forever. Throughout their history, the Egyptians also carved statues of prisoners, servants, and deities. In this class, we will explore a variety of statues from throughout ancient Egyptian history. How did the Egyptians use statues, and why did they create these objects? Do the answers to these questions vary for different types of statues? In considering this, we will discuss manufacturing techniques, materials, subject matter, style, and the relationship between text and image. However, we will also examine other topics that may at first seem to be less obviously related, including mummies and the process of mummification, religion and magic in ancient Egypt, temples and tombs, and funerary beliefs. In order for students to directly analyze statues, we will take advantage of Baltimore's museums and visit collections of Egyptian art throughout the semester.

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