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Egyptian Art and Civilization

The island of Philae, not far from Aswan, with its great monumental complexes dedicated to the cult of Isis was considered to be one of the most sacred sites of Ancient Egypt. This evocative illustration is taken from Views of the Nile by Owen Jones (1843) -- Plate: The Discovery of the Nile -- Gianni Guadalupi -- Chartwell Books -- ISBN: 0-7858-1527-9

The agricultural Nile floodplain gives way abruptly to deserts and rugged hills, as illustrated in this view of Deir el-Bahari, an area of Western Thebes. The mortuary temples of the pharaohs Hatshepsut and Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II are in the foreground ..... Photograph: Ancient Egypt -- General Editor David Silverman -- Oxford University Press -- ISBN: 0195212703 In the Nile Valley shortly before 3000 BC appeared the first nation-state in the world, adorned with all the sophisticated trappings of civilization. Permanence and changelessness were the hallmarks of the ancient Egyptian way of life: language - script - religion and iconography of this Nilotic civilization during the time of Christ had changed rather less than might have been expected from the period of its inception three thousand years earlier. The Kingdom of the Two Lands seemed immutable ...

Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times
Donald Redford -- Princeton University (1992)

Standing Woman : Early Fourth Dynasty : Circa 2570 BC : Egyptian Alabaster with Faint Remains of Paint : Trustees of the British Museum in London (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) Chair of Renyseneb : Circa 1450 BC : Mid-Dynasty 18 : New Kingdom : Ebony and Ivory (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

This young woman's oval and fairly flat face is strikingly reminiscent of similar countenances found in works from the Third Dynasty. In fact the voluminous tripartite wig sitting heavily on the high shoulders and the central parting of the natural hair on the forehead date this statue securely to the very beginning of the Fourth Dynasty --- making it one of the most beautiful female images of its time. The nameless woman's smooth facial features - delicate neck - small rounded shoulders - extremely high waist - sculptured hips and full breasts combine with the translucency of the stone to create what was certainly an image of ideal female beauty during the period ...

The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium