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260319

The philosophy of drawings on the ceiling in the royal tombs in the new Kingdom

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Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

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Abstract

The ceilings of tombs in the eighteenth dynasty were covered with stars, whether yellow or white, on a blue or black ground, representing the sky, while the tomb of "Siti I" in the early dynasty represented a complete transformation in inscriptions, as it is the first cemetery fully engraved with colorful reliefs from the entrance to the wall Behind the stone sarcophagus, and in contrast to the decoration of the Seti tomb on the walls, we find that the ceilings are painted, not carved The ceiling of the burial chamber also contains astronomical scenes before the tomb of "Ramses III." These scenes consisted of the names and pictures of the constellations, and then included scenes from the books of heaven (the Book of Notes, the Book of Day, the Book of Night). . . In sum, there were many astronomical drawings that covered the ceilings of tombs and coffins in the modern state. The artist was often striving to show his artistic and creative touch that characterizes his art despite the stereotypical religious subjects, which he was obliged to depict and to repeat some of the elements necessary to show the subject of embodiment We find repetition of elements such as the female hippopotamus (Tarot), the bull, the lion, the various crocodiles, and the Horus falcon. However, the artists often had to make adjustments to suit the prevailing spatial conditions and artistic tools, such as the size of the tomb ceiling and the general decoration of the target area. For example, “Vibujar" and “Parker" proved that the artist who created the astronomical ceiling of the cemetery “Sinnamut" in Deir al-Bahari had developed his image From an old and popular model, but then gave way to artistic license so that a balanced scene is achieved that added to the spatial limits of the tomb ceiling, as there is no doubt that the main inspiration behind the astronomical drawings on Egyptian ceilings in tombs or on top of coffins is that the sky itself was a source Inspiration for the artist from an early age And that all these astronomical drawings that were found on the ceilings of tombs or the ceilings of coffins were placed there because they were considered of vital and functional importance to the rituals of the dead king and his transition to heaven, according to the religious beliefs of the Egyptians. Where the religious texts indicated, where the funerary religious texts indicated that the destination of the afterlife for the dead king was to be among the stars in the circle of the celestial constellations with the gods who would become one of them

DOI

10.21608/idj.2022.260319

Keywords

Astronomical Charts, Cemeteries Ceiling Scenes, Eternal Houses Ancient Egypt

Authors

First Name

Marwa

Last Name

Hendi

MiddleName

Mahmoud Mohamed

Affiliation

Department Art of history, Faculty of Fine Arts, University, Helwan, Country, Egypt,

Email

marwa_hendi@yahoo.com

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Volume

12

Article Issue

5

Related Issue

36771

Issue Date

2022-09-01

Receive Date

2022-04-16

Publish Date

2022-09-01

Page Start

71

Page End

77

Print ISSN

2090-9632

Online ISSN

2090-9640

Link

https://idj.journals.ekb.eg/article_260319.html

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https://idj.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=260319

Order

8

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,217

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

International Design Journal

Publication Link

https://idj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

The philosophy of drawings on the ceiling in the royal tombs in the new Kingdom

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Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023