Research Of How Tombs & Their Decoration Help Define Social Status
In ancient Egypt, the theme and happening of death was a central and critical part of the people’s living and culture. That being said, hand paintings and etchings were not only decora-tive, but also essential. The more refined versions of cave paintings would take place on walls, rocks, and most importantly, tombs. The goal of these expressions and etches were, as we would know later in Greco-Roman civilization, is to signal a relevance and respectful social class, status, and position in the community. Through excavation and arriving upon a richly decorated tomb, one would know that this is the site of a highly important member of ancient Egyptian society. In this essay, we will explore the importance and value of art in the ancient Egyptian culture, in line with the themes of death and social status.
Firstly, the study of ancient Egypt has struck many as an elaborate and heavily researched field. Combining the likes of the fields of philosophy, art history, archeology, and natural sci-ences, humankind grows familiar with the civilization of the Pharaohs. Researchers, since the 1990’s, studied Egypt’s ancient “melting pot” of societies, witnessing its cultural mores which yield as proof of life, of death, and of social strata. After this research came to life, art historians would become curious: the importance of art and its significance to social status had not been a contemporary uprising, but rather, it dates back to ancient Egypt, and possibly, arts of the prehistoric. That being said, in ancient Egypt, the main signifier of art practices is life and death.
As au-thor Gay Robins makes clear in his survey of the civilization, Harvard Press’s “The Art of An-cient Egypt”, the art that was crafted throughout this period of time was epochal; it was the glue for the otherwise separated pieces of religion, politics, gender, and society. Burial processes in ancient Egypt are of high significance; then and there, we witness an appraisal of the dead and their belongings. We begin to notice a significance in burials when the dead are of explicitly important nature in the society that these individuals have constructed. Those who are seen as important and valued, are political beings, they are the rulers that are, in hierarchy, the closest to the gods, thus, their burial must be ethereal to say the least. That being said, the question being posed here revolves around not only the importance of these people and the reflection of the matter on their burial manifesto, but also, the relevance of high art in relation to the deaths of highly esteemed members of society.
To clarify, we are exploring the significance of art in the social structure of ancient Egypt. To begin, in text “Facing the Dead” by Christina Riggs, we understand a certain exhibition-ist form of viewing death from ancient Egypt. In renown museums across the UK and France, we observe mummies and burial portraiture, which, in modern times, we could classify as the casket. These “masks” that were crafted at the time refers to a mode of identification of the oth-erwise unknown mummy. We can infer that those with identification deserve to be identified, as they must be known amongst the people. As Riggs writes, “Further, artistic naturalism is still in service to the physical ideals — of beauty, wisdom, or youthfulness — embraces by a given culture”. This would clarify to us that those buried in a portraiture mode of burial would thus only have been so as a result of beauty or wisdom, both assets of members of society with high social status. The narrative surrounding this notion gives us an inference that portraiture had been used in order to give uniqueness to those who deserve it, as they enter the journey of approaching the gods, and must arrive to the afterlife in unique and ethereal presence. Moreo-ver, portraiture had to be accurate – the more lifelike, the higher the person’s importance. In our modern times, we can translate this as the following goes: a collector or patron who has enough money to commission a well skilled artist, that has time, craft, and talent, receives a portrait of themselves that is accurate, lifelike and realistic. Realism in portraiture, thus, at that time and in the present, reflects the wealth that is required to achieve such results. To this, Riggs claims, “In actuality, being painted, sketched, or sculpted during a face-to-face interaction between subject and artist is not essential to an image being called or considered a portrait. There is little con-crete evidence for exactly how ancient artists captured an individual’s image or whether person-al observation of the subject was considered indispensable.
Textual sources inform us that life-likeness was highly valued”. In Borg’s ethnographic explanation, “the Face of the Elite”, she explains a certain discrep-ancy between the method of burial of esteemed individuals and peasants. While those of im-portant individuals involve closed portraiture-covered casket masks, those of peasants are mere-ly stacked. Through this description, we can infer that graves of peasants include small to no artwork, since their afterlife is not lavish nor worthy. That being said, in the presence of art-work comes the conclusion of a life full of wealth, beauty, wisdom, and royalty. Borg quotes Della Valle’s observation upon arriving to Cairo’s pyramids in the 1600’s, “the corpses lay buried in the sand without any particular order. . . one on top of another, just like macaroni and cheese”. Borg cites this as a critical observation and comparison. Another example of this discrepancy follows, where Borg asserts, “These mummy portraits were discovered all over Egypt, but restricted to the vicinity of those cities and villages especial-ly influenced by the Greek and Roman conquerors. The forms of burial involved were extreme-ly various. At some sites, for example in Hawara or Antinopolis, the expensive mummies were merely interred in shallow sand graves without any sign on the surface”. Furthermore, Borg refutes racist historians’ claims that this discrepancy lies at the matter of racial difference, and insists that instead, it is based on pure class struggle, which, coincidental-ly, was at the crux of ancient Egyptian civilization. Sociological hierarchy identified tasks, ca-reer, power, family, and, certainly, life and death – birth and burial.
In “The Iconography of the Coptic Horseman in Byzantine Egypt” by Suzanne Lewis, we learn the importance of a stylistic evidence of wisdom and wealth, which grows with the geo-graphic space further into later civilizations. In Byzantine times, much later than the aforemen-tioned civilization, we become familiar with the stylized sarcophagus, a staple of early Christi-anity in West Asia and Southern Europe. This piece of marble was crafted to carry dead bodies, and was stylized with stories of Christ, having to do with a resemblance of Christ, or a story of salvation, which promises others that the deceased individual will be forgiven for their sins, and will find peace with God in the afterlife. This notion is derived in complete lineage from the past presence on the land of Egypt – the Pharaohs. Byzantine times resulted from the influence of Roman rule, which proceeded ancient Egypt. In all three rulings, we witness a great emphasis on social hierarchy and social status – we also witness the strict relationship that art has with the elite, and, definitely, with their death. Tribute, eulogy, and appraisal was the main focus of art, only contemporarily do we witness an art that is dark, formalist, or critical in nature. At the time, art’s birth and sole reason for exist-ence was communication, and particularly, a communication of worship. That being said, we can elaborate on an art that, during Pharaohs’ rule, was of worship to the Gods and the wealthy individual which was assumed to be living a lavish afterlife, with their wealth accompanying them as well as the Gods worshipped. Following these times came a worship of Roman gods, similar to those of the Pharaohs. We can observe cryptic art, and art of the graves, to be an art of worship. Thus, the art of worship would and should only be craft-ed as a way of appraisal to those of high status. The text also deals with the imagery of a horseman that is often seen posed with open hands – this resembles the pursuit of life, death, decay, and salvation after having deceased.
To further reflect on the luxury that is symbolized by the Egyptian sarcophagus, Bridget El-liot explains, “this certainly would have applied to this Egyptian sarcophagus vanity case… by the French jeweler, Cartier, made in 1925 from gold, platinum, carved bone, sapphires, emer-alds, diamonds, onyxes, and enamel. Instead of housing a mummy, this bejeweled miniature tomb contained a folding mirror, tortoise shell comb, lipstick holder, and cigarette compartment — a curious instance of vanity turned vanities through its reference to the mortician’s art of beautifying corpses, which can be traced back to ancient Egyptian funerary rites”. To which relates to Borg’s claim, stating, “This is not only a question of superficial beautification or reju-venation (procedures which even today, by the way, convey metaphorical meanings such as beautiful = good or young = active)”. Thus we can establish that the Egyptian sarcophagus’ tool is for appraisal through image – for a reflection of beauty, power, and wealth through showcasing realistic art (which is expensive) and, conclusively, idealistic art, which is meant to reflect the deceased individual’s beauty and youth.
The notion of youth, thus, is critical. It is meant to show the livelihood of those in power, proving that they will be forever youthful, beautiful and in rule, despite apparent death. We can relate this to later Greco-Roman sculpture, which was idealistic in nature, to say the least. Sculptures of men in power, at that time, were crafted in a way to showcase soft skin, youth, and masculine strength. Despite thoughts of the actual leaders not looking as such, one would never know, as these sculptures and sarcophagi were our only entry point into the im-agery of these civilizations. These works of art are our soul piece of evidence, and they are proof that people of status at the time were of wealth and beauty, or at least, they would want later historians to note so.
