VENUE:THE GARSTANG MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY,12-14 ABERCROMBY SQUARE,UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL. L69 7WZ.
Presented by Dr Campbell Price
Statues were central to ancient Egyptian religion,but how did the Egyptians use and understand them? This day school will examine stylistic developments in sculptures of non-royal people,deities and kings,and address the meanings behind them through textual sources. We will also study the existence of portraiture,the role of sculptors and the rituals designed to bring statues to life. The collections of The Garstang Museum of Archaeology provide a valuable resource for this course.
Aims
This day school covers the background to different types of ancient Egyptian sculpture,and aims to develop understanding of the use of statues in their original contexts in temples and tombs.
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to recognise different statue types and be able to locate them within the chronological development of Egyptian art. Emphasis will be placed on textual sources as explicit statements of statue functions in temples.
Schedule
10am-4pm
Four,1-hour sessions with a 45-minute object handling session.
1. Understanding statues in ancient Egypt.
What modern preconceptions influence our viewing of Egyptian sculpture? What were statues for? Where were they set up? What were they intended to convey? We will also assess the existence of portraiture in ancient Egypt,and the special role of sculptors.
2. Statues of the gods
What do we know of rituals designed to animate cult statues,and how were these perceived to function? What roles were played by votive offerings of divine images? We will read some translated ritual texts which pertain to these issues.
3. Statues of the king
In what forms might the king be represented as a statue? How do royal ‘portrait types’ allow us to date these statues,and those of gods and private people? How did royal statue cults function? Royal colossi from the New Kingdom will form a case study.
4. Statues of private people
What were private individuals’ expectations for their statues? How did one ensure offerings would continually be made? How could a private person acquire a statue? What types existed? We will read some statue inscriptions in translation.
Bibliography
ASSMANN,J. 1996. ‘Preservation and Presentation of Self in Ancient Egyptian Portraiture’ in P. Der Manuelian (ed.) Studies in honor of William Kelly Simpson 1 Boston,Mass. 55-81.
BAINES 1994. ‘On the Status and Purpose of Egyptian Art’. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 4:1. 67-94.
—1996. ‘On the Composition and Inscriptions of the Vatican statue of Udjahorresne’. in P. Der Manuelian (ed.),Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson I. Boston:Museum of Fine Arts. 83–92.
BARTA,M. 1998. ‘Serdab and Statue Placement in the Private Tombs down to the Fourth Dynasty’. MDAIK 54,65-75.
BELL,L. 1985. ‘Luxor Temple and the Cult of the Royal Ka,’ JNES 44. 251–294.
LEGRAIN,G. 1909-1925. Statues et statuettes de rois et de particuliers. (Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire). Cairo:IFAO.
LORTON,D. 1999. ‘The Theology of Cult Statues in Ancient Egypt’ in M. B. Dick (Ed.) Born in Heaven,Made on Earth:The Making of the Cult Image in the Ancient Near East. Winona Lake:Eisenbrauns. 123-209.
MESKELL,L. 2004. Object Worlds in Ancient Egypt. Oxford:Berg.
SIMPSON,W.K. 1982. ‘Egyptian Sculpture and Two Dimensional Representation as Propaganda’. JEA 68. 266-271.
VAN DIJK,J. 1983. ‘A Ramesside Naophorous Statue from the Teti Pyramid Cemetery,’ OMRO 64. 52-58.
Booking
This day school costs £30,and includes light refreshment. A booking form can be downloaded from the main Day Events page. If you would like more information,please feel free to contact Dr Glenn Godenho (ggodenho@liverpool.ac.uk,0151 794 2475).
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The University of Liverpool is a leading international centre for the study of the ancient world – from the archaeology of human evolution,through ancient Egypt and the Near East to Greek and Roman history,culture and literature,and Iron Age Europe.
For more details of our programmes,go to www.liv.ac.uk/sace