1. ANCIENT ART HISTORY SURVEY, WEEK 3
Remember, Week 2 was a holiday, so there was no “Week 2” handout
NOTE: The attached sheets are intended to provide you with the names, associations, and
attributes for some commonly depicted Egyptian deities. While I hope that it will help you in
studying, I certainly do not expect you to know all of them. I have included more than I would
expect you to know, and more than we will see in this class, because I wanted something that
could also be a guide if you look at Egyptian Art outside of class.
Names and terms: Neolithic, Catal Huyuk, megalithic, monolith, trilith, post and lintel, dolmen,
cairn, menhir, alignment, cromlech, henge, heelstone, sarsen stones, Egypt (Upper and Lower),
Nile, canon of proportions, hierarchic scale, dynasties, Old/Middle/New Kingdoms, Narmer,
pharaoh, iconography, registers, Horus, Ren, cartouche, shwt, akh, ka, ankh, ab (ib), Anubis,
Ammit, Ma’at, Osiris, khet, canopic jars, natron, Opening of the Mouth, shwabty figures, mastaba
Possible essay questions:
--Explain the iconography and meaning of the Palette of King Narmer. What are some of the
characteristics which make it typical of later Egyptian art? Name some commonly depicted
Egyptian deities; what were some of their distinctive attributes?
--Discuss the importance of mummification in ancient Egypt; what were some of the aspects of a
person’s being which needed to be preserved to obtain eternal life? Explain something about the
mummification process.
Images from the book:
Stonhenge, c.2000 BC, page 14
Palette of King Narmer, c.3000 BC, page, 41
Statue of Khafre (KA statue), c.2500 BC, page 48
Judgment of Hu-Nefer (page from "The Book of the Dead"), c.1300 BC, page 62

2. A GENERAL GUIDE TO SOME COMMON EGYPTIAN DEITIES
(Note: this is intended as a rough guide; depictions of divinities could change over time and also
according to geographic location)
Name Associated with Typical attributes
AMUN; the sun; creation; fertility double-plumed crown; sometimes shown with the
AMUN-RE head of a ram (especially in Thebes)
ANUBIS death and the underworld jackyl-headed man, or simply as a jackyl
BASTET or cats; Re (considered his shown as a cat or cat-headed woman
BAST daughter); the moon; the
city of Bubastis
HATHOR mother or wife of both shown as a cow or a woman with bovine attributes
Horus and the king;
women, motherhood, and
female sexuality; joy,
music, and happiness
HORUS monarchy falcon-headed man, or simply shown as a
falcon; often shown wearing a royal headdress
ISIS Osiris (his wife); long, sheath dress; sometimes crowned with horns
resurrection and protection and the solar disk; sometimes shown with winged
of the dead; magic arms
KHNUM the Nile River; the ram-headed man
creation of life
NEKHBET Upper Egypt (WADJET, shown as a vulture
the cobra, was associated
with Lower Egypt)
NUT the sky body extended over the ground as the canopy of the
sky
OSIRIS death, the underworld, and crook, flail, and feathered crown; sometimes
rebirth mummiform; often dark-skinned
PTAH craftsmanship and creation; scepter and tight-fitting skull cap; often
the city of Memphis mummiform or dark-skinned
RE or RA; the sun; king of the the sun; often shown as a falcon-headed man
RE- heavens; creation; father topped with a solar disk encircled by a cobra
HORKATHY of the king
SEKHMET the military and warfare; shown as a lion-headed woman
power and destruction
SETH violence, chaos, confusion; head of an animal with a curved face and squared
strength and cunning ears
SOBEK procreative and vegetative shown as a crocodile or crocodile-headed man

3. fertility; water, rivers, and
marshes
TAW
ERET household deity; fertility; bulbous female anatomy and the head of a
childbirth hippopotamus
THOTH writing, knowledge and shown as an ibis or an ibis-headed man; sometimes
scholars; the moon shown as a baboon
HORUS ANUBIS SEKHMET SETH