Pictures and Words – Ancient Egyptian Iconography

Pre-requisites: Good knowledge of the English language and to have passed the course Ancient Egyptian Religion.

Course objectives: The developing perception, knowledge and skills needed for the analysis and interpretation of Egyptian visual culture in a wider social and cultural context; learning the basic skills necessary for spoken and written presentation of Egyptian visual culture.

Course description: Visual art was an important medium for transmitting and disseminating ideas also a large part of Ancient Egyptian material culture was partially or totally covered with artistic imagery. Students will be introduced to the necessary theoretical basis and methods used in interpreting Egyptian monuments. Using particular examples (relief and painting, sculpture, architectural plastics, furniture etc.) the students will research: function and the importance of visual imagery for Egyptians; the meaning and relationship of different kind of motifs; themes; tradition and innovation; the relation between art and craftsmanship; principles of presentation; the effect of an image and magic; the image and accompanying text relation. A special overview will also cover the formal characteristics of the hieroglyphic writing. Extra attention will be given to the importance of visual communication in Egypt; Visual art as a source of information about the society and the role of written records and archaeological material in the interpretation of Ancient Egyptian monuments.

Learning Outcomes: Essay and oral examination.

Pictures and Words – Ancient Egyptian Iconography

Pre-requisites: Good knowledge of the English language and to have passed the course Ancient Egyptian Religion.

Course objectives: The developing perception, knowledge and skills needed for the analysis and interpretation of Egyptian visual culture in a wider social and cultural context; learning the basic skills necessary for spoken and written presentation of Egyptian visual culture.

Course description: Visual art was an important medium for transmitting and disseminating ideas also a large part of Ancient Egyptian material culture was partially or totally covered with artistic imagery. Students will be introduced to the necessary theoretical basis and methods used in interpreting Egyptian monuments. Using particular examples (relief and painting, sculpture, architectural plastics, furniture etc.) the students will research: function and the importance of visual imagery for Egyptians; the meaning and relationship of different kind of motifs; themes; tradition and innovation; the relation between art and craftsmanship; principles of presentation; the effect of an image and magic; the image and accompanying text relation. A special overview will also cover the formal characteristics of the hieroglyphic writing. Extra attention will be given to the importance of visual communication in Egypt; Visual art as a source of information about the society and the role of written records and archaeological material in the interpretation of Ancient Egyptian monuments.

Learning Outcomes: Essay and oral examination.

Literature/Reading:

• BAINES, J., Color Terminology and Color Classification: Ancient Egyptian Color Terminology and Polichromy, American Anthropologist 87:2 (1985) 282-297.
• BAINES, J., Communication and display: the intergration of early Egyptian art and writing, Antiquity 63 (1989) 471-482.
• BAINES, J., On Status and Purposes of Ancient Egyptian Art, in: Cambridge Archaeological Journal 4:1 (1994) 67-94.
• BIANCHI, R.S., Ancient Egyptian Reliefs, Statuary, and Monumental Paintings, in: J.M. Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vols. III&IV, New York 2000, 2533-2554.
• BIANCHI, R.S., An Elite Image, in: Chief of Seers. Egyptian Studies in Memory of Cyril Aldred, ed. by E.Goring, N. Reeves and J. Ruffle, London and New York 1997, 34-48.
• BOCHI, P.A., Time in the Art of Ancient Egypt: From Ideological Concept to the Visual Construct, KronoScope 3:1 (2003) 51-82.
• BRUNNER-TRAUT, E., Aspektive, in: Lexikon der Ägyptologie 1, Wiesbaden 1975, 474-488. (u biblioteci dostupan radni prevod na naš jezik)
• DAVIS, W., Egyptian Images: Percept and Concept, Göttinger Miszellen 64 (1983) 83-96.
• DRENKHAHN, R., Artisans and Artists in Pharaonic Egypt, in: J.M. Sasson (ed.), Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, vols. I&II, New York 2000, 331-344.
• FREED, R.E., Art of Ancient Egypt, in: T. Wilkinson (Ed.), Egyptology Today, Cambridge: 2008, 123-143.
• ROBINS, G., Problems in Interpreting Egyptian Art, Discussions in Egyptology 17 (1990) 45-58.
• ROBINS, G., Some Principles of Compositional Dominance and Gender Hierarchy in Egyptian Art, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 31 (1994) 33-40.
• Shirai, Y., Ideal and reality in Old Kingdom private funerary cults, in: M. Barta (ed.), The Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology, Prague 2006. 325-333 http://www.gizapyramids.org/code/emuseum.asp?newpage=authors_list#S
• VASILJEVIĆ, V., Der Massenmittelpunkt menschlicher Figur auf den frühen Denkmälern des Alten Ägypten, Zbornik filozofskog fakulteta XVII, serija A (1991) 73-83.
• VASILJEVIĆ, V., Istraživanja o pratnji vlasnika grobnice u grobnicama Starog carstva, u: V. Vasiljević, Untersuchungen zum Gefolge des Grabherrn in den Gräbern des Alten Reiches, Belgrad 1995, 123-132
• VASILJEVIĆ, V., Terminology as Interpretation in Studies on Decoration of Private Tombs, u: Glasnik Srpskog arheološkog društva 19 (2003) 135-142.
• VASILJEVIĆ, V., Embracing his double: Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, in: Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur 37 (2008) (u štampi)
• VISCHAK, D., Identity in/of Elephantine: The Old Kingdom Tombs at Qubbet el Hawa, in: Z.Hawass and J. Richards (Eds.), The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essyas in Honor of David B. O’Connor, Vol. 2, Le Caire 2007, 443-457.
• WALSEM, R.,The interpretation of iconographic programs ...Methodical and theoretical (re)considerations, in Proceedings of the 7th International Congress of Egyptologists, Leuven 1998, 1205-1213.
• WEEKS, K.R., Art, Word and the Egyptian World View, in: Egyptology and the Social Sciences, ed. by K. R. Weeks, Cairo 1979, pp. 57-81.
• ALDRED, C., Egyptian Art, London 1988.
• IVERSEN, E., Canon and Proportions in Egyptian Art, Warminster 1975.
• FISCHER, H.G., L’écriture et l’art de l’Égypte ancienne, Paris 1980.
• PANOFSKI, E., Umetnost i značenje: ikonološke studije, Beograd 1975, 19-31 (= Panofsky, E., Meaning in the Visual Arts, Penguin Books, 1970, 51-67).
• ROBINS, G., The Art of Ancient Egypt, London 2000.
• SCHÄFER, H., Principles of Egyptian Art, Oxford 1974.
• VASILJEVIĆ, V., Über die relative Größe der Darstellungen des Grabherrn im Alten Reich, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 25 (1998) 341-351.
• WILKINSON, R.H., Symbol and Magic in Egyptian Art, London 1994.
• PANAGIOTOPOULOS, D., Keftiu in Context: Teban Tomb Paintings as a Historical Source, in: Oxford Journal of Archaeology 20-3 (2001) 263-283.