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The art of the Ancient Egyptians differed from the art of the Mesopotamians primarily in the heavy focus on the afterlife. Elaborate tombs such as the Rock Cut Tombs at Beni Hassan, the Great Pyramids, the temple of Hatshepsut and others were constructed to ease the transition into the afterlife. While Mesopotamians had significant religious beliefs, their devotion to preparing for the afterlife was not of the same magnitude as that of the ancient Egyptians. However, we do also see the practice of burying individuals of high status in Mesopotamian culture with elaborate artifacts in the Queen’s Lyre, for example. We know that the Egyptians had a similar practice of elaborate burial as exemplified through their tombs and remaining artifacts. While they produced similar art and did have some commonality, we know that these cultures varied in focus and in religious traditions and burial practices.
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To Maggie May
I agree with your thoughts of how the Egyptians focused their art into the afterlife. Often their work would display some sort of tribute or depiction of the gods. Mesopotamians also used art for religious purposes but not to the extent that the Egyptians did. From what we know of Mesopotamian art it usually depicts everyday tasks to warfare. Great job -
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Hey Maggie,
I definitely agree with your point on the Egyptians focusing in on the afterlife and easing that transition. You state that the practice of high burial status was also practiced in Mesopotamia – but (if I recall correctly) that was also the extent of the Egyptian’s practices as well, at least up until the New Kingdom where there are some lower class citizens that are buried (such as scribes). I think there religious traditions were most definitely different, while the burials were somewhat similar. Egyptian art as a whole just had much more of a focus on death itself.
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One thing to keep in mind when talking about Egyptian and Mesopotamian culture is that they both had different influences and environments. For the Egyptians they had a strong tie with the Nile, because of its fertile soil deposits. They would use art not only to show the Nile’s importance, but also its ties to the gods. “Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt’ is a perfect example of Egyptian culture. The piece displays Ti in a ritual hunt to show strength and bravery. Hippopotamus are destructive creature that are associated with Seth, the god of chaos. In Mesopotamian culture they also shared their use of art to worship the gods. Votive figure were often used in their culture to stand in place for them when they weren’t in the temple. Although both cultures used art, they each had their own styles, practices, and beliefs.
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That’s a really good point, the environments of the two cultures was very different…I forgot about that. I wonder if that had anything to do with the significance of the afterlife in Egyptian culture and the lack there of in the Mesopotamian culture? I’m not sure how it would, but that would be something interesting to look into. Nice post.
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RE: Miranda
I hadn’t thought about how the environment would have an impact on the two cultures art. I find it so interesting that the Mesopotamian people were so devout that they created statues to stand in the temples for them! Both cultures certainly used art for worship. I think as humans, we have a tendency to want to worship something– whether the object of out worship is ‘worthy’ or not. Humanity seems to crave connection to a higher power. I wonder if we do the same thing in our culture today? -
Miranda I drew a completely diffferent comparison on their environments. I saw the Nile and the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers as both leading to agrarian societies based upon their rivers. The area between the Tigris and Euphrates was known as the Fertile Crescent. I think you and others raise an excellent point on how their environment impacted their art and culture. There is an obvious time advantage if you can raise your own food and store it for the future rather than having to hunt and gather what you need daily to survive.
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RE: Miranda Jackovich
That’s very true of what you said about their environments and culture, I did not consider it that way. The Nile, being the lifegiving force that it was, could have influenced Egyptians to be more religious because of the gratitude they had towards it. The lushness of Egypt is plainly appreciated in their art, as is their respect for their deities. -
I think it’s very important that you pointed out the difference in environment for the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, and how that would influence their art and religion. The resources on hand to create statues and scenes were different, I think the Egyptians had a bit of an advantage in having stuff to make paper with. It’s also worth pointing out that the two cultures traded with each other, bouncing ideas back and forth and putting their own unique shine on them. Egypt and Mesopotamia influenced each other as soon as they could trade together.
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I think that Egyptian and Mesopotamian culture both placed heavy emphasis on the gods part in everyday life, such in gods giving the kings the right to rule, and the celebrations for the gods. Both cultures were devoted to creating magnificent structures for the gods, some of which would take lifetimes to create. I think the main difference between the two cultures was the significance of the afterlife, for example the purpose of the enormous structures differed greatly. While the in the Mesopotamian culture the kings would build elaborate structures to show their power given to them by the gods, the Egyptians built structures similar in the magnitude of their size and elaborateness, however they were using tombs. or funerary homes. Instead of creating monuments to show their power, the Egyptian kings would construct extensive tombs filled with items to help them pass into the afterlife. The great pyramids are an example, also the funerary complex of king Djoser. Even the lower ranking officials would represent the importance of the after life as we see in the Funerary stele of Amenemhat. So again, I think the biggest difference is the significance of the afterlife in Egypt, after all just look at the books of the dead.
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Re: Kaitlyn
I agree with your point on how the two civilizations differ. They both used gods to legitimize their rulers, but this was displayed differently. Why do you think that this emphasis on the afterlife was displayed so much in Egypt, but not as much in Mesopotamia? Perhaps they viewed afterlife as the purest way to connect with their gods, as it was viewed as the only way to return to them. -
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I agree that the importance that the Egyptians gave to the afterlife really distinguishes them as a cultured. I’ve heard a few different theories on why that was… I think an interesting (and kind of sad) theory is that this life just wasn’t that great for the people of ancient Egypt, so they looked to the next one. Either way, ancient Egyptian royalty certainly got mortuary treatment that no one else has received since!
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Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt both used religion to legitimize their leaders, as is displayed in their wide production of religious artwork. The artwork and architecture representing this, however, differs greatly between cultures. The differences can be seen clearly at a superficial level, but also has a deeper meaning. The Egyptians built many structures in the shape of pyramids, whereas Mesopotamia built large platforms like Persepolis. If one looks closer at the uses for these structures, then the emphasis on the afterlife in Egyptian life becomes evident. The pyramids were built as burial grounds for pharaohs and much of the other art at the time dealt with the afterlife, including art of the gods. For example, the Books of the Dead were used to instruct the deceased in their passage into the afterlife, showing the various gods that would be present at the time of judgement. This likely indicates the Egyptians belief that death is the final passage to their gods, meaning that one is closer to the source of religion in death than they ever can be in life.
There are also similarities in how the two cultures expressed their devotion to their gods. The subjects of the art pieces often had their feet firmly placed on the ground in order to denote holy ground. The Egyptians show this in the funerary stele of Amenemhat to show that his burial ground was holy ground, whereas the Mesopotamians used this same tactic in the votive figures used for praying.-
Laura, great catch on the placement of their feet showing the devotion to their gods! When I read about it in the stele of Amenemhat I remember thinking that looking more into that would be interesting, but completely forgot about it. I believe there was another piece that mentioned that the Egyptians wore sandals with their feet firmly on the ground if it wasn’t the holy ground, versus having no shoes to show that it was.
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Hi Laura! Your post got me thinking about the shape of the Mesopotamian ziggurats vs. the shape of Egyptian pyramids. I hadn’t previously considered quite so much that pyramids were primarily created for the dead, while ziggurats were meant to connect the gods to the still-living. This really drives home my own thoughts that Egyptian culture was primarily fixated on death and afterlife, whereas Mesopotamian culture was much more focused on the relationship of religion to its living citizens.
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A common thing between Egyptian and Mesopotamian art is the exaggeration of the rulers powers and relating them to the gods in some way. Another similar thing between the two is building large structures, like the pyramids and the Ziggurats, to both breach the distance to the gods and be a large physical monument of the ruler’s power. One of the main differences between Egyptian and Mesopotamian art is the obsession with the afterlife present in Egyptian artwork. Many of the large structures, like the pyramids and the Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut, were made either as tombs or to honor the afterlife, whereas the large Mesopotamian structures were made for worship and to show the king’s power.
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While there are many similarities between the art found in Mesopotamian culture and Egyptian culture, there are a number of distinctions that make the difference in priorities and value systems between these two cultures very clear. While art was used in both cultures to demonstrate the superiority of rulers and their connection to the gods, there is a significant focus on death and the afterlife in Egyptian art that is not emphasized in Mesopotamian art. Many years were spent preparing burial places for Pharaohs. Over the course of their rule there was a constant, heavy emphasis on preparation for the after life. This can be seen in particularly well in the art found within the pyramids. Detailed descriptions of spiritual journeys, directions, as well as needed supplies could be found in the pyramids. Both cultures made sure to communicate that their leaders were connected closely with the Gods. And example of this in the Meso culture is the Stele of Naram-Sin. Naram-Sin is placed near the gods and is displayed as being an elevated conquer. While this sort of elevated rank as evidenced by sheer size and proximity to deities is also seen in Egyptian art, the biggest distinction emphasis and general valuing of the afterlife by in Egyptian art, that is evidently lacking in Mesopotamian art.
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I agree that both cultures had a vested interest in appeasing the gods and showing off their prestige and worthiness through these large structures. Both of these structures were likely thought to be stairways to the heavens and examples of how much they revered their gods. I think in the end the Egyptians take on also including the afterlife in their structures make more logical sense me. If I believed in a god like they did, I wouldn’t want my time on earth to be the end of my connection. I think the idea of planning for eternity and my ultimate legacy with my family and my wealth would make the tombs and burial sites a large part of eventual goal as Pharaoh.
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I think a large difference between artistic works of the Mesopotamian region and the Egyptian region is the depiction of social hierarchy. While both do display social rankings in similar ways, there is much less focus of it in the Egyptian pieces. Most of the Egyptian pieces show the king by himself and sometimes with his wife / family (seen in the ‘Menakaure and Queen’ piece, as well as the ‘Nebamun Hunting Birds in the Marshes’ piece). In the ones that aren’t a pharaoh / king with his family, there is a large emphasis on their connection with the gods which is seen on ‘The Palette of King Narmer,’ the Temple of Ramses II and many more. Aside from humanistic representations in art, there are also prominent images throughout many of the pieces – such as growing papyrus and the Nile full of life – mainly fish – seen in ‘Nebamun Hunting Birds in the Marshes,’ ‘Funerary Stele,’ ‘Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt,’ and the collection of Predynastic Ceramics.
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Lucas, I like that you pointed out that the Egyptian pieces didn’t have as big of a focus on social hierarchy. A lot of the Egyptian artwork we looked at had ties to nature and family, or had animals in a better light as they represented specific gods they worshipped versus the Mesopotamians who showed animals in their artwork being killed by its people.
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Laura, you made a very interesting point!I honestly hadn’t thought about why the afterlife was much more significant in Egypt, but the idea you said about how it would be the purest from of connection with the gods is super interesting and would totally make sense!I think the Egyptian culture is fascinating although I don’t know very much about it, it would be really interesting to learn more about the motives behind their beliefs
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These two cultures had a lot of similarities in how there was a social structure and a deity that the people worshiped. These gods were a large part of all their lives. It was important to keep the gods happy so their civilizations would thrive. If the gods were angered, then possible social unrest and natural disasters were thought to occur. A King’s god given nobility was also linked to their religion and reign. We can see in many art pieces how the King was on the top looking as a deity himself and then the lower social classes going down the art piece. The Egyptian art piece of The Palette of King Narmer shows a similar hierarchy that was found in the other Mesopotamian cultures that we discussed last week. This particular piece shows a god and the god’s power over their enemies and a King who is showing his power also over the enemies. This piece also shows the unification of lower and upper Egypt. This would be a status symbol showing everyone how great King Namer is at running his country. Last weeks Carved Vessel from Uruk also showed the social hierarchies. This piece shows the king and god on the top and going down the social ladder in size and detail from the most powerful on top to the least powerful on the bottom. The Egyptian culture followed their own artistic conventions in how they built altars and pyramids as well. In Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara we see that the pyramids were erected for a tomb of the Pharaohs and their future afterlife. A lot of Egyptian art also deals with death and holy ground. In similarity the Mesopotamian art deals more with serving the gods or showing power of the kings. The buildings often made by the Mesopotamian also is made for worship and not death.
I had to chuckle that two of this week’s art pieces were ones I had heard of before in movies. Amun Ra and The Book of the Dead were both used in The Mummy movies. -
It is interesting to compare the art of Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures. Both were agrarian and grew around the great rivers of the Middle East. They both built temples to their gods. The Sumerian culture built the White Temple and Ziggurat Uruk in 3400-3200 BCE. This Ziggurat was dedicated the sky god Anu. Within 800 years the Egyptians built the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx of Giza. The difference is that these were built store the remains and to protect the Pharaoh’s remains for the future afterlife. This provides a critical distinction between the two cultures and it is reflected in their art.
The Mesopotamian art focuses more on attributing the courage and strength of animals upon their Kings. The relief sculpture Assurnasirpal II Killing Lions is a great example of this from Assyria. Later the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way were completed in Babylon around 575BCE. Dedicated to the King Nebuchadnezzar, the decorations were panels of lions, bulls and a mythical dragon figure meant to convey the power of the king. A person to be feared with close contact with the gods.
The Egyptians believed that their kings, pharaohs were deities. Their culture focused on preparing the pharaoh to rule in the afterlife. A great example of this comes from the tomb of Tutankhamen from 1327 BCE. His death mask of gold and lapis luzuli is an example of art designed to protect the remains for their future role in ruling in the afterlife. The tomb itself contained the tools, ornaments, foods, chairs, even symbolic ships. All executed of the finest materials available at that time.
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Egyptians and Mesopotamians were similar as their rulers always had artwork depicting them as being chosen to rule by a deity, as seen in the Mesopotamian Stele of Hammurabi, in which the god Shamash is directly giving him power, and in Egypt’s Akhenaten and His Family, which shows the sun god, Aten’s, rays reaching directly toward Akhenaten and his wife’s nostrils, giving them the breath of life. They also show similarities by building massive structures such as pyramids and Ziggurats, although the pyramids were more aimed towards burials and the afterlife rather than showing the amount of power the ruler had. Egyptian artwork has a heavy emphasis on the afterlife and final judgment, as seen in the Books of the Dead while Mesopotamian artwork didn’t seem to have much regarding their afterlife. Toward the new kingdom, we also see a lot of preservation from the Egyptians as they buried their rulers in gold deep in their tombs with scrolls, as well as many other goods, to guide them through to the afterlife.
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The lack of separation between the kings and the Gods in Egypt is evident in such pieces as The Palette of King Narmer . The Falcon that represents Horus is holding the heads of the dead enemies, ones that are now forbidden to enter the afterlife due to decapitation, while King Narmer is about to strike another enemy. In this, Narmer and Horus are synonymous; they are two parts of a whole. In a Mesopotamian piece, The Stele of Naram-Sin , we see Naram-Sin as being closest to the Gods, but not as a representation of the Gods. The is no god aiding him in his fight against his enemies, although the light shining down could be seen as the gods blessing his actions. These examples show the difference in how both cultures use art to demonstrate their relationship with the gods. As well, the art depicting the Egyptian afterlife proves the importance they held in the afterlife and that preparing for it was a large part of daily life, while Mesopotamian art does not show such a concern for the afterlife in their art. It appears to be more involving the ruler’s direct contact with the gods to legitimize their rightful reign, as opposed to pleasing the gods for a fruitful journey into the afterlife.
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Both Egypt and Mesopotamia represented their leaders as a larger figure to represent greatness. Egypt tends to represent them even larger though, like COLOSSAL FIGURE OF AKHENATEN. Both cultures had a strong representation of their people and animals. Both had relief pieces, depicting greatness. An example being Egypt’s THE PALETTE OF KING NARMER, Mesopotamia’s Carved Vessel from Uruk. Both of these pieces had scenes representing, leadership, servitude, and animals. Egyptians built pyramids, Mesopotamia built ziggurats. Both had great architectural skill, but structures differed, Egypt with structures like the Great Pyramids, Mesopotamia with Anu Ziggurat. The pyramids built from granite, the ziggurats built from a less durable material.
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Comparing the art of Egypt and Mesopotamia, there are certain similarities such as the importance and focus on wealthy people by making them larger and more prominent than common folks. There are also various animals and nature included in the artwork for symbolism of power, such as the image of Assurnasirpal II killing lions to show his strength as a hunter and the palette of king Narmer where he has attributes of a bull (the tail).
I would also think that Egyptian art seems to be more focused on the individual. Such as the various steles, as they look like a person’s storyboard of their life, or even the tombs with paintings to show the life that the individual had lived. Even the statues created in the likeness of people, such as the sitting scribe, that has such intricate facial and bodily details, that you can almost tell the kind of man this person once was. Or the statue of Akhenaten, that is so different from other pharaos – there is so much personality in these statues.
Egyptian art is also very focused on rituals and symbolism, and the significance these had to the people. This includes the importance and significance that the gods had in the Egyptians various aspects of life. There seemed to be a lot of time and spacial dedication to the gods.-
RE: Miranda Johansson
Ooh, I like how you pointed out the similarities with the animals. That makes me think of Assurnasirpal II Hunting Lions vs Ti Watching Hippopotamus Hunt– very similar goals in mind, displaying power and contrasting them with the strong animals while maintaining the hierarchy of scale. It’s amazing to see that cultures throughout time respect the power and might of animals and use it to legitimize themselves.
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Egyptian culture had a lot of focus on death and the afterlife, and heavy focus on the deities/becoming deified. While Mesopotamian had similar deity priorities, the goal there seems more focused to be to display power and hierarchy and organization. Egyptians spent a lot of their artistic time toward creating depictions or preparations for the afterlife, with less focus on daily life such as the Mesopotamians do. An example of this would be the stele of Naram-sin or the code of Hammurabi. Both of them are meant to legitimize the ruler and focus on their power as it was present at that time. We can compare this to the funerary steel of Egypt or the book of the dead. Each object in their respective culture are “written’ depictions of their perspective of that time, but with different goals in mind. Though, comparing the stele of Naram-sin with the pallet of Narmer, we can see similarities such as hierarchy of scale, leaders becoming deified or condoned by the deities, and displays of power.
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Egyptian culture and Mesopotamian culture developed simultaneously but each had different priorities and followed different artistic conventions. Compare and contrast the art created by these two cultures. Use examples when appropriate.
When looking into the Egyptian cultures art pieces and the Mesopotamian art pieces, I noticed 1 big similarity. both cultures built huge monuments for their gods/kings. The Egyptians with their pyramids and sphinx’s while the Mesopotamians made ziggurats. A difference between the two cultures artworks was that when it came to the Egyptians, I noticed they used gold and steel a lot and they put much more detail when doing collages of their gods/kings. while the Mesopotamians mainly used stone as their go-to material to make their artworks.
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Both Mesopotamian and Egyptian artistic conventions held a great deal of focus on showing effigies of their rulers. Both cultures had busts, reliefs and sculptures made of their kings (and later Pharoahs in Egypt). However, the Egyptians had a far closer association and cultural relationship with death. Much of their artwork featured depictions of the afterlife, as opposed to Meopotamian art that tended to show the activities of their rulers’ daily lives. Egyptian art even included “books of the dead’ that were meant to serve as illustrated guides to those who had passed to help them succeed in the afterlife. I also noticed that there was much more color used within the Egyptian art, and many of the pieces were brightly painted or coated with hues of oranges, turquoise, blues and golds. Mesopotamian art was also frequently set with semiprecious stones as accents, but unfortunately few of these stone settings have survived to modern day, so it is difficult to say what the materials were to determine how different the cultures’ usage of color was.
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The Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures were similar in the since of creating sculptures that represented their love for gods and kings. The Egyptians were strongly influences by Mesopotamian culture, however Egyptians felt it was very important to built sculptures for burial sites and often they buried personal items and foods in burials to help individuals pass over to the afterlife. Mesopotamian culture did not have rituals such as burying personal items and foods with those who had passed. Mesopotamian used sculptures to show bravery and power out of respect and love for their kings. Egyptians used sculptures to honor those powerful Pharaohs who passed away. Although Egyptians were strongly influenced by Mesopotamian culture they start their own cultures and rituals very different from Mesopotamian times.
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As other posts have noted, the main difference in priorities seems to be that where Mesopotamian art seemed to emphasize politics and law the Egyptians cared more about their gods and spirituality. Of course there is much that both cultures had in common, for instance Ziggurats and Pyramids really aren’t that different, as both served to impress everyone and show that their builder were closer to the Gods. Both cultures created statues and images of their rulers, such as the funerary bust of King Tut. Hammurabi’s laws have a certain logic to them. Likewise the Mesopotamian cuneiform records showed secular transactions. While this sort of secular record probably does exist in the field of Egyptology, it isn’t what Ancient Egypt is famous for. The Egyptian system of Gods and Tombs is incredibly sophisticated. Mythology about the afterlife was obviously hugely important to them.
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I like how you compare the Ziggurats and Pyramids as both having a meaning that references the gods and in that way they are similar. Pyramids seemed to be very useful in addition to pleasing the gods as they had internal chambers designed for the afterlife. The Ziggurats in comparison had another meaning as a kind of shrine to the gods and a ceremonial area for other religious events. Both are amazing in structure and importance to the people. Having built a home I know the insane amount of work involved in one small structure with modern tools. The idea that ancient cultures with no modern conveniences can design and create these enormous structures is almost unbelievable.
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The largest difference between the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures were those of religious beliefs and practices. Both were strongly devoted to the afterlife, though Egypt was moreso, especially in the preparation of mummies and tombs. Mesopotamia, however, was also much more devoted to the praise of its leaders, producing more art of prominent figures than of their religious icons. Another comparison can be found in their writings, as both heiroglyphics and Cuneiform use images of common figures such as birds, grass, and water, though heiroglyphics were much more reliant on these images for their writing, while Cuneiform also used simple marks. A strong difference in these writings is the purpose behind such, as heiroglyphics has three forms ( one being specifically for religious purposes), while Cuneiform has two, simple and complex.
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The Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures where a like in some many areas. I would say that they where more so similar when it came to their god and goddess. They both believe in allow their are speak for how much religion was important to them. They believe in social stratification and that the gods and kings where at the top of the chain while the peasants and salves where at the bottom. After looking that the different art pieces I noticed that the Egyptians’ focus more so on the afterlife and build tombs and pyramids just to name a few, where as Mesopotamians art focus more so on the daily routines and of their lives as well as animals and plants. It seem like the two was influenced by each other in more ways than one.
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The art of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures had a lot of similarities, but also some noted difference. Both cultures relied heavily on comparing themselves to their individual gods and trying to elevate themselves to the level of the gods. The two different cultures also showed the hierarchy of their people and they would also show their savvy in battle in their art also. In the Palette of King Narmer, Narner is shown with his servant holding his sandals while he is defeating a foe. The practice of showing the subject without shoes on to represent them being on holy ground was also used in the cultures art.
Even though both cultures made a practice of building temples and tomb for their rulers, the Egyptian were much more worried about the afterlife and making sure that their ruler kept his or her status in the afterlife. The is seen in the exquisite craftsmanship of the Funerary Mask of King Tutankhamun which was gold and had was inlaid with precious stones.
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Egypt and Mesopotamian art have many similarities and differences. While Egypt had mostly art about their gods, Mesopotamia had art about their rulers. Also Mesopotamia has artwork that had symmetry like ‘Master of Animals’ painting. In Egyptian artwork, they show how much they devote their time to their gods with their language. Although their artwork is pretty similar, like how their sculptures have the same art style. Both sculptures have with their head, eye, and body, like how the Statue of Gudea and Block Statue of Pa-Ankh-Ra. The only difference I can see is that the Mesopotamian art has more symmetry than Egyptian art, and Egyptian art has more of their language in them. Sorry for being a bit late on this, it has been a hard time getting in the mind to write and do homework
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Aaron, that is a really interesting statement about the differences between Mesopotamia and Egypt. In looking at these two, I hadn’t really thought about that one represents its ruler while the other’s art pertains to their Gods. That is a good point to keep in mind as we thinking about the relationships and differences between these two.
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Both Mesopotamia and Egypt worshiped their gods through service to the king and his dynasty. He was their earthly connection to their gods. Both cultures produced carved scenes of their kings performing rituals and giving offerings to the gods. They both also used size to depict the importance of rulers and gods, as in the Palette of King Narmer and the Stele of Naram-sin. They also share some mythology — the serpopards on the Palette also show up on a Mesopotamian cylinder seal, but not in such nice detail.
Although both cultures came up with a writing system, the Egyptian written language was more elaborately decorative. Mesopotamians came up with clay tablets, and Egyptians created paper that could be carried and stored more easily. Beauty seemed to be more important to Egyptians when it came to visual communication, so even the Hieratic script they developed was full of curls and flourishes. Cuniform was more limited, but so was the ability to make paper in Mesopotamia.
Egyptian kings would donate art and ritual objects to the temples, but Mesopotamian rulers would have votives of themselves made to stand in supplication in their temples while still alive. Egyptians would have statues of their dead ancestors standing in their family temples. I also noticed that images of people in tombs or temples are barefoot in both Egypt and Mesopotamia, showing that they are on holy ground.
Both cultures had the idea that the statues and scenes of their rulers had an impact far after the death of the person being depicted. Egyptian and Mesopotamian art was vandalized specifically to remove the eyes or ears of the rulers, to take away their power after death.
Mesopotamians and Egyptians both came up with pottery, with decorative scenes of animals and repetitious symbols. Their pottery started out rough, then became delicate as they developed the pottery wheel. I assume their pottery decoration became finer from the wheel as well, in being able to paint lines for registers swift and even.
Just like the Mesopotamians, Egyptians depicted their rulers as ideals of godly beauty rather than in realistic portraiture. For example, Queen Nefertiti’s bust looks like a Prada model, but digital mapping and 3D reconstruction of her mummy’s face show someone we wouldn’t recognize as the queen of the Nile. Statues of rulers were almost completely symmetrical, strongly facing forward with stiffly posed limbs to impart a sense of mastery. Interesting that later rulers had themselves portrayed as wise and older.
My favorite similarity between the two cultures is that they weren’t shy to scavenge brick from the building projects of previous kings. It’s a pain to the kings in the afterlife, and it’s a pain to modern anthropologists who are trying to piece history back together. First rate jerkery!
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The art between Mesopotamia and Egypt are similar in many ways. Both created grand structures to honor the gods, and almost all of the art is geared towards religion. Most have mentioned the main difference being the high focus on the afterlife by the Egyptians which is not present in Mesopotamian art. Mesopotamia produced a lot of art depicting their rulers rather the the gods.
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