The Art of Ancient Egypt | Publications for Educators | Explore & Learn

Many surviving Egyptian works of art were created to be placed in the tombs of officials and their families. Through the ritual of "opening the mouth," a statue of the deceased (known as a "ka statue") was thought to become a living repository of a person's spirit. Wall paintings, reliefs, and models depict pleasurable pastimes and occupations of daily life. Always these images have deeper meanings of magical protection, sustenance, and rebirth. The mummy was surrounded with magic spells, amulets, and representations of protective deities.

Coffin of a Middle Kingdom official
At the near end of the coffin a goddess stands, her arms raised protectively. The hieroglyphic inscriptions are magical requests for offerings and protection. Small magical amulets made of semiprecious stones or faience were placed within the linen wrappings of the mummy. Many of them were hieroglyphic signs.

Wah's jewelry
Both men and women wore jewelry for adornment, as symbols of status, and for magical protection in this life and the next. Scarab amulets like Wah's (although usually not as finely made) were often found in burial sites and were believed to be among the potent magic symbols of rebirth.

Portrait of a boy
Beliefs in the importance of mummifying the body and providing it with a face mask were so fundamental to the Egyptian religion that as late as the Roman period these traditions still continued. However, the representation here is naturalistic in the Greco-Roman style.