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

The ancient Egyptians believed that the king was given divine power by the gods to maintain universal order and justice against the forces of chaos and evil. On the strength of his divine nature the king mediated between the gods and humankind. Art played a vital role in asserting and activating the divine powers of kingship and defining, in visual terms, the king's awesome responsibilities.

Akhenaten sacrificing a duck
The primary duty of every king was to build temples and maintain the gods' cults. On this block from a temple relief, Akhenaten sacrifices a duck to his god, Aten, the light that emanates from the solar disk. The reliefs on temple walls depicting the king making offerings to the gods communicated the idea that the king was fulfilling his duty to maintain order in the universe. Egyptians also believed that these images, through their very existence, were instrumental in making this order a reality.

West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I
To describe the king's divine nature, the Egyptians called the king the living embodiment of Horus and the son of Re, the sun god (pronounced RAY and also spelled Ra). At death the king became one with Osiris, the god and ruler of the afterlife, and on earth his divine powers were passed on to the next ruler. Sety I built a chapel for his father at Abydos, the burial place of Osiris. Sety believed that through carved images like this one, his father Ramesses would be able to participate in the annual celebration of the myth of Osiris. During this celebration, Osiris was reborn and, by extension, those who were present in images would be reborn as well.

Sakhmet
The head of a lioness symbolizes this goddess's violent nature. Sakhmet was goddess of war, pestilence, and storms. Even the most violent Egyptian deities had a gentler side, however. The serene, calm pose of this figure suggests that Sakhmet's awesome powers for destruction have been appeased by the king's order to have some six hundred statues like this one carved and placed in a temple precinct to honor the goddess.

Fragment of a battle scene
This block was a part of a large battle relief portraying the king, riding in his chariot over dead and dying foes. More than a military victory, this scene symbolized the king triumphing over the forces of chaos.

Statue of Hatshepsut
Statues of kings in temples either show the king praising the gods and making offerings to them, or are ka statues that received their own rites and offerings, thus strengthening the bond between the king and the gods. It is thought that this seated sculpture of Queen Hatshepsut is a ka statue, placed in a chamber of her mortuary temple, where Hatshepsut's personal funerary cult rituals took place.