First let's define the "Dynastic" periods. The three well known periods of Egyptian history are the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. During the Predynastic period Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt (Upper Egypt being the southern half and Lower Egypt being the northern). The beginning of the dynastic period was marked by the unification of these two Egypts, supposedly by King Narmer. The palette of King Narmer depicts Narmer uniting them. This is dated at appoximately 2920 B.C. (remember, that all of these dates are approximate and they are B.C. unless indicated otherwise). That is when most people recognize the beginning of the Dynastic periods. Remember that there is still Egyptian art before it's known recorded history. Also, try searching for pictures of these artworks on the internet so you can study them by yourself. Here is a small "timeline" of how we divide the different periods of Egyptian History:

Predynastic<--2920-->Early Dynastic

Early Dynastic (Dynasties I-III)|||2575|||Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom (Dynasties IV-VIII)|||2040|||Middle Kingdom

Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI-XIV)|||1550|||New Kingdom

New Kingdom (Dynasties XVII-XX)|||712|||Late Period

Late Period (Dynasties XXV-XXXI)|||332|||Greek (Ptolemaic)

Greek (Ptolemaic)|||30|||Roman

Pre-Dynastic to Early Dynastic, Palette of King Narmer, from Hierakonpolis, stone (slate), 3,000-2920 B.C. Depicts The unification of Egypt by King Narmer and signifies the beginning of the Dynastic period.

Old Kingdom, Panel of Hesire, wood, 2650 B.C. The ka image of a high official.

Old Kingdom, Stepped Pyramid of King Djoser (Zoser), (Imhotep, architect; 3rd dynasty), stone, 2630-2611 B.C. An older pyramid, based on several mastabas stacked on top of eatch other; each one smaller than the next. Before the smooth-sided pyramid was devised.

Old Kingdom, King Djoser (Zoser), stone, 2681-2662 B.C. A sculpture and ka image of the king who the previous artwork (the pyramid) was built for.

Old Kingdom, The Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure (aka The Great Pyramids at Gizeh), (Greek names: Mycerinus, Chefren, and Cheops), 4th dynasty, stone, 2551-2490 B.C. Three, old kingdom pyramids, all smooth-sided. And with the innovation of a tomb located inside the actually pyramid structure.

Old Kingdom, The Great Sphinx, sandstone, 2594-2520 B.C. Originally suspected to be a statue dedicated to Khafre but it was later questioned because of it's current condition and position. It was later reconfirmed that it is a statue of King Khafre's head on a lion's body.

Old Kingdom, Khafre (Chefren), stone (diorite), 2594-2520 B.C. A ka image of the King Khafre. He is shown in a regal position perfectly representing the noble king's Ma'at.

Old Kingdom, Menkaure (Mycerinus) and Queen Khamerernebty, stone, 2490-2472 B.C. A statue of king Menkaure (who's pyramid is the third and smallest of the Great Pyramids at Gizeh) justifying his position as pharaoh as his wife (and sister) had the true birthright to be pharaoh.

Old Kingdom, Ka-Aper, wood, 2450-2350 B.C. A wooden sculpture of a fairly rich, yet moderately unimportant Egyptian person who had a realistic sculpture of him done rather than an elaborate beautiful one as the kings had. This was acceptable among the non-officials.

Old Kingdom, Seated Scribe, painted limestone, 2450-2350 B.C. This is a more realistic limestone sculpture of one of the king's scribes. Scribes were treated very poorly verbally by the king, but they were still noticabely rich.

Old Kingdom, Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, painted limestone, 2450-2350 B.C. (Mastaba of Ti, Saqqara)


Middle Kingdom, Nubian Soldiers, (tomb of Mesehti), painted limestone, 2450-2350. These were sculptures of Nubian Mercenary Soldiers hired, literally, tp give the king a powerful image and fight only if they really needed to. The king was in a very weakened state. Remember that each period had a decline and literal fall until someone picked it up again.


New Kingdom, Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, (18th dynasty), stone, 1473-1458 B.C. The queen who declared herself would most likely not want to draw attention to herself, but queen Hatshepsut built herself an elaborate temple in the Valley of Kings.

New Kingdom, Ka Statue of Hatshepsut, stone, 1473-1458 B.C. Queen Hatshepsut not only built herself a temple like a man but she also dressed as Osiris (the god that kings were supposed to merge with) in this sculpture. She is offering in the same ways as a king.

New Kingdom, Fowling Scene, wall painting from the tomb of Nebamun (?), Thebes, fresco secco (dry fresco), 1400-1350 B.C. This shows Egyptians catching birds on the river using a mongoose to hunt. This shows a lot about how Egyptians hunted. It also has accurate drawings of birds on it, so we know what kind of birds lived around the NIle at that time.

New Kingdom, Musicians and Dancers, wall painting from the tomb of Nebamun (?), Thebes, fresco secco (dry fresco), 1400-1350 B.C.

New Kingdom, Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV), sandstone, 1355 B.C. This is a bust of Akhenaton closely showing deformities in his face.

New Kingdom, Relief sculpture of Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV), painted limestone, 1355 B.C. This is gives a profile view of Akhenaton and you can really notice his full lips.

New Kingdom, Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV), sandstone, 1355 B.C. This is a small but full sculpture of the king Akhenaton. This is slightly less detailed as the bust but now shows the full deformities of his body. They were not necessarily disgusting deformities, but they really made him look like a woman.

New Kingdom, Akhenaton and His Family, stone, 1355 B.C. This wall sculpture shows the king, his wife, and his six daughters in a playful moment which was previously highly frowned upon in royalty. But obviously, Akhenaton thought they should just keep it real.

New Kingdom, Akhenaton and Nefertiti Make Offerings to Aton, stone, 1355 B.C. This shows Akhenaton and his wife giving offerings to their one and only god Aton and in return, he blesses them and their kingdom, Akhenaton being the one and only god on earth.

New Kingdom, The Daughters of Akhenaton, fragment of wall painting, fresco secco, 1355 B.C. This shows Akhenaton's daughters in a "modern" radical realistic position as one strokes the others face.

New Kingdom, Sarcophagus (from the tomb of Tutankhamen), gilded wood inlaid with paste glass and semi-precious stones, 1323 B.C. This is an impressive Sarcophagus that Howard Carter found in his excavation of Tutankhamen's tomb. There are three actual coffins, one inside of the other, like those creepy russian dolls.

New Kingdom, Funerary Mask (from the tomb of Tutankhamen), gold, enamel, and semi-precious stones, 1323 B.C. This is a funeral mask for king Tutankhamen that shows him at his oldest age of 18. We know it was made after his death because his false beard is braided and that means that it was madea fter he died.

New Kingdom, Flexible Bead Bracelet (from the tomb of Tutankhamen), gold, carnelian, faience, glass beads, 1323 B.C.

New Kingdom, Pectoral (with Solar and Lunar Symbols--from the tomb of King Tutankhamen), gold, carnelian, lapis lazuli, alabaster/calcite, obsidian, turquoise, glass, 1323 B.C. This elaborate jewelry in King Tutankhamen's tomb uses two things to represent the sun and the moon. The two that represent the moon are the silver sphere at the top and the horns around it. Silver is the color representing the moon in it's sphere shape and the horns represent Hathor the Celestial Cow goddess. The sun is represented by the dung beetle and the golden color of the beetle. The dung beetle represents the sun for two reasons. The first is that the dung beetle rolls dung into a sphere which the Egyptians saw as a representation of the sun. Also, dung beetles are born in balls of dung with no parent present. That's because their mother laid her eggs there. To the egyptians it looked like the beetles created themselves out of nothing. This is how Amen created himself and he later becae a sun god. That's how they linked the two. The sun is a golden color, so they chose a gold beetle to represent the sun.

New Kingdom, Throne (from the Tomb of King Tutankhamen), wood covered with gold and inlaid with faience, paste glass, semi-precious stones, and silver, 1323 B.C. This throne has heraldic effects on it. It has lion heads on each arm and the legs of the chair are lion's legs. This is the classic form of two animals of the same species flanking a person or high creature.

New Kingdom, Temple of Ramses II, stone, 1290-1224 B.C. This is the lavish temple that Ramses II (the Pharaoh involved with Moses and the enslavement of the jews) built to himself as he declared himself a full-god before death. It has four large statues of himself in the front, dwarfing the surrounding sculptures of gods.

New Kingdom, Interior of Temple of Ramses II, painted stone, 1290-1224 B.C Large pillars fill this temple because the stone above it were so heavy. The pillars literally crowd the temple and make it difficult for anyone to walk around in it. Then again, nobody was really meant to walk around in there.

New Kingdom, Wall Painting from the Tomb of Ipy, fresco secco, 1200 B.C.

New Kingdom, Anubis, God of the Dead, painted limestone, 1000 B.C. Anubis was the Jackal-headed god of death. To me, he looks extremely intimidating. The fact that he was a jackal was humorous to me, considering that most cultures make the jackal out to be a trickster. I never thought of the god of death as a trickster.

New Kingdom, Last Judgement of Hu Nefer, painted papyrus, 1290-1280 B.C.

Please note that the Greek and Roman Periods of domain were listed as their own periods but the Assyrians and the Persians also took over Egypt at one time. Instead of writing a bunch of nodes about each work that I could not sufficiently describe, I have this list of the most famous ones, that you could probably find pictures of.

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