Statue depicts a nude male child (Hours) standing with his right foot in front of his left foot and his index finger pushing on the bottom of his chin.

       Horus as a Child (664–332 BCE)

Twenty-Sixth Dynasty

The Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, also known as the Saite Dynasty, reigned from 672–525 BCE. Canal construction from the Nile to the Red Sea began. According to Jeremiah, during this time many Jews came to Egypt, fleeing after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 BCE). Jeremiah and other Jewish refugees arrived in Lower Egypt, notably in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Memphis. Some refugees also settled at Elephantine and other settlements in Upper Egypt (Jeremiah 43 and 44). Jeremiah mentions Pharaoh Apries (as Hophra, Jeremiah 44:30) whose reign came to a violent end in 570 BCE. This and other migrations during the Late Period likely contributed to some notable changes in art.

One major contribution from the Late Period of ancient Egypt was the Brooklyn Papyrus. This was a medical papyrus with a collection of medical and magical remedies for victims of snakebites based on snake type of symptoms.

 

 

Photograph depicts the Brooklyn Papyrus inside of museum display. It is a ragged-edged, torn piece of papyrus with red and black script.
Brooklyn Papyrus (c. 450 BCE): This papyrus provides the most striking evidence for the closely parallel roles of the physician and the various priests concerned with healing.

Hellenistic Art

Encouraged by the many pharaohs, Greek colonists set up the trading post of Naucratis, which became an important link between the Greek world and Egypt’s grain. As Egypt came under foreign domination and decline, the pharaohs depended on the Greeks as mercenaries and even advisers. When the Persians took over Egypt, Naucratis remained an important Greek port, and the colonists were used as mercenaries by both the rebel Egyptian princes and the Persian kings, who later gave them land grants, spreading the Greek culture into the valley of the Nile. When Alexander the Great arrived, he established Alexandria on the site of the Persian fort of Rhakortis. Following Alexander’s death, control passed into the hands of the Lagid (Ptolemaic) Dynasty; they built Greek cities across their empire and gave land grants across Egypt to the veterans of their many military conflicts. Hellenistic civilization continued to thrive even after Rome annexed Egypt after the battle of Actium and did not decline until the Islamic conquests.

Close-up of a floor mosaic depicting the Nile in its passage from Ethiopia to the Mediterranean. Features detailed depictions of Ptolemaic Greeks, black Ethiopians in hunting scenes, and various animals of the Nile river.

Nile Mosaic of Palestrina (c. 100 BCE)

One significant change in Ptolemaic art is the sudden re-appearance of women, who had been absent since about the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. This phenomenon was likely due, in part, to the increasing importance of women as rulers and co-regents, as in the case of the series of Cleopatras. Although women were present in artwork, they were shown less realistically than men in this era, as is evident in a portrait of a Ptolemaic queen (possibly Cleopatra VII) from the first century BCE. Unlike its Classical and Hellenistic counterparts elsewhere in the Hellenic world, this sculpture bears a more stylized appearance.

 

 

Sculpture depicts the head of a woman with shoulder-length hair wearing a headpiece.
Sculpture of a Ptolemaic Queen, possibly Cleopatra VII (c. 50–30 BCE): Despite a growing naturalism among portraits of male elites, those of women remained stylized.

Among male rulers, portraiture assumed a more naturalistic appearance, even when the sitter was pictured in traditional Egyptian regalia, as in a relief of Ptolemy IV Philopator (r. 221–204 BCE), who wears the traditional pharaonic crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. However, even with this Greek influence on art, the notion of the individual portrait still had not supplanted Egyptian artistic norms among non-elites during the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

 

 

Relief of a Ptolemy VI, a bearded male in profile wearing a cone-shaped crown and intricate necklace.
Ptolemy VI Philometor (c. 186–145 BCE): In this relief from a ring, Ptolemy VI wears the traditional white and red dual crown of Upper and Lower Egypt while displaying the naturalistic and individualized facial features typical of Classical and Hellenistic portraiture.

Summary

  • Though foreigners ruled Ancient Egypt during the Late Period, Egyptian culture was more prevalent than ever.
  • Some sculptures of the Late Period maintain traditional techniques, while others feature more naturalistic attributes.
  • One major contribution from the Late Period of ancient Egypt was the Brooklyn Papyrus. This was a medical papyrus with a collection of medical and magical remedies for victims of snakebites based on snake type or symptoms.
  • The Thirtieth Dynasty took its artistic style from the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty.
  • The Ptolemaic Kingdom (332–30 BCE) in and around Egypt began following Alexander the Great’s conquest in 332 BCE and ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman conquest in 30 BCE.
  • Hellenistic art is richly diverse in subject matter and in stylistic development. It was created during an age characterized by a strong sense of history. For the first time, there were museums and great libraries, such as those at Alexandria and Pergamon.
  • Prominent in Hellenistic art are representations of Dionysos, the god of wine and legendary conqueror of the East, as well as those of Hermes, the god of commerce. In strikingly tender depictions, Eros, the Greek personification of love, is portrayed as a young child.
  • Hellenistic civilization continued to thrive even after Rome annexed Egypt after the battle of Actium and did not decline until the Islamic conquests.
  • Portraits of male rulers grew increasingly naturalistic, while those of female rulers and non-elites remained stylized.

Adapted from “Boundless Art History” https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/late-egyptian-art/ License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike