Once students’ interest is heightened, there are almost no limits to the depth of their involvement in trying to ascertain information about the objects. When students are stimulated to ask probing and insightful questions, then the obvious role of the teacher is that of the Socratic questioner. The teacher does not just field questions but responds with information that enables students to probe deeper and ask even more questions. To provide information to students and to stimulate student interest in the study, teachers must have an indepth knowledge of the cultures behind the objects. This section of the unit provides a sketch of that background information on Egyptian religious beliefs, references for where to find additional information, and a description of the Prown technique.
It is important to note, however, that the historical sketch which follows was derived from almost two centuries worth of object analysis and manuscript study. We did not inherit this knowledge, but rather pieced it together slowly and carefully through intensive longterm study of object analysis. On a small scale, this is exactly what I want my students to do, and thus by using Prown’s method, to teach them that real learning comes from their own desire to find out information. The method of object analysis begins with the object, the thing which stimulates interest and provides the desire to learn.
Although fairly welltrained to learn by traditional methods such as reading books and working with numbers, most of us are “functionally”
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illiterate when it comes to interpreting information encoded in objects.”
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Simply, we lack training in how we look at objects. Jules Prown’s system of object analysis teaches us to follow a series of stages and substages as we focus our attention on one facet of an artifact at a time. By following his recommended procedure of description, induction and speculation about objects, we learn to extract values, attitudes and beliefs expressed by each object and we discover things about the object that invite further research.
Out of the vast number of objects displayed at Peabody, Yale Art Gallery, or any of the other galleries or museums students might visit, I have chosen to concentrate on four categories of objects which reflect beliefs essential to Egyptian culture, especially to its ideas about religion and the afterlife. Foremost in any consideration of Egypt are tombs and mummies. No serious discussion of the meaning of Egyptian life can occur without focusing on these phenomena. Since students are familiar with tombs, especially pyramids, and mummies, starting with these objects will create a context in which students can share their knowledge. Less familiar to students are shawabtis, small carved servant figures commonly found in exhibits of Egyptian tomb art. They are significant because they tie into beliefs about the Egyptian social structure., ideas about work both on earth and in the afterlife, and religious beliefs. Finally, all Egyptian collections contain samples of canopic jars, used to preserve four major organs of the mummified body. These jars have special meaning for the study of Egyptian beliefs about resurrection and immortality. The next step in the process of object analysis is to make the connection between these objects and the beliefs they represent.
Belief in Immortality
From the earliest times and continuing throughout the entire period of dynastic history (3100 B.C.—31 B.C.), Egyptians believed that people existed after the death of their bodies. The Egyptians believed that a human consisted of at least three parts: the body (or “ba”), the soul, and the ghost (the image, double, genius, or the “ka”). It was very important to ensure that the “ka” be reunited with the body after death. To this end, Egyptians mummified their bodies in order to preserve the body so that the “ka” would recognize it when it was ready to rejoin the body. Egyptians also built indestructible tombs to preserve the body and all its belongings and to prevent robbers from gaining access to the riches of the tombs. Included in the deceased’s possessions were servant figures and household goods.
Not only did the Egyptians believe in an afterlife, but they thought they would continue to live as they had been accustomed to on earth. Numerous items attest to preparation for this continuation of earthly life, from grave pots containing food, tools, war flints, and other objects found in neolithic graves
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to the wealth of material objects found in later tombs. It is interesting to note that while they were sure of their life after death, it was not clear to Egyptians where and how they existed. At different times, Egyptians believed that the deceased lived in the stars, in the trees, in other life forms, in a kingdom of light called “duat,” or in a place with great fields of barley.
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The early Egyptian tomb and its art served religious ends only. In fact, in his study of Egyptian religion, Ziegfried Morenz states that Egyptian religion “was the womb of (its) culture.”
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The idea that these cultural practices derived entirely from religious beliefs (at least at an early stage) is important.
One way to tie into the students’ understanding of these ancient practices is to discuss burial customs today. To help students understand these ancient cultural practices, discuss the meaning of death with students. Ask students to talk about practices associated with death in our culture. List the commonalities on the board and compare them to Egyptian preparations for the dead. Some of these practices may include preparing the body, holding a wake, sending flowers, having a religious service, internment of the body, serving food after the service, and placing a tombstone on the grave. The following passages will help the teacher prepare to answer questions about the objects and the practices connected with them.
The objects which most convincingly represent Egyptians’ beliefs in immortality are the tomb (especially the pyramid) and the mummy. Although they cannot be handled in the way other objects can, their very nature invites description, intellectual and emotional interaction, and speculation: pyramids for their sheer size alone, and mummies for their preservation of the earthly body.
Tombs
Most students think that Egyptians buried all their nobility in pyramids throughout the entire ancient period of their history, and, in fact, seem disappointed when they learn that King Tutankhamen was not buried in a pyramid. Scholars have pointed out that the number of Egyptians buried between the Old Empire and the Christian Epoch was between 150,000,000 and 800,000,000. It is not difficult to appreciate the reasons why Egyptians did not build tombs for the majority of their countrymen. The high cost of building and furnishing these tombs, the toll in human lives in building them, and the scarcity of available land on which to construct large tombs are a few of the reasons only the elite built these tombs. But, from the tombs that were built, we have learned much. Although tomb building changed significantly in style and technique throughout Egyptian history, there are several characteristics of tombs which have remained the same.
The earliest tombs for the higher classes were called mastabahs (the Arabic word for “bench”). These houses of the dead were built of oblong heaps of stones over the top of room like graves which had been dug under the earth. A shaft led from the roof of the mastabah into the grave. Mastabahs ranged in size from an area of twentyfour square yards to one quarter of an acre and contained up to thirty rooms.
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Almost all mastabahs were originally built near Memphis on the Nile because the aristocracy wanted to be buried near their capital and their king. Since the Egyptians saw the sun disappear in the west, they believed the west contained the entrance to the hidden land or Other World. Therefore, they always buried their dead on the 450-mile stretch of land bordering the western desert. Even those people who were simply buried in the sand were buried facing the west.
Gradually, by the end of the Old Empire when the pharaoh’s power declined (2200 B.C.), Egyptians began to build their tombs nearer their homes. As they did so, the form of the tomb changed to rocktombs, which were more suitable to the higher and steeper rocky sides of the valleys located in Upper Egypt.
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The elaborate rocktombs contained impressive entrances where worship was conducted. These tombs consisted of one or more rooms and their walls were covered with reliefs or paintings with subjects related to the life of the deceased. Usually, in one corner of one room, a hidden shaft (hidden so robbers would not discover it) led to the mummy chamber. Sometimes, since several people shared the tomb, there were multiple shafts.
Beginning in the Old Empire (2686 B.C.—2181 B.C.) and continuing for about one thousand years, Egyptian middle and upper classes built pyramids. Most were constructed near Abydos, the home of Osiris, Egyptian god of the dead. Of the eighty pyramids which remain standing the most famous are located near Gizeh. Whether they were large or small, these “houses of eternity” were built to last a very long time. They manifest some important beliefs held by Egyptians. Their very construction attests to the Egyptians’ indestructible belief in the ability and supremacy of man. Furthermore, pyramids represent the Egyptians’ attempt to conquer both death and their earthly environment.
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Like other Egyptian tombs, pyramids kept their endless vigil of the deceased and all their worldly possessions.
Pyramids are not objects that students can analyze at a museum, but there are very good photographs in most textbooks and in books such as
Ancient Egypt
, published by the National Geographic Society. In addition, there are slides, excellent filmstrips and, possibly, models of pyramids available within most schools or in the audiovisual department at Winchester School. Using any of these resources I plan to ask students to describe the pyramids using the worksheet at the end of this unit. I plan to be ready to provide some details on the sizes, numbers of acres covered, blocks of stone, for these types of questions most certainly will arise. But I anticipate that the real discussion will develop around the connection between the pyramids and the beliefs held about them by the Egyptians. It is in their own search for the meaning of the pyramids that students can truly engage their minds. While a filmstrip might mention the connection, it can be no substitute for the process of thinking these ideas through on one’s own, or as a class.
Some of the first questions students can discuss, research, and/or write about are, “Why did pyramids take the shape they did?”; “What does the shape remind you of?”; “What does the shape tell you about Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife?” The shape of the pyramids symbolizes the shape of the sun’s rays. The Egyptian sungod, Re, gave life to the deceased through the rays of sunlight extendingdown to the earth. The point of many pyramids was covered with gold or some glittery material. This made it seem as though the pyramid reached the sun because the brilliance of the reflection could be seen for long distances. Egyptians believed that the pyramids attracted Re’s blessing, acting like a magnet to collect and concentrate the sun’s rays.
A second set of questions to investigate concerns the size of pyramids and the building materials used. These questions connect with the Egyptians’ belief that the tombs protect forever the life created on earth, the belief in immortality. For example, “Although Egyptians constructed most of their everydaylife buildings out of mudbrick, they chose granite for their pyramids. Why?”; “Why were pyramids so large?” Many scholars agree that the Egyptians had an awareness of death which did not defeat them. Instead, it created a desire to achieve everlasting life. The pyramid, towering monument of stone, testifies to the Egyptians’ love of stone for its durable qualities. There is much we do not know about the nature of the afterlife, since the Egyptians themselves had confused ideas about it. It might be interesting to ask students to write or draw their interpretation of the Egyptian Other World or our own afterlife.
