was paid to the portrayal of hands and feet, right down to
the details of the fi ngernails. Many of the representations
of Akhenaten himself, as well as others from the period,
strike the modern viewer as bizarre, with elongated heads,
distended bellies, and thin limbs. Representations of his
queen, Nefertiti, suggest that she wielded as much power as
her husband, in part because images of her were the same
size as those of Akhenaten.
OTHER ARTS
Pottery was not considered an art form in ancient Egypt.
Although there are examples of pottery with human or
animal fi gures, and a few were made in the form of animals,
most of the surviving pottery was purely functional. His-
torians know that during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Dynasties, fl oral designs appeared on high-quality pottery,
but none of this pottery survives.
Egyptian artists did, however, exercise their skills on a
type of pottery called faience. Th e term is used to refer both
to the materials from which the piece is made and to the piece
itself. In ancient Egypt faience consisted of silica made of sand,
crushed quartz, or sometimes crushed pebbles in water. Lime
was added to make the materials adhere, and ground copper
provided color. Aft er the piece was formed, it was coated with
a mixture of soda, lime, and silica. Most of the pieces that sur-
vive are a rich blue-green because the coating also contains
copper, though other pieces are black, brown, red, yellow, and
white. Th e piece was then fi red in a kiln to produce a glassy
surface. Faience was used to produce a range of items, includ-
ing scepters, bowls, beads, amulets (a charm against evil), scar-
abs (beetles used as charms), goblets, and small statues. It was
also used to make decorative tiles, such as those found in the
Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. One of the most famous
pieces of faience is a blue hippopotamus nicknamed “William”
in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Th e ancient Egyptians were accomplished jewelers. Al-
though they did not use precious stones such as diamonds,
they used a wide range of semiprecious stones, including ag-
ate, turquoise, lapis lazuli, feldspar, garnet, jasper, amethyst,
and carnelian. Bracelets were found in the tomb of Djer, a
First Dynasty king, and from the Fourth Dynasty came
bracelets belonging to Queen Hetepheres. Th e most spectacu-
lar jewelry, however, dates from later dynasties, including the
collection of jewelry belonging to Queen Ahhotep of the 18th
Dynasty and the large collection found in the tomb of King
Tutankhamen (“King Tut”) of the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Glassware was known during the Predynastic Period,
but it did not become an independent form until the 18th
Dynasty. Glass was used to make small vessels, such as cups
and fl asks, as well as for beads and amulets. Glass thread was
oft en applied to the objects for decoration, and some had
gold rims. Glass was also used as an inlay. Perhaps one of the
most widely recognized pieces of ancient Egyptian art, the
funerary mask of King Tutankhamen, is made of gold with
colored-glass inlay.
Artwork was produced with a number of other materi-
als as well. Th e ancient Egyptians were accomplished met-
alworkers, and many pieces made of copper and bronze
survive. Th ese include jugs and bowls, as well as metal stat-
ues. Some were made by pounding the metal, while others
were made from castings. One of the most famous pieces of
metalwork is the life-size statue of King Pepi I from the Sixth
Dynasty, made of pounded copper plates affi xed to a wooden
core. Gold, more easily found in ancient Egypt than silver,
was widely used for many purposes, including jewelry, ves-
sels, furniture, and inlay, and it was frequently pounded into
thin gold leaf for decorative purposes. Again, the most im-
pressive display of gold objects comes from the tomb of King
Tu t a n k h a m e n.
Among less durable materials, wood was used not only
for statues but also for cabinetmaking and furniture. In
the tomb of King Tutankhamen, archaeologists found a
wooden chest with an ivory veneer and 33,000 pieces of
ebony and ivory inlay. Ivory and bone were also used to
produce small statues, often of creatures such as grasshop-
pers and gazelles.THE MIDDLE EAST
BY TOM STREISSGUTH
Ancient Mesopotamia comprised diff erent ethnic groups and
cultures located along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what
is modern-day Iraq and parts of what are now northeastern
Syria and eastern Turkey. In this region archaeologists have
discovered remains of human habitation dating back more
than 100,000 years. Th e ancient Mesopotamians were among
the fi rst to develop farming, build an urban civilization, and
create a distinctive artistic style.
Historians classify Mesopotamian art by periods named
aft er important excavation sites and kingdoms, with the ear-
liest being the prehistoric sites of Hassuna, Samarra, and
Halaf, all preceding 5000 b.c.e. Following these eras are
the Ubaid (fi ft h millennium b.c.e.), Uruk and Jemdat Nasr
(4000–2900 b.c.e.), Early Dynastic (2900–2340 b.c.e.), Akka-
dian (2340–2100 b.c.e.), Babylonian (1900–1600 b.c.e.), As-
syrian (1400–612 b.c.e.), and Persian (to 637 c.e., the date of
the Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia). Many of these periods
overlap according to location, and many have subcategories
covering more specifi c times and places. Excavations of Mes-
opotamian cities at diff erent levels reveal a constant fl ux as
local dynasties conquered, rose, and fell from power and as
sculptors, painters, metalsmiths, and jewelry makers learned
new methods and styles to apply in their work.THE GODS AND SPIRITS OF MESOPOTAMIA
Despite many wars and political upheavals, ancient Meso-
potamian art has distinctive and constant themes. Th e gods
of Sumer (in southern Mesopotamia) and Akkad (near what
is now Baghdad in Iraq), each with their particular attributes,
symbols, and familiar groups of demons and spirits, are foundart: The Middle East 97