Completeness and Truth

Essay 2b

Completeness and Truth

Question: How is it possible that what the Egyptians considered "completeness" could be misinterpreted as crude, naive, or unrealistic and how does that affect the "truth" contained in their art?

Part One:

Summary: I approached this question as a two parter. The first about how crude the Egyptian completeness was. The second was how did that misinterpretation affect the "truth" that is revealed in the artwork. I found myself running in circles between the two questions; attempting to answer one independently of the other but I quickly jump to the opposite question.

Reason: I found that the question be more about answering the relation between truth and completeness.

Purpose: I found that I didn't quite change my look on Egypt but instead developed more of a liking for it, and expanding on my previous knowledge.

Impressions: I found that I couldn't quite answer one without answering the other but somehow relating the information back and forth was the biggest struggle. It seems as though it was easy to develop a tangent to something completely different but still greatly affected by completeness and truth.

Part Two:

Egyptian "completeness" could be misinterpreted as crude, naive, or unrealistic due to the conventions of the culture. Egyptian "completeness" is "knowing thyself." In knowing oneself the people of the Egyptian culture could be closer to their gods or heaven and earth. The conventions to represent those however, never changed for thousands of years ( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.51). The people that aided in maintain the art : sculptors, scribes, mathematicians, artists, crafters, Priests, and laborers, had ways to were not lifelike but very conceptual that aided in the expression of ideas, events and people.

"The Greek historian Herodotus thought the Egyptians were the most religious people he had ever encountered"( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.50). The Egyptians developed an incredibly elaborate polytheistic religion. Through their artwork they show the importance of being good and humble. This could be seen as naive because much of their artwork glorifies what potentially is happening past the world of the living for the dead individual. Much time was taken to glorify those that were deceased. Pharaohs or Priests built palaces for the previously reigning Pharaoh. It seemed as though more time was spent in glorifying the dead than the living.

Another way that seemed crude was the placement of their worldly objects in their tombs. The dead carried with them their possessions from the earthly realm ( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.56). How naive the thinking and religion seems because the dead didn't physically carry with them the objects they had. The concept was more about the dead being comfortably at peace with the familiar things around them, whether it be furniture, pets, or treasures.

However this did not affect the "truth" that was portrayed in their artwork. Their conventions brought about a composition that was detracted from change. Their written and displayed records remained consistent and their development as a society progressed to a high degree. The construction of the pyramids for example required the most sophisticated mathematical calculations as well as astronomical calculations ( Art History Stokstad and Cothren p.57). To get to that time period required a greater knowledge.

Their "truth" never ends. Their society and culture continue to carry on and the people still find a "completeness". Their statues, and mummified bodies remain to this day. They continue the cycle in which their religion pertains. The Ka lives on everyday in the discoveries, research, scripture, symbols, hieroglyphics, and megalithic structures that reside in the Nile River area. Such as in this Video hulu.com the items that they found may look and appear insignificant, however their daily life, objects, drawings, and scripture are carried on.

Even though their "completeness" may seem naive the "truth" that history allows their identities to be remembered because of the things they did. Thousands of years later we still "complete" the lives of those who died by displaying and giving recognition to the sculpted pieces or artwork as well as the mummified bodies that carry on those spirits and the Ka, forever giving truth to their idea of completeness.