One of the greatest and most enduring human civilizations established itself in the Nile Valley. Over thousands of yearsthe Egyptians shaped their civilization and have portrayed theircanonical nature within their art, literature, and architecture.The Egyptians adhered to their rules and their standards ofbelief and behavior in their daily lives. The artistic canon iswell represented in Egyptian tomb paintings. For the Egyptians,art was made to serve a particular purpose, usually a religiousone. Religious beliefs largely dictated what artists created,especially the paintings that filled Egyptian temples and tombs. Temples were decorated with paintings and filled with statues ofgods and kings in the belief that doing this served the gods,showed devotion to the king, and maintained the order of theuniverse. The Egyptian belief in life after death was perhapsthe most important part of their culture and probably helped tostabilize their society for so many centuries. The laws and rulesof code the ancient Egyptians lived by daily also helped them tounderstand the seemingly ambiguous nature in The Tale of Sinuhe(1875 BC). The Egyptian pyramids were royal tombs for pharaohs.The Great Pyramid is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders ofthe Ancient World. The pyramids are said to have built Egypt bybeing the force that knit together the kingdom's economy. Thesebuilding projects took a high degree of architectural andengineering skill, and the organization of a large workforceconsisting of highly trained craftsmen and laborers. AncientEgypt has captured the imagination of scholars and laymen alikebecause of the canonical nature which surrounds its art, itsliterature, and its monumental architecture. In ancient Egypt, there was a strong belief in theafterlife. Death was considered a necessary transition to thenext world where the dead would lead a life similar to life asthey knew it. This belief was the reason for the embalming ofbodi...
