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Looking for an aesthetics of metaphysics in ancient Egyptian art

Αισθητική - Φιλοσοφία της Τέχνης - Ιστορία της Τέχνης Aesthetics/Philosophy of Art - History of Art

• Μαραβέλια, Αμάντα-Αλίκη

In this paper an attempt is made to present and briefly study the purely metaphysical character of the ancient Egyptian art through the reference to some appropriate artefacts, an art that was not being considered in the same way we -Westerners- think and speak of it! There was no art in ancient Egypt in the way we recognize art in our modern world! The term closest to the notion of art in ancient Egypt was hmt, meaning skill, craftsmanship. Even if the ancient Nile-dwellers were speaking of art, this very art was not an absurd or abstract concept; it was not an aesthetic category independent of their predominant metaphysical and religious experience. It was this last experience that was encompassing and including the whole of the ancient Egyptian social reality, as well as all of the subsequent human activities. In ancient Egypt the firm belief to the power of magic was very deep and comprised every aspect of the human life, even the so-called art itself. It was exactly this belief at the universal immanence of the magical force -usually personified as the god Heka- that was motivating the ancient Egyptians to believe that this force should be propitiated, if they needed to pray for help, or even that it should be annihilated if it was inimical.

• Arts

• Αισθητική

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