Early Dynastic Period

(noun)

The period in Egyptian history immediately following the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BC; generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties.

Related Terms

Examples of Early Dynastic Period in the following topics:

  • Architecture of the Early Dynastic Period

    • The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian architecture took shape during the Early Dynastic Period.
    • After the end of the Early Dynastic Period, stone became used in tombs and temples, while bricks were used even for royal palaces, fortresses, and the walls of temple precincts.
    • Describe the building materials and characteristics of Egyptian architecture during the Early Dynastic Period

  • Art in the Early Dynastic Period

    • The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic Period.
    • The Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately followed the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt around 3100 BC.
    • The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of their polytheistic religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period.
    • This is a plate from the Early Dynastic Period of Ancient Egypt.
    • Summarize the common aesthetic practices in the Early Dynastic Period of Egyptian art, including the use of symbolism and color

  • Sculpture of the Early Dynastic Period

    • The small-scale sculptures of the Early Dynastic Period in ancient Egypt provide insight into the foundations of Egyptian customs and the unification of the country.
    • This appears as early as the Narmer Palette from Dynasty I (c. 31st century BCE), but there, as elsewhere, the convention is not used for minor figures shown engaged in some activity, such as the captives and corpses.
    • Very conventionalized portrait statues appear from as early as Dynasty II (before 2,780 BCE).
    • Early tombs contained small sculptural models of the slaves, animals, buildings, and objects, such as boats necessary for the deceased to continue his lifestyle in the afterlife, and later Ushabti figures.
    • The El-Amra clay model of cattle (c. 3500 BCE) predates the Early Dynastic Period but provides an idea of the appearance and production method of tomb sculptures of the time.

  • Painting of the Early Dynastic Period

    • The Early Dynastic Period of Ancient Egypt reached a high level in painting and sculpture that was both highly stylized and symbolic.
    • This appears as early as the Narmer Palette from Dynasty I, but there as elsewhere the convention is not used for minor figures shown engaged in some activity, such as the captives and corpses.
    • Very conventionalized portrait statues appear from as early as Dynasty II (before 2,780 BCE), and with the exception of the art of the Amarna period of Ahkenaten and some other periods such as Dynasty XII, the idealized features of rulers changed little until after the Greek conquest .
    • Early tombs also contained small models of the slaves, animals, buildings and objects such as boats necessary for the deceased to continue his lifestyle in the afterworld, and later Ushabti figures.

  • Egyptian Pharaohs as God-Kings

    • Alternative theories hold that Narmer was the final king of the Protodynastic Period and Hor-Aha is to be identified with Menes.
    • In the Early Dynastic Period of about 3150 BCE, the first of the Dynastic pharaohs solidified their control over lower Egypt by establishing a capital at Memphis, from which they could control the labor force and agriculture of the fertile delta region, as well as the lucrative and critical trade routes to the Levant.
    • The increasing power and wealth of the pharaohs during the early dynastic period was reflected in their elaborate mastaba tombs and mortuary cult structures at Abydos, which were used to celebrate the deified pharaoh after his death.
    • Narmer was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 31st century BCE).

  • The Rise of Egyptian Civilization

    • By the time of the Early Dynastic Period, these cultures had solidified into a single state.
    • The prehistory of Egypt spans from early human settlements to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (c. 3100 BCE), which started with the first Pharoah Narmer (also known as Menes).
    • This period began around 30,000 BCE.
    • The Gerzean culture (Naqada II, 3500-3200 BCE) saw the laying of the foundation for Dynastic Egypt.
    • Political unification was underway, which culminated in the formation of a single state in the Early Dynastic Period.

  • Painting of the New Kingdom

    • However, significant changes to the human form emerged during the Amarna Period.
    • Elsewhere in the tomb, Nakht assumes a more dynamic (albeit still stylized) pose as he hunts and fishes, a convention that also follows the style established during the Early Dynastic Period.
    • Some scholars suggest that the presentation of the human body as imperfect during the Amarna period is in deference to the Aten.
    • Decorations from the Amarna Period clearly worshiped the Aten, with excerpts from the Hymn to the Aten often present in the tombs.
    • The figures in this painting continue the conventions established during the Early Dynastic Period.

  • Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Art

    • Deposits of decorative stones dotted the eastern desert and were collected early in Egyptian history.
    • The Prehistory of Egypt spans the period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in ca. 3100 BCE, beginning with King Menes/Narmer.
    • The Predynastic Period is traditionally equivalent to the Neolithic period, beginning ca. 6000 BCE and including the Protodynastic Period (Naqada III).
    • While the Old Kingdom was a period of internal security and prosperity, it was followed by a period of disunity and relative cultural decline referred to by Egyptologists as the First Intermediate Period.
    • The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period.

  • The Sumerians

    • The Uruk period (4100-2900 BCE) saw several transitions.
    • The Early Dynastic period (2900-2334 BCE) saw writing, in contrast to pictograms, become commonplace and decipherable.
    • The first dynastic king was Etana, the 13th king of  the first dynasty of Kish.
    • During the Akkadian Empire period (2334-2218 BCE),  many in the region became bilingual in both Sumerian and Akkadian.
    • The Gutian period (2218-2047 BCE) was marked by a period of chaos and decline, as Guti barbarians defeated the Akkadian military but were unable to support the civilizations in place.

  • Chartreuse de Champmol

    • The Chartreuse de Champmol, a Carthusian monastery on the outskirts of Dijon, represents the finest monumental work of early modern France.
    • The monastery was founded in 1383, by Duke Philip the Bold, to provide a dynastic burial place for the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, and operated until it was dissolved in 1791, during the French Revolution.
    • It was lavishly enriched with works of art, and the dispersed remnants of its collection remain key to the understanding of the art of the period.
    • Champmol was intended to rival Cîteaux, Saint-Denis, where the Kings of France were buried, and other dynastic burial places.
    • The artistic contents, now dispersed, represent much of the finest monumental work of French and Burgundian art of the period, demonstrating a tradition distinct from that of the similarly prestigious illuminated manuscripts.