Task:
Research examples of visual communication, especially relating to religious and spiritual beliefs and how they were expressed during this time.
For this task I have chosen to research the visual culture of the Ancient Egyptians. I find it a very fascinating subject in regards to the spiritual beliefs of the culture- especially relating to the 'Weighing of the Heart' ritual, usually illustrated in the 'Book of the Dead' which was painted for each deceased person as a way to provide the knowledge for them to find their way through the trials presented to them on their journey to the afterlife.Instead the decoration concentrates on the passage into the next world, drawing extensively on the Book of the Dead, a body of funerary texts and accompanying illustrations... Their function was to provide the deceased with the knowledge necessary to reach the next world safely. Frequent scenes include the funeral procession and rites before the tomb, the dangerous journey into the underworld through the gates that guard it, the weighing of the heart and subsequent presentation to Osiris, and life in the next world. 1
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Figure 1 |
Figure 1 reiterates this point because it clearly shows an example of the 'Weighing of the Heart' ritual in the Hunfer Book of the Dead. The god Anubis (the jackal) leads the deceased to the scales, where his heart is weighed. Thoth (the ibis) records the result, and Horus the falcon god leads Hunfer to Osiris (enthroned), who is the funerary god of the afterlife and can allow him to pass onto Paradise.
The spritual beliefs of the Egyptians were very simply portrayed on the walls of the tombs, depicted in a literal sense, and visually communicating their religion in regards to the afterlife.
List of Illustrations
Figure 1 The Weighing of the Heart, McDERMOTT, B. Decoding Egyptian Heiroglyphs: How to Read the Secret Language of the Pharoahs, 2001, p.p. 88-89References
[1] ROBINS, G. The Art of Ancient Egypt, p. 182Bibliography
McDERMOTT, B. Decoding Egyptian Heiroglyphs: How to Read the Secret Language of the Pharoahs, (2001), Duncan Baird Publishers, LondonROBINS, G. The Art of Ancient Egypt, (1997), British Museum Press, London
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