ody, falcon headdress and transendental stare of the Sphinx shows a certain calmness and mystery, that encapsalates the ideal perfection of the ideal perfection of the Pharoah.In the Middle Kindom Akhenaton came to power and changed the religius structure of Egypt. He belived in a monotheistic system that placed all faith in one God, Aton-Ra. Akhenaton did not dipict himself as an all powerfull God-King, but a messenger through which Aton-Ra spoke (qtd. Picco). The changes in the role of the Pharoah, dramaticaly changed the art of the time. Art began to dipict more physical human characteristics, and less divine idialism. A stone relife that shows the royal couple and their three children sitting under the raise of the sun God is a good example of this change. No longer is the Pharoah dipicted as the most important figure in Egyption art, and for the first time other people are shown on the same level as the Pharoah (qtd. Picco).This monothiestic reign strongly conflicted with the interest of the priests, who had a vested interest in preserving the old polytheistic traditions (Conningham and Reich, 11). Directly following his death Akhenatons seccessors eched his name from the historical monuments and brought back the traditional polytheistic religion (Conningham and Reich, 11). By the end of the New Kingdom art was back to the standards of the Old Kingdom. Large pyramids and high relife sculpture that idialized the divinity and greatness of the Pharoahs were once angain built, and the monotheistic art of the late Middle Kingdom was forgotten. The influance of this poleithistic rleigion became so strong, that even direct contact with occupying cultures did not effect the art of the New Kingdom (Conningham and Reich, 12). Greek civilization placed much more importance on individuals, rather than on a single king or God. Greace was broken up into City States and ruled by a number of politision, much like our present consept o...
