3 reasons why the Egyptians depicted people as flat and only in profile

The drawings of the Egyptians also inspire hope, but less so - nevertheless, they involuntarily attract attention, although they have a number of oddities. Indeed, why did the representatives of this unique civilization draw so primitively, making a number of gross mistakes?

 

All the images left to us by the ancient Egyptians are absolutely “flat”, they are drawn without taking into account the law of perspective. At the same time, both people and animals are depicted in quite a variety of poses, situations, these are whole stories like comics. Why, then, did artists always depict heads in profile, but not the body, because the shoulders of people and gods are always turned straight? A number of researchers believe that the Egyptians of those years simply did not yet know how to create a three-dimensional image using the law of perspective. Others believe that they simply painted according to once and for all established canons, not wanting to violate them. I believe more in the latter, because in Egypt it was strict with the observance of the rules and canons. And that's why.

If you look closely at the images left by the ancient Egyptian artists, you can quickly understand that the height of a person on them was not a real value, but a socially dependent one. The higher the status of the person being depicted, the taller he was in the paintings. The pharaohs did look like giant people, the military leaders were much lower, well, and ordinary people were completely likened to ants. It's sad, but that's exactly how, in accordance with the canons of the image, people were perceived in the society that existed then. And that is how they perceived themselves. Who knows, maybe such rules for artistic images fixed the established class order even more and were a kind of propaganda tool.

 

Another interesting version that is worthy of attention is a bit mystical. However, the entire worldview of the Egyptians - both noble and ordinary people - existed exclusively within the framework of the religion that existed then. So, for example, in those days, the inhabitants of the country of the Great Pyramids believed that the drawings in the tombs and tombs (and they were mostly located there) could come to life. Provided that the image would be three-dimensional, it allegedly was able to literally get off the wall. Of course, no one wanted the deceased pharaoh to suddenly come to life, therefore, so that he definitely would not return to this world, people were depicted in profile, and their figures were made flat. Just in case.

Today, the drawings of the ancient Egyptians, despite their apparent primitiveness, for some reason continue to attract our attention. What is special about them? Maybe the fact that they are all made in the same style? Or something that is imbued with a sincere belief in the mystery of the afterlife? Everyone sees something different in them. And yet, whatever reason really underlay such unusual canons of artistic creation, we may never know which of the three. It seems to us that it is definitely not the first, but what do you think?