At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, there is an important collection of ancient Egyptian art. There are numerous sculptures, statues, pieces of pottery and paintings that capture and convey the unique spiritual culture of this period. One play in particular, King Sahure and a Nome God, depicts the importance of divine kingship and life after death, which were the two pillars of ancient Egyptian life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Characteristics and Details of King Sahure and a Nome God King Sahure and a Nome God were created between approximately 2458 and 2446 BC during the Fifth Dynasty, when King Sahure was the pharaoh of the nation . The statue measures about two feet tall by a foot and a half wide and is made of gneiss, which is a sturdy type of stone. On the statue, there is a large male figure seated at the front, who is depicted as the Nome god, and there is a smaller figure standing at the back, recognized as King Sahure. The reason why King Sahure is significantly smaller than the Nome God is because the Nome God is more important than the Pharaoh. In ancient Egyptian, ultimately polytheistic, culture, the gods themselves were the only beings more important than the pharaohs. This artistic use of size variation is what is called "hierarchy of scale", which simply means that the most important figures were depicted as being taller than those who were smaller than them. The gods were the only ones higher on the scale than the pharaohs. King Sahure is depicted next to the Nome god to legitimize his kingship, which is said to have been received directly from the gods, making all pharaohs partially divine. In most ancient Egyptian art, the pharaoh would have been depicted sitting on his throne. However, in any work of art where a god is depicted, he is the only seated individual, because gods are of the highest rank. King Sahure shows that he is not as great as the Nome god. Sitting or standing (or kneeling/recumbent) is another convention, along with the hierarchy of scale, for depicting figures of great power and people of lesser importance. This ka statue represents the Nome god as mentor of King Sahure; a guiding hand for Egyptian laws and way of life. King Sahure and a Nome god are a ka statue. Ka was the life force of the ancient Egyptians; their entire way of life was centered on this idea of ​​obtaining exquisite immortality after death. The ka statue of King Sahure was a backup of the original plan, which was the mummified coffin. The ancient Egyptians did not separate the physical body from the soul, as other religions like Christianity do. Everything was connected, so if the body could not be preserved properly, the pharaoh was idealistically depicted as a rigid ka statue to ensure his immortality. In addition to representing the pharaoh in an ideal way, the ka statue was made of very strong and dense stone to ensure its durability for the endless years after death. That of King Sahure is made of gneiss, which was common with other types of rock, such as limestone. The ka statue, along with the coffin and various other physical necessities, were buried with the pharaoh to properly prepare him for the afterlife. Idealism was crucial to the ka statue. According to the ancient Egyptians, the pharaoh had to be perfect. They believed that the gods would accept nothing less. In the statue of King Sahure, he is depicted as very toned and rigid, which was the ideal body for an Egyptian man, nonetheless a king or god. King Sahure and.