History Of Egyptian Clothes And Religion In Art

Egyptian Clothes and Religion in Art

Brenden Lawson

Virginia High School

History of Art: Prehistoric to Gothic

Lisa Allen

April 25, 2023

People can be found expressing themselves everywhere throughout time, no matter the place; art is how they show it. Art can be found in every corner of the earth and shows itself fully through clothing. Throughout history, there have been two prevailing requirements. The desire to wear apparel, and the need for a religion to hold on to. The attire that people wear can hold vastly different ideologies and beliefs within them. Egypt held on to these thoughts true, taking them to a fuller extent. Religion also finds itself lying deep in Egyptian history, making its way into people's lively hood. Naturally

Animal sacrifices were used as a ceremony of celebration to bring good weather and other ailments. Other gods share animal imagery, like Anubis's head of a dog, to show the significance of animals in their society. Ancient Egyptian gods almost always show the head of an animal with the body of a human, bridging the gap between deity and mortality. Because of this reliance on and worship of animals, clothing often depicted scenes or figures of them. Pharaohs also often wore animal skin clothing to show their apparent proximity to the gods. Though, when Christianity first started taking prominence in Egypt a majority of these rituals and ways of life prevailed. (Gilhus,

Specific clothing was believed to help others transfer into the afterlife and be accepted in salvation; "the longed-for heavenly state, where the dead were clothed in the imagined garments of salvation." (Gilhus 154). The rite of passage for the Egyptians involved the ritual of dressing and undressing to mark movements in social space. These rites depict two scenarios where in the first the body is shrouded and interred; the second depicts salvation and heavenly garments. These dresses that they wore in death represent the way they lived their life and show what they were when they were alive. Luxury status in Egypt stuck passed the struggle of life as in the afterlife they were presumed to say wealthy. These high-class items imitated in this clavus were believed to help the less fortunate live healthier in the post-mortem.

Throughout Egyptian life, they were prepping for their demise. Preparing holy rituals to help them pass on, accumulating wealth to live better once they die, and making art to provide comfort in death. All of these lively activities were shown in their clothing. Designating the way their dress to show their status and will of the afterlife. Hoping that when they depart, they will keep some of their humanity. The tunic being the most common and the most diverse, the "Clavus of a Tunic: Bowmen on Horseback with Dogs" is only a small piece of the rich and lost art of sixth-century