Egypt Architecture and Cultures

On this blog post, I have found out in Egypt, there are some animal and human hybrid inspired architecture and also characters in their culture.

The Great Sphinx at Giza in Egypt

http://meros.org/uploads/gallery/29/54/7e/2975447ed72cb1ad625591d8e040953c.jpg

http://gohighbrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/3-The-Great-Sphinx-of-Giza.jpg

The Great Sphinx at Giza in Egypt is an architecture example of an animal human hybrid. The architecture is a limestone statue and it presents a half human (human head) and half lion (lion's body). In Ancient Egypt, the head represents a God or a Pharaoh while the lion body presents "a lion's strength and dominance to a king's intelligence". An Egyptologist named Henry Fischer have found out that the idea of a human 's head and a lion's body character is to show "the link between mankind and the gods.". The Sphinx statues are built to guard significant places for example: temples and tombs. I like how there are symbolism and background story within the Sphinx statues and I think it is very inspiring as it allows me to understand how I can use and combine specific creatures or their characteristics to create symbolism and tell the background story of the character.

Winged Snake Deity

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On above is a statue of a winged snake deity from the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II from 1427 to 1400 B.C. As you can see on the photo, the statue has got a snake body, a human head and winged arms. In Egyptian, winged serpents are related to the Kings or Queens and are used to protect or guard them and it symbolised divine authority. It is not known where the idea of winged snake deity comes from ' but among the suggestions that have been put forth are the resemblance of the posture of the snake's neck and anterior of its body to wings when it is excited, the fact that horned vipers throw themselves at their victims, or the resemblance of a shedding snakeskin to wings.'. In Egypt culture, 'the Cobra was assigned to the Pharaohs as a sign of kinship by Keb )a.k.a. Kronos, son of Ouranos).'. I think the idea of using wings for the arms is interesting and the way although the statue has got a snake body, but it stands as straight as a human. 

Anubis

http://www.ancient-egypt.org/_v3d/religion/gods/anubis_balance.jpg

Anubis is a Greek name of a God and is the God of mummification. He is also the God of the underworld and he appears as a canine or a canine's head and a human body. Anubis is black in color and he 'associated with fertility, and was closely linked to rebirth in the afterlife.'. 

For my human hybrid design, I will need to think of the color choices as well and think about how I use colors to represent the character's characteristics and tell the audience the story behind the character. 

Overall, I found out that in Egypt cultures, the characters, statues or architecture used either a human head and an animal/s body or an animal head and a human body and I found them very interesting as each character has their background story and also symbolism involved (different animals have their own meanings) which makes the characters more fascinating. 

References:

• http://classroom.synonym.com/sphinx-meanings-8420.html
• http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/snakesofegypt.htm
• http://www.atlantisquest.com/Quetzal.html
• http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/anubis.html