Decorating the Walls Art, Religion and Symbolism in Ancient Egypt

The decoration applied to the walls and ceilings of the royal tombs provided far more than a colourful patina, for the artists were in effect making an eternal world for the deceased king. The exigencies of tombs curtailed and hurried burials may have thwarted this goal on many occasions, but what the artists did achieve stands nonetheless among the greatest art of the ancient world. The process by which these decorations were achieved is quite …

…both its diurnal and nocturnal phases. The Books of the Heavens were inscribed on the ceiling of the sarcophagus chamber, and texts and illustrations from the Books of the Earth and Underworld were placed on its walls. The Egyptian royal tomb, in the fully developed decorative programme of the late New Kingdom, represents the cosmos which was depicted not only in its images and texts, but also by the specific location of these symbolic elements.