Egyptian art: Gilded bust of the protective goddess Selket – museum replica

The expulsion of the Hyksos was followed by a renewal of religious life and the visual arts. The Temple of Amun at Karnak and impressive avenues of sphinxes were built. With the terraced temple of Hashepsut, the construction of a series of royal mortuary temples began on the west bank of the Nile near Thebes. With the beginning of the Amarna Period and the reign of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), the colossal statues gave way to more human scales. The king was no longer depicted in his exalted divinity, but rather surrounded by his family, symbolized by the radiant sun. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb and its treasures has given us profound insight into the art, culture, and daily life of an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. Under the subsequent kings Seti I and Ramses II, Egypt experienced a building boom, exemplified by the great hypostyle hall of Karnak and the rock temple of Abu Simbel, that could not be surpassed. In sculpture, stone was replaced by metal. The large bronzes of the 22nd Dynasty ultimately led to the abundance of bronze gods and animals of the Late Period.