Studia Antiqua
Keywords
Ancient Egyptian gardens, Afterlife symbolism, Nebamun tomb painting, Religious ideology, Mortuary horticulture
Abstract
One of the most important aspects of Egyptian art is the emphasis on the eternal and the afterlife. Aspects of real gardens in ancient Egypt as well as artistic depictions of them reflect these values through the cosmological symbolism of life-giving water and plants frequently cultivated in these gardens. These garden depictions were seen as a way to carry their current lifestyle into the afterlife with them. This paper will discuss the garden painting from the 18th Dynasty tomb of Nebamun located in the Theban necropolis. It will briefly discuss methods of Egyptian painting and the medium by which the garden scene was painted. It will also discuss how this depiction reflects religious and symbolic ideology of the time, including eternity and rebirth, as well as archaeological evidence of potential real mortuary horticulture in the area. The use of gardens in ancient Egyptian life will also be considered in order to provide further context to symbolic meanings. This paper will discuss past theories and assumptions on these topics by compiling and analyzing related articles and sources and will then expound on these ideas for future potential areas of study.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Day, Aleeta. "Gardens of Rebirth: Fertility and the Afterlife in the Garden Painting from the Tomb of Nebamun." Studia Antiqua 24, no. 1 (2025). https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/studiaantiqua/vol24/iss1/3
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