At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, there is a sizable collection of ancient Egyptian art. There are many sculptures, statues, pottery pieces, and paintings that capture and convey the unique spiritual culture of the time period. One piece in particular, King Sahure and a Nome God, portrays the importance of divine kingship and the afterlife, which were the two pillars upon which ancient Egyptian life was dedicated. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Characteristics and Details of King Sahure and a Name God King Sahure and a Name God were created between approximately 2458 and 2446 BC during the Fifth Dynasty, when King Sahure was the pharaoh of the nation. The statue is about two feet tall and a foot and a half wide and is made of gneiss, which is a type of sturdy stone. On the statue there is a large male figure sitting in front, who is depicted as the god Nome, and there is a smaller figure standing in the back, recognized as King Sahure. The reason King Sahure is significantly smaller than the Nome god is because the Nome god is more important than the pharaoh. In ancient Egyptian culture, which was ultimately polytheistic, the gods themselves were the only beings more important than the pharaohs. This artistic use of size variation is what is called “scale hierarchy,” which simply means that more prominent figures were depicted larger than smaller ones. The gods were the only ones who were higher on the scale than the pharaohs. King Sahure is depicted alongside the god Nome to legitimize his kingship, which was believed to have been received directly from the gods, making all pharaohs partially divine. In most ancient Egyptian art, the pharaoh would have been depicted sitting on the throne. However, in any work of art where a god is shown, he or she is the only seated individual, as gods are of higher rank. King Sahure stands to prove that he is not as great as the god Nome. Sitting versus standing (or kneeling/lying) is another convention, along with hierarchy of scale, for portraying figures of great power and lesser people. This ka statue depicts the god Nome as the mentor of King Sahure; a guiding hand for Egyptian laws and way of life. King Sahure and a god Name is a ka statue. Ka was the life force of the ancient Egyptians; their entire way of life was centered around this idea of ​​achieving exquisite immortality after death. The ka statue of King Sahure was a backup to the original plan, which called for the mummified coffin. The ancient Egyptians did not separate the physical body from the soul, as other religions such as Christianity do. Everything was intertwined, so if the body could not be properly preserved, the pharaoh was ideally depicted as a rigid ka statue to ensure his immortality. In addition to having the pharaoh portrayed ideally, the ka statue was made of very hard and dense stone to ensure its resistance in the endless years after death. The one at King Sahure is made of gneiss, which was common along with other types of rock, such as limestone. The ka statue, along with the coffin and various other physical necessities, was buried with the pharaoh to properly prepare him for the afterlife. Idealism was crucial to the ka statue. According to the ancient Egyptians, the pharaoh had to be perfect. They believed that the gods would not accept anything less. In the statue of King Sahure, he is portrayed as very toned and stiff, which was the ideal body for an Egyptian man, nonetheless a king or god. Both King Sahure and the god Nome have clearly visible thumbs, which were known to be the most useful appendages of the hands. Since body and soul were not separate, the optimal physical condition was.