Abū Simbel Temple

In ancient Egypt, the pharaohs were believed to be incarnations of the god. Egyptians not only enshrined the statues of pharaohs in their tombs, but also built stone carvings in temples around the country. Till the 18th Dynasty, the stone carvings of the pharaohs were moved outdoors so that common people could also have the chance to see them. With the temples getting larger, the pharaohs' statues also became bigger and bigger. When Egypt was ruled by Ramses II, some of the stone carvings were more than 65 feet in height. However, the country started to go downhill after Rameses II's reign. Consequently, the tradition of sculpture also declined in Egypt. The ancient Egyptian culture, fortunately, traveled to Europe by way the island of Crete and first arrived in ancient Greece.
The twin temples were originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century B.C., as a lasting monument to himself and his queen Nefertari, to commemorate his alleged victory at the Battle of Kadesh, and to intimidate his Nubian neighbors. However, the complex was relocated in its entirety in the 1960s, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan dam reservoir.

Bas-relief

Conquered by the Empire of Persia in 525 B.C., ancient Egypt became a province of Persia. In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great of Macedonia captured Persia and Egypt. From then on, Egypt was ruled by a foreign nation; its art, as a consequence, entered the Hellenistic Period. When Egypt became a province of Rome in 30 B.C., the history of ancient Egypt came to its end.

This is a bas-relief of the Ptolemaic Dynasty (304-30 B.C.). Depicting two protecting goddesses crowning the king with a double-layered crown, the relief was used to propagate the divine right of the king. The sculptor adopted the traditional techniques, and put up the beauty of the women's curves by creating the two goddesses in chiffon.