Symbolic expression of Ancient Egyption sculpture

Our modern perception of sculpture today as one of the branches of art; does not fit into the same context in the ancient Egyptian culture. Ancient Egyptian sculpture was mostly used as a tool with religious functions. In order to fulfill these functions, ancient artists gave symbolic meanings to the elements in the sculpture or used the symbols that were in their culture in a unique way. Although there were different styles through the ancient Egyptian periods, it was necessary for them to set a sculptural style to create a continuous symbolism tradition. Although the style has undergone minor changes, the symbolic narrative form created a continuous art language in the ancient Egyptian civilization. Some researchers, from 19th century onwards, treated this common narrative as iconography. Unlike today's approach to sculpture, they established a symbolic language with the sculpture and succeeded in transmitting this tradition to the next generations for centuries. Today, while dealing with the history of ancient Egypt, researchers have uncovered the ancient Egyptian periods by taking into account the similarities in the art that provide integrity within itself. Throughout this research, the concepts of sculpture, sculptor in ancient Egypt, the stylistic differences between periods are examined in order to understand the symbolic narrative. The concepts of symbol, iconography and symbolism are analyzed to clarify the main subject. The last chapter, symbolic expression form, has been composed to be considered in line with the information provided by the previous chapters.