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Death is something a person must prepare for. You need to choose what kind of burial you would like, where you would like to be buried, and how to disperse your earthly possessions. In ancient Egypt, not only did you have to prepare the things above, but you also had to provide for the eternal care of your soul. This was the function of much Egyptian artwork. The Egyptians' artwork also functioned as propaganda for the ruling class. It explained why they deserved to be in their positions of power, above anyone else. Egyptians were obsessed with death. They believed that when you die your soul has the opportunity to continue to live. If they passed the trials of the gods they believed they were able to enter the underworld, ruled by Osiris. From there they could return to the living world to enjoy all the earthly pleasures they had enjoyed while their body was still alive. To do this however, they had to have a likeness in the form of a statue for their soul to inhabit, since they no longer had a body. They had to provide their souls with nourishment and entertainment. People made agreements to continue to bring food and drink to the deceased's burial area. Also, in case they ended up not fulfilling their end of the bargain, Egyptians would have many pictures put in their burial area of food and drink, activities they enjoyed while alive, and people they were familiar with. Much ancient Egyptian art we have today are statues from tombs, and paintings and relief’s, which decorated Egyptian tombs. The statues provided a place for the soul to reside. From inside the statue the soul could look out and enjoy the provisions provided for it. It also could watch any rituals or offerings the soul's descendants carried out. The paintings and reliefs sometimes gave directions on how the deceased could manage to survive the afterlife. Other times they depicted additional food and drink for the soul, and entertainment in the form of the deceased engaged in activities he/she once enjoyed in life. "To represent was, in a way, to create, and Egyptian representation in both two and three dimensions was bent on creating images that would function as a meaningful part of the cults of the gods and the dead." (Gay Robins, The Art of Ancient Egypt, pg 12). Egyptian art can be called unchanging. The changes that did occur throughout the kingdoms were very slow and would first be incurred on art for the lower classes. These changes would eventually move up through art for high-ranking officials, to finally be included in the works for the kings and queens. Egyptians used a standard of proportion. This standard broke the figure down into a grid, each square equaling the width of the figure's fist. The height of the male body equaled eighteen times the width of the fist. The knees were placed on the fifth line up, the elbows were on the twelfth, and the area where the neck and shoulders met was on the sixteenth. "The specific measure employed and the proportions derived from it varied slightly over time, but the underlying concept and the means by which it was implemented did not." (Marilyn Stokstad, Art History, p.
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