Red and Black World

Abstract

The red and black formed in Egypt a système antinomique (B. Mathieu). Desheret (the desert) represented the sphere of the wild and the natural, while kemet (alluvial land) signified cultivated and civilised areas. These were not the only opposites involved. The red desert was seen as the source, base and place of origin of the black land and its inhabitants. This could also be compared to the raw vs worked (natural vs artificial) relationship. At the same time, it reflected the relationships between Seth and Osiris, evil and good and chaos and order. In developed Egyptian cosmology and eschatology, red represented Ra, day, life and activeness against black, which represented Osiris, night, death/rebirth and potential states. From these connections, red/divine and black/royal connotations emerged. Examples of the use of red and black can be found in both architecture and art from Naqada I vessels through to New Kingdom obelisks. This reflects the fundamental ideology of these colours.

Keywords

• dualism
• symbolic role of colours
• Egyptian art