Age of Mythology

Does this sound very familiar to you?

This is one of my childhood's favourite game!

Reason? Of course is because of the ancient Egypt elements!

Age of Mythology (commonly abbreviated to AoM), is a mythology-based, real-time strategy computer game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios.

Age of Mythology takes inspiration from the myths and legends of the Greeks, Egyptians, and Norse, rather than from actual history.

At the beginning, you can choose either one of the god to start the game. I remembered there's Ra and Isis from the tribe of Egypt. Each of them will have different design of buildings and armies. 

Buildings in Age of Mythology can generally be split into three categories; economic buildings, military buildings, and defensive structures. 

 Playing this game was like go into the Ancient Egypt time, and build your kingdom, feed you people. and protect them.

I especially like their design of temples. Different styles, and when more people go to pray, you will get more and more power :D

Have to admit, playing games won't just bring you bad effect. Somehow you can really learn lots of things.

Architecture design, character design, story line, background music... All of these can be learnt at the same time when you're having fun. Isn't it nice?

"
『Age of Mythology's graphics were praised by the majority of reviewers. IGN reviewer Steve Butts stated that "some fantastic effects and believable animations make this one a joy to watch. The differences between the armies and environments are awesome." As such, he gave the graphics a rating of 9 out of 10. Meanwhile, GameSpot reviewer Greg Kasavin also rated the graphics 9 out of 10, stating that "Age of Mythology is a great-looking game, filled with bright colors and carefully detailed animations." Game Revolution also appreciated Age of Mythology's graphics, stating in their review that the "new 3D landscape looks good", and including graphics as one of the positives in the review summary. PC Gamer reviewer William Harms admired the graphics, "The environments, units, and buildings are packed with detail," and excitedly commented on the effects: "What really impressed me, though, were the game's animations. When a Minotaur smacks a dude with his club, the schmoe goes flying, skids on the ground, and then bounces back into the air."』

See, this is really great.

Mummies Alive!

Have you ever seen this cartoon when you're still a child?

This is like one of the best 90's cartoon!

This is a cartoon that based on Ancient Egypt.

『In ancient Egypt, an evil sorcerer named, Scarab, kills the pharaoh's son, Prince Rapses, so he can become pharaoh immortal. Entombed alive for his crime (Rapses' body was also never found), Scarab revives in the modern world and begins his search for Rapses' reincarnation, a San Francisco-dwelling boy named Presley Carnavon to retrieve the spirit of Rapses' so he can become immortal. Rapses' (Presley's) bodyguards, Ja-Kal, Rath, Armon, and Nefer-Tina, along with Rapses' cat, Kahti, awake from the dead to protect him from Scarab. They use the power of Ra to transform into powerful guardians.』

The character design were based on the goddess of Egypt.

 Ja-Kal is the leader of the Mummies. In his transformed state, his armor resembles a falcon and also allows him to fly. 

Rath is the most intelligent of the Mummies (but also the most arrogant). When he transforms, a green snake which turn into a golden cobra wraps around him and serves as armor.

Armon is huge and eats very often. He is very strong even when he has not transformed. He is missing his right arm and when he transforms he obtains a golden arm that is used as his weapon. His armor resembles a ram.

Nefer-Tina is the only female of the Mummies. She is an expert with her whip, has great agility, and is extremely proficient at driving the Hot-Ra — the Mummies' dragster-like vehicle. When she transforms, her armor is like a cat.
And her name sounds like the queen of Ancient Egypt that I introduced before - - Nefertiti.

Scarab is the Pharaoh's adviser, who later sucked the life force from Prince Rapses for youth and immortality.When Scarab transforms, his body is covered in golden and purple armor, resembling that of a scarab beetle and possessing the power of flight.He also possesses a magical talking snake named Heka that acts as his magical staff from time to time, much to her dismay.

I really likes Rath's design. Never thought that snake can be combined with human so nicely and so cool.
Of course my favourite hero is Ja-kal! He is soooo shiny and strong!

This is like the first cartoon that inspired me to look into Ancient Egypt.
They were my childhood heroes.I wish that one day, I could become Rapses.
And I will have four guardians around me and bring me back to Egypt :)

 

Crest of the Royal Family

Now I am going to introduce you this manga, "Crest of the Royal Family".

In Chinese, 《尼罗河的女儿》. In Japanese, "王家の紋章".

I heard about this manga when I was small. And when I grew bigger, I started to read it online.

When one day I found this collection in a manga shop, I just used all my pocket money to buy it.

This is a manga about Ancient Egypt. That's why I love it.

But speaking about the story, it's not good when it went further. 

Here is some introduction from Wikipedia:

"The main character is Carol, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed American teenager from a wealthy family with an interest in Egyptology studying in Cairo. When her mentor discovers the tomb of a young pharaoh, a curse is put on the excavation team and Carol. The curse sends her back in time to ancient Egypt, where she becomes embroiled in the affairs of Egypt and other ancient countries such as Assyria and Babylonia. Carol meets Memphis, a handsome young pharaoh whose tomb she excavated in modern times. Despite his headstrong, at first violent nature, they fall deeply in love. This angers Memphis's half-sister, the Priestess Isis, who has longed to marry him. Carol, due to her exotic looks and curious ability to tell the future, becomes a major player in ancient history."

Although it's an old style manga, but I still love this very much.

I did read a lot of books about Ancient Egypt but still don't have any idea how to turn them into comic style drawing.

And this manga really helps me a lot.

The artist, Chieko Hosokawa really did a lot of research about Ancient Egypt and created her own style of the world.

I especially love her design of the cloths and jewelry.

And somehow her characters got some Ancient Egyptian's style XD

I mean the way of drawing characters' side view, it's almost same as the Ancient Egyptian drawing.

Well maybe it's just only me who feels that xD

Anyway, this is a really great manga, no matter from the background or story or character setting. She must be the first one who did something like this among those artists.

I wish some day, I can draw a story like this. 

Thank you, Chieko Hosokawa Sensei.

 

Architecture

Architecture of the Egyptians, are very famous since thousands years ago.
Most of their buildings were like carved on a giant stone or combined the stone mixture... e.t.c.
Each of them was built without nails and machines (of course, they didn't have at that time).

Pyramids, I'm not going to talk about them because they are too famous and the way to built them is still unknown.

When we think of Egyptian temples, one of the principle architectural elements that comes to mind is the column. In fact, it is difficult to imagine a temple such as Karnak without thinking of its columned halls, and what many visitors will take away with them is visions of pylons, obelisks, statues and columns. Column shafts were often decorated with colorful depictions in painted, carved relief, and remain some of the most interesting architectural elements in Egyptian structures.

Their columns can be differ into a few style. Osiride column, Open Papyrus column, Hathoric column... e.t.c.

Hathoric column, is using Hathor's head as the design which I just introduced in the last post.

So match at all...right?

This is a sample of Osiride Column.

This is a really good design. The columns already clearly show you that this is a temple.

And this is Open Papyrus Column.

There is too many knowledge about column. If you wish to see more, please visit this site: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/columns.htm

Pattern Design

Ancient Egypt is very famous for their pattern design. They used it everywhere. Pillars, walls, vases, anything you could see.

I did a quick research and realised that they used the elements that could be seen everyday in their lives to do the pattern design, like flower, feather, cobra, cow... e.t.c.
Set match pattern and square repeat are the ways that widely used by them in the pattern design.

Hathor

Hathor, too is an element that was widely used in Ancient Egypt. You can always see it on the pillars.
(Hathor is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of love, beauty, music, motherhood and joy.She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt. )

This is a pattern design using Hathor's image.

Scarab

Scarab is another element that widely used on wall paintings, jewelry... e.t.c.  It was a very popular amulet in Ancient Egypt and I guess this is why you can see it anyway. To protect the sons of Ra.

Scarab's pattern design.

Here are some pattern designs I've found.  Most of them are like using papyrus or other plants.

These designs are full of colours and all of the elements are wisely arranged. They don't look messy. If I have a house when I grown up, I'll probably use one of the design for my wall paper. :)

Every credits go to Richard Deurer :)

If you wish to see for, please visit here: http://egyptartsite.com/motifs.html