Ancient Civilizations
The three ancient civilizations that have had the most profound effect on our lives have been the Egyptian, Greek and Roman Empires. In each of the three there have been significant efforts to create art and architecture to remind future generations of their achievements. I will have a look at how furniture played a role in showing “status, power, proportion and perfection” in each of the three eras. The three examples chosen are one of Tutankhamun’s thrones (Fig. 1), a Greek klismos (Fig. 2) chair and the Roman Curule chair (Fig. 3). My essay will compare the three chairs in terms of function, form, structure and embellishment. The Ancient Egyptians had no or little use for furniture as we know it today. The chairs that were made were for the Pharaoh’s and immediately gained symbolic value. Wood was scarce in Egypt and for a chair to be made of imported wood made it very expensive. The more expensive a chair, the more status it carried. The chairs were made in the idea of form follows function, so the throne was made so that the Pharaoh could sit on it outside, with out losing status when part of the feet sank into the sand.