Beauty is more than skin deep: Depictions of aging women in ancient Egyptian art In ancient Egypt, women are generally shown as young and beautiful while more mature and older women are depicted very rarely. For men of the time, aging was represented in art more frequently because it was a positive aspect of virility. For the ancient Egyptians, art was not made just for pleasure or beauty; it was a very practical and necessary part of the daily life of the Egyptians. In art, the Egyptian belief was that people should be depicted at the height of their energy and beauty to remain so forever when they pass into the afterlife. In most ancient Egyptian art, aging men are depicted more frequently than women as it was considered a positive image for men. Egyptian art rarely depicted older women or aging women: "neither pregnancy nor the enlarged waistline that many women must have had after years of childbearing are part of the image." However, there are examples that have elements of aging related to elite and non-elite women alike. These displays of older women are perhaps an attempt to outwardly show women authority and honor in the same way that the image of male aging is portrayed. Although they are rarely depicted, we can use art to trace the depiction of older women and aging women in Egypt, from the Third Dynasty to the end of the New Kingdom. As women age, their bodies change in various ways, such as developing wrinkles and gray hair. However, Egyptian art did not necessarily combine these features in a coherent, fixed order when showing women as they aged. This may reflect the reality of the aging process: people do not always age at the same...... middle of paper....... Sun Pharaohs: Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts in association with Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Co., 1999. Lesko, Barbara, “Queen Khamerernebty II and Her Sculpture,” in Ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Studies, (Providence, Rhode Island, 1998), 158.Moussa, Ahmed M. and Hartwig Altenmller, The Tomb of Nefer and Ka-Hay (Mainz, 1971), p. 33.Robins, Gay. Women in ancient Egypt. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1993. 180. Robins, Gay. While the Woman Watches: Gender Inequality in the New Kingdom. KMT 1/3 (1990), 21.Roth, Ann Macy, "Father Earth, Mother Sky: Ancient Egyptian Beliefs About Conception and Fertility," 194-96Toivari-Viitala, J. Women at Deir el-Medina. A study of the status and roles of women inhabitants in the working-class community during the Ramesside period. Leiden, 2001.