# Walk like an Egyptian **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 1999, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692 "1999-11-11T00:18:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/1 "1999-11-11T00:18:00Z")
How and where did the stereotypical “Egyptian Walk” come into being? I’m not much of an Egyptologist, but what hieroglyphs I’ve seen are lacking in guys walking with their arms in a half swastika. Ok, so obviously people didn’t really walk like that, but _are_ there a lot of drawings like that that I just haven’t seen? Or was it just faked at some point and now everyone thinks hieroglyphs should look like that? * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/2 "1999-11-11T00:39:00Z")
take another look at the paintings ( not the heiroglyphs thats the words) you’ll see that ‘swastica’. egyptian art was highly ritual even when primarily decorative, , there were specified rules for depicting various objects and activities, creativity was not encouraged. faces are in profile but the eye is frontal. Then the upper torso full frontal, but the legs profile. bodies are in postures that would be uncomfortable to hold for very long. if you don’t beleave me ask my mummy. during the reign of the monotheistic aken aten there was a ‘loosening’ of strictures but it didn’t last long. The priests didn’t like the way he and nefertiti encouraged the people to turn their back on traditional family values, ( they weren’t brother and sister)the way the people were abandoning the religion of the founding fathers, and generally setting a poor moral example. As evedinced by state support of immoral art. But mostly cause the conservative priest class wasn’t in charge anymore. And then when nefertit, who had never even lived in Thebes decided to… wait a minute, i think i’v suffured another previous life memory leap… sorry. but anyway sure theres lotsa pics of egyptians like that. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![mipsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mipsman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipsman)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/3 "1999-11-11T01:00:00Z")
The conservatism and ritualism in representive Egyptian art might be the case but a more important fact is that a “perspective technique” had not been invented/discovered yet. Perspective is one of those aspects of art that we take for granted now but had to be derived and refined. ---
**Author:** ![Abe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f1d935/32.png) [@Abe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/4 "1999-11-11T08:24:00Z")
## Mipsman is correct in stating that the ancient Egyptians did not fully understand perspective techniques. The curious thing is that they sculpted and carved beautifully. Abe IDIOT, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. –Ambrose Bierce ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/5 "1999-11-11T10:00:00Z")
One explanation I had heard is that Egyptian art is very conceptual. Arms and legs are important as concepts, so an image of the person must conclude them or it will be incomplete. That’s the idea. Children tend to be very conceptual illustrators. If they draw their family, they will draw the whole family in front of the house, along with pets. Kids with little siblings on the way will often draw their pregnant mothers as if they were transparent, just so they can include their unborn brother or sisters face. Wouldn’t want to leave anything out. So, I’m thinking, Egyptian drawings were conceptual as well as ritualistic (as has been observed). I think the Bayeaux Tapestry is similar. Perhaps had the considered it an art, they would have developed perspective more; but I think they considered drawing more of a form of communication and record-keeping, which would explain the hybrid nature of heiroglyphs (i.e., somewhere between an alphabet and tiny drawings). Another explanation I heard was that Egyptians believed the souls were in drawings themselves, so if you represented someone with a leg hidden, your dear departed ancestor would be lacking a leg in the afterlife. I don’t really understand this one, since I thought the whole point of mummification was preserving the body for the afterlife. I mean, why do ya need both legs on an illustration, if both your legs are preserved so carefully right there in the sarcophagus? * * * Nothing I write about any person or group should be applied to a larger group. - Boris Badenov ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/6 "1999-11-11T16:12:00Z")
I agree with the above-- what we call perspective is hoghly overrated, especially when you want a conceptual whole instead of a merely optical likeness. The composite perspective the egyptians used provides the most information about all body parts-- showing each in its best view (and, unless there is a special narrative going on, head and legs always facing to the right). If someone asks you to draw a leg and foot by itself, you’re likely to show it profile, and the head (but the eye you’ll show frontally). A set of shoulders seen from the side doesn’t give much info, thogh, so it wil be frontal. I can’t explain why both feet are shown as left feet, though. As for the original post, I think you’re right-- The 'Bangles" arms position–bent elbows and wrists out to front and back–isn’t as frequent as we are supposed to believe. Usually figures have left foot forward and arms down at their sides, unless they are doing something specific with the hands. I can’t find a single instance of that particular hand pose in several books on egyptian art I have here at home. Hmmm. Good point-- I wonder where this comes from. I’m referring to regular painting, though. I’m not sure about hieroglyph figures proper, as I have fewer examples, but the hieroglyph figures of people in the inscriptions that I do have at hand follow the same canon as the regular “images.” A lot developed in the European popular imagination in the 18th and 19th C., I’m sure, about Egypt (you may have seen the amusing engraving of impossibly steep pyramids) so perhaps this notion developed sometime around then, when the Europeans started digging in Egypt? ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 1999, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/7 "1999-11-11T16:17:00Z")
When did the BANGLE (all girl rock group) come out with “WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN”? Anybody have the words? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/8 "1999-11-12T05:04:00Z")
“%waayy ohh ewww wayy ohh ewww wayyy ohhhh%” -Bangles, _Walk Like An Egyptian_ It’s ironically clever if you speak Egyptian. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/9 "1999-11-12T05:12:00Z")
Walk Like An Egyptian BANGLES All the old paintings on the tombs They do the sand dance don’t you know If they move too quick (oh whey oh) They’re falling down like a domino All the bazaar men by the Nile They got the money on a bet Gold crocodiles (oh whey oh) They snap their teeth on your cigarette Foreign types with the hookah pipes say Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh Walk like an Egyptian The blonde waitresses take their trays They spin around and they cross the floor They’ve got the moves (oh whey oh) You drop your drink then they bring you more All the school kids so sick of books They like the punk and the metal band When the buzzer rings (oh whey oh) They’re walking like an Egyptian All the kids in the marketplace say Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh Walk like an Egyptian Slide your feet up the street bend your back Shift your arm then you pull it back Life is hard you know (oh whey oh) So strike a pose on a Cadillac If you want to find all the cops They’re hanging out in the donut shop They sing and dance (oh whey oh) Spin the clubs cruise down the block All the Japanese with their yen The party boys call the Kremlin And the Chinese know (oh whey oh) They walk the line like Egyptian All the cops in the donut shop say Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh Walk like an Egyptian Walk like an Egyptian ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 1999, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/walk-like-an-egyptian/4692/10 "1999-11-12T12:16:00Z")
_Sigh_ Thanks a LOT - now that song’s going to be in my head all damn day. lalalalala, O way o … grrr