Ancient Egyptian art featured grand monuments like the Great Sphinx and temples, created for tombs and the afterlife, while Mesopotamian art was smaller in scale with figures depicted with clasped hands and exaggerated eyes. Egyptian art showed men and women as equals, like in the statue of King Menkaure and his queen, but Mesopotamian art portrayed women as inferior in size. Both cultures used art for decoration and to honor gods, with Egyptians using hieroglyphics and Mesopotamians developing cuneiform writing. Their art emphasized perfect human proportions and showed figures in profile or frontal views.