Ancient Egypt
Around 3,000 B.C., which is about 5,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians established the second civilization in the world. It focused on the life and society of people along the Nile River in East Africa. The irrigation required to subdue the annual flooding of the river led to prosperity and enough food surplus for some people to get out of farming and become scribes, government officials, artisans, priests, among other things, and develop a civilization. Ancient Egypt contributed immensely to human knowledge in science, art, architecture, and religion.
Water disputes eventually led to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, which, however, took over 1,000 years, suggesting the arduous process it took. The first Egyptian dynastic rule was established by Menes around 3100 BC, but the consolidation of the unification was not achieved until around 2700 BC.
Ancient Egypt was characterized by periods of unification interrupted by disintegration. It was during these periods of unification that the greatest achievements of Egyptian civilization were accomplished.
Archaeologists divide ancient Egyptian history into three periods of unification: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and new Kingdom.
Old Kingdom (2700-2181BC)
Real unification achieved after the initial unification of Lower and Upper Egypt by king Narmer (Menes), with its capital in Memphis.
Unification called for authority of leadership, hence the divinity of the kings, reflected in the gigantic pyramids in the Old Kingdom.
Old Kingdom was the most peaceful period in Egyptian history: separated by the Sinai desert from another center of civilization, Mesopotamia, and isolated by the great deserts in Africa, the Egyptian leisurely class (those who did not work on the farm, primarily the upper class) enjoyed the luxury of contemplation of the afterlife. That was why much of their civilization was associated with the afterlife, at least that was much that has remained to this day, and how we learn about the Egyptian civilization.
One characteristic of ancient civilizations, including the Egyptian one, was language. The need for record keeping in the Old Kingdom led to the creation of language, called Hieroglyphics (sacred words).
From 2200-2060 BC, the forty-two provinces revolted and the unified kingdom disintegrated.
The Middle Kingdom (2060- 1785 BC)
Reunification by Mentuhotep of Thebes, with capital in Memphis. It also marked the beginning of Egyptian imperialism in Africa and Asia Minor.
Although unification was achieved, the presence of foreigners made it very difficult to maintain it for long.
The Hykso invasion (1652-1570 BC) and Jewish settlement in Egypt.
The New Kingdom (1570-1085 BC)
After reunification (capital, Thebes), Egyptian expansion into Palestine, Syria, and Libya (15th century BC). It was followed by internal turmoil within Egypt.
Growth of the power of the army, the royal bureaucracy, and the priesthoods, and Amenhotep IV's reform: the worship of Aton, and its political implications.
Invasion of the Hittites (1600-1200 BC) who took Syria and Palestine. Followed by invasions of the "Sea peoples" (the Philistines who later settled down in Canaan, renamed Palestine) who destroyed the Hittite Kingdom (1190 BC).
Egyptian society and government
Egyptian society was led by a king, referred to as pharaoh (big house). The pharaoh was a living embodiment of the Egyptian Gods, and had absolute power in society. The pharaohs had a tendency to claim their lineage from the sun god Ra (or Re). Daily administration was overseen by a visier, and the provincial governers.
Egypt was a hierarchical society where the king/pharaoh and the gods were at the top, with nobles and priests following behind, and soldiers (as the need for war was still present) after them. The middle class consisted of skilled workers, artisans and merchants. At the bottom of the society were slaves and farmers. Social mobility was possible for farmers' boys who received an education, when they could learn a trade to become an artisan/merchant, or even a scribe: the job of transcription for the government, often using hieroglyphics.
Although women were expected to obey their fathers and husbands, they were equal to men in many ways. Most marriages were arranged by parents. Girls from poor families may marry as early as 12 years old. A wife could divorce her husband if she was badly treated. She was then free to marry again if she wanted. Most marriages lasted a lifetime. Egyptian men were not allowed more than one wife at a time. Compared to other areas of the ancient world, Egyptian women held stronger social positions and expanded legal rights, which included the ability to hold and bequeath property and the right to initiate divorce. Children--both male and female--held a valuedposition in the family.
The sacred writing: hieroglyphics
One of the cultural achievements of the Egyptians was their writing system: hieroglyphics, a pictographic language used primarily for religious purposes. It was undisciphered until after 1799, with the discovery of the Rosetta Stone
Religion in Egyptian life
- Religion was an important part of Egyptian life. And like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians' outlook on life was influenced by their geography, and especially the Nile River. The regular annual floodings of the Nile (July-Sept.) led to preventive measures to channel the river water and a relatively stable life. The Egyptians, on the whole, were a happy people, and agricultural surplus enabled them to engage in many activities related not to immediate survival, but to the afterlife. Besides the early pyramids built for the deceased kings in the Old Kingdom, later kings congregated their tombs and temples to almost form a city of the dead, or the necropolis, such as the Saqqara, Giza, in the Old and Middle Kingdoms, to the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of the Nile River near Thebes, in the New Kingdom.
- Egyptians did not differentiate between the self and nature. To them, the two were in a fusion and behaved in the same way. Like humans, nature acted upon impulse and emotions, such as anger and happiness. Natural phenomena, such as the flooding of the Nile, were the expressions of nature's emotions toward man. The Nile River was originally said to be the manifestation of the god Hapy. Priests were very important in society as they were the communicators with natural deities, negotiating with and appeasing them.
- The fusion between human life and nature also led to the interchangeability between the human and natural worlds in the human afterlife and in the forms gods could take. For instance, the chief god of Egypt, the sun god, could take several forms, Atum (afternoon) in human form, Khepra (morning) in the form of a beetle, Re (or Horakhty, the midday) who had a human body and the head of a falcon, and Aton, in the case of Akhenaton, a solar disk.
- The cycle of life and death in nature was also reflected in human lives, e.g. in the story of Osiris's resurrection. Life after death was guided by the Book of the Dead. Symbols (gods) of rejuvenation also included lizards, snakes, frogs, and lotus, and desert animals such as hedgehogs, antelopes, and rabbits.
- Egyptian creation myth: initially, only the ocean existed. Then Re, the sun, came out of an egg on surface of the water, who had four children, moisture, air, earth, and sky. His grandchildren included Osiris and Isis. Osiris succeeded Ra as king of earth. Horus, son of Osiris, then succeeded as king, after the death of Osiris.
- Egyptian kings and religion: 1. Origin. 2. The pyramids: their interior and shape. 3 the king as keeper of maat: goddess representing the vital principle of order and harmony on which life both on earth and the hereafter rested.
- The last judgment and the after life.
- Politics and religion: e.g. Akhenaton's religous reform in the New kingdom (14th c BC).