ANCIENT EGYPT

I. Geography

A. Ancient Egypt is located in northeast Africa. Geography greatly influenced Egyptian life. The greatest influence on Egyptian society was the Nile River valley.

1. The Nile flooded every year which allowed the Egyptians to produce good crops.

Map of ancient Egypt More Maps of Ancient Egypt

- Every year from June - October it floods, depositing a layer of rich silt (fertile soil), creating a narrow strip of fertile land for farming. - Due to receiving a new layer of soil every year, the Nile Valley has been farmed continuously for over 6,000 years - The Nile flows north from mountains of east-central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea.

2. The Nile helped make Egypt the world's first unified state; it linked Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.
3. The Nile served as a trade route and as a highway for travel.
(Because the land would be a desert without Nile waters, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus called Egypt "the gift of the Nile.")

B. Natural Boundaries. Egypt was partially protected against invasion by natural barriers: deserts, mountains, and seas. Thus sheilded, the early Egyptians devoted themselves chiefly to peaceful pursuits.

II. Periods of Egyptian History       (BACK UP TO INDEX)
Egyptian history can be divided into three main periods:

OLD KINGDOM (PYRAMID AGE) MIDDLE KINGDOM NEW KINGDOM

During these periods, power passed from one dynasty, or ruling family, to another, but the land generally remained united.

A. The Old Kingdom (Pyramid Age) - 2700 B.C - 2200 B.C.
During this period, pharaohs, as Egyptian rulers were called, organized a strong, centralized state. Pharaohs claimed divine support for their rule. Egyptians believed the pharaoh was a god. The pharaoh thus had absolute power, owning and ruling all the land.
Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom took pride in preserving justice and order. A pharaoh depended on a vizier, or chief minister, to supervise the business of government. Under the vizier, various bureaus looked after matters such as tax collection, farming, and the all-important irrigation system. Thousands of scribes carried out the vizier's instructions.
A wise vizier, Ptah-hotep (tah HOH tehp), took an interest in training young officials. Based on his vast experience of government, he wrote a book, Instructions of the Vizier Ptahhotep. In it, he advised ambitious young people to avoid the errors he had seen all too often among officials:

"Let not your heart be puffed up because of your knowledge; be not confident because you are wise. Take counsel with the ignorant as well as the wise."

The Old Kingdom is sometimes called the Pyramid Age because during this period the Egyptians built the majestic pyriamids that still stand at Giza, near present-day Cairo. The pyramids were tombs for eternity. Because Egyptians believed in an afterlife, they preserved the bodies of their dead rulers and provided them with everything they would need in their new lives.
To complete the pyramids, workers hauled and lifted millions of limestone blocks that weighed an average of 2 1/2 tons each. The pyramid builders had no iron tools or wheeled vehicles. Workers carried each stone by hand, pulled them on sleds to the site, and hoisted them up earthen ramps to be placed on the slowly rising structure. Building a pyramid took so many years that often a pharaoh would begin building his tomb as soon as he inherited the throne.
The pyramids suggest the strength of ancient Egyptian civilization. These costly projects took years to complete and required enormous planning and organization. Thousands of farmers, who had to be fed each day, worked on the pyramids when not planting or harvesting crops.
Power struggles, crop failures, and the cost of building the pyramids contributed to the collapse of the Old Kingdom. After more than a century of disunity, new pharaohs eventually emerged to reunite the land, ushering in the Middle Kingdom.

B. The Middle Kingdom - 2050 B.C. - 1800 B.C.

The Middle Kingdom was a turbulent period. The Nile did not rise as regularly as it had. Corruption and rebellions were common. Still, strong rulers did organize a large drainage project, creating vast new stretches of arable, or farmable land. Egyptian armies occupied part of Nubia, the gold-rich land to the south. Traders also had greater contacts with the peoples of the Middle East and the Mediterranean island of Crete.
Catastrophe struck about 1700 B.C. when foreign invaders, the Hyksos (HIHK sohs), occupied the delta region. They awed the Egyptians with their horse-drawn war chariots. In time, the Egyptians would master this new military technology. The Hyksos, in turn, were so impressed by Egyptian civilization that they soon adopted Egyptian customs, beliefs, and even names.
The Hyksos dominated Egypt for more than 100 years. Finally, new Egyptian leaders arose, drove out the foreigners, and set up the New Kingdom.

C. The New Kingdom

The New Kingom is also known as the Age of Empire because during this period ambitious pharaohs created a large empire. At its height, the Egyptian empire reached the Euphrates River. This age of conquest brought Egypt in greater contact with the Middle East as well as other parts of Africa.




1. Queen Hatshepsut

Among the outstanding rulers of the New Kingdom was Hatshepsut (hat SHEHP soot), daughter of one pharaoh and widow of another. Like some earlier Egyptian queens, Hatshepsut began by ruling in the name of a male heir too young to take the throne. However, she then took the bold step of declaring herself pharaoh and won the support of key officials. Because Egyptians saw kingship as a male privilege, she donned a false beard as a sign of authority.
On the walls of her beautiful funeral temple, Hatshepsut left a record of her reign from 1503 B.C. to 1482 B.C. Carvings and writings proclaim her power and right to rule:

"Lo, the god knows me well, Amon, Lord of Thrones- of-the-Two Lands. He made me rule Black Land and Red Land as a reward. No one rebels against me in all lands."

Other carvings describe how she encouraged trade with eastern Mediterranean lands. Her greatest triumph was an expedition sent to Punt, down the Red Sea coast of Africa. We do not know exactly where Punt was, but ships returned loaded with ebony, ivory, spices, leopard skins, and live monkeys for private zoos. They also brought back incense, medicines, and myrrh trees, much valued for their perfume. Hatshepsut had the fragrant trees planted near her temple.

2. Ramses II

A later pharaoh, Ramses II, won fame for his military victories. Between 1290 B.C. and 1224 B.C., he pushed Egyptian rule northward through Palestine and as far as Syria. On temples and other monuments, he boasted of conquests, though his greatest victory may not have actually taken place. In a battle against the Hittites of Asia Minor, only the desperate bravery of Ramses himself prevented a crushing defeat. Back home, however, Ramses had inscriptions carved on a monument that made their defeat sound like a stunning victory.
After years of fighting, the Egyptians and Hittites finally signed a peace treaty, the first document to have survived in history. The treaty declared
"Egypt, with the land of Hatti (the Hittites), shall be at peace and brotherhood forever. Hostilities shall not occur between them forever."

3. Decline

After Ramses II, Egyptian power slowly declined. Invaders, such as the Assyrians and Persians, conquered the Nile region. Later, Greek and Roman armies marched into the rich Nile Valley. Each new conquerer was eager to add the Egyptian breadbasket to a growing empire.

4. Nubia

To the south of Egypt, the Nile kingdom of Nubia (also known as Kush) developed in the shadow of Egypt. Here we will look at the relationship between the two kingdoms.
For centuries, Egyptians traded or fought with their southern neighbor. From Nubia, they acquired ivory, cattle, and slaves. Egyptian armies conquered Nubia during the New Kingdom. The pharaoh Ramses II used gold from Nubia to pay foreign charioteers in his army. Nubians served in Egyptian armies and left their mark on Egyptian culture. Much Egyptian art of this period shows Nubian soldiers, musicians, or prisoners.
As Egypt declined, Nubia regained its independence. In about 750 B.C., Nubian kings marched north, adding Egypt to their own lands. For 100 years, Nubian kings ruled an empire that stretched from what is today Sudan to the Mediterranean.
The Nubians saw themselves not as foreign conquerors but as restorers of Egyptian glory. They ruled Egypt like the pharaohs of earlier centuries, respecting ancient Egyptian traditions. About 650 B.C., Assyrians, armed with iron weapons, descended on Egypt. They pushed the Nubians back into their original homeland, where Nubian monarchs ruled for 1,000 years more.

III. Egyptian Religion                 (BACK UP TO INDEX)
Religion was very important in Egyptian life!

 A. The Ancient Egyptians were polytheistic.
Their chief god was Amon –Re, the sun god.  The  pharaoh, whom Egyptians viewed as a god as well as a monarch, was closely linked to Amon-Re.  Only the pharaoh could conduct certain ceremonies for the sun god.
     Most Egyptians identified more easily with Osiris and Isis, whose story touched human emotions such as love, jealousy, and fear of death.  According to the myth of Osiris and Isis, their son, Horus, later took revenge on the wicked god Set, killing his uncle.
     To Egyptians, Osiris was especially important.  Not only did he rule over the underworld, but he was  also god of the Nile.  In that role, he controlled the annual flood that made the land fertile.  Isis had special appeal for women, who believed that she had first taught women to grind corn, spin flax, weave cloth, and care for children.  Like Osiris, Isis promised the faithful they would have life after death.

B. The Ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife.

Belief in the afterlife affected all Egyptians, from the highest noble to the lowest peasant.  To win eternal life, each soul had to pass a test.  Osiris weighted a soul's heart against a feather of truth.  Those he judged to be sinners were fed to the crocodile-shaped Eater of the Dead.  Worthy souls  entered the Happy Field of Food.  Egyptians believed that the afterlife would be much like life on Earth , so they buried the dead with everything they would need for eternity.

     To give a soul use of its body in the afterlife, Egyptians perfected skills in mummification , the preservation of the dead.  Skilled embalmers removed vital organs, then dried and wrapped the body in strips of linen.  This costly process took months to complete.  At first, mummification was a privilege reserved for rulers and nobles.  Eventually, ordinary Egyptians also won the right to mummify their dead.

Click here to see and
learn more about mummies

 

 



C. Most pharaohs were buried in great tombs (pyramids) filled with riches.
Many pharaohs were buried in the desolate
Valley of the Kingsclick here.  Their tombs, filled with fantastic riches, were a temptation to robbers in ancient times.  As a result, most royal tombs were stripped of their treasures long ago.  Then, in 1922, the British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen (too tahng KAH muhn), which had remained almost untouched for more than 3,000 years.  The tomb and its treasures have provided a wealth of evidence about Egyptian civilization. (click here to see the Valley of the Queens)

     The body of the 18-year-old "King Tut" had been placed in a solid gold coffin, nested within richly decorated outer coffins.  Today, the dazzling array of objects found in the tomb fills several rooms in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.  They include chariots, weapons, furniture, jewelry, toys, games, and food.  Tutankhamen was a minor king.  Imagine the treasures that must have filled the tombs of great pharaohs like Ramses II.




 King Tut                
click here to view King Tut's Tomb

D. Attempt at Religious Revolution

Pharaoh Akhenaton and his wife Queen Nefertiti tried to make the Egyptians worship only one god, Aton.


About 1380 B.C., a young pharaoh challenged the powerful priests of Amon-Re.  He devoted his life to the worship of Aton, a minor god whose symbol was the sun's disk.  The pharaoh took the name Akhenation (ah kuh NAH tuhn) meaning "he who serves Aton."  With the support of his wife, Queen Nefertiti, Akhenaton tried to sweep away all other gods in favor of Aton. 


                                                                    Akhenaton and Nefertiti worshipping Aton           
Scholars disagree about whether or not Akhenaton was trying to introduce a new religion based on worship of a single god.  Akhenaton's radical ideas had little success, however.  Priests of Amon-Re resisted the revolutionary changes.  Nobles also deserted the pharaoh because he paid little attention to defending the empire.  After Akhenation's death, the priests of the old gods reasserted their power.
 

IV. Egyptian Society                                                    (BACK UP TO INDEX)

Egyptian society was organized into classes:

-The Pharaoh was viewed and worshipped as a god. He was the absolute ruler who made laws, maintained courts, waged war, collected taxes, constructed irrigation canals and public buildings, kept written records, and owned the land


-The nobles served as advisors, local governors, tax collectors, and military commanders.
- The privileged aristocracy consisted of the pharaoh, the royal family, the nobles, and the priests. These dominant classes lived luxuriously.
The rest of society was the unprivileged masses who could not participate in government.
- The peasants worked the farms and were expected to serve the pharaoh during the off season.
- The slaves were the manual laborers who dug irrigation ditches and built temples.
- While the merchants & craftspeople enjoyed some wealth and comfort, the peasants and slaves suffered hardship and poverty.

Women: had many rights - they could inherit property, enter business deals, buy & sell goods, obtain divorce, & enter the priesthood.

V. Writing                                                             (BACK UP TO INDEX)

A. Hieroglyphics (form of picture writing)
The Egyptians developed one of the first systems of writing, hieroglyphics - a word meaning sacred carvings priestly writings. Hieroglyphics are picture symbols that represent objects, ideas, or sounds. First inscribed on stone, these symbols were later written in ink on specially prepared plant material called papyrus (the origin of our word "paper"). On papyrus scrolls the ancient Egyptians recorded their history, literature, mathematics, scientific knowledge, and government records such as tax lists and treaties. To house their papyrus scrolls, the Egyptians established the first libraries. click either image to learn more about hieroglyphics

B. Scribes - undertook the reading, writing, and record keeping in ancient Egypt. They developed a simplier form of writing for everyday use called demotic.

C. Rosetta Stone - the key to the translation of
 hieroglyphics. This slab was unearthed in the town of Rosetta in the Nile delta in 1799 by one of Naploeon's soldiers. The Rosetta Stone bears the same inscription in both Egyptian hieroglyphics and Greek letters. Jean Champollion, a French scholar, in 1822 used his knowledge of Greek to decipher the hieroglyphics.

 

Learn more about the Rosetta Stone here

VI. Egyptian Contributions to Civilization (BACK UP TO INCEX)

A. Medicine: The Egyptians had knowledge of the human body, treated illnesses, prescribed medicines, set broken bones, and performed surgery.

B. Astronomy: The Egyptians devised the first calendar that divided the year into 365 days. It was more accurate than the previous lunar calendar, based on revolutions of the moon around the earth. Introduced about 4200 B.C., the Egyptian solar-year calendar is the basis of the calendar we use today.

C. Math: The Egyptians developed a number system based on 10 (similar to our decimal system).

D. Architecture and Engineering: The Egyptians excelled in working with stone and constructed gigantic pyramids (80 are still standing today!) and temples. The temples featured vast halls lined by massive colonnades (rows of columns). Egyptian engineers also build dams and irrigation canals.



E. Art: The Egyptians were accomplished sculptors who created huge stone statues. On the stone walls of temples and tombs, artists carved and painted domestic and historical scenes. Egyptian drawings are distinctive with the head shown in profile, shoulders facing forward, feet in profile. Egyptian workers skillfullly designed delicate metal jewelry, elaborate wood furniture, and beautiful pottery.

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