Ebbs and Flows of Ancient Imperial Power, 3000 Bc–Ad 900: A Short History of Ancient Religion, War, Prosperity, and Debt

ANCIENT

IMPERIAL

POWER,

3000 BC—AD 900

A Short History of Ancient Religion,

War, Prosperity, and Debt

WILL SLATYER

Copyright © 2014 by Will Slatyer.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

To order additional copies of this book, contact

Toll Free 800 101 2657 (Singapore)

Toll Free 1 800 81 7340 (Malaysia)

orders.singapore@partridgepublishing.com

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

CONTENTS

Preface

CHAPTER 1

Military Government and Religious Finance Corporation 3000BC-600BC

The Beginning—Human Culture

Agricultural Societies

Mesopotamian Empires

Egyptian Empires

Hebrew Culture

Minoan/Mycenaean Greek—Phoenician Empires

Greek Colonies of Asia-Minor

European Greek Empires

Indian Culture

Chinese Empire

Cusp of Sixth/Seventh Century BC

CHAPTER 2

Iron Weapons, Gold Coins, Mercenaries and Philosophy 600BC-300BC

Athenian Greek Empire

Spartan Greek Empire

Nascent Greek Empire

Persian Empire

Macedonian Greek Empire

The Alexander Succession—Hellenic Diaspora

The Rise of the Maurya Indian Empire and Buddhism

The Rise of the Ch-in Empire

CHAPTER 3

Southern Mediterranean and Oriental Empires 300BC-30AD

The Western Phoenician Empire of Carthage

The Egyptian Ptolemaic Hellenic Empire

The Asian Seleucid Hellenistic Culture

Judean Hebrew Culture

Indian Buddhist Empire

Chinese First Empires

CHAPTER 4

Northern Republicanism and Disciplined Legions 300BC-30AD

The Mysterious Etruscan Culture

Roman Republican Culture

The Punic Wars

International Expansion to Pax Romana

Post-Punic War Prosperity

Italian Revolution

Military Ascendancy

Military Control

Capitalist Dictators

Dictators Enthroned

CHAPTER 5

The Roman Military Empire Decline to Christian Canons 30AD-330AD

The Germanic Culture

Roman Imperial Praetorian Power 37-69AD

Army Emperors 69-138AD

Adopted Imperial Succession 138-192

The Powerful Provincial Emperors 193-249AD

Military Imperial Chaos 249-284

Illyrian Imperial Reorganisation 284-330

Persian Parthian Empire

Indian Kushan Empire

Chinese Eastern Han Empire

CHAPTER 6

Christian Eclipse of Roman Byzantine Culture 300-600AD

Judaic/Christian Culture

The Roman Byzantine Culture

Persian Sassanid Empire

Roman Catholic Culture Absorbs Italian Gothic/Lombard Arian Culture

Hispanic-Romano Culture Absorbs the Gothic/Vandal Culture

The Catholic Influenced Romano-Gallic Frankish Culture

Anglo-Saxon Culture Overcomes Romano-Celtic Culture

CHAPTER 7

Oriental Struggles and Rise of Buddhism 300-600AD

Indian Empires

Chinese Empires

Central Asia Hun Culture

CHAPTER 8

Birth of a Holy Roman Empire 600-900AD

Roman Church Power in Italy during the Decline of Roman Empire

From Frank-Romano-Gallic Gaul to Europe

Romano-Celtic Britannia Becomes Anglo-Saxon England

Scandinavian Expansion to Viking Raiders

Gothic/Vandal/Romano Hispanic Culture Fractured Again

CHAPTER 9

Orthodox Byzantium, Muslim Caliphates and Buddhist China 600-900AD

The Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire

Arab/Muslim Culture

The Chinese Empires—Source of Silk

Indian Disintegration

Bibliography

PREFACE

I was unable to find one book on history that provided a flow of history over an extended period that would allow long term cyclical analysis, so I have written a flow of ancient history to provide the basis for the analysis which was published as Life/Death Rhythms of Ancient Empires. In this book there is more detail of the less dominant cultures, but additional historical details are mentioned in Life/Death.

I am not a classically trained historian, but a market technical analyst and risk manager who has learned over many years that the economic affairs of nations and corporations follow patterns of human nature, often associated with varying degrees of greed and fear.

It is from the Hebrew Torah that much of ancient history of the Middle East has been postulated. Early scholars, and some of today’s religious sects, have taken the early writings literally, but in recent eras, modern scholars have realized that history has been mixed with allegories and that timing of events in the earliest times might not have been in order. My research has shown that ancient history, particularly when it has religious significance, is still subject to much controversy. I am particularly aware that academic and religious scholars might have different ideas about the timing of events that occurred some 4500 years ago.

My historical reporting has been selected from many written sources which expanded exponentially during my research when I found that a number of academic authors disagreed with others over the truth of history. I have listed these sources in the bibliography, and make no apology for the lack of footnotes referring individually to those sources. I have found from my experience with footnotes that they are often used as a spotlight to illuminate only the area which suits the opinion of the writer, without bringing to light other aspects of the source that might raise doubts. Where academics disagreed marginally, I have taken what I believe was the most logical view.

The proper word throughout history for debt has been usury, but this word has grown into misuse because the modern financial world cannot exist without usury. It has been commonly thought that debt had its origins with the coming of money. Debt in fact preceded invention of coinage, generally ascribed to the Lydians in the 7th century BC, by thousands of years. I will demonstrate in following chapters that societies have used debt, abused debt, revolted and warred over debt, and have forbidden usury, for much of human history.

Will Slatyer 2012

CHAPTER 1

MILITARY GOVERNMENT AND RELIGIOUS

FINANCE CORPORATION

3000BC-600BC

I was compelled by logic and by evidence to penetrate into so many premises of the house of science. I freely admit to having repeatedly caused fires, though the candle in my hand was carried only for illumination.

Immanuel Velikovsky 1982

THE BEGINNING—HUMAN CULTURE

Man is an animal—with advanced self-consciousness and opposing thumbs but never-the-less, an animal.

Man, as Homo sapiens, became the dominant animal on the planet Earth because the large brain, capable of learned memory, allowed development of technology and knowledge, shared from stored records of past success and failure. Man’s animal instinct for survival and search for comfort have probably been greater driving forces than intellectual curiosity. The search for comfort and the need to accumulate to ensure a nourishing environment for offspring, in my opinion, has provided the main incentives for changes in human culture.

The human species was evidently born in Africa and accomplished its first successful migration about 85,000 years ago when colonies were established around the Arabian Gulf. Further migrations took place from the Gulf around the coastline to Indonesia and Australia. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis moved into the Mediterranean and Europe c.50,000 years Before Christ (BC) and advanced from cave dwellers to nomadic hunter gatherers who spread over a large geographic area eastward into Asia. Neanderthal man was then dominated into extinction, c.30,000BC by Cro-Magnon man, the larger, smarter Homo sapiens sapiens.

Man, as Homo sapiens sapiens, was a social animal whose families formed clans initially to cooperate as hunter gatherers. About 8500BC, after the end of an ice age, some clans discovered that food crops could be domesticated and cultivated sufficiently to provide tribal group sustenance in a more comfortable manner than hunting and gathering.

As tribes settled in a favourable agricultural area, the settlements developed into villages which in turn grew into town/city/states. Each group of clans/tribes developed a government/religion which suited their ethnic circumstances. The way of life under priest/kings was peculiar to the individual tribes, although undoubtedly influenced by occasional contact with other societies. It is this way of life, natural and often unique to an individual society, which I define as its culture.

Although Neolithic man formed tribes and even kingdoms in Europe and China there is no clear record of early city/state civilisations in those regions until later centuries.

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES

One of the most favourable areas on Earth in which to cultivate and exploit natural grasses was the part of South West Asia called the Fertile Crescent by modern agronomist researchers. Over the course of thousands of years, the agrarian surpluses from the Fertile Crescent allowed the formation of tribes and city/states in the land which became known as Mesopotamia. Remains of some of the world’s earliest human food cultivating settlements have been found in northern Mesopotamia, as have traces of city priest/kings. Separately in China (Henan Province) the Yangshao people mainly cultivated millet but some settlements grew rice c.5000-3000BC. They also grew vegetables like turnips, cabbage, yams and other vegetables.

In the sixth millennia BC some tribes learned to work copper ore into metal. Better tools improved agriculture which led to increased populations and increased interaction with other tribes.

An English scholar, David Rohl ("Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation") postulated that early cities of Mesopotamia were swept away c.3100BC by a great flood, similar to that described in the Biblical Old Testament Book of Genesis. I am more inclined to the view of some climatologists who, from Icelandic cores, have suggested that global warming c.5600BC caused a catastrophic flood from a boil-over of the Black Sea. Inundation as reported in the Gilgamesh Epic, which preceded the Biblical tale of flood by some centuries, would have caused widespread tribal migration south as far as Egypt.

There might have in fact been more than one flood. The earlier flood could have provided the genesis of an Egyptian civilisation from a northern migration, from which came the legendary first Pharaoh Menes c.3200BC. The second flood might have been the Great Flood, legendary evidence from which suggests that the sons of the Biblical Noah (Sumer historical hero Utnapishtim) settled on the plains of Shinar, which was Sumer. The great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod, has been identified as the Sumerian king, Enmeru-kar who is reputed to have re-built the city of Eridu (Uruk), and worshipped Noah’s god Ea.

Mesopotamia

MESOPOTAMIAN EMPIRES

From earliest history, city/states of Ur and Uruk flourished in the southern, Sumer, area of Mesopotamia. The priests established themselves as the benevolent community bureaucrats who assisted agricultural improvements and irrigation. The priests encouraged agricultural surplus which they managed. Food surpluses allowed farming settlements the luxury of non-food producing specialists, initially leader/priests, but later, soldiers (to reinforce leadership) and merchant/bureaucrats (to assist priestly commerce). Government of Sumer city/states was theocratic in that the leader, such as Nimrod, could enforce both political and religious authority.

At some time, technicians developed to provide better tools. Sumerian technicians are credited with the invention of the potter’s wheel (Ur c.3500BC) and the ox-drawn plough. A system of writing known as cuneiform was developed in Uruk c.3300BC, some archaeologists believe, as a method of book-keeping to assist agricultural commerce.

The city/states of Sumer competed for resources and used their soldiers with basic weapons for warring skirmishes. War between city/states must have developed because in the time of legendary king Gilgamesh c.2700BC, his city of Uruk was a walled city.

These city/states were initially united by conquest from the northern state of Akkad around 2335BC by the legendary Sargon the Great, who also weakened the political/religious link that existed between royalty and the priestly class. Sargon’s ‘biography’ was written on a stele (upright stone slab), claiming he was of noble birth but had been placed into a reed boat pitched with tar, and set adrift on the Euphrates. Is it coincidence that the Hebrew hero Moses much later was given a similar bull-rushes tale?

Sargon might have created the world’s first known codified laws under which the Sumerians could experience stability less subject to the whims of the ruling classes. Under Sargon’s laws, merchants are thought to have gained some independence from the priests, for whom they had previously just acted as agents. In relative peace, maintained by an army of around 5000 men armed with bronze weapons, barter trade was made possible between city/states.

After another bout of city/state warfare, during which merchants apparently survived as arms dealers of early Bronze Age weapons, Mesopotamia was again united around 2120BC when Ur was the dominant city. Evidence has been found of a code of laws in northern Mesopotamia under king Ur-Nammu (2112-2059BC) which might have flowed from Sargon’s earlier code on to later rulers.

The law code of king Eshnunna (c.2000BC) mentions commerce and prices which have been translated into mina, which might have weighed a little more than half a kilo of silver/barley. The smallest weight was the shekel, sixty to the mina, weighing just over 8 grams. Interest rates of 20-33 percent on loans were recorded.

Northern Amorite conquerors from Canaan established its First Dynasty’s capital in the small town of Bab-ili (the Gate of God—Babylon) c.1900BC. Civilization in Babylon (near Al Hillah in modern Iraq) apparently progressed steadily, if one accepts economic success as progress. Under the sixth king of the Amorite Dynasty, Hammurabi (c.1790-1750BC), Babylon gained such a reputation as an irrigated city civilization, that most of southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia. Babylon used its central position and food surplus to become a centre of ancient world trade, and its merchants travelled as far as Egypt, Persia, India and China. Commerce was greatly assisted by the cuneiform system of writing, a basic number system, and a monetary system in the form of standardized weights of precious metals.

Under Hammurabi, the separation of government and religion widened, with the creation of a civil service of royal officials to centrally administer the unified city/states. Hammurabi promulgated some 285 laws under which Babylonia was to be governed through royal court appointed judges. Hammurabi’s laws mention an interest rate on silver at 20percent.

Deprived of many government functions, the priests used their acquired wealth and land holdings to become the religious finance corporations to the community. In addition to the availability of temple banks’ own wealth for loans to the community, deposits were accepted from those who wished to enjoy the security of the temple. Grain was the main form of deposit initially, but then other seed crops and cattle were handled. The deposit of agricultural instruments led over time to the acceptance of silver as a unit of exchange. Temples might have stamped the bars of silver with certified weight and quality, because it is known that the temples of Ur stamped the head of the goddess Ishtar on their silver. Archaeological records show that deposits would not only be transferred back to the depositors, but could be loaned to third parties.

The value of silver is not known but was initially related to grain. Fines, interest, wages etc. were calculated in silver but could be paid in the equivalent amount of grain. Later, precious metals were probably related to cattle which were man’s earliest form of mobile capital (the modern word pecuniary comes from the Latin word for cattle pecus). There is a suspicion that one silver talent was equivalent to one head of cattle at least in those early days of farming when 90 troy pounds of silver could be equated to one of few domesticated beasts. A talent could be divided into sixty mina.

All those farmers and less wealthy merchants, who wanted agricultural or commercial loans, had to resort to the temple banks, which operated under Common Law. Archaeologists have discovered thousands of cuneiform tablets in city/state sites along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, involving civil and commercial contracts drawn according to Babylonian law, which confirm that simple banking operations were common-place throughout Babylonia. The limited partnership to finance international trade, at risk from raiders and bandits, was a Babylonian invention. The silent partner apparently provided the business capital in cash or goods, allowing the other partner to work the land or travel as a merchant.

The priests did not forget their religious power-base. The city god of Babylon, Marduk, became the supreme Sun God of the Mesopotamian pantheon.

The ass or donkey is believed to have been domesticated in Mesopotamia and Egypt as early as 4000BC, possibly as a pack animal. At some time during the second millennium BC, hunter/gatherers of the lower steppes domesticated the horse, which the Babylonians called a mountain ass. The horse was still too small to take the weight of a rider, but could be used to draw a four wheel cart for the transport of tribal camp equipment.

From the four wheel cart, the two wheel chariot was developed, possibly to make the life of a herdsman more comfortable, and, with a spear, as a mobile hunting platform. Some tribes discovered that defenders of settled lands with bronze arms were vulnerable to the horse-drawn chariot carrying a composite-bow archer. Even the experts disagree on the time and place of development of the short composite bow. Made of laminated wood and animal horn, it was strong and light, and was a perfect hunting tool for the charioteer. It could fire a one ounce arrow a distance of 360-400 metres.

An Indo-European people came to dominate northern Anatolia and the city of Hattusa c.1650BC and became known as the Hittites. The Amorite dynasty of Mesopotamia was toppled by raids from an aggressive charioteering people, thought to be the Hittites from Anatolia (modern Turkey), around 1600BC. The Hittites were thought to have moved the chariot axle back from the centre of the vehicle, so that two bowmen and a driver could be carried. The Amorites retreated back to Canaan where at least some were eventually absorbed by the Israelites.

The Babylonian culture was little changed by the brief dominance of the Hittites, as well as the 400year rule of the subsequent iron-assisted conquerors, the Kassites from the Persian steppes. There was no apparent cultural stimulus from these invaders to Babylon, which had been declining even before the Hittite raids. Without strong administration, Babylon slid into anarchy, although the commercial culture endured.

Assyria 1365BC-934BC

ASSYRIA

The tribes of northern Mesopotamia rose up to overthrow the next Persian steppe conquerors, the Hurrians, around 1300BC to form the powerful kingdom of Assyria (from the city/state Sun God of Assur). The Assyrians improved on the Hurrian chariot archer to support their foot soldiers and, under Shalmaneser I (d.1290BC), set out to secure the Mesopotamian boundaries. The horse had grown strong enough, through selective breeding, to be able to carry a rider on its back in a position of control over its shoulders. The war-horse had arrived. The fearsome Assyrians temporarily conquered Babylon, but concentrated activities in adding to the Empire, northern and western states of what today are Armenia and northern Syria.

From the twelfth century BC, Aramaic speaking nomads had infiltrated the Fertile Crescent to form small principalities. The most important centre was in the vicinity of Damascus in modern Syria, but they were equally as ensconced in Mesopotamia. The Aramaeans, like all peoples in the region, suffered from cruel Assyrian dominance but did provide their oppressors with a new form of writing. The Aramaic alphabetic script was far more practical for writing on parchment and papyri than the Assyrian cuneiform (adapted from the symbols of Sumer and Akkad). Aramaic became the written language of commerce and bureaucracy from Egypt to Persia.

Under Tiglathpileser I of the Middle Assyrian Kingdom c.1100BC, the cruel practices were proscribed which made the Assyrians feared and hated throughout history. Adad Nirai II c.900BC began Assyrian expansion by conquering small Aramaean states which had been established in northern Syria. By using mass murder, terror, and deportation of people he spread fear of Assyria.

Assurnasirpal II (c.883-859BC) records how he flayed rebels and hung their skins from the walls. Mass deportations, however, were found to serve the interests of the growing empire better than terror. Through the systematic exchange of native populations, conquered regions were denationalized. The result was a submissive, mixed population in which the Aramaean element became the majority. This provided the labour force for the various public works in the metropolitan centres of the Assyrian Empire. The supremacy of Assyria over its neighbouring states under Assurnasirpal owed much to the proficiency of the government service under the leadership of the minister Gabbilani-eresh.

Shalmanesar III (858-824) fought against the Empire of Urartu which existed in the area now covering Armenian Turkey and northern Syria. The troops returned from Urartu with immense quantities of lumber and building stone.

By the 8th century BC the Assyrian king Sargon II (722-705BC) had combined chariots, capable of disassembly, with mounted archers, infantry, sappers and logistic support forces, into the world’s first true long range army. His son, Sennacherib, even added a navy of sea-going river boats with Ionian mercenaries to complete the Assyrian subjugation of what is now Arabia, as well as Syria, Lebanon, northern Israel.

Elam was a powerful kingdom which ruled large areas of the Iranian plateau from its capital in Susa. Before 1150BC Elam had at least once captured Babylon, and was mentioned in the seventh century BC as vacillating ally of Assyria.

In 689BC, Sargon’s son, Sennacherib, sacked Babylon to break a coalition of Elam, Babylon, Parsuah and Aramaean tribes. He reportedly carried off the image of its god to his capital of Nineveh (near Mosul in modern Iraq). He also carried into exile many Samarians (from the kingdom of Israel) and reduced the southern Israel kingdom of Judah to a vassal state. Jerusalem was reportedly saved by a plague in the Assyrian army.

Copper was imported to Assyria from Anatolia by donkey train and valued in silver according to standard Mesopotamian practice. A casual reference in the annals of Sennacherib indicates that small copper pieces had been added to the currency of Babylonian standard weights of precious metals in Mesopotamia by that time (704-681BC).

As crown prince, the last great Assyrian king, Assurbanipal had studied the administration of the vast Empire, but like all the leaders he was primarily a general. The Assyrians installed a highly developed civil service in conquered areas under the leadership of trained officers. The highest ranking civil servant carried the title of tartan, a Hurrian word. The tartans also represented the king during his absence. In descending rank were the palace overseer, the main cupbearer, the palace administrator, and the governor of Assyria. The generals often held high official positions, particularly in the provinces. The civil service included many former inhabitants of subjugated provinces. Prisoners became slaves but were later often freed.

The Babylonian army was defeated, and the king was surrounded in his fortified city of Babylon. Babylonian allies were not able to hold their own against Assurbanipal’s Assyrians. Reinforcements of Arabian camel troops also were defeated. The city of Babylon was under siege for three years. It fell in 648 amid scenes of horrible carnage. In 636BC the Elamite capital, Susa, was sacked, so the power of Elam was broken forever. Assyria was totally dominant.

After the death of Assurbanipal, the Chaldean ruler, Nabopolassar, allied Babylon with the Medes of east Persia and the Scythians of the Persian steppes. The rebels captured Nineveh in 612BC to hasten the fall of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian Empire, build on military organization around the chariot, was brought down by further innovation from the Asian steppes—the horse archer of the Scythians.

Neo-Babylonian Empire

BABYLONIA

The loose alliance of Scythians, Medes, and Chaldeans overwhelmed the Assyrians. The Neo Babylonian Empire (also called Chaldean) was expanded by the next recorded ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, who re-built Babylon into a sophisticated city, so that its fabled Hanging Gardens were later recognized as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Even in ancient times, a city could not be considered sophisticated without access to banking. Seventh century BC Babylon is recorded as the headquarters of a private banking firm called the "Grandsons of Egibi". Speculation and investment for secure income were combined in the business pattern of this bank, which also gave loans against security and accepted a wide range of deposits. The ships of the House of Egibi were used in trade expeditions, exactly the same as those of the royal and temple houses.

The city of Babylon included a temple dedicated to the Earth goddess Ishtar (forerunner of Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus), where every Babylonian woman had to consort with a stranger once in her life. One is left to wonder whether the custom had primitive genealogical implications or was a hierarchical sexual facility which provided temple income. The women took their station in the temple until one of the strangers to the city threw a piece of silver into her lap, prior to a dalliance on holy ground. Male appreciation of female beauty has not changed throughout the ages. It was reported that pretty women were able to fulfil their sacred sex obligation almost as soon as they entered the temple, but plainer women might have to wait for a number of years.

Outside of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar showed that, although he was a good administrator, he was primarily a warrior king. Around 600-586BC he savagely quelled revolts in Judah (the southern Israelite kingdom), destroyed Jerusalem (including the First Temple of Solomon) and the transported of the surviving recalcitrants to exile in Babylon. The term Jews to describe Hebrew people of Judah is thought to date from this time. The exiled Jews were not allowed to leave Babylon until the Neo Babylonian Empire was conquered c. 538BC by Cyrus the Great, of Persia, when Judah became a Persian province.

Egyptian Empire

EGYPTIAN EMPIRES

Although Sumer is reputed to have been the origin of settled agricultural society, the fertile soil of the Nile delta (Lower Egypt) and the long stretch of river valleys (Upper Egypt) allowed agricultural surpluses necessary for evolution from a hunter/gathering society. Some academics suggest that the Sumerians might also have developed agriculture in Egypt, however this is not my view. The requirements for co-operative large scale engineering projects for Egyptian irrigation, drainage and conservation suggest a much different social culture that most likely developed separately.

Egypt had existed as a theocratic civilization well before Babylon, despite some theories that a burst of civilisation was achieved by the descendants of Noah. The oldest period of Egyptian history is called the Pre-dynastic Period 4500-3150BC. Much later in the third century BC an Egyptian priest endeavoured to create a history of Egypt by forming the kings into thirty-one dynasties from the Thinite period c3150BC-2700BC. The Old Kingdom was designated 2700-2190BC, First Intermediate Period 2200-2040BC, Middle Kingdom 2040-1674BC, Second Intermediate Period 1674-1553BC, New Kingdom1552-1069BC.

Hieroglyphic writing had been perfected by the time of the Old Kingdom First Dynasty (c.3200BC) whose founder, Menes (Narmer), united what had been previously been separate kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. The early armies fought with bows and reed/flint arrows, supported with primitive hatchets/clubs. At this dawn in history the chronology is not precise and is continually being queried by modern scientists.

By the Fourth Dynasty around 2500BC, mathematic precision and formidable building operations by organized labour were demonstrated in the erection of the Great Pyramids which were the pyramid tombs of the kings, such as Khufu (Cheops). The Egyptian kings of the Old Kingdom (Third/Fourth to Sixth Dynasties) were worshipped as the Sons of the Sun God—Ra (or Re), who initially might have been the god of agricultural abundance, but increasingly became the centre of the royal cult of life after death.

Egyptian kings have became known as Pharaohs which was a much later Hebrew form of Egyptian royal title "Per’o meaning great household". The pharaohs believed that through ritual burial in pyramid tombs, they would preserve their life and power as deities in the pantheon of gods. Nobles were buried around the king as per their standing in the earthly court. The Egyptian form of writing, hieroglyphics, was used largely for religious and state propaganda. The priests of the God Ra (Re) had such great power that they gained their own city, Heliopolis, near many of the pyramids.

By the Fifth Dynasty (2510BC) noble families had grasped power so that the kings no longer dominated the kingdom. If Europe’s first historian, Herodotus, is to be believed, as early as c.2500BC, noble tombs were important enough to create debt. Herodotus suggested that when money (grain) was scarce, a borrower might have pledged his father’s body as security for debt. A lender could have gained authority over the sepulchre of the borrower, who if he did not repay the debt, could not have obtained burial in the ancestral tomb.

Gold was considered sacred to Ra, so great quantities of precious metals were buried with the divine pharaohs. Much of the country’s wealth was thus diverted into the building and maintenance of edifices to the after-life. Silver, the commercial metal of Mesopotamia, was scarce in Egypt.

The nobles created private armies which resulted in civil war. After a period of feudal anarchy (2200-2040BC), a strong Middle Kingdom monarchy was again established, but with more attention to the needs of the common people than Old Kingdom pharaohs. Mentuhotpe II (2061-2040BC) moved the capital of Egypt to Thebes, but after his death his successors returned to Memphis.

During the period of the Middle Kingdom (Twelfth/Thirteenth Dynasties 2134-2040 BC) a man from any station in life could enter the ranks of the governing class. Egyptian literature reached a peak including some imaginative compositions (fiction?). Mystery plays of Osiris were produced to demonstrate victory of good over evil.

While not totally abandoning the Sun God Ra, Middle Kingdom pharaohs were not worshipped as Sons of God, but adopted the god of the ancient common people of Lower Egypt—the god Osiris. Osiris, and his companions Isis and Horus, were identified with the star constellation Orion, which rose in the ancient Egyptian sky at the time of the annual Nile flood which was so important to good crops. Osiris (whom the Greeks later recognised as Dionysus) was said to promise resurrection and immortality to every follower of his who had led a life of truth and sincerity on earth.

Some say that it was the Osiris religious belief in resurrection that passed through to the Hebrews as a basis for Christianity. Isis was the sister-wife of Osiris, principal goddess of Egypt, whose cult spread to Greece as the Earth goddess, Demeter. Horus was the hawk-headed Sun god, son of Isis and Osiris, who can be related to the Greek god Apollo.

With the Middle Kingdom 12th Dynasty (1991-1783BC), a local god of obscure origin, Amun, would become the most important god of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. The kings of the 12th Dynasty ruled the country firmly and were able to maintain the power of balance between the central authorities and the local administrations, to their own advantage. They also imposed their rule on northern Nubia and pacified the Bedouins in the deserts to the east and west of the Nile Valley. Imposing fortresses were built in Nubia and at the Eastern border, to protect trading routes from raiding Bedouins.

The Middle Kingdom reached its zenith under the 12th Dynasty king Sesostris I (c.1971-1926BC) who is reputed to have taken a military force as far north as the Black Sea, and maybe even colonised the area with army veterans. Sesostris returned with captives from a different culture in Asia. The king organised labour to improve irrigation and land recovery, and in an early example of state socialism, also controlled production, distribution and consumption.

Geometry was applied to land division, and widespread irrigation expanded agricultural production. The sun-dial might have been brought to Egypt around this time. The exposure to new ideas did not alter Egyptian apparent distain for international commerce which was evidently undertaken mainly by the Phoenicians of Tyre.

During the Middle Kingdom increased resources were available to the common people, but the cult of Osiris meant that the surplus and energies of Egypt were still expended on ensuring a good afterlife, rather than expanding commerce in the present lifetime. Death was seen as a continuation of life which required elaborate embalming, ceremonies and burial with valuables. While the archaeological records of Babylonia mainly concerned business, those of Egypt often only mentioned, directly or indirectly, royalty and religion.

There was no codified state law under Egyptian pharaohs, possibly because any impersonal law would have competed with the personal authority of the king. Magistrates apparently operated on the basis of local customs, assumed to be compatible with ma’at (royal will or the pattern of the universe).

The Egyptian devotion to the after-life might also have affected their methods of warfare. When early Bronze Age weapons were being used elsewhere, Egyptians used bows/arrows, clubs and flint spears in internal squabbles during the Middle Kingdom. It is possible that Egyptian rulers had been complacent about invaders because of the country’s isolation. Natural terrain guarded the east and west, and the south had been secured by a series of border forts after the conquest of Nubia.

The mysterious Hyksos invaders who ended the Middle Kingdom might have introduced the chariot to Egypt, in the conventional scholar-nominated age of around 1700BC (the time of bronze weaponed Amorite conquerors of Babylon).

The Hyksos age nominated by the controversial scholar Velikovsky, was around 1470BC (around the time of Hurrian chariot/archers). If one is inclined to Velikovsky’s time, this would date the Biblically recorded chariot battle of Megiddo between the Egyptian New Kingdom pharaoh Shishak (Thutmose III) and Solomon’s son Rehoboam at around 920BC. This appears implausible.

One theory suggests that the invasion of the Hyksos coincided with the massive volcanic explosion of the Aegean island of Santorini c.1628BC. The race of the Hyksos has never been proven but the most plausible suggests that a Hyksos ruler retained the title Keqa Khast, a title of Asiatic sheiks from which Hyksos might have been derived. This would suggest that the Hyksos were of Arabian Semitic origin.

Many Egyptologists believe that there was no actual invasion by the Hyksos but simply waves of Asian nomads who settled in the Delta to acquire land for grazing cattle. As their numbers grew over many years, the leaders ruled Memphis through a Hyksos king. The Hyksos had superior weapons, including chariots so that the Egyptian rulers of Thebes simply had to endure their presence. Introduction of chariots suggests that the Hyksos were possibly the Amalekites mentioned biblically as nomads (habiru), but who could have been of Indo-European origin related to the fierce charioteering Kassites and Hurrians.

Whatever the timing and race of the Hyksos, they dominated the northern Nile Valley from their capital Avaris, at a time when there was no Egyptian king. In the same leadership vacuum, the Nubians regained control of southern Egypt. The Hyksos could have brought the Bronze Age to Egypt.

The Hyksos were finally driven out to Palestine in 1522BC (conventional time) by the Theban army of Amosis I (Ahmose) who established the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom. The period of foreign domination had been a chaotic and shameful time for the Egyptians, so the Eighteenth Dynasty were determined never to see a foreign king humiliate Egypt royalty again. The new leaders saw themselves as warrior-kings of the god Amun-Re. Rulers of the Dynasty were active administrators who developed disciplined armies, built up fortifications all along the Egyptian borders and actively seized territories outside of Egypt, such as Palestine and Syria. Hyksos weapons and metals technology empowered the new Egyptian forces. The composite bow and swords were introduced about this time. These kings subjugated foreign lands and exacted high taxes, making Egypt wealthy and powerful again.

The general who became Thothmosis I (c.1506-1494BC), extended Egyptian influence over the entire region, from the borders of Egypt to the Euphrates. He enlisted trustworthy members of his family to manage Egypt while he campaigned abroad. Thothmosis II died at an early age without an official heir after initiating the practice of educating the sons of conquered chieftains in Egyptian culture. He was succeeded by the male child of his secondary wife.

Thothmosis III became an 18th Dynasty king in 1479BC at a very young age with his aunt and step-mother, Hatshepsut, acting as regent. She then took a throne name c.1476BC, Maatkara, and began to project herself as the king. She claimed that Thothmosis I had named her as his heir prior to his death and that Queen Ahmose (Hatshepsut’s mother) had been impregnated by the god Amun in human form to bear the next divine ruler.

Hatshepsut oversaw many building projects throughout Egypt during her reign. For most of her time in power, Egypt was a peaceful land so Hatshepsut could use the healthy economic situation to build many temples. A further temple dedicated to Amun-Ra-Kamutef (Creator God) was also built at Karnak, as well as a temple to Mut.

After about twenty years of rule, Hatshepsut was overthrown by her step-son Thutmosis III, who proved to be one of the great generals of the Dynasty. Quoting support of the martial god Amun, he concentrated his military efforts on the north-east, in order to control the links to Syria, Cyprus, Palestine and the Aegean. After many campaigns Thutmosis III controlled Palestine and parts of southern Syria. The wealth gained by these victories was then used to reward the men involved closely with his campaigns and in honouring Amun and other deities.

Egyptian records indicate that the Palestinian battle for the city of Megiddo, defended by a narrow (two chariot wide) mountain pass, was basically bloodless following retreat of the Canaan army into siege. Following the seven month siege of Megiddo, the defeated chiefs were replaced by men loyal to Thutmosis III, before he took his army along the Litany River defeating many towns on his way. He gained control over north-east Syria.

Goods such as wood, oil, gold, silver, copper, lead and foodstuffs were acquired. All children of the rulers of cities conquered were sent to Egypt for them to become "Egyptianized". The name Israel appeared for the first time. Some of the local deities became included in the Egyptian pantheon, such as the Canaan goddess Astarte.

At Megiddo the Egyptian pharaoh reputedly rode in a chariot of electrum (an alloy of gold and silver), and captured chariots of gold and silver. It is known from archaeology that the two-man Egyptian chariots were lighter and more manoeuvrable than the three-man chariots of the Hittites. The chariots were mainly wood but did have leather protection to which was attached decorations of gold and silver to designate rank and status.

Thutmosis III was involved in numerous building projects throughout the land from the northern reaches of the Delta to the Third Cataract area of Nubia. A further temple for the god Ptah was constructed in the Northern region of Karnak, as well as a temple to Amun and a memorial temple to his father.

In the final two years of his reign, Thothmosis III (1479-1425BC) shared rule with his son, Amenhotep II. It was Amenhotep II that completed the destruction of many of Hatshepsut`s monuments, to erase all traces of the female ruler. Some were replaced or hidden by new buildings