Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt

Early Egyptian Life

• ~8,000 BC
– 1st human life in the area
• Quest for food brought the stone age man to the Nile River Valley
• Hunters roamed until the found the river valley
– Climatic changes caused northern Africa to become drier
• ~7,000 BC
– Probable start of agriculture in the Nile region
• Barley, wheat and vegetables grown
• ~3,000 BC
– Many small villages established along the Nile
– Area called Kemet
• Fertile, black soil
 General Information
• Unification
• Originally two kingdoms developed along the Nile
• Lower Egypt
– Located along the northern Nile
– Good farmland
– Access to copper mines in Sinai Peninsula
• Upper Egypt
– Located along the southern Nile
– Ruler names Menes
– Established first dynasty
– Conquered lower Egypt, unifying the kingdom
– Built capital at Memphis
• Established by Narmar
 General Information
• Approximately 30 dynasties (ruling families) from
2700 BC to 1090 BC
• Dynasties ruled Egypt for a total of ~ 2700 years
• Ancient Egyptian history divided into three
periods
– Old Kingdom
– Middle Kingdom
– New Kingdom
• Years between kingdoms without ruling dynasty
usually marked by civil wars and/or invasion
Geography of the Nile Region
• River
– Flows north
– Originates in the highlands of Central Africa
– Ends in the Mediterranean Sea
– Longest river in the world at 4,160 miles
• Floods
– Until recently, flooded annually in July
– Floods predictable
– Added moisture to the soil
– Deposited silt, replenishing the soil with nutrients
– Caused delta to form at the mouth of the river
 Influence of Geography on
Civilization
• Natural barriers provide obstacles to potential
invaders
– Mediterranean Sea to the North
– Libyan Desert to the West
– Nubian Desert to the Southeast
– Red Sea to the East
– 6 Cataracts in southern part of Nile
• Susceptible to invasion
– Across Sinai Peninsula
– Across Northern Sinai Desert
– Also enabled Egypt to invade others
 Effect of Barriers
• Limited invasions from many angles
• Limited farming to a narrow region on either side
of the river
• Caused river villages to be crowded
– As population grew, villages needed to expand
– Forced Egyptians to develop irrigation systems to
create more fertile land
– Drained marshy swamps of the delta region in order
to farm the land
 Benefits
• The river served as a highway
– United villages along the river
– Travel was relatively easy on the river
– Currents carried barges downstream to the delta
– Sails used to catch winds to return upstream
• Additional benefits
– River attracted wildlife and provided fish for hunting &
sport
– Papyrus grew along river
• Used to make paper
 Religion in Ancient Egypt
• Beliefs
– Nature important
– Polytheistic
– Gods control forces of nature
– Gods controlled all life and death
– Gods frequently identified with certain animals
• Egyptian Gods
– Aman Re
• Most important god
• Sun god
• East represented birth (sunrise)
• West represented death (sunset)
• Burial temples built on the West bank of the Nile
 Religion
– Osiris
• God of the underworld
• Judges the dead
• Rise & fall of the Nile believed to be the death & rebirth of
Osiris
– Set
• God of evil who killed Osiris
• Believed to cause failed harvest
– Isis
• Wife of Osiris
• Brought him back to life
• Nile floods and brings renewed life
 Religion
• The Afterlife
– Egyptians believed in a life after death
– Believed the good lived in happiness
– Believed the dead needed to take with them
things they would need in death
– Believed the earthly body would be
needed as a home for the soul
– Preserved the bodies of the dead through
mummification
• Originally reserved for rulers and nobels
 System of Writing
• Record keeping of religious rituals prompted
writing
• ~3,100 BC
– pictograms- picture of object
– Ideograms added to convey ideas
– Added symbols for sounds
– No symbols for vowel sounds
• Symbols evolved into hieroglyphics
• Writings carved in wood or stone
• Later, symbols painted in ink on papyrus
 The Rosetta Stone
• Slab of black rock carved in
three languages
– Hieroglyphics
– Demotic (shorthand
hieroglyphics)
– Greek
• Found in 1799
• 1822- French scholar Jean
Chapollion cracked the code
of hieroglyphics because he
could read Greek
• Enabled scholars to decipher
papyrus scrolls of
hieroglyphics
 What Characterized Civilization in
Ancient Egypt?
• Civilizations developed when people could stay
put and not have to wander after their food
supply.
• When people began to grow food, they became
more organized
• Divisions in labor developed to decide who did
what
– Farmers, herders, artisans, government
• Cities grew with this organization
• Civilization & cities often thought to go hand in
hand
 The Old Kingdom
2700-2200 BC
• Strong monarchs
• Tasks delegated to many gov’t officials
 The Middle Kingdom
~2050-1800 BC
• New capital Thebes in upper (southern) Egypt
• Human/Enviroment Interaction
• ~1600 BC ruler becomes known as the pharoah
• Early female ruler Hatshepsut
– Has a tomb built as part of a major building project
– Suceeded by stepson, Thutmose III
• Thutmose established Egypt as an empire, gains wealth
• Through trade and conquest, Egyptians learn other
ideas and blend cultures (movement)
 New Kingdom
~1570- 1090 BC
• 1370 BC Amenhotep rises to power
– makes many unsettling changes
– Makes Egyptians monotheistic
• Aton the sun god
– Claims to be equal to Aton
– Weak ruler, lost part of empire
– Priests & soliders unhappy w/ changes
– Egypt returned to old ways after his death
• 1200’s BC rule of Ramses II
– Long rule
Mummy of Ramses II
– Many children (52 sons, plus daughters…)
– Had temples and tombs built
Pharaohs organized Corrupt government Pharaohs created a
centralized state suffered frequent large empire
rebellions

Built enormous Land drained for Traded with lands

tombs, the pyramids farming along eastern
Mediterranean and
Red Sea

Power struggles, Hittites invaded and Nubians, then others

crop failures and cost conquered invaded
of pyramids caused
collapse
 Egyptian Society
• Social Class
– A persons social position and occupation
determined at birth
– Parents taught their children their own trade
• Social Structure
– Top = Pharaoh
• Ruling class of priests & nobles
• Middle class of merchants, artisans, doctors
– Bottom = Slaves
 Egyptian Society
• Ruling Class
– Egyptian life revolved around religion
– Priests had highest status after pharaoh
– Only priests knew how to please gods
– Gods controlled nature
– Priests preformed rituals to obtain fertile land etc
– People paid tax to the temples
• Grain, gold, linen, etc
– Under priests were nobles who mainly held gov’t
positions
 Egyptian Society
• Middle Class
– Small group
– Settled in cities
– Cities (Memphis, Thebes) grew around
temples & palaces
– Provided goods & services to the ruling class
 Egyptian Society
• Peasants & Slaves
– Majority of Egyptians
– Lifestyle unchanged for thousands of years
– Pharaoh owned all the land
• Over half of the crops had to be paid as taxes
– Usually had to work on palace or gov’t project
– Brought to Egypt as POW’s or were descendents of
POW’s
– Some slaves lived comfortable lives
– Some became trusted officials (Joseph)
– Some earned their freedom
– Life was tough for most
 Egyptian Society
• Status of Women
– Relatively high status for that time in history
– Could buy and sell property
– Could seek divorce (although rare)
– Property inherited through female line
– Role of wife & mother important
– A woman’s status increased
when she had children
– Sometimes women considered property,
but were treated kindly
– Queen might rule with pharaoh
– If pharaoh had more than one wife, the first wife was most
important
• Her son would be the next pharaoh
 Education
• Original purpose of schools was to train priests
• Subjects taught
– Reading & writing
– Math
– Religious ceremonies & rituals
• Eventually temple schools provided more general education
• Usually schools attended only by the wealthy
• Girls did not attend school
– Taught domestic skills at home
• Students took notes on scraps of pottery
– Papyrus was expensive & only used by advanced students
• Strict discipline
 Scribes
• Scribes were very important
• Kept records, recorded history
• Could possibly become rich
• About the only social mobility of the era
 Scientific Accomplishments
• In areas of math and science
• Developed system of surveying land
– Important due to annual floods
• Surveying land led to Geometry
– Area & volume
• Development of astronomy
– To predict floods, eclipses
– Led to development of calendar
• 365 days, 12 months
• 3 seasons, 30 days for 11 months, 35 for the 12th
• No leap year
• Development of building techniques
– engineering
 Scientific Accomplishments
• Medical discoveries
– Magic heavily used
– Developed surgery
– Greeks & Romans based much of their
medical knowledge on that of the Egyptians
 Other Ancient African Civilzations
• ~3000 BC Nubia
– Located southern part of Nile Valley
– Military skills
– May have had close links to Egypt
• 2000 BC Nubia developed into Kingdom of Kush
– Had pyramids too
• 750 BC invaded Egypt & added to Nubia, ruled like
pharaohs respecting Egyptian traditions
• 671 BC pushed back out of Egypt by invading Assyrians
• ~480 BC conquered by Axuin from the Red Sea Area