Egyptian Civilization I

1. Egyptian Civilization I Geography and Resources The Unification of Egypt The Old Kingdom I

2. Geography and Boundaries • SW: Sahara Desert • E: Sinai and Arabian Deserts • W: Libyan Desert • N: Nile Delta with its swamps • S: 6 Cataracts (rapids) • Resources: copper, minerals, limestone, sand stone • Nile: Flows S to N

3. Egypt Map

4. Navigating • Upper Egypt: Thebes, Valley of the Kings • Upper Egypt is in the South (Upstream) • Lower Egypt:Memphis, Giza, the Delta • Lower Egypt is in the North (Downstream)

5. Think of Egypt as 12 miles wide and 600 miles long!

6. Early Political Organization • Egypt was a series of states (Nomes), each with capital city with a temple dedicated to a god • Nomes tended to be grouped or allied politically in N/S clusters • Around 3000 BCE these two groups united under a single ruler: Namar • History starts with Menes, the 1st Pharaoh, who was later killed by a hippopotamus

7. First Dynasty Hieroglyphics

8. Establishment by Diffusion? • Influenced by Mesopotamia in architecture and religion • Use of cylinder seals • Art motifs show Near East Influence • Sudden appearance of writing • Writers of Chronicles dated entries by years after major events. • Isolationist vs. Diffusionist interpretations

9. A Land with Boundaries • Egypt has perfect natural boundaries • Usually little danger of invasion • Culture was perfectly adapted to the environment • Tended to be isolated and ethnocentric • Egypt reached its evolutionary plateau and then tended to stagnate • Resisted, for example, the use of bronze

10. Transportation and Communication • The Valley of the Nile too narrow for much traffic. Very few roads • Egyptians resisted the use of the wheel • Most traffic by boat. • Winds blowing South allow ships to sail against the current • Slow current allowed easy travel North • Barges used to haul grain and goods

11. Agriculture • Irrigation and water control a centralized national affair: tremendous annual planning required • Swamps around the Nile required draining • The Nile flooded early each summer • Water control necessary to use water and protect land • Required the use of canals, ditches, holding ponds and embankments • All required the coordinated use of (forced?) labor and to force labor required a powerful, centralized, respected government

12. Theocratic Government: The Answer • All power was concentrated in the Pharaoh • Called the “Good God”, and addressed as the son of patron deity • Worshipped as deity after death • Pharonic authority attained in the Old Kingdom and continued through the New Kingdom • Central authority over trade and economy • “Lord of the Two Lands”

13. The Modern Nile Flooding

14. Resources • Self sufficiency in many areas meant a slow development for long distance trade • Had to import wood from Lebanon • Possessed abundant stone for building • Gold from Nubia and copper form the Sinai • Production geared to local trade • No large cities appeared for a long time • Small trader class and no known law code

15. Sculpture and Architecture • Egyptians mastered stone architecture and sculpture early in their history • Colossal figures common (rare in Mesopotamia) • Egyptian buildings tended to be long and narrow with a succession of columned rooms and porches • Relief sculpture decorated the walls

16. Aspective Art Forms • Use of painted 2d relief sculpture led to fresco and wall paintings • Very often, painting is two dimensional and aspective: Some historians think Egyptians never learned to draw the human face • Actually sculpture shows their mastery of 3D Art. So..why 2D painting?

17. AspectiveArt:Head and legs are shown in profile.Torso and shoulders arefull frontal.Multiple simultaneousperspectives!

18. The Development of Writing • Pictographs similar to Mesopotamia • Pictograph forms then became radically different • Hieroglyphics were carved in stone not clay • Art became letter • Use of papyrus allowed for the development of heiratic and later demotic writing • Papyrus scrolls become the basic medium

19. Food, Produce, and Labor • Wheat was the major crop in Egypt • More cattle and poultry raised • Flax was the material used for cloth • Fish available primarily for the poor • Egypt has greater social mobility than Mesopotamia • Slavery in Old and Middle Kingdoms rare • Being a scribe: was a ticket upstairs!

20. Egyptian Chronology • Egyptian history divided into Kingdoms and Intermediate Periods • Egyptians recorded their history in terms of 30 Dynasties (rather late: Manetho 3rd century BCE) • These are the rules of successive families • Somewhat confusing method • Dynasties chronicled by Manetho, and Egyptian priest of the 3rd century BCE

21. The Problems of Manetho • The original work does not survive: Aegyptiaca a history of Egypt written an Egyptian priest • What survives are quoted selections and epitomes • Epitomes are summaries of book chapters. In a sense, a chapter by chapter abstract • This is further complicated by an ancient polemic: Jewish, Greek, and Egyptian “historians” had a centuries long battle as to which civilization was the oldest. • All used, changed, misquoted and made up portions of Manethos to denigrate the other sides!

22. Periods of Egyptian History • Archaic Period 3100-2700 (D 1 and 2) • Old Kingdom 2700-2200 (D 3-4) • First Intermediate Period 2200-2100 (D 7-10) • Middle Kingdom 2100-1700 (D 11-12) • Second Intermediate Period 1700-1570 (D 13-18) • New Kingdom 1570-1100 (D 18-20) • Third Intermediate period 1100-323 (D 21- 30) • Last Pharaoh?

23. Archaic Period 3100-2700 BCE Dynasties I and II • Egypt unified by Namar or Menes • Possibly a legendary figure • Wore both the Red and White Crown • Became “Lord of the Two Lands” • Egypt known as t3.wy (taa-wee) • Tomb type: Mastaba (raised bench)

24. The Archaic Period • Rapid build up of cities • Growth of Royal Hierarchy • Concentration of royal and divine power • 1st dynasty buried with retainers and servants • Further development of hieroglyphics • Development of Egyptian Theology • Mastaba indicates significance of royal afterlife

25. Abydos Mastaba of King Den

26. Mastaba Exterior

27. Dynasty 2 Arched Mastaba Door

28. Mastaba Interior

29. Narmer Tomb Complex

30. Narmer Seal Impression

31. Scorpion Mace

32. The Narmer Palette

33. Kings of the 1st Dynasty 3200-2680 • Narmer/Menes/Aha/Scorpion • Zer • Zet • Wedymu • Azib • Semerkhet • Qaya

34. Kings of the Second Dynasty • Raneb • Hetep sekhemuwy • Neterymu • Peribsen • Sened • Khasekhem • Khasekhemuwy

35. King of Egypt • Pharaoh = Great House • Ruled as divine father and ruler: theocracy • Developed a bureaucracy of nobles, scribes and administrators • Used corvee labor to build state buildings during the flood season • Held a royal monopoly on long distance trade and gift exchange

36. The Five Classes of Egypt • The Royal Family • Priests and Priestesses • Wealthy Nobility • Scribes, merchants, artisans, officials • Peasant farmers • Later, after 1570 BCE: 2 more classes • Warrior Class (equal to scribes) and Slaves • These are a result of the expansion and conquests of Egypt during the New Kingdom

37. Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BCE) Dynasties III-VI • Builders of the Pyramids • Capital: Memphis • Powerful, centralized theocracy • Developed early literature, astronomy, arithmetic, geometry, medicine • Belief in immortality of the Pharaoh: “Pyramid Texts”

38. The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqquara: the first pyramid (2010)

39. The Failed Meidum Pyramid (2008)

40. What happened?

41. The “Bent Pyramid” of Sneferu (2007)

42. Mortuary Temple for the “BentPyramid”

43. The Pyramids of Giza

44. How Big?

45. 4th Dynasty Sphinx of Queen Hetepheres II

46. The Sphinx at Giza (2008)

47. First Intermediate Period (2200-2050 BCE) Dynasties VII-X • By 2200, Old Kingdom bankrupt and weak • Possibly high cost of pyramid maintenance but more likely due to drought, bad harvests and weak kings • Intermediate Periods” are times when the central government of Egypt is in disarray • Nomes (states) assert their independence • Sometimes foreigners dominate part of Egypt • Still active time for literature and art