Ancient Egypt: The First African Empire

1. Ancient Egypt: The First African Empire Egyptology and Orientalism

2. Edward Said and Orientalism: Post-Colonial Scholars Talk Back The Terms The Orient signifies a system of representations framed by political forces that brought the Orient into Western learning, Western consciousness, and Western empire. The Orient exists for the West, and is constructed by and in relation to the West. It is a mirror image of what is inferior and alien ("Other") to the West. Orientalism is "a manner of regularized (or Orientalized) writing, vision, and study, dominated by imperatives, perspectives, and ideological biases ostensibly suited to the Orient." It is the image of the 'Orient' expressed as an entire system of thought and scholarship. Latent Orientalism is the unconscious, untouchable certainty about what the Orient is. Its basic content is static and unanimous. The Orient is seen as separate, eccentric, backward, silently different, sensual, and passive. It has a tendency towards despotism and away from progress. It displays feminine penetrability and supine malleability. Its progress and value are judged in terms of, and in comparison to, the West, so it is always the Other, the conquerable, and the inferior. Manifest Orientalism is what is spoken and acted upon. It includes information and changes in knowledge about the Orient as well as policy decisions founded in Orientalist thinking. It is the expression in words and actions of Latent Orientalism.

3. Why This Matters Western History and Scholarship has depicted colonized cultures as having a glorious past and decadent/ degraded present where progress has long since ceased. Therefore, it is the West’s given mission to possess and “uplift” these cultures. The West is the inheritor of Ancient Eastern and African history and traditions of Civilization and therefore, in social Darwinist thinking, the next step in social evolution.

4. Long, Long Ago in a Galaxy Eerily Nearby . . . Primitive People Showed Astonishing Skills in Constructing Elaborate Empires, but Ultimately Their Inherent Inferiority Gave Way to the Superior Intelligence, Initiative and Creativity of the West.

5. Nubia/Kush and Egypt, 3150-30 BCE

6. Early Egypt 4000 BC: Egyptians trace their origins to the Mount Rwenzori range in East Africa 3500 BC: Egyptians invent the sail 3000 BC: Egyptians begin to measure time through a calendar based on the three natural cycles (the solar day, the lunar month and the solar year) 3100 BC: hieroglyphic writing in Egypt

7. Rwenzori Range • Egyptians are Africans

8. Building The Pyramids 2800 BC: Egyptians begin mining in the Sinai 2700 BC: Egyptians write on papyrus 2660 BC: pharaoh Kasekhemwy completes the union of north and south Egypt, and builds the first fortress on the Nile, at Buhen 2649 BC: Zanakht founds the 3rd dynasty 2620 BC: Imhotep, high priest of Ptah at Memphis and founder of Medicine, erects a pyramid made of stone at Saqqara (overlooking Memphis) for pharaoh Djoser ("step pyramid") 2600 BC: poetry and music 2599 BC: Huni becomes pharaoh and builds the step pyramid of Maidun 2575 BC: Sneferu founds the 4th dynasty ("old kingdom") and builds in Dahshur the first pyramid with straight sides ("red pyramid")

9. 2134 BC: Egypt splits into two smaller states (Memphis in the north and Thebes in the south) 2100 BC: Egyptian Book of the Dead 1520 BC: Amenhotep I orders the separation of mortuary temples and royal tombs at the necropolis outside Thebes 1504 BC: Amenhotep I dies and is succeeded by his brother-in-law Tuthmosis I, who campaigns all the way to Mesopotamia, makes Thebes the most imposing city of the kingdom and erects the Obelisk at the Karnak temple

10. Papyrus Writing Oldest Known Sample Dates to 2600 BCE

11. Amenhotep I; Luxor First Medical Manuscript, Around 1500 BCE

12. Nubia and Kerma

13. Kerma Kerma’s civilisation emerged out of an ancient pastoral culture that had flourished in that part of Sudan since at least 7000BC when the first settlements were established. Nearby Kerma archaeologists have discovered one of the two oldest cemeteries ever found in Africa – dating back to 7500BC – and the oldest evidence of cattle domestication ever found in Sudan or, indeed, in the Egyptian Nile Valley.

14. Capitals of Nubia CAPITAL CITIES OF NUBIA: KERMA The oldest city in Africa, founded 5000 B.C.First capital of Nubia.The city covered 62 acres and housed a temple, palace, commercial center and over 200 homes. Sacked by the Egyptians. NAPATA The second capital of Nubia.A sacred center devoted to the Egyptian Gods. The temple founded at Jebal Barkal, a sacred mountain, became the source of Nubian claims to the Egyptian throne. The Kings of Nubia invaded Egypt and established the 25th dynasty. They were the masters of the world. The Nubian Empire encompassed Syria in the north to Nubia in the south. The Nubian Kings supported the state of Israel in its struggle against the Assyrians.Captured by an Egyptian and Greek assault in 591 B.C. MEROE The third capital of Nubia. Assyrian invaders had toppled the last of the Nubian Pharaohs. The Nubian dynasty would continue for another one thousand years. The Nubian culture at Meroe combined Egyptian and Southern African traditions. The Nubian written language (believed non-existent by Europeans) has never been translated. Sacked by the Egyptians.

15. Sudanese Pyramids and Kerma

16. Diversity and Egyptian Civilization Hyksos 1640-1550 BCE Kush Conquers Egypt 750 BCE Assyrians 676-663 BCE Persians Rule Egypt 525-404 BCE Alexander the Great Defeats Egypt 332 BCE Ptolemaic Period 332-31 BCE Roman Conquest and Rule 30 BCE-395 CE

17. Lighthouse of Alexandria, 290 BCE to 1489 CE

18. Library of Alexandria,290 BCE to ?