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Egypt

Pre-Dynastic Egypt

• Up to c. 3100 BCE
• Red Land
  • The lower part of Egypt
• Black Land
  • The upper part of Egypt
• Early Labor
  • Egyptians develop farming and herding
  • Egyptians build an irrigation system which leads to a higher population
  • Villages gather into Nomes
  • Shift to brick tombs and Dynastic rulers
  • Hieroglyphs developed near the end

Early Dynastic Egypt

• From c. 3100 - c. 2686 BCE
• Narmer
  • First person to unite upper and lower Egypt into a unified Kingdom
  • First Pharaoh of the 1st Dynasty
  • Capital of Egypt is now at Memphis
• Political Structure
  • Narmer establishes Vizier
  • Vizier - The pharaoh's chief administrator
  • Nomarchs answer to pharaoh (42 nomes)
  • Pharaoh is the living god Horus
• Narmer's Pallete

This is a recreation of the real Narmer Pallete, which is made of black stone. c. 3100 BCE

Image from: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:X1nXYqBd_MLVpM:http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/religiousorigins6.jpg&t=1

• Evidence for the unification of Egypt
  • On one side Narmer is wearing the red crown and on the other Narmer is wearing the white crown
• Hieratic scaling - Artistic convention that shows relative power to relative size
  • Narmer is largest on pallete
• Smiting posture - Artistic convention that shows complete dominance
  • Narmer is the one in smiting posture
• Originally used to hold eye makeup
• Four different sections of the military are represented

Old Kingdom

Geography	Egyptians called their homeland Kemet meaning the black land from the black silt and the surrounding desert the deshret Nile River supplied fertile silt during the yearly inundation along the Nile River Valley and Nile delta 2 way river helped with transportation Geography supplied isolation and protection Cataracts to the south, Mediterranean Sea to the north, desert to the east and west isolation led to a negative view of foreigners and a sense of self importance as less people attacked them
Political	Dynasties 3-6 A central government with the pharaoh at head and vizier as second in command. Capital was Memphis. Local governments were headed by Nomarchs, 42 total. Pharaoh and people are part of the cosmic order. Pharaoh is living god of Horus, who has absolute power, owns all land, and rules according to ma'at, which is the principal of harmony and justice. Ma'at is defined by traditions and people build pyramids for pharaohs. Political structure is defined as the pharaoh on top, then the vizier, after him the 42 nomarchs and on the bottom are the people. The Old Kingdom ends with a decline in centralized power.
Religious	Had Cult and Mortuary Temples, worshiped the pharaoh as earthly god Horus, and only Pharaoh and close relatives had an afterlife. People built pyramids as a way for the pharaoh to transition into his afterlife. Priests; some were in charge of minor cults, some were in charge of major temples, also priests predicted the inundation with the Nilometer. Priests also looked over granaries and stars. Ma'at = Principal of harmony and justice and goddess of truth and justice, pharaoh is responsible for everything going well, and the pharaoh's mummification was to insure the continuation of the cycle of Ma'at.Cycles include the yearly inundation to harvesting and planting, the religious festivals, day and night, and horus to osiris with the pharoahs. If one is disturbed, the others are in jeopardy (Look at God sheet) Pharaohs pictured with square beards were alive when the art is created and those pictured with round beards were mummified when the art was created
Intellectual	Age of pyramid builders, started with mastabas in predynastic and early dynastic periods with sand hydraulics to get the coffin down- then progressed to stacked mastabas (Step Pyramids) - Djoser and then progressed to true pyramids - Sneferu. Had copper tools, used hieroglyphs and hieratic scaling, and pyramids were seen as holy because they were stairways to heaven. Imhotep - Architect for Djoser
Military	No organized/ standing army, no conquest outside of borders, no military training, never attacked outside due to cataracts and deserts. During the end of the 6th D. few expeditions were led into Nubia to secure valuable goods.
Economic	All of Egypt relied on the Nile and the Inundation (The seasonal flooding July - September) Priests looked over all granaries, Egypt had a redistributed economy and used a barter system. There was no currency only barter. Everything produced went to the temples, and Pharaoh owned everything and then redistributed it.
Social	(Priests could be at the level of viziers, nomarchs, or the people) (Scribes status depended on who they worked for) (People mostly farmers, worked for pharaoh during Inundation, did not own farms, Pharaoh owned all)
Key Figures and Dates	Djoser - Stacked mastabas/ Step Pyramid (3rd Dynasty) Prolifica Builder. HIs architect was Imhotep Sneferu - Built 1st True Pyramid, Red Pyramid, Bent Pyramid and a step Pyramid (4th Dynasty) Khufu - (Cheops) Built Great Pyramid at Giza, started Giza complex (4th Dynasty) Khafre - (Chepren) Added to Giza Complex (4th Dynasty) Menkaure - (4th Dynasty) Added to Giza Complex Tetit, Pepe I, and Mecenra (6th Dynasty)

Decline of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period

• During the 5th dynasty, centralized power declined and nomarch's power increased
  • Nomarchs stopped obeying the Pharaoh
  • Mastabas began to be built farther away as belief grew that they were individually important enough for an afterlife (Democratization of the Afterlife)
  • Extended period of low flooding caused doubt in the Pharaoh
• Egypt has 3 capitals- Memphis, the original capital (dynasties 7-8), Herakleopolis (dynasties 9-10)
  • instability and insecurity

The Middle Kingdom: 2055-1650 BCE

-Dynasties 11-14-Mentuhotep II of Thebes reunites Egypt-Pharaohs take steps to ensure stability

• Nomarchs are hereditary
• Coregency
• Rule with justice and forgiveness
• Pharaoh shown as caring shepherd of his people, not as a distant god-king

-The 12th Dynasty

• Amenemhat I (vizier to Mentuhotep IV)
  • 2 theories of how he became Pharaoh
    • Killed Mentuhotep and took power
    • He was chosen by Amenemhat to be his heir (legitimate)
    • He overthrew Mentuhotep’s true successor
  • He established Coregency to ensure smooth transition of power to his son, Senusret I
  • He strengthened military to control nomarchs and lower Nubia- but military still not very strong
• Valued learning in upper class circles, scribes taught others to read and write
• “instruction”= new genre
  • created by Senusret after his father’s assassination
  • a literary form with wise advice given by a Pharaoh to his son after he dies
• built pyramids, forts, canals, and began the Karnak Temple

-Military

• Protected from invasion by natural barriers
• Did not maintain a standing army
• Citizens could be called up in huge numbers when needed, but they were undisciplined and poorly trained
• Footsoldiers were armed with a copper-tipped spear or simple bow

-Economy

• prosperity and stability led to increased national trade
  • Minoans on Crete
  • Byblos
  • Nubia
• Papyrus was one of Egypt's main exports

-Hieroglyphs

• “Sacred writing”
• Written on papyrus or stone
• Scribes were trained by priests to follow strict guidelines
• Rosetta Stone
  • 3 blocks of text: hieroglyphs, demotic, and Greek
  • Produced when Greeks ruled Egypt
  • Gave us lot of info
• Demotic
  • Easier/adapted way to write hieroglyphs
  • Rope of protection surrounding your name to keep it from being cursed
  • Picture of an object
  • Abstract idea
  • Phonetic- sounds that you build with
  • Determinative

-Decline

• later dynasties grew weak
• used Hyksos immigrants as mercenaries, but they siezed control as they start migrating to Egypt