Ancient Egypt
The civilization of ancient Egypt is significant in several ways. Egyptian
influence on other peoples was also significant. Ancient kingdoms of the
Sudan adapted its HIEROGLYPHIC writing system and other cultural
elements. The two last regions and the Bible are the most important
antecedents of the modern western world that owe something to Egypt.
The
western alphabet is derived from a Phoenician one possibly modeled on
Egyptian hieroglyphs; Egyptian ideas are found in some parts of the Bible;
and Greek sciences and especially, art were originally influenced by Egypt.Finally, archaeology and historical writing have made Egypt a subject of great
public interest, stimulating many books, novels, exhibits, and movies. The
image of Egyptian history moves continually closer to reality as new facts are
discovered and new kinds of research-anthropological and
other--supplement more traditional archaeological techniques. Egypt's well
preserved pyramids and cemeteries on the dry desert, and sturdy stone-built
temples, have been studied by archaeologists since the early 19th century, but
river-plain town mounds and all sites in densely settled northern Egypt now
receive more attention than previously.
Funerary and temple inscriptions
survived well, but they paint an idealized, oversimplified picture of history and
society. PAPYRUS exists and pottery fragments are rarer but more realistic.They now are better studied and are supplemented by new types of
archaeological analysis. Environment strongly affected history. In a largely
rainless climate, Egypt's high agricultural productivity depended on a long but
very narrow floodplain; on average 19.
2 km (11.9 mi) wide, it reached a
maximum of 248 km (154.1 mi) in the Delta and was formed by the Nile's
annual inundation. Periodic, long-term decreases in its volume might create
social stress and political and military conflict; increases in volume increased
food supplies and favored stability and centralized government. The deserts
to the east and west had valuable stones and minerals and helped protect
Egypt from much external attack or infiltration.
Continuity was very strong.Egypt's religion, its concepts of social order, and its system of strong
monarchical government remained fundamentally the same for over 3,000
years. Environmental stability helped, as did ethnic and linguistic continuity;
unlike other areas of the Near East, Egypt did not periodically have to absorb
large new populations with languages and ideas different from those already
established. Equally important did all Egyptians share a powerful and
tenacious worldview--an orderly cosmos, enfolding gods, humans, and
nature, had been created in complete and perfect form at the beginning of
time; its perfection held off the destructive, chaotic forces that surrounded it.Adherence to traditional forms of belief, politics, and culture was believed
necessary to maintain perfection and prevent the collapse of the universe.
Egyptian art and religious architecture (temples and tombs) closely followed
established conventions of style and content because their role was to depict
this ideal order--and thus be one of several means ritually integrating Egypt
with the cosmos. Change and innovation nevertheless occurred, sometimes
violently. Egypt's periodic interludes of disunity were politically disorderly and
economically painful in part because inherent problems and contradictions
(for example, obvious weakness in "perfect" institutions such as kingship)
came to the surface and demanded solutions. Less obviously, change also
took place in more stable periods. Bureaucracies were periodically reformed
or restructured in the interests of both royal power and fairer government.
Religious concepts became increasingly rich and complex. Styles in art and
architecture changed subtly to meet new needs and tastes, but all successful
innovation required adherence to basic, traditional norms. Predynastic Egypt
Egyptian history is usually divided into periods roughly corresponding to the
30 dynasties of kings listed by Manetho, an Egyptian chronicler of the 3d
century BC. The period before c.3100 BC, a time for which no written
records exist, is called the Predynastic era. Well before 5000 BC many
communities of Paleolithic hunters and gatherers lived in the Nile valley and
across savanna lands stretching far to the east and west.
As rainfall
decreased, especially after 4000 BC, the western lands became arid deserts
and human settlement was confined to the valley and its fringes. However,
here exotic fauna such as elephants and giraffes persisted as late as 2300 BC
before finally retreating southward. Annually inundated, and with natural
irrigation basins that retained floodwaters, the Nile valley was an ideal setting
for Mesolithic economies with incipient agriculture to evolve into Neolithic
ones based on sedentary agriculture, with domesticated crops and animals.The process is hard to follow in Egypt because major Predynastic sites, on
the floodplain, are inaccessible or destroyed and most data come from
peripheral settlements and low-desert cemeteries. In northern Egypt,
however, the development of Neolithic life can be traced at Merimdeh and in
the Fayum (5000-4000 BC); there and elsewhere in the north the pervasive
northern culture emerged, characterized by monochrome pottery using
incised and applied decoration.
The earliest Neolithic phases of southern
Egypt are not yet identified, but two cultures existed there by c.4000 BC: the
Tasian, influenced by the north, and the Badarian, which originated in the
eastern desert. The former evolved into phases labeled Nakada I (Amratian)
and II (Gerzean), representing a material culture very different from that of
the north. In the south, among other differences, pottery is more varied in
fabric, often has a black top, and favors painted decoration (white on red and
red on light-colored desert clays). Historically significant patterns can be
discerned.
Political elites developed, supported by agricultural surplus, partly
through control over valuable resources that were beginning to be used in
new technologies. Originally, tools and weapons were made of stone and
organic materials, but in southern (and slightly later in northern) Egypt copper
and precious metals became increasingly important. By Nakada II times,
larger, more efficient river ships were built and trade along the Nile was
expanding. These and other factors stimulated the emergence of an elite class
whose graves are larger and richer than normal, and ultimately regional
political leaders are identifiable by "chieftain's tombs" at several sites.
According to later traditions, by late Predynastic times (c. 3300 BC)
chiefdoms had coalesced into two competitive kingdoms, northern and
southern. Gradually, the characteristic material culture of the south had been
spreading, and it replaced the once different one of northern Egypt in Nakada
III times. Throughout the period 5000-3100 BC foreign influences were
significant, but direct ones are hard to distinguish from indirect. Domesticated
grains and some domesticated animals may have come via Syria and
Palestine, perhaps at the time of Merimdehs's earliest phase, which shows
influences from these regions in material culture also.
Both northern and
southern Egypt traded with Syria, Palestine, and northeast Africa throughout
Predynastic times. Particularly striking and so far found mainly in southern
Egypt (Nakada I and II) are Mesopotamian-style cylinder seals, pottery, and
artistic motifs, but these may have come through intermediaries rather than by
direct contact. Predynastic architecture, using wood, matting, and mud brick,
is best attested in cemeteries, where pit graves were lined with wood or brick
and roofed with matting or stone slabs; eventually, some graves had small,
solid superstructures of brick and rubble. Some settlements have been
partially excavated; and a possible Predynastic temple was recently found at
HIERAKONPOLIS. Art was well developed but small scale. Figurines and
statuettes of individual humans or animals, some modeled realistically, were
made in mud, pottery, and ivory; slate cosmetic palettes might be in bird or
animal form; and painted designs on pottery placed humans, animals, and
boats together in sometimes complex designs.
Most of these art forms were
from tombs and were magical or religious representations. Battles, hunts, and
ceremonial scenes were favorite motifs. In all areas, conventions typical of
historical art were emerging. Such art, appearing realistic, actually followed
conventions that were to remain dominant for millennia thereafter. In painting
and relief, human and animal figures are always drawn according to a set of
fixed proportions, and reality is ignored so as to present the most
characteristic aspects.
Humans, for example, always have heads, legs, and
feet in profile but eye and torso presented frontally. Figures were scaled
according to their importance, and perspective was ignored. Landscapes
were depicted in schematic form, but architecture was rarely attempted.Subject matter is also highly selective, for an idealized world is shown; aging,
disease, injury, and death are omitted, except for inferior beings such as
foreigners and animals.
Statuary was intended at all times mainly for temples
and tombs, and consisted of representations of gods, kings, and deceased
individuals. Complex compositions were avoided, although sometimes two or
more figures might be shown side by side. Life-size statues were not
uncommon, but most were smaller; colossal royal figures embellished
temples. As in painting, set conventions were closely followed in statuary;
whether seated or standing, figures are always facing forward, with arms and
legs in standardized positions. Technically, the carving was often superb,
although many clumsy works were also produced.
Materials included hard
stones, softer stones such as limestone, and wood; statues were often painted
in bright colors. Sculptors depicted the ideal human; true portraiture in any
form was hardly every attempted. First Intermediate Period and Middle
Kingdom Centralized rule began to break down under the 7th dynasty. In the
ensuing First Intermediate period (c.2181-2040 BC), the Memphite
monarchs were powerless to prevent provincial warlords from fighting each
other over territory; eventually two separate kingdoms emerged, one ruled by
the 9th and 10th dynasties from Heracleopolis, the other by the 11th dynasty
from THEBES. They tried to dominate each other but were impeded by the
semi-independence of provincial rulers, and they also had to be
simultaneously aggressive against foreigners to protect their rears, secure
trade advantages, and recruit or compel the valuable services of Palestinian
and Nubian warriors for the civil wars.
Finally, in the 20th century BC, the
11th dynasty conquered the north and rebuilt a centralized monarchy,
inaugurating the Middle Kingdom. The intensity and causes of these
disruptive events are uncertain. Later Egyptian writers, appalled by the
deviation from accepted norms, exaggerated the revolutionary aspects; they
also described an imaginary environmental deterioration, actually a poetic
cosmological counterpart to social disorder. More significant were external
pressure and internal political instability that long endured; even the 11th
dynasty may have been ended by a coup, and the victor, AMENEMHET I
was himself later assassinated. The 12th dynasty, which he founded (1991
BC), worked hard to restore royal prestige, seriously damaged by civil war
and periodic famine. Its kings, living near Memphis, reduced provincial
power and developed a loyal central elite, using subtly propagandistic
literature to encourage recruitment and transform the royal image from
insecure war leader to confident, semi divine ruler.
The external situation
remained dangerous. The northern Nubian and Sinai buffer zones were
reoccupied and, for the first time, heavily fortified. Foreign trade and
diplomatic contact expanded, but Egyptian activity was more restricted than
in the Old Kingdom. Social change was considerable.
People had become
more conscious of their individual rights, and royal policy had to both satisfy
and temper this. Religion was affected; funerary beliefs and rituals once
largely restricted to kings now spread throughout all classes. First
Intermediate period Egyptians had felt less dependent on the state, stressing
their economic self-sufficiency, and even under the 12th dynasty royal
policies encouraged the growth of a middle class, buried in well-furnished
tombs and active at cult centers such as Abydos. OSIRIS, formerly a royal
funerary god, became accessible to all.
Architectural remains are now more
varied. At Kahun, a large town was divided up into zones of better and
poorer houses, reflecting socioeconomic differences; superbly designed
fortresses were built in Nubia; and the ground plans of several temples have
survived. Funerary remains continue to be the best source of art forms. The
pharaohs of the 12th dynasty, anxious to be identified with the autocratic Old
Kingdom, revised the classic complex pyramid but included unusual
subterranean elements evoking the mythical tomb of Osiris. Royal statues
were often idealized, but some depicted a care-worn and more realistic
figure. The elite continued to be buried in mastabas and rock-cut tombs,
decorated first in awkward but striking styles reflecting the breakdown in
centralized stylistic norms, but later returning to more sophisticated, traditional
modes.
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