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Ancient Egypt

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   Khafre's Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c.2500 BC or
   perhaps earlier)
   Enlarge
   Khafre's Pyramid ( 4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. 2500 BC or
   perhaps earlier)

   Ancient Egypt was a long-lived civilization in north-eastern Africa. It
   was concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River,
   reaching its greatest extension during the second millennium BC, which
   is referred to as the New Kingdom period. It reached broadly from the
   Nile Delta in the north, as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth
   Cataract of the Nile. Extensions to the geographical range of ancient
   Egyptian civilization included, at different times, areas of the
   southern Levant, the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the
   Sinai Peninsula and the Western Desert (focused on the several oases)

   Ancient Egypt developed over at least three and a half millennia. It
   began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around
   3150 BC and is conventionally thought to have ended in 31 BC when the
   early Roman Empire conquered and absorbed Ptolemaic Egypt as a state.
   This last, however, did not represent the first period of foreign
   domination; the Roman period was to witness a marked, if gradual
   transformation in the political and religious life of the Nile Valley,
   effectively marking the termination of independent civilizational
   development.

   The civilization of ancient Egypt was based on a finely balanced
   control of natural and human resources, characterised primarily by
   controlled irrigation of the fertile Nile Valley; the mineral
   exploitation of the valley and surrounding desert regions; the early
   development of an independent writing system and literature; the
   organization of collective projects; trade with surrounding regions in
   east / central Africa and the eastern Mediterranean; finally, military
   ventures that exhibited strong characteristics of imperial hegemony and
   territorial domination of neighbouring cultures at different periods.
   Motivating and organising these activities were a socio-political and
   economic elite that achieved social consensus by means of an elaborate
   system of religious belief under the figure of a (semi)-divine ruler
   (usually male) from a succession of ruling dynasties and which related
   to the larger world by means of polytheistic beliefs.

History

   Dynasties of Pharaohs
   in ancient Egypt
   Predynastic Egypt
   Protodynastic Period
   Early Dynastic Period
   1st 2nd
   Old Kingdom
   3rd 4th 5th 6th
   First Intermediate Period
   7th 8th 9th 10th
   11th ( Thebes only)
   Middle Kingdom
   11th (All Egypt)
   12th 13th 14th
   Second Intermediate Period
   15th 16th 17th
   New Kingdom
   18th 19th 20th
   Third Intermediate Period
   21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th
   Late Period
   26th 27th 28th
   29th 30th 31st
   Graeco-Roman Period
   Alexander the Great
   Ptolemaic dynasty
   Roman

   Archaeological evidence indicates that a developed Egyptian society
   extends far into prehistory (see Predynastic Egypt). The Nile River,
   around which much of the population of the country clusters, has been
   the lifeline for Egyptian culture since nomadic hunter-gatherers began
   living along the Nile during the Pleistocene. Traces of these early
   peoples appear in the form of artifacts and rock carvings along the
   terraces of the Nile and in the oases.

   Along the Nile, in the 10th millennium BC, a grain- grinding culture
   using the earliest type of sickle blades had been replaced by another
   culture of hunters, fishers, and gathering peoples using stone tools.
   Evidence also indicates human habitation in the southwestern corner of
   Egypt, near the Sudan border, before 8000 BC. Climate changes and/or
   overgrazing around 8000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of
   Egypt, eventually forming the Sahara (c. 2500 BC), and early tribes
   naturally migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled
   agricultural economy and more centralized society. There is evidence of
   pastoralism and cultivation of cereals in the East Sahara in the 7th
   millennium BC.

   By about 6000 BC, organized agriculture and large building construction
   had appeared in the Nile Valley. At this time, Egyptians in the
   southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and also constructing
   large buildings. Mortar was in use by 4000 BC. The Predynastic Period
   continues through this time, variously held to begin with the Naqada
   culture. Some authorities however place the start of the Predynastic
   Period earlier, in the Lower Paleolithic.

   Between 5500 and 3100 BC, during Egypt's Predynastic Period, small
   settlements flourished along the Nile. By 3300 BC, just before the
   first Egyptian dynasty, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as
   Upper Egypt (Ta Shemau) and Lower Egypt (Ta Mehu). The dividing line
   was drawn roughly in the area of modern Cairo.

   The history of ancient Egypt proper starts with Egypt as a unified
   state, which occurred sometime around 3150 BC. Menes, who unified Upper
   and Lower Egypt, was the first king. Egyptian culture was remarkably
   stable and changed little over a period of nearly 3000 years. This
   includes religion, customs, art expression, architecture and social
   structure.

   Egyptian chronology, which involves regnal years, began around this
   time. The conventional Egyptian chronology is the chronology accepted
   during the 20th century, but it does not include any of the major
   revision proposals that have also been made in that time. Even within a
   single work, often archeologists will offer several possible dates or
   even several whole chronologies as possibilities. Consequently, there
   may be discrepancies between dates shown here and in articles on
   particular rulers. Often there are also several possible spellings of
   the names. Typically, Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic
   civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's Aegyptaica
   (History of Egypt).
     * List of pharaohs: The time of the Pharaohs stretches from before
       3000 BC to about 30 BC.
     * Dynasties (see also: List of Egyptian dynasties):
          + Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (1st to 2nd Dynasties; until
            ca. 27th century BC)
          + Old Kingdom (3rd to 6th Dynasties; 27th to 22nd centuries BC)
          + First Intermediate Period (7th to 11th Dynasties)
          + Middle Kingdom of Egypt (11th to 14th Dynasties; 20th to 17th
            centuries BC)
          + Second Intermediate Period (14th to 17th Dynasties)
               o Hyksos (15th to 16th Dynasties, c. 1674 BC to 1548 BC)
          + New Kingdom of Egypt (18th to 20th Dynasties; 16th to 11th
            centuries BC)
          + Third Intermediate Period (21st to 25th Dynasties; 11th to 7th
            centuries BC)
          + Late Period of Ancient Egypt (26th to 31st Dynasties; 7th
            century BC to 332 BC)
               o Achaemenid Dynasty
          + Graeco-Roman Egypt ( 332 BC to AD 639)
               o Macedonian Kings ( 332 BC to 305 BC)
               o Ptolemaic Dynasty ( 305 BC to 30 BC)
               o Roman Empire ( 30 BC to 639 AD)

People

   A 2006 bioanthropological study on the dental morphology of ancient
   Egyptians shows dental traits most characteristic of indigenous North
   Africans and to a lesser extent Near Eastern populations. The study
   also establishes biological continuity from the predynastic to the
   post-pharaonic periods. Among the samples included is skeletal material
   from the Hawara tombs of Fayum, which was found to most closely
   resemble the Badarian series of the predynastic. A study based on
   stature and body proportions also suggests that Nilotic or tropical
   body characteristics were also present in some later groups, as the
   Egyptian empire expanded southward during the New Kingdom.

   Genetics analysis of modern Egyptians reveals that they are
   characterized by paternal lineages common to North Africans primarily,
   and to some Near Eastern peoples. These lineages spread during the
   Neolithic and were maintained by the predynastic period. Studies based
   on the maternal lineages also show that Egyptians are related to people
   from the Horn of Africa.

   Champollion the Younger, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, claimed in
   Expressions et Termes Particuliers that kmt referred to a 'negroid'
   population. Modern day professional Egyptologists, anthropologists, and
   linguists, however, overwhelmingly agree that the term referred to the
   dark soil of the Nile Valley rather than the people, which contrasted
   with dSrt or the "red land" of the Sahara desert, a claim denied by
   Afrocentrists who contend that the term refers to the people.

   In c. 450 BC, Herodotus wrote, "the Colchians are Egyptians... on the
   fact that they are dark-skinned (melanchrôs) and wooly-haired
   (oulothrix)" (Histories Book 2:104). Melanchros was also used by Homer
   to describe the sunburnt complexion of Odysseus (Od. 16.176).

   Although analyzing the hair of ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late
   Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet, mummies from
   circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anaemia and hemolytic disorders.
   18 m (59 ft) high sandstone statues of Amenhotep III, flanking the
   entrance to his mortuary temple in Western Thebes - erroneously
   identified as the Colossi of Memnon by Greek travellers in antiquity
   Enlarge
   18 m (59 ft) high sandstone statues of Amenhotep III, flanking the
   entrance to his mortuary temple in Western Thebes - erroneously
   identified as the Colossi of Memnon by Greek travellers in antiquity

Administration and taxation

   For administrative purposes, ancient Egypt was divided into nomes (the
   Greek word for "district"; they were called sepat in ancient Egyptian).
   The division into nomes can be traced back to the Predynastic Period
   (before 3100 BC), when the nomes originally existed as autonomous
   city-states. The nomes remained in place for more than three millennia,
   with the area of the individual nomes and their order of numbering
   remaining remarkably stable. Under the system that prevailed for most
   of pharaonic Egypt's history, the country was divided into 42 nomes: 20
   comprising Lower Egypt, whilst Upper Egypt was divided into 22. Each
   nome was governed by a nomarch, a provincial governor who held regional
   authority. The position of the nomarch was at times hereditary, at
   times appointed by the pharaoh.

   The ancient Egyptian government imposed a number of different taxes
   upon its people. As there was no known form of currency during that
   time period, taxes were paid for "in kind" (with produce or work). The
   Vizier (ancient Egyptian: tjaty) controlled the taxation system through
   the departments of state. The departments had to report daily on the
   amount of stock available, and how much was expected in the future.
   Taxes were paid for depending on a person's craft or duty. Landowners
   paid their taxes in grain and other produce grown on their property.
   Craftsmen paid their taxes in the goods that they produced. Hunters and
   fishermen paid their taxes with produce from the river, marshes, and
   desert. One person from every household was required to pay a corvée or
   labor tax by doing public work for a few weeks every year, such as
   digging canals or mining. However, a richer noble could hire a poorer
   man to fulfill his labor tax.

Language

   Ancient Egyptian constitutes an independent part of the Afro-Asiatic
   language phylum. Its closest relatives are the Berber, Semitic, and
   Beja groups of languages. Written records of the Egyptian language have
   been dated from about 3200 BC, making it one of the oldest and longest
   documented languages. Scholars group Egyptian into six major
   chronological divisions:
     * Archaic Egyptian (before 3000 BC)

          Consists of inscriptions from the late Predynastic and Early
          Dynastic period. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian
          hieroglyphic writing appears on Naqada II pottery vessels.

     * Old Egyptian (3000–2000 BC)

          The language of the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period.
          The Pyramid Texts are the largest body of literature written in
          this phase of the language. Tomb walls of elite Egyptians from
          this period also bear autobiographical writings representing Old
          Egyptian. One of its distinguishing characteristics is the
          tripling of ideograms, phonograms, and determinatives to
          indicate the plural. Overall, it does not differ significantly
          from the next stage.

     * Middle Egyptian (2000–1300 BC)

          Often dubbed Classical Egyptian, this stage is known from a
          variety of textual evidence in hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts
          dated from about the Middle Kingdom. It includes funerary texts
          inscribed on sarcophagi such as the Coffin Texts; wisdom texts
          instructing people on how to lead a life that exemplified the
          ancient Egyptian philosophical worldview (see the Ipuwer
          papyrus); tales detailing the adventures of a certain
          individual, for example the Story of Sinuhe; medical and
          scientific texts such as the Edwin Smith Papyrus and the Ebers
          papyrus; and poetic texts praising a god or a pharaoh, such as
          the Hymn to the Nile. The Egyptian vernacular already began to
          change from the written language as evidenced by some Middle
          Kingdom hieratic texts, but classical Middle Egyptian continued
          to be written in formal contexts well into the Late Dynastic
          period (sometimes referred to as Late Middle Egyptian).

     * Late Egyptian (1300–700 BC)

          Records of this stage appear in the second part of the New
          Kingdom. It contains a rich body of religious and secular
          literature, comprising such famous examples as the Story of
          Wenamun and the Instructions of Ani. It was also the language of
          Ramesside administration. Late Egyptian is not totally distinct
          from Middle Egyptian, as many "classicisms" appear in historical
          and literary documents of this phase. However, the difference
          between Middle and Late Egyptian is greater than that between
          Middle and Old Egyptian. It's also a better representative than
          Middle Egyptian of the spoken language in the New Kingdom and
          beyond. Hieroglyphic orthography saw an enormous expansion of
          its graphemic inventory between the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic
          periods.

     * Demotic Egyptian (7th century BC–4th century AD)

     * Coptic (3rd–17th century AD)

   An Obelisk with Egyptian writing.
   Enlarge
   An Obelisk with Egyptian writing.

Writing

   For many years, the earliest known hieroglyphic inscription was the
   Narmer Palette, found during excavations at Hierakonpolis (modern Kawm
   al-Ahmar) in the 1890s, which has been dated to c. 3150 BC. However
   recent archaeological findings reveal that symbols on Gerzean pottery,
   c. 3250 BC, resemble the traditional hieroglyph forms. Also in 1998 a
   German archeological team under Günter Dreyer excavating at Abydos
   (modern Umm el-Qa'ab) uncovered tomb U-j, which belonged to a
   Predynastic ruler, and they recovered three hundred clay labels
   inscribed with proto-hieroglyphics dating to the Naqada IIIA period,
   circa 33rd century BC.

   Egyptologists refer to Egyptian writing as hieroglyphs, today standing
   as the world's earliest known writing system. The hieroglyphic script
   was partly syllabic, partly ideographic. Hieratic is a cursive form of
   Egyptian hieroglyphs and was first used during the First Dynasty (c.
   2925 BC – c. 2775 BC). The term Demotic, in the context of Egypt, came
   to refer to both the script and the language that followed the Late
   Ancient Egyptian stage, i.e. from the Nubian 25th dynasty until its
   marginalization by the Greek Koine in the early centuries AD. After the
   conquest of Amr ibn al-A'as in the 7th century AD, the Coptic language
   survived as a spoken language into the Middle Ages. Today, it continues
   to be the liturgical language of the Christian minority.

   Beginning from around 2700 BC, Egyptians used pictograms to represent
   vocal sounds -- both vowel and consonant vocalizations (see Hieroglyph:
   Script). By 2000 BC, 26 pictograms were being used to represent 24
   (known) main vocal sounds. The world's oldest known alphabet (c. 1800
   BC) is only an abjad system and was derived from these uniliteral signs
   as well as other Egyptian hieroglyphs.

   The hieroglyphic script finally fell out of use around the 4th century
   AD. Attempts to decipher it in the West began after the 15th century,
   though earlier attempts by Muslim scholars are attested (see
   Hieroglyphica).

Literature

     * c. 1800 BC: Story of Sinuhe and Ipuwer papyrus
     * c. 1600 BC: Westcar Papyrus
     * c. 1400 BC: Tulli Papyrus
     * c. 1300 BC: Ebers papyrus
     * c. 1180 BC: Papyrus Harris I
     * c. 1000 BC: Story of Wenamun

Culture

   The Egyptian religion, embodied in Egyptian mythology, is a succession
   of beliefs held by the people of Egypt, as early as predynastic times
   and all the way until the coming of Christianity and Islam in the
   Graeco-Roman and Arab eras. These were conducted by Egyptian priests or
   magicians, but the use of magic and spells is questioned.

   Every animal portrayed and worshipped in ancient Egyptian art, writing
   and religion is indigenous to Africa, all the way from the predynastic
   until the Graeco-Roman eras, over 3000 years. The Dromedary,
   domesticated first in Arabia, first appears in Egypt (and North Africa)
   beginning in the 2nd millennium BC.

   The temple was a sacred place where only priests and priestesses were
   allowed. On special occasions people were allowed into the temple
   courtyard.

   The religious nature of ancient Egyptian civilization influenced its
   contribution to the arts of the ancient world. Many of the great works
   of ancient Egypt depict gods, goddesses, and pharaohs, who were also
   considered divine. Ancient Egyptian art in general is characterized by
   the idea of order.

   Evidence of mummies and pyramids outside ancient Egypt indicate
   reflections of ancient Egyptian belief values on other prehistoric
   cultures, transmitted in one way over the Silk Road. Ancient Egypt's
   foreign contacts included Nubia and Punt to the south, the Aegean and
   ancient Greece to the north, the Levant and other regions in the Near
   East to the east, and also Libya to the west.

   Some scholars have speculated that Egypt's art pieces are sexually
   symbolic.

Ancient achievements

   Louvre Museum antiquity
   Enlarge
   Louvre Museum antiquity

   See Predynastic Egypt for inventions and other significant achievements
   in the Sahara region before the Protodynastic Period.

   The art and science of engineering was present in Egypt, such as
   accurately determining the position of points and the distances between
   them (known as surveying). These skills were used to outline pyramid
   bases. The Egyptian pyramids took the geometric shape formed from a
   polygonal base and a point, called the apex, by triangular faces.
   Hydraulic cement was first invented by the Egyptians. The Al Fayyum
   Irrigation (water works) was one of the main agricultural breadbaskets
   of the ancient world. There is evidence of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs of
   the twelfth dynasty using the natural lake of the Fayyum as a reservoir
   to store surpluses of water for use during the dry seasons. From the
   time of the First dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in
   the Sinai Peninsula.

   One of the more extreme claims of recent years is that the ancient
   "tet" or "djed" has been experimentally identified as an ancient
   battery. If true this technology would anticipate by thousands of years
   its rediscovery in the 19th century. The sarcophagus found in the great
   pyramid has been recently re-examined. According to the author Nigel
   Appleby ('Hall of the Gods') the holes drilled in the sides were
   considered to have been drilled at a speed and bore rate that cannot be
   reproduced today. Independent published corroboration by scientists and
   engineers is awaited for both of these claims.

   The earliest evidence (circa 1600 BC) of traditional empiricism is
   credited to Egypt, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri.
   The roots of the scientific method may be traced back to the ancient
   Egyptians. The Egyptians created their own alphabet (however, it is
   debated as to whether they were the first to do this because of the
   margin of error on carbon dated tests), decimal system and complex
   mathematical formularizations, in the form of the Moscow and Rhind
   Mathematical Papyri. The golden ratio seems to be reflected in many
   constructions, such as the Egyptian pyramids, however this may be the
   consequence of combining the use of knotted ropes with an intuitive
   sense of proportion and harmony.

   Glass making was highly developed in ancient Egypt, as is evident from
   the glass beads, jars, figures and ornaments discovered in the tombs.
   Recent archeology has uncovered the remains of an ancient Egyptian
   glass factory.

Timeline

   (All dates are approximate; see Egyptian chronology for a detailed
   discussion.)

Predynastic

     * 3500 BC: Senet, world's oldest (confirmed) board game
     * 3500 BC: Faience, world's earliest known earthenware

Dynastic

   The Great Pyramid of Giza.
   Enlarge
   The Great Pyramid of Giza.
   Egypt was first to create glass objects. [citation needed]
   Enlarge
   Egypt was first to create glass objects.
   3D red_cyan glasses recommended for your viewing pleasure
     * 3300 BC: Bronze works (see Bronze Age)
     * 3200 BC: Egyptian hieroglyphs fully developed (see First dynasty of
       Egypt)
     * 3200 BC: Narmer Palette, world's earliest known historical document
     * 3100 BC: Decimal system, world's earliest (confirmed) use
     * 3100 BC: Wine cellars, world's earliest known
     * 3050 BC: Shipbuilding in Abydos
     * 3000 BC: Exports from Nile to Palestine and Levant: wine (see
       Narmer)
     * 3000 BC: Copper plumbing (see Copper: History)
     * 3000 BC: Papyrus, world's earliest known paper
     * 3000 BC: Medical Institutions
     * 2900 BC: possible steel: carbon-containing iron
     * 2700 BC: Surgery, world's earliest known
     * 2700 BC: precision Surveying
     * 2700 BC: Uniliteral signs, forming basis of world's earliest known
       alphabet
     * 2600 BC: Sphinx, still today the world's largest single-stone
       statue
     * 2600s– 2500 BC: Shipping expeditions: King Sneferu and Pharaoh
       Sahure. See also,
     * 2600 BC: Barge transportation, stone blocks (see Egyptian pyramids:
       Construction)
     * 2600 BC: Pyramid of Djoser, world's earliest known large-scale
       stone building
     * 2600 BC: Menkaure's Pyramid & Red Pyramid, world's earliest known
       works of carved granite
     * 2600 BC: Red Pyramid, world's earliest known "true" smooth-sided
       pyramid; solid granite work
     * 2580 BC: Great Pyramid of Giza, the world's tallest structure until
       AD 1300
     * 2500 BC: Beekeeping
     * 2400 BC: Astronomical Calendar, used even in the Middle Ages for
       its mathematical regularity
     * 2200 BC: Beer
     * 1860 BC: possible Nile-Red Sea Canal ( Twelfth dynasty of Egypt)
     * 1800 BC: Alphabet, world's oldest known
     * 1800 BC: Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, generalized formula for
       volume of frustum
     * 1650 BC: Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: geometry, cotangent analogue,
       algebraic equations, arithmetic series, geometric series
     * 1600 BC: Edwin Smith papyrus, medical tradition traces as far back
       as c. 3000 BC
     * 1550 BC: Ebers Medical Papyrus, traditional empiricism; world's
       earliest known documented tumors (see History of medicine)
     * 1500 BC: Glass-making, world's earliest known
     * 1300 BC: Berlin Mathematical Papyrus, 19th dynasty - 2nd order
       algebraic equations
     * 1258 BC: Peace treaty, world's earliest known (see Ramesses II)
     * 1160 BC: Turin papyrus, world's earliest known geologic and
       topographic map
     * 1000 BC: Petroleum tar used in mummification
     * 5th– 4th century BC (or perhaps earlier): battle games petteia and
       seega; possible precursors to Chess (see Origins of chess)

Open problems

   There is a question as to the sophistication of ancient Egyptian
   technology, and there are several open problems concerning real and
   alleged ancient Egyptian achievements. Certain artifacts and records do
   not fit with conventional technological development systems. It is not
   known why there seems to be no neat progression to an Egyptian Iron Age
   nor why the historical record shows the Egyptians possibly taking a
   long time to begin using iron. A study of the rest of Africa could
   point to the reasons: Sub-Saharan Africa confined their use of the
   metal to agricultural purposes for many centuries. The ancient
   Egyptians had a much easier form of agriculture with the annual Nile
   floods and fertile sediment delivery. They thus had no impetus for the
   development of agricultural implements that would have spurred the
   adoption of iron. It is unknown how the Egyptians shaped and worked
   granite. A clue is found in the exquisite granite carvings of the
   Yoruba in West Africa. For years researchers could not fathom how they
   were carved so smoothly until contemporary workmen demonstrated the
   simple system of rubbing the quartz with sand and water. The exact date
   the Egyptians started producing glass is debated.

   There is some question whether the Egyptians were capable of long
   distance navigation in their boats and when they became knowledgeable
   sailors. It is also contentiously disputed as to whether or not the
   Egyptians had some understanding of electricity and if the Egyptians
   used engines or batteries. The relief at Dendera is interpreted in
   various ways by scholars. The topic of the Saqqara Bird is
   controversial, as is the extent of the Egyptians' understanding of
   aerodynamics. It is unknown for certain if the Egyptians had kites or
   gliders.

   Beekeeping is known to have been particularly well developed in Egypt,
   as accounts are given by several Roman writers — Virgil, Gaius Julius
   Hyginus, Varro and Columella. It is unknown whether Egyptian beekeeping
   developed independently or as an import from Southern Asia.

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