Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Main Events

The course of the ancient Egyptian civilization, starting with the pre-dynastic period

till the Ptolemaic period, has a series of events that highlight it. The dynastic period,

being the main chunk of ancient Egyptian history, provides some of the most

interesting insights into the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Ancient Egyptian history is divided into 31 dynasties, which are then further

subdivided into three main kingdoms with intermediate periods in between. Click

here to see the timeline.

The Pre-dynastic Period (approx. 5500-3100 BC)

During this period the nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers that were scattered all

over the country were started settling down near the Nile. These settlements were

divided into nomes (provinces).

The main division in Egypt was that of the Upper and Lower Egyptians (the two

lands). The two were very different.

At around 3100 BC, the dynastic period began with the reign of King Narmer. He

managed to unify (through battle) the provinces and the two lands, and Egypt

became a single state.

This was the real beginning of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Early Dynastic Period (approx. 3150-2686 BC)

This was a sort of stepping stone period, where the Egyptians started settling into

the idea of a unified Egypt. It only lasted 2 dynasties and was called "the Archaic

period".

This period was when the administrative capital of Egypt became Memphis. It is also

when elaborate tombs became popular.

The architecture, religious beliefs and art of the ancient Egyptian civilization became

more prominent during this period.

The Old Kingdom (approx. 2686-2181 BC)

This period was all about pyramids. In fact, it's called "The Age of the Pyramids". It

was a time of wealth and progress for the Egyptians.

During the third dynasty King Djoser builds

the Step Pyramid in Saqqara - the first

pyramid ever built. The famous Imhotep was

the architectural engineer for this big project.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt's main

landmark and the only surviving ancient

wonder of the world, was built by King Khufu

in the 4th dynasty.

There were also other beautiful pyramids built during this dynasty, such as the Red

Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid in Dahshur.

The funerary texts called the Pyramid Texts, which provide us with much

information about the ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, were formed in this period.

By the end of this period, the nobles had gained more power and wealth than the

royal family itself. Civil wars weakened the kingdom. But what finally ended this

dynastic period was the drought, which brought about famine and disease.

The First Intermediate Period (approx. 2181–2040 BC)

Egypt's version of the Dark Ages, it was a time of chaos and famine.

The poor who were hit worst with famine and disease began to rise up against the

kings. There was anarchy and unrest all over, with plundering and vandalizing of the

monuments.

The rule became divided, and conflicts between the kingdoms began, until finally at

the end of this period the Theban king Menuhotep conquers and unifies Egypt

again.

The Middle Kingdom (approx. 2040–1782 BC)

After the re-unification of Egypt with Thebes as the capital, much of the power was

still not entirely in the hands of the Pharaohs. The king depended on the local

governors to conscript soldiers from their provinces to pull together an army.

Then during the 12th dynasty, Egypt's army was strong enough to begin a series of

invasions to expand the territory. They would build fortresses in the new areas to

secure them.

The middle kingdom also saw a rise to trade connections with Nubia.

A large migration of foreign settlers from Assyria happened during this period,

which gave rise to many changes in the ancient

...it also gave rise to the Hyksos.

As a child I'd play "Egyptians and Hyksos", much like American children a long time

ago used to play "Cowboys and Indians". Neither of which is very "politically correct"

if I may say so myself!

But thankfully kids have now stopped those kinds of games and are now playing

peaceful playstation :-)

(Don't get me wrong, I love playstation!)

The Second Intermediate Period (approx. 1782–1570 BC)

Division, once again! Does it every end?

So now the Syrians and Palestinians that had migrated gained power and gave rise

to the Hyksos kings. And then even when the Hyksos allowed Egyptians to be kings,

they were only puppet rulers and had to do as they’re told.

One of those puppet kings however was not very "puppet-y" at all. He and most

Egyptians had had enough of these immigrants taking over!

So he called forth the Egyptians to war against the Hyksos King Apopis.

King Seqenenre Tao died in battle with head wounds. His son, Kamose, took over

and managed to take back most of Egypt. But then Kamose died young and his

brother Ahmose I continued battling the Hyksos until they left completely.

This signals the end of this turbulent intermediate period, and the start of a

luxurious time in ancient Egyptian civilization.

The New Kingdom (approx. 1570–1070 BC)

After so many wars and so much chaos, the ancient Egyptians thought it would be

smart to have a full-time army. Instead of conscripting men when they needed them

they would have well-trained, fully-armed soldiers ready to fight.

They also reinforced their borders and even expanded them.

With this change plus a few other smart moves, the

New Kingdom gave rise to an Egyptian empire.

Some of the most famous pharaohs come from this

period, such as Rameses II (picture on the left) and

King Tut. Also the mysterious Nefertiti was from the

New Kingdom too.

Another drastic change in ancient Egyptian civilization that took place during the

New Kingdom was the introduction of a type of early monotheism.

King Akhenaten flipped everything upside down when he changed the religion of

Egypt from worshipping hundreds of gods to the sun disc Aten. Not too

many Egyptians were happy with this.

One of the most important battles of the New Kingdom was the battle of Kadesh.

The ancient Egyptians fought the Hittites for years over control of the area, which

had an essential trade route of the near east.

Other battles took place in the New Kingdom with ancient Libyans and the Sea

People. But the Egyptians did well both on land and on sea.

Even though the New Kingdom had made a great empire and most of the battles had

been won, the ancient Egyptian civilization began to be riddled with division,

invasions and economic problems. Ancient Egypt started to decline and slowly fade

away.

The Third Intermediate Period (approx. 1080–525 BC)

The trouble began when once again Egypt fell to divided rule. Economic problems

weakened the unification and kings from different regions fought - this exposed

Egypt to foreign invasions.

Sure enough, Nubia eventually conquered a divided northern Egypt. And to make

matters worse, the Assyrians were also expanding in the near east.

The Assyrians ended the Nubian dynasties and their king became the king of a once

again unified Egypt. The Assyrians chose to do as the Hyksos did, and enlisted

Egyptians as puppet kings.

But then the Assyrian empire began falling, as

empires usually do.

Who was there to pick up the pieces? Another,

very powerful empire - the Persian.

This marks the start of the late period, the last

of the dynastic periods.

The Late Period (approx. 525–332 BC)

The Persian dynasties saw a revolt from the Egyptians. And although there were

moments when the Egyptians had regained control of Egypt, these were short-lived.

Ultimately, the Persians kept the power until the coming of none

The Egyptian Pyramids

Symbol Of Ancient Egypt

The Egyptian Pyramids, the first thing you think about when you hear the word

"Egypt" - along with the Egyptian Sphinx and King Tut.

A pyramid is basically a structure with triangular sides, all of which meet at the top.

Pyramids have either three, four or five sides.

Since the weight is greatest at the bottom and least at the top, the center of gravity

of pyramids is very low - which makes for very stable buildings. That's why many of

the ancient pyramids have survived till today.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, built around 2570

BC, is the only ancient wonder of the world

still standing.

Other than the Egyptian pyramids (which

number over 110) there were other ancient

pyramids built in Mesopotamia, Greece,

Mexico, Rome and other places. And these

days there are many modern structures built

to resemble these old ones, such as the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas.

The oldest pyramids were those of Mesopotamia, not Egypt. But they were built with

mud-brick and not much of them survived. The oldest Egyptian pyramid is the Step

Pyramid of King Djoser. The largest number of pyramids built was that of the Nubian

civilization, over 200 of them. They were inspired by the Egyptian pyramids and

were used as royal tombs also.

The functions of pyramids differed from civilization to civilization. Those in Mexico

were used for human sacrifice.

But still, the most famous are the Egyptian - used as tombs for royalty. Many of

them were built into complexes containing mortuary temples and some even

included pits with buried ancient Egyptian boats used for the king's journey in the

afterlife.

Function of the Egyptian Pyramids

The ancient Egyptians first constructed pyramids to use as tombs for the kings and

queens; their function later change to be resting places for the souls of the deceased.

Pyramid building was also later expanded to include pyramids built for non-royal

(yet wealthy) individuals.

The shape of the pyramids (serving as tombs) has a lot to do with religious

symbolism.

First of all, they reflect the shape of the primordial mound of creation "benben".

According to the Egyptian creation myth, which describes how the world was born,

benben was an earthly mound that appeared out of the water and produced the first

God.

They derived this shape after originally covering pit graves with mounds of dirt, later

refining the technique and style until reaching the final pyramid shape. How the

pyramids were built is still a very popular topic today. Click here to learn about the

Construction of Ancient Egyptian Pyramids

Egyptian Mummies:

Ancient Egyptians Hoping for a Second

Chance

Preserving the dead as Egyptian mummies was one way they ensured the

continuation of life. It was not some morbid fascination with death, although it could

seem that way.

On the contrary, the ancient Egyptians

hoped for resurrection and an eternal

afterlife in the Egyptian Heaven.

Keeping the physical body preserved,

and providing the deceased with

materials necessary for the long

journey, was how the mummy came

to be.

The organs were also preserved in Canopic Jars.

Of course, I'm not sure being preserved in a museum is what they had in mind. And

the fact remains that by uncovering tombs and unearthing bodies, we are kind of

desecrating the dead. But there was no other way to find out so much about the

...besides, isn't being remembered one of the ways you can live forever?

By Sand or By Hand?

Unfortunately for many, the afterlife heavily depended on the funerary budget.

Affording a tomb and a proper Egyptian mummification process was kind of difficult

on a farmer's salary. And without those, the chances of a prolonged afterlife were

greatly diminished.

And not only were the tombs painted and embellished - but they were packed with

foods, drinks, pets, clothes all to make the journey more pleasant.

In fact, they even fashioned figurines and cast spells on them to do the deceased's

work in the afterlife (who wants to work after death?!). These Shawabti were buried

in the tombs too.

And so, Egyptian mummification was mostly for those that were rich or noble in life.

The poorer individuals were buried in the sand, which did a surprisingly good job of

preserving their bodies too. So, Egyptian mummies are now split into two categories

- those who were naturally preserved, and those who were mummified by a

man-made process.

Still, even with the expense and effort it took, it was an all-important ritual for the

ancient Egyptians. It's estimated that in the 3000-years, more than 70 million

mummies were made in Egypt. They only stopped the tradition between the fourth

and seventh century AD, when many Egyptians became Christian.

Show Me Mummy!

The fact that the tombs of the rich and elite were filled with treasures gave rise to

quite an aggressive period of tomb-robbery. So many precious pieces of history

were destroyed and stolen in the early 20th century.

Tomb robbers were not the only problem. The truth is, even the early scientist and

archeologists working to uncover the mysteries of Egypt were not very experienced

with mummies. They may have unintentionally destroyed important artifacts.

One of the first man-made mummies, that of King Djer, was found completely

deteriorated except for an arm. And as that arm was beautifully decorated with

jewelry, the jewelry was taken for a museum display while the mummified arm was

thrown away.

Egyptian mummies were also sold by the hundreds for different purposes. Some

were ground into powder and sold as medicines. Some were stripped of their

wrapping that was used to make paint for artists. Some were sold to aristocrats as

a centerpiece for unfolding during high society gatherings.

Even mummified Egyptian cats were sold as fertilizer.

Afterlifestyles of The Rich and Famous

The Pharaohs usually being the richest, most

powerful and most famous of Egyptians, had

elaborate tombs and many of their mummies

are still well-preserved.

The most popular of which is King Tut (image

on the left), but there are a few other very

famous mummies.

Click here to meet some of the most famous ancient Egyptian mummies, and to

read about the infamous curse of the mummy.

Since, to the ancient Egyptians, the social structure and the division of classes were

maintained in the afterlife – the Pharaohs held on to their God status. And so a

common practice was the defacing of Royal tombs by rival successors.

Queen Hatshepsut was a victim of tomb desecration. Fortunately though, her

successor replaced her name with his own on the monuments she built, instead of

destroying them completely.

But even after being robbed, sold, studied, exhibited, poked at, ingested, and God

knows what else - Egyptian mummies still hold the respect and admiration of all of

us. They capture our imaginations time and time again.

Ancient Roman Civilization

The Roman civilization is considered to be the most leading among all due to its wide spread

popularity and acceptance around the world. The influence of the Roman Civilization can be

felt even in the modern times in the fields of law, art, battles, language and architecture etc.

Features of the Roman Civilization

 The Italian peninsula was the legendary base where the great civilization rose to

power.

 Rome derived its name from Romulus (who along with his twin brother Remus is

regarded as the founder of Rome). Romulus is said to have killed Remus in a fight

to construct their cities.

 Rome was born on the Palatine hill as a small community. Gradually the

community began to spread into the nearby hills and gave birth to the city of

Rome.

 Latin language became popular world over in the times of the Roman civilization as

the various facts about this culture were discovered in this language.

 The Romans enriched their culture with that of the Etruscans (people from ancient

Tuscany and Umbria) like gladiator wars and chariot races etc.

Roman Civilization - from Monarchy to Oligarchy to Autocracy

It all started as a miniscule community and rose into a large empire. The remarkable

civilization of ancient Rome has witnesses the following realms:

 Monarchy - the kind of government in which all political decisions are made by a

single leader.

 Oligarchy - the kind of government in which the political powers are conferred upon

a societal group on the basis of their family status and prosperity.

 Autocracy - this kind of government is more or less synonymous to monarchy. In

this unlimited authorities are bestowed over the ruler.

The massive spread of the civilization was into Europe, Middle East and some parts of Africa.

The acceptance of the Roman culture among people was either by force or own will.

Class Discrimination - A Very Distinct Feature of the Roman Civilization

The three classes were as below:

 Servi - These were the slaves who lived a hard life with laborious jobs. They were

the basic economy builders being ruled by the top classes.

 Liberti - These were slaves who were liberated and given Roman citizenship and

were known as freedmen. The freedom was granted to the slave if he was highly

educated or had delivered an exceptionally good service for long. The slave could

also buy his freedom by paying the desired amount or possessions to the owner.

 Cives - These were the topmost class who were considered to be free-born. There

were divisions within this class as well like the patricians (having one of the 100

patriarchs as their ancestors who founded Rome) and the plebeians (who

became politically strong with their wealth).

Ancient Rome - Technologically Advanced

 The technological mastery can be traced on the basis of the outstandingly

constructed structures like monuments, roads, bridges and theatres. The classic

artisans secretly guarded their technological discoveries from each other.

 The transport network was unbeatable during the ancient Roman civilization

wherein posts were constructed to provide refreshments to the weary travelers.

 The agricultural lands, cities and industries were well supplied with water through

pipes of excellent architecture.

Historical Personalities of Ancient Rome

 Julius Caesar

 Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

 Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus

 Edward Gibbon

 Barbara M. Levick

 Barthold Georg Niebuhr

Hellenistic civilization

Hellenistic civilization (Greek civilization beyond classical Greeks)

represents the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world from

323 BC to about 146 BC (or arguably as late as 30 BC). Hellenistic

civilization was preceded by the Classical Hellenic period, and

followed by Roman rule over the areas Greece had earlier dominated –

even though much of Greek culture, religion, art and literature still

permeated Rome's rule, whose elite spoke and read Greek as well as

Latin.

The spread of Hellenistic culture was sparked by the conquests of

Alexander the Great. After his ventures of the Persian Empire, Hellenistic

kingdoms were established throughout south-west Asia (the 'Near' and

'Middle East') and north-east Africa (ancient Egypt and Cyrene in ancient

Libya). This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to these

new realms, and moreover Greek colonists themselves. Equally, however,

these new kingdoms were influenced by the indigenous cultures, adopting

local practices where beneficial, necessary or convenient.

Hellenistic civilization thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek

world with that of the Near East, Middle East and Southwest Asia, and a

departure from earlier Greek attitudes towards "barbarian" cultures. The

extent to which genuinely hybrid Greco-Asian cultures emerged is

contentious; consensus tends to point towards pragmatic cultural

adaptation by the elites of society, but for much of the populations, life

[1]would probably have continued much as it had before.

The Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek

colonization[2] (as distinguished from that occurring in the 8th-6th

centuries BC) which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and

Africa.[3] Those new cities were composed of Greek colonists who came from

different parts of the Greek world, and not, as before, from a specific

"mother city".[3] The main cultural centers expanded from mainland Greece

to Pergamon, Rhodes, and new Greek colonies such as Seleucia, Antioch and

Alexandria. This mixture of Greek-speakers gave birth to a common

Attic-based dialect, known as Hellenistic Greek, which became the

lingua

franca through the Hellenistic world.

The term "Hellenistic" itself is derived from Ἕλλην (Héllēn), the

Greeks' traditional name for themselves. It was coined by the historian

Johann Gustav Droysen to refer to the spreading of Greek culture and

colonization over the non-Greek lands that were conquered by Alexander

the Great in the 4th century BC, compared to "Hellenic" which describes

Greek culture in its native form. There has been much debate about the

validity of Droysen's ideas, leading many to reject the label

'Hellenistic' (at least in the specific meaning of Droysen).[4] However,

the term Hellenistic can still be usefully applied to this period in

history, and, moreover, no better general term does so.