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Egypt is the Nile, a vast river valley trapped between deserts. The ancient Egyptians felt their country consisted of two lands, Tawy (the Egyptian name for their own country): the black land, Khemit, was the soil along the river banks, swept down by the Nile’s annual floods; the red land, Deshret, was the desert, a vast sun-baked wasteland, home to snakes and vultures.
The Nile is the greatest river on Earth, thousands of miles long. From its two sources in southern and eastern Africa, the two branches meet in Kush, then the river carves its way through one of the most spectacular gorges on Earth, and finally empties into the Mediterranean a thousand miles later, fanning out through thousands of square miles of swamp land in the Nile Delta before pouring into the sea with a seafront of 155 miles. In Nubia and Kush, south of Egypt, the river goes through a series of five sets of rapids called cataracts. As each of these halted river traffic, they formed natural boundaries between nations: the First Cataract between Egypt and Nubia, the Third between Nubia and Kush.
Habitable land runs along a narrow strip on either bank of the Nile (in some places less than 30 miles wide) before giving way to the desert. With the exception of occasional palm and cypress groves, trees were rare along the Nile.
Every year, months after rains at the Nile’s sources swell its proportions, the rushing waters overflow its banks in Egypt, inundating low-lying land with precious water and fertile silt. The importance of this annual flood cannot be understated; whenever the floods were too low or too high famine followed, and the kingdom collapsed more than once because of it.
To harness the flood, dams were built on dry land at right angles to the flow of the Nile, dividing the valley into basins. The flood waters would be trapped within these basins, and the entire Nile Valley would be under water for miles on either side of the river proper, except for cities, temples, and tombs, which were built on high ground, on platforms, or at a distance from the river.
Away from the Nile, the desert is a flat, inhospitable landscape, except as it approaches the western shore of the Red Sea, where it rises into a mountain range whose granite peaks once provided sandstone for the building of the pyramids. Rainfall is sparse in Egypt, less than an inch per year along the river sections, and much less in the desert. When rain does fall on the mountains it fills dry riverbeds, turning them in minutes from memories of rivers past to potentially deadly torrents.
Aside from the Nile, there are a number of smaller fresh water sources in Egypt, such as the Siwah Oasis located in the desert to the west of the river. Lake Faiyum was an artificial lake west of Memphis created by diverting some of the Nile’s flood water through a canal into a natural depression in the desert. During the dry season water from the lake could be released back into the Nile through a second canal. Supposedly one of the pharaohs built a massive funeral complex and labyrinth on the shores of the lake but it has yet to be found.
Population
Egyptian cities were large by ancient standards. In 3100 BCE, in the time of Narmer, the population of Thebes was about 30,000 people (Uruk, in Babylon, was estimated at 50,000). The population of Egypt as a whole then was between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people. By the time of the New Kingdom, major cities had populations between 20,000 and 50,000. By the end of the Testament period Egypt’s population was 5,000,000.
During times of repeated poor Nile floods, or the intermediate periods between the strong Egyptian kingdoms, population could drop by half.
Cities
The majority of Egypt’s population lived in villages or smaller settlements on both banks of the Nile from the Mediterranean to the First Cataract of the Nile, which marked the border with Nubia. Cities could be found every few dozen miles, many of them provincial capitals or centers of the cults of particular gods. In the Delta, near the Lower Egyptian capital of Memphis, and in Upper Egypt, near the other national administrative center, Thebes, settlement was more dense. Important sites include:
Abu Simbel: This site marked the southern boundary of the New
Kingdom, 100 miles south of the First Cataract. It featured four 60-ft. sitting statues depicting Pharaoh Ramesses II, carved into the cliff side facing the Nile.
Abydos: This was the city of Osiris after its previous patron, the jackal
god Kenti-Amentiu, was absorbed into the cult of Osiris during the 5th Dynasty. Abydos was an important pilgrimage site for those who wanted to be buried as close to Osiris as possible; and when people couldn’t be buried here, they’d sometimes erected markers here that listed their name, title, and achievements to constantly remind the god of their presence and worthiness.
Alexandria: Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, this was
the capital city of Ptolemaic Egypt. It contained one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the great lighthouse of Pharos protecting the city’s harbor, and a spectacular museum and library containing the largest collection of books and scrolls in the ancient world.
Akhetaten: Also known as Amarna, this was the new capital city
built by Pharaoh Akhenaten during Egypt’s brief flirtation with monotheism. Akhetaten reached an estimated population of 30,000 in its heyday, and stretched 7 miles from north to south. It was one of the most beautiful cities of its day, but its glory was short-lived; it was abandoned and mostly destroyed within a generation of Akhenaten’s death.
Avaris: This city in the Nile Delta was the capital of the Hyksos’s kingdom
during the Second Intermediate Period. Its most noteworthy feature was a huge Canaanite-style temple (probably consecrated to Set, the Egyptian deity that the Hyksos most revered).
Avaris was a center of Canaanite culture and influence until it was conquered by Ahmose I, who drove the Hyksos from power and founded the New Kingdom. In later days, Avaris became Pi-Ramesses, the administrative capital of Ramesses II and one of the largest cities of the ancient world. This city may have been the jumping-off point for the Exodus.
Bubastis: The city of the cat goddess Bast, this was the capital of Egypt
under Osorkon and the other Libyan kings that followed the New Kingdom in the 22nd and 23rd Dynasty. Bubastis was famous for its wild celebrations (which some claimed drew 700,000 Egyptians to the city), as well as for its beautiful red granite temple to Bast, and a series of mud brick cat necropolises on the north side of the city.
Dendara: A city north of Thebes and a cult center of Hathor. Edfu: A city in the south of Egypt, dedicated to the god Horus. It
was believed to be the capital of the pre-dynastic Horus and was possible the home city of Narmer.
Elephantine: Known as Abu to its inhabitants, this city was located on
an island in the middle of the Nile near the First Cataract. It was dedicated to the ram-headed god Khmun. On the west bank of the Nile, carved into cliffs opposite the city, are the tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdom nobles who governed the region.
Chapter 17:
Geography of Egypt
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- CHAPTER 17: geography of Egypt -
Elephantine was the doorway to the south until Egypt pushed into Nubia in New Kingdom times. In later years, it was still an administrative center for Egypt’s southern territories. The quarries of Elephantine had some of the best granite in Egypt, and its stone was shipped up river to be used in the construction of many pyramids. The city was the home to a large Jewish community during the Babylonian Exile.
Giza: Site of the great pyramids.
Heliopolis: Known as Heliopolis to the Greeks, Per-Re (“City of the
Sun”) to Egyptians, this was Egypt’s capital throughout most of the New Kingdom. Heliopolis must have been an extremely populous city, as its temple complex of Amun alone employed 13,000 priests and slaves. Heliopolis was a center for religious writings and teachings, as well as a home for the cults of Re and Amun.
Herakleopolis: Known to its inhabitants as Nen-Ny-sut, this was the
residence of the kings of the 9th and 10th Dynasty. It became a minor city after that time.
Memphis: Constructed at the boundary between Upper and Lower Egypt,
this was the capital city of the majority of pharaohs, called Ankh- Tawy (“that which binds the two lands”). Pharaohs invoked the city in one of the oaths that called upon things ancient and holy, naming it even ahead of Thebes. Memphis was the center of the cult of Ptah.
Sais: Capital of Egypt during the Late Dynastic Period, it was an
important commercial center for trading with the Greeks. It was also the cult center of the goddess Neith, the city’s patron. Isis was also prominently worshiped here.
Saqqara: Saqqara was a necropolis, a city of the dead, on the opposite
bank of the Nile from Memphis. For thousands of years, the people of Memphis and nearby cities used it as a mausoleum. Saqqara is the site of the Step Pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser, the first of the great pyramids of Egypt. It was designed by Imhotep himself and is the world’s oldest surviving major stone monument. Saqqara was also the home of the Serapeum, tombs for the Apis bulls, which were sacred to god Ptah. These beasts were buried in stone sarcophagi that measured 12 ft. by 10 ft. and weighed as much as 70 tons.
Tanis: Tanis was founded by Ramesses II, possibly built with Israelite
slave labor. During the 21st and 22nd Dynasties of the Meshwesh (Libyans), it became the capital of Egypt.
Thebes: Known as Waset to the Egyptians, this was the most important
city of Upper Egypt throughout most of its history.
Thebes straddled the Nile; the great temples of Karnak and Luxor sit on its east bank, while to the west lies the Valley of the Kings. Its temples were connected by a mile-long avenue of sphinxes mounted on pedestals, At the heart of the temple complex was the great obelisk of Thutmose I, 71 feet in height, and weighing about 143 tons.
Neighboring Nations
To the East: The Red Sea and the deserts to the east of Egypt created a
natural barrier to invaders. Nomads lived in the region and caravan routes to the cities of Phoenicia and Mesopotamia crossed the desert. Occasionally tribes of Canaanites would be forced (usually by drought in their homelands) to cross the border en masse.
To the South: South of Egypt along the Nile were the nations of Nubia
and, further south, Kush. Sometimes trading partners, sometimes threats, sometimes conquered peoples, and even for a short time the conquerors, for much of Egypt’s history relations with these southern tribes were seen as more important than those with the nations of the Mediterranean.
To the West: Protected by desert on its western border as well, pharaohs
rarely had to deal with threats stronger than raiding nomads from this quarter. During a period of profound weakness in Egypt (corresponding to the United Monarchy in Israel), the Libyans invaded and set themselves up as the rulers of the country.
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Creation Myths
Unlike other Testament civilizations, Egypt did not have a creation myth. Instead, it had dozens of mutually exclusive creation myths. Every one of the major gods, and many of the minor ones, was credited by one temple, town, or province with the creation of the world out of a dark, formless ocean called Nun, defeating, avoiding, or tricking the serpent Apep in the process. As for when the creation happened, since Egypt and the Nile were eternal and unchanging, the question was considered meaningless; creation happened some time in the past.
- Earliest -
civilizations
Historically, Egypt was born in the late Stone Age, when the well- watered Sahara plains dried up, forcing people to migrate toward the Nile, whose life-giving floods made stable agriculture possible. Village-sized settlements along the Nile experienced a dramatic population growth around 5500 BCE. Towns and cities can be found about 4500 BCE, Primitive hieroglyphics, used to record wealth, and the earliest depictions of deities can be found by 4000 BCE.
By the end of the 4th millennium BCE, the Nile civilization had settled into 30 small kingdoms sharing a single language (because of trade on the river) and divided into two cultural groups, one in the north (Lower Egypt) around the Nile Delta, and the other in the south (Upper Egypt) from the First Cataract to the Delta.
Around 3100 BCE a southern king known only as Scorpion, with the support of the cult of the god Horus, led an army north, conquering each of the small kingdoms in his path. After his death, his son Narmer (“Catfish”) completed the task, unifying all 30 of the kingdoms (turning them into provinces that would remain as administrative divisions for 3,000 years). Narmer’s son Hor-Aha (“Fighting Hawk”) established a capital at Memphis, at the border between Lower and Upper Egypt. He and his descendants were declared the 1st Dynasty of the united Egypt (Narmer and Scorpion being pre-dynastic). They and the 2nd Dynasty spent the next 300 years consolidating their rule, fighting off challenges from the east and south, and building religious and social structures (e.g., a unified pantheon and ending human sacrifice) to turn the conquered provinces into a true nation.
- Age of -
Wonders
The 3rd Dynasty was the start of the Old Kingdom, a golden age of stability, law, and religion. It was also an age of backbreaking labor. Pharaohs became obsessed with the importance of building great tombs, at first increasing their length and width, but eventually building them higher and higher into the sky as pyramids. The first pyramid is credited to Imhotep, vizier of the 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser. Imhotep’s genius was so highly revered by Egyptians that he was later worshiped as a god. The 4th Dynasty (in the mid-3rd millennia BCE) was the height of the Old Kingdom. The pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx were constructed at this time. The Great Pyramid of Khufu, the most ancient of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the only one standing today, took 20 years to build and required a labor force of some 100,000 laborers, working