ANCIENT EGYPT
General RemarksThere is a fascination about Ancient Egypt that most of us have
experienced. The pyramids and Cleopatra are dramatic parts of their past. Did you know that nearly 3000 years separate them? While Egyptian
civilization is not necessarily the oldest in the ancient world, it is the longest lasting civilization in the world.1 Basically, this ancient civilization existed unchanged for thousands of years. Historians usually begin relating the history of Ancient Egypt ca. 4000 B.C.E., and end it with the last pharaoh’s death, Cleopatra VII in 30 B.C.E. Although there were thirty-one dynasties people generally lived under the same political, economic, social and
religious structures thereby enjoying stability and serenity that only infrequently was interrupted. Even the same styles of art were followed except under the monotheistic beliefs of the Pharaoh Akhenaton and his chief wife Nefertiti. For the ancient Egyptians sameness represented peace and civilization. Historians have traditionally focused on civilizations that have thrived on change and war. Egypt provides a fascinating comparison as the longest peaceful civilization in world history.
Advantageous Geography of Ancient Egypt
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Many scholars argue that Ancient Egypt is older than Ancient Sumer. Most Egyptians today live in the Delta region of the Nile, and that is where they lived in ancient times. Excavations have not been done there as in the rest of ancient Egypt along the nearly 750 miles of settlement along the Nile. Imagine what occurred ca 7000 b.c.e.?
Aided by geography and Mother Nature, and surrounded by deserts and the Red and Mediterranean Seas, this left the ancient Egyptians
comparatively free from threats of foreign invasion. Their climate then and now was dry and invigorating. Even the hottest days produced none of the oppressive discomfort as Egypt has low humidity and cool nights. The winds that blew three-fourths of the year from the north meant a general absence of malaria that plagued other regions. As the current of the Nile flowed northward, and winds southward, transportation thrived. Ancient Egypt was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt with their capitols of Memphis (near modern Cairo) and Thebes (now Luxor.)
Hieroglyphics and Papyrus
When scholars set about reconstructing the past of ancient Egypt, there was a problem as they did not know how to decode the hieroglyphics. In 1799 the Rosetta Stone was found, and French and English scholars
proceeded to decipher how to read the hieroglyphics from the three separate writings on it in archaic Greek, Coptic and the hieroglyphics themselves.2 Hieroglyphics are based on three types of characters: pictographic, syllabic, and alphabetic. Had the Egyptians separated the alphabetic symbols from the other two forms, they would have developed the writing systems that
2 Coptic still survives as the liturgical language of the Coptic Christian Church in Egypt. Cleopatra VII was the last pharaoh to read hieroglyphics.
are credited to the ancient Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans.3 Ancient Egyptians wrote on papyrus, the reed that grew wild along the Nile. They cut it in strips, flattened them, put them in water with weights (laying them first rectangular, then perpendicular. Papyrus has natural glue that held the strips together, and thus the origin of the word paper. Papyrus had multiply uses as boats, baskets, and sandals were made from it, and even in a pinch papyrus could be eaten. The dry climate has left many papyrus rolls to reconstruct their ancient past. Most Egyptians never went to school, but there were schools for scribes, which was an honorable profession as in Mesopotamia. Scribes did important work for the state, keeping tax records and recording judicial proceedings and decrees. Due to the long years of study, social mobility was possible for scribes, including persons of common birth.
The Nile River – “Gift of the Nile”
Life in Ancient Egypt was really ruled by the Nile not by dates. Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, surely had reason to designate Egypt as “The Gift of the Nile.” Flooding regularly each year during the summer months, the Nile left rich silt making Egypt as fertile as
Mesopotamia. Water generally always receded in time for the growing season. As a consequence, the deities associated with the Nile River were benign and predictable, not what was experienced in Ancient Mesopotamia
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with the unpredictable flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. As the longest river in the world (4000 miles), the Nile starts in the mountains of Central Africa, and carved a vast canyon bounded on either side by towering cliffs. The valley along the Nile was anywhere from ten to thirty-one miles wide. Between the river and the cliffs lay rich alluvial soil that in certain places was more than thirty feet deep, making the soil so productive that as many as three crops could be raised yearly. Ancient Egyptians diked and dammed the river to release a continual flow of water into the fields with irrigation ditches. Flooding of the Nile occurred until the Aswan Dam was completed in 1971.
Political History
The political history of Ancient Egypt is generally divided into six
periods, with the earliest called the archaic or pre-dynastic period (ca. 3100-ca.2770 B.C.E.4 This is when the development and inception of a single monarch, the pharaoh, occurred, and Egypt became the world’s first united nation with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the ruler, Namer. 5 Before that, separate powers had ruled in Upper and Lower Egypt, but unity was essential for Ancient Egypt’s future as a single government was necessary to regulate the irrigation projects peacefully along the Nile. Even the white and red crowns were united making one crown. Ancient Egyptian
4 The Textbook usually covers more of the political history 5
history is divided into three main eras: the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom, separated by two intermediate periods when the country’s fortunes were temporarily at a low ebb. Over the last one hundred years, dates have been altered by Egyptologists, but not the numbering system of the dynasties. The Old Kingdom ca. 2705 -2200 B.C.E. lasted about 550 years, and this was when the most famous structures were built: the three pyramids at Giza, and the Sphinx6. This is considered the classical or golden era in Egyptian history that compares with other civilizations’ golden ages. At this time the authority and prestige of the pharaoh was at its apex. During the first immediate period that lasted until ca. 2050 B.C.E. the power of the pharaoh was eclipsed by his advisors, but now not only the pharaohs, but all Egyptians could have eternal life. During the Middle
Kingdom, ca. 2050 – 1640 B.C.E., expansion in both political and economic realms transpired, and the capitol was now moved from Memphis to
Thebes.7 The nobles remained powerful while also giving loyalty to the pharaohs, who now were showing a new sense of social responsibility. Circa 1786-1560 B.C.E. the second intermediate period occurred when Egypt was conquered by the Hyksos or foreigners, but life continued as usual. Egypt only paid tribute to these conquerors, but in the process, the Egyptians learned methods of warfare that apparently they had not be exposed to previously. In the New Kingdom ca. 1560-1087 B.C.E. the pharaohs went
6 Scholars and textbooks do not agree on the exact dates for the various kingdoms and intermediate periods. 7
about acquiring an empire in the Near East. More territory was annexed than could be managed successfully and eventually most of the conquered areas were lost. When the New Kingdom came to a close Egypt’s days as a great nation were over, although pharaohs interspersed with foreign conquerors continued to occupy the royal throne, including Egyptians or Nubians,
Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Perhaps the most famous foreign rulers were the Ptolemies, who succeeded as Hellenistic rulers when
Alexander the Great died in the fourth century B.C.E. Cleopatra VII who identified herself with the Goddess Isis was the last Ptolemaic ruler. She will be covered under the Roman Empire chapter.
Structure of Society
Most societies of ancient history can be graphed like a pyramid structure, and probably no society better fits this analogy than ancient Egypt, home of the pyramids. At the apex of society was the pharaoh. Below the pharaoh were the other classes. Priests, priestesses, and nobles constituted 2-3%. The middling class held 5-8% of the people who were scribes, merchants, artisans, and wealthy farmers. Peasants represented 75-80% of the Ancient Egyptians, and at the bottom were the servants (5-8% of the population.) During the Middle Kingdom a sixth class was added: professional soldiers, who were about 10% of the people, thus lowering the percentage of peasants to 65-70%. Thousands of slaves were also captured in this period, and for a time formed a seventh class. Yet humble people
could rise to the highest positions if they possessed talent. An example of this is the biblical story of Joseph who was sold into Egyptian slavery by his brothers, and then eventually rose to second only to the Pharaoh.
Standards of living separated the upper and lower classes of Egypt perhaps even wider than recently in America. Wealthy nobles lived in splendid villas that opened onto gardens with shade trees. Their food had all the richness and variety like today. They ate from vessels of alabaster, gold, and silver, and adorned themselves with expensive clothing and costly jewelry. These wealthy individuals would definitely have had servants and maybe foreign slaves. It has been determined that ancient Egyptians had vineyards
producing a variety of wines that were stored and labeled almost the same as today. By contrast the life of the poor laborers in towns inhabited
congested quarters in mud—brick houses. All was not lost, though, as it is thought that there were seventeen kinds of beer, including expensive imports, although the workers probably did not have access to these imports. It is known that the workers on the pyramids and other temples were paid in beer at times, and new excavations have shown their living accommodations were nice.
Power of the Pharaoh
Power of the pharaohs was unlimited, and they ruled Egypt as a theocracy. The pharaohs were responsible for the crop yields, commerce, trade, law-giver, and ownership of the land. People paid rent to him for
their land. Governing through two viziers, one at Memphis and one at Thebes, along with a well-organized hierarchy of bureaucrats allowed the pharaohs to maintain a stable government most of the time. Problems then as now were evident with bureaucratic red tape when a letter was found at Saqqara from 2200 b.c.e. regarding quarry workers. The supervisor of these workers balked at orders mandating him to take his men across the river to government headquarters to receive their clothing. He wrote that it was an unwarranted interruption of his duties, by pointing out that this procedure had wasted up to six days. He added that “This whole business could be settled in a single day if the clothes were sent to them by barge.”
Family and Marriage Customs
Egyptologists do not know as much about their family and marriage customs, but it is assumed that polygamy was permitted although the basic family unit was a monogamous marriage. Even pharaohs who had harems of secondary wives and concubines, still had a chief wife, who was head of the household. Evidence of brother-sister marriages is available, but only with the royal dynasties to keep the line pure for political reasons. In fact, a young pharaoh-to-be often married his sister to enhance his right to the throne. This was more common during the Ptolemy and Roman periods. However, for most of Ancient Egyptian history descent was matrilineal.
Some of the most fascinating information we have found concerns the contraceptive measures they used. It is obvious that they wanted to limit the number of children, but children were usually welcomed once they were born. There is some evidence that children were abandoned to the waters of the Nile by poor who could not feed them, illegitimate children, and slaves who could not keep their children, and did not have the heart to kill them. The only evidence we have of the practice of infanticide is in the Bible, where Moses was cast into the Nile River in a reed basket. In the medical papyrus rolls, there is an intriguing contraception composed of crocodile dung that was cut up into sour milk. Undoubtedly, the acidic component of this mixture worked as a spermicide. Sponges soaked in vinegar were common contraceptive devices until quite recently in the Western World. Another method that supposedly prevented conception for up to one to three years was a concoction of ground acacia tips or spikes, apples, dates, and honey.
When a child was born, the mother was unclean for usually fourteen days, a custom practiced by most other cultures too. Soon after the birth, a professional astrologer would cast a horoscope for the child to determine what career and type of life the child would have. There are paintings on the ceilings of some of the tombs, showing these early signs of the zodiac. During Cleopatra’s reign, it appears that Julius Caesar took this idea along
with the Egyptian solar calendar to Rome, where it was incorporated into Roman society.
Status and Role of Women
It is apparent by looking at the statues, paintings, and writings, that ancient Egyptian society treated women with equality and respect. Women had more privileges than any other ancient civilization, except maybe the Celts. Wives were not secluded when dining and entertaining as they were in Greece. Drinking wine was not restricted or forbidden to women either. In fact, there is evidence that excess drinking was not uncommon to both sexes in Ancient Egypt. There is even an ancient image of a woman throwing up after indulging too much. Women could own and inherit
property, engage in business and trade, and almost alone among the ancient peoples, Egyptians permitted women to succeed to the Throne. While
Queen or Pharaoh Hatshepsut was not the first female ruler, she surely was the most important one based on her accomplishments, as one of the most outstanding rulers in the eighteen dynasty. More will be written about her when discussing the important pharaohs.
Personal Care and Leisure Activities
Ancient Egyptians’ personal care is another amazing story. Both genders wore bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and make-up. Women
vitamin A for their eyes that was retrieved from bat droppings. Both men and women went to barbers who shaved their heads and bodies with bronze razors. Fine wigs were donned when they went out. False beards on the pharaohs were striking stylistic determinants. Leisure activities for the upper classes were hunting, playing games (including Senet, the forerunner of Backgammon, and available in stores today.), enjoying athletic contests, singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments.
Medical Practices
Some of the ancient Egyptians most remarkable work was in the field of medicine. Doctors were world famous, and even the Greek physician, Hippocrates, acknowledged that. Medical care underwent some important changes that other societies would have to wait for hundreds of years to accomplish. The earliest doctors were magicians for it was the belief that disease and sickness were caused by evil forces entering the body. This disease or evil force could be driven out or killed by threats, curses, spells, and sympathetic magic. Some of the earliest medical treatments were made up of concoctions so revolting that it was thought the evil spirits could not endure. These dreadful ingredients were animal and human dung, urine; bat, pelican and fly droppings, and fish. Inevitably some of these
“medicines” contained efficacious ingredients, and doctors eventually saw disease coming from natural not supernatural causes, although magic was not entirely eliminated. It became the physicians’ duty to provide accurate
diagnoses and reliable treatments. Some of their diagnostic methods were taking the patient’s pulse and listening to their heartbeat. They even were able to diagnose hypochondria as an ailment. Four categories of specialists developed: eye doctor, tooth doctor, belly doctor, and “shepherd of the hindquarters”, a most necessary branch of medicine in a society where intestinal troubles endemic due to the parasites in the Nile River. Surgeries were done including circumcision. According to Clement of Alexandria (200 C.E.), Egyptians had forty-two books containing sum total of human
knowledge. Among these were six papyrus rolls on Medicine. One of the six dealt with women, and there was a midwifery school. It is calculated that Ancient Egyptian physicians knew and made use of at least a third of the medicinal plants found in modern pharmacopoeia. The historical image for prescriptions at Pharmacies today is the eye of Horus = R/, who lost it in an epic struggle with his uncle Seth.
Science and Mathematical Advancements
Medical knowledge was not the only scientific advances ancient Egypt accomplished. Astronomy was highly advanced, and they came up with the solar calendar. They also devised arithmetical operations of addition,
subtraction, and division. They invented the decimal system, but ironically had no symbol for zero. Mathematical measurements of triangles,
rectangles, and hexagons were developed as well as ratio of the
coming close to modern pi. More interesting dimensions will be covered when discussing the building of the pyramids.
