Egyptian Civilization

1. Egyptian Civilization The Nile Dynastic Egypt Religion Writing

2. The Nile • The basic element in the lengthy history of Egyptian civilization is geography. • The Nile River rises from the lakes of central Africa as the White Nile and from the mountains of Ethiopia as the Blue Nile. • The White and Blue Nile meet at Khartoum and flow together northward to the Nile delta, where the 4000 mile course of this river spills into the Mediterranean Sea

3. Farming and The Nile • Less than two inches of rain per year falls in the delta and rain is relatively unknown in other parts of Egypt. Most of the land is uninhabitable. • These geographical factors have determined the character of Egyptian civilization. • People could farm only along the banks of the Nile, where arid sand meets the fertile soil. • The river overflows its banks and floods the land with fresh water and deposits a thick layer of rich alluvial soil. • The land would then yield two harvests before winter.

5. Proto Kingdoms of Egypt • Proto-Kingdoms of Upper Egypt • Nagada, ca. 5500. • walled town with cemetaries. • capital of a major chiefdom. • Hierakonpolis, ca. 5500 • “City of the Falcon” • city-states with royal tombs. • Maadi, ca. 5650. • outskirts of modern Cairo • major trading center. • This, ca. 5500. • little is known.

6. Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt • ca. 5000 B.C. • Rulers of Hierakonpolis conquered the area • Gradual process of Egypt formed into political and social units. • Intensification of Agriculture • may have been a consequence of unification. • irrigation became more complex

7. Nagada • Nagada was a city in pre-dynastic Upper Egypt, representing a major culture of that time.  Nagada is usually broken up into three separate cultures: Amratian (Nagada I, 4200 - 3700 BC), Gerzean A (Nagada II, 3700 - 3250 BC), and Gerzean B (Nagada III, 3250 - 3050 BC). • In 1894-1895, 28 kilometers northwest of Luxor, Flinders Petrie unearthed three cemeteries at Nagada that contained 2200 graves, the largest mortuary in pre-dynastic Egypt.  • Along with the human remains, Petrie found mudbricks, dog bones, and pottery.  In later excavations, piles of mudbrick from collapsed walls were found.  • This suggests that Nagada was the precursor to the burial monuments constructed by later Egyptian civilizations.

8. Nagada con’d • During the Nagada II period, people buried several objects with the dead, characteristic of that period.  • These items included copper, ivory, bone and shell jewelry, and small model figurines of humans, oxen and boats, together with model weapons and food.  These item were believed to have magical purposes and helped with ensure that the dead would have a content afterlife. • The people who lived in Nagada were followers of the god Seth, the god who killed Osiris, the god of the dead.  • Nagada is considered to be the center for the followers of Seth.

9. Hierakonpolis • Hierakonpolis is the most important archaeological site for understanding the foundations of ancient Egyptian society. • Well before the construction of the pyramids, Hierakonpolis was one of the most important settlement along the Nile - a vibrant, bustling city with many features that would later come to typify Dynastic Egyptian civilization. • Stretching for over 2 miles along the edge of the Nile flood plain, it was a city of many neighborhoods and quarters.

11. Hierakonpolis Mummies • Over the past five years the Hierakonpolis Expedition has been excavating a cemetery (HK43) of Predynastic Hierakonpolis’ working class inhabitants. • Among the 260 burials so far uncovered we have found some which revealed evidence for what may be the very beginnings of artificial mummification. • This took the form of wrapping the head and hands with pads of linen. Pottery found in association with these burials indicates a date not later than Nagada IIb (c. 3600BC)-a good 500 years before the next evidence of mummification will be found in a tomb of a king.

12. Mummies, con’d • Burial 71was found covered in matting and buried with seven pots, one still with its lid in place. In one pot, placed behind her head beneath the matting, there were round loaves of bread almost 6000 years old. • Beneath the matting, her body was covered in a linen shroud, but in addition, her neck and her hands were found bound in linen. Examination of this resin-soaked linen has revealed that this wrapping was carefully done. Only the finest linen was against the skin, while outer wrappings became progressively coarser. • Further examination of her remains has revealed what appears to be one of her internal organs also wrapped in resin-soaked linen before being returned to the chest cavity where it was recovered. This suggests that at this time, evisceration, perhaps in order to retard putrefaction, was being practiced, making this lady truly one of Egypt's first mummies. • Aged 20-25 at the time of her death, she had the second richest burial with regard to the number of grave goods so far found.

13. Burial 71

14. Maadi • In Lower Egypt, a predynastic site was uncovered in the 1930's by Menghin and Amer. It was named Maadi and had apparently been occupied from 3600 BC to 3000 BC. It is located near the southern suburbs of Cairo, Egypt. • Maadi is a unique predynastic site. It is located on what used to be the Wadi el-Tih, an historical route to the copper mines of the Sinai Peninsula. • There is also evidence of foreign house styles and pottery, domesticated donkeys, intricate storage facilities and an advanced copper industry.  • In 3600 BC, foreign trade goods started to reach Egypt having a great effect on the communities in Lower Egypt. The prosperity of the trade networks later lead to vast settlements in Egypt such as Memphis and the settlement at Cairo.

15. Maadi, con’d • The Maadi settlement covered about 45 acres of land. Almost all of the houses were oval in shape and constructed with post walls and mud-daub wicker frame. Some of the homes were constructed underground.  These homes had entrances through a slanting passage with steps that were faced in stone. • Unlike many of the grave sites in Egypt, the Maadi culture had very simple burials.  These types of burials have distinguished the Lower societies from the Upper societies in Egypt.  generally, the grave sites are located south of the settlement about 1 km. In the 1950s, 468 burials were discovered over an acre of land. 

16. Dynasties • Narmer unified Upper and Lower Egypt and established his capital at Memphis (Thebes) around 3000 B.C.. • By the time of the Old Kingdom, the land had been consolidated under the central power of a king, who was also the "owner" of all Egypt. • Considered to be divine, he stood above the priests and was the only individual who had direct contact with the gods. • The economy was a royal monopoly and so there was no word in Egyptian for "trader." • Under the king was a carefully graded hierarchy of officials, ranging from the governors of provinces down through local mayors and tax collectors. • The entire system was supported by the work of slaves, peasants and artisans.

17. Chronology of Egypt

18. Old Kingdom • The Old Kingdom reached its highest stage of development in the Fourth Dynasty. • The most tangible symbols of this period of greatness are the three enormous pyramids built as the tombs of kings at Giza between 2600 and 2500. • The largest, Khufu (called Cheops by the Greeks), was originally 481 feet high and 756 feet long on each side. • Khufu was made up of 2.3 million stone blocks averaging 2.5 tons each. • In the 5th century B.C. the Greek historian Herodotus tells us that the pyramid took 100,000 men and twenty years to build. • The pyramids are remarkable not only for their technical engineering expertise, but also for what they tell us about royal power at the time. • They are evidence that Egyptian kings had enormous wealth as well as the power to concentrate so much energy on a personal project.

19. Middle Kingdom • During the period of the Middle Kingdom (2050-1800 B.C.) the power of the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom waned as priests and nobles gained more independence and influence. • The governors of the regions of Egypt (nomes) gained hereditary claim to their offices and subsequently their families acquired large estates. • About 2200 B.C. the Old Kingdom collapsed and gave way to the decentralization of the First Intermediate Period (2200-2050 B.C.). • Finally, the nomarchs of Thebes in Upper Egypt gained control of the country and established the Middle Kingdom.

20. 12th-17th Dynasty • The rulers of the Twelfth Dynasty restored the power of the pharaoh over the whole of Egypt although they could not control the nomarchs. • They moved the capital back to Memphis and gave great prominence to Amon, a god connected with the city of Thebes. He became identified with Re, emerging as Amon-Re. • The Middle Kingdom disintegrated in the Thirteenth Dynasty with the resurgence of the power of the nomarchs. • Around 1700 B.C. Egypt suffered an invasion by the Hyksos who came from the east (perhaps Palestine or Syria) and conquered the Nile Delta. • In 1575 B.C., a Thebian dynasty drove out the Hyksos and reunited the kingdom.

21. New Kingdom • One of the results of these imperialistic ventures of the pharaohs was the growth in power of the priests of Amon and the threat it posed to the pharaoh. • Egyptians begin burying their Rulers in the Valley of the Kings. • When young Amenhotep IV (1367-1350 B.C.) came to the throne he was apparently determined to resist the priesthood of Amon. • He moved his capital from Thebes (the center of Amon worship) to a city three hundred miles to the north at a place now called ElAmarna. • Its god was Aton, the physical disk of the sun, and the new city was called Akhenaton. • The pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaton ("it pleases Aton"). The new god was different from any that had come before him, for he was believed to be universal, not merely Egyptian.

22. Tutankhamon • His chosen successor was put aside and replaced by Tutankhamon (1347-1339 B.C.), the husband of one of the daughters of Akhenaton and his wife, Nefertiti. • The new pharaoh restored the old religion and wiped out as much as he could of the memory of the worship of Aton. He restored Amon to the center of the Egyptian pantheon, abandoned El Amarna, and returned the capital to Thebes. His magnificent tomb remained intact until its discovery in 1922. • The end of the El Amarna age restored power to the priests of Amon and to the military officers. Horemhab, a general, restored order and recovered much of the lost empire. He referred to Akhenaton as "the criminal of Akheton" and erased his name from the records. Akhenaton's city and memory disappeared for over 3000 years to be rediscovered by accident about a century ago.

23. The Boy King • Ironically, our greatest royal treasure from ancient Egypt comes from a short lived boy king. King Tutankhamun was not even in the same category of achievement as the great Egyptian kings such as Khufu (builder of the Great Pyramid), Amenhotep III (prolific builder of temples and statuary throughout Egypt), or Ramesses II (prolific builder and usurper), in terms of the length of his reign or the depth of his accomplishments. Indeed, it is his little known status that contributed to the successful hiding of his tomb, which was covered over by a later pharaoh who was clearing away an area in which to cut his own tomb. • On November 26, 1922, Howard Carter made archaeological history by unearthing the first Egyptian pharaonic tomb that still contained most of its treasures. Still, even this tomb had been robbed in antiquity, although the the robbery attempt was apparently thwarted before the thieves could make away with most of the treasure. • This tomb also yielded something else that had never been found in modern history - the pristine mummy of an Egyptian king, laying intact in his original burial furniture. • Thus, Tut's tomb gives us a unique opportunity to explore the life of King Tut and allows us to learn more about this essential period in New Kingdom Egyptian history.

24. Carter outside Tut’s tomb

25. Tut’s sarcophagus And funeral mask

26. Some Jewelry and Ornaments from King Tut’s Tomb

27. Religion • The priests, an important body within the ruling caste, were a social force working to modify the king's supremacy. • Yielding to the demands of the priests of Re, a sun god, kings began to call themselves "sons of Re," adding his name as a suffix to their own. • Re was also worshipped in temples that were sometimes larger than the pyramids of later kings.

28. Gods • The creator of all things was either Re, Amun, Ptah, Khnum or Aten, depending on which version of the myth was currently in use. • The heavens were represented by Hathor, Bat, and Horus. Osiris was an earth god as was Ptah. The annual flooding of the Nile was Hapi. • Storms, evil and confusion were Seth. His counterpart was Ma'at, who represented balance, justice and truth. • The moon was Thoth and Khonsu. • Re, the sun god, took on many forms, and transcended most of the borders that contained the other gods. The actual shape of the sun, the disk (or, aten), was deified into another god, Aten.

29. God Ptah (from Tut’s Tomb) God Horus (from Tut’s tomb)

30. The Afterlife • The Egyptians had a very clear idea of the afterlife. They took great care to bury their dead according to convention and supplied the grave with things that the departed would need for a pleasant life after death. • The pharaoh and some nobles had their bodies preserved in a process of mummification. Their tombs were decorated with paintings, food was provided at burial and after. Some tombs even included full sized sailing vessels for the voyage to heaven and beyond. • At first, only pharaohs were thought to achieve eternal life, however, nobles were eventually included, and finally all Egyptians could hope for immortality.

31. Mummification • The actual process of embalming as practiced in ancient Egypt was governed by definite religious ritual. A period of seventy days was required for the preparation of the mummy, and each step in the procedure was co-ordinated with relevant priestly ceremonies. • The embalmers' shop might be a fixed place, as in the case of those connected with the larger temples. Often, however, it was a movable tent - which could be set up near the home of the deceased. • Removal of those parts most subject to putrefaction was the initial step in preparing a corpse for mummification. The embalmers placed the body on a narrow, table-like stand and proceeded to their task. The brain was removed through the nostrils by means of various metal probes and hooks. Such a method necessarily reduced the brain to a fragmentary state, and, as no remains of it are associated with mummies, we may assume that it was discarded. An incision was then made in the left flank of the body to permit removal of the viscera, with the exception of the heart, which was left in the body. • The liver, the lungs, the stomach, and the intestines were each placed in a separate jar, the Canopic Jars , and consigned to the protection of a particular divinity.

32. Canopic Jars

33. Mummification • Next came the preservation of the body itself. This was accomplished in a manner somewhat similar to that of drying fish. • But instead of common salt, natron, a mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, with sodium chloride (common salt) and sodium sulphate as impurities, was used. Natron occurs in Egypt in a few places. Water containing natron in solution comes to the surface and is evaporated, leaving the natron as surface deposits. • Small parcels of natron wrapped in linen were placed inside the body. The outside was covered with loose natron or packages of linen-wrapped natron. The dry atmosphere of Egypt accelerated the desiccation process. • After the body moisture had been absorbed by the natron, the packs were removed and the corpse was given a sponge bath with water. The skin was anointed with coniferous resins, and the body cavity was packed with wads of linen soaked in the same material. The body was then ready to be bound into that compact bundle we know as a mummy.

34. Wrapped Mummy And Sarcophagus

35. Tombs • Pyramids • Valley of the Kings • Valley of the Queens

36. Egypt The Pyramid of Menkaure, son of Khafre. King Sneferu’s Bent Pyramid Khufu, son of King Sneferu. The Great Pyramid is the only surviving member of the Seven Wonders of the World (Height: 138.75 m (455.21 ft)Length of Side: 230.37).

37. Valley of the Kings

38. Entry to the Valley of the Kings http://www.touregypt.net/kingtomb.htm

39. The central area of the Valley of the Kings. Tutankhamun's tomb is just left of the shelter in the centre.

40. Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu http://www.touregypt.net/kingtomb.htm

41. The Queen • Nefertari, the favorite Queen of Ramses II, is known from myriad of her representations in the temple reliefs and colossi of the great king. • The dedication to her, jointly with the goddess Hathor, of the small rock temple to the north of the great temple at Abu Simbel, shows how great her influence with Ramses II must have been.

42. Some Egyptologists think she was probably a daughter of King Seti 1, and thus sister or half sister of Ramses II. Other Egyptologists, however, think that her designation as "Hereditary Princess" might be in some way connected with her being representative of the Thebes.

44. Egyptian Hieroglyphics • The ancient Egyptians used many materials and had a much different writing system than their neighbors of Mesopotamia. • Egyptian texts in hieroglyphs were inscribed in wood and/or stone, and written on papyrus. • The word hieroglyph originates from the Greek word heiros meaning sacred and glyphs meaning sculpture. This was due to the fact that they were almost exclusively inscribed on the walls of sacred temples and public monuments.

45. Hieroglyphic Writing • Documented around 5100, may have been traded in from Mesopotamia. • Hieroglyphics which are pictographs and phonetics. • written on papyrus, clay, buildings. • Egypt developed its own script.

46. Rosetta Stone • The Rosetta Stone:- A royal decree promulgated by Ptolemy V in 196 BCE, written in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek.- Found by the French at Rosetta (el Rashid) in the Delta in 1799.- Was crucial for the decipherment of hieroglyphs by Champollion in 1822.

47. Hieroglyphs in Tombs • Only fine quality stone such as limestone, granite, and Egyptian alabaster was used to build these sacred temples and pyramidal coffins. • Before decoration and inscription could begin, the walls were prepared and polished smooth. If there were any flaws in the stone they were filled with plaster. In portions of the wall with exceptionally poor stone, a thick layer of plaster would be applied. •  A grid was usually laid on the stone by holding a string dipped in paint at both ends and snapping it on the wall. Supervised draftsman then made preliminary sketches on the walls, using red paint. The final draft was approved by the master draftsmen and drawn in black.

49. Papyrus • The writing medium most common to the ancient Egyptians was papyrus. • This paper-like material was easy to use, handle, transport, and make. The word papyrus comes from the Greek word payros, which is believed to have come from the ancient Egyptian word papuro, which means "the royal". • This name is believed to have originated due to the great monopoly the Egyptians had in the manufacturing of papyrus.