Early EgyptEarly Egypt

Location: North Africa along the Nile River

Geography: Isolated by deserts

• How was this a benefit to the development of the civilization?

2660-2180 BC: The Old Kingdom

2080-1640 BC: The Middle Kingdom

1640 BC: The Hyksos Invasion

1570-1075 BC: New Kingdom

Differences from Mesopotamia:

1. Nile floods were predictable

2. Natural barriers to invasion led to isolation and the development of culture

3. Religion emphasized an afterlife through mummification

4. Pharaohs were considered gods and were the head of the religion, government, and law (a theocracy)

5. Built the pyramids

6. Less urban

7. Less formal class structure

Advancements:

1. Developed early paper by making papyrus from reeds

2. Used geometry and advanced math for surveying and in construction

3. Developed an accurate calendar (by using stars – Sirius). Good within 6 hours per year. 12 months of 30 days each.

4. Most advanced medicine at the time

So what’s the big deal with the Rosetta Stone?

Well, it had three different types of writing on it.

Hieroglyphs

Demotic

Greek

Hieroglyphs

Demotic

Greek

Demotic is also Egyptian. Think of it as being like cursive hieroglyphs.

It was created in about 196 BC, discovered in 1799, and deciphered in 1822.

• We couldn’t read hieroglyphs or Demotic. Nobody could – the knowledge was lost to the ages.

• But we knew Greek. So assuming that the engravings were all translations of the same thing, we could work backwards from the Greek to figure out how the other two worked.

• We did. Or rather, the British and the French did.

• There was competition among the British and French to be the first to figure out Egyptian. A few thought it could unlock amazing lost knowledge from the ancients. Not really, but it allowed us to read Egyptian and know what the heck all those glyphs were saying.

• Turns out it was decree from the Pharaoh, Ptolemy V, that described repealing taxes and building temples.

The Rosetta Stone currently sits in the British Museum and has since 1802. Egypt wants it back. See, during the colonial period, the colonial powers, the British especially, collected lots of important antiquities and brought them to England. Among them, the Elgin Marbles removed from the Parthenon in Athens. While taken (stolen?) from the original countries, it had the upside of protecting valuable treasures from the uncertainties of volatile and unstable countries that didn’t have the ability and/or the will to protect and preserve them. Now that they’ve stabilized and advanced, however, they want their national treasures back.

Should they be returned? Why? What if the British got the Declaration of Independence in the War of 1812? Calling Nicolas Cage!

Egypt has two areas: the lower (the area around the Nile Delta – it’s the northern part, but the lower part of the river) and upper (the area along the Nile from above the delta to below the first cataract)

• They operated independently and were ruled by separate kings until they were united by King Menes of upper Egypt about 3100 BC

The Old Kingdom

• lasted about 500 years and had six dynasties

• Headed by the pharaoh, who was hailed as both a king and a god

• Land and sea trade expanded

• The pyramids were built (they worked up to the really impressive ones).

• The pyramids didn’t actually start out that way. There were efforts working up to them.

• The Great Pyramid was originally 480 feet tall and was the tallest manmade structure in the world for over 4,000 years.

• Its tolerances are minute and its foundation incredibly level (no corner of its 13 acre footprint is more than ½ inch higher than any other) – actually far better than what you find in almost all modern buildings.

• It’s built out of 2.4 million blocks of limestone, which had an average weight of 2.5 tons. The heaviest weighed up to 80 tons. Some blocks came from a quarry 500 miles away. It weighs almost 5.9 million tons.

• The stones were so perfectly set that you couldn’t squeeze a piece of paper in the seam (if you could see it). This was all without cement.

• And we’re not sure how they cut the stone.

Part of the purpose of the pyramids was to serve as a tomb for the pharaoh.

• The Egyptians were polytheistic and believed the dead lived on after death.

• In order to do this, though, and to be dead happily, you needed your body preserved. They mummified ‘em.

The first mummies were just dried out in the desert.

• Then they got fancy.

The Old Kingdom ends as leaders fight each other and a spate of cooler weather disrupts the flooding of the Nile and with it the country’s economy and food supply

The Middle Kingdom

• Princes from Thebes reunified the country

• Ended when the Hyksos invade and conquer

• They do, though, introduce the horse and chariot and the compound bow, so they were somewhat useful