Ancient Egypt INTRODUCTION

OLD AND MIDDLE KINGDOMS

NEW KINGDOM

EGYPTIAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Egypt AN INTRODUCTION

Why Egypt?

Permanence

Monuments

People

Still around

Geography defined Egypt

Nile River

Nile River

Overflowed the banks annually in the summer

Alluvial soil and fresh water restored the nutrition in the soil

Vertical structure mirrored the Egyptian society

Isolated the Egyptian people

Desert

Cataracts

Long and unbroken development

Unification

Old and Middle Kingdom UNIFICATION

RELIGION

Divided into two kingdoms

Upper Egypt

The Nile Valley

Lower Egypt

The river delta

Δ Greek Letter

Menes

3000BC

Unified Upper and Lower Egypt

Capital at Memphis

Early Egypt

Old Kingdom

2700 BC

Strong king consolidated power

Supremacy

Owner of all Egypt

Considered a god

Royal monarchy

Everyone serving the kings

Governors of provinces to local mayors and tax collectors

Artisans, peasants, and servants

All worked for the king

4th Dynasty

3 immense pyramids

Tomb for kings

Built at Giza

2600 to 2500 BC

Menkaure

Khefre

Khufu

Sphinx

ca 1871

Partially excavated

1878

ca 2005

Religion

Egyptian Mythology

Gods are based upon the cycles of life

Belief of life after death

King was at the pinnacle of religion

Political power combining with religion to organize society

Other gods

Lesser positions in pantheon

In other forms such as animals

Anubis Seth Anum Hathor

(dead) (chaos) (supreme) (love)

Ra Sekhmet Khnum Isis

(sun god) (war) (innundation) (protective)

Mythology Osiris

Originally god of fertility

Became god of death

Gave Egypt laws

Taught how to be prosper

Murdered by his brother

Cut body into fragments

Osiris's wife and sister, Isis

Reassembled him

Son, Horus, associated with the Kings

Thus the incarnations of Horus in the Kings and pharaohs of Egypt

Basic

Mythology

The air god Shu, assisted by other gods, holds up Nut,

the sky, as Geb, the earth, lies beneath

Nun, the embodiment of the

primordial waters, lifts the barque

of the sun god Ra into the sky at

the moment of creation

Book of the Dead - Maat

A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the "Weighing of the Heart" in the Duat using the feather of Maat as the measure in balance –

Right Order

Primeval and cosmic harmony

New Kingdom 1570-1085 BC

DYNASTIES

EGYPTIAN SOCIETIES

Invasion of the Hyksos

Disaster 1720 BC

Invasion of Egypt by the Hyksos

People probably from somewhere in Syria and

Palestine

Success used the horse-drawn chariot in war

1570 BC Egyptian warrior from Thebes

Counterattacked and had driven the Hyksos from the

Delta

Began the New Kingdom of Egypt

18th Dynasty Thebes

Rulers now called Pharaohs

Controlled central

government through the

nobility

Military State

Expanded into Asia

Syria

Mitanni

New Kingdom

conquered

territory

Pharaohs

of the 18th

Dynasty

Hatshepsut (1503-1482 BC)

Powerful female ruler

Crowned herself Queen in 1503 BC

Will of god Amon

Against social system which had always followed men

Portrayed as a sphinx with a beard

Wanted to be known as a builder of Egypt

“I have repaired what was destroyed by the Hyksos; I have raised up what was in pieces ever since the Asiatics had been I the Delta, overthrowing what had been made”

Thutmose III (1504-1450 BC)

Hatshepsut's successor

Greatest military Ruler

Conquering most of territory lost to the Hyksos

17 different campaigns

Victory over the Mitanni in 1465 BC

Subjugated most people of the ancient Middle East

Including Israelites and Arabs

All being slaves to Egyptian pharaohs

Center of internal conflict in the kingdom

Mainly between the priests, nobility and the pharaoh

Created reform which will impact Egypt for centuries

King Amenhotep IV (1379-1362 BC)

Opposed worship of Amen-Re

Traditional god of Thebes

Wanted the worship of the aton, or sun

Represented by the disc or circle

Akhenaton (1379 – 1362 BC)

Nefertiti

Supported her husband, Amenhotep

Tried to minimize the influence of the priests and bureaucrats of Thebes

Amenhotep changed his name to reflect the new religion

Akhnaton

He who serves Aton

Named Thebes Akhetaton

“the horizon of Aton”

Used the religions of the Sumerians and Israelites as basis for a monotheistic religion.

Family life

of the

Akhenaton

and

Nefertiti

Reaction to Akhenaton – Tut

Immense failure

If Akhenaton correct what about

the old gods?

If they were not important then

Egypt was not important

Tutankhamen restored old gods

Set stage for two of the most

powerful leaders Egypt

19th Dynasty RAMSES

Ramses II

Ramses the Great

Began his rule at age 14

Ruled from 1279-1213

Early on moved the capital from Thebes to Pi-Ramsses in the Delta

Old capital of the Hyksos kingdom

Ran his military campaigns against the Hittites to reconquer Syria

Militarily was a great success

Ramses the builder

Built extraordinary temples and

palaces

Best indication was he was beloved

In his 90+ years he had mad Egypt

very rich and to one of its pinnacles

of success

By the time of his death

Arthritic bend sickly old man

New Kingdom fell within 150 years of

his death

Temple

of Abu

Simbel

Luxor at Thebes