Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt :

Ancient Egypt all was a long-standing civilization in North eastern Africa. It was concentrated along north, as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. Extensions to the geographic range of ancient Egyptian civilization included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant, the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Western body (focused on the several oases).
Ancient Egypt developed over three and a half millennia. It began with the incipient unification of Nile Valley polities around 3150 BC, and is conventionally thought to have ended in 31 BC when the early Roman Empire conquered and absorbed Ptolemaic Egypt as a state. This last event did not represent the first period of foreign domination; the Roman period was, however, to witness a marked, the gradual transformation in the political and religious life of the Nile Valley, effectively marking the end of independent civilizational development.
The civilization of ancient Egypt was based on balanced control of natural and human resources, characterised primarily by controlled irrigation of the fertile Nile Valley; the mineral exploitation of the valley and surrounding desert regions; the early development of an independent writing system and literature; the organization of collective projects; trade with surrounding regions in east / central Africa and the eastern Mediterranean; and finally, military ventures that exhibited strong characteristics of imperial hegemony and territorial domination of neighbouring cultures at different periods. Motivating and organising these activities were a socio-political and economic elite that achieved social consensus by means of an elaborate system of religious belief under the figure of a semi-divine ruler (usually male) from a succession of ruling dynasties, and related to the larger world by means of polytheistic beliefs.

History:

Archaeological evidence indicates that a developed Egyptian society extended far beyond the borders into prehistory (see Predynastic Egypt). The Nile River, around which much of the population of the country clusters, has been the lifeline for Egyptian culture since nomadic hunter-gatherers began living along the Nile during the Pleistocene. Traces of these early peoples appear in the form of artifacts and rock carvings along the terraces of the Nile and in the oases.
Egypt has a unique combination of geographical features. Egypt is in northeast Africa bordered by Libya, Sudan, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. At one time, it was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt was the southern half nearer the rest of Africa. The Nile was the key factor in the success of ancient Egyptian civilization. The fertile silt deposited along the banks of the Nile after the annual floods meant the Egyptians were able to practise a less labor-intensive form of agriculture. This freed up the population to devote more time and resources for cultural, technological and artistic pursuits.
Farming in Egypt was dependent upon the cycle of the Nile River. The Egyptians distinguished between three seasons: Akhet, Peret, and Shemu. Akhet, the season of the flooding of the Nile, lasted from June to September. After the flooding, a layer of silt was left on the banks, perfect for growing crops. Peret, the growing season, was between October and February. The farmers waited until the water drained away, around November, to plow and plant the rich soil. When that was done, they would irrigate the crops with dikes or canals. Shemu, the harvesting season, followed in March, April, and May. Reapers would then cut off the ripe ears with sickles. Women and children followed close behind collecting fallen ears. The cycle kept going as long as the Nile kept providing the soil nutrients which in turn supported the ancient Egyptian civilization. Flax plants were grown, uprooted before they started flowering, and the fibres of their stems extracted. These fibres were split along their length, spun into thread which was used to weave sheets of linen to make into clothing. Papyrus growing on the banks of the Nile River was used to make paper. Vegetables and fruit were grown in garden plots close to their habitations on higher ground and had to be watered by hand.
Along the Nile, in the 11th millennium BC, a grain-grinding culture using the earliest type of sickle blades had been replaced by another culture of hunters, fishers, and gathering peoples using stone tools. Evidence also indicates human habitation in the southwestern corner of Egypt, near the Sudan border, before 8000 BC. Geological evidence and computer climate modeling studies suggest that natural climate changes around 8000 BC began to desiccate the extensive pastoral lands of northern Africa, eventually forming the Sahara (c.2500 BC). Early tribes in the region naturally tended to aggregate close to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society. There is evidence of pastoralism and cultivation of cereals in the East Sahara in the 7th millennium BC.
By about 6000 BC, organized agriculture and large building construction had appeared in the Nile Valley. At this time, Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and also constructing large buildings. Mortar was in use by 4000 BC. The Predynastic Period continues through this time, variously held to begin with the Naqada culture. Some authorities however place the start of the Predynastic Period earlier, in the Lower Paleolithic.
Between 5500 and 3100 BC, during Egypt's Predynastic Period, small settlements flourished along the Nile. By 3300 BC, just before the first Egyptian dynasty, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper Egypt (Ta Shemau) and Lower Egypt (Ta Mehu).[1] The dividing line was drawn roughly in the area of modern Cairo.
The history of ancient Egypt proper starts with Egypt as a unified state, which occurred sometime around 3150 BC. According to Egyptian tradition Menes, thought to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt, was the first king. Egyptian culture, including religion, customs, art expression, architecture and social structure, was remarkably stable and changed little over a period of nearly 3000 years.
Egyptian chronology, which involves regnal years, began around this time. The conventional Egyptian chronology is the chronology accepted during the 20th century, but it does not include any of the major revision proposals that have also been made in that time. Even within a single work, often archaeologists will offer several possible dates or even several whole chronologies as possibilities. Consequently, there may be discrepancies between dates shown here and in articles on particular rulers. There are also several possible spellings of the names. Typically, Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt).


List of pharaohs: The time of the Pharaohs stretches from before 3000 BC to about 30 BC.
Dynasties (see also: List of Egyptian dynasties):
Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (1st to 2nd Dynasties; until ca. 27th century BC)
Old Kingdom (3rd to 6th Dynasties; 27th to 22nd centuries BC)
First Intermediate Period (7th to 11th Dynasties)
Middle Kingdom of Egypt (11th to 14th Dynasties; 20th to 17th centuries BC)
Second Intermediate Period (14th to 17th Dynasties)
Hyksos (15th to 16th Dynasties, c. 1674 BC to 1548 BC)
New Kingdom of Egypt (18th to 20th Dynasties; 16th to 11th centuries BC)
Third Intermediate Period (21st to 25th Dynasties; 11th to 7th centuries BC)
Late Period of Ancient Egypt (26th to 31st Dynasties; 7th century BC to 332 BC)
History of Egypt under Achaemenid Persian domination
Graeco-Roman Egypt (332 BC to AD 639)
Macedonian Kings (332 BC to 305 BC)
Ptolemaic Dynasty (305 BC to 30 BC)
Aegyptus (Roman province) (30 BC to 639 AD)
Muslim conquest of Egypt (639 AD)

Administration and taxation:

For administrative purposes, ancient Egypt was divided into districts, referred to by Egyptologists by the Greek term nomes; they were called sepat in ancient Egyptian. The division into nomes can be traced back to the Predynastic Period (before 3100 BC), when the nomes originally existed as autonomous city-states. The nomes remained in place for more than three millennia, with the area of the individual nomes and their order of numbering remaining remarkably stable. Under the system that prevailed for most of pharaonic Egypt's history, the country was divided into 42 nomes: 20 comprising Lower Egypt, whilst Upper Egypt was divided into 22. Each nome was governed by a nomarch (Greek for "ruler of the nome",) a provincial governor who held regional authority. The position of the nomarch was at times hereditary, at times appointed by the pharaoh.
The ancient Egyptian government imposed a number of different taxes upon its people. As there was no known form of currency until the latter half of the first millennium BC, taxes were paid for "in kind" (with produce or work). The Vizier (ancient Egyptian: tjaty) controlled the taxation system through the departments of state. The departments had to report daily on the amount of stock available, and how much was expected in the future. Taxes were paid for depending on a person's craft or duty. Landowners paid their taxes in grain and other produce grown on their property. Craftsmen paid their taxes with goods they produced. Hunters and fishermen paid their taxes with produce from the river, marshes, and desert. One person from every household was required to pay a corvée or labor tax by doing public work for a few weeks every year, such as digging canals or mining. However, a richer noble could hire a poorer man to fulfill his labor tax.

Culture:

The Egyptian religion, embodied in Egyptian mythology, is a succession of beliefs held by the people of Egypt, as early as predynastic times and all the way until the coming of Christianity and Islam in the Græco-Roman and Arab eras. These were conducted by Egyptian priests or magicians, but the use of magic and spells is questioned.
Every animal portrayed and worshiped in ancient Egyptian art, writing and religion is indigenous to Africa, all the way from the predynastic until the Graeco-Roman eras, over 3000 years. The Dromedary, domesticated first in Arabia, first appears in Egypt (and North Africa) beginning in the 2nd millennium BC.
The inner reaches of the temples were sacred places where only priests and priestesses were allowed. On special occasions people were allowed into the temple courtyards.
The religious nature of ancient Egyptian civilization influenced its contribution to the arts of the ancient world. Many of the great works of ancient Egypt depict gods, goddesses, and pharaohs, who were also considered divine. Ancient Egyptian art in general is characterized by the idea of order.
Evidence of mummies and pyramids outside ancient Egypt indicate reflections of ancient Egyptian belief values on other prehistoric cultures, transmitted in one way over the Silk Road. Ancient Egypt's foreign contacts included Nubia and Punt to the south, the Aegean and ancient Greece to the north, the Levant and other regions in the Near East to the east, and also Libya to the west.
Although analyzing the hair of ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet,[5] mummies from circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anæmia and hæmolytic disorders.[3][4][6] This is symptomatic of metal poisoning. Compounds of copper, lead, mercury, and arsenic, which were used in pigments, dyes, and makeup of the era may have caused heavy metal poisoning, especially among the wealthy.[7][8]