FREE ESSAY ON ANCIENT EGYPT

ANCIENT EGYPT

The civilization of ancient Egypt is significant in several ways. Egyptian influence on
other peoples was also significant. Ancient kingdoms of the Sudan adapted its
HIEROGLYPHIC writing system and other cultural elements. The two last regions and the
Bible are the most important antecedents of the modern western world that owe something
to Egypt. The western alphabet is derived from a Phoenician one possibly modeled on
Egyptian hieroglyphs; Egyptian ideas are found in some parts of the Bible; and Greek
sciences and especially, art were originally influenced by Egypt. Finally, archaeology
and historical writing have made Egypt a subject of great public interest, stimulating
many books, novels, exhibits, and movies.
The image of Egyptian history moves continually closer to reality as new facts are
discovered and new kinds of research—anthropological and other--supplement more
traditional archaeological techniques. Egypt's well preserved pyramids and cemeteries on
the dry desert, and sturdy stone-built temples, have been studied by archaeologists since
the early 19th century, but river-plain town mounds and all sites in densely settled
northern Egypt now receive more attention than previously. Funerary and temple
inscriptions survived well, but they paint an idealized, oversimplified picture of
history and society. PAPYRUS exists and pottery fragments are rarer but more realistic.
They now are better studied and are supplemented by new types of archaeological
analysis.
Environment strongly affected history. In a largely rainless climate, Egypt's high
agricultural productivity depended on a long but very narrow floodplain; on average 19.2
km (11.9 mi) wide, it reached a maximum of 248 km (154.1 mi) in the Delta and was formed
by the Nile's annual inundation. Periodic, long-term decreases in its volume might create
social stress and political and military conflict; increases in volume increased food
supplies and favored stability and centralized government. The deserts to the east and
west had valuable stones and minerals and helped protect Egypt from much external attack
or infiltration. 
Continuity was very strong. Egypt's religion, its concepts of social order, and its
system of strong monarchical government remained fundamentally the same for over 3,000
years. Environmental stability helped, as did ethnic and linguistic continuity; unlike
other areas of the Near East, Egypt did not periodically have to absorb large new
populations with languages and ideas different from those already established. Equally
important did all Egyptians share a powerful and tenacious worldview--an orderly cosmos,
enfolding gods, humans, and nature, had been created in complete and perfect form at the
beginning of time; its perfection held off the destructive, chaotic forces that
surrounded it. Adherence to traditional forms of belief, politics, and culture was
believed necessary to maintain perfection and prevent the collapse of the universe.
Egyptian art and religious architecture (temples and tombs) closely followed established
conventions of style and content because their role was to depict this ideal order--and
thus be one of several means ritually integrating Egypt with the cosmos. 
Change and innovation nevertheless occurred, sometimes violently. Egypt's periodic
interludes of disunity were politically disorderly and economically painful in part
because inherent problems and contradictions (for example, obvious weakness in perfect
institutions such as kingship) came to the surface and demanded solutions. Less
obviously, change also took place in more stable periods. Bureaucracies were periodically
reformed or restructured in the interests of both royal power and fairer government.
Religious concepts became increasingly rich and complex. Styles in art and architecture
changed subtly to meet new needs and tastes, but all successful innovation required
adherence to basic, traditional norms.
Predynastic Egypt
Egyptian history is usually divided into periods roughly corresponding to the 30
dynasties of kings listed by Manetho, an Egyptian chronicler of the 3d century BC. The
period before c.3100 BC, a time for which no written records exist, is called the
Predynastic era. Well before 5000 BC many communities of Paleolithic hunters and
gatherers lived in the Nile valley and across savanna lands stretching far to the east
and west. As rainfall decreased, especially after 4000 BC, the western lands became arid
deserts and human settlement was confined to the valley and its fringes. However, here
exotic fauna such as elephants and giraffes persisted as late as 2300 BC before finally
retreating southward.
Annually inundated, and with natural irrigation basins that retained floodwaters, the
Nile valley was an ideal setting for Mesolithic economies with incipient agriculture to
evolve into Neolithic ones based on sedentary agriculture, with domesticated crops and
animals. The process is hard to follow in Egypt because major Predynastic sites, on the
floodplain, are inaccessible or destroyed and most data come from peripheral settlements
and low-desert cemeteries. In northern Egypt, however, the development of Neolithic life
can be traced at Merimdeh and in the Fayum (5000-4000 BC); there and elsewhere in the
north the pervasive northern culture emerged, characterized by monochrome pottery using
incised and applied decoration. The earliest Neolithic phases of southern Egypt are not
yet identified, but two cultures existed there by c.4000 BC: the Tasian, influenced by
the north, and the Badarian, which originated in the eastern desert. The former evolved
into phases labeled Nakada I (Amratian) and II (Gerzean), representing a material culture
very different from that of the north. In the south, among other differences, pottery is
more varied in fabric, often has a black top, and favors painted decoration (white on red
and red on light-colored desert clays).
Historically significant patterns can be discerned. Political elites developed, supported
by agricultural surplus, partly through control over valuable resources that were
beginning to be used in new technologies. Originally, tools and weapons were made of
stone and organic materials, but in southern (and slightly later in northern) Egypt
copper and precious metals became increasingly important. By Nakada II times, larger,
more efficient river ships were built and trade along the Nile was expanding. These and
other factors stimulated the emergence of an elite class whose graves are larger and
richer than normal, and ultimately regional political leaders are identifiable by
chieftain's tombs at several sites. According to later traditions, by late Predynastic
times (c. 3300 BC) chiefdoms had coalesced into two competitive kingdoms, northern and
southern. Gradually, the characteristic material culture of the south had been spreading,
and it replaced the once different one of northern Egypt in Nakada III times.
Throughout the period 5000-3100 BC foreign influences were significant, but direct ones
are hard to distinguish from indirect. Domesticated grains and some domesticated animals
may have come via Syria and Palestine, perhaps at the time of Merimdehs's earliest phase,
which shows influences from these regions in material culture also. Both northern and
southern Egypt traded with Syria, Palestine, and northeast Africa throughout Predynastic
times. Particularly striking and so far found mainly in southern Egypt (Nakada I and II)
are Mesopotamian-style cylinder seals, pottery, and artistic motifs, but these may have
come through intermediaries rather than by direct contact.
Predynastic architecture, using wood, matting, and mud brick, is best attested in
cemeteries, where pit graves were lined with wood or brick and roofed with matting or
stone slabs; eventually, some graves had small, solid superstructures of brick and
rubble. Some settlements have been partially excavated; and a possible Predynastic temple
was recently found at HIERAKONPOLIS. Art was well developed but small scale. Figurines
and statuettes of individual humans or animals, some modeled realistically, were made in
mud, pottery, and ivory; slate cosmetic palettes might be in bird or animal form; and
painted designs on pottery placed humans, animals, and boats together in sometimes
complex designs. Most of these art forms were from tombs and were magical or religious
representations. Battles, hunts, and ceremonial scenes were favorite motifs. In all
areas, conventions typical of historical art were emerging.
Such art, appearing realistic, actually followed conventions that were to remain dominant
for millennia thereafter. In painting and relief, human and animal figures are always
drawn according to a set of fixed proportions, and reality is ignored so as to present
the most characteristic aspects. Humans, for example, always have heads, legs, and feet
in profile but eye and torso presented frontally. Figures were scaled according to their
importance, and perspective was ignored. Landscapes were depicted in schematic form, but
architecture was rarely attempted. Subject matter is also highly selective, for an
idealized world is shown; aging, disease, injury, and death are omitted, except for
inferior beings such as foreigners and animals. Statuary was intended at all times mainly
for temples and tombs, and consisted of representations of gods, kings, and deceased
individuals. Complex compositions were avoided, although sometimes two or more figures
might be shown side by side. Life-size statues were not uncommon, but most were smaller;
colossal royal figures embellished temples. As in painting, set conventions were closely
followed in statuary; whether seated or standing, figures are always facing forward, with
arms and legs in standardized positions. Technically, the carving was often superb,
although many clumsy works were also produced. Materials included hard stones, softer
stones such as limestone, and wood; statues were often painted in bright colors.
Sculptors depicted the ideal human; true portraiture in any form was hardly every
attempted.
First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom
Centralized rule began to break down under the 7th dynasty. In the ensuing First
Intermediate period (c.2181-2040 BC), the Memphite monarchs were powerless to prevent
provincial warlords from fighting each other over territory; eventually two separate
kingdoms emerged, one ruled by the 9th and 10th dynasties from Heracleopolis, the other
by the 11th dynasty from THEBES. They tried to dominate each other but were impeded by
the semi-independence of provincial rulers, and they also had to be simultaneously
aggressive against foreigners to protect their rears, secure trade advantages, and
recruit or compel the valuable services of Palestinian and Nubian warriors for the civil
wars. Finally, in the 20th century BC, the 11th dynasty conquered the north and rebuilt a
centralized monarchy, inaugurating the Middle Kingdom.
The intensity and causes of these disruptive events are uncertain. Later Egyptian
writers, appalled by the deviation from accepted norms, exaggerated the revolutionary
aspects; they also described an imaginary environmental deterioration, actually a poetic
cosmological counterpart to social disorder. More significant were external pressure and
internal political instability that long endured; even the 11th dynasty may have been
ended by a coup, and the victor, AMENEMHET I was himself later assassinated.
The 12th dynasty, which he founded (1991 BC), worked hard to restore royal prestige,
seriously damaged by civil war and periodic famine. Its kings, living near Memphis,
reduced provincial power and developed a loyal central elite, using subtly propagandistic
literature to encourage recruitment and transform the royal image from insecure war
leader to confident, semi divine ruler. The external situation remained dangerous. The
northern Nubian and Sinai buffer zones were reoccupied and, for the first time, heavily
fortified. Foreign trade and diplomatic contact expanded, but Egyptian activity was more
restricted than in the Old Kingdom.
Social change was considerable. People had become more conscious of their individual
rights, and royal policy had to both satisfy and temper this. Religion was affected;
funerary beliefs and rituals once largely restricted to kings now spread throughout all
classes. First Intermediate period Egyptians had felt less dependent on the state,
stressing their economic self-sufficiency, and even under the 12th dynasty royal policies
encouraged the growth of a middle class, buried in well-furnished tombs and active at
cult centers such as Abydos. OSIRIS, formerly a royal funerary god, became accessible to
all.
Architectural remains are now more varied. At Kahun, a large town was divided up into
zones of better and poorer houses, reflecting socioeconomic differences; superbly
designed fortresses were built in Nubia; and the ground plans of several temples have
survived. Funerary remains continue to be the best source of art forms. The pharaohs of
the 12th dynasty, anxious to be identified with the autocratic Old Kingdom, revised the
classic complex pyramid but included unusual subterranean elements evoking the mythical
tomb of Osiris. Royal statues were often idealized, but some depicted a care-worn and
more realistic figure. The elite continued to be buried in mastabas and rock-cut tombs,
decorated first in awkward but striking styles reflecting the breakdown in centralized
stylistic norms, but later returning to more sophisticated, traditional modes.