Ancient Egypt

Herodotus’s oft-quoted statement that Egypt is a “gift of the Nile” cannot be disputed. Without the Nile the whole land would be an inhospitable desert. There is a natural division of the country between the Delta and Upper Egypt, and both are isolated from the rest of the world.

Cross-winds make river transportation in both directions easy

The Sahara is much less hospitable than the steppes around Mesopotamia

In Upper Egypt there is a sharp separation between the very fertile floodplain and the surrounding land

The terrain of the Delta is much more open, and the point where the Delta and Upper Egypt meet has always been important.

The sources of the Nile are far away, and the river has both a high volume and an even flow.

The annual flood is predictable and comes at the beginning of the agricultural year

Irrigation is relatively uncomplicated in Egypt

Egypt’s great agricultural productivity has enabled it to support very high populations, particularly by the standards of the ancient world.

Greek sources divided Egyptian history into “dynasties”, beginning with the unification of Egypt under Menes, whom we now date to around 3100 B.C. It concluded with the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which took over after the conquest of Alexander the Great and ended when Cleopatra was defeated by Augustus in 31 B.C.

Historical Chronology of Ancient Egypt Archaic/Early Dynastic 3100-2700 BC Old Kingdom 2700-2180 1st Intermediate Period 2180-2130 Middle Kingdom 2130-1785 2nd Intermediate Period (Hyksos) 1785-1550 New Kingdom or Empire 1550-1080 3rd Intermediate Period 1080-664 Saite Period 664-525 Late Period/Achaemenid 525-332 Ptolemaic 332or 323-31BC

Unlike Mesopotamia, there are few settlements available for study and most of the evidence comes from graves on the edges of the floodplain.

Generally, the graves show increasing wealth and social differentiation in the course of the 4th millennium BC

There is also some evidence of contact with Mesopotamia. The Jebel al-Arak knife handle, which is clearly an Egyptian object, shows a man in a costume that is Mesopotamian Cylinder seals and a few pots with lugs found in Egypt show Uruk influence in the period immediately before Egypt’s unification, ca. 3100 BC.

At the same time there are signs of increasing political nucleation.

The macehead of the Scorpion King shows motifs of royalty in Dynasty 0

The Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt was regarded as the beginning of Egyptian history by the Egyptians themselves. We do not really know if there ever were two independent kingdoms.

Narmer Palette

Historical Chronology of Ancient Egypt Archaic/Early Dynastic 3100-2700 BC Old Kingdom 2700-2180 1st Intermediate Period 2180-2130 Middle Kingdom 2130-1785 2nd Intermediate Period (Hyksos) 1785-1550 New Kingdom or Empire 1550-1080 3rd Intermediate Period 1080-664 Saite Period 664-525 Late Period/Achaemenid 525-332 Ptolemaic 332or 323-31BC

Mastaba tombs appear around the time of the unification.

Historical Chronology of Ancient Egypt Archaic/Early Dynastic 3100-2700 BC Old Kingdom 2700-2180 1st Intermediate Period 2180-2130 Middle Kingdom 2130-1785 2nd Intermediate Period (Hyksos) 1785-1550 New Kingdom or Empire 1550-1080 3rd Intermediate Period 1080-664 Saite Period 664-525 Late Period/Achaemenid 525-332 Ptolemaic 332or 323-31BC

The Giza complex of the 4th Dynasty represents a culmination of royal power and archictectural perfection

Depictions of kings in the Old Kingdom reflect absolute and unchallenged authority

Officials such as this lector-priest of the 5th Dynasty defined their position in relationship to the Pharaoh

Historical Chronology of Ancient Egypt Archaic/Early Dynastic 3100-2700 BC Old Kingdom 2700-2180 1st Intermediate Period 2180-2130 Middle Kingdom 2130-1785 2nd Intermediate Period (Hyksos) 1785-1550 New Kingdom or Empire 1550-1080 3rd Intermediate Period 1080-664 Saite Period 664-525 Late Period/Achaemenid 525-332 Ptolemaic 332or 323-31BC

Large building projects were resumed in the Middle Kingdom, but there was a dramatic decline in the size of royal tombs, and much writing and art associated with the burial places of lower officials

Royal power in the Middle kingdom appears to be much less secure