Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization, which originated along the middle and lower Nile River, whose history spans more than three millennia. It is considered one of the most important of humanity.

The area called Ancient Egypt has varied over the centuries, but it is generally accepted that it ranged from the Nile Delta in the north to Elephantine at the First Cataract of the Nile in the south. It also controlled the eastern desert, the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula, and a large western territory dominating the scattered oases. Historically, it was made up of Upper and Lower Egypt, to the south and north respectively, which preceded the creation of a unified state. In its period of greatest expansion, it controlled the Amorite kingdoms of Palestine and northern Syria, reaching as far as the middle Euphrates, and the Nubian chiefdoms of the Sudan, as far as Jebel Barkal, on the fourth cataract of the Nile. It exerted an important cultural influence among the neighboring towns, and even in regions as far away as Cyprus,

The Egyptian civilization developed for more than 3,500 years. It began with the unification of some cities in the Nile Valley, around 3200 BC. C., and conventionally it is finished in the year 31 a. C., when the Roman Empire conquered and absorbed Ptolemaic Egypt, which disappeared as a State.This event did not represent the first period of foreign domination in Egypt, but it did lead to a gradual transformation in the political and religious life of the Nile Valley, marking the end of the independent development of its cultural identity. This, however, had begun to gradually dissolve after the conquests of the Persians (6th century BC) and the Macedonians (4th century BC), especially during the period of the Ptolemies. The arrival of Christianity, and its spread among the native Egyptians, cut off one of the last survivals of ancient Egyptian culture. In 535, by order of Justinian I, the cult of the goddess Isis was prohibited in the temple of Philae, thus ending a religion of more than four millennia. However, the Egyptian language (called Coptic) continued to be used, written in an alphabet derived from Greek, and the native Egyptians fully identified with Christianity, especially the Monophysite doctrine. Then a Coptic literature arose, of a Christian nature, which collected myths, customs and beliefs of the ancient traditional religion. The disappearance of Coptic and its replacement by Arabic, within the framework of the Islamization of the country after its conquest, marked the definitive end of the last remains of Ancient Egypt.

Egypt has a unique combination of geographical features, situated in northeastern Africa and bordered by Libya, Sudan, and the Red and Mediterranean seas. The Nile River was the key to the success of the Egyptian civilization, since it allowed the use of resources and offered a significant advantage over other opponents: the fertile silt deposited along the banks of the Nile after the annual floods meant for Egyptians practice a less laborious form of agriculture than in other areas, freeing the population to devote more time and resources to cultural, technological and artistic development.

Life was ordered around the development of an independent writing system and literature, as well as careful state control over natural and human resources, characterized above all by the irrigation of the fertile Nile basin and the mining of the Nile. valley and the surrounding desert regions, the organization of collective projects such as large public works, trade with the neighboring regions of East and Central Africa and with those of the Eastern Mediterranean and, finally, for a power capable of defeating any enemy, and which maintained an imperial hegemony and territorial domination of neighboring civilizations in various periods. The motivation and organization of these activities was entrusted to an elite sociopolitical and economic bureaucracy, the scribes,​​

The many achievements of the Egyptians include mining, surveying, and construction techniques that facilitated the erection of monumental pyramids, temples, and obelisks, mathematical procedures, effective medical practice, irrigation methods, and agricultural production techniques, the first known ships, the technology of glass and faience, new forms of literature, and the oldest known peace treaty signed with the Hittites.Egypt left a lasting legacy, its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities taken to the farthest corners of the world. Its monumental ruins have inspired the imagination of travelers and writers for centuries. A new respect for antiquities and excavations in modern times have led to scientific investigation of the Egyptian civilization and a greater appreciation of its cultural legacy.

Geographic location

The territory of Ancient Egypt was constituted by the Delta and the valley of the Nile River, a narrow and long strip in the northeast of Africa; a fertile territory less than 60 kilometers wide and 1,200 kilometers long, flanked largely by the Sahara desert.

The Nile is one of the largest rivers in the world. It rises in central eastern Africa (in the Victoria Nyanza, Alberto Nyanza and Tana lakes) and flows into the Mediterranean Sea forming the Nile delta.

The geography of Ancient Egypt is very significant and greatly influenced its culture. Egypt is located in northwestern Africa and is very isolated from other countries due to its geographical location. Its limits are: to the west, the Libyan desert; to the east, the Arabian desert; to the north the Mediterranean Sea and to the south the Ethiopian massif and the Nubian desert. This surrounding natural environment limited contacts with the outside, allowing an original culture to develop with little influence.

Chronology

Developing

Obtaining an exact chronology of Ancient Egypt is a complex task. There are various dating criteria among Egyptologists, with divergences of a few years in the later periods, decades at the beginning of the New Kingdom and almost a century during the Old Kingdom (see: Chronology of Ancient Egypt).

The first problem arises from the fact that the Egyptians did not use a homogeneous dating system: they did not have a concept of an era similar to the Anno Domini, or the custom of naming the years, as in Mesopotamia (see Limmu). They dated with reference to the reigns of the various pharaohs, possibly overlapping the interregnums and the times of co-regency. An added problem arises when comparing the different Royal Lists of pharaohs, since they are incomplete or contain contradictory data, even in the same text. The works of the best historian on Egypt, Manetho, were lost and we only know them through the epitomes of later writers such as Flavius ​​Josephus, Eusebius of Caesarea, Sixth Julius Africanus or the monk George Sincelus. Unfortunately the dates of some reigns vary from one author to another.

The beginnings of Egyptian civilization

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Egyptian civilization began around the sixth millennium BC. C., during the Neolithic, when the first settlers settled (see the predynastic period). The Nile River, around which the population is based, has been the reference line for Egyptian culture since the nomadic hunter-gatherers began to live on its banks during the Pleistocene. The traces of these first settlers remained in the objects and signs engraved on the rocks along the Nile valley and in the oases.

Along the Nile, in the XI millennium a. C., a culture of collectors of grain had been replaced by one of hunters, fishermen and gatherers who used stone tools. Studies also indicate human settlement in southwestern Egypt, near the Sudanese border, before 8,000 BC. C. Geological evidence and climatological studies suggest that changes in climate, around 8000 a. C., the hunting and grazing lands of Egypt began to dry up, gradually forming the Sahara desert. The tribes of the region tended to group near the river, where small towns arose that developed an agricultural economy. There is evidence of grazing and cereal cultivation in the eastern Sahara in the 7th millennium BC. c.

Around 6000 BC. C., organized agriculture and the construction of large towns had already appeared in the Nile Valley. At the same time, in the southwest they were engaged in ranching and also building. Lime mortar was used in 4000 BC. C. It is the so-called predynastic period, which begins with the Naqada culture.

Between 5500 and 3100 BC. C., during the Predynastic, small settlements prospered along the Nile. In 3300 a. C., moments before the first dynasty, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper Egypt Ta Shemau and Lower Egypt Ta Mehu. The border between the two was located in the current area of ​​Cairo, south of the Nile delta.

The history of Egypt, as a unified state, begins around 3050 BC. C. Menes (Narmer), who unified Upper and Lower Egypt, was its first king. Egyptian culture and customs were remarkably stable and hardly changed in nearly 3,000 years, including religion, artistic expression, architecture, and social structure.

The chronology of the Egyptian kings begins at that time. The conventional chronology is that accepted during the 20th century, not including any of the revisions that have been made in that time. Even in the same work, archaeologists often offer, as possible, several dates and even several chronologies, and for this reason there may be discrepancies between the dates shown in the different sources. They also gave several possible transcriptions of the names. Egyptology traditionally classifies the history of the pharaonic civilization divided into dynasties, following the narrative structure of the epitomes of the Aigyptiaká (History of Egypt), by the Egyptian priest Manetho.

Periods of egyptian history

Predynastic period (c. 5500 BC-3300 BC)

The first settlers of Egypt reached the banks of the Nile River, at that time a conglomerate of marshes and a focus of malaria, in their flight from the increasing desertification of the Sahara.

It is known from archaeological remains that the Sahara once had a Mediterranean climate, more humid than today. In the massifs of Ahaggar and Tibesti there was abundant vegetation. For those settlers, the Sahara would be a vast steppe with large herbivores to hunt. Saharan cultures are largely unknown, but not non-existent.

The successive phases of the Neolithic are represented by the cultures of El Fayum, around 5000 BC. C., the Tasian culture, around 4500 BC. C. and the culture of Merimde, around 4000 a. C. All of them know polished stone, ceramics, agriculture and livestock. The basis of the economy was agriculture that was carried out taking advantage of the silt, a natural fertilizer provided by the annual floods of the Nile River.

After these cultures appeared the Badarian and the Amratian or Naqada I, between 4000 and 3800 BC. c.

Around the year 3600 a. C. arises the Gerzeense or Naqada II, which spreads throughout Egypt, unifying it culturally. This cultural consonance will lead to political unity, which will emerge after a period of struggles and alliances between clans to impose their supremacy.

To achieve greater efficiency and production, around 3500 a. C., the first channeling works began to be carried out and writing with hieroglyphs arose in Abydos. At this time the proto-states began:The first communities made the country habitable and organized themselves into regions called nomes. The inhabitants of the Delta had a feudal organization and came to establish two kingdoms with two chiefs or monarchs respectively. A kingdom was settled in a swampy place, which was called Kingdom of the Reed and had a reed stem as its symbol. Its capital was Buto; they had a cobra as a totem. The other kingdom had Busiris as its capital and a vulture as its totem, but its symbol was a bee and it became known as the Kingdom of the Bee.. Both kingdoms were separated by a branch of the Nile River.

The kingdom of the Bee conquered the kingdom of the Reed so that the Delta was unified. But some of the defeated fled to settle in the area of ​​Upper Egypt where they founded cities giving them the same name as those they had left in the Delta. That is why many cities of this time have similar names in Upper and Lower Egypt. These people prospered considerably until they organized themselves into a State.

Protodynastic period (c. 3300-3050 BC)

Considered the final phase of the Predynastic period, also known as Dynasty 0, Late Predynastic, or Naqada III period. It is governed by rulers of Upper Egypt who will reside in Tinis, are represented by a serekh and worship Horus. The name of these kings appears on the Palermo Stone, engraved 700 years later. In this period the first authentic cities arise, such as Tinis, Nubet, Nejeb, Nejen, etc. Typical of this period are the magnificent carved stone vases, ceremonial knives and trowels, or the heads of votive mace. Narmer may have been the last king of this time, and the founder of the First Dynasty.

Archaic Period (c. 3050-2890 BC)

At the end of the predynastic period, Egypt was divided into small kingdoms; the main ones were: Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) in Upper Egypt and Buto (Pe) in Lower Egypt. The unification process was carried out by the kings of Hieracómpolis.

Egyptian tradition attributed the unification to Menes, and this is reflected in the Royal Lists. This character is, according to Alan Gardiner, King Narmer, the first pharaoh who is known to have reigned over all of Egypt, after a series of struggles, as witnessed in the Narmer palette. This period is made up of dynasties I and II.

Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2181 BC)

Under the III dynasty, the capital was definitively established in Memphis, from which the name of the country derives, since the name of the main temple, Hat Ka Ptah "house of the spirit of Ptah", which passed into Greek as Aegyptos, eventually designated first to the neighborhood he was in, then to the entire city, and later to the kingdom.

At the time of the third dynasty, the custom of erecting great pyramids and monumental stone complexes began, thanks to Pharaoh Dyeser. Also the great pyramids of Giza, attributed to the pharaohs Cheops, Kefren and Micerino date from this period.

The V dynasty marks the rise of the high clergy and the influential local governors (nomarchs), and during the long reign of Pepy II an era of strong decentralization will be accentuated, called the first intermediate period of Egypt. The Old Kingdom comprises dynasties III to VI.

First Intermediate Period (c. 2181-2050 BC)

It was a time where power was decentralized and takes place between the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom. It comprises from the 7th Dynasty to the middle of the 11th Dynasty, when Mentuhotep II reunified the country under his rule. Despite the decline, this period was noted for a great literary flourishing, with doctrinal or didactic texts, which show the great social change. The important change in mentality, as well as the growth of the middle classes in the cities, gave rise to a new conception of beliefs, reflected in the appearance of the so-called Coffin Texts. Osiris became the most popular divinity, with Montu and Amun. The nomes of Herakleopolis and Thebes established themselves as hegemonic, finally imposing the latter. They are the 7th to 11th dynasties.

Middle Kingdom (c. 2050-1750 BC)

It is considered to start with the reunification of Egypt under Mentuhotep II. It is a period of great economic prosperity and foreign expansion, with pragmatic and enterprising pharaohs. This period is made up of the end of the XI and XII dynasties.

Ambitious irrigation projects were carried out in El Fayum, to regulate the great floods of the Nile (Caused by the great masses of water from the Mediterranean Sea evaporated in the deserts near the empire), diverting it towards Lake Moeris(The Fayoum). Trade relations with surrounding regions were also strengthened: African, Asian and Mediterranean. The artistic representations were humanized, and the cult of the god Amun was imposed. In the middle of 1800 a. C., the hyksos leaders defeated the Egyptian pharaohs; What began as a gradual migration of Libyans and Canaanites towards the Nile delta, eventually became a military conquest of almost the entire Egyptian territory, causing the fall of the Middle Kingdom. The Hyksos won because they had better weapons, and they knew how to use the element of surprise.

Second Intermediate Period (c. 1750-1500 BC)

During much of this period, Egypt was dominated by the Hyksos rulers, chiefs of nomadic peoples from the periphery, especially Libyans and Asiatics, who settled in the delta, and had the city of Avaris as their capital. Finally, the Egyptian leaders of Thebes declared independence, being called the 17th dynasty. They proclaimed the "salvation of Egypt" and led a "war of liberation" against the Hyksos. They were the thirteenth to seventeenth dynasties, partially contemporary.

New Kingdom (c. 1500-1070 BC)

It is a period of great foreign expansion, both in Asia —where they reach the Euphrates— and in Kush (Nubia). The 18th dynasty began with a series of warrior pharaohs, from Ahmose I to Tuthmosis III and Tuthmosis IV. Under Amenhotep III the expansion stopped and a period of internal and external peace began.

After a period of monarchical weakness, the military castes came to power, the 19th or Ramesid dynasty which, mainly under Seti I and Ramses II, was energetic against the expansionist Hittite kings.

During the reigns of Merenptah, successor of Ramses II, and Ramses III, of the 20th dynasty, Egypt had to face the invasions of the peoples of the sea, originating from various areas of the eastern Mediterranean (Aegean, Anatolia), and the Libyans.

The pharaohs of the New Kingdom began a large-scale building campaign to promote the god Amun, whose growing cult was based at Karnak. They also built monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined. Hatshepsut will use such hyperbole during her reign of nearly twenty-two years that it was very successful, marked by a long period of peace and prosperity, with trading expeditions to Punt, the restoration of foreign trade networks, major construction projects, including an elegant temple funerary that rivals the Greek architecture of a thousand years later, colossal obelisks and a chapel at Karnak.

Despite her achievements, Hatshepsut's heir, her stepson Tuthmosis III, tried to erase all traces of her legacy towards the end of the reign, appropriating many of her achievements. He also tried to change many established traditions that had developed over centuries. It was possibly a futile attempt to prevent other women from becoming pharaoh and thus curb his influence in the kingdom.

Around 1350 BC C., the stability of the Empire seemed threatened, even more so when Amenhotep IV ascended the throne and instituted a series of radical reforms, which had a chaotic result. Changing his name to Akhenaten, he promoted the hitherto obscure solar deity Aten as supreme deity, initiating a religious reform toward monotheism. In part, Akhenaten's monotheism was a product of royal absolutism; the old gods had disappeared, but the king maintained—for his own political benefit—his traditional role as mediator between men and the wishes of the new god. The pharaoh suppressed the worship of most other deities and, above all, tried to nullify the power of the influential priests of Amun in Thebes, whom he saw as corrupt. By moving the capital to the new city of Akhet-aten (present-day Amarna), Akhenaten turned a deaf ear to events in the Near East (where the Hittites, Mitanni, and Assyrians vied for control) and concentrated solely on the new religion. The new religious philosophy brought with it a new artistic style, which highlighted the king's humanity over monumentality.

After his death, the cult of the Aten was quickly abandoned, the priests of Amun regained power and returned the capital to Thebes. Under his influence, later pharaohs—Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb—tried to erase all mention of Akhenaten and his "heresy," now known as the Amarna Period.

Around 1279 BC C. Ramses II, also known as the Great, ascended the throne. His would be one of the longest reigns in Egyptian history. He built more temples, more statues and obelisks, and fathered more children than any other pharaoh. A fearless military leader, Ramses II led his army against the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh (in present-day Syria); after reaching a stalemate, he finally agreed to a peace treaty with the Hittite kingdom. It is the oldest recorded peace treaty, dating to around 1258 BC. Egypt withdrew from most of its Asian possessions, leaving the Hittites to compete unsuccessfully with the rising power of Assyria and the newly arrived Phrygians.

Egypt's wealth, however, had become a tempting target for invasion; in particular, for the Western Bedouin Libyans and the Sea Peoples, who were part of the powerful confederation of Greek pirates in the Aegean Sea. Initially, the army was able to repel the invasions, but Egypt eventually lost control of its territories in southern Syria and Palestine, much of which fell to the Assyrians and Hittites. The impact of external threats was compounded by internal problems such as corruption, theft of royal tombs, and popular unrest. After regaining their power, the high priests of the temple of Amun at Thebes had accumulated vast tracts of land and much wealth, weakening the state. The country ended up divided, beginning the Third Intermediate Period.

Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070-656 BC)

It begins with the establishment of two dynasties of Libyan origin that divided up Egypt: one, from Tanis, the biblical Zoán, in Lower Egypt, and another, whose kings took the title of High Priests of Amun, from Thebes. The period ends with the domination of the Cushite kings. They are the dynasties, partially contemporary, XXI to XXV.

Late Period or Late Period (c. 656-332 BC)

It begins with the Saite dynasty, followed by a Nubian dynasty, an Assyrian invasion attempt, and two periods of Persian rule, as well as several contemporaneous dynasties of independent Egyptian rulers. Egypt eventually became a satrapy. They are the XXVI to XXXI dynasties.

Hellenistic Period (332-30 BC)

It begins with the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 332 BC. C., and the coming to power in 305 a. C. of the Ptolemaic dynasty, of Macedonian origin. It ends with the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire after the battle of Actium, in the year 31 BC. C. In the year 30 a. C. Cleopatra dies and Egypt becomes a province of the Roman Empire.

Roman Period (30 BC-640 AD)

On July 30, 30 B.C. C., Octavio entered Alexandria, definitively liquidating the political independence of Egypt and turning it into a Roman province.

The Byzantine Empire passed to its successors after the Roman Empire was divided in the year 395 into the West and the East, and remained in their hands until the conquest by the Arab people in the year 640. The last vestiges of the traditional culture of Ancient Egypt definitively end at the beginning of the s. 6th d. C., with the last priests of Isis, who officiated at the temple on the island of File, when the cult of "pagan gods" was proscribed.

Society

Egyptian society was hierarchical on three levels:

• Pharaoh: Depository of divine right, all powers were attributed to him through Horus.
• High officials: high priests and scribes.
• People: peasants, artisans, among others.

Politics

Ancient Egypt was organized into 2 kingdoms, Upper and Lower Egypt.

From the year 3000 BC they were unified into a single kingdom that had a monarchical, absolutist and theocratic government:

• Monarchical: in Egypt ruled a single king.
• Absolutist: the pharaoh had all the power.
• Theocratic: the pharaoh was considered a god.

The pharaoh was the representation of god on earth and all of Egypt belonged to him: land, crops, trade.

Some functions of the pharaoh were:

• He dictated the laws.
• He organized the army.
• He led religious life.
• He was in charge of justice.
• He distributed food to the people.

Egyptian economy

Developing

Egypt's economy was based on agriculture and livestock. Life depended on the cultivation of the lands flooded by the Nile River. They had a system of dams, ponds, and irrigation canals that stretched across all the farmland. On the banks of the Nile Egyptian peasants grew many kinds of grain. The harvested grain was kept in barns and later used to make bread and beer. The main crops were wheat, barley, and flax.

Agriculture was centered around the Nile cycle. There were three seasons: Akhet, Peret, and Shemu. Akhet, the flood season, lasted from June to September. After the flood, a layer of silt remained on the banks, enriching the land for the next crop. In Peret, the planting season between October and February, farmers waited until the water drained, then plowed and planted the rich soil. With the work finished, they irrigated using dikes and canals. Shemu followed, the harvest season from March to May, when it was harvested with wooden sickles.

In the gardens, peas, lentils, onions, leeks, cucumbers, and lettuce were grown, as well as grapes, dates, figs, and pomegranates. Among the animals raised for their meat are pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, geese and ducks.

The Egyptians grew more food than they needed, and traded their produce. Some of the materials they imported from foreign lands were incense, silver, and fine cedar wood. Much of the Egyptian trade was transported by boat, down the Nile and across the Mediterranean.

For most of its existence, some three millennia, Ancient Egypt was the richest country in the world.

Trade, trade routes and expeditions

The commercial transactions of the ancient Egyptians were not limited to the exchange of agricultural products or raw materials, but there is also evidence of expeditions to nourish the royal treasury of the pharaohs with ornamental goods and jewels, and activities of selling slaves, and even from the administrative or service positions in the temples.

In Ancient Egypt there was the figure of the shutiu, a kind of commercial agents who carried out buying and selling activities at the service of the great pharaonic institutions (temples, royal palace, large crown farms, etc...). But they could also sell slaves to simple individuals, or they could carry out commercial transactions outside the institutions for their own benefit.

The almost 200 clay tablets and numerous inscriptions discovered by archaeologists in the ancient city of Balat show that this town, located in the middle of the Egyptian Sahara, was used as a base of operations and a supply point for the commercial expeditions sent by the pharaohs to the heart of Africa at the end of the third millennium BC. From this enclave in the oasis of Dajla, expeditions would depart, made up of about 400 men, whose purpose was to search for a pigment that, once obtained, was sent by caravan to the Nile Valley.

The route would have been marked from ancient times as evidenced by the presence of jar deposits located at intervals of 30 kilometers in the desert, reaching as far as Gilf el-Kebir in the extreme south-west of Egypt. It is unknown how far the route reached, although specialists accept as a more likely hypothesis that it reached the Lake Chad area.

Administration and finance

Egypt was divided into various sepats (provinces, or nomos in Greek) for administrative purposes. This division can be traced back to the predynastic period (before 3100 BC), when the nomes were autonomous city-states, and remained for more than three millennia, maintaining their customs. Under this system, the country was divided into 42 nomes: 20 from Lower Egypt, while Upper Egypt encompassed 22 nomes. Each nome was ruled by a nomarch, a provincial governor who held regional authority.

The government imposed various taxes, which in the absence of currency were paid in kind, with work or merchandise. The Tyaty (vizier) was responsible for controlling the tax system on behalf of the pharaoh, through his department. His subordinates had to keep up to date the reserves stored and their forecasts. Taxes were paid according to the work or income of each one, the peasants (or the landowners in later periods) in agricultural products, the artisans with part of their production, and similarly the fishermen, hunters, etc.

The state required one person from each house to do public work a few weeks a year, making or clearing canals, building temples or tombs, and even mining (the latter, only if there were no prisoners of war). Hunters and fishermen paid their taxes with catches from the river, canals, and desert. Affluent families could hire substitutes in order to satisfy this right.

Languages

Ancient Egyptian constitutes an independent part of the language of the (macro) Afro-Asiatic family. Their closest relatives are the Berber, Semitic, and Beja groups. The oldest written documents in the Egyptian language have been dated to 3200 BC. C., making it one of the oldest and most documented. Scholars group Egyptian into seven major chronological divisions:

• Archaic Egyptian (before 3000 BC)

Collected in the inscriptions of the last predynastic and the archaic. The earliest evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing appears on pottery vessels from Naqada II.

• Ancient Egyptian (3000-2000 BC)

It is the language of the Old Kingdom and the first intermediate period. The pyramid texts are the largest body of literature from this phase, written on the walls of the tombs of the aristocracy, which from this period also show autobiographical writing. One of the characteristics that distinguishes it is the triple mix of ideograms, phonograms, and determiners to indicate the plural. It does not have great differences with the next stage.

• Classical Egyptian (2000-1300 BC)

This stage, also called middle, is known from a variety of texts in hieroglyphic and hieratic script, dating from the Middle Kingdom. They include funerary texts inscribed on coffins such as the Coffin Texts; texts that explain how to behave in the afterlife, and that exemplify the Egyptian philosophical point of view (see the Ipuur papyrus); tales detailing the adventures of certain individuals, for example the story of Sinuhe; medical and scientific texts such as the Edwin Smith and Ebers Papyrus; and poetic texts praising a god or pharaoh, such as the hymn to the Nile. The vernacular began to differentiate itself from the written language as evidenced by some Middle Kingdom hieratic texts, but Classical Egyptian continued to be used in formal writings until the last dynastic period.

• Late Egyptian (1300-700 BC)

Documents from this stage appear in the second part of the New Kingdom. They form a wide body of texts in religious and secular literature, encompassing famous examples such as the story of Unamón (Wenamun) and the instructions of the Ani. It was the language of the Ramesside administration. It is not totally different from the Middle Egyptian, since many classicisms appear in the historical and literary documents of this phase, however, the difference between the classic and the late one is greater than between that one and the old one. It also better represents the language spoken since the New Kingdom. Hieroglyphic orthography achieved a great expansion of its graphic inventory between the Late and Ptolemaic periods.

• Demotic Egyptian (7th century-4th century BC)

The demotic language is chronologically the last, it began to be used around 660 BC. C. and became the dominant script around 600 BC. C., being used for economic and literary purposes. In contrast to hieratic, which was usually written on papyrus or ostraca, demotic was also engraved on stone and wood.

In texts written in earlier stages, it probably represented the spoken language of the time. But being used more and more only for literary and religious purposes, the written language diverged more and more from the spoken form, giving the later demotic texts an artificial character, similar to the use of Classical Middle Egyptian during the Ptolemaic period. At the beginning of the 4th century it began to be replaced by the Greek language in official texts: the last known use is in the year 452 AD. C., on the walls of the temple dedicated to Isis, in File. It shares much with the later Coptic language.

• Greek (305-30 BC)

It was the language of the court after the conquest of Alexander, the koiné dialect, "common language", which was a variant of the Attic used in the Hellenistic world, and which in Egypt coexisted with the Coptic used by the common people.

• Coptic (3rd century-7th century AD)

It is attested around the third century, and appears written with hieroglyphic signs, or in the hieratic and demotic alphabets. The Coptic alphabet is a slightly modified version of the Greek alphabet, with some proper demotic letters used to represent various sounds not found in Greek. As an everyday language it had its heyday from the 3rd century to the 6th century, and it only survives as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church after being replaced by Arabic in the Islamic era.

Writing

For years, the oldest known inscription was the Narmer Palette, found during excavations at Hierakonpolis (present name Kom el-Ahmar) in 1890, dated to 3150 BC. C. Recent archaeological finds reveal that the symbols engraved on the pottery of Gerzeh, from the year 3250 a. C., resemble the traditional hieroglyph. In 1998 a German archaeological team under the command of Günter Dreyer, excavating the Uj tomb in the Umm el-Qaab necropolis of Abydos, which belonged to a Predynastic king, recovered three hundred clay labels inscribed with hieroglyphs and dated to the period of Naqada III-a, in the XXXIII century a. C.​

According to research, Egyptian writing appeared around 3000 BC. C. with the unification of the Kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt and the advent of the State. For a long time it was only composed of about a thousand signs, hieroglyphs, which represented people, animals, plants, stylized objects, etc. Their number did not reach several thousand until the late period.

Egyptologists define the Egyptian system as hieroglyphics, and it is considered to be the oldest writing in the world. The name comes from the Greek hieros ("sacred") and glypho ("sculpt, engrave"). It was part syllabic, part ideographic. Hieratic was a cursive form of hieroglyphics and came into use during the First Dynasty (c. 2925-2775 BC). The term demotic, in the Egyptian context, refers to the script and language that evolved during the late period, i.e. from the 25th Nubian dynasty, until it was displaced at court by the Greek Koiné in recent centuries to. C. After the conquest by Amr ibn al-As in the year 640, the Egyptian language lasted in the Coptic language during the Middle Ages.

Around 2700 BC C., pictograms began to be used to represent consonant sounds. About 2000 a. C., 26 were used to represent the 24 main consonant sounds. The oldest known alphabet (c. 1800 BC) is an abjad system derived from these uniliteral signs, like other Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Hieroglyphic writing finally fell out of use as a courtiers' script around the 4th century BC. C, under the Ptolemies, replaced by the Greek, although it lasted in the temples of Upper Egypt, guarded by the Egyptian clergy. Cleopatra VII was the only Ptolemaic ruler to master the ancient Egyptian language. European attempts to decipher it began in the fifteenth century, although there were earlier attempts by Arab scholars.

Literature

• c. 1800 BC C.: History of Sinuhé and papyrus of Ipuwer.
• c. 1600 BC C.: Papyrus Westcar.
• c. 1300 BC C.: Papyrus Ebers and Poem of Pentaur.
• c. 1180 BC C.: Papyrus Harris I.
• c. 1000 BC C.: History of Unamón and Papyrus of Ani.

Religion

Developing

The Egyptian religion, embodied in mythology, is a set of beliefs that permeated all of Egyptian life, from the predynastic era to the arrival of Christianity and Islam in the Greco-Roman and Arab stages. They were led by priests, and the use of magic and spells is doubtful.

The temple was a sacred place where only the priests and priestesses were admitted, although in important celebrations the people were admitted to the courtyard.

The existence of mummies and pyramids outside of Egypt indicates that the beliefs and values ​​of Egyptian culture were transmitted in one way or another along trade routes. Egypt's contacts with foreigners included Nubia and Punt to the south, the Aegean and Greece to the north, Lebanon and other regions of the Near East, and Libya to the west.

The religious nature of Egyptian civilization influenced their contribution to the arts. Many of the great works of ancient Egypt represent gods, goddesses, and pharaohs, considered divine. Art is characterized by the idea of ​​order and symmetry.

During the 3,000 years of independent culture, every animal portrayed or worshiped in art, writing, or religion is indigenous to Africa. The dromedary, domesticated in Arabia, appeared in Egypt at the beginning of the II millennium BC. c.

Although analysis of hair from Middle Kingdom mummies has revealed evidence of a stable diet, mummies from circa 3200 B.C. C. show signs of anemia and hemolytic disorders, symptoms of heavy metal poisoning. Compounds of copper, lead, mercury, and arsenic that were used in pigments, dyes, and makeup at the time may have caused the poisoning, especially among the wealthy.

Life after death

They believed in an afterlife, and prepared for it, both following certain rules (Book of the Dead) and preparing the tomb and the corpse.

They believed that after death, the ka (double in spirit form) divided into ba (soul) and akh (spirit). The ba lived in the grave of the deceased and was free to come and go at will. The akh was headed straight to the underworld where he continued his trial. The great god of the underworld Osiris was in charge of judging the spirit of the deceased. Anubis placed the heart of the deceased on one side of his scales and Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice, placed her pen of truth on the other side. If the heart and the pen weighed the same, the akh(spirit) went to the great kingdom where the good spirits mingled with the gods in a life of peace and harmony. If this was not the case, the deceased would suffer an eternity of punishment. In addition, the Egyptians believed that every deceased person should have a house in his afterlife, which is why they built pyramids and hypogea for the corpses. Also, as they believed that the second life was almost the same as the first and one continued doing the same as in the first, they left their jewels and jewelry, clothes, food and games in the tombs. The other fear of the Egyptians (besides the judgment of their souls) was that someone would plunder the house of his spirit. If his grave was ransacked or his corpse destroyed, the ba was homeless and both he and the akhthey would experience a much worse second death. Statues of the deceased were sometimes placed in the pyramids in case the ba became homeless, he would remain in the statue and avoid the second death.

Formerly only the pharaohs had the right to participate in the future life, but when the new empire arrived, all the Egyptians expected to live in the afterlife, and they prepared, according to their economic possibilities, their tomb and their body; The organs were extracted from the corpses, which were deposited in the canopic jars, and then the body was covered with resins to preserve it, wrapping it with linen. Food and belongings of the deceased were deposited in the burial chamber for use in the afterlife.

Achievements

The achievements of Ancient Egypt are well studied, as well as its civilization that reached a very high level of productivity and complexity.

• The art and engineering were present in the constructions to determine exactly the position of each point and the distances between them (Topography). The mortar was invented by the Egyptians. This knowledge was used to exactly orient the bases of the pyramids, as well as for other works:
• The irrigation channels built for the use of Lake El-Fayum, which made the area the main producer of grain in the ancient world. There is evidence that pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty used the natural lake of El Fayoum as a reservoir to regulate and store excess water, for use during dry seasons.
• Beginning with or before the First Dynasty, the Egyptians exploited the turquoise mines of the Sinai Peninsula.
• The earliest evidence (c. 1600 BCE) of traditional empiricism is credited to Egypt, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri, as well as the decimal system and complex mathematical formulas, used in the Papyrus of Moscow and the Ahmes. The origins of the scientific method also go back to the Egyptians. They knew the golden number, reflected in numerous constructions, although it may be the consequence of an intuitive sense of proportion and harmony.
• They created their own writing: hieroglyphics, towards the end of the fourth millennium BC. c.
• The manufacture of glass developed extraordinarily, as evidenced by the numerous objects of daily use and adornment discovered in the tombs. The remains of a glass factory have.recently
• About 3500 BC. C. they invented sailing, the first application of non-animal (or human) energy to locomotion. Invention that they used exclusively for about 2100 years since there is no documentary evidence of its use by the Phoenicians until 1400 BC. C.

Historical milestones

Predynastic

• 3500 BC C.: Senet, the oldest board game.
• 3500 BC C.: Faience, the oldest known glazed pottery.

Archaic

• 3300 BC C.: first works in bronze.
• 3200 BC C.: first hieroglyphs (Abydos).
• 3100 BC C.: linear hieroglyphs, the oldest known alphabet.
• 3100 BC C.: decimal system, used for the first time in the world.
• 3100 BC C.: wineries, the oldest known.
• 3050 BC C.: shipyard in Abydos.
• 3000 BC C.: Palette of Narmer, one of the first representations of a pharaoh.
• 3000 BC C.: Exports of wine from the Nile to Canaan and Lebanon: Dated circa 3000 B.C. C (Narmer period), a piece of pottery has been found in Israel whose studies conclude that it is the fragment of a wine amphora from the Nile Valley.
• 3000 BC C.: copper works (see Copper in antiquity).
• 3000 BC C.: papyrus, the oldest "paper" in the world.
• 3000 BC C.: first health institutions in the world (see: Medicine in Ancient Egypt).
• 2700 BC C.: first surgeons in the world (see: Edwin Smith Papyrus).
• 2700 BC C.: topographic studies (Egyptian Museum of Turin).
• 2600 BC C.: construction of the Sphinx, the largest sculpture in a single stone block in the world, until the 20th century.
• 2600 BC c.-2500 BC C.: naval expeditions in the reigns of Seneferu and Sahura.
• 2600 BC C.: use of barges to transport stone blocks.
• 2600 BC C.: construction of the Pyramid of Djoser, the first in the world in stone.
• 2600 BC C.: construction of the Pyramid of Menkaura and the red one, the first ones with stone carvings.
• 2600 BC C.: construction of the Red Pyramid, the first "classical" pyramid (with smooth faces) in the world.
• 2580 BC C.: Construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which was the tallest building in the world until 1300 AD. c.
• 2500 BC C.: beekeeping begins.
• 2400 BC C.: they begin to use the calendar, which was used even in the Middle Ages for its regularity.
• 2200 BC C.: first references to beer consumption.
• 1860 BC C.: construction during the reign of Sesostris III of a channel on the Wady Tumilat, from the Red Sea to the Nile River, for the transport of merchandise by barges. Evidence indicates its use in the 13th century BC. C., during the time of Ramses II.
• 1800 BC C.: The demotic alphabet arises.
• 1800 BC C.: Papyrus of Moscow, with formulas to find volumes.
• 1650 BC C.: Papyrus of Ahmes: formulas on geometry, algebraic equations, arithmetic series, etc.
• 1600 BC C.: Papyrus Edwin Smith, collects the methods used in medicine from the year 3000 a. c.
• 1550 BC C.: Papyrus Ebers, the first treatise on tumors.
• 1500 BC C.: the first glass factory in the world.
• 1300 BC C.: Berlin Papyrus, on fractions and algebraic equations.
• 1258 BC C.: first peace treaty on record, between Ramses II and Muwatalli II after the battle of Qadesh.
• 1160 BC C.: Papyri of Turin (1879, 1899 and 1969), from Wadi Hammamat, the first geological and topographical map known.
• 1000 BC C.: use of tar for embalming.
• 500 BC c.-400 BC C. or earlier: war games called petteia and seega, precursors to chess.