ANCIENT EGYPT

CIVILIZATION
OVERVIEW AND TIMELINE
• The civilization of Ancient Egypt is known for its
stupendous achievements in a whole range of fields,
including art and architecture, engineering, medicine
and statecraft.
• The civilization of Ancient Egypt was one of the
earliest in world history. It is usually held to have begun
around 3000 BCE, when the lower Nile Valley
became unified under a single ruler. By this date the
only other people in the world to have a literate, urban
civilization were the Sumerians, in Mesopotamia
TIMELINE OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
CIVILIZATION:
• c.5000 BCE: The coming of farming to the Nile Valley
• c. 3500-3000: The Pre-dynastic period, leading to the unification of Egypt
• c. 2650: The beginning of the Old Kingdom
• c.2575-2465: The Great Pyramids of Giza built
• c. 2150: The fall of the Old Kingdom leads to the 1st Intermediate period begins
• 2074: The Middle Kingdom begins; Egypt is united and powerful again
• 1759: The fall of the Middle Kingdom leads to the 2nd Intermediate period, and the
occupation of northern Egypt by the Hyksos
• 1539: The reunification of Egypt and the expulsion of the Hyksos begins the New
Kingdom, a period when Egypt became a leading power in the Middle East
• 1344-1328: The pharaoh Akhenaton carries out a short-lived religious reformation
• 1336-1327: Tutankhamun reigns
• 1279-1213: The reign of Ramesses II brings Egypt to the height of its
power
• c. 1150 onwards: The New Kingdom falls into decline
• 728: Egypt is conquered by Nubian kings
• 656: Egypt is occupied by the Assyrians
• 639: The Egyptians expel the Assyrians and begin a period of revival
• 525: Egypt is conquered by the Persians
• 332: Egypt is conquered by Alexander the Great
• 305: Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, founds a Greek-
speaking dynasty
• 30: Cleopatra, the last queen of independent Egypt in ancient times,
dies, and Egypt is annexed by the Roman Empire
LOCATION
• Egypt is situated in the Nile Valley, in the north
east of Africa. Its origins lay
in several chiefdoms in Upper Egypt, at
Abydos and Hierakonpolis, which then spread
northwards towards Memphis and the
Mediterranean.
• The life of Ancient Egypt centered around the
river Nile and the fertile land along its banks.
•The achievements of the civilization
involved innovations in writing –
hieroglyphics and demotic; in
administration; in quarrying and
surveying, maths and architecture; in
irrigation and agricultural methods; as
well as in developing some of the
earliest ships.
GOVERNMENT
• The Ancient Egyptian civilization produced the
first government to rule an entire nation.
• The Pharaoh was the ruler of Ancient Egypt,
both politically and religiously. The Pharaoh
held the title ‘Lord of the Two Lands’, meaning
that he ruled all of Upper and Lower Egypt; and
‘High Priest of Every Temple’, meaning that he
represented all the gods on all the Earth
THE ARMY
• Soldiers of ancient Egyptian armies were armed with
bows and arrows, spears, and round-topped shields made
from stretched animal skin over wooden frames. Weapons
and armour continued to improve after the adoption of
bronze.
• The prime duty of the army was to defend Egypt against
foreign invasion. It was also at times deployed in
conquering and occupying foreign possessions, in
protecting mining expeditions to the Sinai and Nubia, and
in garrisoning forts along important trade routes,
especially in Nubia.
RELIGION
• The ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods
and goddesses.
• The rise and fall of gods and goddesses seems
to have mirrored the political fortunes of the
different temples and priesthoods
• Gods were worshipped in temples run by
priests.
• Small domestic statues were used by normal
Egyptians to worship the gods and goddesses
in their own homes. Charms and amulets were
worn for protection against the forces of evil.

• Egyptian religious beliefs about the afterlife

also changed over time. In early times, the
afterlife seems to have been intimately
connected to the preservation of the physical
body by mummification
ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

• As with all pre-industrial civilizations, Ancient

Egypt’s economy was based on agriculture. The
great majority of the people were peasant
farmers
• Agriculture

Farming in Egypt was dependent completely on the

Nile River. Just a few miles away from the river, on both
sides, was bone dry desert.
Egypt receives very little rainfall, so farmers irrigated
their fields with river water from the reservoirs, and
from the river itself. Ditches and canals carried the
water to the fields.
•Trade
• Trade inside Egypt would have been greatly aided by the
presence of the River Nile, and by the fact that no part of the
country lay more than a few miles from this great waterway
In the Bronze Age, international trade was almost the same as
diplomacy, taking the form of exchanges of “gifts” between rulers
Trading expeditions ranged far south into the present-day Sudan
and the Red Sea in search of exotic goods such as ivory, gold,
ostrich feathers and black slaves. These highly valued
commodities underpinned Egypt’s influence in the international
world of the Bronze Age Middle East, finding their way
to Hittite, Syrian and Mesopotamian courts.
MINERAL RESOURCES

• Egypt is rich in mineral resources, and these were

well exploited in ancient times. Limestone and
granite quarries occurred along the Nile valley.
• these natural resources allowed the ancient
Egyptians to build monuments, sculpt statues of all
sizes, manufacture metal tools and fashion jewelery.
SOCIETY

• Peasant farmers made up the bulk of the

population.
• The land was owned by the Pharaoh, or by
one of the temples, which were immensely
wealthy, or by a noble family.
WRITING AND LITERATURE
The first hieroglyphic writing that has
come down to us dates from c. 3000 BCE.
A hieroglyph can represent a word, a
sound, or a silent determinative; and the
same symbol can serve different
purposes in different contexts. Egyptian
hieroglyphic writing is composed of
hundreds of symbols, which could be
read in rows or columns, and in either
direction (though in the majority of
cases, written from right to left).
• Hieroglyphics were exclusively used on stone
monuments and in tombs.
• In their daily work, scribes used another kind of
writing, called hieratic. This uses a cursive script
(that is, joined-up writing) which was far quicker
and easier to use than hieroglyphics. Hieratic
writing was always written from right to left, usually
in horizontal rows.
LITERATURE
• Egyptian hieroglyphic literature is found on
public monuments, and the walls of temples
and tombs, and consists of records of the deeds
of gods and men, as well as poetry. Love poetry,
hymns, proverbs, spells and curses,
instructional and medical texts, and myths and
legends, are found in hieratic, and later
demotic scripts
ART
• Much of the art which has come down to us is funerary art –
art designed for the tomb. The Ancient Egyptians believed
that life could continue into the afterlife, and so the dead
were accompanied in their graves by everyday and luxury
goods – including art objects – to help them enjoy their new
life.
• The iconic Egyptian two-dimensional style is found in tombs,
temples and statues. Egyptian statues were carved from
stone and rock, or wood as a cheap alternative, with paint
obtained from mineral ores quarried from surrounding
areas.
The iconic Egyptian two-
dimensional style is found in
tombs, temples and statues.
Egyptian statues were
carved from stone and rock,
or wood as a cheap
alternative, with paint
obtained from mineral ores
quarried from surrounding
areas.
ARCHITECTURE
• The construction of pyramids was in fact restricted to
the earlier days of Egyptian civilization. Later
monumental architecture can be seen most clearly in
the temples and giant statues of the Valley of the
Kings and Abu Simbel.
• The average Egyptian lived in a simple mud, wood or
brick abode, with the elite having elaborate multi-
room mansions with richly painted walls, decorated
floors, and built around courtyards.
TECHNOLOGY
• Mathemetics
• The Ancient Egyptians developed high levels of
mathematical skills to enable them to build their
pyramids and temples with remarkably simple tools.
There mathematics seems to have been of a more
practical nature than that of the Mesopotamians, and
therefore may have influenced later civilizations less;
however, this practical mathematics must have been
of a very high order indeed
Medicine

• Ancient Egyptian funerary practices, which

involved embalming the dead, did not lead
to detailed knowledge of human anatomy
•Ship Building

The long river along which Ancient Egyptian civilization

flourished was an ideal environment for the development of
boat technology.
Planks of wood were originally held together by straps, with
reeds or grass pushed in to seal the gaps. Soon tree nails were
used to hold planks together, with pitch and caulking to close
the seams; and mortise and tenon joints had also been
developed
ANCIENT EGYPT IN WORLD HISTORY
• The clearest evidence for the legacy of Ancient Egypt can be
seen in architecture. The later Egyptian temples look very
similar to early Greek temples; and it has been suggested
that the Ancient Greeks got the very idea of monumental
building in stone from the Egyptians.
• Here, almost at the very beginnings of recorded history, was
a great civilization which produced wonderful art,
architecture, engineering, literature, medicine and so on. The
wide range of highly-developed practical techniques these
involved were transmitted to other peoples and later cultures