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2/21/2012 L10. The Pyramids in Stone Texts: Old Kingdom Egypt HIST 213 Spring 2012 Old Kingdom 3rd – 8th Dynasties (2647-2124 BCE) 500 year period of internal stability • establishment of religious pantheon • centralized bureaucracy in Memphis • improved – irrigation – copper mines – stone quarries • technological improvements: – boats and transportation – artisan crafts – trade to Levant and Nubia Kingly control of Egypt Old Kingdom • first capital Memphis – just south of Delta • Historians calculate rule based on dynasties • administration divided into nomes – nomarch • constant struggle between kingly and local authority 1 2/21/2012 Capital at Memphis • capital of the first province (nome) of Lower Egypt • became the kingdom's capital • strategically situated as it was at the junction of the Nile Valley and the Delta. • remained a major administrative center – original Egyptian name was Ineb Hedj (The White Walls) – Memphis' was a Greek deformation of the Egyptian name of Pepi I's (Six Dynasty) pyramid, Men-nefer The Stepped Pyramid of King Djoser (Zoser), ca. 2650-2625 BCE, Saqqara Master builder Imhotep 6 old style mastaba tombs (the 62 m. high stone stepped Pyramid of Zoser) Cross-section of the step pyramid 2 2/21/2012 Pyramid complex at Saqqara The Great Pyramids at Giza, 2650-2475 BCE (3rd Dynasty) Kingly ability to organize population • little is known about Egyptian society in the Old Kingdom • King had ability to organize teams of workers – each had a totem animal and competed – mirrored military structure • wealthy had control of luxury goods • pyramid allegorical to Egyptian society 3 2/21/2012 Purpose of Saqqara Pyramids Number of interpretations for the shape of the Step Pyramid: 1. learning curve (how to di it correctly) 2. mound-like shape represents the primeval mound of creation 3. pyramid represents a monumental staircase to the sky for the deceased king to ascend to heaven. • The latter view is supported by the following spell from a pyramid text: “... A stairway to the sky is set up for me that I may ascend on it to the sky, and I ascend on the smoke of the great censing.” Heb-sed Festival • During the reign of the (living) king a heb-sed festival was a sort of re-coronation ceremony • to be held (originally) every 30 years while the king was a ruler. • The heb-sed race was actually run by the king to prove his vitality. – The purpose of the festival was to reassert the king’s position as a ruler and to renew his royal power. Raising the Djed-Pillar Many monuments (including the step pyramid complex) depict the pharaoh running his heb-sed race. The scene usually includes the socalled djed-pillar (reed column), which in the New Kingdom was interpreted as Osiris’ backbone, a symbol of stability. The Raising of the Djed Pillar Ceremony frequently depicted on the walls at the festival courts reenacts the resurrection of Osiris to life. 4 2/21/2012 Colonnade near the entrance, the columns are carved to resemble bundles of reeds The 4th Dynasty (2613-2498 BCE) The affluence of Egypt in the 4th Dynasty (and the 5th) exceeded the prosperity in the 3rd Dynasty. The obvious evidence for this is the Great Pyramid Complexes of the 4th Dynasty rulers: • Khufu (Cheops in Greek) • Khafre (Chephren) • Menkaure (Mycernius). 5 2/21/2012 • Theories on construction • celestial layout Remote Pyramid sensing • In 2006 scientist sent a little remote controlled robot to investigate tiny passageways throughout the Great Pyramid. • It discovered a “mystery chamber” 6 2/21/2012 Khafre (Gizeh), c. 2575-2525 BCE, diorite permanence of material/ intertwined lotus and papyrus/ Old Kingdom kilt/ canon of ideal proportions/ “block-like” characteristics/ subtractive method of carving Menkaure and Khamerernebty (Giza), ca. 2490-2472 BCE, slate (4th Dynasty) Kingly ability to organize population • little is known about Egyptian society in the Old Kingdom • King had ability to organize teams of workers – each had a totem animal and competed – mirrored military structure • wealthy had control of luxury goods • pyramid allegorical to Egyptian society 7 2/21/2012 From the step-pyramid to the smooth-sided pyramid The passage from the step pyramid (magical staircase) to a smooth sided pyramid was probably due to benben – a smooth conical shaped stone, a sacred cult object of Re in Heliopolis. According to a spell in the Pyramid Texts: “I have laid down for myself this sunshine of yours as a stairway [ramp] under my feet on which I will ascend to that mother of mine ..” This suggests that the deceased king would ascend to heaven by traveling with the sun’s rays along the shining surface of the pyramid used as a ramp. – Note that the consonants in the word benben (wbn) mean shine or rise. Thus the benben stone can be interpreted as the symbol of renewal (of life) and sunrise. The benben stone and the obelisk. Pyramid Texts The growth of local power centers are proved by the appearance of pyramid texts in private burials. 4th Dynasty nobles clustered their mastabas around the king’s pyramid 5th Dynasty nobles choose to have their burial sites where they were located during their lives. 8 2/21/2012 Social Strife in late Old Kingdom The palace intrigues show that the king no longer enjoyed a god-like status in the late Old Kingdom • decrease of royal dominance was partially due to and simultaneous with the emergence of powerful local elite in the regional centers • A 6th Dynasty attempt to curb the nomarchs’ power in the south with the office of ‘overseer of Upper Egypt’ • There were military difficulties at the borders of Egypt – Stela of the Soldier Qedes from Gebelein that made an explicit mention of Nubian mercenary fighters against the state Nile flood levels diminish The flood level of the Nile has been steadily declining during the Old Kingdom • led to the reduction of agricultural production and eventually famine set in • prolonged famine set in • people began to doubt whether the pharaoh was able to maintain the world order, the Ma’at – Several steles commemorate the difficulties. 9 2/21/2012 The Stele of the Treasurer Ihy of Imyotru “I was a great pillar in the Theban nome, a man of standing in the Southland. I nourished Imyotru in years of misery. Though for hundred men were in straits through it, I did not seize a man’s daughter, nor did I seize his field”. .. “I gave Upper Egyptian barley to Iuni, to Hefat, after Imyotru had been supplied.” 10