Download Rivard Rivard While the societies of Ancient Egypt and the Ottoman

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While the societies of Ancient Egypt and the Ottoman Turks were similar in creating
many new things such as building new inventions like the ramp or creating schools, they
were different because their societies went in different ways like the Ottomans focused on
expanding their empire and the Egyptians focused more on being intellectual.
Their society consisted of three kingdoms (Old, Middle, and New) and about thirtyfour different dynasties. The Egyptians were ruled by kings or pharaohs. The earlier
rulers were called “Horus-kings”. There were many rulers over the time due to disease,
illness, etc. The Egyptians had only the pharaoh to tell what to do and to deal with the
people’s problems. Unlike the Egyptians the Ottomans didn’t have as many kings or
dynasties. Ottoman had about thirty-six kings over the course of the empire. The sultans ruled
for about twenty years. Few sultans ruled twice. Between both civilizations the rulers ruled
until their death, some of them did t step down for another ruler to take rule.
Although the people living in Egypt had houses, pets, crops, and jewelry nothing was
theirs, the government or the pharaoh owned everything. Bing the pharaoh and a descendant
of the god the pharaoh owned everything and practically owned all of ancient Egypt. The
pharaoh had many helpers to ensure the empire was well and to ensure that everything was
getting done how he wanted it done. To help him was his vizier; the vizier was his right hand
man. Everything went to the vizier and was decided by him before it even went to the
pharaoh. Both civilizations had very stable government during the time of their empires.
They have similar supreme ruler whether it’s a pharaoh or a supreme ruler. The sultan was
the empire’s regent and idea of government, even though complete control wasn’t always
exercised. Besides the sultan the imperial harem was on of the most important powers in
court. The Ottomans believed that Islam should play a vital role in the government. “Islamic
law and ideas formed the basis of society, law, and government (Alkhateeb 10).” With Islam
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being a vital role they also believed the sultan could also be known as the caliph which was
the highest title in Islam.
“The ancient Egyptian military, like all armies, was a product of the society that
created it. Although it was not militarily innovative itself, Egyptian society could be very
conservative; and the Egyptian military readily adapted enemy weapons and technologies
becoming a powerhouse of the ancient world and one of the great military forces of history
(Goggles1).” They had an ideal position, defended naturally by the geography and their
people being cultural and ethnically united; the deserts from all around, Mediterranean from
the north, Nile from the south with five cataracts protecting the southern border. Egyptian
cities did not even need to have defensive walls. The Egyptians overtime used manly spears,
and bows. In the earlier dynasties they used stone maces, copper tipped spears, and bow with
flint or obsidian arrows; as secondary weapons they used sticks. As the years went by the
Egyptians reinvented their weapons. They made their bow more compact, used different kind
of spears, and started using more metals to make their weapons such as bronze and copper.
When the Hyksos took over Egypt in the Middle Kingdom they used horse drawn chariots
which was perceived as the grates military advancement over Egypt. The Hyksos ruled for
quite a while during that time the Egyptians learned new military styles from them. “The
Egyptians had learned much from the Hyskos and they reformed their military into that of a
first rate power (Goggles1). “ They created a class of Charioteers who shot powerful
composite bow from the chariot; spears were used for close combat. Newer swords were
being used. Instead of just being a firm organization they were made into professional
soldiers. At the end of the Empire the Egyptian army was no match for the Assyrians,
Persians, and the Romans. “The Egyptian military would never again be a great force in the
ancient world (Goggles1).”
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The Egyptian social structure was simple; the social status was organized like a
pyramid with the god-king at the top and the slaves at the end. Below the pharaoh was the
upper class of nobles and priests; merchants, tax collectors, scribes, and artisans made up the
third highest class. Egyptians were able to move up in classes, but the Ottomans were stuck in
the same class because of the skills and the work they did. The Ottoman had four different
social classes. The first and highest are the Men of Pen which were highly educated; scientist,
lawyers, judges, and doctors. Second, are the Men of Sword, who are the military personnel.
Then, came the Men of Negotiation which were the merchants, artisans and tax collectors.
The lowest are the Men of Husbandry, were the farmers and herders who provided all the
food. The similarities of both of these civilizations were that the merchants, artisans, and tax
collectors were in the same level in both of the social classes of Ancient Egypt and the
Ottoman Empire.
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Egyptians were very smart people. They were known for creating many things and
having various inventions that were never done before. They say that one of the greatest
achievements was building the pyramids. The pyramids were built to be dedicated to the dead
and some were used to house some of the greatest deceased pharaohs like King Khufu. “The
Egyptians invented and used many basic machines, such as the ramp and the lever, to aid
construction processes (Crystal 1).” They mined gold, copper, iron and used them for
different things. Egyptians knew how to make glass which was useful for making beads, jars,
and rods. They worked with alchemy and metallurgy. They learned how to use plants as
medicine and how to create various remedies for various injuries or illness. The
mummification process was used to keep their dead from rotting. The Ottomans on the other
hand didn’t really create much, but what they did was create madrasas which were colleges.
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Education of religion and law was important to the Ottomans. Later, they added medical and
astronomy schools. They attempted successful flying attempt with artificial wings.
The Egyptians were a polytheistic religion. Their religion was influenced by tradition.
They believed in as many as seven hundred gods. Pharaoh was considered a descendant from
the gods. The four main religions were Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis, and Theban
theology. “The Egyptians did have an aberrant period of some form of monotheism during
the New Kingdom, in which the pharaoh Akhenaten abolished the official worship of other
gods in favor of the sun-disk Aten (Crystalinks 6). “ Atenism was first introduced by
Amenhotep IV. Akhenaten banned idols from. He declared that Aten was the only god to be
worshiped and celebrated. There were elaborate beliefs about death and the afterlife. There
was belief about a life force humans possessed. They used mythology to tell stories about the
gods’ actions and roles.
The Ottomans were a Muslim based empire. They believed in a monotheistic religion.
Although their main religion was Islam they did ensure protection for other religions in the
empire. To keep things simple they created the millet system. The millet system is a system
where Non-Muslims communities were organized into little nations under the Ottomans rule.
As part of being protected under the millet system, the devshirme system in some part of the
empire required to hand over some children as tax. The children were converted to Islam and
were served as slaves. Even though it seems traumatic and horrid some considered it to be
very privileged.
The Ottoman economy was made of partly trading. They used caravans and ships to carry
silk, teas, spices, and porcelain. Russia and the Black Sea came with furs, grain, and amber.
Europe traded mirrors and drugs. Ottomans had inherited Seljuk caravan stops to help protect
the caravan trade. They had state supervision to make sure there was no cheating; the kadi
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patrolled the markets for cheating. There was a tax on almost every transaction. The
government was informed of everything; for example, when an employee left a company they
were notified. Their main exports were leather, skins and wool. Many men were engaged in
some sort of trade, even the sultan learned one. The Egyptian had many aspects on the
economy that made their lives successful. They used trading for their money. The people
collected grew or raised things to be sold in the markets. Egyptians trade was made up of
trading gold and wheat. The children grew up learning the trade of their family.