Download Bricola Johnson College Composition I CENG

Bricola Johnson
College Composition I CENG-105WS
October 24, 2011
Professor Peterson
Annotated Bibliography
Ancient Egyptian Civilization
Ancient Egypt was a cultivating civilization that thrived along the Nile River in
northeastern Africa for more than 3,000 years. It was the longest lived civilization of the ancient
world. Culturally, it refers to the ways ancient Egyptians spoke, worshiped, organized
government, entertained themselves, and related to others who were not Egyptian. It’s
civilization from its origins to its decline focused on the Nile River and the deserts around it. The
Niles focus also gave a more optimistic cast of Egyptian culture; it could be thankfully received
as a source of never failing bounty, rather than a tragic cause of floods. Ancient Egyptian
Civilization survived a basic belief in a good and moral life on earth as a major means of
attempting afterlife, a concept that is reflected in most modern religions. Egypt thrived off the
environment, and the expansion of its civilization grew resulting from it. Therefore, the
environment formulated drastic changes to its culture and it inspired and shaped ancient Egypt’s
religion. What role does the environment have on ancient Egyptian’s culture and religions?
Ancient Egypt M. Time-Line. “Ancient Egypt Magazine.” History Reference Center, Ipswich,
Ma, October 27, 2011.
Egypt is well known for their tombs, mausoleums, and monuments. Their land has a wide
range of historical value that centered on their faiths and religion. The antique monuments that
they have built centuries ago still stand till this day. In 1438 AD modern graveyard tomb of Amir
Gani Bak who was one of the Sultan Barsby’s Mameluks, made an important contribution to
Mameluk culture. These historical monuments are valued for their religious and cultural
meanings. “Visitors can see a large collection of thousands of handwritten manuscripts dating to
the Mameluk, Ottoman, Mongolion, and other Islamic periods.”1
Ancient Egyptian Religion. “Ancient Egyptian Religion.” St. Petersburg Times.
www2.sptimes.com/Egypt (accessed 1999).
Religion guided every aspect of Egyptian life. Egyptian religion was based on
polytheism, or the worship of many deities, except for during the reign of Akenaton. The
Egyptians had as many as 2,000 gods and goddesses. The Temples were considered as dwelling
places for the gods. The purpose of the temples was to be a cosmic center by which men had
communication with the gods. Religion was a major part of ancient Egypt, they believed in life
after death. This information will be important in the Cultural Analysis paper because their
beliefs were very important to them and played a huge role in why their culture was so valued.
“Often gods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal.”2
Ancient Egypt Practices. “The deities of Egypt: History and Philosophy of the Ancient and
Modern World.” lml.jou.ufl.edu (accessed 2004).
At the time the pyramid texts were written, the Nile flooded annually from July to
November, providing rich silt for farmer’s crops. Red Barely, white wheat, fruit and vegetables
were the people’s main staples. By 3100 BCE (Before Common Era), Egyptians adopted the
means of pharaohs as governance. Men and women were treated equally. The environment
characterized Egypt’s strengths and weaknesses and it was a largely agricultural society.
1
Ancient Egypt M. Time-Line, “Ancient Egypt Magazine,” History Reference Center, Ipswich, Ma, October
27, 2011
2
Ancient Egyptian Religion, “Ancient Egyptian Religion,” St. Petersburg Times, www2.sptimes.com/Egypt
(accessed 1999).
“Woman were respected for their motherly and reproductive roles and central to the sustenance
of society.”3
Ancient World History. “Ancient Egypt.” www.awhistory.com/Egypt (accessed 2003).
The Nile River, which formed the focus on ancient Egyptian civilization, originates in the
highlands of East Africa and flows northward throughout the length of what is now Sudan and
Egypt. Because of the seasonal rains further south in Africa, the Nile overflowed its banks in
Egypt every year. Geographically, the term ancient Egypt indicated the territory where the
ancient Egyptians lived in the valley and delta of the Nile. All of this relates to how the
environment creates a setting of how a sophisticated and creative society came into being. “The
Nile served as a water highway for the people, a constant source of life-giving water, and
sustainer of all plants and animals.” 4
Allen, Troy. The Ancient Egyptian Family Kinship and Social Structure. New York, 2009.
Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest civilizations that have ever existed. Indeed, ancient
Egypt’s historical greatness seems to be surpassed only by the remarkable endurance of its
monuments through time. Since ancient Egypt did not emulate the patrilineal model of family
and social organization it has become an enigma for those who cannot accept its matrilineal
structure. The matrilineal nature of ancient Egyptian society reveals both the continuity between
African and Egyptian civilizations and the compatibility between social structures. This
information provides how ancient Egyptian civilization was divided and family was a major part
3
Ancient Egypt Practices, “The deities of Egypt: History and Philosophy of the Ancient and Modern
World,” lml.jou.ufl.edu (accessed 2004).
3
Ancient World History, “Ancient Egypt,” www.awhistory.com/Egypt (accessed 2003).
of their structure stability. “Ancient Egyptians family was organized in terms of marriage,
kinship, and lineage. Family structure is a sociologically controlled, and the family’s relationship
among members is subject to some regular arrangements.”5
Dykstra, Darrell, Pyramids, Prophets, and Progress: Ancient Egypt in the writings of Ali
Wubarak, Encyclopedia, p54. Literature Resource Center, 1994.
As the Egyptian states dramatically increased its ability to exert controls over people and
recourses, they gained power and advanced their cultural values. There is great significance of
the measured dimensions and placement of the Great pyramid. There are several Muslim
traditions of interpreting ancient Egyptian materials. Interpretation of most distinctive of Egypt’s
physical relics, the pyramids of Giza can be to illustrate the variety of Muslim traditions.
“Although the Pyramids are variously explained in Islamic texts as observatories, granaries, or
tombs, there are other, more ambitious versions of interpretation which associate the pyramids
with efforts to circumvent the effects of anticipated catastrophes, particularly the scriptural
flood.”6
Fairman, H.W. Ancient Affairs: African Studies Association of the United Kingdom, vol. 64
(1965): 69-75.
The Ancient Egyptian neatly divided the human race into four: Asiatics, Lybians,
Nubians, and men. Each race had different ways of living but all depended on the environment
for survival. Shut in by deserts or sea in the deep trench that formed their land, with high, dessert
cliffs to east and west that limited their physical and mental horizons and definitely walled them
in. It was not at all unnatural that they should have thought they were not as other men. “This
5
Troy Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Family Kinship and Social Structure (New York, 2009)
Darrell, Dykstra, “Pyramids, Prophets, and Progress: Ancient Egypt in the Writings of Ali Wubarak,
Encyclopedia, “ Literature Resource Center, (1994): 54
6
sense of being a race apart, and obviously superior, was in no way a mere fiction, it was
something very real and true to the ancient Egyptians.”7
Kitchen, K.A. “The chronology of Ancient Egypt: World Archaeology.” Vol. 23, No. 2,
Chronologies (Oct., 1991) 201-208. www.jstore.orgezproxy.auctr.edu.
The geography and climate of ancient Egypt are unique. Egypt is situated in the northeast
corner of the African continent, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. In the world of the east
Mediterranean and near east, the detailed historical and archeological chronologies of ancient
Egypt have long provided a backbone or establishing time scales in other cultural provinces of
this key area in world history and archaeology. The chronology of ancient Egypt can only be
recovered by combining several approaches. These include the sequence of kings and reigns,
grouped into dynasties and larger periods. “In the nineteenth century AD, Egyptologists have
found it convenient to group these dynasties in turn into just a few large periods that correspond
to the profile of Egypt’s ancient history.”8
Rice, Michael. Egypt’s making the origins of Ancient Egypt, 5000-2000 BC. London; New
York, 2003.
The relocation of ancient Egypt has, in a quite extraordinary way, managed to influence itself
into so many aspects of the modern world and into minds of countless individuals living today.
The unique inheritance which the world draws from most ancient Egypt consists not only of the
pyramids and superlative works of art which survive in extraordinary abundance from the
earliest periods onwards. Often times, people speculated about the nature of Egypt’s culture and
society. Egypt was in touch with powers beyond the confines of the world they knew. “The
7
H.W. Fairman, Ancient Affairs: African Studies Association of the United Kingdom (vol. 64, 1965), 69-75
K.A. Kitchen, “The chronology of Ancient Egypt: World Archaeology,” Vol. 23, No. 2, Chronologies (Oct.,
1991): 201-208, www.jstore.orgezproxy.auctr.edu.
8
Egyptians recognized that if evidences of humanity were to be excited above all other men and to
begin absolute rulership over them.”9
Upshur, Jui-Hwal, Janice Terry, James Holoka, George Casser, Richard Goff. World History.
Boston, Ma, 2005.
The Egyptian civilization was more homogeneous, both geographically and politically.
Mesopotamia, had numerous and densely populated city-states. Menes, the first king of Egypt’s
first dynasty, is credited with unifying upper and lower Egypt around 3000 B.C.E. The next 2000
years of Egyptian history are customarily divided into time periods of strong political unity the
old, middle, and New Kingdoms, separated by periods of weak central government. Social unrest
and foreign invasions were also some causes of Egypt’s kingdom to separate and differentiate in
culture. “Early in their history, the ancient Egyptians evolved and perfected the pyramid, the
architectural form that has ever been the distinguishing mark of their civilization.”10
9
Michael Rice, Egypt’s making the origins of Ancient Egypt, 5000-2000 BC. (London; New York, 2003)
10
Jui-Hwal Upshir and others, World History (Boston, Ma, 2005)