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Chapter 3 Egypt The Natural Environment • Valley of 4000 mile-long Nile River • Benevolent river: floods regularly, deposits silt to renew soil • Geographic isolation: deserts, cataracts, sea • More than 1,000 years of peaceful existence Map 3.1 PEOPLE OF EGYPT • • • • • Population overwhelmingly peasant, tenant farmers Small merchants, craftspeople lived in villages No real cities Trade and commerce were government monopolies Slavery – Increased during Empire – Due to debts by tenant farmers and prisoners of war • Strong administrative control • Pharaohs and priests enacted ritual prayers and sacrifices to favor gods The Pharaoh – Egypt’s God-King • Gradual unification • Nilotic states controlled by one king pharaoh (“from the great house”) 3100 BCE • (3100-2500 BCE) - greatest triumphs, cultural achievements • ruled by unbroken line of god-kings who faced no serious internal/external threats Pharaoh • Pharaoh was a god who chose to live on Earth – Reincarnation of the god of order, Horus – Embodiment of land and people – Carried out will of the almighty gods – His will was law. His wisdom all knowing – Wife and family shared some glory, but he alone divine • Government Under the Pharaoh – Officials were noble landlords, temple priests with local power – Pharaoh responsible for welfare of Egypt: • Administration and order to protect subjects • directed productive efforts • maintained good relations with gods to assure prosperity and prevent natural disasters Reign of the Pharaohs • Two periods when pharaohs were weak – 2200-2100 BCE: First Intermediate Period – 1650-1570 BCE: Hyksos Invasion • After each period, new dynasty appeared, restored control • Pharaohs kept power for 2000 years because: – belief in divinity of king/queen (3 female pharaohs) – conviction that Egypt was specially favored and protected by the gods – climate and geography resulted in perpetual agricultural abundance Egypt’s Kingdoms 31 Dynasties Old Kingdom (3100-2200 BCE) – Most successful period – Art, architecture, religion, stability, prosperity Middle Kingdom (2100-1650 BCE) – Political stability: refinement of arts, crafts – Construction of Giza pyramids – Trade more extensive – Religion more democratic New Kingdom (1500-700 BCE) – Tried to convert neighbors to their lifestyle, government – Did not last: military reversals, internal dissent, foreign invasions – Life of ordinary people saw no marked change Cultural Achievements • Pyramids – Tombs were built while pharaoh was alive – Religious significance • Statues and Temples – Some temples still stand today, most vandalized by tomb robbers – Tomb of Tutankhamen – Statues have graceful lines, great dignity – Had only primitive tools to do this work Cultural Achievements • Hieroglyphics (“sacred carvings”) – Pictographs representing ideas, phonetic sounds – Never developed into an alphabet – Their use confined to small groups of educated people Philosophy, Religion, and Eternal Life • • • • • • Polytheistic religion – at least 300 gods Amun and Ra – embodiment of all gods Deities: Anuket, Osiris, Anubis, Horus, Ptah Believed firmly in afterlife Ka - life-essence that could return to life Eternal reward/punishment for their ka, which had to submit to the moral Last Judgment • Goddess, Maat • The universal order and “rightness” Attempt at Monotheism Akhnaton’s experiment with wife Nefertiti • Polytheism to monotheism (“one god”) – cult of sun god, newly renamed Aton – heavenly father worshiped as single and universal god of all creation – Monotheism unsuccessful, not seen again until appearance of Judaism – At his death, priests returned to old ways under the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamen Egypt and Mesopotamia Contrasts EGYPT -stability, predictability -peace: natural barriers -handpicked cultural influences -unified nation, stagnation, complacency, no reform -“an island in space and time” with little influence on others MESOPOTAMIA -violent instability: floods -wars: pastoralists vs. farmers -trade brought new ideas -outsiders arrived with military and economic power to establish themselves - no stagnation -became a major cradle of Western traditions and beliefs Trade and Egypt’s Influence • Sought wood for palaces, pyramids, and temples from Byblos in Phoenicia • Ivory and gold from the south in Nubia • Made conquests in southwestern Asia - Sinai Peninsula: copper and gold mines • Defended lucrative trade routes to eastern Mediterranean • naval expeditions to the Land of Punt: luxuries from India, southern Arabia, and eastern Africa for spices, frankincense, myrrh, and gold • Pushed south to Nubian land of Kush where population became Egyptianized: rule and religion Discussion Questions 1. Akhnaton tried a revolutionary idea when he introduced monotheism. Why do you think it failed? Why did the Egyptian population not convert to this radical new approach to religion? 2. Egypt and Mesopotamia both developed along major river systems, yet a comparable civilization did not apparently develop in North America along the Mississippi River Valley. Why do you think this did not occur? What necessary factors for the rise of civilization were missing? Or was it simply a matter of accident?