Download The Old Kingdom

The Plow: One of Many Sumerian
Inventions
Temple of the Moon in Ur
The Development of Cuneiform
Cuneiform Letter
written by a
merchant
c. 1800 BCE
What did the Epic of Gilgamesh have
to say about tyranny?
What features of Sumerian culture, geography,
and climate encouraged innovation?
Was Sumerian society chaotic or
stable?
Akkadian Empire
c. 2250 BCE
●
●
●
●
●
Third millennium
agglomeration of Sumerian
city states
Located in Northern
Sumeria
Controlled by Semitic
Akkadians
Probably Sargon =
Who claimed to represent
the gods
Enheduanna
Daughter of
Sargon
High Priestess
of Ur
First female
author
Akkadian
Empire
c. 2250 BCE
First Babylonian Empire c. 1800
What was the purpose of the introduction
to the Code of Hummurabi?
What type of society was evident in
the Code of Hammurabi?
What types of punishments did the
code employ?
Why did Hammurabi write his code?
A.
To protect the weak
B.
Because the gods asked him to
C.
To destroy the wicked
D.
To bring about righteousness
Why else?
What can we learn from the Code?
What type of justice does it have?
Overview of
Ancient Egypt
Early Step Pyramid
The Old Kingdom
Pyramid Tombs
• Included art and
decorations intended to
facilitate the
immortality of the
inhabitant
How was Ma’at related to the end of
the Old Kingdom?
A.
B.
C.
D.
It inspired foreign invasion from the Hyksos
Climate change & irregular flooding undermined
faith in pharaoh’s ability to maintain ma’at
It encouraged development of a powerful group
of provincial governors
It provoked an outbreak of plague
Middle Kingdom
Temple of Amon, Karnak
Isis
Set
Osiris
Hyksos 1700-1500 BCE
Extent
of
Hyksos
rule
New
Kingdom
c. 1300
BCE
Obelisks
• Similar in form to Washington
monument, obelisks were
usually dedicated to the sun
god, Re and stood outside his
temples
• Hieroglyphic inscription on all
four sides
• The earliest surviving ones
date from the Middle Kingdom
although evidence indicates
that they existed as early as the
Old Kingdom
Overview
●
Pre-dynastic period
●
Old Kingdom
●
Middle Kingdom
●
The Hyksos
●
Discussion of Gifts
Chronology
●
5000: neolithic “revolution” reaches Egypt
●
4000: city states emerge along the Nile
●
3100: upper and lower Egypt united
●
3200 – 2700 Archaic Period
●
2695-2160 : The Old Kingdom
●
2160-2025: period of anarchy - First Intermediate Period
●
2025-1786: Middle Kingdom
●
1786-1550: Hyksos (Semites) - Second Intermediate Period
●
1550-1075: New Kingdom
●
1200-1150: invasion of the Sea Peoples
Early Egypt: prior to 3000 BCE
●
Agriculture reaches Egypt c. 4000 BCE
●
Agricultural and tribal society in the pre-dynastic period
●
–
violent and unsettled prior to 3000
–
totems: the people of the moon, the falcon, the river; victors
would impose their totem on the vanquished
–
similar to the religious orientation of the Sumerians: henotheistic
with wide adoption of patronal and tribal gods
–
Eating of deceased relatives frequently practiced
c. 3200 BCE Upper Egypt (no more than 14 miles wide)
unites under the emblem of the Falcon
Early Egypt: prior to 3000 BCE
●
●
●
According to legend, the tribe centered at Hierakopolis
in Upper Egypt unifies upper and lower regions under
the banner of the falcon god, Horus
Gradually the rulers (later called pharaohs by the
Hebrews) de-emphasize the importance of Horus, the
falcon god, and emphasizes a more universal emblem:
Ra, or Amen-Ra, the Sun god
Eventually upper and lower Egypt united under the
banner of the Sun god, although totemic or patronal
gods, such as Horus, are still venerated; they are
localized, whereas Amem-Re is the universal god of
Egypt that is eventually associated with the pharaoh,
who is worshipped as a divine presence on earth
The Old Kingdom: 2695-2160 BCE
●
●
Old Kingdom incredibly stable political entity especially in
contrast to Sumeria
The period of pyramid construction
–
–
–
the pyramids at Giza include the Great pyramid at Cheops (Khufu);
according to Herodotus this one pyramid took 20 years to build and
required the labor of 100,000 people; modern estimates suggest
closer to 20,000 laborers
Overall Egypt has about three dozen major pyramids, evidence of
an elaborate funerary cult focused around the immortality and
godliness of the pharaohs
pyramids contained mausoleums of the pharaohs and were intended
to assist with the ascent of the pharaoh’s soul into the sky, where it
would join the other pharaohs (stars)
The Old Kingdom: 2695-2160 BCE
●
The power of the pharaohs
–
in the early centuries of their rule, the pharaohs were extremely
powerful
–
they owned all property and had authority to employ towns of
thousands of workers in the construction of pyramids
–
these workers worked on pyramids during the slow times of
the agricultural season
–
the pharaohs had literally hundreds of priests, intellectuals, and
administrators at their command
–
the size of the Egyptian bureaucracy was enormous compared
to the city-states of Sumer; the courtiers developed a primarily
pictorial written language, known as hieroglyphics (“sacred
writings)
The Old Kingdom: 2695-2160 BCE
●
The power of the bureaucrats & provincial governors
–
as the system of hieroglyphics became increasingly complex,
the difficulty in mastering the language increased
–
the pharaohs reliance on the administrators grew; he
established governors to oversea the provinces
–
governors, scribes, and administrators increasingly obtained
gifts of land from the pharaohs who had originally owned all of
the land in Egypt
–
during the 800 year period, from 3000-2220 the governors
sapped the absolute power of the pharaohs and eventually
anarchy broke out as the richest administrators challenged the
authority of the pharaohs, who came to believe in their own
divinity
Egyptian Religion
●
Polytheistic: pharaoh was not the only god
–
Re, the sun god was pharaoh’s father
–
Horus, the sky or falcon god
–
Osiris, god of the afterlife or underworld
–
Ptah, the god of craftsmen; a god of creation
●
Mystery cults: secret societies organized to worship deities
●
Sacred temples
●
Syncretism – the mixing of various religious beliefs, some of them
inconsistent with one another
–
●
The cult of Re-Atum: the sun god, the god of justice and the god of creation
Belief in the afterlife was pervasive; Egyptian visions of the afterlife
tended to emphasize a pleasant existence with abundance
Egyptian Religion
●
●
Egyptian evidence suggests that initially only the pharaohs
enjoyed immortality but by 2000 a discernible trend toward
democratization of the afterlife was apparent in Egyptian
culture
The development of the cult of Isis and Osiris
–
beginnings during the Old Kingdom
–
based on an elaborate mythology
–
potential for an afterlife; initially restricted to pharaohs but
gradually opens up
–
sins accumulate in the heart during this life
–
the hearts is weighed against and feather at death and if lighter the
soul proceeds to heaven
The Middle Kingdom (2025-1786)
●
●
Governor of Thebes establishes order and consolidates
control after period of unrest, civil war, ends Old Kingdom
Pharaohs open administrative positions up to larger portion
of the literate
●
Tombs become less ostentatious: no more pyramids
●
Democratization of the afterlife
●
●
public works projects dedicated to agriculture rather than
funerary rites
Literature produced
The Hyksos: 1786-1560
●
●
●
●
Invasion of Lower Egypt (Nile Delta) from Semitic
people living in the Levant
A Bronze Age Culture that connected the rather isolated
Egypt to the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean, which
had quietly been developing commercial networks
Introduced chariots, bronze armor, and bow & arrows to
the Egyptians
It was during their rule that the Hebrews settled in Egypt;
also Semitic the Hebrews probably enjoyed preferential
treatment during the rule of the Hyksos
The New Kingdom: 1560-1075
●
Egypt becomes an empire
–
●
●
●
its connection to the rest of the Mediterranean culture is
strengthened
The term pharaoh first comes into usage as the Hebrews fall
into servitude and then escape to Sinai (Exodus) c.1200
Experiment with monotheism in the 1300s (rule of
Akhenaten or Amenhotep IV, 1351-1335) when pharaoh
declares Aten the only God
revolt by temple priests (especially of Amun-Re) and
masses of the population
Invasion of the Sea Peoples: 1200-1150
●
Somewhat mysterious disruption of civilized life in the
eastern Mediterranean
–
end of Bronze Age trade networks
–
Introduction of iron into weaponry
–
affected various regions for hundred of years
–
war may have been accompanied by famine and plague
Comparison Between Egypt & Sumeria
●
●
●
●
●
Except for a few interruptions c. 2200-2100, life in Egypt was
relatively static and peaceful for over 1000 years (3000-1800)
BCE)
Unlike, Sumeria, which was a conglomeration of city-states,
Egypt was predominately a large agricultural polity that was
under the direct rule of the power ruler/gods, the pharaohs
Egyptian life fell into an easy predictable rhythm with the
flooding of the Nile
Egyptian kings claimed to be gods, Sumerian rulers claimed to
be representatives of gods
Egyptian visions of the afterlife tended to be more optimistic
Summary
●
●
●
●
Egypt developed a very prosperous society during the Old
Kingdom and this prosperity continued to characterize Egypt
throughout most of ancient times
Even during the Roman Empire, Egypt exported much of the
grain that was to feed the masses who flocked to Rome
The Egyptians consistently displayed mastery in architecture
and great building projects from pyramids to temples and
obelisks
The pharaohs were great patrons of painting, sculpture, and
architecture; they employed thousands of artisans at a very
early period c. 2700 BCE
Summary
●
The Hebrew encounter with Egyptian religion
probably influenced the formation of their
monotheistic principles, which strengthened
following their servitude in Egypt; this period
was also influential in developing the aspects of
the Hebrew religion that emphasized God’s love
of the dispossessed and downtrodden, a feature
that Christianity would later amplify