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Chandler Murphy
Humanities- Ancient Egypt Essay for LEGS
Chapter II (2): Ancient Egypt
4/30/2017
Mr. Baskin 6-C
“Hear ye, all persons! Ye people as many as ye are! I have done this according to the design of
my heart. ... I have restored that which was in ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished since the
Asiatics were... in the midst of the Northland, and the barbarians were in the midst of them,
overthrowing that which was made, while they ruled in ignorance of Re. He did not do according to the
divine command until my majesty. When I was firm upon the throne of Re, I was ennobled until the two
periods of years...I came as Hor-watit flaming against my enemies. "-Hatshepsut. This was a quote from
an Egyptian pharaoh named Hatshepsut, Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh in the 1400s, which was
quite unusual to have a female pharaoh. In Egypt there were three kingdoms, the old kingdom, the
middle kingdom, and the new kingdom, Hatshepsut ruled in the time period of the new kingdom.
Although these kingdoms are different all of them had some common things, such as a vizier and a
pharaoh.
In the old kingdom, that started in 2700 BC the pharaohs focused on making sure the kingdom
stayed prosperous, the pharaoh also focused on
accepting and expanding the
customs of local
governments, which was trade and religion. The pharaoh
was either referred to as the Egyptian leader or a great
palace. Menes was the first of these pharaohs of Egypt,
but first he had to defeat Lower Egypt, because Egypt
was
origi
nally
split
into
two
regions. These two regions were Upper Egypt and
Lower Egypt. Menes was only the king of Upper
Egypt at first, until Menes’ army won against the
army of Lower Egypt. The king of Lower Egypt
originally wore a red crown and the king of Upper
Egypt originally wore a white crown, but since Menes had won he wanted to celebrate the victory, so he
had a new crown made that was a combination of both crowns.
Once Menes had became the first pharaoh of Egypt he created Egypt’s capital city, Memphis, in
Lower Egypt, from Memphis the pharaoh would decide how Egypt’s affairs were ran. Menes made local
leaders run the new government, along with keeping their old duties, such as collecting taxes and
serving as a judge they had new duties. One of these new duties was to fairly distribute the Nile’s flood
waters to farmers for their crops. With giving the farmers flood waters the farmers had to pay the
government back by giving the pharaoh more than half of their crops as a tax. These local leaders had to
report back to the government in Memphis every so often.
In the new government the pharaoh also had religious duties, one of these is to run Egypt as the
gods told him to.
Chandler Murphy
Humanities- Ancient Egypt Essay for LEGS
Chapter II (2): Ancient Egypt
4/30/2017
Mr. Baskin 6-C
After the Old Kingdom fell by 2100 BC an empire started to rule, called the Middle Kingdom. The
rulers of the Old Kingdom were replaced by the
rulers of the Middle Kingdom. In the Middle
Kingdom many Egyptians gained rights that they
didn’t have before in the Old Kingdom. The Middle
Kingdom wanted to conquer Nubia for its
resources, and that was mainly gold. However,
Egypt couldn’t get started yet because the Hyksos,
who were from Syria conquered Lower Egypt in
1650 BC and ruled for 100 years. The Middle
Kingdom had lasted until 1700 BC.
Now another empire, called the New Kingdom, that ended in 1075 BC and began in 1550 BC
arose when Egypt gained Lower Egypt back. At the time Ahmose I was the pharaoh and he was sure that
the Hyksos wouldn’t come back, because Ahmose I and other pharaohs created the strongest military in
its location of the world. Also the Hyksos had been defeated by an army led by Ahmose I, so they
wouldn’t come back.
Egypt only had to focus on one thing now, conquering Nubia. Early Nubians were huntergatherers and they may have kept herds of cows and
goats and they also farmed. Egypt acquired Lower
Nubia, but couldn’t conquer a kingdom called Kush.
Although Egypt didn’t conquer Kush yet the
Egyptians had a big effect on Kushites’ lives, one of
these effects are the Kushites’ is the Kushites used
hieroglyphics. Another effect is Egyptian pharaohs
ordered the building of temples for worship Egyptian
gods in Kush. The chief Egyptian god was worshiped
in Kush.
It was around 1525 BC when Egypt gained all
of Nubia and had control for 550 years, until 1000 BC when Egypt started to weaken and lost control of
Kush and Kush started to get stronger. Around 740 BC a king of Kush named Piye invaded Egypt with his
army, first Memphis was conquered, than all of Egypt. In about 730 BC Piye was the ruler of Nubia and
Egypt. The Kushite rule of Egypt lasted for 60 years, until 670 BC when the Assyrians invaded Egypt and
the Kushites retreated to Nubia. After this the Kushite rule lasted for another 1000 years.
Twice the capital of Kush was moved farther south to prevent Egyptian attacks seeking to gain
back their land from Kush, and by 300 BC Meroe was the capital of Kush that lasted for 600 years. Meroe
was a very rich city east of the Nile River where farmers grew barley and millet and raised cattle. Meroe
was also rich in minerals and archeologists have found furnaces used to make iron from the ore that was
mined there. Meroe also had a social pyramid, on top of this social pyramid was the King or queen, next
were the priests, soldiers, the merchants, artisans, farmers were next, and at the bottom were slaves.
The purpose of the social pyramid was to show people’s ranks in society. Unlike many civilizations where
women are treated more poorly than men, in Meroe women were important, Meroe had many queens
and priestesses.
Finally, in 350 AD Egypt regained its land, after a gigantic 1,060 year rule by the Kushites!
Chandler Murphy
Humanities- Ancient Egypt Essay for LEGS
Chapter II (2): Ancient Egypt
4/30/2017
Mr. Baskin 6-C
Throughout Ancient Egypt the laws were basically the same in every time period. One law of
Ancient Egypt is that people had to pay taxes to their government, and for farmers the taxes for them
were the majority of their crops. The crops that were taken from the farmers were used to feed the
citizens of Ancient Egypt. Other citizens paid their taxes in work or in kind. Another law is some people
needed to go to the vizier, an assistant of the pharaoh for counsel, counsel is receiving advice from the
vizier. Another law is any citizen cannot take land from another person or they will be captured. Also,
another law is if anyone tries to take a slave from a pharaoh he will be hit 200 times and have five open
wounds inflicted in him. Another law is if any high officer, any superintendent of the land belonging to
this estate, any keeper of plow-oxen, any inspector who interferes with pharaoh’s boundary shall have
his ears cut off and be forced to be a farmer for the pharaoh. From this I infer that if you do something
in Ancient Egypt you will be paid back in some way, shape, or form.
The vizier was one of the pharaoh’s assistant and he could be referred to as the prime minister
and the chief scribe. The vizier was very well cared for with a rug below his feet, a dais [long table] in
front of him, a baton in his hand, and 40 animal skins in front of him. Many things had to be reported to
the vizier. One thing that had to be reported was the affairs of the fortresses of the north and south
(upper and lower Egypt). All of the things going out of the king’s house and all of the things coming into
the king’s house are reported to the vizier. Another thing that is reported to the vizier is the affairs of
the overseers, or supervisors or managers. The affairs of upper and lower Egypt will be reported to the
vizier’s house every day. The vizier should also take counsel on the pharaoh’s affairs. However, this is
only getting started with the duties of the vizier, go to my Ancient Egypt note table for more.
Egypt has clearly revolutionized through the past kingdoms and made some improvements, such
as making Egypt a unified country. Egypt has also clearly fought through tough times, such as when Kush
ruled Egypt and when the Hyksos conquered Lower Egypt.
Bibliography
Our World
Duties of the Vizier Chief Scribe of Pharaoh (1440 BC)
Punishments for Stealing from the Gods (c. 1280 B.C.)