History of Ancient Egypt

The history of ancient Egypt spans the period from the early prehistoric settlements of the northern Nile valley to the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The pharaonic period, the period in which Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh, is dated from the 32nd century BC, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified, until the country fell under Macedonian rule in 332 BC.

Chronology

;Note: For alternative 'revisions' to the chronology of Egypt, see Egyptian chronology.
Egypt's history is split into several different periods according to the ruling dynasty of each pharaoh. The dating of events is still a subject of research. The conservative dates are not supported by any reliable absolute date for a span of about three millennia. The following is the list according to conventional Egyptian chronology.

* Prehistoric Egypt (prior to 3100 BC)
* Naqada III ("the protodynastic period", approximately 3100–3000 BC; sometimes referred to as "Dynasty 0")
* Early Dynastic Period ( First–Second Dynasties)
* Old Kingdom (Third– Sixth Dynasties)
* First Intermediate Period ( Seventh or Eighth– Eleventh Dynasties)
* Middle Kingdom ( Twelfth–Thirteenth Dynasties)
* Second Intermediate Period ( Fourteenth– Seventeenth Dynasties)
* New Kingdom ( Eighteenth– Twentieth Dynasties)
* Third Intermediate Period (also known as the Libyan Period; Twenty-first– Twenty-fifth Dynasties)
* Late Period ( Twenty-sixth– Thirty-first Dynasties)
* Ptolemaic Egypt (305–30 BC)

Neolithic Egypt

Neolithic period

The Nile has been the lifeline for Egyptian culture since nomadic hunter-gatherers began living along it during the Pleistocene. Traces of these early people appear in the form of artefacts and rock carvings along the terraces of the Nile and in the oases.

Along the Nile in the 12th millennium BC, an Upper Paleolithic grain-grinding culture using the earliest type of sickle blades had replaced the culture of hunting, fishing, and hunter-gatherers using stone tools. Evidence also indicates human habitation and cattle herding in the southwestern corner of Egypt near the Sudan border before the 8th millennium BC.

Despite this, the idea of an independent bovine domestication event in Africa must be abandoned because subsequent evidence gathered over a period of thirty years has failed to corroborate this.

Archaeological evidence has attested that population settlements occurred in Nubia as early as the Late Pleistocene era and from the 5th millennium BC onwards, whereas there is "no or scanty evidence" of human presence in the Egyptian Nile Valley during these periods, which may be due to problems in site preservation.

The oldest-known domesticated cattle remains in Africa are from the Faiyum c. 4400 BC. Geological evidence and computer climate modeling studies suggest that natural climate changes around the 8th millennium BC began to desiccate the extensive pastoral lands of North Africa, eventually forming the Sahara by the 25th century BC.

Continued desiccation forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently and forced them to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. However, the period from 9th to the 6th millennium BC has left very little in the way of archaeological evidence.

Prehistoric Egypt

The Nile valley of Egypt was basically uninhabitable until the work of clearing and irrigating the land along the banks was started. However, it appears that this clearance and irrigation was largely under way by the 6th millennium. By that time, Nile society was already engaged in organized agriculture and the construction of large buildings.Redford, Donald B. ''Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times.'' (Princeton: University Press, 1992), p. 6.

At this time, Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and also constructing large buildings. Mortar was in use by the 4th millennium. The people of the valley and the Nile Delta were self-sufficient and were raising barley and emmer, an early variety of wheat, and stored it in pits lined with reed mats.Carl Roebuck, ''The World of Ancient Times'', p. 52. They raised cattle, goats and pigs and they wove linen and baskets. Prehistory continues through this time, variously held to begin with the Amratian culture.

Between 5500 BC and the 31st century BC, small settlements flourished along the Nile, whose delta empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

The Tasian culture was the next to appear; it existed in Upper Egypt starting about 4500 BC. This group is named for the burials found at Deir Tasa, a site on the east bank of the Nile between Asyut and Akhmim. The Tasian culture is notable for producing the earliest blacktop-ware, a type of red and brown pottery painted black on its top and interior.Gardiner (1964), p.388

The Badari culture, named for the Badari site near Deir Tasa, followed the Tasian; however, similarities cause many to avoid differentiating between them at all. The Badari culture continued to produce the kind of pottery called blacktop-ware (although its quality was much improved over previous specimens), and was assigned the sequence dating numbers between 21 and 29. The significant difference, however, between the Tasian and Badari, which prevents scholars from completely merging the two, is that Badari sites are Chalcolithic while the Tasian sites remained Neolithic and are thus considered technically part of the Stone Age.Gardiner (1964), p.389

The Amratian culture is named after the site of el-Amreh, about south of Badari. El-Amreh was the first site where this culture was found unmingled with the later Gerzeh culture. However, this period is better attested at Nagada, and so is also referred to as the "Naqada I" culture.Grimal (1988) p.24 Black-topped ware continued to be produced, but white cross-line ware, a type of pottery decorated with close parallel white lines crossed by another set of close parallel white lines, began to be produced during this time. The Amratian period falls between S.D. 30 and 39.Gardiner (1964), 390. Newly excavated objects indicate that trade between Upper and Lower Egypt existed at this time. A stone vase from the north was found at el-Amreh, and copper, which is not present in Egypt, was apparently imported from the Sinai Peninsula or perhaps Nubia. ObsidianGrimal (1988) p.28 and an extremely small amount of gold were both definitively imported from Nubia during this time. Trade with the oases was also likely.

Naqada II

The Gerzeh culture ("Naqada II"), named after the site of el-Gerzeh, was the next stage in cultural development, and it was during this time that the foundation for ancient Egypt was laid. The Gerzeh culture was largely an unbroken development out of the Amratian, starting in the Nile Delta and moving south through Upper Egypt; however, it failed to dislodge the Amratian in Nubia.Redford, Donald B. ''Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times.'' (Princeton: University Press, 1992), p. 16. The Gerzeh culture coincided with a significant drop in rainfall and farming produced the vast majority of food. With increased food supplies, the populace adopted a much more sedentary lifestyle, and the larger settlements grew to cities of about 5000 residents. It was in this time that the city dwellers started using adobe to build their cities. Copper instead of stone was increasingly used to make tools and weaponry. Silver, gold, lapis lazuli (imported from Badakhshan in what is now Afghanistan), and Egyptian faience were used ornamentally,Redford, Donald B. ''Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times.'' (Princeton: University Press, 1992), p. 17. and the cosmetic palettes used for eye paint since the Badari culture began to be adorned with reliefs.Gardiner (1694), p.391

By the 33rd century BC, just before the First Dynasty of Egypt, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms known from later times as Upper Egypt to the south and Lower Egypt to the north.Adkins, L. and Adkins, R. (2001) ''The Little Book of Egyptian Hieroglyphics'', p155. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN . The dividing line was drawn roughly in the area of modern Cairo.

Dynastic Egypt

Early dynastic period

The historical records of ancient Egypt begin with Egypt as a unified state, which occurred sometime around 3150 BC. According to Egyptian tradition, Menes, thought to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt, was the first king. This Egyptian culture, customs, art expression, architecture, and social structure were closely tied to religion, remarkably stable, and changed little over a period of nearly 3000 years.

Egyptian chronology, which involves regnal years, began around this time. The conventional chronology was accepted during the twentieth century, but it does not include any of the major revision proposals that also have been made in that time. Even within a single work, archaeologists often offer several possible dates, or even several whole chronologies as possibilities. Consequently, there may be discrepancies between dates shown here and in articles on particular rulers or topics related to ancient Egypt. There also are several possible spellings of the names. Typically, Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca'', which was written during the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the third century BC.

Prior to the unification of Egypt, the land was settled with autonomous villages. With the early dynasties, and for much of Egypt's history thereafter, the country came to be known as the Two Lands. The pharaohs established a national administration and appointed royal governors.

According to Manetho, the first pharaoh was Menes, but archeological findings support the view that the first ruler to claim to have united the two lands was Narmer, the final king of the Naqada III period. His name is known primarily from the famous Narmer Palette, whose scenes have been interpreted as the act of uniting Upper and Lower Egypt. Menes is now thought to be one of the titles of Hor-Aha, the second pharaoh of the First Dynasty.

Funeral practices for the elite resulted in the construction of mastabas, which later became models for subsequent Old Kingdom constructions such as the step pyramid, thought to have originated during the Third Dynasty of Egypt.

Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as spanning the period of time when Egypt was ruled by the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty (2686–2181 BCE). The royal capital of Egypt during this period was located at Memphis, where Djoser (2630–2611 BCE) established his court.

The Old Kingdom is perhaps best known, however, for the large number of pyramids, which were constructed at this time as pharaonic burial places. For this reason, this epoch is frequently referred to as "the Age of the Pyramids." The first notable pharaoh of the Old Kingdom was Djoser of the Third Dynasty, who ordered the construction of the first pyramid, the Pyramid of Djoser, in Memphis' necropolis of Saqqara.

It was in this era that formerly independent states became nomes (districts) ruled solely by the pharaoh. Former local rulers were forced to assume the role of nomarch (governor) or work as tax collectors. Egyptians in this era worshiped the pharaoh as a god, believing that he ensured the annual flooding of the Nile that was necessary for their crops.

The Old Kingdom and its royal power reached their zenith under the Fourth Dynasty. Sneferu, the dynasty's founder, is believed to have commissioned at least three pyramids; while his son and successor Khufu ( Greek ''Cheops'') erected the Great Pyramid of Giza, Sneferu had more stone and brick moved than any other pharaoh. Khufu, his son Khafre (Greek ''Chephren''), and his grandson Menkaure (Greek ''Mycerinus'') all achieved lasting fame in the construction of the Giza pyramid complex.

To organize and feed the manpower needed to create these pyramids required a centralized government with extensive powers, and Egyptologists believe the Old Kingdom at this time demonstrated this level of sophistication. Recent excavations near the pyramids led by Mark Lehner have uncovered a large city that seems to have housed, fed and supplied the pyramid workers. Although it was once believed that slaves built these monuments, a theory based on The Exodus narrative of the Hebrew Bible

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases