Lecture 3 - Ancient Egypt!!Lecture Chronology 3000-2686 BCE" " Early Dynastic Period!2686-2610 BCE" " Old Kingdom!2160-2055 BCE" " First Intermediate Period!2055-1650 BCE" " Middle Kingdom!1650-1550 BCE" " Second Intermediate Period!1550-1069 BCE" " New Kingdom!!Lecture Questions!What role did geography play in shaping the Egyptian worldview?!What is the relationship between Eqyptian political rule and religion?!What role did crisis play in bringing about long-term change in Egypt?!!Climate Change (Desiccation) and Migration!can see ancient river beds !•area dried out!◦have evidence of civilization or people!◦Elephant from Tadrart Acacus, Libyan desert!•evidence from ancient people that the landscape that did not exists before!◦!From the Desert to the River!growth of settlement from 8500 BCE to 3500 BCE!•along the riverside!◦!Egyptian Geography easily defended borders!•drying out process or desiccation of the Sahara!◦Egypt faces desert that is hard to invade or cross it!◦near the Mediterranean Sea along the Nile River!◦easy to defend river mouths in the northern part!◦cataract!•slow moving waterfall!◦South of Egypt!◦couldn't sail on the Nile and have to pick up and put it in the water!◦Nile flood!•similar to Mesopotamia flooding!◦essential to agricultural needs!◦easily controlled!◦do have irrigation networks developing in Egypt!◦not that large since the desert can absorb the flood!‣Agricultural Potential in comparison with Mesopotamia!•transportation!•well suited for going up and down the river!◦current naturally flows to the sea!◦fairly slow current and not powerful!‣flowing up river is easy due to the wind which needs a sail!‣using teams of horses and asses to travel upstream as well!‣movement of good and trade!◦political control!◦king able to control large rivers so they can cross!‣!"The Gift of the Nile" deep respect for the Nile since it pops out of nowhere geography wise!•a lot of animals and plants for deep appreciation!•Nile sits in the center of Egypt civilization!•positive picture of life and afterlife which is way opposite of Mesopotamian civlization!•life is way easier!◦The Hymn to the Nile!•praise to the Nile!◦generally a more positive picture of life and afterlife!•resulting focus on Nile River and tendency towards isolationism!•!Early Dynastic Period ca. 3500-2686 increasingly complex chiefdoms!•clustering of settlement!◦no kingdoms!◦agricultural villages and trading centers!•series of agricultural up and down the nile which is way different to Mesopotamia!◦no large cities different to Mesopotamia!◦outside trade !•people developed political systems which traded developed at the same time!◦trade with levant -> Lebanon and Israel!◦trade with Mesopotamia!◦contact with Newbians and Egyptians which are connected by the Nile River!◦Lower Egypt (Memphis) vs. Upper Egypt (Thebes)!•division!◦upper egypt -> southern half of Egypt!◦lower egypt -> northern half of Egypt!◦due to water flow from stream to sea!◦!Political Unification in Early Dynastic Egypt - The Narmer Palette 3100 BCE unification of upper and lower Egypt!•evidence -> The Narmer Palette!◦upper!•white crown of upper Egypt!◦falcon !◦represents god of horus!‣represents his right to kingship!‣lower!•red crown of lower egypt!◦bull racing into the city wall!◦pharaoh associated with sacred bull!‣!Periodization upper egypt and lower egypt combined the crowning which is more evidence of unification!•Dynastic system (Narmer/Menes = 1st dynasty)!•kingdoms and Intermediate Periods!•!Egyptian Scripts origin!•multiple scripts!•scripts are not borrowed from Mesopotamia!◦maybe they made their own script after seeing ancient mesopotamia!◦developed hieratic !◦simliar to cursive writing !‣hieroglyphic!◦greek term to describe egyptian term!‣sacred writing!‣script saw in temples!‣priest decorating the temples with it!‣ceremonies and religion inside the pyramids !‣demotic !◦papyrus!•remember from mesopotamia where they have clay tablets from baking in the sun!◦wrote on notably wood!◦prefer papyrus!◦it lasts in a dry envrionment!◦tons of documents from egypt that lasts till today!◦doesn't last to wet/humid climates!◦!Pharaoh!term for the Egyptian king!•divine monarchy!•individual who lives in a great palace!•he himself is a living god!•Ma'at!•truth !◦order!◦balance!◦justice!◦state formation and agricultural productivity!•no unified region until there is a pharaoh!◦he is closely connected to agriculture !◦digging out irrigation channel!◦!Governors. Priests, and Scribes Nomes and Nomarchs!•nomes are divided districts where ruled over governors called monarchs!◦due to the pharaoh ruling over a large region of land!◦The Priesthood!•responsible for religious maintenance!◦establishing connection between god and pharaoh!◦writing!◦like Mesopotamia -> economic connection !◦temple owning a lot of the land around it !◦priests renting the land!‣associated with food storage !‣food being brought in to the temple for large scale storage of the community !•The Scribes!•important upper class of people !◦possibly the middle class!◦established writing schools!◦women had access to writing schools as well!◦!Pharaoh and Egyptian Religion!Pharaoh divine in life and death!•Pharaoh is a living god !◦Osiris (and Set), Isis, and Horus!•Osiris is the most important!◦god of the underworld and afterlife !‣Osiris as symbol of renewal!‣first Pharaoh of Egypt!‣told them to civilize in art !‣come over to take over the king of the dead!‣also called the god of the living!‣Set is his brother that killed Osiris !◦threw away all his body parts!‣Isis is the wife and sister of Osiris!◦search his body parts all over Egypt!‣can't find his genital!‣made a gold member instead to make Horus!‣Horus!◦made a son with falcon face!‣challenged the kingship of Set!‣managed to kill Set !‣closely associated with Pharaoh's son!‣Pharaohs marry their own sisters to maintain the bloodline!•Pharaoh as Horus and Osiris!•renewal cycle associated with the Nile!◦new living Pharaoh and once dead becomes Osiris!◦festivals that plant seeds!◦connected idea of life cycle of agriculture!‣!The Pharaoh's Afterlife - Hymn to Pharaoh, 2600 BCE "The King has not died the death... Men fall, and their name ceases to