Lecture 6 - Ancient Egypt c. 3100-1100 BC

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Manetho's 31 dynasties -- periods in which Egypt was unified represented long periods of centralized authority, stability and order, followed by shorter periods of anarchy and decentralized authority (intermediate periods). The ability of the Egyptian civilization to devolve back to a decentralized "nome" system offered it a nearly decomposable political structure.

Old Kingdom - 2700-2200 BC (dynasties 4-6)

(Era of pyramids; godlike Pharaoh)

First Intermediate Period

Middle Kingdom - 2050-1650 (dynasty 12)

Second Intermediate Period (1785-1575)
(Hyksos Invasions - possible era of Hebrews' entrance to Egypt)

New Kingdom (1550-1086) (dynasties 18-20)
Era of Egyptian empire in Near East

Writing - hieroglyphics, hieratic, demotic. The Rosetta Stone was found by Napoleon's cavalry in Egypt c. 1800 AD. It dates to Ptolemaic dynasty, c. 169 BC. It was written in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek, and deciphered by Champollion, c. 1820s

The highly religious culture of Egypt was convinced of the unique place of the Valley of the Nile in the universe. The Nile culture remained highly isolated from the outside world by desert, sea, and mountains. Annual flooding of the Nile was regular and predictable, restoring nutrients to soil within flood plain. When suitably harnessed, Egypt was a grain surplus exporter; its population could produce enough grain to feed itself and significant outside populations such as the Roman city of Rome (1 million). Egypt remained the "Bread Basket of the Mediterranean." Other natural resources included papyrus, stone, precious metals, ebony, ivory from the south.

Importance of Food surpluses was understood by Egyptian officials. They used hierarchical control to harness the agricultural potential of the Nile Valley. The entire agricultural population was accessible by river navigation and minutely controlled. Authorities employed forced labor, the "corvée" system; hard work was expected in short bursts during peak labor periods. During floods laborers could be drafted to non-agricultural tasks, such as monument construction.

nomes were small ancestral settlements of disparate cultural elements that had settled in the Nile Valley during the era of desiccation following the Pleistocene era. There were 30-40 nomes in all. Early Pharaohs had to conquer and absorb nomotic populations through a process of consolidation. Attempts at syncretism led to a highly elaborate and complex religious world view. Egyptian cosmology was highly polytheistic, focusing on magical powers, and even contradictory (Seth was Horus' uncle, but also his brother). The 5th Century BC Greek historian, Herodotus (who visited Egypt), said that the Egyptians were the most religious people of the world.

Amon-Re was the sun god, Osiris the River god. Isis the earth goddess; Anubis the jackal-headed god.

Early pharaohs were credited with constructing Egypt's storage supply system (the organization of harvests and food storage) to eliminate starvation and chaos. They were associated with the magical power of the Nile River -- Osiris cult, Isis, Horus, Seth. Old Kindgom Pharaohs claimed direct descent from Horus, in other words, they posed as gods walking on earth. Pharaonic ideology insisted on a need to preserve the Pharaohs' remains after death in order to bind their divine power to the people of Egypt. The Pharaoh's spirit (khah) periodically returned to earth to visit his remains, then went off into the heavens to battle forces of evil and to protect Egyptians from harm. This amounted to a ruler cult, a combined mystery religion and ancestor cult. Attributes of this cult included Mummification and mastabas -- cities dedicated to the preservation of the cult of the deceased pharaoh. These were centered around pyramids, the largest being the Pyramid of Khufru (Cheops), c. 2600 BC. 800 ft. at the base, this monument was 500 ft. tall, and required 2.5 million stone blocks weighing 2.5 tons each. According to Herodotus, it took 100,000 laborers 20 years to construct this pyramid.

The consolidated Egyptian empire of the Old Kingdom pharaohs employed an elaborate bureaucratic hierarchy, including a vizier (or prime minister, e.g., Imhotep, vizier and most famous architect of the Old Kingdom), and a highly regulated scribal class. To maintain this extensive bureaucracy, Egyptian authorities developed an elaborate administrative hierarchy and a cognitive system of rewards and privileges to stimulate proper attitude and behavior. The pharaonic system imposed a moral order, an ethos developed and promulgated by the central authority that emphasized the sanctity of pharaoh's rule. From this emerged an extreme elaboration of administrative structure. There were five separate hierarchies, engaged in volumes of record keeping. As an example, a tomb construction laborer at Luxor had to sign numerous forms to check out 7 candles to do his work. It was very much a scribal culture.

At the local level stood the nomarchs or the hereditary rulers of the nomes.

For an example of Egyptian temple wealth, one turns to the evidence contained in the New Kingdom Harris papyrus, dating from the New Kingdom.

The Temple of Amon Re at Luxor owned 169 towns, 500 gardens, vineyards, and orchards, 88 ships, 500000 head of cattle and approximately 1/5 the available population and 1/3 the arable land of all Egypt. This furnishes an exaggerated example of manner in which Old Kingdom Temples played a crucial role in land development by expanding the base of arable land given to it by the Pharaoh's bureaucracy.

The Egyptian population remained relatively small:

• Before 3100 BC, less than 1/2 million
• 3000 - 1 million
• 2500 - 1.5 million
• New Kingdom - 3 million
• 100 AD - 7.5 million
• 1882 AD - 7 million
• Today - over 90 million

Its main capitals were relatively small cities, Thebes in highland south, Memphis in delta north.

After 500 years of stability, the Old Kingdom regime exhausted the available resources of Nile valley. This was possibly due to continuous dedication of sustainable regions to mastaba complexes; however, it is interesting to note the collapse of the Akkadian Empire at approximately the same time and growing evidence of a brief fluctuation in regional climate at this time, causing aridness and famine. The long reign of last pharaoh, Pepys II, led to collapse, anarchy, and instability. Power devolved back to the local level of the nomarchs. Egyptian sources refer to the overturning of the social hierarchy; peasants sat on the throne while nobles labored in the fields.

Order was finally restored by the pharaohs of Middle Kingdom (2050-1650 BC),

During the Middle Kingdom the Pharaohs presented themselves as paternalistic, weary administrators who must bear the burden of rule for the benefit of Egypt. The pharaoh was no longer viewed as a divine entity walking on the earth. No Pyramids were constructed. The Middle Kingdom is often described as the classic age of the Egyptian scribal culture. Scribes imposed minute control of all aspects of agricultural life. Handbooks existed to instruct Egyptian bureaucrats with their work. One such instruction recommends that when meeting with the peasants, the scribal bureaucrat should try to listen earnestly and display sympathy and understanding. This eliminated the need of actually having to do anything about their complaints. "Scribes exist to drive the ignorant man like a pack animal."

Afterlife became accessible to anyone who could afford the expense of mummification. It was no longer exclusive to the pharaoh. The Osiris cult took on higher moral significance. The Book of the Dead espoused the belief that the dead would be judged by Osiris in the underworld to determine whether they would attain after life. One's heart must be so free of sin that it weighed less than a feather.

The Middle Kingdom collapsed (ca. 1650 BC) due to outside invasions, namely, the Hyksos invasions. The migration of the Hebrews into Egypt probably occurred at this time (First Intermediate period). Hyksos populations seized Lower Egypt (the Delta region) and established their own dynasties (15-16th dynasties). Hyksos Kings bore names such a Jacob-El, Anath-han, and Khan. These invaders brought new technologies -- bronze metal (not previously in Egypt), horse chariots, scale armor, compound bows, upright looms, lyres.

Eventually, the Pharaohs of Upper Egypt (Thebes) reconsolidated power and subdued the Hyksos. The Kings of Thebes formed New Kingdom Egypt (1550-1086; dynasties 18 through 20). They also claimed to have expelled the foreigners, but the evidence suggests that they subdued the Hyksos and converted them into mercenaries.

New Kingdom Egypt was characterized by Egyptian overseas empire. New Kingdom Pharaohs lead mercenary armies (20,000 men) into Canaan and drove as far as the Euphrates R. in Syria. New Kingdom Egypt became the military rival of the Hittites in Anatolia. The Egyptian pharaohs and their mercenary generals established an overseas empire and received tribute from subjected Canaanite cities. Booty brought back to Egypt was used to embellish the imperial sanctuaries of Luxor and Karnak. The New Kingdom saw the emergence of religious and military hierarchies that became hereditary, gradually reducing the authority of the pharaohs. All sectors of the Egyptian hierarchy benefited from the profits of empire and became dependent on them. Egypt extended its diplomatic ties as far as the Hittite Kingdom in Anatolia and the Mycenaean Palaces of the Aegean.

Some Important rulers include:

Queen Hatshepsut, c. 1480, who assumed kingship on the demise of her husband and ruled in place of her son. She portrayed herself as a man. Hatshepsut's cenotaph is preserved at Dier el Bahri

Her son, Tutmosis III, (1479-1425), who conducted 17 external military campaigns during a 20-year reign. He offered the classic example of a pharaoh who portrayed himself as a great warrior king -- always active in battle and hunting. He was not a god, in other words, but a superhuman warrior.

NEW KINGDOM EMPIRE FLOW CHART

 
Akhnaton (Amonhotep IV), c. 1360. Akhnaton provoked a short-lived religious revolution based on the Aton cult. In his iconography he presents himself as a non-militaristic, paternalistic, compassionate pharaoh who refocused religious attention on the family, peace, and the fecundity of nature. Akhnaton led no military campaigns and refused to support the imperial sanctuaries of Luxor and Karnak. He built a new city, "anti-capital" at Akhetaton (Tel el Amarna), and appointed commoners to high offices.

Tutunkhamon (King Tut), c. 1340, his nephew, succeeded Akhnaton (his tomb treasure was found in the Valley of the Kings). He was put on throne at 14, but died at 16. His widow then attempted to secure a marriage with a son (any son) of King Suppiluliumas of the Hittites. However, the Hittite prince never made it to Egypt; the princess was deposed, and Egyptian generals seized power in Egypt (Horemhob -- 19th Dynasty).

Ramses II, of the 20th dynasty was celebrated for the Treaty of Kadesh, c. 1258, for his temple at Abu Simbel, and quite likely because he was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The Treaty of Kadesh brought to a close to the era of military rivalry with the Hittites. The Ramseion, a massive fortress complex in the Sinai desert was constructed by Ramses seemingly behind imperial lines. This serves as one of several indications that Egyptian control over external subject states was slipping. Perhaps the costs of maintaining mercenary military establishment proved too high. Ramses, therefore, pulled in his defenses.

Rising chaos engulfed the eastern Mediterranean basin at the close of the 1200s BC. The Fall of Troy (c. 1250-1220 BC), the destruction of Mycenaean palaces (1100 BC) in Greece, the collapse of the Hittite Empire, the movements of the Sea Peoples, and the destruction of coastal cities in Syria and Canaan all characterize the collapse of Bronze Age civilization.

Ramses III repelled the first assault of the Sea Peoples in 1191 BC. A second assault was repelled 1086. Egypt survived as an isolated population, eventually subdued by Libyan Bedouins of the neighboring desert (c. 1000 BC). The land was later conquered by the Assyrians (c. 900 BC), by the Persians (c. 525 BC), and by Alexander the Great (331 BC). It was ruled by the Ptolemies (descendents of one of Alexander's generals) until the Roman Era. The last Ptolemy, Cleopatra, perished in 30 BC.