Lecture 6 - Ancient Egypt c. 3100-1100 BC
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 the French linguist, Champollion, c. 1820s
The highly religious inhabitants of Egypt were convinced of the unique place of the Valley of the Nile in the universe.
The Nile culture remained largely isolated from the outside world by desert, sea, and mountains.
The annual flooding of the Nile was regular and predictable,
restoring nutrients to the soil within the flood plain. When suitably harnessed, Egypt was a grain surplus exporter;
during the Roman empire, for example, its
population could produce enough grain to feed itself and significant outside populations such as the 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.
The importance of Food surpluses was understood by Egyptian officials. They used
their 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
to enhance production. Hard work was expected in short bursts during peak labor periods. During floods laborers
were drafted for non-agricultural tasks, such as monument construction (i.e.,
the pyramids).
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 (7000-5000 BC).
There were 30-40 nomes in all. Early Pharaohs had to conquer and absorb nomitic
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 extensively on magical powers,
and in many respects it was even contradictory (Seth was Horus' uncle, but also his brother). The
Fifth
Century BC Greek historian, Herodotus (who visited Egypt), said that the Egyptians were the most religious
people in 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; to wit,
they were the embodiment of the Osiris
cult -- Isis, Horus, Seth. Old Kindgom Pharaohs claimed direct descent from
Horus; in other words, they posed as gods
walking on the earth. Pharaonic ideology
insisted on a need to preserve the Pharaohs' remains after death in
order to bind their spirits and hence their divine power to the people of Egypt. The Pharaoh's spirit (khah)
periodically returned to earth to visit his remains; it then went off into the heavens to battle forces of evil and to protect
the 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. This pyramid was 800 ft. at its base, was 500 ft. tall,
and required 2.5 million stone blocks weighing 2.5 tons each to construct.
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 to the Pharaoh
Djozer and the most famous architect of
the Old Kingdom), and a highly regimented scribal class.
To maintain this extensive bureaucracy,
Egyptian authorities developed an elaborate administrative hierarchy and a cognitive system
of rewards and privileges to stimulate the 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,
each engaged in volumes of record keeping. As an example, a laborer working at tomb construction at Luxor had to sign numerous forms
(forms "in triplicate") to obtain seven candles to do his work. Old Kingdom
Egypt 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
Harris papyrus, which dates to the New
Kingdom. According to this document the
Temple of Amon Re at Luxor possessed the resources of 169 towns, 500 gardens, vineyards, and orchards, 88 ships, 500,000 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 awarded
to it by the Pharaoh's bureaucracy.
The
Egyptian population remained relatively small:
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
that
the collapse of the Akkadian Empire occurred at approximately the same time.
There is mounting evidence of a brief fluctuation in regional climate at this time,
that possibly provoked expanded
aridness and famine. The long reign of the last pharaoh, Pepys II, led to collapse, anarchy, and
instability along the length of the Nile. Power devolved back to the local level of the nomarchs. Egyptian sources
allude 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 over every aspect 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, in other words. The Osiris cult assumed greater moral significance. The Book of the Dead
espoused the belief that the dead would be judged
by Osiris in the underworld to determine whether or not 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 incursions, 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 (previously unknown to the Egyptians), horse chariots, scale armor, compound bows, upright
looms, lyres.
Eventually, the Pharaohs of Upper Egypt (Thebes) reconsolidated power and subdued
the Hyksos elements.
The Kings of Thebes forged 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 an 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
eventually 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
gradually became hereditary,
gradually reducing the authority of the
pharaohs. All sectors of the Egyptian hierarchy benefited from the proceeds of
imperial control 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.
FLOW CHART OF NEW KINGDOM EGYPT
|
|
PHARAOH |
|
|
MERCENARY GENERALS |
VIZIER |
PRIESTS OF LUXOR AND KARNAK |
|
SCRIBES |
SCRIBES |
SCRIBES |
|
MERCENARY WARRIORS |
SERVANTS |
SERVANTS |
|
NATIVE FARMERS |
NATIVE FARMERS |
NATIVE FARMERS |
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 the New Kingdon pharaoh, portraying himself as a great warrior king -- always active in battle and hunting.
He was not a god,
in other words, but a superhuman warrior.
Akhnaton (Amonhotep IV), c. 1360.
Akhnaton provoked a short-lived religious revolution based on the Aton cult.
In his iconography he presented 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, in essence an "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 its 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.
Examples such as 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 on the Nile Delta 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.