Ancient Egypt

Beginning of farming

People have lived along the Nile for a very long time, according to archaeologists, who study objects left by ancient people. The fertile flood plains of the Nile allowed people to begin farming. By the 10th millennium BCE, the people in Egypt had begun growing cereal grains like wheat and barley.

Because they were farming, people stayed in one place, instead of living a nomadic lifestyle like their ancestors. Because they were settled, society became more complex. That was an important step in the history of human civilization.

This period in Egyptian history is called "predynastic," as it happened before the large dynastic kingdoms were formed.

Development of cultures

By about 5500 BCE, small tribes living in the Nile Valley had developed into a series of cultures. Each had begun farming crops and animals. Each had its own types of pottery and personal items such as combs, bracelets, and beads. In Upper Egypt, the southern part of the country, the Badarian was one of the earliest cultures. It is known for its high-quality pottery, stone tools, and its use of copper. It was followed by the Amratian and the Gerzian cultures.

Periods

The different periods of ancient Egyptian history are:

• Predynastic Period (5500 – 3000 BCE)
• Early Dynastic Period (1st & 2nd Dynasties, 3000 – 2700 BCE)
• Old Kingdom (3rd to 6th Dynasties, 2700 – 2180 BCE)
• First Intermediate Period (7th to 11th Dynasties, 2180 – 2050 BCE)
• Middle Kingdom (11th to 14th Dynasties, 2080 – 1640 BCE)
• Second Intermediate Period (15th to 17th Dynasties, 1640 – 1560 BCE; the Hyksos)
• New Kingdom (18th to 20th Dynasties, 1560 – 1070 BCE)
• Third Intermediate Period (21st to 25th Dynasties, 1070 – 664 BCE)
• Late Period (26th to 31st Dynasties, 664 – 323 BCE; the Persians)
• Greco-Roman Egypt (323 – 30 BCE; Ptolemaic to Roman)

During some of the Intermediate periods, the traditional system broke down, and the country was divided or invaded by foreign rulers. During some periods, the Egyptian government was challenged and sometimes overthrown. Still, Egypt's culture and climate were relatively stable compared to those of other parts of the Middle East.

Districts

Ancient Egypt was divided into many different districts, called sepats. The first divisions were created during the Predynastic Period, but they became small city-states that ruled themselves.

When the first pharaoh came to power, the sepats remained and were much like the counties in many countries today. They stayed basically the same for a long time. There were 42 of them, and each was ruled by a governor, chosen by the pharaoh. In later years. the districts were called nomes, and the governor was called a nomarch.

Taxes

Ancient Egypt had many different taxes, but there was no real money and so people paid each other with goods or work. The person who watched the tax collection was a scribe, and all of the tax collectors in Egypt had to state every day how many taxes they had collected.

People paid different taxes based on the work that they did; for example, craftsmen paid in goods, and hunters and fishermen paid with food. Every household in the country paid a labour tax every year by helping with work for the country like mining or working on canals. Many rich Egyptians paid poorer people to do the work for them.

Archaic Egyptian (before 3000 BCE)

This language has been found on pottery carvings. "Archaic" means very old.

Old Egyptian (3000 BCE to 200 BCE)

This language was used during the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period. It has been found in pyramids and Egyptian tombs. It was the first version of the language to use the plural, which shows that people were discussing more than one object at a time.

Middle Egyptian (2000 BCE to 1300 BCE)

This language is called Classic Egyptian. It has been found all over objects and tombs in Egypt, including Egyptian coffins. Books on science and society were written during this time, and many of the things that are known about religion of the time are written in Classic Egyptian. Even after people stopped speaking this kind of Egyptian, writers still used it when they wrote books.

Late Egyptian (1300 BCE to 700 BCE)

This is the language of the New Kingdom, which was the best time in Egypt's history. Much knowledge was shared during this time, and so many very old books were found that were written in Late Egyptian. Many people believe that this version of the language was much like what the Egyptians spoke.

Demotic and Coptic

Demotic Egyptian was used from around 700 BCE to 400 CE.

Coptic Egyptian was used from around 300 CE to 1700 CE.

Hieroglyphics

Egypt had writing called hieroglyphics, which is one of the two oldest written languages in history. (The other is Sumerian cuneiform.) Hieroglyphic writing dates to c. 3200 BCE and has around 500 symbols. A hieroglyph represents a word, a sound, or a symbol to show what the sign means. The same symbol can serve different purposes in different contexts.

Hieroglyphs on stone monuments and in tombs were for public purposes. It was art and often propaganda.

Hieratic script

Priests used this script for everyday writing on papyrus, wood, or cloth. It was a cursive form of writing, called hieratic, which was quicker and easier to write.

Formal hieroglyphs may be read in rows or columns in either direction but are typically written from right to left. Hieratic was always written from right to left, usually in horizontal rows.

Demotic script

This was the script that ordinary people used and became the main writing style in ancient Egypt. This form of writing and formal hieroglyphs accompanies the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone.

Coptic script

The Coptic script is a modified Greek alphabet. The Coptic language is the last stage of the Egyptian language. (Today, Egyptians speak a dialect of Arabic.)

Gods and goddesses

All of the gods were important, but some were more important than others.

Isis was the goddess of the sky. Another major god was Ra, who was the god of the sun. The less well-known god of the Nile and crocodiles was named Sobek, which is a rather unusual name.

Bastet was the goddess of cats and so the Ancient Egyptians mummified cats in her honour. She was also the goddess of protection, joy, and families.

Rich soil

The rich fertile soil came from annual floodings of the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians produced plenty of food, which allowed the population to devote more time and resources to cultural, technological, and artistic pursuits. Ancient Egyptian taxes were assessed based on the amount of land a person owned.

Most animals were kept as food. Some animals were kept as pets. All kinds of animals were important to Egypt. Ancient Egyptians understood the animals that they kept: goats, pigs, ducks, cows, and geese.

Farming

Farming in Egypt depended on the cycle of the Nile. The Egyptians recognized three seasons: Akhet (flooding), Peret (planting), and Shemu (harvesting). The flooding season lasted from June to September. The flooding on the river's banks left a layer of mineral-rich silt ideal for growing crops.

After the floodwaters had receded, the growing season lasted from October to February. Farmers plowed and planted seeds in the fields, which were irrigated with ditches and canals. Egypt receives little rainfall and so farmers relied on the Nile to water their crops.^p514

From March to May, farmers used sickles to harvest their crops, which were then threshed with a flail to separate the straw from the grain. Winnowing removed the chaff from the grain, which was then ground into flour, brewed to make beer, or stored for later use.^p506

Agricultural products

Flax plants were grown for the fibres of their stems. The fibres were split along their length and spun into thread, which was used to weave sheets of linen and to make clothing.

Papyrus grew on the banks of the Nile River and was used to make paper.

Vegetables and fruits were grown in garden plots close to homes and on higher ground. They had to be watered by hand. Vegetables included leeks, garlic, melons, squashes, pulses, lettuce, and other crops. In addition, grapes were made into wine.^{p577; 630}

Predynastic

• 3500 BCE: Senet, a board game, is invented
• 3500 BCE: Egyptian faience, the world's oldest earthenware, or pottery, is created but is not the same as modern faience pottery

Dynastic

• 3300 BCE: Bronze works are first created
• 3200 BCE: Hieroglyphs are developed
• 3100 BCE: Decimal system in use
• 3100 BCE: Mining occurs on Mount Sinai
• 3100 BCE: Ships are built in Abydos, an Egyptian city
• 3000 BCE: Trading takes place between Egypt and Palestine
• 3000 BCE: Copper plumbing in use
• 3000 BCE: Papyrus, or ancient paper, is first used
• 3000 BCE: First documented use of medicine
• 2900 BCE: Perhaps the first steel use in the ancient world
• 2700 BCE: First surgery performed
• 2700 BCE: Surveying used by engineers
• 2700 BCE: Hieroglyphs no longer show only little pictures of words but become based on sounds
• 2600 BCE: The Great Pyramids of Giza created
• 2600 BCE: Shipping expeditions occur
• 2600 BCE: First use of barges
• 2600 BCE: Pyramid of Djoser created
• 2600 BCE: Menkaure's Pyramid and the Red Pyramid created
• 2200 BCE: Government in Egypt collapsed, meaning many different people tried to become pharaoh
• 1900 BCE: Possible Nile to Red Sea canal created
• 1650 BCE: The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is written, which shows knowledge of geometry, arithmetic and algebra
• 1600 BCE: The Edwin Smith Papyrus is written, which shows knowledge of advanced medical techniques
• 1550 BCE: The Ebers Medical Papyrus is written, the first document on the topic of tumours
• 1500 BCE: Glassmaking
• 1258 BCE: First known peace treaty (Ramesses II)
• 1160 BCE: The Turin Papyrus is written, the first geologic and topographic map