Ancient Egypt.

« Ancient Egypt. I INTRODUCTION Ancient Egypt , civilization that thrived along the Nile River in northeastern Africa for more than 3,000 years, from about 3300 BC to 30 BC.

It was the longest-lived civilization of the ancient world.

Geographically, the term ancient Egypt indicates the territory where the ancient Egyptians lived in the valley and delta of the Nile. Culturally, it refers to the ways ancient Egyptians spoke, worshiped, understood the nature of the physical world, organized their government, made their livings,entertained themselves, and related to others who were not Egyptian. The Nile River, which formed the focus of ancient Egyptian civilization, originates in the highlands of East Africa and flows northward throughout the length of what arenow Sudan and Egypt.

Northwest of modern-day Cairo, it branches out to form a broad delta, through which it empties into the Mediterranean Sea.

Because of seasonalrains farther south in Africa, the Nile overflowed its banks in Egypt every year.

When the floodwaters receded, a rich black soil covered the floodplain.

This naturalphenomenon and its effects on the environment enabled the ancient Egyptians to develop a successful economy based on agriculture. Other natural factors combined to give rise to a great civilization in the Nile region.

In Egypt’s relatively cloudless sky the Sun almost always shone, consistentlyproviding heat and light.

The Nile served as a water highway for the people, a constant source of life-giving water, and the sustainer of all plants and animals.

Inaddition, natural barriers provided good protection from other peoples.

The desert to the west, the seas to the north and east, and the Nile’s rapids, or cataracts, to thesouth prevented frequent hostile attacks. In this setting a sophisticated and creative society came into being.

That society was the only one in the area to endure for thousands of years.

Each of its rivals rose topower but ultimately faded from importance.

It was in this land that two of the Seven Wonders of the World were found: the pyramids at Giza and the lighthouse atAlexandria.

The ancient Egyptians produced a vast body of written records, including ethical and moralistic treatises, instructional texts, religious and magical scrolls,evocative love poetry, epic stories, and ribald tales.

They possessed a sophisticated understanding of mathematics and the principles of architecture, enabling them tointroduce to the world large stone buildings before 2500 BC.

Their enduring images—sculpted, painted, and drawn—captivate viewers even today. The ancient Egyptians processed thin flat sheets from the papyrus, a plant that grew along the Nile, and on these paperlike sheets they wrote their texts.

Their earliestscript, now known as hieroglyphs, began as a type of picture writing in which the symbols took the form of recognizable images.

They originated many basic concepts inarithmetic and geometry, as well as the study of medicine and dentistry.

They devised a calendar on the basis of their observations of the Sun and the stars. Although the ancient Egyptians worshiped many gods, Egypt is also often recognized as the origin of the first recorded monotheist (worshiper of one god), the king who called himself Akhenaton.

Egypt also developed one of the first religions to have a concept of the afterlife.

No culture before or since paid as much attention topreparations for what was to come after death.

Both royalty and private individuals built, decorated, and furnished tombs, which the ancient Egyptians understood torepresent their eternal existence. Politically, Egypt was a major power in the ancient world.

Its kings governed the land through an elaborate bureaucratic administration.

At certain periods, ancientEgypt’s influence extended even farther south and west in Africa as well as east into Asia. Great pyramids, hieroglyphs, elaborately decorated underground burial chambers, sprawling temple complexes, and statues combining human and animal forms areonly a few of the many remnants that survive from ancient Egypt.

These relics of an extinct world raised numerous questions during the centuries after the civilizationdied out and still fascinate people today.

Many questions were answered in the early 19th century, when a young French scholar, Jean François Champollion, decipheredthe hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone and reconstructed the ancient Egyptian language.

While more questions have been answered since that time, much remains to beinvestigated.

Scholars still debate, for instance, whether writing first emerged in ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia.

And while written documents attest to at least 3,000years of ancient Egyptian civilization, archaeological evidence suggests a much longer span. II LAND OF THE NILE According to inscriptions and documents found by archaeologists, the Egyptians called their country Kemet, meaning “the Black Land,” a reference to the dark, fertile soil that remained after the Nile floodwaters had receded.

They also used another term, Deshret, or “the Red Land,” a designation for the desert sands that burned under the blazing Sun.

In addition, they used the term Lower Egypt to refer to the northern delta area and the term Upper Egypt to refer to the communities along the river all the way south to Aswān. The abundance of the Nile and the Egyptians’ careful management of the necessary dikes and irrigation systems guaranteed a flourishing agricultural society.

Thevariety of plants that grew and were cultivated could be used for many purposes, including food, clothing, and shelter.

The river was also the source of fish, and afishing industry was established early on.

Mud from the river’s banks was the raw material for a well-established pottery industry as well as for the bricks used inconstruction.

To navigate the Nile, the Egyptians learned to build all sorts of boats.

The land provided a wide variety of minerals, including several types of stone,semiprecious gems, salts, and metals such as gold, copper, and—to a much lesser extent—silver.

The Egyptians quarried, mined, and processed these resources.

Tradewith other countries provided products not found in Egypt. III HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK A Beginnings of Civilization Ongoing excavation in Egypt continually reshapes the views of scholars about the origins of Egyptian civilization.

In the late 20th century archaeologists discoveredevidence of human habitation before 8000 BC in an area in the southwestern corner of Egypt, near the border with Sudan.

Nomadic peoples may have been attracted to that area because of the hospitable climate and environment.

Now exceptionally dry, that area once had grassy plains and temporary lakes that resulted from seasonalrains.

The people who settled there must have realized the benefits of a more sedentary life.

Scientific analysis of the remains of their culture indicates that by 6000 BC they were herding cattle and constructing large buildings. The descendants of these people may well have begun Egyptian civilization in the Nile Valley.

About 2,000 years later, when the climate changed and the southwesternarea became more arid, it is possible that they chose to migrate eastward to the Nile.

Some of the distinctive characteristics of their society, such the structures theybuilt and the emphasis they placed on cattle, support this theory.

By 4000 BC there were settlements in Upper Egypt, at locations such as Hierakonpolis (ancient Nekhen), Naqada, and Abydos. Such a theory, however, explains only part of the picture of the early Egyptian civilization.

A culture known as Badarian is represented as early as 5000 BC in Upper Egyptian settlements.

Moreover, in Lower Egypt, Neolithic settlements in the Al Fayy ūm area date from more than 1,000 years earlier.

Several sites in that area showevidence of agriculture by around 5000 BC.

Merimde, at the Nile Delta’s western border, may have been almost as old, and a settlement at Buto appears to date from. »