HH-04-Egypt

Egypt

All peoples, whether they are savage Masai in east Africa: or sophisticated city dwellers in metropolitan New York, have a more or less complex culture. We have already seen in Chapter 1 that the term culture used in this sense describes the sum total, or pattern, of any people's governmental, economic, social, religious, and intellectual institutions, no matter whether its people are primi-

tive or advanced. But though culture is a characteristic of all peoples, the same cannot be said of civilization. People are civilized only when they have succeeded in evolving an advanced and complex culture pattern which rests upon a complicated social organization and extensive control over nature. Civilization has been defined as "that stage of life in which there takes place the organization of sedentary folk into towns and cities, in order that life may become safer, more cultured, happier, and more productive of those elements which induce what is optimistically called progress." The growth of civilization has been mainly associated with the rise of town and city life, as the above definition indicates. In fact the term civilization is derived from the Latin word civilis which refers to civis, meaning citizen. Complex social organization has developed not among nomadic peoples but rather among dwellers in cities, where the circumstances of people livi1}g close together and depending on one another for fulfillment of needs require cooperation and a high degree of organization.

More specifically, civilization necessitates the existence of a device whereby the experience and the accomplishments of one generation can be passed on to the next. This becomes possible to a significant degree only with the development of writing, which enables the cultural heritage to become cumulative. There must also exist an advanced material culture guaranteeing people some degree of physical comfort and security from famine and want. Freed in this way from anxiety over uncertainty of food supply, man is given the necessary leisure and tranquility of mind to turn to artistic and intellectual achievement. Thus art, architecture, literature, philosophy, and science are developed. While Paleolithic and Neolithic man had been making striking advances in the direction of civilization in western Europe, parallel progress was being made in the Near East, near the Nile and in Mesopotamia. Our discussion, however, has been concentrated upon the advances made in Europe, for there we have more evidence of early man's progress than in any other area in the world. The rate of advance of Neolithic and Paleolithic man apparently was about the same in Europe and in the Near East until about 5000 B.C., when progress was accelerated in the latter area and Europe was left far behind.

In Egypt, the land of the pharaohs and the pyramids, we will see how man succeeded in creating a flourishing civilization along the banks of the Nile: Then we will turn east, leave north Africa, cross the great desert of Arabia to another ancient river valley, the Tigris and Euphrates, extending north from the Persian Gulf. Here a succession of important peoples rose and fell, and each made important contributions to civilization. This was the home of the Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians.

A narrow band of fertile land connects this second great river home of ancient civilizations with the coast of the western Mediterranean. The connecting corridor, called the Fertile Crescent, played an important part in ancient history. It was the highway for trade and for the mass migrations of peoples. In this area such peoples as the Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arameans played their parts in history.

Cradles of Civilization

Advent of civilization. It can be said that culture becomes civilization and recorded history dawns between 1000 and 3000 BC in what is known as the Ancient Near East. In the latter part 0£ the nineteenth century, Egypt was regarded as the most ancient center of civilization in the Near East. But discoveries recently made at Ur in Mesopotamia have led some scholars to regard the Tigris Euphrates river valley as the cradle of civilization.

Other Archeologists have recently entered a new champion for the honor of originating civilization-India. In 1924 in the province of Punjab, a very ancient civilization was discovered at Mohenjo-Daro in the valley of the Indus River. This civilization was at its height when Cheops in Egypt was building his first pyramid. Presenting evidence of highly developed city li£e and bronze culture, perhaps Mohenjo-Daro is the oldest civilization yet discovered. When the spade of the archaeologist has turned up India's soil as thoroughly as it has the soil of Egypt, it may uncover civilizations much older than those which once flourished along the Nile. It is also a common belie£ that the oldest civilization originate in China. No one however, knows how old Chinese civilization is, and as yet archaeological investigation in that country is only in its infancy. According to our present knowledge, it would seem that Chinese civilization originated nearly two thousand years later than civilization in the Near East.

While at present the weight of evidence gives the palm to Egypt and Mesopotamia as the cradles of civilization, it must be admitted there is no certainty in the award.

Early civilization a river product. In the origin of civilization geography played an important part. All early known civilizations – Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China – began in river valleys This was no historical accident, especially in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The great rivers annually overflowed their banks, depositing a film of rich alluvial soil on the floors of their valleys. In regions where rainfall was sparse, great pools were created in order to provide irrigation facilities. The well-watered soil produced abundant harvests. These in turn made possible a large increase in the population, and small cities and villages arose. Artificial irrigation of crops with the accompanying construction of dams and canals necessitated group effort and cooperation among the people. Everybody was required to help build the dikes and keep open the canals. Furthermore, dependence upon a wide network of interrelated canals demanded that all people within the area they served accept certain rules concerning the repair and defense of the works and the use of the water. Of necessity there developed a government whose word was law for the entire area served by the canals.

The rich surplus of crops encouraged trade and commerce. The profession of merchant was born, and caravans and merchant vessels began to carry wares from one area to another. Contact between peoples led to the exchange of ideas and inventions from one to another. Culture diffusion, already discussed in our first chapter, became more and more an instrument of progress. We can understand, then, the importance of rivers in the growth of civilization.

Water has always exerted an important influence upon human affairs. Scholars sometimes refer to it in dividing civilization into three great epochs: (1) the fluvial centered along the banks of rivers and in fertile river valleys, (2) the thalassic focused in great inland seas such as the Mediterranean and (3) the oceanic, in which man utilizes the great oceanic stretches of water as bonds of contact making the world one unit. Until the time of Greece, civilization can be regarded as essentially fluvial. European civilization then became thalassic, centering in the Mediterranean, and remained so until the fifteenth century. Finally, with the age of exploration and the voyages of Columbus and his successors, civilization became oceanic.

Civilization Dawns along the Nile

Egyptian culture and history. The life span of ancient Egypt extended from about 5000 B.C. to 525 B.C. During that period the Egyptian pattern of life evolved from a rather primitive Neolithic culture to a flourishing civilization in which pharaohs ruled with absolute sway, agriculture and commerce throve, a noble art flourished, and mighty temples and monuments were constructed. Then decay set in, and the once proud land of the pharaohs passed under the rule of the Persians in 525 B.C. For more than two thousand years a succession of alien peoples-Romans, Greeks, Arabs, and Turks-ruled over Egypt. The most recent foreign rule was that of the British, whose direct control ended only in 1937.

The dates of Egyptian history have not been definitely established, but the following chronology is roughly accurate. Egyptian history before 3400 B.C. is called the Pre-Dynastic period. The era after 3400, when the land was ruled by one pharaoh, is known as the Dynastic period, The latter includes three periods of greatness and two interludes of retrogression: the Old Kingdom (3400-2475 B.C.), followed by the transitional Feudal Age (2475-2160 B.C.); the Middle Kingdom (2160-1780 B.C.), ended by the HyksoS domination (1780-1580 B.C); and the Empire (1580-525 B.C.).

Pre-Dynastic Egypt. Egypt passed from stone to copper culture in the Pre-Dynastic period. Artifacts have been discovered in tombs which go back as far as 15,000 B.C. These remains show that the early Egyptians passed through the main divisions of the Old and New Stone ages. Progress was apparently rapid, and soon the people lived in crude houses, had weapons of flint and copper, and engaged in agriculture. Examination of grain and husks found in the stomachs of corpses in ancient tombs has shown that as early as 10,000 B.C. the Egyptians had developed superior strains of barley seed which could be easily cultivated and which produced heavy yields. The early Egyptians, whose race has not yet been conclusively ascertained, wore linen garments and were especially remarkable for their artistic skill, particularly in pottery. Their polished red and black ware was never surpassed by their descendants, even in the periods of highest Egyptian accomplishment.

During the long Pre-Dynastic period, largely because of the necessity £or cooperation in building canals and irrigation works, the small political units gradually merged into larger ones, until finally two kingdoms, Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the north, were created, These date back perhaps to about 5000 B.C. and were probably the earliest nations. The process of national unification was further advanced in the forty-third century B.C. by the union of these two kingdoms under the leadership of the king of Lower Egypt. With its center at Heliopolis, Egypt's first capital, the union endured £or about eight hundred years. Several noteworthy accomplishments were made during the period of union. The introduction of the plow increased the acreage it was possible for a man to cultivate, and the first national irrigation system was evolved. Progress was made in writing and in the invention of papyrus and ink. Another important achievement was the creation of the first calendar, which, it has been claimed, goes back as far as 4241 B,C. If true, the date £or the beginning of the Egyptian calendar is the oldest in history.

The Dynastic period. The first union of Egypt was not permanent, and for a time each kingdom led a separate existence. About 3400 a strong leader arose in Upper Egypt. According to tradition King Menes effected the second unification of the two kingdoms and established a new capital at Memphis at the head of the Nile delta. After Menes a long succession of ruling houses, or dynasties, controlled the affairs of Egypt. The second union of Egypt marks, therefore, the beginning of the Dynastic period and the advent of the Old Kingdom, which can be regarded as the first great epoch in Egyptian civilization.

The Old Kingdom. During the period of the Old Kingdom the Age of Metals was definitely inaugurated in Egypt. Mining expeditions were sent to the nearby peninsula of Sinai to obtain copper. Trade was also developed. Boats were sent to the coast of Syria to obtain timber which was needed in Egypt for the construction of boats, houses, and furniture. Important advances were also made in industry, £or papyrus-making was begun, the potter's wheel perfected, glass manufactured, and beautiful Jewelry made by expert craftsmen.

One indication of the advance in civilization during the period of the Old Kingdom is its pyramids. The first of these gigantic monuments was constructed by the architect Imhotep for a pharaoh of the Third Dynasty. The tomb, which is the oldest existing building of stone masonry in the world, was a terraced, structure, with each successive layer smaller than the previous one. Today it is known as the Step Pyramid.

Of the six dynasties of the Old Kingdom, the fourth was the most powerful and prosperous, and consequently its pyramids were the most impressive. The largest of them, the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops, required the labor of 100,000 men for twenty years. The building of these great tomb fortresses, designed to protect the dead pharaoh's body so that, as the representative of his race, he might become immortal, required a knowledge of geometry, knowledge of the principle of the inclined plane, and the use of bronze saws to cut the great stone blocks.

Egypt’s Middle Kingdom and Empire

The Feudal Age. During the rule of the Sixth Dynasty of pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, strong centralized government was undermined by the rise of independent and ambitious provincial governors. Upon the death of Pepi II, who had reportedly ruled for ninety-four years, civil war broke out and the power of the pharaohs collapsed. For three hundred years petty governors struggled among themselves for power, while the lot of the common people became almost unbearable because of famine, oppression by petty tyrants, and destruction caused by fighting. The period which saw the destruction of the Old Kingdom is known as the Feudal Age (2475-2160 B.C.) and marks the transition from the Old Kingdom to Egypt's second great epoch of civilization, the Middle Kingdom. Progress in civilization practically ceased.

It may be helpful to remember that the period of confusion is called feudal largely because there was an absence of centralized authority. In world history there are many instances of feudal ages, all characterized, more or less, by the existence of powerful local lords, usually possessing extensive tracts of land on which lived large numbers of fighting men ready to do the lord's bidding. In such a system it was every man for himself; might made right. Traces of feudalism still linger today. In England there is still an important landed aristocracy whose lands .and titles go back to the English feudal age of more than five hundred years ago. Japan emerged from a feudal age only about eighty years ago. We shall see later in this book that the most famous feudal age of all time existed in Europe during the Middle Ages and reached its height in the twelfth century.

The Middle Kingdom. After three hundred years of disunity, the princes of Thebes, a city on the upper Nile, succeeded in reestablishing national unity under one pharaoh. They were the rulers of the famous Twelfth Dynasty, the most important of whom were Sesostris III and Amenemhet III. Under the capable guidance of the new line of pharaohs, strong monarchy, law and order, and economic prosperity were restored, and progress in civilization was resumed. The Twelfth Dynasty ruled for about two centuries. The period of its rule with that of its predecessor, the Eleventh Dynasty, constitutes what is known as the Middle Kingdom in Egyptian history (2160-1780 B.C.). If the Old Kingdom is famous for its pyramids, the Middle Kingdom is especially noted for its literature. In fact it excelled in all the arts, and with the probable exception of architecture, its artistic accomplishments were never surpassed in any other period of Egyptian history.

The Hyksos invasion. The history of the Old Kingdom, however, was recapitulated in that of its successor, the Middle Kingdom, for a period of progress and prosperity was succeeded by political decentralization and civil war. Following the demise of the Twelfth Dynasty, the Nile valley was fragmented into petty states, all warring on each other. Internal disunity was the occasion for foreign invasion. About 1780 B.C. an Asiatic people whom the Egyptians called Hyksos, possessing a superior army equipped with horses and chariots, swept down on Egypt, thoroughly conquered the region of the delta, and gradually extended their power over most of Upper Egypt. For two centuries, until 1580 B.C., these aliens lorded it over the Egyptians, treating them with terrible cruelty and taking much wealth from the Nile valley. Under such circumstances the Egyptians, who heretofore had been a peace-loving people, became imbued with strong nationalistic feeling and hatred of their oppressors. On all sides nationalistic rebellion broke out against the hated Hyksos, who had settled down and adopted Egyptian customs, even to the title of pharaoh.

The Empire period. The struggle against the foreign Hyksos was bitter, but finally a complete victory was achieved at Thebes by the princes of the south, who drove out the alien dynasty. Aahmes 0£ Thebes was the liberator and great national hero who gained independence £or his people. His reign (1580-1557 B.C.) marks the beginning of the third and last magnificent period in ancient Egyptian history, that of the Empire. The rulers of Egypt believed that to make their country secure from Joreign invasion it was essential for them to control Palestine, Syria, and Phoenicia. In addition it was imperative for the pharaohs to maintain a fleet which could control the waters of the eastern Mediterranean. In order to protect themselves, the Egyptians therefore embarked on a policy of imperialism, its object being to control the routes utilized by the invaders.

The new dynasty,.the Eighteenth, founded by Aahmes, successfully carried out the policy of conquering strategic areas adjacent to Egypt. The greatest pharaoh of the period was Thutmosis III (1479-1447 B.C.) who is often called the Napoleon of Egypt. As a result of numerous campaigns, Thutmosis conquered Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, and even far off Babylonia sent him gifts out of respect for his power. The relationships between Egypt and these areas become clear later in the chapter. There is good reason to believe that Thutmosis also brought Nubia under his sway and compelled Cyprus and the cities of Crete to become his allies.

During Egypt's greatest glory under the pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty, her civilization and political power reached their zenith. Law and order again prevailed along the valley of the Nile, trade flourished, and vast wealth in the form of tribute or booty flowed into Egypt as a result of military conquest. Thebes, the imperial capital of the pharaohs, became the most magnificent and richest city in the world. Great temples, beautiful gardens, and imposing mansions for the nobility made Thebes the most beautiful capital of its day.

Under Amenhotep III (1411-1375 B.C.) the empire reached its height. However, in his reign signs of decline were apparent. Religious controversy and pressure from without on the part of aggressive enemies resulted in the loss of most of the territories outside of Egypt. To the period of decline, in the last days of the Eighteenth Dynasty, belongs the weak emperor Tutankhamen, who has received an undeserved immortality and fame resulting from the discovery in 1922 of his remarkable tomb.

Ramses II (1198-1167 B.C.) of the Nineteenth Dynasty, pharaoh of Hebrew oppression, tried to restore the glory of the empire and had partial success. Egyptian power was reestablished in southern Syria and Palestine, great monuments were erected along the Nile, and the empire superficially seemed prosperous and secure, It was Egypt's last demonstration of national greatness. The land of the pharaohs ceased to be a power in international affairs and became the puppet of a long line of conquerors from Cambyses, the Persian emperor in the sixth century B.C., to Lord Cromer, the British ruler of Egypt in the late nineteenth century.

Allover the Near East new peoples were rising to power (see page 55 ff.). The Hittite empire to the northeast was pressing hard, a coalition of Indo-European peoples from the north and west was invading Asia Minor, the Arameans were building up their domination of the trade routes in the Near East, the Hebrews were establishing themselves in Palestine, the Philistines had also created a powerful state in southern Palestine. and the Dorian Greeks had overwhelmed Aegean civilization in the Greek peninsula and in the islands of the Aegean Sea. This new alignment of unfriendly peoples spelled the end of Egyptian influence outside her own borders. Especially in Syria. The great emperor Ramses III (1198-1167) for a time staved off the collapse of the empire which had been created by the pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty, but after his death the empire never regained its former brilliance.

Foreign domination. From 1100 to 671 B.C. Egypt was ruled by alien African kings who tried to re-create Egypt's past glories. Their feeble rule was displaced by the jarring shock of Assyrian invasion and overlord-ship from 670 to 662 B.C. During the Assyrian occupation much 0£ Egyptian wealth was confiscated by the invaders. After the £all of the Assyrian empire. national Egyptian independence was restored £or a time, but in 525 B.C. Cambyses, the Persian emperor, again conquered the valley of the Nile. After a cycle of national life which had been initiated with the union of Upper and Lower Egypt in 3400 B.C. and which had endured £or almost three thousand years, Egyptian political independence disappeared until the twentieth century. But although Egypt had lost her political independence and her relative importance declined, it would be unwise to speak of her "fall." Egypt on several later occasions reached an impressive level 0£ civilization in the hands of her conquerors, who shaped her people and institutions to suit their needs. We shall see that the famous world-conqueror Alexander the Great brought Egypt into contact with Greek thought and that his successors, the Ptolemies, made the city of Alexandria in Egypt the most outstanding center of scientific speculation in the world. Following the collapse of Greece and Rome, Egypt came under the rule of the Moslems, who created a flourishing Mohammedan civilization, centered at Cairo.

Life in Egypt, for the common man at least, went on in much the same fashion after the collapse of the pharaohs. The old distinctive Egyptian culture, especially the religion, persisted until the coming of the Romans. With the Roman legions eventually came a new religion, Christianity, which took root along the Nile and flourished until the seventh century A.D., when the Moslems overran the country. The Egyptian language had earlier given way to the Greek, and with the coming of the Moslems, Arabic became the official language. Following the Mohammedan conquest, the Egyptian began to think of himself as an Arab. He forgot most of his ancient traditions, accepted the Mohammedan religion, and participated in the art and literature of the Moslem east. Only among the lowly peasants did there lurk vestigial remnants of the glorious past. The village peasant, the fellah, retained many of the old ways and ancient traditions in his folklore, in quaint village customs, and in the veneration of the local deities. It is said that in the nineteenth century, when the first mummies of the long-buried pharaohs were transported down the Nile, the village women lined the river's banks and reverted to the ancient custom of wailing for their dead god and king.

Evolution of the territorial state. Ancient Egypt (as well as other contemporary civilizations in Mesopotamia, as we shall see) made one significant stride in government. This was the evolution from a primitive social system, consisting of miniature and multitudinous rival kinship groups, to a great state, encompassing all people in a given area regardless of kinship ties and exacting from all obedience and loyalty to one central government and its ruler.. In short, many clans were merged to constitute one nation. Egyptian villages, consisting of related families, were gradually united into territorial units called nomes, and finally these became united into one single kingdom. The development of the territorial state was the major contribution of Egypt and the other oriental countries to the political evolution of civilized man.

Egyptian government. The governmental system of the territorial state, as it finally evolved in Egypt during the Old Kingdom, was an extreme absolutism. All power resided in the ruler, who was called Pharaoh, meaning Great House. The powers exercised by modern totalitarian rulers look almost meager when compared with those of the ancient Egyptian despot. The pharaohs owned all the land; they decided when the crops should be sown, controlled the irrigation system; and exacted a share of the crops produced by the semi-servile laborers who toiled on the huge royal estates. With none to question his powers, which the Egyptians believed were sanctified by the gods, in regal splendor, surrounded by elaborate court etiquette, the pharaoh dictated every aspect of the life of his subjects. Egyptian government was theocratic, that is, the pharaoh combined both religious and political functions. He was both an earthly king and a god, the chief priest of the land and the spiritual symbol of the nation in all its important religious rites.

It is interesting to note that the ancient Egyptians had succeeded as early as the time of the Old Kingdom in creating a complex and efficient administrative system which alone made possible the centralized absolutism of the pharaoh. Directly responsible for the management of the state were three officials: a chief treasurer and two prime ministers called viziers. These officials presided over an army of subordinates made up of overseers, scribes, and policemen. The subordinates had no power of initiative and no choice but to carry out unquestioningly the orders which emanated from the palace of the pharaoh. By this time there evidently existed a law code. Scholars believe that it filled forty rolls of papyrus, but unfortunately no copies are now in existence. We have every reason to believe, however, that the people looked to their government for justice, as ancient papyri tell us that the vizier was a judge "judging justly, not showing partiality," and "not preferring the great above the humble."

Under the government of the pharaoh the people were at the mercy of their ruler. There was nothing approaching self-government; that was to be the great achievement of the Greeks. The Egyptian government, however, was paternal. Most pharaohs evidently endeavored to protect their subjects and advance their prosperity. An interesting papyrus roll from the time of the empire gives us the words of a pharaoh installing his vizier:

"Look to the office of the Vizier; be watchful over all that is done therein. Behold, it is the established support of the whole land. ...The Vizierate is not sweet; it is bitter. ...Behold it is not to show respect-of-persons to princes and councillors; it is not to make £or himself slaves of any people. ... Behold when a petitioner comes from Upper or Lower Egypt. ..see thou to it that everything is done in accordance with law, that everything is done according to the custom thereof, [giving] to [every man] his right."

Life and Work in Ancient Egypt

Home and social life. In the days of the Empire, Egypt proper, not including the subject peoples in Syria, had a population of about seven million. The great bulk of the people were semi-slaves who lived in squalid villages made up of little mud and thatch houses in which the only furniture was a few crude jars, boxes, and a stool. These people lived in constant dread of the royal tax collector. They were subject to forced labor work on the roads or tilling the royal fields, or worse, hauling huge stones for the pyramids. The- merchants and skilled craftsmen of the middle class had more comfortable and pretentious dwellings, and those of the nobility were palatial. Here furniture and draperies were luxurious, while extensive and beautiful gardens surrounded the house.

“This was the noble's paradise; here he spent his leisure hours with his family and friends, playing at draughts [checkers ], listening to the music of harp, pipe and lute, watching his women in the slow and stately dance of the time, while his children sported about among the trees, splashed in the pool, or played with ball, doll or jumping-jack."

Duck hunting for this Egyptian is a matter of decoying the ducks from his papyrus boat and hitting them with his boomerang, while his wife and daughters gather lotus blossoms. T o the right of the papyrus hedge the same man spears fish, steadied by his wife and daughter. The grown-ups wear thin, cool clothes, while the youngest wears none at all.

During the passing of more than two thousand years since the Pre-Dynastic period of primitive Egypt, substantial changes had taken place in the social grouping of the people. Among primitive people all individuals are, in general, members of the same social and economic class. There may be a small ruling clique, and at the bottom captured enemies may form a slave class, but the great bulk of people perform the same economic tasks, live in similar houses, and possess about the same worldly goods. But with civilization come gradations in society. Some men remain laborers, others become skilled artisans, and others become wealthy merchant princes. In Egypt, as elsewhere, the growth of population, the tendency toward specialized vocations, and the increase of wealth soon resulted in the creation of distinct classes in society. Three main social divisions can be distinguished: (1) the court nobility, royalty, "priests, and the landed aristocracy, (2) the middle class, composed of merchants and craftsmen, (3) the bulk of the population, who were servile laborers. Although such grouping existed in Egyptian society, it was not rigid. People of merit could elevate themselves into higher social ranks.

The clothing of the Egyptians was always sparse, as one would expect in a warm climate. At first a loin cloth sufficed, even for the upper classes, while the poorest often went naked. With the growth of wealth, however, which came during the Empire, clothes became more luxurious and less scanty. Both sexes liked to adorn themselves with rings, chains, and earrings, and the women used cosmetics.

An Egyptian princess is having her hair set in tight curls. In one hand she holds a mirror, in the other a beverage. A servant is fixing her another .

Most men were content with one wife, though the richest nobles enjoyed the luxury of a harem. Family life, on the whole, seems to have been wholesome. Infanticide-out-right killing of unwanted children-was not practiced. Divorce was infrequent, and only when adultery was proved could a husband avoid giving his wife a share of his property.

The status of the Egyptian woman was exceptionally favorable. She was in every respect the equal of man. In fact many aspects of society were dominated by women. Sons inherited property through their mothers, and once a woman actually ruled as queen of the land. Even in courtship women often took the initiative. Many love poems coming down to us were written by women. The following is a good example of one of these love poems:

I am thy first sister,

And thou art to me as the garden

Which I have planted with flowers

And all sweet-smelling herbs.

I directed a canal into it,

That thou slightest dip thy hand into it

When the north wind blows cool

. . . . . . . .

It is intoxicating to me to hear thy voice,

And my life depends upon hearing thee.

Whenever I see thee

It is better to me than food or drink.

Economic life. Throughout Egyptian history agriculture has remained the basic economic activity. The centralized system of irrigation made possible enormous crops of wheat and barley; extensive vineyards, vegetable gardens, and herds of cattle were also maintained. Every year in July the Nile overflowed, and by November the soil was dry enough to permit cultivation. The ground was first broken with crude plows, and then cattle were used to tramp in the seed.

Industry began in the early days of the Old Kingdom and developed rapidly. Extensive copper mining was carried on in the Sinai peninsula, stone quarrying became highly organized to meet the demands of pyramid building, and huge quantities of sun-dried bricks were made. Cabinetmakers fashioned handsome furniture out of the famous cedars of Lebanon. Tanning became a specialized craft, the process of fusing copper and tin to make bronze became known, glass blowing and enameling were developed by skilled artisans, and weavers were highly proficient. Egyptian craftsmen exhibited a degree of technical efficiency that was seldom surpassed in western Europe until the Industrial Revolution. During the period of the Empire the products of the craftsmen were exceptionally fine. Beautifully glazed jars, delicate stone dishes, and exquisite brooches attest his skill.

During the Old Kingdom much commerce plied up and down the Nile, expeditions were sent southwest to the interior for ebony and ivory, and the pharaohs sent ships down the Red Sea. The Egyptians can claim to have developed the first sea-going ships for use on the Mediterranean. As early as 2750 B.C. Egyptian ships were sailing the eastern Mediterranean bound for Phoenicia, and by 2000 B.C. extensive trade relations existed with Crete. Egyptian commerce never developed so extensively as that of Syria and Mesopotamia; it was not until the invasion of the Hyksos that it became very important. Apparently the Hyksos were great traders, and their contact with the Egyptians was a strong stimulus to commerce. Trade reached its height during the Empire, when Egypt controlled the trade routes of the Near East.

Empire commerce was conducted along four main routes: (1) To expedite merchant voyages; a canal was constructed .which connected the Red Sea with the eastern part of the delta; (2) along the Nile numerous ships brought goods from the south; (3) a busy caravan route maintained contact with Mesopotamia and southern Syria; and (4) shipping from northern Syria, the mainland of Greece, Crete, and other islands came to a focus at the delta of the Nile. The main exports were wheat, linens, scarabs (charms), and gold wares. The most important Egyptian imports were ostrich feathers, metal weapons, spices, tapestries, woods, gold, and silver.

Commercial activity spread characteristics of Egyptian culture throughout the known world. The products of Egyptian craftsmen, for example, were used by the Cretan sea kings, and glazed pottery and jewelry from the Nile valley have been found on the mainland of Greece. Elements of Egyptian religion and certain basic art forms became known to the Aegean peoples through commercial contact and were later adopted by the Greeks. Egypt, of course, was in turn influenced by contact with the civilizations of western Asia.

Religion in Egypt. Egyptians were called by the Greeks the most religious of all men. And so they were, for religion saturated their viewpoint and influenced every aspect of society. "The kings of Egypt were gods; its pyramids were an 'act of faith'; its art was rooted in religious symbolism; its literature began as religious decoration of tombs, temples, and pyramids; its science centered in the temple; its gods were conceived to be in intimate touch with men and alive as men; a vast part of its wealth and energy was spent in the effort to secure the continuance of the physical life after death.

The great obsession of all people was to 'achieve immortality for their souls. In the days of the Old Kingdom, the lower classes felt aggrieved because they could not have their bodies mummified after death, as the pharaoh and the rich nobles did, nor could they obtain full funeral rites. These were serious handicaps in securing immortality. So strong was the desire for the afterlife that the common people agitated not for political but for religious equality. This was obtained in the Middle Kingdom, and henceforth all people could claim full funeral rites.

Osiris. Their all-pervading emphasis upon immortality was largely due to the influence of the god Osiris. He was the god of the Nile, and the rise and fall of the river symbolized his death and resurrection, which were celebrated each year .Then an .interesting myth developed. It was recounted that Osiris was murdered by Seth, his evil brother, who cut the victim's body into many pieces and scattered them over the land. Isis, the bereaved widow, collected all the remnants of the corpse. These were then put together, Osiris was resurrected, and became immortal. Finally Horus, the son of Osiris, avenged his father against Seth.

The Egyptians saw in the myth a way to escape death. Osiris was the first mummy. Only by the recovery of the many parts of his body had he achieved immortality. Every dead Egyptian, therefore, was regarded as a second Osiris. The way to give him immortality was to preserve the corpse. This was achieved by mummifying and placing the body in a tomb which would give it the maximum protection; As befitted the first man of the land, a pharaoh was given a massive tomb-fortress, a pyramid, to protect and preserve his body until judgment day.

If the soul came to Osiris cleansed, of sin, it would be permitted to live forever in the Happy Field of Food. At the time of soul testing, Osiris weighed the candidate's heart against the feather of truth. If the ordeal was not passed; a horrible creature devoured the rejected heart. The priesthood, which exercised a very strong influence in the Egyptian state, often to the detriment of the state, claimed that it alone knew clever methods of surviving the soul-testing. For a consideration, charms and rolls of papyrus containing magical prayers and formulas were sold to the living as insurance policies guaranteeing them a happy immortality after death. That it was a lucrative business is seen by the fact that some 2000 papyrus rolls containing such magical formulas have been taken from ancient tombs. They constitute collectively what is known as the Book of the Dead. Pictured below is a scene from one of these rolls.

Osiris sits in judgment as his dog-headed creature weighs the heart of a: princess against a feather. Isis stands behind the princess. The scene was inscribed on papyrus and buried with the mummy of the princess.

Characteristics of Egyptian religion. Egyptian religion for many hundreds of years had no strong ethical character. Immortality was not regarded as a reward for goodness while a person was alive. That idea, however, developed gradually until eternal life was regarded as a reward merited only by those who were just and good while alive. On the whole, while Egyptians never made any impressive advance in closely relating daily conduct and religion, yet it seems clear that they developed a conception of immortality and moral responsibility long before the peoples of other early civilizations. The myth of Osiris and Seth was an anticipation of the dualistic conception of a god of good and a god of evil which was later given such a strong emphasis by the Persians and others.

Religion was of paramount concern to the Egyptian people, and it was also extremely complex in character. It concerned the worship of many gods, such as Ra, the sun deity, Osiris, the god of water, Isis, the Great Mother, and many animal-headed gods. At first Ra was the most important, but with the rise of Thebes in political importance a place had to be found for its deity, Amun. The supreme god, therefore, became Amun-Ra. A famous pharaoh and reformer in the time of the Empire, Amenhotep IV, who adopted the name of Ikhnaton, tried unsuccessfully to supplant Amun-Ra and the confusing multiplicity of minor gods by substituting a religion based on one deity, a sun god called Aton. Amenhotep developed an advanced conception of one all-prevailing and kindly god (monotheism). This was given beautiful expression in his famous Hymn to the Sun. Amenhotep's efforts tragically failed, and in arousing religious factionalism among his subjects, he only weakened the Empire. Ancient Egypt retained its polytheism to the end

Literature, Science and Learning

Evolution of writing. One of the most important Egyptian contributions to civilization was the development of the art of writing, especially the introduction of an alphabet. The first step in writing was the use of picture-like signs to represent ideas. The next advance was to use the same signs to represent the sounds of the words expressing those ideas. Once the signs were identified with sounds, Some were conventionalized to represent the sounds of syllables, the stage called syllabic writing. With syllabic signs an indefinite number of words could now be written phonetically-with symbols representing their sounds.

About 3000 B.C. the Egyptians had reached the point of using special characters for certain vowels and consonants. They were actually on the verge of attaining a real alphabet. But there were too many symbols (about twenty for A, about thirty for H, and so on). They also continued to use their syllabic signs and ideographs (symbols £or ideas). Thus in several thousands of years they never succeeded in developing a purely alphabetic system of writing.

The ancient Egyptians had what we might call the first books. Libraries have been discovered dating from 2000 B.C., consisting of rolls of papyrus in earthen jars. Papyrus was the forerunner of paper. It was made by splitting the papyrus reed into strips and pasting these strips together to make long rolls of durable writing surface, much more practical than the heavy clay tablets used, as we shall see shortly, in Mesopotamia. Ink was prepared by mixing vegetable gum with lamp black.

The invention of writing represents one of the great milestones of human progress. Now man could accumulate knowledge, record it, and pass it on to his descendants. Writing also made possible the preservation of literature.

Literature. We can hardly speak of a literature in the days of the Old Kingdom because none has survived. The oldest inscriptions we have are the pyramid texts, which have been called the oldest chapter of human thought extant. They were mainly religious and are found on the walls of tombs and pyramids of the Fifth and Sixth dynasties. Their purpose was to assist the deceased to obtain immortality, and they consisted of a jumble of magical incantations, myths, and religious hymns.

During the Middle Kingdom, especially in the period of the Twelfth Dynasty, literature became much richer, more varied; and more secular. Many folk tales and collections of proverbs were now set down in writing. The period of the Twelfth Dynasty is called the classical age of Egyptian literature. One popular story told of the romantic adventures of a noble who wandered all over Syria but at last made his way back to his native land. Another story recounted the perils of a ship wrecked sailor, a narrative which is a prototype of Sindbad the Sailor. Other narratives of importance were the Tale of the Two Brothers, which has striking resemblances to the Biblical story of Joseph and his brethren; the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant; and A Dialogue between a Man Weary of Life and His Soul. The last work, poetical in form; is philosophical in tone and demonstrates profound thought. It is one of the most important of the Egyptian poems which have been preserved. Most of the literature was expressed in poetical language, though much of it was in prose form.

The most beautiful surviving piece of Egyptian literature is Ikhnaton's Hymn to the Sun. A few lines will suffice to give some idea of its poetic beauty and its conception of one all powerful and beneficent Creator and Heavenly Father .

Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of the sky,

O living Aton, beginning of life!

When thou risest in the eastern horizon,

Thou fillest every land with thy beauty.

Thou art beautiful, great, glittering, high

above every land,

Thy rays, they encompass the lands, even all

that thou hast made.

How manifold are thy works!

They are hidden from before us,

O sole god, whose powers no other possesseth.

Thou didst create the earth according to thy heart

While thou wast alone.

The calendar. We moderns accept our calendar as a commonplace detail of everyday life and do not realize that it is an indispensable tool of civilized existence. Like fire-making, knives, and pottery, the calendar had to be invented, a process taking several thousand years. In fact, the final step in the evolution of our present calendar took place as late as 1582 A.D. Neolithic man was the first to realize how essential a calendar was to fix the dates of his holy days and accurately ascertain the time for planting crops. He therefore devised a lunar calendar of twelve months, each twenty-nine and a half days in length, giving in all a year of 354 days. In order to harmonize his reckoning with the seasons, it was necessary from time to time to add a thirteenth month.

The Rosetta Stone, discovered in Egypt in 1799 by an officer in Napoleon's army, supplied the means by which Jean Champollion was able in 1822 to decipher Egyptian writing, thus founding the study known as Egyptology and laying open a whole new field of research. The stone is now in the British Museum, and contains a message inscribed in three different languages, as is shown by the section reproduced here. The lowest layer of writing is Greek, which Champollion could read. Working from the Greek he was able to figure out the other inscriptions. The middle layer is Egyptian demotic, or popular writing. The top layer is the more formal system of hieroglyphic writing .

After the lunar calendar, the next major step was the development of a calendar based on the solar year. The Egyptians developed a system of twelve months, each of thirty days, totaling 360 days in all, and at the end of each year they added five days. This calendar yeas was just six hours short of the solar year, which forged ahead of the calendar one day in every four years. It was, however, imperative for their agriculture that the Egyptians know accurately when the Nile was about to inundate, the land. Their need led to the discovery that when Sothis {our Sirius) rose with the sun, it signaled the rise of the Nile. The Egyptians clung to their not quite perfect solar year, letting it go its way but relying upon Sothis to guide their farming. Every 1460 years a Sothic Cycle was completed. During the Sothic Cycle there was often disparity between the time of the real seasons, represented by the rise of the Nile, and the official calendar. Every 1460 years, however, the cycle achieved perfect agreement with the calendar, the rise of the Nile, and the real solar year. The Egyptians realized that something was wrong but never corrected the difficulty. It was not until Julius Caesar added the Julian intercalary day every four years that the next major improvement in the calendar was achieved.

Science. In their learning the Egyptians were a practical rather than a speculative people. Philosophy was not their forte; learning had to serve practical needs. That was why the Egyptians-were the first people to develop a real science of mathematics. Precise measurements were needed to build the pyramids, and the constant obliteration of field boundaries by the inundations of the Nile necessitated frequent land measurement. To meet these needs the Egyptians learned to add and subtract. They also could multiply and divide by two and three. In surveying they utilized the rudiments of geometry, and they had some knowledge of algebraic equations. They developed, a primitive decimal system, but it was never perfected; twenty-seven signs, for example, were needed to write the number 999. They computed the area of a circle by giving it the value of 3.16. Though the Egyptians laid the foundations for the science of mathematics, they made little progress in the fields of physics, astronomy, and chemistry.

One of the great pyramids, tomb fortresses of the Egyptian pharaohs

The Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Karnak, showing Clerestrory Windows (reconstruction)

Art and Architecture in Ancient Egypt

Architecture. Important as were the accomplishments of the Egyptians in government, religion, literature, and science, they cannot compare with their gains in art and architecture, which were the most distinctive elements in Egyptian civilization. The Egyptians have been called the greatest builders in history. As far back as we know them they were advanced engineers, able to build in stone. The problems of shelter, light, and circulation {entrance and exit) had been solved. The structure of their society called for no houses above the merest mud huts for the common population, and evidently the palaces were not built well enough to last. The preoccupation with life after death meant that the kings did not spend their energies building great palaces but concentrated on tombs to preserve their bodies eternally. Thus the two great types of architectural expression which have lasted and into which went the greatest effort were the tombs for the kings and the temples for the rich, priestly class. These temples also glorified the kings, who were themselves identified with religion.

As already noted, the pyramids were commanded by the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom. Today after four thousand years, many of these monuments still remain, scattered along the Nile south from the delta for a distance of fifty miles. At Gizeh the pyramid of Cheops, covering a base of thirteen acres, seems unbelievably huge. It was constructed of over two million limestone blocks, each averaging about two and a half tons, and is 481 feet high. It was built without mortar, and some of the stones were so perfectly fitted that a knife cannot be inserted in the joint. The pyramids are the best single expression of Egyptian civilization. In their quiet repose, dignity, and massiveness, they reflect the religion-saturated character of Egyptian society.

If the Old Kingdom achieved immortality through its pyramids, the power and the glory of the days of the Empire still live in the ruins of the pharaohs' temples at Thebes. Booty and tribute from conquest made Thebes, with its great temples and palaces a lavish capital city. Today little is left at Thebes except the temple ruins of Karnak. But that little is enough to attest to the magnitude of the Egyptian achievement in building.

Stone block statue of the Pharaoh Khafre

The builders of the temple at Karnak, like the early lake dwellers, employed the structural system which was to be used almost exclusively until the Roman period-the post and lintel construction. This system enabled the builders to span openings for windows and doors and to roof over spaces. The size of the window or door and the width of the roofed space were limited, of course, by the size of the stone slabs. Post and lintel construction demands heavy stone work and partly explains the massive appearance of the buildings. Columns were used throughout the interiors of buildings in order to provide supports £or roofing of larger areas. The temple of Karnak is an expression of the mystery of the Egyptian religion, just as the pyramids are an expression of the desire to hide the tombs for eternity. Many temple entrances were made mysterious and forbidding by heavy walls and small doorways, and the sanctuarywas placed at the end of a series of courts and halls.

The temple of Karnak contains a huge colonnaded, or hypostyle, hall, the largest ever built. The tallest columns are seventy feet high. The two central rows of columns are taller than the others and have a separate roof, allowing wall space above the lower roofs of the two side aisles. This space was pierced with windows called clerestory windows. The higher middle aisle and the clerestory windows were later used in the Roman basilica and the Gothic cathedral.

Sculpture. Egyptian sculpture, like Egyptian architecture, was simple and formal. The Egyptians' tools and their ability to use them were far superior to the technical equipment of the Stone Age artists. In sculpture, as in architecture, their work shows an advance in technical skill. Sculpture was used as decoration for entrances to tombs and temples, and line carving and low relief were used as wall decoration. The latter types of sculpture are almost two-dimensional in themselves and are therefore particularly adapted to a two-dimensional surface. Everyday subjects decorated the walls of the tombs, presumably to equip the dead with all that had surrounded them in life. The picture at the bottom of page 39 is an example of decorative line-carving illustrating an everyday scene.

In Egypt appears for the first time an advanced sculpture in the round. Statues which stand free from the wall on all sides naturally have to be designed in a three-dimensional manner, differing from reliefs, which are more nearly two-dimensional. The sculptors of the Old Kingdom had a great feeling for simplicity and conventionalized the bodies to conform to the blocks of stone. The seated figure of Khafre shows the shape of the stone from ;which it is carved. In these block statues the human figure is always shown, sitting or standing, looking squarely in front, which produces a certain rigidity. But when it is remembered that the statues were used in connection with a massive architectural setting, this rigidity is highly fitting.

Many statues were colossi, such as the Sphinx, which shows clearly that it was built up of blocks of stone. This immense statue conveys a remarkable impression of the dignity and power of the pharaoh. Many carved figures were religious symbols, strange combinations of men and birds and animals. The Sphinx: has the body of a lion and the head of Pharaoh Khafre.

Portrait of Pharaoh Ramses II

One of the most significant developments in the Empire period was the personalization of statuary. Sculptors were trying to get away from the abstract and symbolic, which had dominated their work in the Old Kingdom. In so doing they became excellent portraitists, but sculpture lost the fine architectural use of earlier days. The figure of Ramses II is a typical piece of Egyptian realism. Notice the greater individuality of the features as compared with the more abstract portrait of Khafre. Ramses is a person while Khafre is more a symbol of imperial power and dignity. Sculptors of Ikhnaton's time sometimes used limestone, which was a softer stone than the diorite of the Khafre statue or the quartzite of the Ramses head, and therefore allowed greater freedom for realistic treatment. Ikhnaton and his queen Nefretete are known to us through such true-to-life portraits.

Painting. Painting in Egypt was used to decorate the walls of tombs and palaces and in this use had to bow to certain restrictions in composition. The artist was confronted with a wall space to be decorated, and he immediately encountered certain external limitations. Examples of these are the size of the wall, the distance from which it was to be seen, and the incorporation into the design of architectural features such as doors and windows and columns. In Egyptian painting many figures are grouped in a conscious design. Although the Egyptians were interested in subject matter, it was often distorted if this distortion would make the pattern on the wall more decorative. As in sculpture, there were two types of subject matter. The religious, as seen in the illustration below, is symbolic and conventionalized. It shows the conventions used in all Egyptian painting. The most distinctive and decorative view in silhouette of each section of the body was chosen for depiction. Thus we see the profile of the face, the full view of the shoulders, the profile of the rest of the body, and the full view of the eye. There was no attempt to show objects receding in perspective, but sometimes it was shown that one object was behind another by overlapping objects in a series, or by putting one object above another. As painting was used as a mural decoration, these particular conventions of perspective and flat treatment were very successful. The ruler or god was shown as larger than the other figures to emphasize his importance. These religious pictures with their many symbols may seem lifeless and uninteresting, since they are hard to understand without a complete knowledge of the meaning of the symbols. From a purely decorative point of view, however: they can certainly be enjoyed today. Certain colors were generally used in all these paintings rich reds and yellows made from the earth pigments, and blank and green-blue for contrast.

,

A Theban wall painting shows the ceremonial farewell to the dead, as the bodies are about to be laid away. The painting (about 7385-7370 BC) decorated the tomb of two Egyptian sculptors.

Egyptian Dancing Girls (wall painting) An Egyptian collar of beads

More appealing perhaps to our eyes are the murals which depict everyday scenes. The painting of the dancers, although still following the conventions, is completely human and understandable, even in the twentieth century.

Throughout the ancient world (Egypt, Crete, and Greece) different types of binding materials were mixed with paint. To ensure that pigment will stay attached to a surface it must be mixed with a material such as wax, gum, or egg. These mixtures produce surface paintings which do not withstand all weather conditions. Fresco, on the other hand, is permanent when properly done: The painting is executed on wet plaster, and a chemical reaction makes it part of the wall. But it is not definitely known that wet-plaster fresco was used before the time of Rome.

Minor arts. In the minor arts the Egyptians exhibited the same decorative sense. Jewelry was made of gold, semiprecious stones, and beads. The collar below is simple but very decorative. Egyptian gold jewelry reveals the wealth of priests and pharaohs. The Egyptians also made beautiful glass and pottery vessels.