Ancient Egypt ~ Literary Hunt

Ancient Egypt

The dark line shows the limits of Egyptians influence at its height in the 15th century B.C.
East of Egypt, solid line encloses Babylonia, reduced in size after Hittite raids from northwest.

A Hamitic people started farming in the valley of the Nile River six thousand years ago whose waters enriched their soil and created a trade route. These early Egyptian farmers have flourished and built many small states along 550 miles of the river. In time, one strong ruler unified the states, thereby establishing the first nation in the world. Protected by sea, mountains, and the desert fringing the Nile River, Egypt established a magnificent civilization that was relatively free from outside attack.

Egypt's states were first united about 3200 B.C. then kings from the south conquered middle Egypt and the northern Nile Delta. Menes ("the established one") founded the town of Memphis, which soon became the center of government for the whole land, now ruled by a single king or "pharaoh. ''

The Nile Valley rich soil provided heavy grain and vegetable crops each year. That meant a surplus of food. And even though the Nile periodically flooded the fields from July to September and stopped work on irrigation ditches, there was more than enough food for all. Pharaohs and priests quickly learned to make effective use of the enormous, temporary labour-power that became available during the season. The thousands of peasant farmers were put to work on the construction of dams and canals and other public works projects. For example, in the third dynasty, King Zoser (about 2780 B.C.) ordered his architect, Imhotep, to construct the first pyramid, a giant royal monument that rose 200 feet above the desert west of Memphis. For example, in the Third Dynasty, King Zoser (approximately 2780 B.C.) instructed his architect, Imhotep, to create the first pyramid, a massive royal temple that soared 200 feet above the desert west of Memphis.

In the fifth and sixth dynasties, the pharaohs sent daring trade expeditions into Africa for incense, ebony, ivory, gold, and panther skins. To the north, the Egyptians traded cedarwood with the Syrians, which they used in houses and shipbuilding, for they lacked good timber trees in Egypt.

Giant monuments bear witness to the greatness of the pharaohs, notably Khafre who lived over 4500 years ago. The Sphinx (foreground) bears the likeness of his face. Behind stands his 481-foot- high pyramid tomb-its 13-acre base only six- tenths of an inch outside a true square. To build it, some 100,00o men quarried seven million tons of rock, ferried it in huge blocks across the Nile, then on rollers up ramps to a site where experts trimmed and laid the stones to standard measurements.

Egypt's economy has struggled amid this rich trade. One reason was the enormous price of worship offerings, temples, and pyramids. At the end of Pepi II's more than a year, this pressure and the increasing power of the feudal nobility undermined royal authority. African invaders invaded the Delta lands around 2,300 B.C., Egypt once more split into several different provinces. So after 900 years of rule, the Old Kingdom ended.

The Egyptian Middle Kingdom was firmly established when kings of the 11th dynasty reunited the country in about 2050 B.C. The Amenemhets and Senusrets 12th-dynasty were influential rulers whose presence spread northwards to Syria, and southwards to Africa. They built great fortresses in Africa: at the Nile's second cataract to protect Nubian trade routes, and in the Delta's east to keep out invaders.

Pharaoh Ramesses II (1 3th century B.C.)
capturing a Syrian fort. Religious convention
demanded that the artist represented the god-king
ruler bigger than his enemies.

This new Middle Kingdom was attacked by the warlike Hyksos ("desert princes"). The invaders swamped from Asia, driving war carts pulled by horses, which many Egyptians ever saw as their first wheeled vehicle. At first, cities were devastated by the Hyksos and temples were plundered. They later adopted Egyptian customs but these foreign overlords were never recognized by the Egyptians, and by 1570 B.C. They had been driven out by the kings of Thebes.

Next came the last great era of ancient Egypt: the time of the Empire, or the New Kingdom. Kings of the eighteenth dynasty invaded Palestine and Syria, Thutmose III waged 17 campaigns in Asia, with an army of about 20,000 soldiers. Thutmose ruled the first major kingdom in the world by the end of his reign, stretching about 1700 miles from the Taurus Mountains in the north to beyond the fourth cataract in the south.

Trade and prosperity continued, but wars that broke out during the nineteenth dynasty marked the start of a long and indecisive conflict between Egypt and the Asia Minor Hittites. Later on, Ramesses III (around I189-1157 B.C.) faced an attack by an unknown figure who had conquered the Hittite empire by this time. Ramesses succeeded, but Egypt lost all of its Asian possessions by the end of the 12th century.

The great empire-builder Thutmose III (about 1505-1450 B.C.) campaigned for 19 years, taking Palestine, Phoenicia, and Syria.

The End of the Egyptian Empire. Though it enjoyed a brief revival during the 26th dynasty (about 650-550 B.C.) in 525 B.C. The Persians conquered Egypt at Cambyses. He was the first of many overstepping foreigners.

Ancient Egypt

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