A View of Egypt by Satellite
Development of African
Agriculture
• Sahara desert originally highly fertile
region
• Western Sudan region nomadic herders,
c. 9000 BCE
– Domestication of cattle c. 7500 BCE
– Later, cultivation of sorghum, yams,
increasingly diverse
• Widespread desiccation of the Sahara c.
5000 BCE
The Gift of the
Nile
Gradual, predictable flooding
– Inundation (July-October)
– Sprouting
– Summer
Communication:
– Nubia-Egypt
• Current: north
• Winds: south
– Sub-Saharan AfricaMesopotamia
Increased in importance w/
desiccation of Sahara
The Nile Valley, 3000-2000 BCE
The Delta & The
Cataracts
Early Agriculture in Nile Valley
• 10,000 BCE migrants from Red Sea hills
(northern Ethiopia)
– Introduce collection of wild grains, language
roots of Coptic
• 5000 BCE Sudanic cultivators, herders
migrate to Nile river valley
• Adaptation to seasonal flooding of Nile
through construction of dikes, waterways
– Villages dot Nile by 4000 BCE
The Annual Flooding of the
Nile
Impact on Political Organization
• As in Mesopotamia a need for formal
organization of public affairs
• Need to maintain order and organize
community projects
• Egypt: simple, local irrigation projects
• Rural rather than heavily urban
development
• Trade networks develop
The Fertile Nile Valley
Nile Irrigation-the Shaduf
Ancient Egyptian History
Periods
Time Frame
Nile Culture Begins
Archaic
Old Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom
4000 B. C. E.
3100 – 2650 B. C. E.
2650 – 2134 B. C. E.
2040 – 1640 B. C. E.
1550 – 1070 B. C. E.
Late Period
Greek Ptolemaic
Era
Roman Period
750 – 332 B. C. E.
332 – 30 B. C. E.
30 B. C. E. – 395 C. E.
Unification of Egypt
• Legendary conqueror Menes, c. 3100
unifies Egyptian kingdom
– Sometimes identified with/as Narmer
– Tradition: founder of Memphis, cultural and
political center of ancient Egypt
– Instituted the rule of the Pharaoh
• Claimed descent from the gods
• Absolute rulers, had slaves buried with them from
2600 BCE
• Most powerful during Archaic Period (3100-2660
BCE) and Old Kingdom (2660-2160 BCE)
Menes:
Unifier of Upper & Lower
Egypt
c. 3050 B. C. E.
?
The Pyramids
• Symbols of the pharaoh’s authority and
divine status
• A testimony of the pharaohs’ ability to
marshal Egypt’s resources
• Largest Khufu (Cheops) 2.3 million
limestone blocks w/ average weight of 2.5
tons
• Role: burial chambers for Pharaohs
Plan of the Great Pyramid
of Khufu
The Valley of the Kings
Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara
“Bent” Pyramid of King
Sneferu
The Great Sphinx
Valley of the Kings
View of the central
East Valley
Relations with Nubia
• Competition over Nile trade
• Military conflict between 3100-2600 BCE
• Drives Nubians to the south
– Established Kingdom of Kush, c. 2500 BCE
• Trade, cultural influences continue despite
military conflict
The New Kingdom
Imperial Egypt,
1400 BCE
• Few pyramids, but major
monumental architectural
projects
• Engaged in empirebuilding to protect against
foreign invasion
• Local resistance drives
Egypt out of Nubia
• Kingdom of Kush revives
c. 1100 BCE
• Invasions of Kushites,
Assyrians destroy Egypt
mid 6th century BCE
Egyptian Urban Culture
• Major cities along Nile river, especially at
delta
– Memphis c. 3100 BCE, Heliopolis c. 2900 BCE
• Nubian cities include Kerma, Napata, Meroë
– Located at cataracts of the Nile
• Well-defined social classes
– Pharaohs to slaves
– Archaeological discoveries in Nubia also support
class-based society
– Patriarchal societies, notable exceptions: female
Pharaoh Hatshepsut (r. 1473-1458 BCE)
Egyptian Social Hierarchy
Egyptian Nobility
Egyptian Priestly Class
Ancient Egyptian Housing
Middle Class
Homes
Peasant
Homes
Scenes of Ancient Egyptian
Daily Life
Making Ancient Egyptian
Beer
Making Ancient Egyptian
Wine
An Egyptian Woman’s “MustHaves”
Mirror
Perfume
Wigs
Economic Specialization
• Bronze metallurgy introduced late, with
Hyksos invasion
• Development of iron early, c. 900 BCE
• Trade along Nile river
– More difficult in Nubia due to cataracts
– Sea trade in Mediterranean
Hieroglyphs
• “Holy Inscriptions”
– Writing appeared at least by 3200 BCE
– Pictographic supplemented with symbols
representing sounds and ideas
– Survives on monuments, buildings and sheets of
papyrus
– Hieroglyphs for formal writing, hieratic script for
everyday affairs used from 2600 BCE – 600 CE
– Adopts Greek alphabet – demotic and Coptic
scripts
• Meroitic writing - flexible system borrowed from
hieroglyphs, represents sounds rather than ideas
Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”
24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols
Hieroglyphic
“Cartouche”
Champollion & the Rosetta
Stone
Egyptian Scribe
Papyrus  Paper
Hieratic Scroll
Piece
Papyrus plant growing in a
garden, Australia
Papyrus Plant
Egyptian Papyrus
Drawing
Development of Organized
Religious Traditions
• Principal gods Amon and Re
• Religious tumult under Amenhotep IV
(Akhenaten) (r. 1364-1347 BCE)
– Introduces sole worship of sun god Aten
– One of the world’s earliest expressions of
Monotheism
• Death of Akhenaten, traditional priest
restore the cult of Amon-Re to privileged
status
Ankhenaton: First
Monotheist?
Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten)
• Akhenaten was the only
pharaoh to try and
introduce the idea of
monotheism to the
polytheistic Egyptians.
• Because he predated
Zoroaster by approximately
700 years, he is considered
the first monotheist.
• The one god he believed in
was the sun, represented
by Aton, god of the sun
disc.
Egyptian Gods & Goddesses:
“The Sacred ‘Trinity’”
Osiris
Isis
Horus
Mummification and the Afterlife
• Inspiration of the cycles of the Nile
• Belief in the revival of the dead
– First: ruling classes only, later expanded to
include lower classes
• Cult of Osiris
– Lord of the underworld
– Power to determine who deserved immortality
– Held out hope of eternal reward for those who
lived moral lives
• Nubian worship of Apedemak and
Sebiumeker
The Final Judgement
Osiris
Anubis
Horus
Preparations for the Underworld
ANUBIS weighs the
dead person’s heart
against a feather.
Priests protected
your KA, or soulspirit
Preparation for
the Afterlife
Egyptian Mummies
Seti I
1291-1278 B.
C. E.
Queen Tiye,
wife of
Amenhotep II
Ramses II
1279-1212 B. C. E.
Journey to the Underworld
The dead travel
on the “Solar
Barge”
A boat for the
journey is
provided for a
dead pharaoh in
his tomb
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Archaeologist, Howard Carter
(1922)
King Tutankhamon’s Death
Mask
1336-1327 B. C. E.
King Tutankhamon
King Tutankhamun’s Tomb
Treasures From Tut’s Tomb
The Valley of the Queens
1473-1458 B. C. E.
Temple of Queen
Hatshepsut
The Ankh – The “Cross” of
Life
Queen
Nefertiti
Abu Simbel:
Monument to Ramses II
1279-1213 B. C. E.
Canopic Jars
The four sons of Horus: the jackal-headed jar represented the east,
contained the stomach, the falcon-headed jar representing the west,
contained the intestines, the baboon-headed jar representing the north,
contained the lungs, the human-headed jar representing the south,
contained the liver.
Ramses II
• After King Tut, only Ramses
II would rise to be a strong
pharaoh.
• Under Ramses there was a
new increase in the building
of temples and monuments.
• It is believed that Ramses is
the pharaoh that allowed
Moses to lead the Hebrews
out of Egypt.
• He had 48-50 sons and 4053 daughters.
Bantu Migrations, 3000-1000 BCE
• Bantu: means “people”
• Originated in what would be modern Nigeria
• Migration throughout sub-Saharan regions
– Population pressures
• Over 500 variations of original Bantu language
– 90 million speakers
– Similar to Indo-Europeans in that they spread
language as they moved.
• By 1000 BCE, occupied most of Africa south of
the equator
Bantu Migrations, 2000 BCE-1000 CE
Bantu Migration
Bantu Religions
• Evidence of early monotheism
• Deistic views as well
– Prayers to intercessors, e.g. ancestor spirits
• Great variations among populations
Aswan High Dam: 1968
The hydroelectric power station of
Aswan Dam
Aswan High Dam (NASA satellite photo)