SPRING 2021

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY

NORTH SOUTH UNIVERSITY
HIS102: INTRODUCTION TO WORLD CIVILIZATIONS

Lecture 4:
Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Dr. Kazi Maruful Islam

kazi.islam07@northsouth.edu
27 February 2021
 TALKING POINTS

• Introduction to the
beginning
• Geography and Climate of
ancient Egypt
• Political and Economic
condition
• Social condition
• Religious and Beliefs
• Arts, Science and
Technology
 TIMELINE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION

CULTURAL EVOLUTION: 1. Hunter gatherer nomads

32,400 earliest cave paintings of Cro-magnons (Chauvet caves at Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, France)

30,000 latest record of Homo erectus (from Asia)
28,000 earliest representational art: sculptured 'Venus of Willendorf' (Austria)
15,000 Mongoloids colonize North America from Asia over Bering land bridge, or from Europe
by boat
14,000 domestication of dogs (China)
12,000 extinction of woolly mammoths (America and Europe), due to climate and man
11,000 domestication of sheep (Iraq)
10,000 domestication of goats (Iran), and pigs (Thailand)
10,000 continental ice-sheets withdraw from Europe and North America
 TIMELINE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION

2. Agricultural farming and settlements

9,500 cultivation of wheat and barley (Mesopotamia = modern Iraq)
9,500 first town: Jericho, Palestine, walled city of population 2500
8,000 first hand pottery, and spinning and weaving (Mesopotamia)
7,550 flooding of Black Sea from Mediterranean (the biblical flood of
Noah's Ark)
7,500 cultivation of millet and rice (China)
7,000 world population of humans passes 5 million
 TIMELINE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION

7,000 domestication of cattle (Iran)

6,350 domestication of horses (Ukraine)
5,500 first use of wheel (Mesopotamia), → transport and pottery
5,400 first use of number system: decimals (Egypt)
5,100 beginning of Old Kingdom (Egypt), urban Sumer civilisation
(Mesopotamia)
5,000 first written words: hieroglyphics (Egypt), cuneiform (Mesopotamia)
4,800 first writing on papyrus (paper)
4,700 first monuments: pyramids (Egypt)
4,000 invention of ice-cream (China) || start of bronze age (Europe), first metallic
money
TIMELINE FO ANCIENT EGYPTIAN HISTORY
 TIMELINE OF EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

Name Dynasty Year

Beginning of Nile civilizations 3900 BCE
Archaic Period 1- 2 3100 – 2700 BCE
Old Kingdom 3-6 2700 – 2200 BCE
Intermediate Period 7 - 10 2200 – 2050 BCE
Middle Kingdom 11 - 17 2050 – 1650 BCE
New Kingdom 18 - 20 1532 – 1070 BCE
Later Period 21 - 31 750 – 332 BCE
Greek Ptolemaic Era 332 – 30 BCE
Roman Period 30 BCE – 395 CE
 GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

• Nile: The longest river in the world

• Nile River rises from the lakes of central
Africa as the White Nile and from the
mountains of Ethiopia as the Blue Nile.
The White and Blue Nile meet at
Khartoum and flow together northward
to the Nile delta, where the 4000 mile
course of this river spills into the
Mediterranean Sea
• 1. Egypt’s settlements arose along narrow strip of land made
fertile by the river
• 2. Yearly flooding, but predictable
Regular cycle: flood, plant, harvest, flood, plant, harvest...
• 3. Intricate network of irrigation ditches
4. Worshiped as a god – giver of life and benevolent
TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
The Topography
 TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
• Protection: Unlike
Mesopotamia, Egypt’s
geography makes it difficult
to invade: Mediterranean
Sea – North Red Sea – East
Sahara – West African
mountains / Cataracts -
South
• Rainfall: Less than two inches of rain per
year falls in the delta and rain is relatively
unknown in other parts of Egypt.
• Most of the land is uninhabitable. These
geographical factors have determined the
character of the Egyptian civilization.
• Unlike Mesopotamia, the Nile was
predictable
• Deserts on both sides of Nile
- provided natural protection against
invaders
- also reduced interaction with other
people
 Egypt on the Nile
TOPOGRAPHY
B. Upper and Lower Egypt
Mos of Eg p s his or foc sed aro nd
Lower Egypt,
• Upper and Lower Egypt
around the Nile delta which flows into the
Mediterranean Sea.
• 1. Most of Egypt’s history
2. Upper Egypt focused
developed lateraround
upstream
Lower Egypt, around the Nile
3. Nile provided delta
reliable which
transportation
flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
- to go north, drift with the current toward the sea
- to go south, sail catching the Mediterranean breeze
• 2. Upper Egypt developed later upstream
C. Environment
• 3. Nile provided1.reliable transportation
Unlike Mesopotamia, the Nile was predictable
• - to go north, drift withonthe
2. Deserts both current
sides of Nile
toward the sea invaders
- provided natural protection against

- to go south, sail- catching the

also reduced interaction with other people
Mediterranean breeze
.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
 THE SOIL AND AGRICULTURE

• People could farm only along the banks of the Nile, where arid sand
meets the fertile soil.
• Of course, each summer the Nile swells as the rains pour down and the
snow melts on the mountains. The river overflows its banks and floods
the land with fresh water and deposits a thick layer of rich alluvial soil.
• The land would then yield two harvests before winter.
• This yearly flood determined more than just the agricultural needs of
early Egypt.
• It also determined the lifecycle of society and helped to create the
world view of ancient Egyptian civilization.
 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

• The Pharaoh: “Owner” of all Egypt

• By the time of the Old Kingdom, the land had been consolidated under the
central power of a king, who was also the "owner" of all Egypt.
• The King was considered to be divine, he stood above the priests and was
the only individual who had direct contact with the gods.
• The economy was a royal monopoly and so there was no word in Egyptian
for "trader."
• Under the king was a carefully graded hierarchy of officials, ranging from the
governors of provinces down through local mayors and tax collectors.
• The entire system was supported by the work of slaves, peasants and
artisans.
 POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

• In the Old Kingdom, royal power was absolute. The pharaoh (the term
originally meant "great house" or "palace"), governed his kingdom
through his family and appointed officials.
• The lives of the peasants and artisans was carefully regulated: their
movement was limited and they were taxed heavily.
• Luxury accompanied the pharaoh in life and in death and he was raised
to an exalted level by his people.
• The Egyptians worked for the pharaoh and obeyed him because he was a
living god on whom the entire fabric of social life depended.
• No codes of law were needed since the pharaoh was the direct source
of all law.
 THE OLD KINGDOM: 2575 – 2130 BCE

• Pharaohs organized a strong central state, were absolute

rulers, and were considered gods.
• Khufu and others built pyramids at Giza.
• Power struggles, crop failures, and cost of pyramids
contributed to the collapse of the Old Kingdom
 MIDDLE KINGDOM: 2040 - 1640

• New capital Thebes in upper (southern) Egypt

• 1600 BC ruler became known as the pharaoh
• Came to an end when the Hyksos, a people from western
Asia, invaded. The Hyksos had Bronze Weapons and Horse
Drawn Chariots
• The Hyksos ruled Egypt for 110 years
 NEW KINGDOM: 1532 – 1070 BCE

• Early female ruler Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BCE)

• Had a tomb built as part of a major building project
• Succeeded by stepson, Thutmose III
• Thutmose established Egypt as an empire, gains wealth
• Through trade and conquest, Egyptians learned other ideas and
blend cultures
• Tutankhamen: boy-king
• Ramses II expanded Egyptian rule to Syria.
• Egyptian power declined.
 RELIGIOUS AND BELIEFS

• Religion was integral to Egyptian life. Religious beliefs formed the basis of
Egyptian art, medicine, astronomy, literature and government.
• The great pyramids were burial tombs for the pharaohs who were revered as
gods on earth.
• Magical utterances pervaded medical practices since disease was attributed to
the gods. Astronomy evolved to determine the correct time to perform
religious rites and sacrifices.
• The earliest examples of literature dealt almost entirely with religious themes.
• The pharaoh was a sacrosanct monarch who served as the intermediary
between the gods and man. Justice too, was conceived in religious terms,
something bestowed upon man by the creator-god.
• Finally, the Egyptians developed an ethical code which they believed the gods
had approved.
RELIGIOUS AND BELIEFS
The Gods
EGYPTIAN GODS
 LIFE AFTER DEATH

• It is known that Egyptians believed in the concept of “death after life”;

• The Egyptians had a very clear idea of the afterlife. They took great care to
bury their dead according to convention and supplied the grave with things
that the departed would need for a pleasant life after death.
• Egyptians devoted much time and wealth to preparing for survival in the next
world. (MUMMIFICATION)
• They believed that souls travelled through the after life that’s why they gave
importance in preserving the bodies of the dead.
• The pharaoh and some nobles had their bodies preserved in a process of
mummification. Their tombs were decorated with paintings, food was
provided at burial and after.

• Some tombs even included full sized sailing vessels for the voyage to heaven
and beyond.
 LEGAL SYSTEM

• In Ancient Egypt, the court systems were very unfair.

• Noble men and rich Also, judges and tax collectors used their
power to control other people and for their own gods,
• The pharaohs made many strict rules and harsh punishments so
that the citizens will stay in control
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
 MUST WATCH VDO

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO1tzmi1V5g
THANKS