Ancient Egypt E-Book

Nigel Fletcher-Jones

• Herausgeber: Amber Books Ltd
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 162

Beschreibung

First appearing around the mighty River Nile in the fourth millennium BC, Ancient Egypt is one of the great wellsprings of human civilization. Egyptian culture developed around a complex system of religious rituals tied to the agricultural seasons, with the pharaoh a living deity at the centre. Mighty pyramids, tombs and monuments were built to celebrate the pharaohs, many of which can still be seen in all their splendour today.

Arranged chronologically, Ancient Egypt offers a compact photographic guide, from the 4000 BC Naqada culture to the end of the Ptolemy dynasty with the suicide of Cleopatra in 30 BC. In between, discover the Narmer Palette, a 31st century BC stone tablet that records the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmer; learn about Amenhotep the Magnificent, during whose reign Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power; marvel at the massive, rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel, dedicated to Pharaoh Ramesses II (“the Great”), marking the southern extent of the Egyptian empire and celebrating his victory over the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh; and discover how Egypt was ruled by Archaemenid Persia for almost 200 years, until the arrival of Alexander the Great and his all-conquering Macedonian army.

Colourful, engaging and illustrated throughout with more than 180 photographs, Ancient Egypt is a vivid pictorial introduction to 4,000 years of Ancient Egyptian civilization.

Leseprobe

ANCIENT EGYPT

ANCIENT EGYPT

A Photographic History

Nigel Fletcher-Jones

This digital edition first published in 2024

Copyright © 2024 Amber Books Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Published by Amber Books Ltd

United House

London N7 9DP

United Kingdom

www.amberbooks.co.uk

Facebook: amberbooks

YouTube: amberbooksltd

Instagram: amberbooksltd

X(Twitter): @amberbooks

ISBN: 978-1-83886-539-9

Editor: Michael Spilling

Designer: Keren Harragan

Picture research: Terry Forshaw

Contents

INTRODUCTION

FROM PREHISTORY TO THE EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD: 6000–2686 BC

THE OLD KINGDOM: 2686–2181 BC

THE FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD: 2181–2055 BC

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: 1985–1650 BC

THE SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD: 1650–1550 BC

THE NEW KINGDOM: 1550–1069 BC

THE THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD: 1069–656 BC

THE LATE PERIOD: 656–332 BC

THE GRECO-ROMAN PERIOD: 332 BC–AD 395

PICTURE CREDITS

Introduction

SUNRISE OVER THE NILE, MINYA

As the Sahara Desert emerged, the peoples of north-east Africa were forced to live along the banks of the Nile. Its annual flood renewed the fertility of the fields; it was the principal means of communication between communities; and it was a bountiful source of fish and waterfowl.

The earliest known kingdom on the African continent arose in the northeast corner along the River Nile, which is continuously fed by waters from the Ethiopian highlands and central African lakes.

The Greek historian Herodotus is often quoted as writing that Egypt was ‘a gift of the river’ and without the presence of the Nile running from south to north through the eastern end of the Sahara Desert – where rainfall is minimal – ancient Egypt could not have existed.

More than simply existing, ancient Egypt flourished because of a particular characteristic of the river. Monsoon rains in the Ethiopian highlands between May and August caused the Nile to flood its banks between June and October each year, raising the level of the water by about 14m (45ft) at Aswan in the south of the country and about 7.5m (25ft) in the area around modern Cairo.

With the flood water came a vast quantity of fertile silt, partly derived from the volcanic rocks of the highlands. In the south of Egypt (known, because of the south-to-north flow of the river, as ‘Upper Egypt’) the deposition of this silt was limited by sandstone cliffs to a narrow band either side of the Nile.

As the flood waters travelled north into flatter lands they covered wider areas with silt until, around the area of modern Cairo, the river entered a network of shifting tributaries – the Nile Delta – where most of it was deposited.

EGYPT FROM SPACE

The extent of land that can support farming today in Egypt is not much greater than it was in antiquity. Agriculture has always been limited to a relatively narrow strip either side of the Nile for most of its length. To the west and east lies inhospitable desert. Before finally emptying into the Mediterranean to the north, the river spreads out into the highly productive Nile Delta. The green area to the west of the river below the Delta is the Fayoum – another highly productive agricultural area.

THE TEMPLES AT ABU SIMBEL

These temples built by Rameses II (1279–1213 BC) were famously relocated to higher ground at the end of the 1960s as the new Lake Nasser filled with water behind the Aswan High Dam. The Great Temple (left) and the Small Temple (right) were intended to be a demonstration of the king’s authority over Nubia to the south of the Egyptian homeland.

KARNAK TEMPLE, LUXOR

The greatest of all the surviving ancient Egyptian temple precincts, Karnak (ancient Egyptian Ipetsut, ‘The Most Select of Places’) is a vast, sprawling complex principally dedicated to the worship of the supreme god Amun-Re. At least thirty kings added to the buildings here from the Middle Kingdom (1985–1650 BC) to the end of the Ptolemaic Period in 30 BC.

ELEPHANTINE ISLAND, ASWAN

The trading post and temples on Elephantine Island lie just downstream of the First Cataract (granite rock barrier) across the Nile, and marked the border between ancient Egypt and Nubia to the south. Elephantine was believed to be the dwelling place of the god Khnum who controlled the annual flood waters of the Nile from caves below the island.

Throughout the seasons, the river was also a bountiful source of fish and waterfowl. Cattle, which were held in high esteem by the ancient Egyptians, also grazed along its margins.

The geology of northeastern Africa played an important part in the development of the ancient Egyptian culture we admire today. Although the majority of buildings were made of mud brick, in the north limestone could be relatively easily quarried with copper tools, wedges and stone mallets for state building projects. Later, in the south, sandstone was used to create complex buildings of immense size, the walls of which still stand.

DESERT EXPEDITIONS

In addition, although almost all Egyptians lived close to the Nile, from the reigns of the first kings expeditions were sent out into the desert to bring back semi-precious stones and, above all, gold. These mining operations were so successful in later centuries that neighbouring kings in southwest Asia believed that gold was ‘as common as dust’ in the land of the pharaohs.

MEMORIAL TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT, DEIR EL-BAHARI

A number of kings, many of whom were buried in the Valley of the Kings nearby, built impressive memorial temples to the west of the Nile opposite Karnak and Luxor temples. The greatest of these is that built by the female king Hatshepsut (1473–1458 BC) in front of the cliffs guarded by the goddess Hathor.

The history of Egypt captured in the following pages was already regarded as long when ancient Greece emerged across the Mediterranean, and even longer when the Romans forged their empire. The awe that both cultures shared in relation to the antiquity of Egypt has echoed through the centuries to the present day. The gold of ancient Egypt still glitters in our mind’s eye. We continue to be intrigued by the temples, pyramids and tombs. Many of the names of places and people in this book will be known to the reader, though we will meet many more of each before our tale is told.

NAMES AND DATES

Before we begin this story, however, a word must be said about those names and dates. Many of the most familiar names associated with ancient Egypt – the goddess Isis, the god Osiris, the capital city of Memphis and the temple city of Thebes, for example – are not Egyptian names but Greek. I have kept these names here, rather than their Egyptian equivalents, simply because they are so familiar to us today.

For the names of kings, however, I have used the Egyptian name despite the fact that we cannot know exactly how they were spelled or pronounced because vowel sounds are largely absent from hieroglyphic texts. Amenophis III is referred to here as Amenhotep III, and Thutmosis III becomes Thutmose III – alongside other wholly Egyptian names such as Rameses, Tutankhamun, Akhenaten and Hatshepsut.

PHILAE TEMPLE, SOUTH OF ASWAN

Often regarded as the most beautiful of Egyptian temples, Philae lies near the First Cataract across the Nile and was moved to its present location in the 1960s to save it from being flooded each year. The most ancient of the surviving large temples here was dedicated to the goddess Isis by King Nakhtnebef (‘Nectanebo I’; 380–362 BC),

INTERIOR, SMALL TEMPLE, ABU SIMBEL

Although often first remembered for the monumentality of their architecture, the ancient Egyptians were also capable of constructing temples of great delicacy and beauty as here in the rock-cut temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Rameses II’s Great Royal Wife, Nefertari, who died about 1255 BC.

Before 690 BC there are no exact dates for events in Egyptian history. In their writings, the ancient Egyptians measured the annual passing of time only by ‘regnal years’ – the number of years the current king had sat on the throne.

ROYAL LISTS AND HISTORICAL DIVISIONS

Around the year 300 BC, Manetho, an Egyptian priest writing in Greek, attempted to bring order to the long royal history of ancient Egypt by grouping kings into 30 dynasties based on the familial or political ties of kings.

Note that in this book, I consistently refer to rulers as ‘king’ rather than ‘pharaoh’. The word ‘pharaoh’ – meaning ‘great house’ – emerged in the Middle Kingdom (1985–1650 BC) as a reference to the palace of the king, rather than a person. The first king to be referred to as pharaoh, as far as we currently know, was Akhenaten (1352–1336 BC), long after the emergence of the Egyptian state.

There have been many arguments about Manetho’s list: some listed kings probably did not exist and some, who we know from the archaeological record did exist, are not present in his list. This does not provide a firm basis for establishing the reigns of individual kings with any degree of precision. The well-known king Rameses II, for example, will be said in this book to have reigned between 1279 and 1213 BC, but the reader may also see the spans 1290–1223 BC and 1265–1200 BC stated in other books with equal conviction. In the great timespan occupied by the Egyptian state, such small discrepancies must surely be forgivable.

In addition to dynasties, Egyptologists make use of broader divisions of Egyptian history, starting with the formation of the Egyptian state in the Early Dynastic Period (approximately 3100–2686 BC), followed by the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC); an unsettled period known as the First Intermediate Period (2181–2055 BC); the Middle Kingdom (1985–1650 BC); another unsettled period known as the Second Intermediate Period (1650–1550 BC); the New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC); the Third Intermediate Period (1069–656 BC); and the Late Period (656–332 BC), which saw the increasing involvement of the Persian Empire until it took control of Egypt directly in 342 BC. The Persians were defeated in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, who inaugurated the Hellenistic Period (332–30 BC), including the rule of the Macedonian Ptolemies, which lasted until the Roman Period of 30 BC to AD 395. For convenience, these last two are grouped together in this book as the Greco-Roman Period. In AD 395 Egypt became part of the Eastern (Byzantine) Roman Empire and we leave the story of ancient Egypt at that point in time.

AERIAL VIEW, THEBAN NECROPOLIS

The necropolis across the river from modern Luxor has provided a great quantity of information concerning ancient Egyptian concepts of life and death. In the foreground of this image lie the extensive remains of Rameses II’s memorial temple (‘the Ramesseum’). In the middle ground, lies the large area of tombs known as the Valley of the Nobles. Beyond this, to the right, is the memorial temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari. The Valley of the Kings lies over the mountains at the top.

While recognizing that the terms BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) are increasingly used in academic publications, here dates are given as BC or AD because these remain more immediately recognizable. Use of either set of terms results in the same dates.

RAMESSEUM, THEBAN NECROPOLIS

Many of the monumental ancient Egyptian buildings that can be visited today – such as Rameses II’s memorial temple – owe their grandeur and survival to the sandstone that was principally used to construct them. The great monuments of Lower (northern) Egypt – the great temple complexes of Heliopolis and Memphis among them – were mostly constructed of limestone, which was quarried for building blocks or crushed for lime over many succeeding centuries.

ROMAN ODEUM, ALEXANDRIA

After the death of Kleopatra VII (‘Cleopatra’; 51–30 BC) and the ascent of Octavian (as the Emperor Augustus) to the imperial throne in 27 BC, Egypt became an integral and important Roman province. The architecture of the great port of Alexandria, in particular, reflected this new political orientation. This small theatre for musical performances, for example, was built around AD 145–211. It was later enlarged for use by the academic complex nearby and probably continued in use until the Arab conquest of Egypt in AD 639–642. Traditionally, it was from Alexandria that Christianity spread throughout Egypt, from the mid-first century onwards, eventually replacing the ancient Egyptian religion.

FROM PREHISTORY TO THE EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD: 6000–2686 BC

During the period from about 16,000 to 6000 BC the area now covered by the inhospitable Sahara Desert in northeast Africa was covered by savanna grasslands, oases and seasonal watercourses. Small groups of hunter-gatherer-fishers traversed the landscape, leaving their mark in cave paintings, including many images of the animals – including wild cattle – that they hunted.

Evidence that these people were particularly drawn to the River Nile is hard to find. There are traces of the postholes, middens, pits, stone tools and pottery associated with temporary camps along the river margins, but too few to suggest permanent villages. It seems likely that the Nile was simply one of the way stations in an annual cycle of movement.

That changed around 6000 BC as the pattern of summer rainfall shifted southwards, leading to aridity in north Africa and the emergence of the Sahara – a process that was probably completed in Egypt around 4000 BC.

The emergence of the western and eastern Egyptian deserts (called Deshret, the ‘Red Land’, by the ancient Egyptians) increasingly compressed the formerly nomadic or semi-nomadic peoples against the Nile valley (or Kemet, the ‘Black Land’).

STONE CIRCLE, NABTA PLAYA

Originally located about 100 km (62 miles) west of Abu Simbel, this stone circle probably dates to around 4500–4000 BC and is, perhaps, a precursor to the large stone structures of ancient Egypt and their astronomical alignments.

‘SWIMMERS’, THE CAVE OF THE SWIMMERS, WADI SURA

Although difficult to interpret, it is possible that some of the images here represent swimming in seasonal lakes in what is now the Sahara Desert.

WADI SURA

Reflecting the wetter climate before the Sahara Desert formed, the painting in the caves of the Wadi Sura – 600 km (370 miles) west of the Nile – reflect the occupations of hunter-gatherer-fishers on the savanna grasslands between 7000–4000 BC.

RITUAL AND HUNTING SCENES, WADI SURA

In images such as this we are able to glance at the life of hunter-gatherer-fishers and the animals they hunted before the Sahara Desert formed. These animals only appear today further south in Africa.

NEW FARMING METHODS

Simultaneously, between 6000 and 4000 BC, winter crops of emmer wheat and barley, together with domestic animals – cattle, pigs, sheep and goats – were introduced from southwest Asia. It is possible that some cattle were also independently domesticated in northeast Africa.

For some centuries, in any case, it is likely that grain harvesting in the Nile valley was a marginal activity alongside cattle herding (which had primary economic and symbolic importance), root and tuber gathering, hunting and fishing. Yet, over time, the population coalesced into small permanent or semi-permanent villages along the length of the Nile. The cultural identity of these people appears to have been remarkably similar along the whole length of the river.

Groupings of villages became small kingdoms in about 3500 BC in order to benefit, presumably, from mutual trade and defence. As writing was in its earliest phase in Egypt, we do not know the names of the local rulers but it seems likely that their authority was based on their presumed connection to unseen and otherwise unknowable cosmic forces expressed, in part, by increasingly elaborate funeral rites.

As a result of all these developments agricultural practices became greatly intensified throughout the Nile valley – aided by the introduction of oxen and ploughs around 3300 BC. And a peasant class emerged over which the king, courts, landlords and tax inspectors presided.

The king’s power over life and death was absolute. Indeed, we are aware that, when a king or queen died, some retainers joined them in their tombs. This practice, which came to affect hundreds of people in the Early Dynastic Period, did not continue after about 2700 BC.

Simultaneously, the demands of the court led to the development of extensive land and sea trade routes – the former aided by the domestication of the donkey – particularly for the acquisition of wood, incense, wine and oil.

FUNERARY MASK, HIERAKONPOLIS

It is likely that predynastic funerary masks, such as this one dated to about 3600–3500 BC, served a similar function to those we see later in Egyptian history – affording magical protection to the deceased and assisting him or her into the Other World.

JAR WITH BOATS, BIRDS AND ANIMALS

Dated to around 3500–3300 BC, the images on this jar are clearly associated with the Nile. The male and female figures standing aboard a boat are involved in a religious or social event and the scene is supported by images of mountains, animals and birds.

FEMALE FIGURE, EL MA’MARIYA

This figure, dated to around 3500–3400 BC, appears to be involved in an activity perhaps similar to those depicted on pots of the same age. The exact meaning is now lost to us, but the upraised arms of the figure suggest a ritual performed in front of the two smaller male and female statues that were found with it.

COSMETIC PALETTE, GERZEH

Wild and domesticated cattle were held in high esteem from the beginning to the end of ancient Egyptian history. This schist palette (3500–3200 BC) shows a cow’s head surrounded by five stars – indicating an association with the heavens. Some Egyptologists have suggested that this may be an early representation of the divine being who became Hathor, the cow-headed goddess.

SCORPION MACE HEAD, HIERAKONPOLIS

This ceremonial piece is attributed to King ‘Scorpion’ (around 3200 BC). Here he wears the white crown of Upper Egypt, but on a smaller mace head he wears the red crown of Lower Egypt, leading to the suggestion that Egypt may have been united during his reign.

LAPIS LAZULI FIGURE, HIERAKONPOLIS

Lapis lazuli imported from the area of modern Afghanistan was one of the main artistic materials used in ancient Egypt. This enigmatic female figure (3300–3000 BC) is generally recognized as Egyptian workmanship, but with, perhaps, some Mesopotamian influences.

NARMER PALETTE, HIERAKONPOLIS

This cosmetic palette dating to the reign of King Narmer (around 3100 BC) is often used as a symbol of the unification of Egypt. On the front (right), the king wears the red crown and is preceded by four standards as he inspects the decapitated bodies of his enemies. On the reverse, the king is seen in the white crown as he executes an enemy.

Within Egypt, expeditions were increasingly sent out into the desert to acquire gold, turquoise, carnelian and other semi-precious stones. Remarkably, via the port of Byblos, lapis lazuli – reminiscent of the deep blue of the Egyptian sky – was probably imported from distant Afghanistan and, such was the desire for red-orange carnelian (the colour of the sun) that soon it may have been imported from India.

Substantial kingdoms soon emerged around Naqada, Abydos and Hierakonpolis in the south of Egypt and, eventually, Buto in the north. The south (ta shemau