THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS: EGYPT

María Jesús Campos

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THE FIRST URBAN CIVILIZATIONS: THE RIVER

CIVILIZATIONS

Some 6.000 years ago,

some Neolithic villages

became cities as a result of

the agricultural and

commercial prosperity.

These civilisations invented

writing.

The first great civilizations developed along large

rivers surrounded by fertile land:

Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates River

Egypt: Nile River

India: Indus River

China: Huang He (Yellow) and Yangtze (Blue) Rivers

EGYPT AND THE NILE

The Egyptian civilization

developed 5.000 years ago,

along the River Nile.

The area is basically a desert

irrigated by the Nile River,

which runs from south to

north.

The Nile provided:

Fertility to the land (agriculture)

A way of transportation and

communication

A geographical and

administrative organization.

FERTILITY TO THE

LAND:

Each year River Nile rises

and floods the surrounding

area. When the water level

decreases, it leaves mud

that make the fields fertile.

As this flood happened

every year, the Egyptians

built dams and canals to

carry the water and to

irrigate crops.

Thanks to the Nile, the

Egyptians became an

important agrarian

civilization.

Flowing south to north,

the Nile also provided an

excellent way of

transportation and

communication

The Nile, also divided the

area in two regions:

Upper Egypt, in the south:

arid area fertilised by the

Nile.

Lower Egypt, in the north:

large valley formed by the

Nile Delta.

The Nile was in the centre of the

development of the Egyptian

civilization.

It was so important for Egypt

that they even had a god which

represented the river.

EGYPT’S POLITICAL EVOLUTION

Around the year 5000 BC,

some neolithic villages

along the river Nile learnt

how to control and direct

the river’s water,

especially during the

floods. Thus, developing

an important agrarian

civilization.

Agricultural and

commercial development

led to an urban

civilization with

independent city-states.

Around the year 3100 BC, King Menes unified the

Lower and the Upper Egypt creating an Empire

Kingdoms/Empires:

Old Kingdom: 3100 BC to 2200 BC. Capital city:

Memphis

1st Intermediate Period: division and struggles. 2200

BC to 2050 BC.

Middle Kingdom: 2050 BC to 1800 BC. Capital city:

Tebas. Expansion to the south.

2nd Intermediate Kingdom: 1800 to 1580 BC. Started

with a foreign invasion.

New Kingdom: 1600 BC to 1100 BC. Conquest of Libya

and Syria.

Foreign Rule: 1100 BC to 31 BC. Foreign people

invaded Egypt: Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans…

EGYPT’S POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

The Pharaoh was the most

important position.

He had absolute power:

Religious power: he represented

god on Earth so he was

worshipped.

Executive power: ruled the

country, owned the land, controlled

trade, decided everything.

Legislative and judicial power:

passed laws and imparted justice.

Military power: led the army and

decided between peace and war.

The pharaoh was advised by

governors and civil

servants that helped him in

governing the territory and

implementing his decisions.

Scribes were very important

as they were in charge of

collecting and controlling

taxes, organising the army,

transcribing the pharaoh’s

orders, noting the commercial

transactions and alliances,

etc.

EGYPTIAN SOCIETY

Pharaoh

High official in the civil service / Priests /Scribes

Soldiers, Peasants, Farmers, Merchants,

Traders…

Slaves

Divided into privileged groups and non-privileged

groups.

The Pharaoh was at the top of society. He owned

all the land and had absolute power.

Privileged-groups:

Noblemen: usually members from the upper civil

service. They received land and wealth from the

pharaoh. They ruled the provinces and the army.

Priests: conducted religious rites. They received land

from the pharaoh and supported him.

Scribes: they were in charge of official documents and

taxation.

Non-privileged groups: protected the

population or produced the products needed by

society

Soldiers

Farmers, peasants, stockbreeders…

Merchants, traders, craftsman...

Slaves: group without rights. They were their

master’s property. They became slaves through

conquest (war prisoners) or debts.

Egyptian women had some

rights and more freedom than

other women in the Ancient

Age:

Could own property

Could inherit

Could get divorced

They worked in the house or as

peasants. Some also worked in

the administration and like

Hatshepsut , Nefertari or

Cleopatra, became pharaohs.

EGIPTIAN RELIGION: GODS

Polytheistic

Religion preserved the order of the

universe.

Gods:

Ra: the sun (also Amun or Atum)

Osiris: god of the dead

Seth: god of darkness

Horus: god of war

Isis: goddess of fertility

Anubis: god of the underworld

Thot: god of wisdom

Each god lived in a

temple or sanctuary

in the form of a

statue.

Priests worshipped

them and made them

offerings.

EGIPTIAN RELIGION: THE AFTERLIFE

Egyptians believed there was an

afterlife, as long as the body

was preserved.

Mummification: the dead body

was dried and embalmed to

make a mummy. The mummy

was placed in a sarcophagus in

a tomb.

The tomb contained all the

things the dead person would

need in the afterlife (food,

jewels, furniture, clothes,

servants…)

Egyptians believed that the dead person would

present himself in front of Osiris. The

Judgement of Osiris would weigh his/her soul.

The trial would decide if the person would enter

in the afterlife.

The type of tomb

evolved during Egyptian

history:

Mastaba

Pyramid

Hypogeum

The tombs tried to

preserve the body and

the items from grave-

robbers

EGIPTIAN ART

Art was very important in

Egypt.

Artists were the pharaoh’s

civil servants but they were

considered craftsmen rather

than artists so they rarely

signed their works.

Purposes:

Religious

Political

Decorative

Representations:

Architecture: temples,

palaces and tombs

Paintings: in the walls

Sculpture: religious

meaning (gods, idols,

afterlife…)

EGYPTIAN ART: ARCHITECTURE

Strict rules

Materials: Stone

Supporting structures:

Columns

Pillars

Lintels

Supported structures:

Flat roof

Lintels

Other characteristics:

Monumentalism:

power of the gods

and the pharaohs

Decoration:

paintings,

engravings, and

sculptures

Types of buildings:

Temples

Tombs

Palaces

Temples:

The house of the god

Structure: An avenue of sphinxes led to the entrance.

The entrance had enormous pillars and obelisks. Inside

the building there was a patio, followed by a columned

hall with a high ceiling (a hypostile hall). At the end there

was a dark sanctuary with the statue of the god.

Only the priests and the

pharaoh could enter the

sanctuary. Nobles and civil

servants could go as far as the

hypostyle hall. Common people

would only enter the patio.

Ears were carved on the walls

of some temples so that

ordinary people could ask the

gods for help.

Tombs:

Built to preserve the dead

body for the afterlife.

Pharaohs and nobles had

large tombs. Poor people

were buried in pits or

beneath the desert sands.

Richly decorated with

engravings and paintings.

Types:

Mastabas

Pyramids

Hypogeums

Mastabas: simple low

rectangular buildings with

underground funeral

chambers.

Pyramids: Huge pyramid-

shaped buildings. Secret

entrance. Pathways to false

funeral chambers. False walls

to hide the real funeral

chambers and its “treasures”.

Hypogeums: to prevent

robberies. Excavated into the

rock with large funeral

chambers.

Pyramids: Keops, Kefren and Mikerinos

Hypogeums: Tutankamon and Nefertari in the

Valley of the Kings.

Temples: Karnak, Luxor and Abu Simbel.

EGYPTIAN ART: PAINTING

Strict rules

Figures painted without

perspective.

Figures and objects seen

from the front, although the

head, arms and legs are seen

in profile.

Idealised figures

Static to show stability and

continuity.

Simple colours

Purpose: decoration, religious

purpose.

EGYPTIAN ART: SCULPTURE

Strict rules

Idealised figures

Static to show stability and

continuity.

Simple colours

Purpose: decoration, religious

purpose.

EGYPTIAN CULTURE

Hieroglyphs (writting):

created 5.000 years ago.

Signs that represent ideas

and/or sounds. Written

horizontally, vertically, from

left to right or from right to

left.

Scribes

The Roseta Stone:

discovered in the 19th

century. Its a stone with the

same text written in

hieroglyphs, “demótica” and

greek language.

Developed by María Jesús CamposChusteacher

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