Transcript The First Intermediate Period

EGYPT: The Gift of Nile
Land of Pharaohs and Pyramids
The Nile River
• Fed by two tributaries:
The Blue Nile and the
Atbara or the White Nile
• Flooding begins late July
reaching its peak in
August September
• Flood waters recede in
October-November
• Why is this a big deal???
• Makes Farming a breeze!
• River flows to the North,
winds blow to the South!
• Transportation EASY!
Source of the Blue Nile in Ethiopia (above), and the
source of the White Nile, Lake Victoria (below)
Annual fertilization!
Easy Irrigation!
Lower
Egypt
The Nile Delta
Upper
Egypt
NILE: the Great Highway
Egypt: Chronology
Predynastic period (5000-2700 B.C.)
• Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.)
• 1st Intermediate Period
• Middle Kingdom (2052-1786 B.C.)
• 2nd Intermediate Period
• New Kingdom (1575-1087 B.C.)
• Third Intermediate Period
Gebel al-Arak Knife
• theme of hero subduing 2 wild animals
• parallels with Uruk period Mesopotamia
Abydos
• Naqada Region and Royal Tombs at
Abydos
Hedjet
White
Upper Egypt
Egypt
Deshret Pschent
Red
Combined
Lower Egypt
Upper and Lower
Earliest Writing
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earliest evidence c. 3400 BC
difficulties in translation
appear on labels and jars to identify goods commodities and on royal
commemorative art
Earliest known ivory labels, Tomb of King Scorpion, Abydos, 34-3200 BC
Hieroglyphics•
“sacred images”
• Old, Middle and Late Egyptian
• pictographs and phonetic signs
totaling about 700
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Ma’at
Meant “truth” “right behavior “ “ correct balance”
Pharaoh had absolute power and rule according to ma’at
justice, moral righteousness
responsibility of the King that order prevailed in the universe
responsible for changes in seasons and most importantly, annual flooding of the
Nile
symbolized as a feather
Old Kingdom
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long, unbroken period of prosperity – 432 years
“The Pyramid Age”
Egypt at its cultural Zenith
Cultural/ Religious source of Kings power fully established
“Divine Right Mandate”
First Pyramid: Step Pyramid of Djoser
• King Djoser had access to a vast workforce
• Evolution from the regular tomb – seen in the various
stages of construction
• It was one big experiment
• 200 000 tons of stone used
to make addition tiers
• Final facing of limestone
Imhotep (The real one)
• Egyptian Leonardo da Vinci genius inventor
• "the one that comes in peace"
• “Treasurer of the King of
Lower Egypt”
• “First After the King of Upper
Egypt”
• “Administrator of the Great
Palace”
• “High Priest of Heliopolis”
Pyramid
experimentation
• King Sneferu built 3 pyramids
• popular, good-natured king
• deified by later rulers
Maidum Pyramid
Bent Pyramid
Red Pyramid
• The GREAT PYRAMID OF CHEOPS
• 2 300 000 blocks of stone
• Height of 145.75m would weigh approx. 6 000
000 tons
Estimated 36 000 workmen to build
the Pyramid taking 20 years
Giza’s Workman’s Village
We have texts that talk of the
workers who built the pyramids
(sorry people, not aliens!)
Paperwork discussing salaries
paid
Food subsidies etc
WE HAVE THE
VILLAGES WHERE
THEY LIVED WHILE
THEY WORKED!!!!!
• The First Intermediate Period
• Short period of political breakdown in Egypt
(c. 100years)
• Followed by Middle Kingdom
• Structurally not much difference between Old
Kingdom & Middle Kingdom
• Lack of change probably led to second
breakdown known as the Second Intermediate
Period
• Instead of building Pyramids
Kings of the Mid King spent
their time and $$ building
large forts in Nubia
Second
Intermediate
Period
• Period is longer than the
first – c. 200 years
• Period where parts of
Egypt are ruled by
‘foreign’ kings
• The Hyksos Dynasty
• Capital Avaris in the
Delta
• Period of political
breakdown, but still a
prosperous and
international period
New Kingdom
• Egypt at its most
powerful
• Lasts for close to
500 years
• Egypt in control
of a great deal of
the N.E.
Luxor Temple and Obelisk
New Kingdom Period
Hypostyle
New Kingdom
tombs
Valley of the Kings
Egypt: Afterlife and burial rituals
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Canopic jars & Mummies
Pyramid Texts &
Book of the Dead
• Old Kingdom pyramids
have best collection of
Pyramid texts
• 288 magical spells to help
soul of dead king on the
journey into the next world
• Will eventually get
codified in the Book of
the Dead
Anemhotep IV - Akhenaten
• Drastic changes to Egyptian state and
religion
• Changes his name to Akhenaten – “the
glory of Aten”
• Erases names of other gods
• Removed the plural ‘gods’ from the
Egyptian language
• Move from Polytheism to Monotheism
• Changes in art, more realistic depictions
• More depictions of the King and his Family
Akhenaten
Ramesside era
End of the NK
• Whatever happened, all major NE civ. Come to
an end c.1200 in a period of turmoil
• With the exception of Egypt who did survive the
catastrophe, but in a greatly weakened state
• Becomes more loosely structured state, just like
any other Mediterranean state
• A rich state, but never again an important player
on the world stage