UNIT. 9. EGYPT. MANUEL DE FALLA 2018-2019

1. AN ANCIENT RIVER CIVILIZATION.

1, 1 The Nile.

Life in Ancient Egpyt was possible thanks to the waters of the Nile.
The source of the Nile is in Equatorial Africa, and runs through a narrow valley and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. We can divide the Nile in two natural regions:

• The Upper Egpyt, the valley.
• The Lower Egpyt, the delta.

Every summer the river's water level rose and flow the valley. When the waters retired, them left a thick layer of fertile slit perfect for agriculture.

1. 2. The origins of the egpyptian civilization.

Around 5.000 B. C., the neolithic settlements along the Nile river learnt how to predict tha nnual river flooding. They:

• undertook drainage works.
• built irrigation channels
• learnt to use slit as natural fertiliser.

Because of this, settlements became independent cities ruled by nomarchs.
In 3.100 B. C., the legendary king Nemes unified  the territories of Lower and Upper Egypt.

1. 3. The historical periods.

We can divide the history of Ancient Egypt into several periods separates by intermediate periods of decline:

• Old kingdom (3.100-2181 B. C. ). The capital was Memphis and they built the pyramids.
• Middle kingdom (2.055-1.795 B.C.). The capital was Thebes and Nubia was conquered.
• New kingdom (1.550-1.069 B. C. ). They conquered Syria and Palestina. Egypt was ruled by famous pharaophs such as: Akhenaton, Tuthankamon and Ramses II.
• Late period (715-31 B.C.) Egpyt was conquered foreing peoples such as the assyrians, the persians and the greeks. 

Geography of Egypt.

Location of the main cities and monuments of Ancient Egypt.

Nile river.

Geography of Ancient Egypt.

2. Social and political organisation.

2. 1. Political organistaion of society. 

The egyptian king was called pharaoph. He was considered a living god, the early encarnation of Horus, the god of sky and had political, military and religious powers:

• As a king he:

1. made laws
2. inspected hydraulic works.
3. owned most of the land of Egypt.
4. controlled the collecting of taxes.

• As military leader led the army.
• As religious leader he ordered the construction of temples to worship the gods.

He had several attributes that symbolized his powers:

• The two crowns:

1. The white crown of the Upper Egpyt.
2. The red crown of the Lower Egypt.

•  The crook and the flail:

1. The crook, which symbolized the power of the pharaoph over his subjects.
2. The flail, which symbolized his duty to destroy the enemies of Egpyt. 

• The false beard, a symbol of inmortality.
• The uareus, a symbol of the protection of the gods.

The Upper Egypr crown.

The Lower Egypt crown.

The crook and the flail.

The uareus and the false beard.

The pharaoph that wouldn't be forgotten.

 2. 2. A very hierarchical society.

The egyptian society was divided into several groups:

• The upper strata included the pharaoph, the pharaoph's family, the nobility and the priests. They owned most of the lands:

1. The nobility controlled most of senior roles in the administration and the army.
2. The priests were in charge of worshiping the gods and manage the lands of the temples.

• The intermediate strata included:

1. wealthy merchants
2. specialised artisans
3. scribes, people that knew how to read and write. They carried out roles in temples and palaces.

• The lower strata that included free people:

1. peasants that worked for the nobles or the temples.
2. small-scale merchants.
3. artisans
4. soldiers.

 3. The egyptian economy.

3. 1. Irrigation-based agriculture.

The main economic activity was irrigation-based agriculture. There were three seasons:

1. Sowing (october to january). The water level dropped and the peasants sowed the fields with seeds.
2. Harvest (february to may).The crops were harvested with wooden scythes during the dry season.
3. Flooding (june to september). The water level rise and the banks of the river were flooded.

They also used a extensive network of irrigation channels.
The lands were a property of the pharaoph and were worked by the peasanst who had to pay tributes. Also they had to work building dykes, canals, temples and pyramids.

3. 2. Other economic activities.

Livestock farming: cows, donkeys, sheeps and poultry (in spanish aves de corral).
There were many artisans in the cities: stonemasons, carpenters, potters, weavers, etc.

Agriculture and seasons in Ancient Egypt.

 

 

4.Daily life.

Most of Egyptians were peasants who lived in little towns or hamlets next to the Nile rive.

• Men grow crops: grains (wheat and barley) and vegetables; and build dams and channels.
• Women help with the harvest and make bread, beer and clothes. 

 They also fish, hunt and rear animals They store the grain in silos.

The daily diet was simple:

• bread and beer.
• dried fish
• meat
• lentils (in spanish, lentejas) and peas.
• fruit: figs (in spanish, higos) and grapes (in spanish, uvas).

 The egyptian household.

5. Egyptian religion.

5. 1. The Egyptian gods.

The main characteristics of the egyptian religion were:

• It was polytheistic religion: they believed in many gods.
• Gods were represented with human and animal features.
• A number of animals were considered to be sacred such as scarab bettles, cats, cows and cocodriles.
• They use amulets to evade evil spirits
• The main gods were:

1. Amun-Ra, the Sun god.
2. Horus, god of the sky.
3. Anubis god of mummyfication.
4. Hathor, goddess of love.
5. Isis, wife of Osiris and goddes of fertility.
6. Osiris, god of the dead.

  5. 2. Judgment of Osiris.

Egyptians believed in life after death. In order to obtain it, the decesaded has to pass the Judgment of Osiris. The heart of the deceased was placed in one side of a set of the scales an in the other the feather of the goddes Maat who simbolised justice. If the person was free of guilt the heart would weight less than the feather and the deceased would be rewarded with eternal life, but if the heart would weight more than the feather he would be devoured by a demon (Ammit).
The Book of the Dead was a set of formulas to assist the decesased on the journey to the afterlife.

How to make a mummy. Ted-ed

The myth of Osiris.

The Book of the Dead.

Mummification in Ancient Egpyt.

How to make a mummy.

6. The cultural and artistic legacy.

6. 1. The hieroglyphic script.

Writing language appeared in Egypt in 3.250 B. C.
They used a hieroglyphic script with the following characteristics:

1. It used drawings to express sounds, words or ideas (pictograms).
2. Was used for officials or religious texts.
3. Usually inscribed on stone or painted in walls.
4.  A symplified version (hieratic) was used for writing on papyrus, fabric or wood.

6. 2. Architecture.

The main characteristics were:

• Buildings were made of stone.
• Had flat roofs supported by a lintel and columns 
• Buildings were decorated with murals and sculptures. 
• The main types of buildings were temples and tombs.

 a) Temples were divided in several parts:

1. Avenue of the Sphinxes, where ceremonial processions entered the temple.
2. pylon, a huge wall located at the sides of the main entrance.
3. the courtyard, an open space surrounded by columns.
4. hypostyle hall, a covered space with columns in which the people couldn't enter.
5. the sanctuary, where the statue of the god was kept in the dark.

 b) Tombs
Tombs were built to ensure the eternal rest of the pharaophs, their families and other privileged groups. Tombs were decorated with scenes from everyday life and the Book of the Dead. Also funerray objects were placed in the tombs.
We can distinguish several types of tombs:

• First, they built mastabas, simple, low rectangular structures with an underground burial chamber.
• Later, they started to build pyramids, colossal structures with a rectangular base. Apart from the pharaoph's burial chamber, contained several false burial chambers and
• Finally, they built hypogea

Sculpture.

The main characteristics of the egyptian sculpture were:

• Use of symbolic features, for example different skin colour to represent different social status.
• In paintings and reliefs, faces were shown in profile with the torso facing forward.
• More important figures were larger than other figures.

File:Egyptian_Hieroglyphic_Alphabet_001.jpg Autor: User:لا_روسا&redirect=no License: CC BY-SA 4.0)

Avenue of sphinx, temple of Karnak.

Pylon of the Edfu Temple.

Courtyard, temple of Edfu. File: GD-EG-Efou022.JPG User: Nefermaat. (CC BY-SA 2.5)

Hypostyle hall, temple of Edfu. File: Edfu Temple 032010 29.jpg User: MatthiasKabel (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sanctuary, temple of Edfu. File:Edfu naos.jpg User:HoremWeb (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mastaba of Shepseskaf. File:Mastaba-faraoun-1.jpg Jon Bodsworth - http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/el-faraun_01.html  

Gyza pyramid cmplex, from left to right: Khufu's pyramid (in spanish, Keops), Khafre's pyramid (in spanish, Kefren) and Menkaure's pyramid (in spanish, Micerinos).

Originally, the sides of the pyramids were completely smooth, because them were covered with slabs of polished stone.

 

An example of hypogea, the funerary temple of Hatshesup.

 

The interior of the tomb of Taousertet and Sethnakht in the Valley of the kings.

  The sound of old egyptian language (hieroglyphs, numbers and deities)

The Rosetta stone.

Egiptian hieroglyphs.

The Great Pyramid of Gizah.

Pbs: the pyramids.

WORK ABOUT IMPORTANT WOMEN OF ANTIQUITY:

Boudica, warrior queen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpjeZcV0Kkc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClSsBke7jK8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI6Z3ED7FcQ
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/romans/boudica.html