Free Essays on Egypt

Ancient Egypt Between 3100 and 332 B.C was the rise and climax of one of the richest and oldest ancient civilizations. It’s lifeline was the Nile river in the Nile valley. Here, Egyptian dynasties ruled from the first cataract of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea. At the it’s height it ruled an empire that reached from Syria in the east to Nubia in the south. In this report I will be covering the Archaic Period, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom the New Kingdom and The Late Period or 3100-332 B.C. Archaic Period: 3100 B.C to 2750 B.C There long history began with there first King who began the first Egyptian dynasty. In 3100 B.C Pharaoh Menes united upper and lower Egypt. Making Egypt’s first empire. In doing so, he made the Egyptian double crown. It was made by putting the red crown of Lower Egypt on top of the white crown of upper Egypt. Menes ruled from the ancient city of Thinis near Abydos. Under his reign the first hieroglyphic writing was made. He is also credited with making his empire interdependent. Old Kingdom: 2750 B.C to 2181 B.C / First Intermediate Period: 2182-2260 Little is known about Menes successors until the reign of Zoser at the end of the 3rd dynasty. His capital was located at Memphis on the Nile’s west bank. He built the world’s first pyramid and the first building of that size to be entirely made of stone. Even though it was a pyramid it wasn’t a true pyramid, but a step pyramid. After the reign of the last king of the Sixth dynasty (the last dynasty in the old kingdom.) Pepi II in 2181 B.C, there was a period of crisis and social upheaval known as the First Intermediate Period. The reasons leading up to this dark time, was a series of low floods and the result was famine during the Sixth dynasty. This undermined the stability of Egypt and provoked rebellion. What followed put Egypt in rapid decline. With no central power the provinces b... Free Essays on Egypt Free Essays on Egypt The arise of Egypt A very long time ago, Egypt was one big oase. But this oase dried up after a lot of years, so everyone had to go to the Nile, because this was the only place where something could live. Before this, the people in Egypt were all nomads, but when the Sahara turned into a desert they started to be farmers. The Nile is every summer flooded because the high mountains in the south then start to melt. The Egyptian farmers used this to make the land fruitfull. For this reason the Egyptians had to cooporate and that's why they picked a leader. But off course the leaders wanted to have more power so they started wars against other leaders. At the end of long fighting, there were two lands, with each one leader. This was Upper and Lower Egypt. The king of Lower Egypt (thats in the south because the Nile streams to the north) won the war and became King of Upper and Lower Egypt, a title that still ran 3000 years after this. The first king of Egypt was Narmer, who's probably the same as the legen dary king Menes. There's a picture of him above where he wears the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and where he smites his enemies in the body of a bull. Another symbol of Upper and Lower Egypt is the volture and the snake, or the papyrus and the reed. Narmer was the first pharao of Egypt, and he had a lot successors (there were 30 dynasties). This first period of Egypt (the first dynastie and before) is called the pre-dynastic period. People were still mumified in the hot sand with some artefacts. The first pharaos were buried in Abydos, just like Osiris. THE OLD KINGDOM The Old Kingdom started right after the first dynastie. This period is very famous because of the pyramids. The most imporatant rulers of this period were: Djoser, who built the first pyramid, Snefroe, who built three (bad)pyramids, Choefoe, who built the largest pyramid and his sons Chefren and Mycerinus. The first real tombs were the so-called "mastaba's." This wer... Free Essays on Egypt The ancient Egyptians are considered among many to be the civilization upon which much of the western world's views and attitudes are based. Everything from religion, to architecture, to art has been handed down, generation by generation, to us in the present day. Although many of the ancient Egyptians' traditions have been modified or altered, the majority of their core principles remain constant. The lands along the Nile were rich enough to be farmed, so over time the people started to grow crops. They found ways to store the yearly floodwaters and then use them for the dry seasons. The farmers learned to lift water out of the Nile or wells and send it across the fields through a system of canals. In order for all of this to work out they had to work together, no one could do any of it alone. So as the farmers and people began to cooperate, an organization began to grow. They found leaders among them who directed the work. A form of government developed and due to that they soon began to build cities, to manufacture things, in time to trade with their neighbors. That is how it all started. Over a period from 3100 B.C. to 332 B.C. they grew in culture, arts, religion, science, medicine, and many other fields. The early Egyptian people grew food by the Nile and lived mainly by hunting for meat, fishing, and gathering wild plants. They kept a small number of cattle, sheep, or goats, and grew a few crops. Their crops were flax, barley, and a primitive kind of wheat called 'emmer.' They got the sheep and goats from the Middle East, and their crops too. Farming provided most of the food and helped their population grow. Later on in time, the basic diet of the ordinary people was bread and beer. The wealthier ones ate more meat and drank wine instead of beer. The most common clothes women wore were tunic dresses. Those were made by folding a rectangle of cloth in half, sewing it up at the sides, leaving holes for the arms, and cutting a ... Free Essays on Egypt As Egypt grew and flourished to a powerful and rich nation, it left behind for today's historians, clues and artifacts of a once distinctive, well established and structured society. Proof of this is clearly depicted in king Narmer's Palette. This Palette shows historians the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, which signified the beginnings of a civilized era centred around the Nile. The unification of Egypt occurred around 3100 B.C., under the First Dynasty of Menes(3100-2850 B.C.). This age is commonly know as the Protodynastic era, which is known for the establishment of a firm political structure of the land which was unified in the hands of the king. The glorification of Lower and Upper Egypt uniting was portrayed in Narmer's Palette, which was found in the ancient southern capital of Hierakonpolis. The general function of Narmer's Palette was to commemorate a victory over his human foes. With Narmer's victory, the Palette also depicts his successful claim and conquest of all of Egypt, thus establishing unification of Lower and Upper Egypt under his rule. The dominant them however, is the victory of the god incarnate over the forces of evil and chaos. The Narmer Palette, while depicting several social aspects and tendencies of the Egyptian society, also reveals and emphasizes their structured positions within a hierarchy of command. Both sides of the Palette reveal, at the top, the name of king Narmer, which first documents, in the written history of Egypt, that we now are dealing with a civilized state. When the scribes wanted to write king Narmer's name, they placed a small fish called a 'nar' over a chisel, pronounced 'mer'. This combination of the words gave them 'Narmer'. The Palette also depicts king Narmer(probably the legendary Menes) wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the White Crown of Aphroditopolis, which represented Upper Egypt. Since Narmer had cla... Free Essays on Egypt All of Egypt is the gift of the Nile.† It was the Greek historian Herodotus who made that observation. The remarkable benefits of the Nile are clear to everyone, but through history he was the first to talk about it and consider its fascination. Through history, the Nile played a major role in the building of civilizations. The first civilizations to appear in history started on a river valley or in a place where resources are numerous and example of these are in India where Indus river is found and Tigris where Euphrates is found and many other places (cradles of civilization). The Nile is the longest river in the world, cuts a swath of green and life through the bareness of the giant Sahara desert in northern Africa. It is almost 4160 miles long from its remotest head stream, the Lavironza river in Burundi, in central Africa to its delta on the Mediterranean sea north east of Egypt. The river flows northward and drain 1100100 square miles, about tenth the size of Africa, passing through ten African countries. It has many tributaries but there are two main ones: the White Nile fed by lake Victoria and the Blue Nile coming from Ethiopian mountains. These two main branches join near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan and they continue together as Nile proper until meeting the Mediterranean Sea and forming the Nile delta in northern Egypt. Around 5000 BC, one of the first great civilizations developed in the northern Nile river valley dependent on agriculture in a land called Egypt. Water; Fertile soil; and river’s flow north while prevailing wind blows south made the Nile the best transportation way, were examples of the Nile gifts. Another gift is that every year the flood came bringing disaster and famine due to destroying the crops and their villages. The first forms of government appeared in Egypt when the Egyptians organized their efforts under one leadership to avoid the disasters of the yearly flood. On the other hand Nile f... Free Essays on Egypt Ancient Egypt Between 3100 and 332 B.C was the rise and climax of one of the richest and oldest ancient civilizations. It’s lifeline was the Nile river in the Nile valley. Here, Egyptian dynasties ruled from the first cataract of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea. At the it’s height it ruled an empire that reached from Syria in the east to Nubia in the south. In this report I will be covering the Archaic Period, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom the New Kingdom and The Late Period or 3100-332 B.C. Archaic Period: 3100 B.C to 2750 B.C There long history began with there first King who began the first Egyptian dynasty. In 3100 B.C Pharaoh Menes united upper and lower Egypt. Making Egypt’s first empire. In doing so, he made the Egyptian double crown. It was made by putting the red crown of Lower Egypt on top of the white crown of upper Egypt. Menes ruled from the ancient city of Thinis near Abydos. Under his reign the first hieroglyphic writing was made. He is also credited with making his empire interdependent. Old Kingdom: 2750 B.C to 2181 B.C / First Intermediate Period: 2182-2260 Little is known about Menes successors until the reign of Zoser at the end of the 3rd dynasty. His capital was located at Memphis on the Nile’s west bank. He built the world’s first pyramid and the first building of that size to be entirely made of stone. Even though it was a pyramid it wasn’t a true pyramid, but a step pyramid. After the reign of the last king of the Sixth dynasty (the last dynasty in the old kingdom.) Pepi II in 2181 B.C, there was a period of crisis and social upheaval known as the First Intermediate Period. The reasons leading up to this dark time, was a series of low floods and the result was famine during the Sixth dynasty. This undermined the stability of Egypt and provoked rebellion. What followed put Egypt in rapid decline. With no central power the provinces b... Free Essays on Egypt Ancient Egypt Between 3100 and 332 B.C was the rise and climax of one of the richest and oldest ancient civilizations. It’s lifeline was the Nile river in the Nile valley. Here, Egyptian dynasties ruled from the first cataract of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea. At the it’s height it ruled an empire that reached from Syria in the east to Nubia in the south. In this report I will be covering the Archaic Period, the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom the New Kingdom and The Late Period or 3100-332 B.C. Archaic Period: 3100 B.C to 2750 B.C There long history began with there first King who began the first Egyptian dynasty. In 3100 B.C Pharaoh Menes united upper and lower Egypt. Making Egypt’s first empire. In doing so, he made the Egyptian double crown. It was made by putting the red crown of Lower Egypt on top of the white crown of upper Egypt. Menes ruled from the ancient city of Thinis near Abydos. Under his reign the first hieroglyphic writing was made. He is also credited with making his empire interdependent. Old Kingdom: 2750 B.C to 2181 B.C / First Intermediate Period: 2182-2260 Little is known about Menes successors until the reign of Zoser at the end of the 3rd dynasty. His capital was located at Memphis on the Nile’s west bank. He built the world’s first pyramid and the first building of that size to be entirely made of stone. Even though it was a pyramid it wasn’t a true pyramid, but a step pyramid. After the reign of the last king of the Sixth dynasty (the last dynasty in the old kingdom.) Pepi II in 2181 B.C, there was a period of crisis and social upheaval known as the First Intermediate Period. The reasons leading up to this dark time, was a series of low floods and the result was famine during the Sixth dynasty. This undermined the stability of Egypt and provoked rebellion. What followed put Egypt in rapid decline. With no central power the provinces b... Free Essays on Egypt The Arab Republic of Egypt is located in the Northeast corner of Africa. On Egypt’s southern border is Sudan, while to its west lies Libya. To the east lie the countries of Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. Egypt separates the Mediterranean Sea in the north from the Red Sea in the east. The Nile, the world’s longest river, runs down the eastern side of the country. Most major cities and about 99% of Egypt’s population lie along the Nile River. The capital city of Egypt is Cairo. Cairo is the home of many of the world’s most famous monuments, including the Great Pyramid of Cheops (also known as Khufu) and the Alabaster Sphinx. The Egyptian flag consists of three colored stripes; red on the top, white in the middle, and black on the bottom. In the center of the flag is a golden eagle with an escutcheon, or shield, on its chest. This flag is very symbolic to the Egyptian people. The red section of the flag stands for revolution and sacrifice, the w hite section symbolizes the future of Egypt, and the black section serves as a reminder of the years of oppression that the Egyptian people faced. With an area of 386,660 square miles, Egypt is roughly three times the size of New Mexico. As of 2004, Egypt has an estimated population of 76,117,421. This is more than double the population of California. Their population density is 197 people per square mile and their per capita income is $3900 U.S. Although the main language of Egypt is Arabic, English and French are widely understood by educated classes. About 94% of Egyptians are Muslim and the majority of these are Sunni. Only about 2% of Egypt’s land is arable. Excluding the Mediterranean coast, the majority of Egypt is a desert. While the coastal area has an annual rainfall of 4-8 inches per year, the rest of the country averages only about two inches per year. To make matters worse, temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Egypt’s main source...