An Outline Of Ancient Egyptian History

Ancient Egypt was known as the’Cradle of Civilization’. Egyptian civilization is a gift of the Nile River that flows from the northern part of Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea. The river nile was the longest river that located in the Northern Africa. According to historian, Egypt was the second and the oldest civilization in the world that was formed about 3000 B.C.E. The Egypt remains a very interesting history in terms of culture, religion, agriculture, powerful government, their economy, construction of buildings like the pyramids and so forth.

Major time periods of Egypt

Historically, Egypt is an old civilization that ruled by the 30 dynasty of pharaohs in 3100 B.C.E and 332 B.C.E , which it has been divided into the three most major time periods in Egypt, those kingdoms were; the Old kingdom, Middle kingdom and New kingdom.

The history of timeline of Ancient Egypt

Historians also have divided the time period of ancient Egyptian history to some of the period. The following periods were:

Prehistoric ( – 3100 BCE), Early Dynastic Period ( 3000 – 2686), Old Kingdom ( 3000 – 2890), First Intermediate Period (2181 -2055), Middle Kingdom (2055-1650), Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550), New Kingdom (1550 – 1069), Third Intermediate Period (1069 – 664) and Late Period (664 – 332)

Pharaoh

The King of Egypt was called as Pharaoh, which in other words, “greatest house”. Pharaoh had absolute power over Egypt and is fully entitled. In the reign of the pharaoh, the Egyptians believed in the existence of God, where the pharaoh considered as god. Pharaoh is not only a political leader that was exalted by the society of Egypt, but he is also regarded as a religious leader as well.

Social Organization

Position of women

Women have a unique status in the Egyptian civilization as it has its own rights. Women role is very important ancient Egypt as the wife and mother, and also its position has been considered precious. In the royal family, the ancient Egyptian women not only became the wife of a pharaoh, or a god, but will become the mother of the pharaoh. Pharaoh could have more than one wife.

Religion and beliefs of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian civilization is known as a religious center, as evidenced by the discovery of monuments and temples of the religious nature of ancient Egyptian society and beliefs. The Egyptian believed that the world was dominated by many gods to determine life and death of a life, which was also called as trust in polytheism. Each of the Egyptian god often associated with the natural elements such as Re (sun god), Ra-Atum (God’s Heaven) and Amun (Wind God).

The Egytian worship the ‘spirit’ where it is believed to help them obtaining the benefits and avoid misfortune or natural disaster. For instance, the Egyptian society worships ‘plant spirit’ to get a good crop. Pharaoh was deemed to be the descendants of God, and because of these, Pharaoh regarded as the great god and has the right to do anything for the Egyptian society.

Ancient Egyptian society believes that there is life after death. For them, the person who died will live again in the hereafter. Thus, they preserve bodies (mummification) and build a huge pyramid to keep the mummy of the pharaoh. Pyramid is considered as a meditative spirit, used to store treasures, such as the property of the pharaoh. Food and furniture are also stored in the pyramids because they believed that by doing so the spirit will live in the hereafter.ListenRead phoneticallyListen

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Writing System

Early stages of the writing began in Egypt and it occurs simultaneously with the civilizations of Mesopotamia.ListenRead phonetically Writing system in ancient Egyptians played an important role in the early civilizations about 3100 B. C. E. ListenRead phoneticallyAccording to historian, for thepeople of Ancient Egypt, the writing system used to record all the religious ceremonies in temples and their preicous properties. They use a form of picture writing to represent the object, where thus creating the symbol. According to scholars, no one knows how the ancient Egyptian people know how to write, or perhaps the Egyptian learned how to write from the Mesopotamian. Ancient Egyptian has created a writing system called hieroglyphics writing.

The composition of the symbols of the hieroglyphs was influenced by religious elements, and this is why the system of writing became important because it was symbolizes as the glory of the ancient gods that they worshiped and adored. Egyptian society believes that the writing of hieroglyphics able to influenced the mind of people, either towards good or evil. In conclusion, the writing community is greatly influenced by ancient beliefs and their practices, such as that found on the Pharaoh’s tombs and the walls inside the pyramid. About 3100 B.C.E, Papyrus trees that grow in the area of the Nile was a source of paper to record the religious ceremonies in temples and properties using hieroglyphic writing.

Architecture

According to historians, the Egyptians have built several buildings at different times.

In the early stages of the old government, Mastabas were built by many Egyptians. Mastabas is an ancient Egyptian tomb in rectangular shape and has a flat roof.

Throughput the stages of the old kingdom, pyramids have been established by the Egyptian, which it has become one of the great successes of the architecture in ancient Egyptian civilization. The pyramid was believed to be the burial place of Pharaohs and their wealth.

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Pyramids built by the Pharaoh have become a symbol of the powerful of Pharaoh, and the divine and religious symbols would be a place to meditate for them after death. Historians believe that the construction of monuments like the pyramids of Pharaoh is driven by the ego to prove himself as a god. Among the large pyramids which leaves the impression of history is like a pyramid and the pyramids of Saqqara and the three’s greatest pyramid of Giza.

About 2550 B.C.E, King Khufu, the pharaoh of the second during the fourth dynasty, the old government, has assigned the Egyptian to build his tomb, a pyramid in Giza. Khafre, the son of Khufu, was assigned to build his own pyramid which includes the Sphinx. Historians believe that Menkaure, son of Khafre, built the third and smallest of the three pyramids at Giza.

Another one of the most famous monuments of architecture in ancient Egypt other than the pyramids is the Sphinx. Sphinx is a monument that has Body of a lion with the head of a king or a god. According to scholars, the sphinx has come to symbolize the strength and wisdom. Sphinx was constructed by the King Khafre, the son of Khufu, on the fourth dynasty (the old kingdom)

Other Achievements by the Ancient Egyptian

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In the Egyptian civilization, the Egyptians lives were depend on agriculture and in order to get a good crop, they depends on the annual flooding of the Nile. At first, the Egyptian priests often do the study on the frequency of the annual flooding of the Nile. Starting from this, the astronomy was born and also with the calendar. According to the calendar of the Egyptian, new year for the Egyptian was the first day in the first month of the flood session, as viewed broadly; it coincided with the start of the annual flooding of the Nile.

Conclusion

Ancient Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, it leaves a lot of heritage that until now has not been exhausted studied. Historically, the story of ancient Egypt has survived for thousands of years.