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History of Egypt
Predynastic period (c. 5500 a. C.-3200 a. C.) Main article: Predynastic period See also: Naqada I and Naqada II. Stone amratian dog. Louvre.
The first settlers of Egypt reached the banks of the Nile River, at that time a conglomerate of marshes and a focus of malaria, in their flight from the growing desertification of the Sahara. A typical Naqada II pitcher decorated with gazelles. (Predynastic period) It is known from the archaeological remains that formerly the Sahara had a Mediterranean climate, wetter than the current one.
In the Ahaggar and Tibesti massifs there was abundant vegetation. For those inhabitants, the Sahara would be an extensive steppe with large herbivores to hunt. The Saharan cultures are largely unknown, but not non-existent. The successive phases of the Neolithic are represented by the cultures of El Fayum, around 5000 BC. C., the Tassian culture, around 4500 BC. C. and the culture of Merimde, around 4000 BC. C.
They all know polished stone, ceramics, agriculture and livestock. The basis of the economy was the agriculture that was carried out taking advantage of the silt, natural fertilizer provided by the annual floods of the Nile River. Bird-shaped terracotta vessel (Naqada II). Louvre. Behind these cultures appeared the Badarian and the Amratian or Naqada I, between 4000 and 3800 BC. C. Towards the year 3600 BC. C. arises the Gerzeense or Naqada II, which spreads throughout Egypt, unifying it culturally.
This cultural consonance will lead to political unity, which will emerge after a period of struggles and alliances between clans to impose their supremacy. For greater efficiency and production, towards 3500 BC. C., the first works of channeling began to take place and the writing with hieroglyphs in Abidos arises. At this time the proto-states began: The first communities made the country habitable and organized into regions called nomos.
The inhabitants of the Delta had a feudal organization and came to establish two kingdoms with two bosses or monarchs respectively. A kingdom was settled in a swampy place, which was called the kingdom of the Junco and had as a symbol a reed stem. Their capital was Buto; they had a cobra as a totem. The other kingdom had Busiris as its capital and as a totem a vulture but its symbol was a bee and it came to be known as the kingdom of the Bee. Both kingdoms were separated by an arm of the Nile River.
- The Bee kingdom conquered the kingdom of the Junco so that the Delta was unified. But some of the vanquished fled to settle in the Upper Egypt area where they founded cities giving them the same name as those they had left in the Delta. That is why many cities of this time have similar names in Upper and Lower Egypt.
- These people prospered considerably until they became organized in a state. Protodynastic period (c. 3200-3000 BC C.) Main article: Protodynastic period See also: Naqada III Protodynastic period ceremonial palette. Louvre. Considered the final phase of the predynastic period, also known as the late predynastic dynasty 0, or the Naqada III period.
- It is ruled by rulers of Upper Egypt who will reside in Tinis, are represented with a serej and worship Horus. The name of these kings is listed in the Palermo Stone, engraved 700 years later. In this period the first authentic cities arise, such as Tinis, Nubet, Nejeb, Nejen, etc. Typical of this time are the magnificent vessels carved in stone, knives and ceremonial paddles, or the heads of votive maces.
Narmer was able to be the last king of this time, and the founder of Dynasty I. Archaic period (c. 3100-2686 BC. C.) Main article: Archaic period Ceremonial knife of archaic period Royal Ontario Museum. At the end of the predynastic period, Egypt was divided into small kingdoms; the main ones were: that of Hieracompolis (Nejen) in Upper Egypt and that of Buto (Pe) in Lower Egypt. The process of unification was carried out by the kings of Hieracompolis.
Egyptian tradition attributed the unification to Menes, this being reflected in the Royal Lists. This character is, according to Alan Gardiner, King Narmer, the first pharaoh of whom he is aware that he reigned over all Egypt, after a series of struggles, as witnessed in the Narmer palette. This period is made up of the I and II dynasties. Egypt during the old and new empires. Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2181 BC) C.) Main article: Old Kingdom Statue of Kephren
- The Pyramids of Giza. Under Dynasty III the capital was definitively established in Memphis, from which the denomination of the country comes, since the name of the main temple, Hat Ka Ptah "house of the spirit of Ptah", which passed into the Greek as Aegyptos, eventually designated first the neighborhood in which it was located, then to the whole city and later to the kingdom.
- At the time of the third dynasty the custom began to erect great pyramids and monumental sets in stone, thanks to Pharaoh Dyeser. Also the great pyramids of Giza, attributed to the Pharaohs Cheops, Kephren and Mycerin are dating in this period. The V dynasty marks the rise of the high clergy and the influential local governors (nomarks), and during the long reign of Pepy II an era of strong decentralization, called the first intermediate period of Egypt, will be accentuated.
The Old Kingdom comprises the dynasties III to VI. First Intermediate Period (c. 2190-2050 a. C.) Main article: First intermediate period It was a time when power was decentralized and ran between the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom. It comprises from Dynasty VII to the mid-Dynasty XI, when Mentuhotep II reunified the country under his command. Despite the decline, this era stood out for a great literary flourishing, with doctrinal or didactic texts, which show the great social change.
The important change of mentality, as well as the growth of the middle classes in the cities, originated a new conception of beliefs, reflected in the appearance of the so-called Texts of the Sarcophagi. Osiris became the most popular divinity, with Montu and Ammon. The nomos of Heracleopolis and Thebes were constituted as hegemonic, finally imposing the latter. It is the VII to XI dynasties.
Mentuhotep II. MMNY. Middle Kingdom (c. 2050-1750 a. C.) Main article: Middle Amenemhat III Empire, the last great monarch of the Middle Kingdom It is considered to begin with the reunification of Egypt under Mentuhotep II.
It is a period of great economic prosperity and external expansion, with pragmatic and entrepreneurial pharaohs. This period is made up of the end of the 11th and 12th dynasty. Ambitious irrigation projects were carried out in El Fayum, to regulate the great floods of the Nile (provoked by the large bodies of water of the Mediterranean Sea evaporated in the deserts near the empire), diverting it towards Lake Moeris (El Fayum).
Trade relations with the surrounding regions were also enhanced: African, Asian and Mediterranean. The artistic representations were humanized, and the cult of the god Amun was imposed. In the middle of 1800 BC. C., the Hyssonic leaders defeated the Egyptian pharaohs; what began as a gradual migration of Libyans and Canaanites to the Nile Delta, was eventually transformed into military conquest of almost all Egyptian territory, causing the fall of the Middle Kingdom.
The Hyksos won because they possessed better weapons, and they knew how to use the surprise factor. Second Intermediate Period (c. 1800-1550 a. C.) For much of this period, the Hykso rulers, chief nomadic peoples of the periphery, especially Libyans and Asians, who settled in the delta, dominated Egypt, and had the city of Avaris as their capital.
Finally, the Egyptian leaders of Thebes declared independence, being called the 17th dynasty. They proclaimed the "salvation of Egypt" and directed a "war of liberation" against the Hyksos. It was the 13th to 17th dynasties, partially contemporary. Ramesses II. New Empire. Luxor. New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BC) C.) Main article: New Kingdom is a period of great external expansion, both in Asia – where they arrive in the Euphrates – and in Kush (Nubia).
The 18th dynasty began with a series of warrior pharaohs, from Amosis I to Thutmose III and Thutmose IV. Under Amenophis III, expansion was stopped and a period of internal and external peace began. After a period of monarchical weakness, the military castes came to power, the 19th or Ramesid dynasty that, mainly under Seti I and Ramses II, was energetic against the Hittite-king expansionists.
During the reigns of Merenptah, the successor of Ramses II, and Ramses III of the 20th dynasty, Egypt had to confront the invasions of the Sea Peoples, originating in various areas of the eastern Mediterranean (Aegean, Anatolia), and the Libyans. Dyeser-Dyeseru (the sublime of the sublime) of Hatshepsut is the main building of the funeral temple complex in Deir el-Bahari.
The New Kingdom pharaohs began a large-scale construction campaign to promote the god Amun, whose growing worship settled in Karnak. They also built monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined.
Hatshepsut will use such hyperbole during his nearly twenty-two-year reign that he was very successful, marked by a long period of peace and prosperity, with commercial expeditions to Punt, the restoration of foreign trade networks, large construction projects, including an elegant burial temple that rivals Greek architecture a thousand years later, colossal obelisks and a chapel in Karnak.
Despite his achievements, the heir of Hatshepsut, his stepdaughter Thutmose III, tried to erase all traces of his legacy towards the end of the reign, appropriating many of his achievements. He also tried to change many established traditions that had developed over centuries. It was possibly a futile attempt to prevent other women from becoming Pharaoh and thus curb their influence in the kingdom.
- Around 1350 BC. C., the stability of the Empire seemed threatened, even more so when Amenhotep IV ascended the throne and instituted a series of radical reforms, which had a chaotic result. Changing his name to that of Ajenaten, he promoted as supreme deity the hitherto dark deity of Sunshine Aton, initiating a religious reform aimed at monotheism.
In part, the monotheism of Ajenaten was a product of royal absolutism; the old gods had disappeared, but the king maintained — for his own political benefit — his traditional role as mediator among men and the desires of the new god. Pharaoh suppressed the worship of most other deities and, above all, tried to nullify the power of the influential priests of Ammon in Thebes, whom he saw as corrupt.
Moving the capital to the new city of Ajet-Aton (present-day Amarna), Ajenaton turned a deaf ear to the events of the Near East (where the Hittites, Mitanni and the Assyrians disputed control) and focused solely on the new religion. The new religious philosophy entailed a new artistic style, which highlighted the king’s humanity above monumentality.
After his death, the cult of Aton was quickly abandoned, the priests of Ammon regained power and returned the capital to Thebes. Under his influence the later pharaohs—Tutankamon, Ay, and Horemheb—tried to erase all mention of Akhenaten and his “heresy,” now known as the Amarna Period.
Four colossal statues of Ramesses II flank the entrance of his temple of Abu Simbel. Around 1279 a. C. Ramses II ascended the throne, also known as the Great. His would be one of the longest reigns in Egyptian history. He commanded to build more temples, more statues and obelisks, and to beget more children than any other Pharaoh.
- Bold military leader, Ramses II led his army against the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh (in present-day Syria); after reaching a stalemate, he finally accepted a peace treaty with the Hittite kingdom. It is the oldest peace treaty recorded, around 1258 BC. Egypt withdrew from most of its Asian possessions leaving the Hittites to compete, unsuccessfully, with the growing emerging power of Assyria and the Frigios newcomers.
- The wealth of Egypt, however, had become a tempting target for invasion; in particular, for the West Bedouin Libyans and the Sea Peoples, who were part of the powerful confederation of Greek pirates from the Aegean Sea. Initially, the army was able to repel the invasions, but Egypt ended up losing control of its territories in southern Syria and Palestine, which largely fell into the possession of the Assyrians and Hittites.
The impact of external threats was compounded by internal problems such as corruption, theft of royal graves and popular unrest. After regaining their power, the high priests of the temple of Amun in Thebes had accumulated vast expanses of land and much wealth, weakening the state.
The country ended up divided, kicking off the Third Intermediate Period. Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070-656 a. C.) Main article: Third Intermediate period Begins with the establishment of two dynasties of Libyan origin that were divided Egypt: one from Tanis, the biblical Zoan, in Lower Egypt, and another, whose kings took the title of High Priests of Ammon, from Thebes.
The period ends with the domination of the Cushite kings. They are the dynasties, partially contemporary, XXI to XXV. Apries. Late Period. Late period or Low Period (c. 656-332 BC. C.) Late Period Begins with the Saite dynasty, following a Nubian dynasty, an attempt at Assyrian invasion and with two periods of Persian domination, as well as several contemporary dynasties of independent Egyptian rulers.
Egypt eventually became a satrapy. They are the XXVI to XXXI dynasties. Hellenistic period (332-30 BC C.) Main article: Hellenistic period of Egypt See also: Alexander the Great, Alexandria and Hellenistic Period. Alexander the Great. It begins with the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 332 BC. C., and the coming to power in 305 BC. C. of the Ptolemaic dynasty, of Macedonian origin.
It ends with the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire after the Battle of Actium, in 31 BC. C. In the year 30 a. C. Cleopatra dies and Egypt becomes a province of the Roman Empire. Roman period (30 a. C.-640 d. C.) Main article: Roman period of Egypt On July 30, 30 BC Octavius entered Alexandria, definitively liquidating the political independence of Egypt and turning it into a Roman province.
He passed to his successors the Byzantine Empire after the Roman Empire was divided in 395 in the West and East, and remained in his hands until the conquest by the Arab people of the year 640. The last vestiges of the traditional culture of Ancient Egypt end definitively at the beginning of the 6th century, with the last priests of Isis, who officiated the temple of the island of File, by proscribing the worship of the "happen gods".
