3 Kingdoms of Egypt

Old Kingdom (2575 B.C.-2150 B.C.)

• Characterized by the unification of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt by king Narmer
• Construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza by king Khufu
• The capital of the kingdom was in Memphis
• The pharaoh was a high and mighty deity that ruled over his people
• “Age of Pyramids”

First Intermediate Period (2150 B.C.)

• Power of the Pharaoh gradually eroded and the power of local governors increased
• The region was in the midst of a long and severe drought
• Ended when a ruler named Mentuhotep II from the town of Thebes took control of Upper Egypt  and went on to conquer Lower Egypt thus uniting the country and inaugurating the Middle Kingdom

Middle Kingdom (1975- 1640 B.C.)

• Established by Pharaoh Mentuhotep II
• Mentuhotep II’s successors worked to reduce the power of local governors and increase Egypt’s grain reserves by expanding the amount of land under cultivation
• Irrigation project that transformed the oasis of Faiyum into a large breadbasket for the kingdom
• Pharaoh Amenemhet I embarked on the first in a series of conquests that brought much of Nubia under Egyptian control
• The capital of the kingdom was in Thebes

Second Intermediate Period (1630 B.C.)

• Caused by changes in climate that altered the flow of the Nile
• Foreigners were surging into the Nile Delta from the east
• Hyksos seized power in Lower Egypt and demanded tribute from Upper Egypt
• Hyksos introduced new technology including the battle chariots and eventually the Egyptians mastered those innovations and turned them against their Hyksos overlords

New Kingdom (1539-1075B.C)

• Prince Kamose from Thebes gathered forces around 1550 B.C. and attacked the Hyksos in the delta
• Prince Ahmose completed the conquest and inaugurated the New Kingdom
• Pharaohs of the New Kingdom maintained their wealth and power by tightening their hold on Nubia and its gold mines and sending armies into Canaan, Syria and Libya
• Thutmose III expanded Egypt’s army and wielded it with great success to consolidate the empire at the peak of Egypt’s power and wealth during the reign of his successors.
• Ramesses II sought to recover territories in the Levant that had been held by the Eighteenth Dynasty. His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of Kadesh.
• After a hundred years, the New Kingdom lost its luster and the imperial expansion backfired.

Third Intermediate Period (1000 B.C.)

• Libyans invaded the Nile Delta, and the rulers at Thebes formed a breakaway kingdom at the south
• Pharaohs of Nubian origin ruled Egypt wisely and well until Assyrians seized it in 667 B.C.
• Egypt was then ruled by a series of foreign rulers such as Persians, Macedonians and Romans

 

Pharaoh Khufu

• Also known by his Greek name, Cheops, the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, famous for building the Great Pyramid at Giza.
• Khufu’s full name was Khnum-Khufwy, which means ‘[the god] Khnum protect me’. He was the son of Sneferu and Queen Hetepheres I, and is believed to have had three wives.
• Khufu was the first pharaoh to build a pyramid at Giza. The sheer scale of this monument stands as testament to his skills in commanding the material and human resources of his country.

source: ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/khufu.shtml )

Mummification

• Mummification is the removal of a corpse’s perishable internal organs and preservation of the rest of the body.
• Such efforts to keep the body intact was the fear that the wandering soul might be lost if it had no body to return to.
• Mummification was first confined to royalty but overtime mummification and other techniques for spiritual immortality became available to many Egyptians.

Sphinx of Giza

• The Sphinx is a limestone statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx (a mythical creature with a lion’s body and a human head) that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the face of the Pharaoh Khafra/Khafre.

Great Pyramid of Giza

• 482-foot high Great Pyramid at Giza built by Pharaoh Khufu, who reigned around 2550 B.C.
• An epic project that took nearly 20 years to complete, the Great Pyramid was constructed by peasants conscripted for labor during the Nile flood season, when work in the fields ceased.
• The builders hauled massive limestone blocks weighing two and a half tons each that had been quarried upriver and floated down the Nile on barges.
• The stunning monuments at Giza reflected an obsession with the afterlife that characterized Egyptian culture through the centuries.

Hieroglyphics

 

 

• The Egyptian system of writing
• Scribes used characters called hieroglyphics to write down royal pronouncements and to keep track of official businesses such as the collection of taxes and the drafting of troops and laborers for military campaigns for public prospects.
• The ancient Egyptians believed that writing was invented by the god Thoth and called their hieroglyphic script “mdju netjer” (“words of the gods”). The word hieroglyph comes from the Greek hieros (sacred) plus glypho (inscriptions) and was first used by Clement of Alexandria. source: (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/egyptian.htm)

Pharaoh

• The Pharaoh in ancient Egypt was the political and religious leader of the people and held the titles ‘Lord of the Two Lands’ and ‘High Priest of Every Temple’. The word ‘pharaoh’ is the Greek form of the Egyptian ‘pero’ or ‘per-a-a’, which was the designation for the royal residence and means `Great House’.
• The chief responsibility of the pharaoh was to maintain Ma’at, universal harmony, in the country. The goddess Ma’at (pronounced ‘may-et’ or ‘my-eht’) was thought to work her will through the pharaoh but it was up to the individual ruler to interpret the goddess’ will correctly and to then act on it.
• The pharaoh had a sacred duty to defend the borders of the land, but also to attack neighboring countries for natural resources if it was thought that this was in the interest of harmony.

source: (http://www.ancient.eu/pharaoh/)

Memphis

• Memphis was a city and capital of ancient Egypt and an important centre during much of Egyptian history. Memphis is located south of the Nile River delta, on the west bank of the river, and about 15 miles (24 km) south of modern Cairo.
• According to a commonly accepted tradition, Memphis was founded about 2925 bce by Menes or Narmer, who supposedly united the two prehistoric kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. The original name of the city was the White Walls, and the term may have referred originally to the king’s palace, which would have been built of whitewashed brick

source: ( http://www.britannica.com/place/Memphis-ancient-city-Egypt )

Narmer

• Around 3000 B.C., a king named Narmer from Upper Egypt led forces north into the Nile Delta and conquered lower Egypt.
• Narmer’s successors made their capital at Memphis, at the southern end of the delta where Lower Egypt abutted Upper Egypt.
•  The unification of Egypt by Narmer ushered in the first of more than 30 dynasties that would rule the country for the next 30,000 years.
• Also known as
  • Aha
  • Scorpion
  • Menes
  • Mena
  • Meni
  • Min

Nile River Valley

• The Nile River Valley was the most fertile places of the ancient world
• East Africa, far to the south, swelled the Nile and flooded the surrounding countryside, leaving a rich layer of silt that replenished the fields
• By 6000 B.C., people were settling along the river and cultivating wheat and barley.