Ancient Egypt Introduction: My report is mostly about Ancient Egypt, but you will find several facts about Egypt as it is today. When I found out I had to do a report on Africa, the first thing that popped into my head was: Egypt. In the Second Grade, my teacher, known for her crazy parties and fun field trips, made us study Egypt for Social Studies. After several months of studying, watching educational videos, and making a 3 page report on Egypt (the teacher was really hard too, she demanded a lot out of us), we finally got our reward: a party. At the party, everyone dressed up as Egyptian royals, and we ate Egyptian food such as apricots, dates, nuts, oatmeal bread, and wine (a.k.a. grapejuice). I remember that not only because it was fun, but because I got to wear three layers of makeup and so much eyeliner that my eyelids were weighed down. I almost had to use my fingers to hold them back to keep them from drooping. Ever since then, Egypt stuck. It has never ceased to fascinate me. Although that was my most vivid memory of Egypt, it was not the first time I've heard of Egypt. When I was little, I would go to the Children's Museum, and there was an exhibit I'd always see: the mummies. My big sister would take me to the little windows that explained how they were mummified. She'd read the signs to me, but the signs had little influence on what she said. She would stretch out the words, exaggerating the procedure. She'd say, "They would take a big, sharp hook and just jam it up their nostril and then twist it around, and around, and around until it caught on something. Then they would yank on the hook until the person's big, slimy brain appeared. They'd pick up the brain and put it in one of those jars so it could rot for years and years and big, ugly, black bugs would crawl all over it. Do you see how big your nose is? It's not very big is it? So can you imagine someone yanking your brain out of there?" She never told me these people were already dead while doing this, so this never failed to gross me out. Although my sister's words were gross, they were unforgettable. Now (thank goodness), I can read those signs myself, but sometimes I still miss my sister reading them to me, because, no matter how gruesome she was, I still loved it, and I still loved learning about Egypt. Ancient Egypt: Ancient Egypt is one of the most well known empires in the history of the world. It is also one of the most successful. Egypt is on the North East corner of Africa by the Nile, the longest river in the world. Many, many years ago, when Egypt had not been established yet, the Nile River would (and still does) overflow during the rainy season. When the waters washed away, it left fertile soil that was appealing to travelers. Many people soon started traveling there, planting crops and herding animals. This led to the great civilization of Ancient Egypt. There is a lot of information about Egypt even before the records began. There are many recordings of the history of Egypt, and, thanks to the dry climate, are almost perfectly preserved. There are many ways of recording information now, but before the invention of paper, most (if they could write) recorded information down by scratching it onto rock. This is the case with the Palermo Stone, which gives information about the first dynasties of Egypt. What is incredible about Egypt is that, much of the stuff that happened did not happen over time. Egypt was a fast-paced society. There is evidence of this because, during the Old and Middle Kingdoms, Egypt had already developed a culture. For most societies it takes thousands of years, but for Egypt, it took only hundreds of years. The Old Kingdom is especially famous for it’s artistic and intellectual achievements such as stone architecture, Egyptian art, and the Egyptian religion, which I’ll talk about later on. Egypt was split into two kingdoms: the Upper Kingdom and the Lower Kingdom until they were united into one by Menes, a king of the first dynasty. After this, there was a lot of trading going on, often trading with nearby Sinai for copper. During the third dynasty, many new ideas were introduced, such as religion, which was mostly practiced by the upper-class citizens. When the Egyptian religion was established, Ra was made one of the most important gods. Ra was the sun god and was often called the creator and father of all things. Early Egyptian kings said that they were descendants of him, so they added his name to their own. Ra mostly appeared in the form of a hawk or a lion, which you can see in later paintings on walls of old Egyptian ruins. Other ideas, such as mummification and the building of stone monuments were introduced. Mummification was a very new idea that had a lot to do with the Egyptian pagan religion. The Egyptians believed that, when someone died, they would go along to the next stage of life: the afterlife. The rich (especially the priests and pharaohs) would have tombs built for them while they were still living. Then, once they died, they would be laid onto a table where the medicine man would prepare their body. First, he would remove such organs as the heart, the brain, the intestines, the liver, and the kidneys. They would be placed in decorative jars so that the person can use them once in the afterlife. Then the body would be cured with salt, so the skin would be dried out and preserved better. The body would be covered with tree sap and with spices such as cinnamon and peppermint. Then the linen cloth strips would be wrapped around the body, and the body would be placed in a coffin, or a decorativheir riches, so they would be rich. Sometimes their servants would be killed so that they can serve their master in the afterlife as well. Even their pets were killed and mummified to accompany their owner. This was so important to the Egyptians that a death was more celebrated than a birth. In the 23rd Century (B.C.), the Old Kingdom of Egypt collapsed. The rulers became too powerful and many records of the Ancient Egypt existence were lost or destroyed. The fourth dynasty of Egypt helped a little bit, but not much. Soon, the era of the Old Kingdom was gone, into a new era, the Middle Kingdom. There isn’t much to say about the Middle Kingdom, except that it picked Egypt up and turned it around in the right direction. The border if Egypt was extended pas the Nile, and a new form of writing, called hieroglyphics, was introduced. Once the eighteenth dynasty came about, the Middle Kingdom ended and the New Kingdom began. The New Kingdom was the most important and best-recorded period in Ancient Egypt history. The boundaries of Egypt were endless, reaching all the way into Asia, along the Euphrates River. Following pharaohs such as Amnehotep III, and Akhnaton, came a little nine year old boy named Tut. Tutankhamen became pharaoh of Egypt at nine years old. Since he wasn’t old enough or wise enough to rule, his mother did until he was ready. When he was, Tut was an excellent ruler. He made a very justifiable law code and made sure those laws were enforced. He was one of Egypt’s best rulers, until he was mysteriously killed at nineteen. Then, in 1932, his tomb was discovered by Howard Carter, and there was evidence that the tomb had been violated, since there appeared to be some things broken and tampered with. Right around the time of Tut’s death, Egyptian architecture was excelling rapidly with enormous buildings that were quite impressive. The architecture was as good or better that the architecture in Roma and Greece, but for some reason, not as well known. Speaking of Rome, right around 58 B.C. Rome was starting to overshadow Egypt, and that took away a lot of Egypt’s trade. All of this cost Egypt a lot of money. This is where Cleopatra comes in. Cleopatra was the ruler of Egypt at the time, and she did everything she could to help her people. She did this by becoming quite friendly with such Roman rulers as Marc Anthony and Julius Caesar. This stirred up quite a commotion between the two countries, and many people were outraged. This was the cause of the death of Cleopatra’s son, caused by the man who was later known as the Emperor Augustus. In later years, around 200 A.D., Christianity was on the rise, and was welcomed by Egypt, despite it’s pagan past. There were also many saints who were from Egypt such as St. Authanasius, St. Cyril, and St. Origen. Christianity did not stay on top for long though. It was some 400 years after Christianity came about that the great teachings of Mohammed were widely practiced. That’s right: Islam. Egypt became one of the leading empires in the Islamic faith. Why were there so many Muslims in Egypt? The explanation is very simple: location. If you look at a map, Egypt is VERY close to the Muslim capital of the world: Mecca. Also, being so close to the Middle East, many people would colonize in Egypt, reducing th eChristian population to a small minority. At that time, people would speak the Greek and Coptic languages combined together, but with all the immigrants from the Middle East, Arabic became the dominant language. Today, Egypt, of course is more modernized, with television sets, streetlights, ans automobiles, just like any other country. The one thing that makes Egypt unlike any place in the world is that the pyramids are still there. The Valley of the Kings (sometimes called the Valley of the Pharaohs), is a major hot spot for mummified people of importance in the past. Today, Cairo is the capitol of Egypt, and although the boundaries have shrunk to some degree, people still walk on the same roads that King Tut walked down himself, many years ago. The main form of currency is the Egyptian pound, and the last census unveiled that there are 64.7 million people who live there and that 99% of the population lives by the Nile River, the center of farming and industry in Africa. Also, the most abundant crop grown in Egypt is cotton. All in all, Egypt is one of the most important countries in the world, and it’s history is just as important. Egypt’s history definitely stands out, it being one of the most advanced of all time, inventing things and ideas such as the boat, the lighthouse, and growing grapes to make wine. Another thing so great about Egypt is that it is very well recorded, so we know practically everything that happened. Egypt has also shown us a person’s day-to-day life by preserving their people so well, and painting their customs and beliefs on the walls of the tombs. If it hadn’t been for them, many of those ancient ideas would be lost. And so I close, to say that Egypt is definitely unique, and that is a very good thing, probably more than we’ll ever know.
Copyright © 2002 Christina Aspears |