Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was the civilisation of the Nile valley and delta in north-eastern Africa, beginning in the late fourth millennium BC and maintaining cultural continuity into the Roman and early Byzantine periods. It rested on the Nile, the agricultural calendar, royal power, temple economies, writing and a distinctive culture of memory in which tomb, name and image connected a person with eternity.

Egyptian history was not static. The Early Dynastic Period, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom differed in political structure, building programmes, military organisation and external relations. Later Egypt experienced Persian, Macedonian, Ptolemaic and Roman rule, while many forms of royal language, temple ritual and imagery remained active for a very long time.

Map of Ancient Egypt and the Nile valley. It helps locate Upper and Lower Egypt, the Delta, Memphis, Thebes and the main zones of historical development.

History and Periods

Egyptian history is best understood as a sequence of political expansions, crises and renewed unifications. In the late fourth millennium BC rulers of Upper and Lower Egypt created the symbolism of a dual country: two crowns, two lands and one royal authority. Early Dynastic Egypt is associated with Narmer, the formation of royal names, early writing and the first administrative centres.

Old Kingdom Egypt was the age of Memphis, pyramid complexes and strong royal administration. Djoser built the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Sneferu developed the form of the true pyramid, and Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure left the main Giza ensemble. The weakening of central power led to the First Intermediate Period and to rivalry between regional houses.

Middle Kingdom Egypt began with a new unification by Theban rulers. Mentuhotep II restored unified rule, while the kings of Dynasty 12 developed the Faiyum, strengthened the southern frontier and left an important literary tradition. The Second Intermediate Period was marked by Hyksos power in the Delta and the rise of Thebes in the south.

New Kingdom Egypt grew out of the struggle against the Hyksos and became the period of Egypt's greatest external expansion. Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ramesses II show different sides of the age: war, trading expeditions, temple building, religious experiment and rivalry in the Levant. After the New Kingdom Egypt faced Libyan, Kushite, Assyrian and Persian interventions, while preserving its own temple traditions. In 332 BC Alexander the Great occupied the country; Egypt was then ruled by the Ptolemies, and after the defeat of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony in 30 BC it became a Roman province.

Power, Society and Religion

The country was headed by the pharaoh: king, supreme military leader and principal participant in temple ritual. His power depended on scribes, nobles, governors, workshops, granaries and temple estates. Daily life appears through the people of Ancient Egypt: farmers, craftsmen, scribes, officials, priests, soldiers, women in households and workers of large estates.

Ancient Egyptian religion joined temple cult, royal ideology, funerary belief and household practice. The gods of Ancient Egypt had different local centres and functions: Ra, Amun, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Hathor, Ptah, Thoth, Anubis, Seth and other deities formed not a single dogma, but a complex system of myths, rituals and images. Priests of Ancient Egypt served temples, estates and calendrical festivals.

Army, Monuments and Material Culture

The Egyptian army changed from seasonal levies to the professional forces of the New Kingdom with infantry, archers, charioteers, fortresses and mercenaries. Military topics are treated through the army of Ancient Egypt, warriors, weapons, war chariots and the Battle of Kadesh.

Monumental architecture joined power, religion and labour. Egyptian pyramids and the pyramids of Giza belong above all to royal funerary culture of the Old Kingdom. Temples of Ancient Egypt reveal ritual, economy and memory in later periods. Sphinxes of Ancient Egypt show the combination of royal power, protective function and mythological image. Mummies of Ancient Egypt help explain the body, funerary rite, embalming craft and ideas of the afterlife.

Egypt and the Ancient Mediterranean

Egypt constantly interacted with neighbours: Nubia, Libya, the Levant, the Aegean, Persia and Rome. After the campaign of Alexander the Great the country became the Hellenistic kingdom of the Ptolemies. In the age of Cleopatra VII Egypt was drawn into Roman power struggles, and after Octavian's victory became a Roman province. Hellenistic Egypt did not erase pharaonic tradition, but added the Greek language of power, a new dynasty, Alexandria and the distinctive milieu of Hellenistic scholarship.

Sections

I. History and periods

II. Society, power and religion

III. Army and monuments

Literature

Avdiev V. I. Military History of Ancient Egypt.
Assmann J. Egypt: Theology and Piety of an Early Civilization.
Shaw I. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
Wilkinson T. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. Bloomsbury.
Kemp B. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization. Routledge.
Hornung E. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt. Cornell University Press.

Gallery

Statue of Ptolemy III in chlamydia. Ptolemaic Egypt. 3rd century BC

The Philae temple complex, chiefly the sanctuary of Isis. Its Late Egyptian, Ptolemaic and Roman phases show the continuation of temple tradition after the pharaonic period.

Scene with amphorae from the Theban tomb of Nakht. Dynasty 18, 15th century BC; Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Egyptian flax. The Hermitage Museum,St. Petersburg. 1st millennium BC

Egyptian flax. Hermitage Museum,St. Petersburg,13th-11th century BC

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