Materi Kuliah TPA 2 (Mesir)

Dosen: EKO NURSANTY

Contents

1 Ptolemaic Kingdom 1
1.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 Establishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.3 Ptolemy I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.4 Ptolemy II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.5 Ptolemy III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.6 Decline of the Ptolemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.7 Later Ptolemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.8 Cleopatra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.9 Roman rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.1 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.2 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.3 Social situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.4 Coinage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.5 Military . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3.1 Naucratis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3.2 Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3.3 Ptolemais . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4.1 Arabs under the Ptolemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4.2 Jews under the Ptolemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.5 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6 List of Ptolemaic rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.8 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.9 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.10 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2 Cleopatra 15
2.1 Etymology of the name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

i
ii CONTENTS

2.2 Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2.1 Accession to the throne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.2 Relations with Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.3 Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3 Character and cultural depictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4 Ancestry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.6 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3 Ancient Egypt 25
3.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.1.1 Predynastic period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.1.2 Early Dynastic Period (c. 3050 – 2686 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1.3 Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.1.4 First Intermediate Period (2181–1991 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.1.5 Middle Kingdom (2134–1690 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.1.6 Second Intermediate Period (1674–1549 BC) and the Hyksos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1.7 New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1.8 Third Intermediate Period (1069–653 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1.9 Late Period (672–332 BC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.1.10 Ptolemaic Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.1.11 Roman Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Government and economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.1 Administration and commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.2 Social status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.3 Legal system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2.4 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.2.5 Natural resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2.6 Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.3 Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3.1 Historical development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3.2 Sounds and grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3.3 Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3.4 Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.4 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.4.1 Daily life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.4.2 Cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.4.3 Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.4.4 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.4.5 Religious beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
CONTENTS iii

3.4.6 Burial customs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

3.5 Military . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.6 Technology, medicine, and mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.6.1 Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.6.2 Faience and glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.6.3 Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.6.4 Maritime technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.6.5 Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.7 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.8 Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.10 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.11 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.12 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.13 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

4 Old Kingdom of Egypt 56

4.1 Third Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
4.2 Fourth Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.3 Fifth Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.4 Sixth Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.5 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

5 Bronze Age 60
5.1 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.1.1 Near East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.1.2 Central Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.1.3 East Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.1.4 South Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.1.5 Southeast Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.1.6 Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.1.7 Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.2 Outside the Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.2.1 Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.2.2 Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
5.3 Trade in the Bronze Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.4.1 Seafaring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.5 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
iv CONTENTS

5.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.7 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.8.1 Seafaring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

6 Middle Kingdom of Egypt 74

6.1 Political history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.1.1 Reunification under the Eleventh Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.1.2 Early 12th Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.1.3 Height of the Middle Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.1.4 Decline into the Second Intermediate Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.2 Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.2.1 Provincial government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.3 Agriculture and climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.4 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.5 Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
6.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.7 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

7 New Kingdom of Egypt 83

7.1 Eighteenth Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.2 Nineteenth Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.3 Twentieth Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.4 Image gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.8.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.8.2 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.8.3 Content license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Chapter 1

Ptolemaic Kingdom

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shown only in preview).

The Ptolemaic Kingdom (/ˌtɒləˈmeɪ.ɪk/; Ancient Greek:

Πτολεμαϊκὴ βασιλεία, Ptolemaïkḕ Basileía)* [4] was a
Hellenistic kingdom based in Egypt. It was ruled by the
Ptolemaic dynasty which started with Ptolemy I Soter's
accession after the death of Alexander the Great in 323
BC and which ended with the death of Cleopatra VII and
the Roman conquest in 30 BC.
The Ptolemaic Kingdom was founded in 305 BC by
Ptolemy I Soter, who declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt
and created a powerful Hellenistic dynasty that ruled an
area stretching from southern Syria to Cyrene and south
to Nubia. Alexandria became the capital city and a major
center of Greek culture and trade. To gain recognition by
the native Egyptian populace, they named themselves the
successors to the Pharaohs. The later Ptolemies took on
Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had them-
selves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style
and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life. The
Ptolemies had to fight native rebellions and were involved
in foreign and civil wars that led to the decline of the king-
dom and its final annexation by Rome. Hellenistic culture
continued to thrive in Egypt throughout the Roman and
Byzantine periods until the Muslim conquest. Bust of Ptolemy I Soter, king of Egypt (305 BC–282 BC) and
founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty

1.1 History
The era of Ptolemaic reign in Egypt is one of the most
well documented time periods of the Hellenistic Era; a
wealth of papyri written in Greek and Egyptian of the
time have been discovered in Egypt.* [5]
1.1.1 Background
In 332 BC, Alexander the Great, King of Macedon in-
vaded the Achaemenid satrapy of Egypt.* [6] He visited
Memphis, and traveled to the oracle of Amun at the Oasis
of Siwa. The oracle declared him to be the son of Amun.
He conciliated the Egyptians by the respect he showed
for their religion, but he appointed Macedonians to vir-
tually all the senior posts in the country, and founded a
new Greek city, Alexandria, to be the new capital. The
wealth of Egypt could now be harnessed for Alexander's
conquest of the rest of the Persian Empire. Early in 331
BC he was ready to depart, and led his forces away to
Phoenicia. He left Cleomenes as the ruling nomarch to
control Egypt in his absence. Alexander never returned
to Egypt.

1
 2 CHAPTER 1. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM

but it was with another female, Berenice IV. Cleopatra

VII officially co-ruled with Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopa-
tor, Ptolemy XIV, and Ptolemy XV, but effectively, she
ruled Egypt alone.
The early Ptolemies did not disturb the religion or the
customs of the Egyptians, and indeed built magnificent
new temples for the Egyptian gods and soon adopted the
outward display of the Pharaohs of old. During the reign
of Ptolemies II and III thousands of Macedonian veter-
ans were rewarded with grants of farm lands, and Mace-
donians were planted in colonies and garrisons or settled
themselves in the villages throughout the country. Upper
Egypt, farthest from the centre of government, was less
immediately affected, even though Ptolemy I established
the Greek colony of Ptolemais Hermiou to be its cap-
ital. But within a century Greek influence had spread
through the country and intermarriage had produced a
large Greco-Egyptian educated class. Nevertheless, the
Greeks always remained a privileged minority in Ptole-
maic Egypt. They lived under Greek law, received a
Greek education, were tried in Greek courts, and were
citizens of Greek cities.

A bust depicting King Ptolemy II Philadelphus 309–246 BC 1.1.3 Ptolemy I

1.1.2 Establishment The first part of Ptolemy I's reign was dominated by
the Wars of the Diadochi between the various successor
Following Alexander's death in Babylon in 323 BC,* [7] states to the empire of Alexander. His first object was
a succession crisis erupted among his generals. Initially, to hold his position in Egypt securely, and secondly to in-
Perdiccas ruled the empire as regent for Alexander's half- crease his domain. Within a few years he had gained con-
brother Arrhidaeus, who became Philip III of Macedon, trol of Libya, Coele-Syria (including Judea), and Cyprus.
and then as regent for both Philip III and Alexander's in- When Antigonus, ruler of Syria, tried to reunite Alexan-
fant son Alexander IV of Macedon, who had not been der's empire, Ptolemy joined the coalition against him. In
born at the time of his father's death. Perdiccas appointed 312 BC, allied with Seleucus, the ruler of Babylonia, he
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's closest companions, to be defeated Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, in the battle
of Gaza.
satrap of Egypt. Ptolemy ruled Egypt from 323 BC, nom-
inally in the name of the joint kings Philip III and Alexan-
In 311 BC, a peace was concluded between the combat-
der IV. However, as Alexander the Great's empire disin- ants, but in 309 BC war broke out again, and Ptolemy
tegrated, Ptolemy soon established himself as ruler in his occupied Corinth and other parts of Greece, although he
own right. Ptolemy successfully defended Egypt against lost Cyprus after a sea-battle in 306 BC. Antigonus then
an invasion by Perdiccas in 321 BC, and consolidated his tried to invade Egypt but Ptolemy held the frontier against
position in Egypt and the surrounding areas during the him. When the coalition was renewed against Antigonus
Wars of the Diadochi (322–301 BC). In 305 BC, Ptolemy in 302 BC, Ptolemy joined it, but neither he nor his army
took the title of King. As Ptolemy I Soter (“Saviour”), were present when Antigonus was defeated and killed at
he founded the Ptolemaic dynasty that was to rule Egypt Ipsus. He had instead taken the opportunity to secure
for nearly 300 years. Coele-Syria and Palestine, in breach of the agreement as-
All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name signing it to Seleucus, *
thereby setting the scene for the
“Ptolemy”, while princesses and queens preferred the future Syrian Wars. [8] Thereafter Ptolemy tried to stay
names Cleopatra, Arsinoe and Berenice. Because the out of land wars, but he retook Cyprus in 295 BC.
Ptolemaic kings adopted the Egyptian custom of mar- Feeling the kingdom was now secure, Ptolemy shared
rying their sisters, many of the kings ruled jointly with rule with his son Ptolemy II by Queen Berenice in 285
their spouses, who were also of the royal house. This cus- BC. He then may have devoted his retirement to writing
tom made Ptolemaic politics confusingly incestuous, and a history of the campaigns of Alexander—which unfor-
the later Ptolemies were increasingly feeble. The only tunately was lost but was a principal source for the later
Ptolemaic Queens to officially rule on their own were work of Arrian. Ptolemy I died in 283 BC at the age of
Berenice III and Berenice IV. Cleopatra V did co-rule, 84. He left a stable and well-governed kingdom to his
1.1. HISTORY 3

son.

1.1.4 Ptolemy II
Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who succeeded his father as
King of Egypt in 283 BC,* [9] was a peaceful and cul-
tured king, and no great warrior. He did not need to
be, because his father had left Egypt strong and pros-
perous. Three years of campaigning at the start of his
reign (called the First Syrian War) left Ptolemy the mas-
ter of the eastern Mediterranean, controlling the Aegean
islands (the Nesiotic League) and the coastal districts of
Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia and Caria. However, some
of these territories were lost near the end of his reign
as a result of the Second Syrian War. In the 270s BC,
Ptolemy II defeated the Kingdom of Kush in war, gain-
ing the Ptolemies free access to Kushite territory and
control of important gold-mining areas south of Egypt Coin depicting King Ptolemy III. Ptolemaic Egypt.
known as Dodekasoinos.* [10] As a result, the Ptolemies
established hunting stations and ports as far south as Port
Sudan, from where raiding parties containing hundreds Greek politics. His domestic policy differed from his fa-
of men searched for war elephants.* [10] Hellenistic cul- ther's in that he patronised the native Egyptian religion
ture would acquire an important influence on Kush at this more liberally: he left larger traces among the Egyptian
time.* [10] monuments. In this his reign marks the gradual “Egyp-
Ptolemy's first wife, Arsinoe I, daughter of Lysimachus, tianisation”of the Ptolemies.
was the mother of his legitimate children. After her re-
pudiation he followed Egyptian custom and married his
sister, Arsinoe II, beginning a practice that, while pleas- 1.1.6 Decline of the Ptolemies
ing to the Egyptian population, had serious consequences
in later reigns. The material and literary splendour of
the Alexandrian court was at its height under Ptolemy
II. Callimachus, keeper of the Library of Alexandria,
Theocritus and a host of other poets, glorified the Ptole-
maic family. Ptolemy himself was eager to increase the
library and to patronise scientific research. He spent lav-
ishly on making Alexandria the economic, artistic and
intellectual capital of the Hellenistic world. It is to the
academies and libraries of Alexandria that we owe the
preservation of so much Greek literary heritage.

Ptolemaic Empire in 200 BC. Also showing neighboring powers.

1.1.5 Ptolemy III
Ptolemy III Euergetes (“the benefactor”) succeeded his
father in 246 BC. He abandoned his predecessors' pol-
icy of keeping out of the wars of the other Macedonian
successor kingdoms, and plunged into the Third Syrian
War with the Seleucids of Syria, when his sister, Queen
Berenice, and her son were murdered in a dynastic dis-
pute. Ptolemy marched triumphantly into the heart of
the Seleucid realm, as far as Babylonia, while his fleets in
the Aegean made fresh conquests as far north as Thrace.
This victory marked the zenith of the Ptolemaic power.
Seleucus II Callinicus kept his throne, but Egyptian fleets
controlled most of the coasts of Asia Minor and Greece.
After this triumph Ptolemy no longer engaged actively in
war, although he supported the enemies of Macedon in
In 221 BC, Ptolemy III died and was succeeded by his son
Ptolemy IV Philopator, a weak and corrupt king under
whom the decline of the Ptolemaic kingdom began. His
reign was inaugurated by the murder of his mother, and he
was always under the influence of royal favourites, male
and female, who controlled the government. Neverthe-
less, his ministers were able to make serious preparations
to meet the attacks of Antiochus III the Great on Coele-
Syria, and the great Egyptian victory of Raphia in 217 BC
secured the kingdom. A sign of the domestic weakness of
his reign was the rebellions by native Egyptians that took
away over half the country for over 20 years. Philopator
was devoted to orgiastic religions and to literature. He
married his sister Arsinoë, but was ruled by his mistress
Agathoclea.
4 CHAPTER 1. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM

sister Cleopatra II. They soon fell out, however, and quar-
rels between the two brothers allowed Rome to interfere
and to steadily increase its influence in Egypt. Eventually
Philometor regained the throne. In 145 BC he was killed
in the Battle of Antioch.

1.1.7 Later Ptolemies

Philometor was succeeded by yet another infant, his son
Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator. But Euergetes soon re-
turned, killed his young nephew, seized the throne and
as Ptolemy VIII soon proved himself a cruel tyrant. On
his death in 116 BC he left the kingdom to his wife
Cleopatra III and her son Ptolemy IX Philometor Soter
II. The young king was driven out by his mother in 107
BC, who reigned jointly with Euergetes's youngest son
Ptolemy X Alexander I. In 88 BC Ptolemy IX again re-
turned to the throne, and retained it until his death in 80
BC. He was succeeded by Ptolemy XI Alexander II, the
son of Ptolemy X. He was lynched by the Alexandrian
mob after murdering his stepmother, who was also his
cousin, aunt and wife. These sordid dynastic quarrels left
Egypt so weakened that the country became a de facto
Ring of Ptolemy VI Philometor as Egyptian pharaoh. Louvre protectorate of Rome, which had by now absorbed most
Museum. of the Greek world.
Ptolemy XI was succeeded by a son of Ptolemy IX,
Ptolemy V Epiphanes, son of Philopator and Arsinoë, Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos, nicknamed Auletes, the
was a child when he came to the throne, and a series of flute-player. By now Rome was the arbiter of Egyptian
regents ran the kingdom. Antiochus III of The Seleucid affairs, and annexed both Libya and Cyprus. In 58 BC
Empire and Philip V of Macedon made a compact to Auletes was driven out by the Alexandrian mob, but the
seize the Ptolemaic possessions. Philip seized several is- Romans restored him to power three years later. He died
lands and places in Caria and Thrace, while the battle of in 51 BC, leaving the kingdom to his ten-year-old son,
Panium in 200 BC transferred Coele-Syria from Ptole- Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, who reigned jointly with
maic to Seleucid control. After this defeat Egypt formed his 17-year-old sister and wife, Cleopatra VII.
an alliance with the rising power in the Mediterranean,
Rome. Once he reached adulthood Epiphanes became
a tyrant, before his early death in 180 BC. He was suc- 1.1.8 Cleopatra
ceeded by his infant son Ptolemy VI Philometor.
In 170 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes invaded Egypt and Cleopatra VII ascended the Egyptian throne at the age of
deposed Philometor. In some versions of the Bible, the eighteen upon the death of her father, Ptolemy XII Neos
book of I Macabees 1:16-19, translates the passage as: Dionysos. She reigned as queen“philopator”and pharaoh
with various male co-regents from 51 to 30 BC when she
Now when the kingdom was established died at the age of 39.
before Antiochus, he thought to reign over The demise of the Ptolemies' power coincided with the
Egypt that he might have the dominion of two rise of the Roman Empire. Having little choice, and wit-
realms. Wherefore he entered into Egypt with nessing one city after another falling to Macedon and the
a great multitude, with chariots, and elephants, Seleucid empire, the Ptolemies chose to ally with the Ro-
and horsemen, and a great navy, and made war mans, a pact that lasted over 150 years. During the rule of
against Ptolemy king of Egypt: but Ptolemy the later Ptolemies, Rome gained more and more power
was afraid of him, and fled; and many were over Egypt, and was eventually declared guardian of the
wounded to death. Thus they got the strong Ptolemaic dynasty. Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII, paid
cities in the land of Egypt and he took the spoils vast sums of Egyptian wealth and resources in tribute to
thereof. the Romans in order to secure his throne. After his death,
Cleopatra and her younger brother inherited the throne,
Philometor's younger brother (later Ptolemy VIII Euer- but their relationship soon degenerated. Cleopatra was
getes II) was installed as a puppet king. When Antiochus stripped of authority and title by Ptolemy XIII's advisors.
withdrew, the brothers agreed to reign jointly with their Fleeing into exile, she would attempt to raise an army to
1.1. HISTORY 5

Coin of Cleopatra VII, with her effigy* [11]

reclaim the throne.

Julius Caesar left Rome for Alexandria in 48 BC in or-
der to quell the looming civil war, as war in Egypt, which Relief of Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII and Caesarion, Den-
was one of Rome's greatest suppliers of grain and other dera Temple, Egypt.
expensive goods, would have had a detrimental effect on
trade. During his stay in the Alexandrian palace, he re-
ceived 22-year-old Cleopatra, allegedly carried to him donations of Alexandria ceremony in autumn of 34 BC
in secret wrapped in a carpet. She counted on Caesar's in which Tarsus, Cyrene, Crete, Cyprus, and Israel were
support to alienate Ptolemy XIII. With the arrival of Ro- all to be given as client monarchies to Antony's children
man reinforcements, and after the battles in Alexandria, by Cleopatra. In his will Antony expressed his desire to
Ptolemy XIII was defeated at the Battle of the Nile. He be buried in Alexandria, rather than taken to Rome in the
later drowned in the river, although the circumstances of event of his death, which Octavian used against Antony,
his death are unclear. sowing further dissent in the Roman populace.
In the summer of 47 BC, having married her younger Octavian was quick to declare war on Antony and Cleopa-
brother Ptolemy XIV, Cleopatra embarked with Caesar tra while public opinion of Antony was low. Their naval
for a two-month trip along the Nile. Together, they vis- forces at Actium, where the forces of Marcus Vipsanius
ited Dendara, where Cleopatra was being worshiped as Agrippa defeated the navy of Cleopatra and Antony. Oc-
pharaoh, an honor beyond Caesar's reach. They became tavian waited for a year before he claimed Egypt as a Ro-
lovers, and she bore him a son, Caesarion. In 45 BC, man province. He arrived in Alexandria and easily de-
Cleopatra and Caesarion left Alexandria for Rome, where feated Mark Antony's remaining forces outside the city.
they stayed in a palace built by Caesar in their honor. Facing certain death at the hands of Octavian, Antony at-
In 44 BC, Caesar was murdered in Rome by several tempted suicide by falling on his own sword. He survived
Senators. With his death, Rome split between support- briefly, however, and was taken to Cleopatra, who had
ers of Mark Antony and Octavian. When Mark Antony barricaded herself in her mausoleum, where he died soon
seemed to prevail, Cleopatra supported him and, shortly after.
after, they too became lovers and eventually married in
Knowing that she would be taken to Rome to be paraded
Egypt (though their marriage was never recognized by in Octavian's triumph (and likely executed thereafter),
Roman law, as Antony was married to a Roman woman). Cleopatra and her handmaidens committed suicide on 12
Their union produced three children; the twins Cleopatra
August, 30 BC. Legend and numerous ancient sources
Selene and Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy claim that she died by way of the venomous bite of an
Philadelphos. asp, though others state that she used poison, or that Oc-
Mark Antony's alliance with Cleopatra angered Rome tavian ordered her death himself.
even more. Branded a power-hungry enchantress by the Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar, nominally succeeded
Romans, she was accused of seducing Antony to further Cleopatra until his capture and supposed execution in the
her conquest of Rome. Further outrage followed at the weeks after his mother's death. Cleopatra's children by
6 CHAPTER 1. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM

Antony were spared by Octavian and given to his sister education and civic life largely remained Greek through-
(and Antony's Roman wife) Octavia Minor, to be raised out the Roman period. The Romans, like the Ptolemies,
in her household. Their daughter Cleopatra Selene was respected and protected Egyptian religion and customs,
eventually married through arrangement by Octavian into although the cult of the Roman state and of the Emperor
the Mauretanian royal line. Through her offspring the was gradually introduced.
Ptolemaic line intermarried back into the Roman nobil- Around 25 BC, the Greek geographer, philosopher and
ity. historian, Strabo sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae,
With the deaths of Cleopatra and Caesarion, the dynasty after which point there is little record of his proceedings
of Ptolemies and the entirety of pharaonic Egypt came to until AD 17.* [12]
an end. Alexandria remained capital of the country, but
Egypt itself became a Roman province.
1.2 Culture
1.1.9 Roman rule
Ptolemy I, perhaps with advice from Demetrius of
Phalerum, founded the Museum and Library of Alexan-
dria.* [13] The Museum was a research centre supported
by the king. It was located in the royal sector of the city.
The scholars were housed in the same sector and funded
by the Ptolemaic rulers.* [13] The chief librarian served
also as the crown prince's tutor.* [14] For the first hun-
dred and fifty years of its existence this library and re-
search centre drew the top Greek scholars.* [14] It was a
key academic, literary and scientific centre.* [15]
Greek culture had a long but minor presence in Egypt
long before Alexander the Great founded the city of
Alexandria. It began when Greek colonists, encour-
aged by the many Pharaohs, set up the trading post of
Naucratis, which became an important link between the
Greek world and Egypt's grain. As Egypt came under for-
eign domination and decline, the Pharaohs depended on
the Greeks as mercenaries and even advisors. When the
Persians took over Egypt, Naucratis remained an impor-
tant Greek port and the colonist population were used as
mercenaries by both the rebel Egyptian princes and the
Persian kings, who later gave them land grants, spread-
ing the Greek culture into the valley of the Nile. When
Alexander the Great arrived, he established Alexandria
on the site of the Persian fort of Rhakortis. Following
Bust of Roman Nobleman, ca. 30 BC– 50 AD, 54.51, Brooklyn Alexander's death, control passed into the hands of the
Museum
Lagid (Ptolemaic) dynasty; they built Greek cities across
their empire and gave land grants across Egypt to the vet-
Main article: Aegyptus (Roman province)
erans of their many military conflicts. Hellenistic civiliza-
tion continued to thrive even after Rome annexed Egypt
In 30 BC, following the death of Cleopatra VII, the after the battle of Actium and did not decline until the
Roman Empire declared that Egypt was a province Islamic conquests.
(Aegyptus), and that it was to be governed by a prefect
selected by the Emperor from the Equestrian class and
not a governor from the Senatorial order, to prevent in- 1.2.1 Art
terference by the Roman Senate. The main Roman inter-
est in Egypt was always the reliable delivery of grain to Further information: Hellenistic art
the city of Rome. To this end the Roman administration Hellenistic art is richly diverse in subject matter and in
made no change to the Ptolemaic system of government, stylistic development. It was created during an age char-
although Romans replaced Greeks in the highest offices. acterized by a strong sense of history. For the first time,
But Greeks continued to staff most of the administrative there were museums and great libraries, such as those
offices and Greek remained the language of government at Alexandria and Pergamon. Hellenistic artists copied
except at the highest levels. Unlike the Greeks, the Ro- and adapted earlier styles, and also made great innova-
mans did not settle in Egypt in large numbers. Culture, tions. Representations of Greek gods took on new forms.
1.2. CULTURE 7

Ptolemaic gold stater coin depicting war elephants Quadrigia

Cyrenaica

Also prominent in Hellenistic art are representations of

Ptolemaic Queen (Cleopatra VII?), 50-30 BC, 71.12, Brooklyn Dionysos, the god of wine and legendary conqueror of
Museum the East, as well as those of Hermes, the god of com-
merce. In strikingly tender depictions, Eros, the Greek
personification of love, is portrayed as a young child.

A detail of the Nile mosaic of Palestrina, showing Ptolemaic Head of an Egyptian Official, ca. 50 BC. Diorite, 16 5/16 x 11
Egypt circa 100 BC 1/4 x 13 7/8 in. (41.4 x 28.5 x 35.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum

Most of the Ptolemaic magical stele were connected with

The popular image of a nude Aphrodite, for example, re- matters of health. They were commonly of limestone;
flects the increased secularization of traditional religion. the Greeks tended to use marble or bronze for private
8 CHAPTER 1. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM
sculpture. The most striking change in depiction of fig-
ures is the range from idealizing to nearly grotesque real-
ism in portrayal of men. Previously Egyptian depictions
tended toward the idealistic but stiff, not with an attempt
at likeness. Likeness was still not the goal of art under
the Ptolemies. The influence of Greek sculpture under
the Ptolemies was shown in its emphasis on the face more
than in the past. Smiles suddenly appear. Toward the end
of the Ptolemaic period, the headdress sometimes gives
way to tousled hair.
One significant change in Ptolemaic art is the sudden re-
appearance of women, who had been absent since about
the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. Some of this must have been
due to the importance of women, such as the series of
Cleopatras, who acted as co-regents or sometimes occu-
pied the throne by themselves. Although women were
present in artwork, they were shown less realistically than
men in this era. Even with the Greek influence on art, the
notion of the individual portrait still had not supplanted The traditional table for offerings disappeared from re-
Egyptian artistic norms during the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Ways of presenting text on columns and reliefs became longer portrayed with tails in attempt to make them more
formal and rigid during the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Bronze allegorical group of a Ptolemy (identifiable by his when others gained control over one district and ruled
diadem) overcoming an adversary, in Hellenistic style, ca early as a line of native “pharaohs.”This was only curtailed
2nd century BC (Walters Art Museum)
1.2.2 Religion
When Ptolemy I Soter made himself king of Egypt, he
created a new god, Serapis, which was a combination
of two Egyptian gods: Apis and Osiris, plus the main
Greek gods: Zeus, Hades, Asklepios, Dionysos, and He-
lios. Serapis had powers over fertility, the sun, corn, fu-
nerary rites, and medicine. Many people started to wor-
ship this god. In the time of the Ptolemies, the cult of
Serapis included the worship of the new Ptolemaic line
of pharaohs. Alexandria supplanted Memphis as the pre-
eminent religious city. Ptolemy I also promoted the cult
of the deified Alexander, who became the state god of the
Ptolemaic kingdom; the Ptolemies eventually associated
themselves with the cult as gods.
The wife of Ptolemy II, Arsinoe II, was often depicted in
the form of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, but she wore
the crown of lower Egypt, with ram's horns, ostrich feath-
ers, and other traditional Egyptian indicators of royalty
and/or deification. She wore the vulture headdress only
on the religious portion of a relief. Cleopatra VII, the last
of the Ptolemaic line, was often depicted with character-
istics of the goddess Isis. She often had either a small
throne as her headdress or the more traditional sun disk
between two horns.* [16]
liefs during the Ptolemaic period. Male gods were no
humanlike.
The wealthy and connected of Egyptian society seemed
to put more stock in magical stela during the Ptolemaic
period. These were religious objects produced for pri-
vate individuals, something uncommon in earlier Egyp-
tian times.
1.2.3 Social situation
The Greeks now formed the new upper classes in Egypt,
replacing the old native aristocracy. In general, the
Ptolemies undertook changes that went far beyond any
other measures that earlier foreign rulers had imposed.
They used the religion and traditions to increase their
own power and wealth. Although they established a pros-
perous kingdom, enhanced with fine buildings, the native
population enjoyed few benefits, and there were frequent
uprisings. These expressions of nationalism reached a
peak in the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–205 BC)
nineteen years later when Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205–
181 BC) succeeded in subduing them, but the underlying
grievances continued and there were riots again later in
the dynasty.
Family conflicts affected the later years of the dy-
nasty when Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II fought his brother
Ptolemy VI Philometor and briefly seized the throne. The
struggle was continued by his sister and niece (who both
became his wives) until they finally issued an Amnesty
Decree in 118 BC.
1.3. CITIES 9

However, with the decline of royal power, they gained

influence and became common in the military.
The Ptolemies used the great wealth of Egypt to their
advantage by hiring vast amounts of mercenaries from
across the known world. Black Ethiopians are also known
to have served in the military along with the Galatians,
Mysians and others.
With their vast amount of territory spread along the East-
ern Mediterranean such as Cyprus, Crete, the islands of
Example of a large Ptolemaic bronze coin minted during the reign the Aegean and even Thrace, the Ptolemies required a
of Ptolemy V. large navy to defend these far-flung strongholds from en-
emies like the Seleucids and Macedonians.
1.2.4 Coinage
Ptolemaic Egypt was noted for its extensive series of 1.3 Cities
coinage in gold, silver and bronze. It was especially
noted for its issues of large coins in all three metals,
most notably gold pentadrachm and octadrachm, and sil-
ver tetradrachm, decadrachm and pentakaidecadrachm.
This was especially noteworthy as it would not be until the
introduction of the Guldengroschen in 1486 that coins of
substantial size (particularly in silver) would be minted in
significant quantities.

1.2.5 Military

Hellenistic soldiers in tunic, 100 BC, detail of the Nile mosaic of

Palestrina.

Main article: Ptolemaic Army

Ptolemaic Egypt, along with the other Hellenistic states

outside of the Greek mainland after Alexander the Great,
had its armies based on the Macedonian phalanx and fea- Egyptian faience torso of a king, for an applique on wood
tured Macedonian and native troops fighting side by side.
The Ptolemaic military was filled with diverse peoples While ruling Egypt, the Ptolemaic Dynasty built many
from across their territories. At first most of the military Greek settlements throughout their Empire, to either
was made up of a pool of Greek settlers who, in exchange Hellenize new conquered peoples or reinforce the area.
for military service, were given land grants. These made Egypt had only three main Greek cities —Alexandria,
up the majority of the army. Naucratis, and Ptolemais.

With the many wars the Ptolemies were involved in, their
pool of Macedonian troops dwindled and there was little
Greek immigration from the mainland so they were kept
in the royal bodyguard and as generals and officers. Na-
tive troops were looked down upon and distrusted due to
their disloyalty and frequent tendency to aid local revolts.
1.3.1 Naucratis
Of the three Greek cities, Naucratis, although its com-
mercial importance was reduced with the founding of
Alexandria, continued in a quiet way its life as a Greek
10 CHAPTER 1. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM

city-state. During the interval between the death of

Alexander and Ptolemy's assumption of the style of king,
it even issued an autonomous coinage. And the number
of Greek men of letters during the Ptolemaic and Roman
period, who were citizens of Naucratis, proves that in the
sphere of Hellenic culture Naucratis held to its traditions.
Ptolemy II bestowed his care upon Naucratis. He built a
large structure of limestone, about 330 feet (100 m) long
and 60 feet (18 m) wide, to fill up the broken entrance
to the great Temenos; he strengthened the great block of
chambers in the Temenos, and re-established them. At
the time when Sir Flinders Petrie wrote the words just
quoted the great Temenos was identified with the Hel-
lenion. But Mr. Edgar has recently pointed out that the
building connected with it was an Egyptian temple, not a
Greek building. Naucratis, therefore, in spite of its gen-
eral Hellenic character, had an Egyptian element. That
the city flourished in Ptolemaic times “we may see by
the quantity of imported amphorae, of which the han-
dles stamped at Rhodes and elsewhere are found so abun-
dantly.”The Zeno papyri show that it was the chief port
of call on the inland voyage from Memphis to Alexandria,
as well as a stopping-place on the land-route from Pelu-
sium to the capital. It was attached, in the administrative
system, to the Saïte nome.

Alexander the Great, 356 BC – 323 BC Brooklyn Museum

1.3.2 Alexandria
Main article: Alexandria
A major Mediterranean port of Egypt, in ancient times
and still today, Alexandria was founded in 331 BC by
Alexander the Great. According to Plutarch, the Alexan-
drians believed that Alexander the Great's motivation to tained several hundred thousand volumes and housed and
build the city was his wish to“found a large and populous employed scholars and poets. A similar scholarly com-
Greek city that should bear his name.”Located 20 miles plex was the Museum (Mouseion, “hall of the Muses”
(32 km) west of the Nile's westernmost mouth, the city ). During Alexandria's brief literary golden period,
was immune to the silt deposits that persistently choked c. 280–240 BC, the Library subsidized three poets—
harbors along the river. Alexandria became the capital Callimachus, Apollonius of Rhodes , and Theocritus—
of the Hellenized Egypt of King Ptolemy I (reigned 323 whose work now represents the best of Hellenistic liter-
—283 BC). Under the wealthy Ptolemaic dynasty, the ature. Among other thinkers associated with the Library
city soon surpassed Athens as the cultural center of the or other Alexandrian patronage were the mathematician
Hellenic world. Euclid (ca. 300 BC), the inventor Archimedes (287 BC
– c. 212 BC), and the polymath Eratosthenes (ca. 225
Laid out on a grid pattern, Alexandria occupied a stretch *
of land between the sea to the north and Lake Mareotis BC). [17]
to the south; a man-made causeway, over three-quarters Cosmopolitan and flourishing, Alexandria possessed a
of a mile long, extended north to the sheltering island varied population of Greeks, Egyptians and other Ori-
of Pharos, thus forming a double harbor, east and west. ental peoples, including a sizable minority of Jews, who
On the east was the main harbor, called the Great Har- had their own city quarter. Periodic conflicts occurred
bor; it faced the city's chief buildings, including the royal between Jews and ethnic Greeks. According to Strabo,
palace and the famous Library and Museum. At the Great Alexandria had been inhabited during Polybius' lifetime
Harbor's mouth, on an outcropping of Pharos, stood the by local Egyptians, foreign mercenaries and the tribe of
lighthouse, built c. 280 BC. Now vanished, the lighthouse the Alexandrians, whose origin and customs Polybius
was reckoned as one of the Seven Wonders of the World identified as Greek.
for its unsurpassed height (perhaps 460 feet); it was a The city enjoyed a calm political history under the
square, fenestrated tower, topped with a metal fire bas- Ptolemies. It passed, with the rest of Egypt, into Roman
ket and a statue of Zeus the Savior. hands in 30 BC, and became the second city of the Ro-
The Library, at that time the largest in the world, con- man Empire.
1.4. DEMOGRAPHICS 11

1.3.3 Ptolemais

Main article: Ptolemais Hermiou

The second Greek city founded after the conquest of

Egypt was Ptolemais, 400 miles (640 km) up the Nile,
where there was a native village called Psoï, in the nome
called after the ancient Egyptian city of Thinis. If
Alexandria perpetuated the name and cult of the great
Alexander, Ptolemais was to perpetuate the name and
cult of the founder of the Ptolemaic time. Framed in
by the barren hills of the Nile Valley and the Egyptian
sky, here a Greek city arose, with its public buildings
and temples and theatre, no doubt exhibiting the regular
architectural forms associated with Greek culture, with
a citizen-body Greek in blood, and the institutions of a
Greek city. If there is some doubt whether Alexandria
possessed a council and assembly, there is none in regard
to Ptolemais. It was more possible for the kings to al-
low a measure of self-government to a people removed
at that distance from the ordinary residence of the court.
We have still, inscribed on stone, decrees passed in the
assembly of the people of Ptolemais, couched in the reg-
ular forms of Greek political tradition: It seemed good
to the boule and to the demos: Hermas son of Doreon,
of the deme Megisteus, was the proposer: Whereas the
prytaneis who were colleagues with Dionysius the son of
Musaeus in the 8th year, etc.

A stele of Dioskourides, dated 2nd century BC, showing a Ptole-

maic thureophoros soldier. It is a characteristic example of the
1.4 Demographics “Romanization”of the Ptolemaic army.

The Ptolemaic kingdom was diverse in the people who

settled and made Egypt their home at this time. Dur-
ing this period, Macedonian troops under Ptolemy I
Soter were given land grants and brought their families
encouraging tens of thousands of Greeks to settle the
country making themselves the new ruling class. Na-
tive Egyptians continued having a role, albeit a small
one, in the Ptolemaic government--mostly in lower posts-
-and outnumbered the foreigners. During the reign of
the Ptolemaic Pharaohs, many Jews were imported from
neighboring Judea by the thousands for being renowned
fighters and established an important presence there.
Other foreign groups settled during this time and even
Galatian mercenaries were invited. Of the aliens who
had come to settle in Egypt, the ruling group, Greeks,
were the most important element. They were partly
spread as allotment-holders over the country, forming so-
cial groups, in the country towns and villages, side by side
with the native population, partly gathered in the three
Greek cities —the old Naucratis, founded before 600 BC
(in the interval of Egyptian independence after the ex-
pulsion of the Assyrians and before the coming of the
Persians), and the two new cities, Alexandria by the sea,
and Ptolemais in Upper Egypt. Alexander and his Seleu-
cid successors founded many Greek cities all over their
dominions.
Greek culture was so much bound up with the life of the
city-state that any king who wanted to present himself to
the world as a genuine champion of Hellenism had to do
something in this direction, but the king of Egypt, whilst
as ambitious as any to shine as a Hellene, would find
Greek cities, with their republican tradition and aspira-
tions to independence, inconvenient elements in a coun-
try that lent itself, as no other did, to bureaucratic cen-
tralization. The Ptolemies therefore limited the number
of Greek city-states in Egypt to Alexandria, Ptolemais,
and Naucratis.
Outside of Egypt, they had Greek cities under their do-
minion—including the old Greek cities in the Cyrenaica,
in Cyprus, on the coasts and islands of the Aegean—but
they were smaller than the three big ones in Egypt. There
were indeed country towns with names such as Ptolemais,
Arsinoe, and Berenice, in which Greek communities ex-
isted with a certain social life; there were similar groups
of Greeks in many of the old Egyptian towns, but they
were not communities with the political forms of a city-
state. Yet if they had no place of political assembly, they
would have their gymnasium, the essential sign of Hel-
12
lenism, serving something of the purpose of a university
for the young men. Far up the Nile at Ombi a gymnasium
of the local Greeks was found in 136–135 BC, which
passed resolutions and corresponded with the king. Also,
in 123 BC, when there was trouble in Upper Egypt be-
tween the towns of Crocodilopolis and Hermonthis, the
negotiators sent from Crocodilopolis were the young men
attached to the gymnasium, who, according to the Greek
tradition, ate bread and salt with the negotiators from the
other town. All Greek dialects of the Greek world grad-
ually became assimilated in the Koine Greek dialect that
was the common language of the Hellenistic world. Gen-
erally the Greeks of Ptolemaic Egypt felt like represen-
tatives of a higher civilization yet were curious about the
native culture of Egypt.
1.4.1 Arabs under the Ptolemies
Arab nomads of the eastern desert penetrated in small
bodies into the cultivated land of the Nile, as they do to-
day. The Greeks called all the land on the eastern side
of the Nile “Arabia”, and villages were to be found
here and there with a population of Arabs who had ex-
changed the life of tent-dwellers for that of settled agri-
culturists. Apollonius tells of one such village, Poïs, in the
Memphite nome, two of whose inhabitants send a letter
on September 20, 152 BC. The letter is in Greek; it had
to be written for the two Arabs by the young Macedonian
Apollonius, the Arabs apparently being unable to write.
Apollonius writes their names as Myrullas and Chalbas,
the first probably, and the second certainly, Semitic. A
century earlier Arabs farther west, in the Fayûm, orga-
nized under a leader of their own, and working mainly as
herdsmen on the dorea of Apollonius the dioiketes; but
these Arabs bear Greek and Egyptian names.
In 1990, more than 2,000 papyri written by Zeno of
Caunus from the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus were
discovered, which contained at least 19 references to
Arabs in the area between the Nile and the Red Sea, and
mentioned their jobs as police officers in charge of “ten
person units”, while some others were mentioned as shep-
herds.* [18]
Arabs in the Ptolemaic kingdom had provided camel con-
voys to the armies of some Ptolemaic leaders during their
invasions, but they didn't have allegiance towards any of
the kingdoms of Egypt or Syria, and also managed to raid
and attack both sides of the conflict between the Ptole-
maic Kingdom and its enemies.* [19]* [20]
1.4.2 Jews under the Ptolemies
The Jews who lived in Egypt had originally immigrated
from Israel. The Jews absorbed Greek, the dominant
language of Egypt at the time, while heavily mixing
it with Hebrew* [21] It was during this period that the
Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures,
CHAPTER 1. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM
appeared. The Septuagint was written by Seventy Jewish
Translators under royal compulsion during Ptolemy II's
reign.* [22] This is confirmed by historian Flavius Jose-
phus, who writes that Ptolemy, desirous to collect every
book in the habitable earth, applied Demetrius Phalereus
to the task of organizing an effort with the Jewish high
priests to translate the Jewish books of the Law for his
library.* [23] This testimony of Josephus places the ori-
gins of the Septuagint in the 3rd century BC, as that is
the time when Demetrius and Ptolemy II lived. Accord-
ing to Jewish Legend, the seventy translators wrote their
translations independently from memory, and the resul-
tant works were identical at every letter.
1.5 Agriculture
The early Ptolemies increased cultivatable land through
irrigation and introduced crops such as cotton and better
wine-producing grapes. They also increased the availabil-
ity of luxury goods through foreign trade. They enriched
themselves and absorbed Egyptian culture. Ptolemy and
his descendants adopted Egyptian royal trappings and
added Egypt's religion to their own, worshiping Egyp-
tian gods and building temples to them, and even being
mummified and buried in sarcophagi covered with hiero-
glyphs.
1.6 List of Ptolemaic rulers
Main article: List of Ptolemaic rulers
1.7 See also
• Antipatrid dynasty
• Antigonid dynasty
• Cup of the Ptolemies
• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Hellenistic period
• History of Egypt
• Kingdom of Pontus
• Indo-Greeks
• Library of Alexandria
• Lighthouse of Alexandria
• Seleucid Empire
1.9. FURTHER READING
1.8 References
[1] Buraselis, Stefanou and Thompson ed; The Ptolemies, the
Sea and the Nile: Studies in Waterborne Power.
[2] Buraselis, Stefanou and Thompson ed; The Ptolemies, the
Sea and the Nile: Studies in Waterborne Power.
[3] North Africa in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods, 323
BC to AD 305, R.C.C. Law, The Cambridge History of
Africa, Vol. 2 ed. J. D. Fage, Roland Anthony Oliver,
(Cambridge University Press, 1979), 154.
[4] Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica, 18.21.9
[5] Lewis, Naphtali (1986). Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt: Case
Studies in the Social History of the Hellenistic World. Ox-
ford: Clarendon Press. pp. 5. ISBN 0-19-814867-4.
[6] Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. “The
Achaemenid Persian Empire (550–330 B.C.)". In
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/acha/hd_acha.htm (Octo-
ber 2004) Source: The Achaemenid Persian Empire
(550–330 B.C.) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline
of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
[7] Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “The
Rise of Macedonia and the Conquests of Alexander
the Great”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–
. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/alex/hd_alex.htm
(October 2004) Source: The Rise of Macedonia and the
Conquests of Alexander the Great | Thematic Essay | Heil-
brunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art
[8] Grabbe, L. L. (2008). A History of the Jews and Judaism
in the Second Temple Period. Volume 2 – The Coming of
the Greeks: The Early Hellenistic Period (335 – 175 BC).
T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-03396-3.
[9] Ptolemy II Philadelphus [308-246 BC. Mahlon H. Smith.
Retrieved 2010-06-13.
[10] Burstein (2007), p. 7
[11] Cleopatra: A Life
[12] http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/
strabo/17a3*.html
[13] Peters (1970), p. 193
[14] Peters (1970), p. 194
[15] Peters (1970), p. 195f
[16] Antiquities Experts.“Egyptian Art During the Ptolemaic
Period of Egyptian History”. Antiquities Experts. Re-
trieved 17 June 2014.
[17] Phillips, Heather A.,“The Great Library of Alexandria?".
Library Philosophy and Practice, August 2010
[18] Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to
the Umayyads, Prof. Jan Retso, Page: 301
13
[19] A History of the Arabs in the Sudan: The inhabitants of
the northern Sudan before the time of the Islamic invasions.
The progress of the Arab tribes through Egypt. The Arab
tribes of the Sudan at the present day, Sir Harold Alfred
MacMichael, Cambridge University Press, 1922, Page: 7
[20] History of Egypt, Sir John Pentland Mahaffy, Pages: 20-
21
[21] Solomon Grayzel “A History of the Jews”p. 56
[22] Solomon Grayzel “A History of the Jews”pp. 56-57
[23] Flavius Josephus“Antiquities of the Jews”Book 12 Ch.
2
1.9 Further reading
• Bingen, Jean. Hellenistic Egypt. Edinburgh: Ed-
inburgh University Press, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN
0-7486-1578-4; paperback, ISBN 0-7486-1579-2).
Hellenistic Egypt: Monarchy, Society, Economy, Cul-
ture. Berkeley: University of California Press,
2007 (hardcover, ISBN 0-520-25141-5; paperback,
ISBN 0-520-25142-3).
• Bowman, Alan Keir. 1996. Egypt After the
Pharaohs: 332 BC–AD 642; From Alexander to the
Arab Conquest. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of
California Press
• Burstein, Stanley Meyer (December 1, 2007). The
Reign of Cleopatra. University of Oklahoma Press.
ISBN 0806138718. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
• Chauveau, Michel. 2000. Egypt in the Age of
Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies.
Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca: Cornell Uni-
versity Press
• Ellis, Simon P. 1992. Graeco-Roman Egypt. Shire
Egyptology 17, ser. ed. Barbara G. Adams. Ayles-
bury: Shire Publications, ltd.
• Hölbl, Günther. 2001. A History of the Ptolemaic
Empire. Translated by Tina Saavedra. London:
Routledge Ltd.
• Lloyd, Alan Brian. 2000. “The Ptolemaic Period
(332–30 BC)". In The Oxford History of Ancient
Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press. 395–421
• Susan Stephens, Seeing Double. Intercultural Poetics
in Ptolemaic Alexandria (Berkeley, 2002).
• A. Lampela, Rome and the Ptolemies of Egypt. The
development of their political relations 273-80 B.C.
(Helsinki, 1998).
• Peters, F. E. (1970). The Harvest of Hellenism. New
York: Simon & Schuster.
• J. G. Manning, The Last Pharaohs: Egypt Under the
Ptolemies, 305-30 BC (Princeton, 2009).
14 CHAPTER 1. PTOLEMAIC KINGDOM

1.10 External links

• Map of Ptolemaic Egypt
Chapter 2

Cleopatra

For other uses, see Cleopatra (disambiguation). and the films Cleopatra (1934) and Cleopatra (1963).

Cleopatra VII Philopator (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλο-

πάτωρ; 69* [1] – August 12, 30 BC* [2]), known to his- 2.1 Etymology of the name
tory simply as Cleopatra, was the last active ruler of
Ptolemaic Egypt, briefly survived as pharaoh by her son
Caesarion. After her reign, Egypt became a province of
the recently established Roman Empire.
Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a fam-
ily of Macedonian Greek* [3] origin that ruled Egypt after
Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period.
The Ptolemies spoke Greek* [4] throughout their dynasty,
and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that
Greek as well as Egyptian languages were used on offi-
cial court documents such as the Rosetta Stone.* [5] By
contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian* [6] and
represented herself as the reincarnation of the Egyptian
goddess Isis.
Cleopatra originally ruled jointly with her father Ptolemy
XII Auletes, and later with her brothers Ptolemy XIII and
Ptolemy XIV, whom she married as per Egyptian custom,
but eventually she became sole ruler. As queen, she con-
summated a liaison with Julius Caesar that solidified her
grip on the throne. She later elevated Caesarion, her son
with Caesar, to co-ruler in name.
After Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, she aligned with
Mark Antony in opposition to Caesar's legal heir Gaius
Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus).
With Antony, she bore the twins Cleopatra Selene II Limestone stela of a high priest of god Ptah. It bears the car-
and Alexander Helios, and son Ptolemy Philadelphus touches of Cleopatra and Caesarion. From Egypt. Ptolemaic
(her unions with her brothers had produced no children). Period. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
Antony committed suicide after losing the Battle of Ac-
tium to Octavian's forces, and Cleopatra followed suit. The name Cleopatra is derived from the Greek name
Κλεοπάτρα (Kleopatra) which meant “she who comes
According to tradition, she killed herself by means of an
asp bite on August 12, 30 BC.* [7] She was outlived by from glorious father”or “glory of the father”in the
Caesarion, who was declared pharaoh by his supporters, feminine form, derived from κλέος (kleos)“glory”com-
but he was soon killed on Octavian's orders. Egypt then bined with πατήρ (pater) “father”(the masculine form
became the Roman province of Aegyptus. would be written either as Kleopatros (Κλεόπατρος), or
* *
Her legacy survives in numerous works of art and many Patroklos (Πάτροκλος)). [8] [9]
dramatizations of incidents from her life in literature
and other media, such as William Shakespeare's tragedy
Antony and Cleopatra, George Bernard Shaw's play 2.2 Biography
Caesar and Cleopatra, Jules Massenet's opera Cléopâtre,

15
16
2.2.1 Accession to the throne
Ptolemaic Queen (Cleopatra VII?), 50-30 B.C., 71.12, Brooklyn
Museum
The identity of Cleopatra's mother is unknown, but she
is generally believed to be Cleopatra V Tryphaena of
Egypt, the sister or cousin and wife of Ptolemy XII
Auletes, or possibly another Ptolemaic family mem-
ber who was the daughter of Ptolemy X and Cleopatra
Berenice III Philopator if Cleopatra V was not the daugh-
ter of Ptolemy X and Berenice III.* [10] Cleopatra's father
Auletes was a direct descendant of Alexander the Great's
general Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lagus, both
of Macedon.
Centralization of power and corruption led to uprisings in
and the losses of Cyprus and Cyrenaica, making Ptolemy
XII's reign one of the most calamitous of the dynasty.
Ptolemy went to Rome with Cleopatra; Cleopatra VI
Tryphaena seized the crown but died shortly afterwards
in suspicious circumstances. It is believed (though not
proven by historical sources) that Berenice IV poisoned
her so that she could assume sole rulership. Regardless
of the cause, she ruled until Ptolemy Auletes returned in
55 BC with Roman support, capturing Alexandria aided
by Roman general Aulus Gabinius. Berenice was impris-
oned and executed shortly afterwards, her head allegedly
being sent to the royal court on the decree of her father,
the king. Cleopatra now became joint regent and deputy
to her father at age 14, although her power would have
been severely limited.
Ptolemy XII died in March 51 BC. His will made 18-year-
old Cleopatra and her 10-year-old brother Ptolemy XIII
CHAPTER 2. CLEOPATRA
joint monarchs. The first three years of their reign were
difficult due to economic failures, famine, deficient floods
of the Nile, and political conflicts. Cleopatra was married
to her young brother, but she quickly made it clear that she
had no intention of sharing power with him.
In August 51 BC, relations completely broke down
between Cleopatra and Ptolemy. Cleopatra dropped
Ptolemy's name from official documents and her face
alone appeared on coins, which went against Ptolemaic
tradition of female rulers being subordinate to male co-
rulers. In 50 BC, Cleopatra came into serious conflict
with the Gabiniani, powerful Roman troops of Aulus
Gabinius who had left them in Egypt to protect Ptolemy
XII after his restoration to the throne in 55 BC. The
Gabiniani killed the sons of the Roman governor of
Syria Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus when they came to ask
the Gabiniani to assist their father against the Parthi-
ans. Cleopatra handed the murderers over to Bibulus
in chains, whereupon the Gabiniani became bitter ene-
mies of the queen.* [11] This conflict was one of the main
causes of Cleopatra's fall from power shortly afterward.
The sole reign of Cleopatra was finally ended by a cabal of
courtiers led by the eunuch Pothinus, in connection with
half-Greek general Achillas, and Theodotus of Chios.
Circa 48 BC, Cleopatra's younger brother Ptolemy XIII
became sole ruler.* [12]
Cleopatra tried to raise a rebellion around Pelusium, but
was soon forced to flee with her only remaining sister
Arsinoë.* [13]
2.2.2 Relations with Rome
Assassination of Pompey
While Cleopatra was in exile, Pompey became embroiled
in the Roman civil war. Pompey fled to Alexandria from
the forces of Caesar, seeking sanctuary after his defeat at
the Battle of Pharsalus in late 48 BC. Ptolemy was thir-
teen years old at that time, and had set up a throne for
himself on the harbor. From there, he watched as Pom-
pey was murdered on September 28, 48 BC, by one of
his former officers, now in Ptolemaic service. He was
beheaded in front of his wife and children, who were on
the ship from which he had just disembarked. Ptolemy
is thought to have ordered the death to ingratiate himself
with Caesar, thus becoming an ally of Rome, to which
Egypt was in debt at the time. This act proved a mis-
calculation on Ptolemy's part. Caesar arrived in Egypt
two days later, and Ptolemy presented him with Pom-
pey's severed head. Caesar was enraged. Pompey was
Caesar's political enemy, but he was a Roman consul and
the widower of Caesar's only legitimate daughter Julia,
who died during childbirth. Caesar seized the Egyptian
capital and imposed himself as arbiter between the rival
claims of Ptolemy and Cleopatra.
2.2. BIOGRAPHY
Relationship with Julius Caesar
Cleopatra and Caesar (1866). Painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Cleopatra was eager to take advantage of Julius Caesar's
anger toward Ptolemy and had herself secretly smuggled
into his palace to meet with Caesar. Plutarch gives a vivid
description in his Life of Julius Caesar* [14] of how she
entered past Ptolemy’s guards rolled up in a carpet that
Apollodorus the Sicilian was carrying.* [15] She became
Caesar’s mistress and gave birth to their son Ptolemy
Caesar in 47 BC, nine months after their first meeting. He
was nicknamed Caesarion, which means“little Caesar.”
At this point, Caesar abandoned his plans to annex
Egypt, instead backing Cleopatra's claim to the throne.
Mithridates raised the siege of Alexandria, and Cae-
sar defeated Ptolemy's army at the Battle of the Nile.
Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile,* [16]* [17] and Cae-
sar restored Cleopatra to her throne with younger brother
Ptolemy XIV as her new co-ruler.* [18]* [19]* [20] When
Caesar left Egypt, he stationed a Roman occupying army
there of three legions under the command of Rufio.* [21]
Cleopatra was 21 years old when they met and Caesar was
52; they became lovers during Caesar’s stay in Egypt
between 48 BC and 47 BC. Cleopatra claimed that Cae-
sar was the father of her son and wished him to name
the boy his heir; but Caesar refused, choosing his grand-
nephew Octavian instead. During this relationship, it was
also rumored that Cleopatra introduced Caesar to her as-
tronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, who proposed the idea
of leap days and leap years. This was not new; they were
17
Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion at the Temple of Dendera
proclaimed in 238 BC but the reform never took effect.
Caesar made this the basis of his reform of the Roman
calendar in 45 BC, and the Egyptian calendar was re-
formed along these lines in 26 BC.
Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIV, and Caesarion visited Rome in
mid-46 BC. The Egyptian queen resided in one of Cae-
sar's country houses, which included the Horti Caesaris
just outside Rome. (As a foreign head of state, she was
not allowed inside Rome's pomerium.)* [22]* [23] The re-
lationship between Cleopatra and Caesar was obvious to
the Roman people and caused a scandal because the Ro-
man dictator was already married to Calpurnia. But Cae-
sar even erected a golden statue of Cleopatra represented
as Isis in the temple of Venus Genetrix (the mythical an-
cestress of Caesar's family), which was situated at the
Forum Julium.* [24]* [25] Roman orator Cicero said in
his preserved letters that he hated the foreign queen.* [23]
Cleopatra and her entourage were still in Rome when
Caesar was assassinated on 15 March 44 BC,* [26] and
after his death returned with her relatives to Egypt. When
Ptolemy XIV died, allegedly poisoned by his older sister,
Cleopatra made Caesarion her co-regent and successor
and gave him the epithets Theos Philopator Philometor
(Father-loving and mother-loving God).* [27]* [28]* [29]
Cleopatra in the Roman Civil War
Cleopatra sided with the Caesarian party in the Roman
civil war between the Caesarian faction, led by Mark
Antony and Octavian, and the faction including the as-
sassins of Caesar led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius
Cassius Longinus, because of her past. Brutus and Cas-
18
sius left Italy and sailed to the east of the Roman Empire,
where they conquered large areas and established mili-
tary bases. At the beginning of 43 BC, Cleopatra formed
an alliance with the leader of the Caesarian party in the
east, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, who also recognized
Caesarion as her co-ruler.* [30]* [31] But soon, Dolabella
was encircled in Laodicea and committed suicide (July 43
BC).
Cassius wanted to invade Egypt to seize the treasures of
that country and punish Cleopatra for her support for
Dolabella. Egypt seemed an easy target because it did
not have strong land forces and there was famine and an
epidemic. Cassius also wanted to prevent Cleopatra from
bringing reinforcements for Antony and Octavian. But
he could not execute an invasion of Egypt because Bru-
tus summoned him back to Smyrna at the end of 43 BC.
Cassius tried to blockade Cleopatra’s route to the Cae-
sarians. For this purpose, Lucius Staius Murcus moved
with 60 ships and a legion of elite troops into position at
Cape Matapan in the south of the Peloponnese. Never-
theless, Cleopatra sailed with her fleet from Alexandria
to the west along the Libyan coast to join the Caesarian
leaders, but she was forced to return to Egypt because her
ships were damaged by a violent storm and she became
ill. Staius Murcus learned of the queen's misfortune and
saw wreckage from her ships on the coast of Greece. He
then sailed with his ships into the Adriatic Sea.* [32]
Cleopatra and Mark Antony
Antony and Cleopatra, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Mark Antony was one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome
in the power vacuum following Caesar's death. He sent
his intimate friend Quintus Dellius to Egypt in 41 BC,
summoning Cleopatra to Tarsus in order to meet Antony
and answer questions about her loyalty. During the Ro-
man civil war, she allegedly had paid much money to Cas-
sius. It seems that, in reality, Antony wanted Cleopatra’s
promise to support his intended war against the Parthians.
Cleopatra arrived in great state, and so charmed Antony
that he chose to spend late 41 BC to early 40 BC with her
in Alexandria.* [33]
CHAPTER 2. CLEOPATRA
Denarius, 32 BC. Obverse: Diademed bust of Cleopatra,
CLEOPATRA[E REGINAE REGVM]FILIORVM REGVM. Re-
verse: Bust of M. Antony, ANTONI ARMENIA DEVICTA
To safeguard herself and Caesarion, she had Antony or-
der the death of her sister Arsinoe, who had been ban-
ished to the Temple of Artemis in Roman-controlled
Ephesus for her role in leading the Siege of Alexandria.
The execution was carried out in 41 BC on the steps of
the temple, and this violation of temple sanctuary scan-
dalised Rome.* [34] Cleopatra also retrieved her strategos
(military governor) of Cyprus Serapion, who had sup-
ported Cassius against her wishes.* [35]
On 25 December 40 BC, Cleopatra gave birth to twins
fathered by Antony, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Se-
lene II. Four years later, Antony visited Alexandria again
en route to make war with the Parthians. He renewed
his relationship with Cleopatra and, from this point on,
Alexandria was his home. He married Cleopatra accord-
ing to the Egyptian rite (a letter quoted in Suetonius sug-
gests this), although he was married at the time to Octavia
Minor, sister of his fellow triumvir Octavian. He and
Cleopatra had another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus.
A tetradrachm of Cleopatra VII, Syria mint
Cleopatra and Caesarion were crowned co-rulers of
Egypt and Cyprus at the Donations of Alexandria in
late 34 BC, following Antony's conquest of Armenia.
Alexander Helios was crowned ruler of Armenia, Media,
 2.2. BIOGRAPHY 19

and Parthia; Cleopatra Selene II was crowned ruler of

Cyrenaica and Libya; and Ptolemy Philadelphus was
crowned ruler of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Cleopatra
was also given the title of “Queen of Kings”by An-
tonius.* [36] Her enemies in Rome feared that Cleopatra
“was planning a war of revenge that was to array all the
East against Rome, establish herself as empress of the
world at Rome, cast justice from Capitolium, and inau-
gurate a new universal kingdom.”* [37] Caesarion was
elevated to having coregency with Cleopatra; he was also
proclaimed with many titles, including god, son of god,
and king of kings, and was depicted as Horus.* [38] Egyp-
tians thought that Cleopatra was a reincarnation of the
goddess Isis, as she called herself Nea Isis.* [39]
Relations between Antony and Octavian had been dis-
integrating for several years; they finally broke down in
33 BC, and Octavian convinced the Senate to levy war The Death of Cleopatra by Guido Cagnacci, 1658
against Egypt. In 31 BC, Antony's forces faced the Ro-
mans in a naval action off the coast of Actium. Cleopa-
tra was present with a fleet of her own. According to tioned these historical accounts, stating that it is possible
Plutarch, Cleopatra took flight with her ships at the height that Augustus had her killed.* [50] In 2010, German his-
of the battle, and Antony followed her.* [40] Following torian Christoph Schaefer challenged all other theories,
the Battle of Actium, Octavian invaded Egypt. As he ap- declaring that the queen had actually been poisoned and
proached Alexandria, Antony's armies deserted to Octa- died from drinking a mixture of poisons. After studying
vian on August 1, 30 BC. To finance her war against Oc- historical texts and consulting with toxicologists, the his-
tavian, Cleopatra took gold from the tomb of Alexander torian concluded that the asp could not have caused the
the Great, which had been previously robbed.* [41] quick and pain-free death claimed by most sources, since
the asp (Egyptian cobra) venom paralyses parts of the
There are a number of unverifiable stories about Cleopa- body, starting with the eyes, before causing death. Living
tra. One of the best known is that she playfully bet when and where she did, Cleopatra would have known of
Antony, at one of the lavish dinners which they shared, the violent and painful effects of an asp's venomous bite,
that she could spend ten million sestertii on a dinner. He so it is unlikely that it was the cause of her death. Also,
accepted the bet. The next night, she had a conventional, the asp's bite is not always fatal. Schaefer and his toxicol-
unspectacular meal served; he was ridiculing this, when ogist Dietrich Mebs have theorized that Cleopatra used a
she ordered the second course —only a cup of strong mixture of hemlock, wolfsbane, and opium.* [51]
vinegar. She then removed one of her priceless pearl ear-
rings, dropped it into the vinegar, allowed it to dissolve,
and drank the mixture. The earliest report of this story
comes from Pliny the Elder and dates to about 100 years
after the banquet described would have happened. The
calcium carbonate in pearls does dissolve in vinegar, but
slowly unless the pearl is first crushed.* [42]

2.2.3 Death
The ancient sources, particularly the Roman ones, are in
general agreement that Cleopatra killed herself by induc-
ing an Egyptian cobra to bite her. The oldest source is
Strabo, who was alive at the time of the event and might
even have been in Alexandria. He says that there are two
stories —that she applied a toxic ointment or that she
was bitten by an asp on her breast —but he said in his
writings that he was not sure if Cleopatra poisoned her-
self or was murdered.* [43] Several Roman poets writ-
ing within ten years of the event mention bites by two
asps,* [44]* [45]* [46] as does Florus, a historian, some
150 years later.* [47] Velleius, sixty years after the event,
also refers to an asp.* [48]* [49] Other authors have ques-
The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur, 1892
Plutarch, writing about 130 years after the event, re-
ports that Octavian succeeded in capturing Cleopatra in
her mausoleum after the death of Antony. He ordered
his freedman Epaphroditus to guard her to prevent her
from committing suicide, because he allegedly wanted to
present her in his triumph. But Cleopatra was able to
deceive Epaphroditus and kill herself nevertheless.* [52]
Plutarch states that she was found dead, her handmaiden
20 CHAPTER 2. CLEOPATRA

Iras dying at her feet, and handmaiden Charmion adjust-

ing her crown before she herself fell.* [53] He then goes
on to state that an asp was concealed in a basket of figs that
was brought to her by a rustic and, finding it after eating
a few figs, she held out her arm for it to bite. Other sto-
ries state that it was hidden in a vase and that she poked it
with a spindle until it got angry enough to bite her on the
arm. Finally, he indicates that, in Octavian's triumphal
march back in Rome, an effigy of Cleopatra was part of
the parade that had an asp clinging to it.* [54]
Suetonius, writing about the same time as Plutarch, also
says Cleopatra died from an asp bite.* [55]
Classical sources say that Cleopatra was bitten on the
arm,* [56]* [57]* [58] but she is more usually depicted in
medieval and Renaissance iconography with asps at her
breast, a tradition followed by Shakespeare.* [59]

Cleopatra is depicted taking her own life with the bite of a ven-
omous serpent. Adam Lenckhardt (Ivory).* [60] The Walters Art
Museum.

The Death of Cleopatra by Juan Luna, 1881.

pharaoh by the Egyptians after Alexandria fell to Octa-
Plutarch tells us of the death of Antony. When his armies vian. Caesarion was captured and killed, his fate report-
deserted him and joined with Octavian, he cried out that edly sealed when one of Octavian's advisers paraphrased
Cleopatra had betrayed him. She locked herself in her Homer:“It is bad to have too many Caesars.”* [63] This
monument with only her two handmaidens, fearing his ended the Hellenistic line of Egyptian pharaohs and, in
wrath, and sent messengers to tell Antony that she was fact, the line of all Egyptian pharaohs. The three children
dead. Believing them, Antony stabbed himself in the of Cleopatra and Antony were spared and taken back to
stomach with his sword, and lay on his couch to die. In- Rome, where they were taken care of by Antony's wife
stead, the blood flow stopped, and he begged any and all Octavia Minor. The daughter Cleopatra Selene was mar-
to finish him off. Another messenger came from Cleopa- ried through arrangements of Octavian to Juba II of Mau-
tra with instructions to bring him to her, and he con- retania.* [64]
sented, rejoicing that Cleopatra was still alive. She would
not open the door, but tossed ropes out of a window. Af-
ter Antony was securely trussed up, she and her hand-
maidens hauled him up into the monument. This nearly
2.3 Character and cultural depic-
finished him off. After dragging him in through the win- tions
dow, they laid him on a couch. Cleopatra tore off her
clothes and covered him with them. She raved and cried, Main article: Cultural depictions of Cleopatra
beat her breasts, and engaged in self-mutilation. Antony
told her to calm down, asked for a glass of wine, and died
upon finishing it.* [61] Cleopatra was regarded as a great beauty, even in the an-
cient world. In his Life of Antony, Plutarch remarks that
The site of their mausoleum is uncertain, though the “judging by the proofs which she had had before this of
Egyptian Antiquities Service believes that it is in or the effect of her beauty upon Caius Caesar and Gnaeus
near the temple of Taposiris Magna, southwest of the son of Pompey, she had hopes that she would more
Alexandria.* [62] easily bring Antony to her feet. For Caesar and Pompey
Caesarion, Cleopatra's son by Caesar, was proclaimed had known her when she was still a girl and inexperienced
2.4. ANCESTRY 21

Cleopatra Testing Poisons on Condemned Prisoners by

Alexandre Cabanel (1887).

beauty, as we are told, was in itself neither altogether in-

comparable, nor such as to strike those who saw her.”
*
[65] Rather, what ultimately made Cleopatra attractive
were her wit, charm and “sweetness in the tones of her
voice.”* [65]
Cassius Dio also spoke of Cleopatra's allure: “For she
was a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when
she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking;
she also possessed a most charming voice and knowledge
of how to make herself agreeable to everyone. Being bril-
liant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to sub-
jugate everyone, even a love-sated man already past his
prime, she thought that it would be in keeping with her
role to meet Caesar, and she reposed in her beauty all her
claims to the throne.”* [65]
These accounts influenced later cultural depictions of
Cleopatra, which typically present her using her charms
to influence the most powerful men in the Western world.
Cleopatra was also renowned for her intellect. Plutarch
writes that she could speak at least nine languages and
rarely had need of an interpreter.* [66]

2.4 Ancestry
The high degree of inbreeding amongst the Ptolemies
is also illustrated by Cleopatra's immediate ancestry, of
which a reconstruction is shown below.* [67] Through
three uncle–niece marriages and three sister–brother
marriages, her family tree collapses to a single couple at
four, five or six generations back (counting through dif-
ferent lines).* [68]
It has often been said that “there was not one drop of
Egyptian blood in the Ptolemaic line”,* [69] and that the
Romans, in all their anti-Cleopatra propaganda, made no
Statue of Cleopatra as Egyptian goddess; Basalt, second half of mention of any illegitimacy against her.
the 1st century BC. Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
Ancestors of Cleopatra VII of Egypt

in affairs, but she was going to visit Antony at the very

time when women have the most brilliant beauty.”* [65]
Later in the work, however, Plutarch indicates that “her Some of Cleopatra's ancestors were the same person. For
22 CHAPTER 2. CLEOPATRA

instance, her mother was her father's niece and thus not [7] “Who Was Cleopatra? (page 2)". Smithsonian Magazine.
only her mother but also her cousin. This family tree Retrieved 2008-01-22.
attempts to present those relationships in a more easily-
[8]“Cleopatra: Meaning & History”. Behind the Name.com.
understood format. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
|}
[9] “Kleopatros: Meaning & History”. Behind the
Name.com. Retrieved 4 April 2014.

2.5 See also [10] German historian Werner Huß (Die Herkunft der Kleopa-
tra Philopator (The descent of Cleopatra Philopator), Ae-
gyptus 70, 1990, pp. 191–203) assumes instead that
• List of female rulers and title holders Cleopatra's mother was a high-born Egyptian woman,
who possibly had become the second wife of Ptolemy XII
• Zenobia after he had repudiated Cleopatra V.

[11] Valerius Maximus 4.1.15

2.6 Notes [12] Anderson, Jaynie (2003). Tiepolo's Cleopatra. Macmil-

lan Education AU. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-876832-44-5. Re-
[1] Walker, p. 129. trieved 10 February 2012.

[13] Peter Green (1990), Alexander to Actium: The Historical

[2] T.C. Skeat,“The Last Days of Cleopatra: A Chronologi-
Evolution of the Hellenistic Age, Berkeley: University of
cal Problem”, The Journal of Roman Studies, 43 (1953),
California Press, pp. 661–664, ISBN 0-520-05611-6
pp. 98–100 .
[14] Parallel Lives - The Life of Julius Caesar, 49
[3] • Western civilisation:ideas, Politics, and society by
Marvin Perry, Margaret C Jacob, Myrna Chase, [15] So dramatic is the report of Plutarch (Caesar 49.1–3) that
James R Jacob page 132: ”Cleopatra (69- 30 BC), it is doubted by some scholars. Cleopatra had to be smug-
the Greek queen of Egypt, belonged to the Ptole- gled in secretly because Ptolemy XIII had blocked all en-
maic family, the Macedonian Greeks who ruled tries to Alexandria, making it impossible for his half-sister
Egypt during the Hellenistic Age”. *The Civiliza- to come into the city.
tion of Rome by Donald R. Dudley, Page 57: ”In
Egypt the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies was the [16] De Bello Alexandrino28–32
successor to the native Pharaohs, exploiting through
[17] Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.43
a highly organized bureaucracy the great natural re-
sources of the Nile Valley”. *The Oxford Ency- [18] De Bello Alexandrino 33
clopedia of Ancient Egypt. Cleopatra VII was born
to Ptolemy XII Auletes (80–57 BC, ruled 55–51 [19] Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.44
BC) and Cleopatra, both parents being Macedo-
[20] Suetonius, Caesar 35.1
nian Greeks.”*Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of
Ancient Egypt by Kathryn Bard, page 488 “Ptole- [21] Suetonius, Caesar 76.3
maic kings were still crowned at Memphis and the
city was popularly regarded as the Egyptian rival [22] Cassius Dio, Roman History 43.27.3
to Alexandria, founded by the Macedonian Greeks”
[23] Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.15.2
; Page 687: “During the Ptolemaic period, when
Egypt was governed by rulers of Greek descent…” [24] Appian, Civil Wars 2.102.424
*Cleopatra: A Sourcebook (Oklahoma Series in
Classical Culture) by Prudence J. Jones (Author) [25] Cassius Dio, Roman History 51.22.3
page14:“They were members of the Ptolemaic dy-
nasty of Macedonian Greeks, who ruled Egypt after [26] Cicero (Letters to Atticus 14.8.1, written on 16 April 44
the death of its conqueror, Alexander the Great.” BC) says that he was very glad that the Queen fled.
*Women in Hellenistic Egypt by Sarah B. Pomeroy, [27] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 15.89
page 16 “while Ptolemaic Egypt was a monarchy
with a Greek ruling class.” [28] Porphyry, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (FGrH)
260 F 2, 16-17
[4] Cleopatra: the life of an Egyptian queen By Gary Jef-
frey, Anita Ganeri page 6 :”Throughout their dynasty, [29] stele BM 377 (15 February 42 BC) and others
the Ptolemies held onto their Greek culture and continued
[30] Appian, Civil Wars 4.61.262–263
to speak Greek as their main language.”.
[31] Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.30.4 and 47.31.5
[5] “Radio 4 Programmes - A History of the World in
100 Objects, Empire Builders (300 BC - 1 AD), Rosetta [32] Appian, Civil Wars 4.63; 4.74; 4.82; 5.8
Stone”. BBC. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
[33] Plutarch, Life of Antony 25-29; Appian, Civil Wars 5.8-
[6] Plutarch, Antony 27 11; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48.24
2.7. REFERENCES
[34] BBC documentary, Cleopatra portrait of a killer
[35] Appian, Civil Wars 5.9.35
[36] Syme, p. 270.
[37] Syme, p. 274.
[38] Stanley Mayer Burstein (30 December 2007), The Reign
of Cleopatra, University of Oklahoma Press, p. 20, ISBN
978-0-8061-3871-8, retrieved 31 March 2011
[39] Plutarch, Life of Antony 54.9
[40] 'Actium', The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature,
third edition, edited by M. C. Howatson. Oxford Univer-
sity, 2011.
[41] “Alexander the Great, King of Macedon”. Archaeology.
July 16, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
[42] Ullman, Berthold L. (1957), “Cleopatra's Pearls”, The
Classical Journal, 52 (5): 193–201.
[43] Strabo, Geography, XVII 10
[44] Note that an unnamed editor of the respected Loeb Classi-
cal Library translation stated that the“twin snakes”men-
tioned in the text are simply a“symbol of death.”Virgil,
Aeneid, VIII 696–697
[45] Horace, Odes, I 37
[46] Sextus Propertius, Elegies, III 11
[47] Florus, Epitome of Roman History, II 21
[48] Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History, II 87
[49] For a possible poetic allusion to the asp, see Wallace
Stevens' In the Carolinas
[50] Everitt, Anthony (2007), Augustus: The Life of Rome's
First Emperor, New York: Random House Trade Paper-
backs, pp. 194–195, ISBN 0-8129-7058-6
[51] Melissa Gray (2010-06-30). “Poison, not snake, killed
Cleopatra, scholar says - Cleopatra died a quiet and pain
free death, historian alleges.”. CNN. Retrieved 2015-10-
11.
[52] Plutarch, Life of Antony 79.6 and 85.4–6; Cassius Dio,
Roman History 51.11.4–5 and 51.13.3–5
[53] Plutarch, Parallel Lives, LXXXV 2–3 (Life of Antony)
[54] Plutarch, ibid., LXXXVI 3. See also Cassius Dio, Roman
History, LI 21
[55] Suetonius, On the Life of the Caesars, Augustus, XVII 4
[56] Plutarch, loc. cit.
[57] Cassius Dio, op. cit., LI 14
[58] Galen, De Theriaca ad Pisonem, CCXXXVII, who says
she bit herself, rather than an asp biting her.
[59] Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, V ii
[60] “Cleopatra”. The Walters Art Museum.
23
[61] Plutarch, ibid.
[62] “Dig 'may reveal' Cleopatra's tomb”. BBC News. 2009-
04-15. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
[63] Plutarch, Life of Antony 81.4 – 82.1; Cassius Dio, Roman
History 51.15.5; Suetonius, Augustus 17.5
[64] Plutarch, Life of Antony 87.1–2; Cassius Dio, Roman His-
tory 51.15.6; Suetonius, Augustus 17.5 and Caligula 26.1
[65] “The Beauty of Cleopatra”. University of Chicago. Re-
trieved 2008-05-28.
[66]“she could pass from one language to another; so that there
were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by
an interpreter; to most of them she spoke herself, as to
the Ethiopians, Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians,
Medes, Parthians, and many others, whose language she
had learnt; which was all the more surprising because most
of the kings, her predecessors, scarcely gave themselves
the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of
them quite abandoned the Macedonian.”Plutarch, Antony,
27.3-4
[67] Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal
Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004.
ISBN 0-500-05128-3 The family tree and short discus-
sions of the individuals can be found on pages 268-281.
The authors refer to Cleopatra V as Cleopatra VI and
Cleopatra Selene I is called Cleopatra V Selene.
[68] Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra: A Life, Hachette Digital, Inc.,
2010, ISBN 978-0-316-00192-2 Google Books
[69] HSC Ancient History, By Peter Roberts, pg 125, at
https://books.google.co.za/books?id=Krh7n9AyS40C&
pg=PA129&dq=arsinoe+iv&hl=en&sa=X&ved=
0ahUKEwjYz-KfxrzOAhXEAsAKHbaGD2MQ6AEILDAD#
v=onepage&q=arsinoe%20iv&f=false
2.7 References
Primary sources
• Hegesippus, Historiae i.29–32.
• Lucan, Bellum civile ix.909–911, x.
• Macrobius, Saturnalia iii.17.14–18.
• Orosius, Historiae adversus paganos vi.16.1–2,
19.4–18.
• Pliny, Naturalis historia vii.2.14, ix.58.119–121,
xxi.9.12.
• Plutarch (1958),“Caesar”, in Warner, Rex, Fall of
the Roman Republic, London: Penguin Books, ISBN
0-14-044084-4
• Plutarch (1965),“Mark Antony”, in Scott-Kilvert,
Ian, Makers of Rome, Baltimore: Penguin Books,
ISBN 0-14-044158-1
24 CHAPTER 2. CLEOPATRA

• Suetonius, De vita Caesarum Iul i.35.52, ii.17.
Modern sources
• Bradford, Ernle Dusgate Selby (2000), Cleopatra,
Penguin Group, ISBN 978-0-14-139014-7
• Cleopatra, a Victorian children's book by Jacob Ab-
bott, 1852, Project Gutenberg edition
• “Mysterious Death of Cleopatra”at the Discovery
Channel
• Cleopatra VII at BBC History

• Burstein, Stanley M. (2004), The reign of Cleopa-

tra, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-
32527-8

• Flamarion, Edith; Bonfante-Warren, Alexandra

(1997), Cleopatra: The Life and Death of a
Pharaoh, Harry Abrams, ISBN 978-0-8109-2805-
3

• Foss, Michael (1999), The Search for Cleopatra, Ar-

cade Publishing, ISBN 978-1-55970-503-5

• Fraser, P.M. (1972), Ptolemaic Alexandria, Oxford:

Clarendon Press, ISBN 0-19-814278-1

• Lindsay, Jack (1972), Cleopatra, New York:

Coward-McCann

• Nardo, Don (1994), Cleopatra, Lucent Books, ISBN

978-1-56006-023-9

• Pomeroy, Sarah B. (1984), Women in Hellenistic

Egypt: from Alexander to Cleopatra, New York:
Schocken Books, ISBN 0-8052-3911-1

• Roller, Duane W. (2010), Cleopatra: a biography,

Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-
536553-5

• Southern, Pat (2000), Cleopatra, Tempus, ISBN

978-0-7524-1494-2

• Syme, Ronald (1962), The Roman Revolution, Ox-

ford University Press

• Volkmann, H. (1958), Cleopatra: A Study in Poli-

tics and Propaganda, T.J. Cadoux, trans, New York:
Sagamore Press

• Walker, Susan; Higgs, Peter (2001), Cleopatra of

Egypt, From History to Myth, British Museum Press,
ISBN 978-0-7141-1943-4

• Weigall, Arthur (1923), The Life and Times of

Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, London: Putnam

2.8 External links

•

• Cleopatra on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)

• Vanessa Collingridge (2014).“Cleopatra: A Time-

watch Guide”. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
Chapter 3
Ancient Egypt
For the British history magazine, see Ancient Egypt
(magazine).
The Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza are among the most
recognizable symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern
Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile
River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It
is one of six civilizations to arise independently. Egyp- that supported the building of monumental pyramids,
tian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced temples, and obelisks; a system of mathematics, a prac-
around 3150 BC (according to conventional Egyptian
chronology)* [1] with the political unification of Upper
and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer (com-
monly referred to as Menes).* [2] The history of ancient
Egypt occurred in a series of stable kingdoms, separated
by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate
Periods: the Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the
Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New
Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.
Egypt reached the pinnacle of its power in the New King-
dom, during the Ramesside period, where it rivalled the
Hittite Empire, Assyrian Empire and Mitanni Empire, af-
ter which it entered a period of slow decline. Egypt was
invaded or conquered by a succession of foreign powers,
such as the Canaanites/Hyksos, Libyans, the Nubians, the
Assyrians, Babylonians, the Achaemenid Persians, and
the Macedonians in the Third Intermediate Period and
the Late Period of Egypt. In the aftermath of Alexander
the Great's death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter, es-
tablished himself as the new ruler of Egypt. This Greek
Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, un-
der Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a
Roman province.* [3]
The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly
from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile
River valley for agriculture. The predictable flooding and
controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced sur-
plus crops, which supported a more dense population, and
social development and culture. With resources to spare,
the administration sponsored mineral exploitation of the
valley and surrounding desert regions, the early develop-
ment of an independent writing system, the organization
of collective construction and agricultural projects, trade
with surrounding regions, and a military intended to de-
feat foreign enemies and assert Egyptian dominance. Mo-
tivating and organizing these activities was a bureaucracy
of elite scribes, religious leaders, and administrators un-
der the control of a pharaoh, who ensured the coopera-
tion and unity of the Egyptian people in the context of an
elaborate system of religious beliefs.* [4]* [5]
The many achievements of the ancient Egyptians include
the quarrying, surveying and construction techniques
tical and effective system of medicine, irrigation systems
and agricultural production techniques, the first known
planked boats,* [6] Egyptian faience and glass technol-
ogy, new forms of literature, and the earliest known peace
treaty, made with the Hittites.* [7] Egypt left a lasting
legacy. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and
its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world. Its
monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of trav-
elers and writers for centuries. A new-found respect for
antiquities and excavations in the early modern period by
Europeans and Egyptians led to the scientific investiga-
tion of Egyptian civilization and a greater appreciation of
its cultural legacy.* [8]
25
26 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

3.1 History 3.1.1 Predynastic period

Main article: Predynastic Egypt
Main articles: History of ancient Egypt, History of Egypt, In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian
and Population history of Egypt
The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much

Mediterranean Sea
Jerusalem

Sea
Gaza

Dead
Damietta
Rosetta
Rafah
Alexandria Buto

Sais Tanis Pelusium

Naukratis Busiris
Avaris

NW
N

NE
Wadi Natrun Bubastis
W E
Nile Delta
SW

S
SE
Merimda Great Bitter
Lake
Heliopolis
Cairo
Giza
0 (km) 100

Sinai
0 (mi) 60

Saqqara
Memphis
Helwan
Dahshur

Faiyum
Lake
Moeri
s

Meydum
Lower Timna

Lahun Egypt
Herakleopolis Serabit al-Khadim
qaba
river

of A
Gu
Nile

lf

Bahariya Oasis
of

Gulf
S ue
z

Beni Hasan
Hermopolis
Amarna

Asyut
Badari
Eastern Desert
Qau

Western Desert Akhmim

Red Sea
Thinis
Abydos river
Nile Dendera
Quseir
Kharga Oasis Naqada Koptos at
Hammam
Wadi

Thebes
Dakhla Oasis Tod
(Luxor and Karnak)

Upper Hierakonpolis
Egypt Edfu

Kom Ombo
A typical Naqada II jar decorated with gazelles. (Predynastic
Aswan
First Cataract
Bernike
Period)
Dunqul Oasis

climate was much less arid than it is today. Large regions

Nabta Playa

Abu Simbel
Wad
i Alla
of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by
qi

herds of grazing ungulates. Foliage and fauna were far

Buhen

more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported

Second Cataract Kush large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been
Wa
d

common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when

iG
ab
ga
ba

Nubian Desert
many animals were first domesticated.* [11]
Third Cataract

Kerma
riv
er
By about 5500 BC, small tribes living in the Nile valley
had developed into a series of cultures demonstrating firm
ile
N

Kawa

Fourth Cataract

Napata
control of agriculture and animal husbandry, and identi-
Gebel Barkal
Fifth Cataract

fiable by their pottery and personal items, such as combs,

bracelets, and beads. The largest of these early cultures in
Meroe
upper (Southern) Egypt was the Badari, which probably
originated in the Western Desert; it was known for its high
quality ceramics, stone tools, and its use of copper.* [12]
Map of ancient Egypt, showing major cities and sites of the Dy-
nastic period (c. 3150 BC to 30 BC) The Badari was followed by the Amratian (Naqada I)
and Gerzeh (Naqada II) cultures,* [13] which brought
a number of technological improvements. As early as
of human history.* [9] The fertile floodplain of the Nile the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported
gave humans the opportunity to develop a settled agri- obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other
cultural economy and a more sophisticated, centralized objects from flakes.* [14] In Naqada II times, early ev-
society that became a cornerstone in the history of hu- idence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly
man civilization.* [10] Nomadic modern human hunter- Canaan and the Byblos coast.* [15] Over a period of about
gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end 1,000 years, the Naqada culture developed from a few
of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By small farming communities into a powerful civilization
the late Paleolithic period, the arid climate of Northern whose leaders were in complete control of the people and
Africa became increasingly hot and dry, forcing the pop- resources of the Nile valley.* [16] Establishing a power
ulations of the area to concentrate along the river region. center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III
3.1. HISTORY 27

leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along

the Nile.* [17] They also traded with Nubia to the south,
the oases of the western desert to the west, and the cul-
tures of the eastern Mediterranean and Near East to the
east.* [17] Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced arti-
facts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dy-
nastic symbols, such as the white crown of Egypt and fal-
con.* [18]* [19]
The Naqada culture manufactured a diverse selection of
material goods, reflective of the increasing power and
wealth of the elite, as well as societal personal-use items,
which included combs, small statuary, painted pottery,
high quality decorative stone vases, cosmetic palettes, and
jewelry made of gold, lapis, and ivory. They also devel- The Narmer Palette depicts the unification of the Two
oped a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used Lands.* [27]
well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets,
and figurines.* [20] During the last predynastic phase, the 3.1.3 Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC)
Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventu-
ally were developed into a full system of hieroglyphs for Main article: Old Kingdom of Egypt
writing the ancient Egyptian language.* [21] Major advances in architecture, art, and technology

3.1.2 Early Dynastic Period (c. 3050 –

2686 BC)

Main article: Early Dynastic Period of Egypt

The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contem-

porary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of
Mesopotamia and of ancient Elam. The third-century
BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of
pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties,
a system still used today.* [22] He chose to begin his of- The Giza Pyramids
ficial history with the king named “Meni”(or Menes
in Greek) who was believed to have united the two king- were made during the Old Kingdom, fueled by the in-
doms of Upper and Lower Egypt (around 3100 BC).* [23] creased agricultural productivity and resulting popula-
The transition to a unified state happened more gradu- tion, made *
possible by a well-developed central adminis-
ally than ancient Egyptian writers represented, and there tration. [28] Some of ancient Egypt's crowning achieve-
is no contemporary record of Menes. Some scholars ments, the Giza pyramids and Great Sphinx, were con-
now believe, however, that the mythical Menes may have structed during the Old Kingdom. Under the direction of
been the pharaoh Narmer, who is depicted wearing royal the vizier, state officials collected taxes, coordinated irri-
regalia on the ceremonial Narmer Palette, in a sym- gation projects to improve crop yield, drafted peasants to
*
bolic act of unification. [24] In the Early Dynastic Pe- work on construction projects, and established a justice
*
riod about 3150 BC, the first of the Dynastic pharaohs system to maintain peace and order. [29]
solidified control over lower Egypt by establishing a cap- Along with the rising importance of a central administra-
ital at Memphis, from which he could control the labour tion arose a new class of educated scribes and officials
force and agriculture of the fertile delta region, as well who were granted estates by the pharaoh in payment for
as the lucrative and critical trade routes to the Levant. their services. Pharaohs also made land grants to their
The increasing power and wealth of the pharaohs during mortuary cults and local temples, to ensure that these in-
the early dynastic period was reflected in their elaborate stitutions had the resources to worship the pharaoh af-
mastaba tombs and mortuary cult structures at Abydos, ter his death. Scholars believe that five centuries of
which were used to celebrate the deified pharaoh after his these practices slowly eroded the economic power of
death.* [25] The strong institution of kingship developed the pharaoh, and that the economy could no longer af-
by the pharaohs served to legitimize state control over the ford to support a large centralized administration.* [30]
land, labour, and resources that were essential to the sur- As the power of the pharaoh diminished, regional gover-
vival and growth of ancient Egyptian civilization.* [26] nors called nomarchs began to challenge the supremacy of
28 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

trolled Lower Egypt in the north, while a rival clan based

in Thebes, the Intef family, took control of Upper Egypt
in the south. As the Intefs grew in power and expanded
their control northward, a clash between the two rival dy-
nasties became inevitable. Around 2055 BC the north-
ern Theban forces under Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II fi-
nally defeated the Herakleopolitan rulers, reuniting the
Two Lands. They inaugurated a period of economic and
cultural renaissance known as the Middle Kingdom.* [35]

3.1.5 Middle Kingdom (2134–1690 BC)

Main article: Middle Kingdom of Egypt
The pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom restored the

Khafre Enthroned

the pharaoh. This, coupled with severe droughts between

2200 and 2150 BC,* [31] is assumed to have caused the
country to enter the 140-year period of famine and strife
known as the First Intermediate Period.* [32]

3.1.4 First Intermediate Period (2181–

1991 BC) Amenemhat III, the last great ruler of the Middle Kingdom

Main article: First Intermediate Period of Egypt

country's prosperity and stability, thereby stimulating a
resurgence of art, literature, and monumental building
After Egypt's central government collapsed at the end of projects.* [36] Mentuhotep II and his Eleventh Dynasty
the Old Kingdom, the administration could no longer sup- successors ruled from Thebes, but the vizier Amenemhat
port or stabilize the country's economy. Regional gover- I, upon assuming kingship at the beginning of the Twelfth
nors could not rely on the king for help in times of crisis, Dynasty around 1985 BC, shifted the nation's capital to
and the ensuing food shortages and political disputes es- the city of Itjtawy, located in Faiyum.* [37] From Itjtawy,
calated into famines and small-scale civil wars. Yet de- the pharaohs of the Twelfth Dynasty undertook a far-
spite difficult problems, local leaders, owing no tribute to sighted land reclamation and irrigation scheme to in-
the pharaoh, used their new-found independence to estab- crease agricultural output in the region. Moreover, the
lish a thriving culture in the provinces. Once in control military reconquered territory in Nubia that was rich in
of their own resources, the provinces became economi- quarries and gold mines, while laborers built a defensive
cally richer—which was demonstrated by larger and bet- structure in the Eastern Delta, called the "Walls-of-the-
ter burials among all social classes.* [33] In bursts of cre- Ruler", to defend against foreign attack.* [38]
ativity, provincial artisans adopted and adapted cultural With the pharaohs' having secured military and polit-
motifs formerly restricted to the royalty of the Old King- ical security and vast agricultural and mineral wealth,
dom, and scribes developed literary styles that expressed the nation's population, arts, and religion flourished. In
the optimism and originality of the period.* [34] contrast to elitist Old Kingdom attitudes towards the
Free from their loyalties to the pharaoh, local rulers be- gods, the Middle Kingdom experienced an increase in
gan competing with each other for territorial control and expressions of personal piety and what could be called a
political power. By 2160 BC, rulers in Herakleopolis con- democratization of the afterlife, in which all people pos-
3.1. HISTORY 29

sessed a soul and could be welcomed into the company The Egyptian Empire

C
Black Sea

as
15th century BC

pi
of the gods after death.* [39] Middle Kingdom literature

an
HITTITE

Se
featured sophisticated themes and characters written in EMPIRE

a
Sardes

a confident, eloquent style.* [34] The relief and portrait Mycenae

CI
LI
CI
A
ASSYRIA
Nineveh
Carchemish

sculpture of the period captured subtle, individual details SYRIA

ME
Assur
Citium
SO
that reached new heights of technical perfection.* [40] Mediteranean Sea Byblos
Sidon
Kadesh
Damascus
PO
TA
MIA
Tyre

N
Babylon

AA
The last great ruler of the Middle Kingdom, Amenemhat Gaza
Nippur

CAN
Tanis
Avaris Ur
Pe
III, allowed Semitic-speaking Canaanite settlers from the LIBYA
Memphis
SINAI
Heliopolis
r
Gu sian
lf

e
Near East into the delta region to provide a sufficient

Nil
Herakleopolis
ARABIA
EGYPTIAN
labour force for his especially active mining and building Abydos

Re
THEBES
campaigns. These ambitious building and mining activ-

d
Aswan
Elephantine I
ities, however, combined with severe Nile floods later in

Se
Abu Simbel

a
his reign, strained the economy and precipitated the slow EMPIRE
II

KUSH
decline into the Second Intermediate Period during the III IV

V
later Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties. During this Napata

decline, the Canaanite settlers began to seize control of VI

PUNT
the delta region, eventually coming to power in Egypt as (under Egyptian influence)

the Hyksos.* [41]

3.1.6 Second Intermediate Period (1674–

1549 BC) and the Hyksos The maximum territorial extent of ancient Egypt (15th century
BC)
Main article: Second Intermediate Period of Egypt

The New Kingdom pharaohs established a period of

Around 1785 BC, as the power of the Middle Kingdom unprecedented prosperity by securing their borders and
pharaohs weakened, a Western Asian people called the strengthening diplomatic ties with their neighbours, in-
Hyksos had already settled in the Eastern Delta town of cluding the Mitanni Empire, Assyria, and Canaan. Mili-
Avaris, seized control of Egypt, and forced the central tary campaigns waged under Tuthmosis I and his grand-
government to retreat to Thebes. The pharaoh was treated son Tuthmosis III extended the influence of the pharaohs
as a vassal and expected to pay tribute.* [42] The Hyksos to the largest empire Egypt had ever seen. Between their
(“foreign rulers”) retained Egyptian models of govern- reigns, Hatshepsut generally promoted peace and restored
ment and identified as pharaohs, thus integrating Egyp- trade routes lost during the Hyksos occupation, as well
tian elements into their culture. They and other invaders as expanding to new regions. When Tuthmosis III died
introduced new tools of warfare into Egypt, most notably in 1425 BC, Egypt had an empire extending from Niya
the composite bow and the horse-drawn chariot.* [43] in north west Syria to the fourth waterfall of the Nile in
After their retreat, the native Theban kings found them- Nubia, cementing loyalties and opening access to critical
*
selves trapped between the Canaanite Hyksos ruling the imports such as bronze and wood. [45]
north and the Hyksos' Nubian allies, the Kushites, to the
south of Egypt. After years of vassalage, Thebes gath-
ered enough strength to challenge the Hyksos in a con-
flict that lasted more than 30 years, until 1555 BC.* [42]
The pharaohs Seqenenre Tao II and Kamose were ulti-
mately able to defeat the Nubians to the south of Egypt,
but failed to defeat the Hyksos. That task fell to Kamose's
successor, Ahmose I, who successfully waged a series of
campaigns that permanently eradicated the Hyksos' pres-
ence in Egypt. He established a new dynasty. In the New
Kingdom that followed, the military became a central pri-
ority for the pharaohs seeking to expand Egypt's borders
and attempting to gain mastery of the Near East.* [44]

3.1.7 New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC) Djeser-Djeseru is the main building of Hatshepsut's mortuary
temple complex at Deir el-Bahri; the building is an example of
Main article: New Kingdom of Egypt perfect symmetry that predates the Parthenon by a thousand
years
30 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

The New Kingdom pharaohs began a large-scale building

campaign to promote the god Amun, whose growing cult
was based in Karnak. They also constructed monuments
to glorify their own achievements, both real and imag-
ined. The Karnak temple is the largest Egyptian temple
ever built.* [46] The pharaoh Hatshepsut used such hy-
perbole and grandeur during her reign of almost twenty-
two years.* [47] Her reign was very successful, marked by
an extended period of peace and wealth-building, trad-
ing expeditions to Punt, restoration of foreign trade net-
works, and great building projects, including an elegant
mortuary temple that rivaled the Greek architecture of
a thousand years later, a colossal pair of obelisks, and a
chapel at Karnak. Despite her achievements, Amenhotep
II, the heir to Hatshepsut's nephew-stepson Tuthmosis III,
sought to erase her legacy near the end of his father's reign
and throughout his, touting many of her accomplishments
as his.* [48] He also tried to change many established tra-
ditions that had developed over the centuries, which some
suggest was a futile attempt to prevent other women from
becoming pharaoh and to curb their influence in the king-
dom.
Around 1350 BC, the stability of the New Kingdom
seemed threatened further when Amenhotep IV ascended
the throne and instituted a series of radical and chaotic
reforms. Changing his name to Akhenaten, he touted
the previously obscure sun deity Aten as the supreme de-
ity, suppressed the worship of most other deities, and at- Four colossal statues of Ramesses II flank the entrance of his
tacked the power of the temple that had become domi- temple Abu Simbel
nated by the priests of Amun in Thebes, whom he saw
as corrupt.* [49] Moving the capital to the new city of
and the Sea Peoples, a conjectured* [53]* [54] confedera-
Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna), Akhenaten turned a
tion of seafarers from the Aegean Sea. Initially, the mil-
deaf ear to events in the Near East (where the Hittites,
itary was able to repel these invasions, but Egypt even-
Mitanni, and Assyrians were vying for control). He was
tually lost control of its remaining territories in southern
devoted to his new religion and artistic style. After his
Canaan, much of it falling to the Assyrians. The effects
death, the cult of the Aten was quickly abandoned, the
of external threats were exacerbated by internal problems
priests of Amun soon regained power and returned the
such as corruption, tomb robbery, and civil unrest. Af-
capital to Thebes. Under their influence the subsequent
ter regaining their power, the high priests at the temple
pharaohs Tutankhamun, Ay, and Horemheb worked to
of Amun in Thebes accumulated vast tracts of land and
erase all mention of Akhenaten's heresy, now known as
wealth, and their expanded power splintered the country
the Amarna Period.* [50]
during the Third Intermediate Period.* [55]
Around 1279 BC, Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses
the Great, ascended the throne, and went on to build
more temples, erect more statues and obelisks, and sire 3.1.8 Third Intermediate Period (1069–
more children than any other pharaoh in history.* [51] A 653 BC)
bold military leader, Ramesses II led his army against
the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh (in modern Syria) Main article: Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
and, after fighting to a stalemate, finally agreed to the
first recorded peace treaty, around 1258 BC.* [52] With
both the Egyptians and Hittite Empire proving unable to Following the death of Ramesses XI in 1078 BC,
gain the upper hand over one another, and both powers Smendes assumed authority over the northern part of
also fearful of the expanding Middle Assyrian Empire, Egypt, ruling from the city of Tanis. The south was effec-
Egypt withdrew from much of the Near East. The Hittites tively controlled by the High Priests of Amun at Thebes,
were thus left to compete unsuccessfully with the power- who recognized Smendes in name only.* [56] During this
ful Assyrians and the newly arrived Phrygians. time, Berber tribes from what was later to be called Libya
had been settling in the western delta, and the chieftains
Egypt's wealth, however, made it a tempting target for of these settlers began increasing their autonomy. Libyan
invasion, particularly by the Libyan Berbers to the west, princes took control of the delta under Shoshenq I in 945
3.1. HISTORY 31

BC, founding the Libyan Berber, or Bubastite, dynasty and invaded Egypt around 727 BC. Piye easily seized
that ruled for some 200 years. Shoshenq also gained con- control of Thebes and eventually the Nile Delta.* [60] He
trol of southern Egypt by placing his family members in recorded the episode on his stela of victory. Piye set the
important priestly positions. stage for subsequent Twenty-fifth dynasty pharaohs,* [61]
In the mid-ninth century BC, Egypt made a failed attempt such as Taharqa, to reunite the“Two lands”of Northern
to once more gain a foothold in Western Asia. Osorkon II and Southern Egypt. The Nile valley empire was as large
of Egypt, along with a large alliance of nations and peo- as it had been since the New Kingdom.
ples, including Persia, Israel, Hamath, Phoenicia/Canaan, The Twenty-fifth dynasty ushered in a renaissance period
the Arabs, Arameans, and neo Hittites among others, for ancient Egypt.* [62] Religion, the arts, and architec-
engaged in the Battle of Karkar against the powerful ture were restored to their glorious Old, Middle, and New
Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in 853 BC. However, this Kingdom forms. Pharaohs, such as Taharqa, built or re-
coalition of powers failed and the Neo Assyrian Empire stored temples and monuments throughout the Nile val-
continued to dominate Western Asia. ley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, Jebel Barkal,
*
Libyan Berber control began to erode as a rival native etc. [63] It was during the Twenty-fifth dynasty that there
dynasty in the delta arose under Leontopolis. Also, the was the first widespread construction of pyramids (many
Nubians of the Kushites threatened Egypt from the lands in modern* Sudan) *
in the Nile Valley since the Middle
*
*
to the south. [57] Kingdom. [64] [65] [66]
Piye made various unsuccessful attempts to extend Egyp-
tian influence in the Near East, then controlled by Assyria.
In 720 BC, he sent an army in support of a rebellion
against Assyria, which was taking place in Philistia and
Gaza. However, Piye was defeated by Sargon II and the
rebellion failed. In 711 BC, Piye again supported a re-
volt against Assyria by the Israelites of Ashdod and was
Chiefs of
the West
once again defeated by the Assyrian king Sargon II. Sub-
sequently, Piye was forced from the Near East.* [67]
From the 10th century BC onwards, Assyria fought for
control of the southern Levant. Frequently, cities and
kingdoms of the southern Levant appealed to Egypt for
aid in their struggles against the powerful Assyrian army.
Taharqa enjoyed some initial success in his attempts to
regain a foothold in the Near East. Taharqa aided the
Judean King Hezekiah when Hezekiah and Jerusalem
was besieged by the Assyrian king, Sennacherib. Schol-
ars disagree on the primary reason for Assyria's aban-
donment of their siege on Jerusalem. Reasons for
the Assyrian withdrawal range from conflict with the
Egyptian/Kushite army to divine intervention to sur-
render to disease.* [68] Henry Aubin argues that the
Kushite/Egyptian army saved Jerusalem from the Assyr-
ians and prevented the Assyrians from returning to cap-
ture Jerusalem for the remainder of Sennacherib's life
(20 years).* [69] Some argue that disease was the pri-
mary reason for failing to actually take the city; however,
Senacherib's annals claim Judah was forced into tribute
regardless.* [70]
Sennacherib had been murdered by his own sons for de-
stroying the rebellious city of Babylon, a city sacred to
all Mesopotamians, the Assyrians included. In 674 BC
Esarhaddon launched a preliminary incursion into Egypt;
however, this attempt was repelled by Taharqa.* [71]
Around 730 BC Libyans from the west fractured the political However, in 671 BC, Esarhaddon launched a full-scale in-
unity of the country vasion. Part of his army stayed behind to deal with rebel-
lions in Phoenicia, and Israel. The remainder went south
Drawing on millennia of interaction (trade, acculturation, to Rapihu, then crossed the Sinai, and entered Egypt.
occupation, assimilation, and war* [58]) with Egypt,* [59] Esarhaddon decisively defeated Taharqa, took Memphis,
the Kushite king Piye left his Nubian capital of Napata
32 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

Thebes and all the major cities of Egypt, and Taharqa was With no permanent plans for conquest, the Assyrians left
chased back to his Nubian homeland. Esarhaddon now control of Egypt to a series of vassals who became known
called himself “king of Egypt, Patros, and Kush", and as the Saite kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. By 653
returned with rich booty from the cities of the delta; he BC, the Saite king Psamtik I (taking advantage of the fact
erected a victory stele at this time, and paraded the cap- that Assyria was involved in a fierce war conquering Elam
tive Prince Ushankhuru, the son of Taharqa in Nineveh. and that few Assyrian troops were stationed in Egypt) was
Esarhaddon stationed a small army in northern Egypt and able to free Egypt relatively peacefully from Assyrian vas-
describes how“All Ethiopians (read Nubians/Kushites) I salage with the help of Lydian and Greek mercenaries,
deported from Egypt, leaving not one left to do homage to the latter of whom were recruited to form Egypt's first
me”.* [72] He installed native Egyptian princes through- navy. Psamtik and his successors however were careful
out the land to rule on his behalf.* [73] The conquest by to maintain peaceful relations with Assyria. Greek influ-
Esarhaddon effectively marked the end of the short lived ence expanded greatly as the city of Naukratis became
Kushite Empire. the home of Greeks in the delta.
However, the native Egyptian rulers installed by Esarhad- In 609 BC Necho II went to war with Babylonia, the
don were unable to retain full control of the whole coun- Chaldeans, the Medians and the Scythians in an attempt
try for long. Two years later, Taharqa returned from Nu- to save Assyria, which after a brutal civil war was being
bia and seized control of a section of southern Egypt as overrun by this coalition of powers. However, the attempt
far north as Memphis. Esarhaddon prepared to return to save Egypt's former masters failed. The Egyptians de-
to Egypt and once more eject Taharqa; however, he fell layed intervening too long, and Nineveh had already fallen
ill and died in his capital, Nineveh, before he left As- and King Sin-shar-ishkun was dead by the time Necho
syria. His successor, Ashurbanipal, sent an Assyrian gen- II sent his armies northwards. However, Necho easily
eral named Sha-Nabu-shu with a small, but well trained brushed aside the Israelite army under King Josiah but
army, which conclusively defeated Taharqa at Memphis he and the Assyrians then lost a battle at Harran to the
and once more drove him from Egypt. Taharqa died in Babylonians, Medes and Scythians. Necho II and Ashur-
Nubia two years later. uballit II of Assyria were finally defeated at Carchemish
in Aramea (modern Syria) in 605 BC. The Egyptians re-
mained in the area for some decades, struggling with the
Babylonian kings Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II
for control of portions of the former Assyrian Empire in
The Levant. However, they were eventually driven back
into Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar II even briefly invaded
Egypt itself in 567 BC.* [70] The Saite kings based in the
new capital of Sais witnessed a brief but spirited resur-
gence in the economy and culture, but in 525 BC, the
powerful Persians, led by Cambyses II, began their con-
quest of Egypt, eventually capturing the pharaoh Psamtik
III at the battle of Pelusium. Cambyses II then assumed
the formal title of pharaoh, but ruled Egypt from his home
of Susa in Persia (modern Iran), leaving Egypt under the
Twenty-fifth Dynasty
control of a satrapy. A few temporarily successful re-
His successor, Tanutamun, also made a failed attempt to volts against the Persians marked the fifth century BC,
regain Egypt for Nubia. He successfully defeated Necho, but Egypt* was never able to permanently overthrow the
the native Egyptian puppet ruler installed by Ashurban- Persians. [75]
ipal, taking Thebes in the process. The Assyrians then Following its annexation by Persia, Egypt was joined
sent a large army southwards. Tantamani (Tanutamun) with Cyprus and Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) in the
was heavily routed and fled back to Nubia. The Assyr- sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. This
ian army sacked Thebes to such an extent it never truly first period of Persian rule over Egypt, also known as
recovered. A native ruler, Psammetichus I was placed the Twenty-seventh dynasty, ended after more than one-
on the throne, as a vassal of Ashurbanipal, and the Nu- hundred years in 402 BC, and from 380 to 343 BC the
bians were never again to pose a threat to either Assyria Thirtieth Dynasty ruled as the last native royal house
or Egypt.* [74] of dynastic Egypt, which ended with the kingship of
Nectanebo II. A brief restoration of Persian rule, some-
times known as the Thirty-first Dynasty, began in 343
3.1.9 Late Period (672–332 BC) BC, but shortly after, in 332 BC, the Persian ruler
Mazaces handed Egypt over to the Macedonian ruler
Main articles: Late Period of ancient Egypt and History Alexander the Great without a fight.* [76]
of Achaemenid Egypt
3.1. HISTORY 33

3.1.10 Ptolemaic Period bellion, bitter family rivalries, and the powerful mob
of Alexandria that formed after the death of Ptolemy
IV.* [79] In addition, as Rome relied more heavily on im-
ports of grain from Egypt, the Romans took great interest
in the political situation in the country. Continued Egyp-
tian revolts, ambitious politicians, and powerful Syriac
opponents from the Near East made this situation unsta-
ble, leading Rome to send forces to secure the country as
a province of its empire.* [80]

3.1.11 Roman Period

Main article: History of Roman Egypt
Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire in 30

Alexander the Great, 100 BC – 100 AD, 54.162, Brooklyn Mu-

seum

Main articles: History of Ptolemaic Egypt and Ptolemaic

Kingdom

In 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt with lit-

tle resistance from the Persians and was welcomed by the
Egyptians as a deliverer. The administration established
by Alexander's successors, the Macedonian Ptolemaic
Kingdom, was based on an Egyptian model and based in
the new capital city of Alexandria. The city showcased
the power and prestige of Hellenistic rule, and became
a seat of learning and culture, centered at the famous
Library of Alexandria.* [77] The Lighthouse of Alexan-
dria lit the way for the many ships that kept trade flow-
ing through the city—as the Ptolemies made commerce
and revenue-generating enterprises, such as papyrus man-
ufacturing, their top priority.* [78]
Hellenistic culture did not supplant native Egyptian cul-
ture, as the Ptolemies supported time-honored traditions
in an effort to secure the loyalty of the populace. They
built new temples in Egyptian style, supported tradi-
tional cults, and portrayed themselves as pharaohs. Some The Fayum mummy portraits epitomize the meeting of Egyptian
traditions merged, as Greek and Egyptian gods were and Roman cultures.
syncretized into composite deities, such as Serapis, and
classical Greek forms of sculpture influenced traditional BC, following the defeat of Marc Antony and Ptolemaic
Egyptian motifs. Despite their efforts to appease the Queen Cleopatra VII by Octavian (later Emperor Au-
Egyptians, the Ptolemies were challenged by native re- gustus) in the Battle of Actium. The Romans relied
34 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

heavily on grain shipments from Egypt, and the Roman

army, under the control of a prefect appointed by the Em-
peror, quelled rebellions, strictly enforced the collection
of heavy taxes, and prevented attacks by bandits, which
had become a notorious problem during the period.* [81]
Alexandria became an increasingly important center on
the trade route with the orient, as exotic luxuries were in
high demand in Rome.* [82]
Although the Romans had a more hostile attitude than the
Greeks towards the Egyptians, some traditions such as
mummification and worship of the traditional gods con-
tinued.* [83] The art of mummy portraiture flourished,
and some Roman emperors had themselves depicted as
pharaohs, though not to the extent that the Ptolemies had.
The former lived outside Egypt and did not perform the
ceremonial functions of Egyptian kingship. Local ad-
ministration became Roman in style and closed to native
Egyptians.* [83]
From the mid-first century AD, Christianity took root
in Egypt and it was originally seen as another cult that
could be accepted. However, it was an uncompromis-
ing religion that sought to win converts from Egyptian
Religion and Greco-Roman religion and threatened pop-
ular religious traditions. This led to the persecution of
converts to Christianity, culminating in the great purges
of Diocletian starting in 303, but eventually Christianity
won out.* [84] In 391 the Christian Emperor Theodosius
introduced legislation that banned pagan rites and closed
temples.* [85] Alexandria became the scene of great anti-
pagan riots with public and private religious imagery de-
stroyed.* [86] As a consequence, Egypt's native religious
culture was continually in decline. While the native pop-
ulation certainly continued to speak their language, the
ability to read hieroglyphic writing slowly disappeared as
the role of the Egyptian temple priests and priestesses di- The pharaoh was usually depicted wearing symbols of royalty
minished. The temples themselves were sometimes con- and power.
verted to churches or abandoned to the desert.* [87]

collecting and storing the nation's wealth in a system of

3.2 Government and economy
3.2.1 Administration and commerce
The pharaoh was the absolute monarch of the country
and, at least in theory, wielded complete control of the
land and its resources. The king was the supreme military
commander and head of the government, who relied on a
bureaucracy of officials to manage his affairs. In charge
of the administration was his second in command, the
vizier, who acted as the king's representative and coor-
dinated land surveys, the treasury, building projects, the
legal system, and the archives.* [88] At a regional level,
the country was divided into as many as 42 administrative
regions called nomes each governed by a nomarch, who
was accountable to the vizier for his jurisdiction. The
temples formed the backbone of the economy. Not only
were they houses of worship, but were also responsible for
granaries and treasuries administered by overseers, who
redistributed grain and goods.* [89]
Much of the economy was centrally organized and strictly
controlled. Although the ancient Egyptians did not use
coinage until the Late period, they did use a type of
money-barter system,* [90] with standard sacks of grain
and the deben, a weight of roughly 91 grams (3 oz) of
copper or silver, forming a common denominator.* [91]
Workers were paid in grain; a simple laborer might earn
5½ sacks (200 kg or 400 lb) of grain per month, while a
foreman might earn 7½ sacks (250 kg or 550 lb). Prices
were fixed across the country and recorded in lists to facil-
itate trading; for example a shirt cost five copper deben,
while a cow cost 140 deben.* [91] Grain could be traded
for other goods, according to the fixed price list.* [91]
During the fifth century BC coined money was intro-
duced into Egypt from abroad. At first the coins were
used as standardized pieces of precious metal rather than
3.2. GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMY 35

true money, but in the following centuries international was entitled to petition the vizier and his court for re-
traders came to rely on coinage.* [92] dress.* [97] Although, slaves were mostly used as inden-
tured servants. They were able to buy and sell, or work
their way to freedom or nobility, and usually were treated
3.2.2 Social status by doctors in the workplace.* [98] Both men and women
had the right to own and sell property, make contracts,
Egyptian society was highly stratified, and social status marry and divorce, receive inheritance, and pursue legal
was expressly displayed. Farmers made up the bulk of disputes in court. Married couples could own property
the population, but agricultural produce was owned di- jointly and protect themselves from divorce by agreeing
rectly by the state, temple, or noble family that owned to marriage contracts, which stipulated the financial obli-
the land.* [93] Farmers were also subject to a labor tax gations of the husband to his wife and children should
and were required to work on irrigation or construc- the marriage end. Compared with their counterparts in
tion projects in a corvée system.* [94] Artists and crafts- ancient Greece, Rome, and even more modern places
men were of higher status than farmers, but they were around the world, ancient Egyptian women had a greater
also under state control, working in the shops attached range of personal choices and opportunities for achieve-
to the temples and paid directly from the state treasury. ment. Women such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra VII even
Scribes and officials formed the upper class in ancient became pharaohs, while others wielded power as Divine
Egypt, known as the “white kilt class”in reference to Wives of Amun. Despite these freedoms, ancient Egyp-
the bleached linen garments that served as a mark of tian women did not often take part in official roles in the
their rank.* [95] The upper class prominently displayed administration, served only secondary roles in the tem-
their social status in art and literature. Below the nobility ples, and were not as likely to be as educated as men.* [97]
were the priests, physicians, and engineers with special-
ized training in their field. Slavery was known in ancient
Egypt, but the extent and prevalence of its practice are
unclear.* [96]

Punishment in ancient Egypt.

Scribes were elite and well educated. They assessed taxes, kept
records, and were responsible for administration.

3.2.3 Legal system

The head of the legal system was officially the pharaoh,

Young Egyptian laborers treated by doctors after circumcision, as
a part of a rite of passage to citizenship. who was responsible for enacting laws, delivering jus-
tice, and maintaining law and order, a concept the an-
The ancient Egyptians viewed men and women, includ- cient Egyptians referred to as Ma'at.* [88] Although no
ing people from all social classes except slaves, as essen- legal codes from ancient Egypt survive, court documents
tially equal under the law, and even the lowliest peasant show that Egyptian law was based on a common-sense
36 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

view of right and wrong that emphasized reaching agree-

ments and resolving conflicts rather than strictly adhering
to a complicated set of statutes.* [97] Local councils of
elders, known as Kenbet in the New Kingdom, were re-
sponsible for ruling in court cases involving small claims
and minor disputes.* [88] More serious cases involving
murder, major land transactions, and tomb robbery were
referred to the Great Kenbet, over which the vizier or
pharaoh presided. Plaintiffs and defendants were ex-
pected to represent themselves and were required to swear
an oath that they had told the truth. In some cases, the
state took on both the role of prosecutor and judge, and
it could torture the accused with beatings to obtain a con-
fession and the names of any co-conspirators. Whether
the charges were trivial or serious, court scribes docu-
mented the complaint, testimony, and verdict of the case
for future reference.* [99]
Punishment for minor crimes involved either imposition
of fines, beatings, facial mutilation, or exile, depending on
the severity of the offense. Serious crimes such as mur-
der and tomb robbery were punished by execution, car-
ried out by decapitation, drowning, or impaling the crim-
inal on a stake. Punishment could also be extended to the
criminal's family.* [88] Beginning in the New Kingdom,
A tomb relief depicts workers plowing the fields, harvesting the
oracles played a major role in the legal system, dispens-
crops, and threshing the grain under the direction of an overseer,
ing justice in both civil and criminal cases. The procedure painting in the tomb of Nakht.
was to ask the god a “yes”or “no”question concern-
ing the right or wrong of an issue. The god, carried by
a number of priests, rendered judgment by choosing one
or the other, moving forward or backward, or pointing to
one of the answers written on a piece of papyrus or an
ostracon.* [100]

3.2.4 Agriculture
Main article: Ancient Egyptian agriculture
See also: Ancient Egyptian cuisine and Gardens of an-
cient Egypt
A combination of favorable geographical features con-
tributed to the success of ancient Egyptian culture, the
most important of which was the rich fertile soil result-
ing from annual inundations of the Nile River. The an-
cient Egyptians were thus able to produce an abundance
of food, allowing the population to devote more time and
resources to cultural, technological, and artistic pursuits.
Land management was crucial in ancient Egypt because
taxes were assessed based on the amount of land a person
owned.* [101]
Farming in Egypt was dependent on the cycle of the Nile
River. The Egyptians recognized three seasons: Akhet
(flooding), Peret (planting), and Shemu (harvesting). The
flooding season lasted from June to September, deposit-
ing on the river's banks a layer of mineral-rich silt ideal
for growing crops. After the floodwaters had receded, the
growing season lasted from October to February. Farm-
ers plowed and planted seeds in the fields, which were
irrigated with ditches and canals. Egypt received lit-
Measuring and recording the harvest is shown in a wall painting
in the tomb of Menna, at Thebes, Egypt (Eighteenth Dynasty).
tle rainfall, so farmers relied on the Nile to water their
crops.* [102] From March to May, farmers used sickles
to harvest their crops, which were then threshed with a
flail to separate the straw from the grain. Winnowing re-
moved the chaff from the grain, and the grain was then
ground into flour, brewed to make beer, or stored for later
use.* [103]
The ancient Egyptians cultivated emmer and barley, and
several other cereal grains, all of which were used to
make the two main food staples of bread and beer.* [104]
Flax plants, uprooted before they started flowering, were
grown for the fibers of their stems. These fibers were split
along their length and spun into thread, which was used
to weave sheets of linen and to make clothing. Papyrus
growing on the banks of the Nile River was used to make
paper. Vegetables and fruits were grown in garden plots,
close to habitations and on higher ground, and had to be
3.2. GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMY
watered by hand. Vegetables included leeks, garlic, mel- ibis god Thoth, and these animals were bred in large num-
ons, squashes, pulses, lettuce, and other crops, in addition bers on farms for the purpose of ritual sacrifice.* [109]
to grapes that were made into wine.* [105]
Sennedjem plows his fields with a pair of oxen, used as beasts of
burden and a source of food.
Animals
The Egyptians believed that a balanced relationship be-
tween people and animals was an essential element of
the cosmic order; thus humans, animals and plants were
believed to be members of a single whole.* [106] Ani-
mals, both domesticated and wild, were therefore a criti-
cal source of spirituality, companionship, and sustenance
to the ancient Egyptians. Cattle were the most impor-
tant livestock; the administration collected taxes on live-
stock in regular censuses, and the size of a herd reflected
the prestige and importance of the estate or temple that
owned them. In addition to cattle, the ancient Egyp-
tians kept sheep, goats, and pigs. Poultry such as ducks,
geese, and pigeons were captured in nets and bred on
farms, where they were force-fed with dough to fatten
them.* [107] The Nile provided a plentiful source of fish.
Bees were also domesticated from at least the Old King-
dom, and they provided both honey and wax.* [108]
The ancient Egyptians used donkeys and oxen as beasts
of burden, and they were responsible for plowing the
fields and trampling seed into the soil. The slaughter
of a fattened ox was also a central part of an offer-
ing ritual.* [107] Horses were introduced by the Hyksos
in the Second Intermediate Period, and the camel, al-
though known from the New Kingdom, was not used
as a beast of burden until the Late Period. There is
also evidence to suggest that elephants were briefly uti-
lized in the Late Period, but largely abandoned due to
lack of grazing land.* [107] Dogs, cats and monkeys were
common family pets, while more exotic pets imported
from the heart of Africa, such as lions, were reserved
for royalty. Herodotus observed that the Egyptians were
the only people to keep their animals with them in their
houses.* [106] During the Predynastic and Late periods,
the worship of the gods in their animal form was ex-
tremely popular, such as the cat goddess Bastet and the
37
3.2.5 Natural resources
Further information: Mining industry of Egypt
Egypt is rich in building and decorative stone, copper
and lead ores, gold, and semiprecious stones. These
natural resources allowed the ancient Egyptians to build
monuments, sculpt statues, make tools, and fashion jew-
elry.* [110] Embalmers used salts from the Wadi Na-
trun for mummification, which also provided the gypsum
needed to make plaster.* [111] Ore-bearing rock for-
mations were found in distant, inhospitable wadis in
the eastern desert and the Sinai, requiring large, state-
controlled expeditions to obtain natural resources found
there. There were extensive gold mines in Nubia, and one
of the first maps known is of a gold mine in this region.
The Wadi Hammamat was a notable source of granite,
greywacke, and gold. Flint was the first mineral collected
and used to make tools, and flint handaxes are the earliest
pieces of evidence of habitation in the Nile valley. Nod-
ules of the mineral were carefully flaked to make blades
and arrowheads of moderate hardness and durability even
after copper was adopted for this purpose.* [112] Ancient
Egyptians were among the first to use minerals such as
sulfur as cosmetic substances.* [113]
The Egyptians worked deposits of the lead ore galena at
Gebel Rosas to make net sinkers, plumb bobs, and small
figurines. Copper was the most important metal for tool-
making in ancient Egypt and was smelted in furnaces
from malachite ore mined in the Sinai.* [114] Workers
collected gold by washing the nuggets out of sediment in
alluvial deposits, or by the more labor-intensive process
of grinding and washing gold-bearing quartzite. Iron de-
posits found in upper Egypt were utilized in the Late Pe-
riod.* [115] High-quality building stones were abundant
in Egypt; the ancient Egyptians quarried limestone all
along the Nile valley, granite from Aswan, and basalt
and sandstone from the wadis of the eastern desert. De-
posits of decorative stones such as porphyry, greywacke,
alabaster, and carnelian dotted the eastern desert and
were collected even before the First Dynasty. In the
Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, miners worked deposits
of emeralds in Wadi Sikait and amethyst in Wadi el-
Hudi.* [116]
3.2.6 Trade
Main article: Ancient Egyptian trade
The ancient Egyptians engaged in trade with their foreign
neighbors to obtain rare, exotic goods not found in Egypt.
In the Predynastic Period, they established trade with Nu-
bia to obtain gold and incense. They also established trade
with Palestine, as evidenced by Palestinian-style oil jugs
38
Hatshepsut's trading expedition to the Land of Punt.
* other Afro-Asiatic languages. These include pharyngeal
found in the burials of the First Dynasty pharaohs. [117]
An Egyptian colony stationed in southern Canaan dates
to slightly before the First Dynasty.* [118] Narmer had
Egyptian pottery produced in Canaan and exported back
to Egypt.* [119]
By the Second Dynasty at latest, ancient Egyptian trade
with Byblos yielded a critical source of quality timber not
found in Egypt. By the Fifth Dynasty, trade with Punt
provided gold, aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, and wild
animals such as monkeys and baboons.* [120] Egypt re-
lied on trade with Anatolia for essential quantities of tin
as well as supplementary supplies of copper, both metals
being necessary for the manufacture of bronze. The an-
cient Egyptians prized the blue stone lapis lazuli, which
had to be imported from far-away Afghanistan. Egypt's
Mediterranean trade partners also included Greece and
Crete, which provided, among other goods, supplies of
olive oil.* [121] In exchange for its luxury imports and
raw materials, Egypt mainly exported grain, gold, linen,
and papyrus, in addition to other finished goods including
glass and stone objects.* [122]
3.3 Language
Main article: Egyptian language
3.3.1 Historical development
The Egyptian language is a northern Afro-Asiatic lan-
guage closely related to the Berber and Semitic lan-
guages.* [123] It has the second longest history of any
language (after Sumerian), having been written from c.
3200 BC to the Middle Ages and remaining as a spo-
ken language for longer. The phases of ancient Egyp-
tian are Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian (Classical Egyp-
tian), Late Egyptian, Demotic and Coptic.* [124] Egyp-
tian writings do not show dialect differences before Cop-
tic, but it was probably spoken in regional dialects around
Memphis and later Thebes.* [125]
CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT
Ancient Egyptian was a synthetic language, but it became
more analytic later on. Late Egyptian developed pre-
fixal definite and indefinite articles, which replaced the
older inflectional suffixes. There was a change from the
older verb–subject–object word order to subject–verb–
object.* [126] The Egyptian hieroglyphic, hieratic, and
demotic scripts were eventually replaced by the more
phonetic Coptic alphabet. Coptic is still used in the
liturgy of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, and traces of it
are found in modern Egyptian Arabic.* [127]
3.3.2 Sounds and grammar
Ancient Egyptian has 25 consonants similar to those of
and emphatic consonants, voiced and voiceless stops,
voiceless fricatives and voiced and voiceless affricates. It
has three long and three short vowels, which expanded
in Later Egyptian to about nine.* [128] The basic word in
Egyptian, similar to Semitic and Berber, is a triliteral or
biliteral root of consonants and semiconsonants. Suffixes
are added to form words. The verb conjugation corre-
sponds to the person. For example, the triconsonantal
skeleton S-Ḏ-M is the semantic core of the word 'hear';
its basic conjugation is sḏm, 'he hears'. If the subject is a
noun, suffixes are not added to the verb:* [129] sḏm ḥmt,
'the woman hears'.
Adjectives are derived from nouns through a process that
Egyptologists call nisbation because of its similarity with
Arabic.* [130] The word order is predicate–subject in ver-
bal and adjectival sentences, and subject–predicate in
nominal and adverbial sentences.* [131] The subject can
be moved to the beginning of sentences if it is long and
is followed by a resumptive pronoun.* [132] Verbs and
nouns are negated by the particle n, but nn is used for
adverbial and adjectival sentences. Stress falls on the ul-
timate or penultimate syllable, which can be open (CV)
or closed (CVC).* [133]
3.3.3 Writing
Main articles: Egyptian hieroglyphs and Hieratic
Hieroglyphic writing dates from c. 3000 BC, and is com-
posed of hundreds of symbols. A hieroglyph can rep-
resent a word, a sound, or a silent determinative; and
the same symbol can serve different purposes in differ-
ent contexts. Hieroglyphs were a formal script, used on
stone monuments and in tombs, that could be as detailed
as individual works of art. In day-to-day writing, scribes
used a cursive form of writing, called hieratic, which was
quicker and easier. While formal hieroglyphs may be
read in rows or columns in either direction (though typi-
cally written from right to left), hieratic was always writ-
ten from right to left, usually in horizontal rows. A new
form of writing, Demotic, became the prevalent writing
style, and it is this form of writing—along with formal hi-
3.3. LANGUAGE 39

The Rosetta stone (ca 196 BC) enabled linguists to begin the pro-
cess of hieroglyph decipherment.* [134]

Hieroglyphs on a funerary stela in Manchester Museum

eroglyphs—that accompany the Greek text on the Rosetta

Stone.* [135]
Around the first century AD, the Coptic alphabet started
to be used alongside the Demotic script. Coptic is a mod-
ified Greek alphabet with the addition of some Demotic
signs.* [136] Although formal hieroglyphs were used in a
The Edwin Smith surgical papyrus (c. 16th century BC) describes
ceremonial role until the fourth century, towards the end anatomy and medical treatments and is written in hieratic.
only a small handful of priests could still read them. As
the traditional religious establishments were disbanded,
knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was mostly lost. At- the Per Ankh institution or the House of Life. The lat-
tempts to decipher them date to the Byzantine* [137] and ter comprised offices, libraries (called House of Books),
Islamic periods in Egypt,* [138] but only in 1822, after laboratories and observatories.* [140] Some of the best-
the discovery of the Rosetta stone and years of research known pieces of ancient Egyptian literature, such as
by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion, were the Pyramid and Coffin Texts, were written in Classical
hieroglyphs almost fully deciphered.* [139] Egyptian, which continued to be the language of writing
until about 1300 BC. Later Egyptian was spoken from the
New Kingdom onward and is represented in Ramesside
3.3.4 Literature administrative documents, love poetry and tales, as well
as in Demotic and Coptic texts. During this period, the
Main article: Ancient Egyptian literature tradition of writing had evolved into the tomb autobiog-
Writing first appeared in association with kingship on raphy, such as those of Harkhuf and Weni. The genre
labels and tags for items found in royal tombs. It was pri- known as Sebayt (“instructions”) was developed to com-
marily an occupation of the scribes, who worked out of municate teachings and guidance from famous nobles;
40 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

the Ipuwer papyrus, a poem of lamentations describing

natural disasters and social upheaval, is a famous exam-
ple.
The Story of Sinuhe, written in Middle Egyptian, might
be the classic of Egyptian literature.* [141] Also written
at this time was the Westcar Papyrus, a set of stories told
to Khufu by his sons relating the marvels performed by
priests.* [142] The Instruction of Amenemope is consid-
ered a masterpiece of near-eastern literature.* [143] To-
wards the end of the New Kingdom, the vernacular lan- Statues depicting lower-class ancient Egyptian occupations.
guage was more often employed to write popular pieces
like the Story of Wenamun and the Instruction of Any.
The former tells the story of a noble who is robbed on
his way to buy cedar from Lebanon and of his struggle
to return to Egypt. From about 700 BC, narrative sto-
ries and instructions, such as the popular Instructions of
Onchsheshonqy, as well as personal and business docu-
ments were written in the demotic script and phase of
Egyptian. Many stories written in demotic during the
Greco-Roman period were set in previous historical eras,
when Egypt was an independent nation ruled by great
pharaohs such as Ramesses II.* [144]

3.4 Culture

3.4.1 Daily life

A painted depiction of Senet (in the tomb of Queen Nefertari,
Valley of the Queens, Thebes, Egypt), one of the world's earliest
known board games.

The ancient Egyptians placed a great value on hygiene

Ostraca of hunting a lion with a spear, aided by a dog.
Most ancient Egyptians were farmers tied to the land.
Their dwellings were restricted to immediate family
members, and were constructed of mud-brick designed
to remain cool in the heat of the day. Each home had
a kitchen with an open roof, which contained a grind-
stone for milling grain and a small oven for baking the
bread.* [145] Walls were painted white and could be cov-
ered with dyed linen wall hangings. Floors were covered
with reed mats, while wooden stools, beds raised from the
floor and individual tables comprised the furniture.* [146]
and appearance. Most bathed in the Nile and used a pasty
soap made from animal fat and chalk. Men shaved their
entire bodies for cleanliness; perfumes and aromatic oint-
ments covered bad odors and soothed skin.* [147] Cloth-
ing was made from simple linen sheets that were bleached
white, and both men and women of the upper classes
wore wigs, jewelry, and cosmetics. Children went with-
out clothing until maturity, at about age 12, and at this
age males were circumcised and had their heads shaved.
Mothers were responsible for taking care of the children,
while the father provided the family's income.* [148]
Music and dance were popular entertainments for those
who could afford them. Early instruments included flutes
and harps, while instruments similar to trumpets, oboes,
and pipes developed later and became popular. In the
New Kingdom, the Egyptians played on bells, cymbals,
tambourines, drums, and imported lutes and lyres from
Asia.* [149] The sistrum was a rattle-like musical in-
strument that was especially important in religious cer-
emonies.
The ancient Egyptians enjoyed a variety of leisure ac-
tivities, including games and music. Senet, a board
game where pieces moved according to random chance,
was particularly popular from the earliest times; another
3.4. CULTURE 41

The ancient Egyptians maintained a rich cultural heritage com-

plete with feasts and festivals accompanied by music and dance.

similar game was mehen, which had a circular gaming

board. Juggling and ball games were popular with chil-
dren, and wrestling is also documented in a tomb at Beni
Hasan.* [150] The wealthy members of ancient Egyptian
society enjoyed hunting and boating as well.
The excavation of the workers' village of Deir el-Madinah
has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented
accounts of community life in the ancient world that spans
almost four hundred years. There is no comparable site in
Karnak temple's hypostyle halls are constructed with rows of
which the organization, social interactions, working and thick columns supporting the roof beams.
living conditions of a community were studied in such
detail.* [151]

3.4.2 Cuisine
Main article: Ancient Egyptian cuisine

Egyptian cuisine remained remarkably stable over time;

indeed, the cuisine of modern Egypt retains some strik-
ing similarities to the cuisine of the ancients. The staple
diet consisted of bread and beer, supplemented with veg-
etables such as onions and garlic, and fruit such as dates
and figs. Wine and meat were enjoyed by all on feast days
while the upper classes indulged on a more regular basis. The well preserved Temple of Horus at Edfu is an exemplar of
Fish, meat, and fowl could be salted or dried, and could Egyptian architecture.
be cooked in stews or roasted on a grill.* [152]
tive tools and sighting instruments, architects could build
large stone structures with great accuracy and precision
3.4.3 Architecture
that is still envied today.* [153]
Main article: Ancient Egyptian architecture The domestic dwellings of elite and ordinary Egyptians
The architecture of ancient Egypt includes some of the alike were constructed from perishable materials such as
most famous structures in the world: the Great Pyramids mud bricks and wood, and have not survived. Peasants
of Giza and the temples at Thebes. Building projects lived in simple homes, while the palaces of the elite and
were organized and funded by the state for religious the pharaoh were more elaborate structures. A few sur-
and commemorative purposes, but also to reinforce the viving New Kingdom palaces, such as those in Malkata
wide-ranging power of the pharaoh. The ancient Egyp- and Amarna, show richly decorated walls and floors with
tians were skilled builders; using only simple but effec- scenes of people, birds, water pools, deities and geomet-
42
ric designs.* [154] Important structures such as temples
and tombs that were intended to last forever were con-
structed of stone instead of mud bricks. The architectural
elements used in the world's first large-scale stone build-
ing, Djoser's mortuary complex, include post and lintel
supports in the papyrus and lotus motif.
The earliest preserved ancient Egyptian temples, such as
those at Giza, consist of single, enclosed halls with roof
slabs supported by columns. In the New Kingdom, ar-
chitects added the pylon, the open courtyard, and the en-
closed hypostyle hall to the front of the temple's sanc-
tuary, a style that was standard until the Greco-Roman
period.* [155] The earliest and most popular tomb archi-
tecture in the Old Kingdom was the mastaba, a flat-roofed
rectangular structure of mudbrick or stone built over an
underground burial chamber. The step pyramid of Djoser
is a series of stone mastabas stacked on top of each other.
Pyramids were built during the Old and Middle King-
doms, but most later rulers abandoned them in favor of
less conspicuous rock-cut tombs.* [156] The Twenty-fifth
dynasty was a notable exception, as all Twenty-fifth dy-
nasty pharaohs constructed pyramids.* [64]* [65]* [66]
3.4.4 Art
The Bust of Nefertiti, by the sculptor Thutmose, is one of the most
famous masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art.
Main article: Art of ancient Egypt
CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT
The ancient Egyptians produced art to serve functional
purposes. For over 3500 years, artists adhered to artistic
forms and iconography that were developed during the
Old Kingdom, following a strict set of principles that re-
sisted foreign influence and internal change.* [157] These
artistic standards —simple lines, shapes, and flat areas
of color combined with the characteristic flat projection
of figures with no indication of spatial depth—created a
sense of order and balance within a composition. Images
and text were intimately interwoven on tomb and tem-
ple walls, coffins, stelae, and even statues. The Narmer
Palette, for example, displays figures that can also be read
as hieroglyphs.* [158] Because of the rigid rules that gov-
erned its highly stylized and symbolic appearance, ancient
Egyptian art served its political and religious purposes
with precision and clarity.* [159]
Egyptian Vase in Manchester Museum
Ancient Egyptian artisans used stone to carve statues and
fine reliefs, but used wood as a cheap and easily carved
substitute. Paints were obtained from minerals such as
iron ores (red and yellow ochres), copper ores (blue and
green), soot or charcoal (black), and limestone (white).
Paints could be mixed with gum arabic as a binder and
3.4. CULTURE 43

pressed into cakes, which could be moistened with water

when needed.* [160]
Pharaohs used reliefs to record victories in battle, royal
decrees, and religious scenes. Common citizens had ac-
cess to pieces of funerary art, such as shabti statues and
books of the dead, which they believed would protect
them in the afterlife.* [161] During the Middle Kingdom,
wooden or clay models depicting scenes from everyday
life became popular additions to the tomb. In an attempt
to duplicate the activities of the living in the afterlife,
these models show laborers, houses, boats, and even mil-
itary formations that are scale representations of the ideal
ancient Egyptian afterlife.* [162]
Despite the homogeneity of ancient Egyptian art, the
styles of particular times and places sometimes reflected
changing cultural or political attitudes. After the inva-
sion of the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period,
Minoan-style frescoes were found in Avaris.* [163] The
most striking example of a politically driven change in
artistic forms comes from the Amarna period, where fig-
ures were radically altered to conform to Akhenaten's
revolutionary religious ideas.* [164] This style, known
as Amarna art, was quickly and thoroughly erased af-
ter Akhenaten's death and replaced by the traditional
forms.* [165]

The Ka statue provided a physical place for the Ka to manifest

3.4.5 Religious beliefs

Main article: Ancient Egyptian religion priests acting on the king's behalf. At the center of the
Beliefs in the divine and in the afterlife were in- temple was the cult statue in a shrine. Temples were
not places of public worship or congregation, and only
on select feast days and celebrations was a shrine carry-
ing the statue of the god brought out for public worship.
Normally, the god's domain was sealed off from the out-
side world and was only accessible to temple officials.
Common citizens could worship private statues in their
homes, and amulets offered protection against the forces
of chaos.* [168] After the New Kingdom, the pharaoh's
role as a spiritual intermediary was de-emphasized as re-
The Book of the Dead was a guide to the deceased's journey in ligious customs shifted to direct worship of the gods. As
the afterlife. a result, priests developed a system of oracles to commu-
nicate the will of the gods directly to the people.* [169]
grained in ancient Egyptian civilization from its incep- The Egyptians believed that every human being was com-
tion; pharaonic rule was based on the divine right of posed of physical and spiritual parts or aspects. In addi-
kings. The Egyptian pantheon was populated by gods tion to the body, each person had a šwt (shadow), a ba
who had supernatural powers and were called on for help (personality or soul), a ka (life-force), and a name.* [170]
or protection. However, the gods were not always viewed The heart, rather than the brain, was considered the seat
as benevolent, and Egyptians believed they had to be ap- of thoughts and emotions. After death, the spiritual as-
peased with offerings and prayers. The structure of this pects were released from the body and could move at will,
pantheon changed continually as new deities were pro- but they required the physical remains (or a substitute,
moted in the hierarchy, but priests made no effort to or- such as a statue) as a permanent home. The ultimate goal
ganize the diverse and sometimes conflicting myths and of the deceased was to rejoin his ka and ba and become
stories into a coherent system.* [166] These various con- one of the “blessed dead”, living on as an akh, or “ef-
ceptions of divinity were not considered contradictory but fective one”. For this to happen, the deceased had to be
rather layers in the multiple facets of reality.* [167] judged worthy in a trial, in which the heart was weighed
Gods were worshiped in cult temples administered by against a “feather of truth”. If deemed worthy, the de-
44 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

ceased could continue their existence on earth in spiritual

form.* [171]

Anubis was the ancient Egyptian god associated with mummifi-

cation and burial rituals; here, he attends to a mummy.

then wrapped in linen with protective amulets inserted

Pharaohs' tombs were provided with vast quantities of wealth,
such as the golden mask from the mummy of Tutankhamun.
3.4.6 Burial customs
Main article: Ancient Egyptian burial customs
between layers and placed in a decorated anthropoid cof-
fin. Mummies of the Late Period were also placed in
painted cartonnage mummy cases. Actual preservation
practices declined during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras,
while greater emphasis was placed on the outer appear-
ance of the mummy, which was decorated.* [173]
Wealthy Egyptians were buried with larger quantities of
luxury items, but all burials, regardless of social status,
included goods for the deceased. Beginning in the New
Kingdom, books of the dead were included in the grave,
along with shabti statues that were believed to perform
manual labor for them in the afterlife.* [174] Rituals in
which the deceased was magically re-animated accompa-
nied burials. After burial, living relatives were expected
to occasionally bring food to the tomb and recite prayers
on behalf of the deceased.* [175]

The ancient Egyptians maintained an elaborate set of

burial customs that they believed were necessary to en- 3.5 Military
sure immortality after death. These customs involved
preserving the body by mummification, performing burial
Main article: Military of ancient Egypt
ceremonies, and interring with the body goods the de-
* The ancient Egyptian military was responsible for de-
ceased would use in the afterlife. [161] Before the Old
Kingdom, bodies buried in desert pits were naturally pre-
served by desiccation. The arid, desert conditions were
a boon throughout the history of ancient Egypt for buri-
als of the poor, who could not afford the elaborate burial
preparations available to the elite. Wealthier Egyptians
began to bury their dead in stone tombs and use artificial
mummification, which involved removing the internal or-
gans, wrapping the body in linen, and burying it in a rect-
angular stone sarcophagus or wooden coffin. Beginning
in the Fourth Dynasty, some parts were preserved sepa-
rately in canopic jars.* [172]
By the New Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians had per-
fected the art of mummification; the best technique took
70 days and involved removing the internal organs, re- An Egyptian chariot.
moving the brain through the nose, and desiccating the
body in a mixture of salts called natron. The body was fending Egypt against foreign invasion, and for maintain-
3.6. TECHNOLOGY, MEDICINE, AND MATHEMATICS 45

ing Egypt's domination in the ancient Near East. The mil-

itary protected mining expeditions to the Sinai during the
Old Kingdom and fought civil wars during the First and
Second Intermediate Periods. The military was respon-
sible for maintaining fortifications along important trade
routes, such as those found at the city of Buhen on the
way to Nubia. Forts also were constructed to serve as mil-
itary bases, such as the fortress at Sile, which was a base
of operations for expeditions to the Levant. In the New
Kingdom, a series of pharaohs used the standing Egyp-
tian army to attack and conquer Kush and parts of the
Levant.* [176]
Typical military equipment included bows and arrows,
spears, and round-topped shields made by stretching
animal skin over a wooden frame. In the New King-
dom, the military began using chariots that had earlier
been introduced by the Hyksos invaders. Weapons and
armor continued to improve after the adoption of bronze:
shields were now made from solid wood with a bronze
buckle, spears were tipped with a bronze point, and the
Khopesh was adopted from Asiatic soldiers.* [177] The
pharaoh was usually depicted in art and literature riding
at the head of the army; it has been suggested that at least
a few pharaohs, such as Seqenenre Tao II and his sons, did
do so.* [178] However, it has also been argued that“kings Glassmaking was a highly developed art.
of this period did not personally act as frontline war lead-
ers, fighting alongside their troops.”* [179] Soldiers were
faience, but typically production involved application of
recruited from the general population, but during, and es-
the powdered materials in the form of a paste over a clay
pecially after, the New Kingdom, mercenaries from Nu-
core, which was then fired. By a related technique, the an-
bia, Kush, and Libya were hired to fight for Egypt.* [180]
cient Egyptians produced a pigment known as Egyptian
Blue, also called blue frit, which is produced by fusing
(or sintering) silica, copper, lime, and an alkali such as
3.6 Technology, medicine, and natron. The product can be ground up and used as a pig-
ment.* [182]
mathematics
The ancient Egyptians could fabricate a wide variety of
objects from glass with great skill, but it is not clear
3.6.1 Technology whether they developed the process independently.* [183]
It is also unclear whether they made their own raw glass or
Main article: Ancient Egyptian technology merely imported pre-made ingots, which they melted and
finished. However, they did have technical expertise in
In technology, medicine, and mathematics, ancient Egypt making objects, as well as adding trace elements to con-
achieved a relatively high standard of productivity and so- trol the color of the finished glass. A range of colors could
phistication. Traditional empiricism, as evidenced by the be produced, including yellow, red, green, blue, purple,
Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri (c. 1600 BC), is first cred- and white, and the glass could be made either transparent
ited to Egypt. The Egyptians created their own alphabet or opaque.* [184]
and decimal system.

3.6.2 Faience and glass
Even before the Old Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians had
developed a glassy material known as faience, which they
treated as a type of artificial semi-precious stone. Faience
is a non-clay ceramic made of silica, small amounts of
lime and soda, and a colorant, typically copper.* [181]
The material was used to make beads, tiles, figurines,
and small wares. Several methods can be used to create
3.6.3 Medicine
Main article: Ancient Egyptian medicine
The medical problems of the ancient Egyptians stemmed
directly from their environment. Living and working
close to the Nile brought hazards from malaria and debil-
itating schistosomiasis parasites, which caused liver and
intestinal damage. Dangerous wildlife such as crocodiles
and hippos were also a common threat. The lifelong
46
Ancient Egyptian medical instruments depicted in a Ptolemaic pe-
riod inscription on the temple at Kom Ombo.
labors of farming and building put stress on the spine and
joints, and traumatic injuries from construction and war-
fare all took a significant toll on the body. The grit and Documented extent of Ancient Egyptian geographic knowledge
sand from stone-ground flour abraded teeth, leaving them
susceptible to abscesses (though caries were rare).* [185]
The diets of the wealthy were rich in sugars, which pro-
moted periodontal disease.* [186] Despite the flattering
physiques portrayed on tomb walls, the overweight mum-
mies of many of the upper class show the effects of a
life of overindulgence.* [187] Adult life expectancy was
about 35 for men and 30 for women, but reaching adult-
hood was difficult as about one-third of the population
died in infancy.* [188]
Ancient Egyptian physicians were renowned in the an-
cient Near East for their healing skills, and some, such as
Imhotep, remained famous long after their deaths.* [189]
Herodotus remarked that there was a high degree of spe-
cialization among Egyptian physicians, with some treat-
ing only the head or the stomach, while others were eye-
doctors and dentists.* [190] Training of physicians took
place at the Per Ankh or “House of Life”institution,
most notably those headquartered in Per-Bastet during
CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT
the New Kingdom and at Abydos and Saïs in the Late
period. Medical papyri show empirical knowledge of
anatomy, injuries, and practical treatments.* [191]
Wounds were treated by bandaging with raw meat,
white linen, sutures, nets, pads, and swabs soaked with
honey to prevent infection,* [192] while opium thyme
and belladona were used to relieve pain. The earliest
records of burn treatment describe burn dressings that
use the milk from mothers of male babies. Prayers were
made to the goddess Isis. Moldy bread, honey and cop-
per salts were also used to prevent infection from dirt
in burns.* [193] Garlic and onions were used regularly to
promote good health and were thought to relieve asthma
symptoms. Ancient Egyptian surgeons stitched wounds,
set broken bones, and amputated diseased limbs, but they
recognized that some injuries were so serious that they
could only make the patient comfortable until death oc-
curred.* [194]
3.6.4 Maritime technology
Early Egyptians knew how to assemble planks of wood
into a ship hull and had mastered advanced forms of
shipbuilding as early as 3000 BC. The Archaeological In-
stitute of America reports that the oldest planked ships
known are the Abydos boats.* [6] A group of 14 dis-
covered ships in Abydos were constructed of wooden
planks “sewn”together. Discovered by Egyptologist
David O'Connor of New York University,* [195] woven
straps were found to have been used to lash the planks to-
gether,* [6] and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks
helped to seal the seams.* [6] Because the ships are all
buried together and near a mortuary belonging to Pharaoh
Khasekhemwy, originally they were all thought to have
belonged to him, but one of the 14 ships dates to 3000
BC, and the associated pottery jars buried with the ves-
3.6. TECHNOLOGY, MEDICINE, AND MATHEMATICS 47

sels also suggest earlier dating. The ship dating to 3000
BC was 75 feet (23 m) long and is now thought to perhaps
have belonged to an earlier pharaoh. According to pro-
fessor O'Connor, the 5,000-year-old ship may have even
belonged to Pharaoh Aha.* [195]
Early Egyptians also knew how to assemble planks of
wood with treenails to fasten them together, using pitch
for caulking the seams. The "Khufu ship", a 43.6-metre
(143 ft) vessel sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid com-
plex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza in the Fourth
Dynasty around 2500 BC, is a full-size surviving example
that may have filled the symbolic function of a solar bar-
que. Early Egyptians also knew how to fasten the planks In 1977, an ancient north-south canal dating to the Middle
of this ship together with mortise and tenon joints.* [6]
Egypt excavating a dried-up lagoon known as Mersa
Gawasis have unearthed traces of an ancient harbor that
once launched early voyages like Hatshepsut's Punt ex-
pedition onto the open ocean.* [197] Some of the site's
most evocative evidence for the ancient Egyptians' sea-
faring prowess include large ship timbers and hundreds
of feet of ropes, made from papyrus, coiled in huge bun-
dles.* [197] And in 2013 a team of Franco-Egyptian ar-
chaeologists discovered what is believed to be the world's
oldest port, dating back about 4500 years, from the time
of King Cheops on the Red Sea coast near Wadi el-Jarf
(about 110 miles south of Suez).* [198]
Kingdom of Egypt was discovered extending from Lake
Timsah to the Ballah Lakes.* [199] It was dated to the
Middle Kingdom of Egypt by extrapolating dates of an-
cient sites constructed along its course.* [199]* [200]

3.6.5 Mathematics
Main article: Egyptian mathematics
The earliest attested examples of mathematical calcula-
Seagoing ship from Hateshepsut's Deir el-Bahari temple relief of
a Punt Expedition

Large seagoing ships are known to have been heavily used

by the Egyptians in their trade with the city states of the
eastern Mediterranean, especially Byblos (on the coast of
modern-day Lebanon), and in several expeditions down
the Red Sea to the Land of Punt.* [196] In fact one of the
earliest Egyptian words for a seagoing ship is a “Byb-
los Ship”, which originally defined a class of Egyptian
seagoing ships used on the Byblos run; however, by the
end of the Old Kingdom, the term had come to include
large seagoing ships, whatever their destination.* [196] Astronomical chart in Senemut's tomb, 18th dynasty* [201]

tions date to the predynastic Naqada period, and show a

fully developed numeral system.* [202] The importance
of mathematics to an educated Egyptian is suggested by
a New Kingdom fictional letter in which the writer pro-
poses a scholarly competition between himself and an-
other scribe regarding everyday calculation tasks such as
accounting of land, labor, and grain.* [203] Texts such as
the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and the Moscow Math-
ematical Papyrus show that the ancient Egyptians could
perform the four basic mathematical operations—addi-
tion, subtraction, multiplication, and division—use frac-
tions, compute the volumes of boxes and pyramids, and
calculate the surface areas of rectangles, triangles, and
circles. They understood basic concepts of algebra and
geometry, and could solve simple sets of simultaneous
equations.* [204]
Mathematical notation was decimal, and based on hiero-
Early Nile Delta, showing relation of Lake Timsah to Ballah
Lakes. glyphic signs for each power of ten up to one million.
Each of these could be written as many times as necessary
In 2011 archaeologists from Italy, the United States, and to add up to the desired number; so to write the number
48 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

eighty or eight hundred, the symbol for ten or one hun- journeys, leading to a wave of Egyptomania across Eu-
dred was written eight times respectively.* [205] Because rope. This renewed interest sent collectors to Egypt, who
their methods of calculation could not handle most frac- took, purchased, or were given many important antiqui-
tions with a numerator greater than one, they had to write ties.* [214]
fractions as the sum of several fractions. For example, Although the European colonial occupation of Egypt
they resolved the fraction two-fifths into the sum of one- destroyed a significant portion of the country's histor-
third + one-fifteenth. Standard tables of values facilitated
ical legacy, some foreigners left more positive marks.
this.* [206] Some common fractions, however, were writ- Napoleon, for example, arranged the first studies in
ten with a special glyph—the equivalent of the modern
Egyptology when he brought some 150 scientists and
two-thirds is shown on the right.* [207] artists to study and document Egypt's natural history,
Ancient Egyptian mathematicians had a grasp of the prin- which was published in the Description de l'Égypte.* [215]
ciples underlying the Pythagorean theorem, knowing, for In the 20th century, the Egyptian Government and ar-
example, that a triangle had a right angle opposite the chaeologists alike recognized the importance of cultural
hypotenuse when its sides were in a 3–4–5 ratio.* [208] respect and integrity in excavations. The Supreme Coun-
They were able to estimate the area of a circle by sub- cil of Antiquities now approves and oversees all excava-
tracting one-ninth from its diameter and squaring the re- tions, which are aimed at finding information rather than
sult: treasure. The council also supervises museums and mon-
ument reconstruction programs designed to preserve the
Area ≈ [( 8 ⁄9 )D]2 = ( 256 ⁄81 )r* 2 ≈ 3.16r* 2, historical legacy of Egypt.

a reasonable approximation of the formula πr*

2.* [208]* [209]
The golden ratio seems to be reflected in many Egyp-
tian constructions, including the pyramids, but its use
may have been an unintended consequence of the ancient
Egyptian practice of combining the use of knotted ropes
with an intuitive sense of proportion and harmony.* [210]
• Tourists
riding a camel in front of Giza pyramids
3.7 Population
Main article: Population history of Egypt

3.8 Legacy
See also: Tourism in Egypt

The culture and monuments of ancient Egypt have left

a lasting legacy on the world. The cult of the goddess
Isis, for example, became popular in the Roman Em- • Frontispiece of
pire, as obelisks and other relics were transported back to Description de l'Égypte, published in 38 vol-
Rome.* [211] The Romans also imported building mate- umes between 1809 and 1829.
rials from Egypt to erect Egyptian-style structures. Early
historians such as Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Sicu-
lus studied and wrote about the land, which Romans came
to view as a place of mystery.* [212] 3.9 See also
During the Middle Ages and The Renaissance, Egyp-
tian pagan culture was in decline after the rise of Chris- • Arnold J. Toynbee
tianity and later Islam, but interest in Egyptian antiquity
continued in the writings of medieval scholars such as • Glossary of ancient Egypt artifacts
Dhul-Nun al-Misri and al-Maqrizi.* [213] In the seven- • Index of ancient Egypt-related articles
teenth and eighteenth centuries, European travelers and
tourists brought back antiquities and wrote stories of their • Outline of ancient Egypt
3.10. NOTES 49

3.10 Notes [25] Shaw (2002) p. 70

[26] “Early Dynastic Egypt”. Digital Egypt for Universities,

[1] “Chronology”. Digital Egypt for Universities, University
University College London. Archived from the original on
College London. Archived from the original on 16 March
4 March 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
2008. Retrieved 25 March 2008.

[2] Dodson (2004) p. 46 [27] Robins (1997) p. 32

[3] Clayton (1994) p. 217 [28] James (2005) p. 40

[4] James (2005) p. 8 [29] Shaw (2002) p. 102

[5] Manuelian (1998) pp. 6–7 [30] Shaw (2002) pp. 116–7

[6] Ward, Cheryl. "World's Oldest Planked Boats", [31] Fekri Hassan. “The Fall of the Old Kingdom”. British
inArchaeology (Volume 54, Number 3, May/June 2001). Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
Archaeological Institute of America.
[32] Clayton (1994) p. 69
[7] Clayton (1994) p. 153
[33] Shaw (2002) p. 120
[8] James (2005) p. 84
[34] Shaw (2002) p. 146
[9] Shaw (2002) pp. 17, 67–69
[35] Clayton (1994) p. 29
[10] Shaw (2002) p. 17
[36] Shaw (2002) p. 148
[11] Ikram, Salima (1992). Choice Cuts: Meat Production in
Ancient Egypt. University of Cambridge. p. 5. ISBN 978- [37] Clayton (1994) p. 79
90-6831-745-9. LCCN 1997140867. OCLC 60255819.
Retrieved 22 July 2009. [38] Shaw (2002) p. 158
[12] Hayes (1964) p. 220 [39] Shaw (2002) pp. 179–82
[13] Childe, V. Gordon (1953), New Light on the Most Ancient [40] Robins (1997) p. 90
Near East, (Praeger Publications)
[41] Shaw (2002) p. 188
[14] Barbara G. Aston, James A. Harrell, Ian Shaw (2000).
Paul T. Nicholson and Ian Shaw editors. “Stone,”in [42] Ryholt (1997) p. 310
Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, Cambridge,
5–77, pp. 46–47. Also note: Barbara G. Aston (1994). [43] Shaw (2002) p. 189
“Ancient Egyptian Stone Vessels,”Studien zur Archäolo-
gie und Geschichte Altägyptens 5, Heidelberg, pp. 23–26. [44] Shaw (2002) p. 224
(See on-line posts: and .)
[45] James (2005) p. 48
[15] Patai, Raphael (1998), Children of Noah: Jewish Seafar-
ing in Ancient Times (Princeton Uni Press) [46] Bleiberg (editor), Edward (2005).“Ancient Egypt 2675-
332 BCE: Architecture and Design”. Arts and Humanities
[16] “Chronology of the Naqada Period”. Digital Egypt for Through the Eras. 1.
Universities, University College London. Archived from
the original on 28 March 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008. [47] “Hatshepsut”. Digital Egypt for Universities, Univer-
sity College London. Archived from the original on 18
[17] Shaw (2002) p. 61 November 2007. Retrieved 9 December 2007.
[18] Emberling, Geoff (2011). Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of [48] Clayton (1994) p. 108
Africa. New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient
World. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-615-48102-9. [49] Aldred (1988) p. 259

[19] “The Qustul Incense Burner”. [50] Cline (2001) p. 273

[20] “Faience in different Periods”. Digital Egypt for Uni- [51] With his two principal wives and large harem, Ramesses
versities, University College London. Archived from the II sired more than 100 children. Clayton (1994) p. 146
original on 30 March 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
[52] Tyldesley (2001) pp. 76–7
[21] Allen (2000) p. 1
[53] Killebrew 2013, p. 2. Quote: “First coined in
[22] Clayton (1994) p. 6
1881 by the French Egyptologist G. Maspero (1896),
[23] Shaw (2002) pp. 78–80 the somewhat misleading term “Sea Peoples”encom-
passes the ethnonyms Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Teresh,
[24] Clayton (1994) pp. 12–13 Eqwesh, Denyen, Sikil / Tjekker, Weshesh, and Peleset
50 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

(Philistines). [Footnote: The modern term “Sea Peo-
ples”refers to peoples that appear in several New King-
dom Egyptian texts as originating from“islands”(tables 1-
2; Adams and Cohen, this volume; see, e.g., Drews 1993,
57 for a summary). The use of quotation marks in asso-
ciation with the term “Sea Peoples”in our title is in-
tended to draw attention to the problematic nature of this
commonly used term. It is noteworthy that the designa-
tion “of the sea”appears only in relation to the Sher-
den, Shekelesh, and Eqwesh. Subsequently, this term was
applied somewhat indiscriminately to several additional
ethnonyms, including the Philistines, who are portrayed in
their earliest appearance as invaders from the north during
the reigns of Merenptah and Ramesses Ill (see, e.g., San-
dars 1978; Redford 1992, 243, n. 14; for a recent review
of the primary and secondary literature, see Woudhuizen
2006). Hencefore the term Sea Peoples will appear with-
out quotation marks.]"
[54] The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and
the Catastrophe Ca. 1200 B.C., Robert Drews, p48–61
Quote: “The thesis that a great “migration of the Sea
Peoples”occurred ca. 1200 B.C. is supposedly based on
Egyptian inscriptions, one from the reign of Merneptah
and another from the reign of Ramesses III. Yet in the in-
scriptions themselves such a migration nowhere appears.
After reviewing what the Egyptian texts have to say about
'the sea peoples', one Egyptologist (Wolfgang Helck) re-
cently remarked that although some things are unclear,
“eins ist aber sicher: Nach den agyptischen Texten haben
wir es nicht mit einer 'Volkerwanderung' zu tun.”Thus
the migration hypothesis is based not on the inscriptions
themselves but on their interpretation.”
[65] Emberling, Geoff (2011). Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of
Africa. New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient
World. pp. 9–11.
[66] Silverman, David (1997). Ancient Egypt. New York: Ox-
ford University Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0-19-521270-3.
[67] A. Leo Oppenheim (1964), Ancient Mesopotamia
[68] Aubin, Henry T. (2002). The Rescue of Jerusalem. New
York, NY: Soho Press, Inc. pp. 6–13. ISBN 1-56947-
275-0.
[69] Aubin, Henry T. (2002). The Rescue of Jerusalem. New
York, NY: Soho Press, Inc. pp. 152–153. ISBN 1-56947-
275-0.
[70] Georges Roux (1964), Ancient Iraq
[71] Aubin, Henry T. (2002). The Rescue of Jerusalem. New
York, NY: Soho Press, Inc. p. 160. ISBN 1-56947-275-
0.
[72] George Roux - Ancient Iraq
[73] Esharhaddon's Syrio-Palestinian Campaign
[74] Georges Roux (1964), Ancient Iraq, pp 330–332
[75] Shaw (2002) p. 383
[76] Shaw (2002) p. 385
[77] Shaw (2002) p. 405
[78] Shaw (2002) p. 411

[55] James (2005) p. 54 [79] Shaw (2002) p. 418

[56] Cerny (1975) p. 645 [80] James (2005) p. 62

[81] James (2005) p. 63

[57] Emberling, Geoff (2011). Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of
Africa. New York, NY: Institute for the Study of the An- [82] Shaw (2002) p. 426
cient World, NYU. pp. 9–10. ISBN 978-0-615-48102-9.
[83] Shaw (2002) p. 422
[58]“Tomb reveals Ancient Egypt's humiliating secret”. Daily
Times, Pakistan. 29 July 2003. Archived from the origi- [84] Shaw (2003) p. 431
nal on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
[85] "The Church in Ancient Society", Henry Chadwick, p. 373,
[59] Herodotus (2003). The Histories. Penguin Books. pp. Oxford University Press US, 2001, ISBN 0-19-924695-5
106–107, 133–134,. ISBN 978-0-14-044908-2.
[86] "Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D 100–400”, Ramsay
MacMullen, p. 63, Yale University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-
[60] Shaw (2002) p. 345
300-03216-1
[61] Herodotus (2003). The Histories. Penguin Books. pp.
[87] Shaw (2002) p. 445
151–158. ISBN 978-0-14-044908-2.
[88] Manuelian (1998) p. 358
[62] Diop, Cheikh Anta (1974). The African Origin of Civiliza-
tion. Chicago, Illinois: Lawrence Hill Books. pp. 219– [89] Manuelian (1998) p. 363
221. ISBN 1-55652-072-7.
[90] Meskell (2004) p. 23
[63] Bonnet, Charles (2006). The Nubian Pharaohs. New
York: The American University in Cairo Press. pp. 142– [91] Manuelian (1998) p. 372
154. ISBN 978-977-416-010-3. [92] Walbank (1984) p. 125
[64] Mokhtar, G. (1990). General History of Africa. Califor- [93] Manuelian (1998) p. 383
nia, USA: University of California Press. pp. 161–163.
ISBN 0-520-06697-9. [94] James (2005) p. 136
 3.10. NOTES 51

[95] Billard (1978) p. 109 [124] Loprieno (2004) p. 161

[96] “Social classes in ancient Egypt”. Digital Egypt for Uni- [125] Loprieno (2004) p. 162
versities, University College London. Archived from the
original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 11 December [126] Loprieno (1995b) p. 2137–38
2007.
[127] Vittman (1991) pp. 197–227
[97] Janet H. Johnson. “Women's Legal Rights in Ancient
Egypt”. University of Chicago, 2004. Retrieved 31 Au- [128] Loprieno (1995a) p. 46
gust 2010.
[129] Loprieno (1995a) p. 74
[98] Slavery in Ancient Egyptfrom http://www.reshafim.org.
il. Retrieved 28 August 2012. [130] Loprieno (2004) p. 175

[99] Oakes (2003) p. 472 [131] Allen (2000) pp. 67, 70, 109

[100] McDowell (1999) p. 168 [132] Loprieno (2005) p. 2147

[101] Manuelian (1998) p. 361 [133] Loprieno (2004) p. 173

[102] Nicholson (2000) p. 514 [134] Allen (2000) p. 13

[103] Nicholson (2000) p. 506 [135] Loprieno (1995a) pp. 10–26

[104] Nicholson (2000) p. 510 [136] Allen (2000) p. 7

[105] Nicholson (2000) pp. 577 and 630 [137] Loprieno (2004) p. 166
[106] Strouhal (1989) p. 117 [138] El-Daly (2005) p. 164
[107] Manuelian (1998) p. 381
[139] Allen (2000) p. 8
[108] Nicholson (2000) p. 409
[140] Strouhal (1989) p. 235
[109] Oakes (2003) p. 229
[141] Lichtheim (1975) p. 11
[110] Greaves (1929) p. 123
[142] Lichtheim (1975) p. 215
[111] Lucas (1962) p. 413
[143] "Wisdom in Ancient Israel”, John Day, /John Adney
[112] Nicholson (2000) p. 28 Emerton, /Robert P. Gordon/ Hugh Godfrey/Maturin
Williamson, p23, Cambridge University Press, 1997,
[113] C.Michael Hogan. 2011. Sulfur. Encyclopedia of Earth, ISBN 0-521-62489-4
eds. A. Jorgensen and C.J. Cleveland, National Council
for Science and the environment, Washington DC [144] Lichtheim (1980) p. 159
[114] Scheel (1989) p. 14 [145] Manuelian (1998) p. 401
[115] Nicholson (2000) p. 166 [146] Manuelian (1998) p. 403
[116] Nicholson (2000) p. 51 [147] Manuelian (1998) p. 405
[117] Shaw (2002) p. 72
[148] Manuelian (1998) pp. 406–7
[118] Naomi Porat and Edwin van den Brink (editor), “An
[149] “Music in Ancient Egypt”. Digital Egypt for Universities,
Egyptian Colony in Southern Palestine During the Late
University College London. Archived from the original on
Predynastic to Early Dynastic,”in The Nile Delta in Tran-
28 March 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
sition: 4th to 3rd Millennium BC (1992), pp. 433–440.

[119] Naomi Porat, “Local Industry of Egyptian Pottery in [150] Manuelian (1998) p. 126
Southern Palestine During the Early Bronze I Period,”in
[151] "The Cambridge Ancient History: II Part I, The Middle
Bulletin of the Egyptological, Seminar 8 (1986/1987), pp.
East and the Aegean Region, c. 1800 – 13380 B.C”, Edited
109–129. See also University College London web post,
I.E.S Edwards–C.JGadd–N.G.L Hammond-E.Sollberger,
2000.
Cambridge at the University Press, p. 380, 1973, ISBN
[120] Shaw (2002) p. 322 0-521-08230-7

[121] Manuelian (1998) p. 145 [152] Manuelian (1998) pp. 399–400

[122] Harris (1990) p. 13 [153] Clarke (1990) pp. 94–7

[123] Loprieno (1995b) p. 2137 [154] Badawy (1968) p. 50

 52 CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT

[155] “Types of temples in ancient Egypt”. Digital Egypt for [185] Filer (1995) p. 94
Universities, University College London. Archived from
[186] Filer (1995) pp. 78–80
the original on 19 March 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
[187] Filer (1995) p. 21
[156] Dodson (1991) p. 23
[188] Figures are given for adult life expectancy and do not re-
[157] Robins (1997) p. 29 flect life expectancy at birth. Filer (1995) p. 25
[158] Robins (1997) p. 21 [189] Filer (1995) p. 39
[159] Robins (2001) p. 12 [190] Strouhal (1989) p. 243

[160] Nicholson (2000) p. 105 [191] Stroual (1989) pp. 244–46

[161] James (2005) p. 122 [192] Stroual (1989) p. 250

[193] Pećanac M; Janjić Z; Komarcević A; Pajić M;
[162] Robins (1998) p. 74
Dobanovacki D; Misković SS (May–Jun 2013). “Burns
[163] Shaw (2002) p. 216 treatment in ancient times”. Medicinski pregled. 66
(5–6): 263–7. doi:10.1016/s0264-410x(02)00603-5.
[164] Robins (1998) p. 149 PMID 23888738.

[165] Robins (1998) p. 158 [194] Filer (1995) p. 38

[166] James (2005) p. 102
[167] "The Oxford Guide: Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythol-
ogy", edited by Donald B. Redford, p. 106, Berkley
Books, 2003, ISBN 0-425-19096-X
[168] James (2005) p. 117
[169] Shaw (2002) p. 313
[170] Allen (2000) pp. 79, 94–5
[171] Wasserman, et al. (1994) pp. 150–3
[172] “Mummies and Mummification: Old Kingdom”. Digital
Egypt for Universities, University College London. Re-
trieved 9 March 2008.
[173] “Mummies and Mummification: Late Period, Ptolemaic,
Roman and Christian Period”. Digital Egypt for Uni- [201] Full version at Met Museum
versities, University College London. Archived from the
original on 30 March 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
[174] “Shabtis”. Digital Egypt for Universities, University
College London. Archived from the original on 24 March
2008. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
[175] James (2005) p. 124
[176] Shaw (2002) p. 245
[177] Manuelian (1998) pp. 366–67
[195] Schuster, Angela M.H. "This Old Boat", 11 December
2000. Archaeological Institute of America.
[196] Shelley Wachsmann, Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in
the Bronze Age Levant (Texas A&M University Press,
2009), p. 19.
[197] “Egypt's Ancient Fleet: Lost for Thousands of Years,
Discovered in a Desolate Cave”. Discover Magazine.
[198] “Most Ancient Port, Hieroglyphic Papyri Found”.
DNews.
[199] Shea, William H. “A Date for the Recently Discovered
Eastern Canal of Egypt”, in Bulletin of the American
Schools of Oriental Research',' No. 226 (April 1977), pp.
31–38.
[200] See Suez Canal.
[202] Understanding of Egyptian mathematics is incomplete
due to paucity of available material and lack of exhaustive
study of the texts that have been uncovered. Imhausen et
al. (2007) p. 13
[203] Imhausen et al. (2007) p. 11
[204] Clarke (1990) p. 222
[205] Clarke (1990) p. 217
[206] Clarke (1990) p. 218

[178] Clayton (1994) p. 96 [207] Gardiner (1957) p. 197

[179] Shaw, Garry J. (2009). “The Death of King Seqenenre [208] Strouhal (1989) p. 241
Tao”. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. [209] Imhausen et al. (2007) p. 31
45.
[210] Kemp (1989) p. 138
[180] Shaw (2002) p. 400
[211] Siliotti (1998) p. 8
[181] Nicholson (2000) p. 177
[212] Siliotti (1998) p. 10
[182] Nicholson (2000) p. 109 [213] El-Daly (2005) p. 112
[183] Nicholson (2000) p. 195 [214] Siliotti (1998) p. 13
[184] Nicholson (2000) p. 215 [215] Siliotti (1998) p. 100
3.11. REFERENCES
3.11 References
• Aldred, Cyril (1988). Akhenaten, King of Egypt.
London, England: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-
500-05048-1.
• Allen, James P. (2000). Middle Egyptian: An In-
troduction to the Language and Culture of Hiero-
glyphs. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 0-521-77483-7.
• Badawy, Alexander (1968). A History of Egyptian
Architecture. Vol III. Berkeley, California: Univer-
sity of California Press. ISBN 0-520-00057-9.
• Billard, Jules B. (1978). Ancient Egypt: Discover-
ing its Splendors. Washington D.C.: National Geo-
graphic Society.
• Cerny, J (1975). Egypt from the Death of Ramesses
III to the End of the Twenty-First Dynasty' in The
Middle East and the Aegean Region c.1380–1000
BC. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-08691-4.
• Clarke, Somers; R. Engelbach (1990). Ancient
Egyptian Construction and Architecture. New York,
New York: Dover Publications, Unabridged Dover
reprint of Ancient Egyptian Masonry: The Build-
ing Craft originally published by Oxford University
Press/Humphrey Milford, London, (1930). ISBN
0-486-26485-8.
• Clayton, Peter A. (1994). Chronicle of the
Pharaohs. London, England: Thames and Hudson.
ISBN 0-500-05074-0.
• Cline, Eric H.; O'Connor, David Kevin (2001).
Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign. Ann Ar-
bor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p.
273. ISBN 0-472-08833-5.
• Dodson, Aidan (1991). Egyptian Rock Cut Tombs.
Buckinghamshire, UK: Shire Publications Ltd.
ISBN 0-7478-0128-2.
• Dodson, Aidan; Hilton, Dyan (2004). The Complete
Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. London, England:
Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05128-3.
• El-Daly, Okasha (2005). Egyptology: The Missing
Millennium. London, England: UCL Press. ISBN
1-84472-062-4.
• Filer, Joyce (1996). Disease. Austin, Texas: Uni-
versity of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-72498-5.
• Gardiner, Sir Alan (1957). Egyptian Grammar: Be-
ing an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. Ox-
ford, England: Griffith Institute. ISBN 0-900416-
35-1.
53
• Hayes, W. C. (October 1964). “Most Ancient
Egypt: Chapter III. The Neolithic and Chalcolithic
Communities of Northern Egypt”. JNES (No. 4
ed.). 23 (4): 217–272. doi:10.1086/371778.
• Imhausen, Annette; Robson, Eleanor; Dauben,
Joseph W.; Plofker, Kim & Berggren, J. Lennart
(2007). Katz, V. J., Jr., ed. The Mathematics of
Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A
Sourcebook. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
ISBN 0-691-11485-4.
• James, T.G.H. (2005). The British Museum Concise
Introduction to Ancient Egypt. Ann Arbor, Michi-
gan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-
03137-6.
• Kemp, Barry (1991). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of
a Civilization. London, England: Routledge. ISBN
0-415-06346-9.
• Killebrew, Ann E. (2013), “The Philistines and
Other “Sea Peoples”in Text and Archaeology”,
Society of Biblical Literature Archaeology and bibli-
cal studies, Society of Biblical Lit, 15, ISBN 978-1-
58983-721-8
• Lichtheim, Miriam (1975). Ancient Egyptian Liter-
ature, vol 1. London, England: University of Cali-
fornia Press. ISBN 0-520-02899-6.
• Lichtheim, Miriam (1980). Ancient Egyptian Liter-
ature, A Book of Readings. Vol III: The Late Period.
Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995a). Ancient Egyptian: A
linguistic introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-44849-2.
• Loprieno, Antonio (1995b). “Ancient Egyptian
and other Afroasiatic Languages”. In Sasson, J.
M. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. 4. New
York, New York: Charles Scribner. pp. 2137–
2150. ISBN 1-56563-607-4.
• Loprieno, Antonio (2004). “Ancient Egyptian
and Coptic”. In Woodward, Roger D. The Cam-
bridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Lan-
guages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University
Press. pp. 160–192. ISBN 0-521-56256-2.
• Lucas, Alfred (1962). Ancient Egyptian Materials
and Industries, 4th Ed. London, England: Edward
Arnold Publishers. ISBN 1-85417-046-5.
• Mallory-Greenough, Leanne M. (2002). “The
Geographical, Spatial, and Temporal Distribution
of Predynastic and First Dynasty Basalt Vessels”
. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. London,
England: Egypt Exploration Society. 88: 67–93.
doi:10.2307/3822337. JSTOR 3822337.
54
• Manuelian, Peter Der (1998). Egypt: The World
of the Pharaohs. Bonner Straße, Cologne Ger-
many: Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. ISBN
3-89508-913-3.
• McDowell, A. G. (1999). Village life in ancient
Egypt: laundry lists and love songs. Oxford, Eng-
land: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-814998-
0.
• Meskell, Lynn (2004). Object Worlds in Ancient
Egypt: Material Biographies Past and Present (Mate-
rializing Culture). Oxford, England: Berg Publish-
ers. ISBN 1-85973-867-2.
• Midant-Reynes, Béatrix (2000). The Prehistory
of Egypt: From the First Egyptians to the First
Pharaohs. Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishers.
ISBN 0-631-21787-8.
• Nicholson, Paul T. (2000). Ancient Egyptian Mate-
rials and Technology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-45257-0.
• Oakes, Lorna (2003). Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated
Reference to the Myths, Religions, Pyramids and
Temples of the Land of the Pharaohs. New York,
New York: Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-7607-4943-4.
• Robins, Gay (2000). The Art of Ancient Egypt.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University
Press. ISBN 0-674-00376-4.
• Ryholt, Kim (January 1997). The Political Situ-
ation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Pe-
riod. Copenhagen, Denmark: Museum Tuscu-
lanum. ISBN 87-7289-421-0.
• Scheel, Bernd (1989). Egyptian Metalworking and
Tools. Haverfordwest, Great Britain: Shire Publica-
tions Ltd. ISBN 0-7478-0001-4.
• Shaw, Ian (2003). The Oxford History of Ancient
Egypt. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-19-280458-8.
• Siliotti, Alberto (1998). The Discovery of Ancient
Egypt. Edison, New Jersey: Book Sales, Inc. ISBN
0-7858-1360-8.
• Strouhal, Eugen (1989). Life in Ancient Egypt. Nor-
man, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.
ISBN 0-8061-2475-X.
• Tyldesley, Joyce A. (2001). Ramesses: Egypt's
greatest pharaoh. Harmondsworth, England: Pen-
guin. pp. 76–77. ISBN 0-14-028097-9.
• Vittman, G. (1991). “Zum koptischen Sprachgut
im Ägyptisch-Arabisch”. Wiener Zeitschrift für die
Kunde des Morgenlandes. Vienna, Austria: Institut
für Orientalistik, Vienna University. 81: 197–227.
CHAPTER 3. ANCIENT EGYPT
• Walbank, Frank William (1984). The Cambridge
ancient history. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press. ISBN 0-521-23445-X.
• Wasserman, James; Faulkner, Raymond Oliver;
Goelet, Ogden; Von Dassow, Eva (1994). The Egyp-
tian Book of the dead, the Book of going forth by day:
being the Papyrus of Ani. San Francisco, California:
Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-0767-3.
• Wilkinson, R. H. (2000). The Complete Temples of
Ancient Egypt. London, England: Thames and Hud-
son. ISBN 0-500-05100-3.
3.12 Further reading
• Baines, John & Jaromir Malek (2000). The Cultural
Atlas of Ancient Egypt (revised ed.). Facts on File.
ISBN 0-8160-4036-2.
• Bard, KA (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology
of Ancient Egypt. NY, NY: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-
18589-0.
• Grimal, Nicolas (1992). A History of Ancient Egypt
(in German). Blackwell Books. ISBN 0-631-
19396-0.
• Helck, Wolfgang; Otto, Eberhard, eds. (1972–
1992). Lexikon der Ägyptologie. O. Harrassowitz.
ISBN 3-447-01441-5.
• Lehner, Mark (1997). The Complete Pyramids.
London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05084-
8.
• Redford, Donald B., ed. (2001). The Oxford Ency-
clopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
ISBN 0-19-510234-7.
• Wilkinson, R.H. (2003). The Complete Gods and
Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames and
Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05120-8.
3.13 External links
• BBC History: Egyptians—provides a reliable gen-
eral overview and further links
• Ancient History Encyclopedia on Egypt
• Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book Door
Marshall Clagett, 1989
• Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy A site that shows the
history of Egyptian metalworking
• Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Re-
discovery of Egypt, Art History.
3.13. EXTERNAL LINKS 55

• Ancient Egypt—maintained by the British Museum,

this site provides a useful introduction to Ancient
Egypt for older children and young adolescents

• Digital Egypt for Universities. Outstanding schol-

arly treatment with broad coverage and cross refer-
ences (internal and external). Artifacts used exten-
sively to illustrate topics.

• Priests of Ancient Egypt In-depth-information

about Ancient Egypt's priests, religious services and
temples. Much picture material and bibliography.
In English and German.

• Ancient Egypt

• UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology

• Ancient Egypt and the Role of Women by Dr Joann
Fletcher
 Chapter 4

Old Kingdom of Egypt

“Old Kingdom”redirects here. For other uses, see Old velopment of building with stone and with the conception
Kingdom (disambiguation). of the new architectural form—the Step Pyramid.* [3] In-
Warning: Page using Template:Infobox former country deed, the Old Kingdom is perhaps best known for the
with unknown parameter “country”(this message is large number of pyramids constructed at this time as
shown only in preview). pharaonic burial places. For this reason, the Old King-
dom is frequently referred to as “the Age of the Pyra-
mids.”
The Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the
third millennium BC when Egypt attained its first con-
tinuous peak of civilization – the first of three so-called
“Kingdom”periods (followed by the Middle Kingdom
and New Kingdom) which mark the high points of civ- 4.1 Third Dynasty
ilization in the lower Nile Valley. The term itself was
coined by eighteenth-century historians and the distinc-
tion between the Old Kingdom and the Early Dynastic
Period is not one which would have been recognized by
Ancient Egyptians. Not only was the last king of the Early
Dynastic Period related to the first two kings of the Old
Kingdom, but the 'capital', the royal residence, remained
at Ineb-Hedg, the Ancient Egyptian name for Memphis.
The basic justification for a separation between the two
periods is the revolutionary change in architecture ac-
companied by the effects on Egyptian society and econ-
omy of large-scale building projects.* [1]
The Old Kingdom is most commonly regarded as the pe-
riod from the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dy-
nasty (2686–2181 BC). Many Egyptologists also include
the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in the Old The Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.
Kingdom as a continuation of the administration central-
ized at Memphis. While the Old Kingdom was a period The first king of the Old Kingdom was Djoser (sometime
of internal security and prosperity, it was followed by a between 2691 and 2625 BC) of the third dynasty, who
period of disunity and relative cultural decline referred ordered the construction of a pyramid (the Step Pyramid)
to by Egyptologists as the First Intermediate Period.* [2] in Memphis' necropolis, Saqqara. An important person
During the Old Kingdom, the king of Egypt (not called during the reign of Djoser was his vizier, Imhotep.
the Pharaoh until the New Kingdom) became a living god
It was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyp-
who ruled absolutely and could demand the services and
tian states became known as nomes, under the rule of
wealth of his subjects.* [3] The numerous references to
the pharaoh. The former rulers were forced to assume
the Old Kingdom kings as pharaohs in this article stems
the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection.
from the ubiquitous use of the term“pharaoh”to describe
Egyptians in this era worshipped their pharaoh as a god,
any and all Ancient Egyptian Kings.
believing that he ensured the annual flooding of the Nile
Under King Djoser, the first king of the Third Dynasty of that was necessary for their crops. Egyptian views on the
the Old Kingdom, the royal capital of Egypt was moved nature of time during this period held that the universe
to Memphis, where Djoser established his court. A new worked in cycles, and the Pharaoh on earth worked to
era of building was initiated at Saqqara under his reign. ensure the stability of those cycles. They also perceived
King Djoser's architect, Imhotep is credited with the de- themselves as a specially selected people.* [5]

56
4.3. FIFTH DYNASTY 57

The Great Sphinx of Giza in front of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Temple of Djoser at Saqqara
Sneferu was succeeded by his son, Khufu (2589–2566
BC) who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. After Khufu's
death his sons Djedefra (2566–2558 BC) and Khafra
(2558–2532 BC) may have quarreled. The latter built the
second pyramid and (in traditional thinking) the Sphinx
in Giza. Recent reexamination of evidence has led Egyp-
tologist Vassil Dobrev to propose that the Sphinx had
been built by Djedefra as a monument to his father
Khufu.* [7] Alternatively, the Sphinx has been proposed
to be the work of Khafra and Khufu himself.
There were military expeditions into Canaan and Nubia,
with Egyptian influence reaching up the Nile into what is
today the Sudan.* [8] The later kings of the Fourth Dy-
nasty were king Menkaure (2532–2504 BC), who built
the smallest pyramid in Giza, Shepseskaf (2504–2498
BC) and, perhaps, Djedefptah (2498–2496 BCE).

4.3 Fifth Dynasty

The Fifth Dynasty (2494–2345 BC) began with Userkaf
(2494–2487 BC) and was marked by the growing impor-
tance of the cult of sun god Ra. Consequently, less ef-
forts were devoted to the construction of pyramid com-
Head of a King, ca. 2650-2600 BC, Brooklyn Museum; The plexes than during the 4th dynasty and more to the con-
earliest representations of Egyptian Kings are on a small scale.
struction of sun temples in Abusir. Userkaf was suc-
From the 3rd dynasty, statues were made showing the ruler life-
ceeded by his son Sahure (2487–2475 BC) who com-
size; this head wearing the crown of Upper Egypt even surpasses
*
human scale. [4] manded an expedition to Punt. Sahure was in turn suc-
ceeded by Neferirkare Kakai (2475–2455 BC) who was
either Sahure's son or his brother, in which case he might
4.2 Fourth Dynasty have usurped the throne at the expense of Prince Net-
jerirenre.* [9] He was followed by two shadowy short-
lived kings Neferefre (2455–2453 BC) and Shepseskare,
The Old Kingdom and its royal power reached a zenith the latter possibly a son of Sahure.* [10] Shepseskare was
under the Fourth Dynasty (2613–2494 BC), which began deposed by Neferefre's brother Nyuserre Ini (2445–2421
with Sneferu (2613–2589 BC). Using more stones than BC).
any other king, he built three pyramids: a now collapsed
pyramid in Meidum, the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, and The last kings of the dynasty were Menkauhor Kaiu
the Red Pyramid, at North Dahshur. However, the full (2421–2414 BCE), Djedkare Isesi (2414–2375 BC) and
development of the pyramid style of building was reached finally Unas (2375–2345), the earliest ruler to have the
not at Saqqara, but during the building of the“great pyra- pyramid texts inscribed in his pyramid.
mids”at Giza.* [6] Egypt's expanding interests in trade goods such as ebony,
58 CHAPTER 4. OLD KINGDOM OF EGYPT

suitable ships for navigation of the open sea. They traded

with Lebanon for cedar and traveled the length of the Red
Sea to the Kingdom of Punt, which was possibly modern
day Somalia, for ebony, ivory and aromatic resins. Ship
builders of that era did not use pegs (treenails) or metal
fasteners, but relied on rope to keep their ships assembled.
Planks and the superstructure were tightly tied and bound
together.

4.4 Sixth Dynasty

During the sixth dynasty (2345–2181 BC) the power
of pharaoh gradually weakened in favor of powerful
nomarchs (regional governors). These no longer be-
longed to the royal family and their charge became hered-
itary, thus creating local dynasties largely independent
from the central authority of the pharaoh. However, Nile
flood control was still the subject of very large works, in-
cluding especially the canal to Lake Moeris around 2300
BCE, which was likely also the source of water to the Giza
pyramid complex centuries earlier.
Internal disorders set in during the incredibly long reign
of Pepi II (2278–2184 BCE) towards the end of the dy-
nasty. His death, certainly well past that of his intended
heirs, might have created succession struggles. The coun-
Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
try slipped into civil wars mere decades after the close of
Pepi II's reign.
The final blow was the 22nd century BC drought in the
region that resulted in a drastic drop in precipitation. For
at least some years between 2200 and 2150 BCE, this
prevented the normal flooding of the Nile.* [11]
Whatever its cause, the collapse of the Old Kingdom was
followed by decades of famine and strife. An important
inscription on the tomb of Ankhtifi, a nomarch during the
early First Intermediate Period, describes the pitiful state
of the country when famine stalked the land.

4.5 Culture
Egypt's Old Kingdom (Dynasties 3–6, ca. 2649–2150
BC) was one of the most dynamic periods in the develop-
ment of Egyptian art. During this period, artists learned
to express their culture's worldview, creating for the first
time images and forms that endured for generations. Ar-
chitects and masons mastered the techniques necessary to
build monumental structures in stone.* [12]
Sculptors created the earliest portraits of individuals and
the first lifesize statues in wood, copper, and stone. They
perfected the art of carving intricate relief decoration and,
Late Period statue of Imhotep, Musée du Louvre. through keen observation of the natural world, produced
detailed images of animals, plants, and even landscapes,
recording the essential elements of their world for eternity
incense such as myrrh and frankincense, gold, copper and in scenes painted and carved on the walls of temples and
other useful metals inspired the ancient Egyptians to build tombs.* [12]
4.8. EXTERNAL LINKS 59

These images and structures had two principal functions: • Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids, New York,
to ensure an ordered existence and to defeat death by pre- Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. ISBN 0-
serving life into the next world. To these ends, over a 87099-906-0 (catalogue for travelling exhibition of
period of time, Egyptian artists adopted a limited reper- the same name)
toire of standard types and established a formal artistic
canon that would define Egyptian art for more than 3,000
years, while remaining flexible enough to allow for subtle 4.8 External links
variation and innovation. Although much of their artistic
effort was centered on preserving life after death, Egyp-
• The Fall of the Egyptian Old Kingdom from BBC
tians also surrounded themselves with objects to enhance
History
their lives in this world, producing elegant jewelry, finely
carved and inlaid furniture, and cosmetic vessels and im- • Middle East on The Matrix: Egypt, The Old King-
plements made from a wide range of materials. dom —Photographs of many of the historic sites
dating from the Old Kingdom
• Old Kingdom of Egypt- Aldokkan
4.6 References
[1] Malek, Jaromir. 2003. “The Old Kingdom (c. 2686–
2160 BCE)". In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt,
edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press. ISBN 978-0192804587, p.83

[2] Carl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times, pp. 55 & 60.

[3] Carl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times, p. 56.

[4] Bothmer, Bernard (1974). Brief Guide to the Department

of Egyptian and Classical Art. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn
Museum. p. 22.

[5] Herlin, Susan J. (2003). “Ancient African Civilizations

to ca. 1500: Pharaonic Egypt to Ca. 800 BC”. p. 27.
Archived from the original on August 23, 2003. Retrieved
23 January 2017.

[6] Carl Roebuck, The World of Ancient Times, p. 57.

[7] Vassil Dobrev, French Institute, Cairo, link 1, link 2

[8] p.5, 'The Collins Encyclopedia of Military History' (4th

edition, 1993), Dupuy & Dupuy.

[9] Miroslav Verner: The Pyramids, Grove Press. New York,

2001

[10] Miroslav Verner: Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and

5th Dynasty Chronology, Archiv Orientální, Volume 69:
2001

[11] Jean-Daniel Stanley; et al. (2003). “Nile flow failure at

the end of the Old Kingdom, Egypt: Strontium isotopic
and petrologic evidence”. Geoarchaeology. 18 (3): 395–
402. doi:10.1002/gea.10065.

[12] “Select Egypt”. selectegypt.com.

4.7 Further reading

• Jaromir Malek, In the Shadow of the Pyramids:
Egypt During the Old Kingdom, University of Ok-
lahoma Press, 1986. ISBN 0-8061-2027-4
Chapter 5

Bronze Age

For other uses, see Bronze Age (disambiguation). 5.1 History

The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized
The overall period is characterized by widespread use
of bronze, though the place and time of the introduc-
tion and development of bronze technology were not uni-
versally synchronous.* [2] Human-made tin bronze tech-
nology requires set production techniques. Tin must be
mined (mainly as the tin ore cassiterite) and smelted sepa-
rately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy.
The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals
and of developing trade networks (See Tin sources and
trade in ancient times). A 2013 report suggests that the
earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to the mid-5th millennium
BC in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik (Serbia), although
the civilization is not conventionally considered part of
the Bronze Age.* [3] The dating of the foil has been dis-
puted.* [4]* [5]* [6]
Diffusion of metallurgy in Europe and Asia Minor. The darkest
areas are the oldest.
5.1.1 Near East

Main article: Ancient Near East

by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early fea-
tures of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second
principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron sys- The Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the
tem, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Cultures in the
Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies. ancient Near East (often called one of “the cradles of
civilization") practiced intensive year-round agriculture,
An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age developed a writing system, invented the potter's wheel,
either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, created a centralized government, law codes, and em-
arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from pires, and introduced social stratification, slavery, and or-
production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, ganized warfare. Societies in the region laid the founda-
as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes tions for astronomy and mathematics.
in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the
third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age gener-
ally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic Near East timeline
serving as a transition. Although the Iron Age generally
followed the Bronze Age, in some areas (such as Sub- Dates are approximate, consult particular arti-
Saharan Africa), the Iron Age intruded directly on the cle for details
Neolithic.* [1]
Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of
the first writing. According to archaeological evi- Age sub-divisions
dence, cultures in Mesopotamia (cuneiform) and Egypt
(hieroglyphs) developed the earliest viable writing sys- The Ancient Near East Bronze Age can be divided as fol-
tems. lows:

60
5.1. HISTORY 61

Mesopotamia found, providing evidence for a highly developed water

management system.
Main article: Ancient Mesopotamia Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized "Jiroft
culture", a 3rd-millennium-BC culture postulated on the
In Mesopotamia, the Mesopotamian Bronze Age began basis of a collection of artifacts confiscated in 2001.
about 2900 BC and ended with the Kassite period (c.
1500 BC - c.1155 BC). The usual tripartite division into
an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. In- Anatolia
stead, a division primarily based on art-historical and his-
torical characteristics is more common. Main article: Bronze Age Anatolia
The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens
of thousands of people. Ur in the Middle Bronze Age The Hittite Empire was established in Hattusa in northern
and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century
populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears BC, the Hittite Kingdom was at its height, encompassing
on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit, and
century BC. The Amorite dynasty established the city- upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, amid general tur-
state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years moil in the Levant conjectured to have been associated
later, it briefly took over the other city-states and formed with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples,* [14]* [15] the
the first Babylonian empire during what is also called the kingdom disintegrated into several independent “Neo-
Old Babylonian Period. Babylonia adopted the written Hittite”city-states, some of which survived until as late
Semitic Akkadian language for official use. By that time, as the 8th century BC.
the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still Arzawa in Western Anatolia during the second half of
in religious use. The Akkadian and Sumerian traditions the second millennium BC likely extended along south-
played a major role in later Babylonian culture, and the ern Anatolia in a belt that reaches from near the Turkish
region, even under outside rule, remained an important Lakes Region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa was the west-
cultural center throughout the Bronze and Early Iron Age. ern neighbor—sometimes a rival and sometimes a vassal
—of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms.
The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in west-
Iranian Plateau
ern Anatolia that was defeated by the Hittites under an
earlier Tudhaliya I, around 1400 BC. Arzawa has been
Further information: Persian plateau associated with the much more obscure Assuwa gener-
ally located to its north. It probably bordered it, and may
Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of even be an alternative term for it (at least during some
Mesopotamia. In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze periods).
Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau,
centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium
BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Levant
Its culture played a crucial role in the Gutian Empire and
especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded Main article: Bronze Age Levant
it. Further information: Canaan, Prehistory of the Levant,
The Oxus civilization [10] was a Bronze Age Central and List of archaeological periods (Levant)
*

Asian culture dated to ca. 2300–1700 BC and centered

on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus). In the Early Bronze Age
the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyn-Depe devel-
oped a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV
at Namazga-Depe. Altyn-Depe was a major centre even
then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown.
The height of this urban development was reached in
the Middle Bronze Age c. 2300 BC, corresponding to
level V at Namazga-Depe.* [11] This Bronze Age culture
is called the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex
(BMAC).
The Kulli culture,* [12]* [13] similar to those of the Indus
Valley Civilization, was located in southern Balochistan
(Gedrosia) ca. 2500–2000 BC. Agriculture was the eco-
nomical base of this people. At several places dams were
In modern scholarship the chronology of the Bronze Age
Levant is divided into Early/Proto Syrian; corresponding
to the Early Bronze. Old Syrian; corresponding to the
Middle Bronze. Middle Syrian; corresponding to the Late
Bronze. The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early
Iron Age.* [16]
The old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first
kingdom, Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom. The
Akkadian conquered large areas of the Levant and were
followed by the Amorite kingdoms, ca. 2000–1600 BC,
which arose in Mari, Yamhad, Qatna, Assyria,* [17] From
the 15th century BCE onward, the term Amurru is usually
applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as
Kadesh on the Orontes River.
62
The earliest known Ugarit contact with Egypt (and the
first exact dating of Ugaritic civilization) comes from
a carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom
pharaoh Senusret I, 1971 BC–1926 BC. A stela and a stat-
uette from the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amen-
emhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear at
what time these monuments got to Ugarit. In the Amarna
letters, messages from Ugarit ca. 1350 BC written by
Ammittamru I, Niqmaddu II, and his queen, were dis-
covered. From the 16th to the 13th century BC Ugarit re-
mained in constant touch with Egypt and Cyprus (named
Alashiya).
The Mitanni was a loosely organized state in northern
Syria and south-east Anatolia from ca. 1500 BC–1300
BC. Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class that gov-
erned a predominately Hurrian population, Mitanni came
to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kas-
site Babylon created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia.
At its beginning, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under
the Thutmosids. However, with the ascent of the Hittite
empire, Mitanni and Egypt made an alliance to protect
their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domina-
tion. At the height of its power, during the 14th century
BC, it had outposts centered on its capital, Washukanni,
which archaeologists have located on the headwaters of
the Khabur River. Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to
Hittite, and later Assyrian attacks, and was reduced to a
province of the Middle Assyrian Empire.
The Israelites were an ancient Semitic-speaking people
of the Ancient Near East who inhabited part of Canaan
during the tribal and monarchic periods (15th to 6th cen-
turies BC),* [18]* [19]* [20]* [21]* [22] and lived in the re-
gion in smaller numbers after the fall of the monarchy.
The name Israel first appears c. 1209 BC, at the end of the
Late Bronze Age and the very beginning of the Iron Age,
on the Merneptah Stele raised by the Egyptian Pharaoh
Merneptah.
The Arameans were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic
and pastoralist people who originated in what is now
modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze
Age and the early Iron Age. Large groups migrated to
Mesopotamia, where they intermingled with the native
Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The
Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided
into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. Af-
ter the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was
confined to a number of Syro-Hittite states, which were
entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the
8th century BC.
Ancient Egypt
Main article: Ancient Egypt
CHAPTER 5. BRONZE AGE
Early Bronze dynasties In Ancient Egypt the Bronze
Age begins in the Protodynastic period, c. 3150 BC. The
archaic early Bronze Age of Egypt, known as the Early
Dynastic Period of Egypt,* [23]* [24] immediately follows
the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BC. It
is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynas-
ties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until
about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom.
With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos
to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian
god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the
south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization,
such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion,
took shape during the Early Dynastic period. Memphis
in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time.
The Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age* [23] is the
name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when
Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in
complexity and achievement – the first of three “King-
dom”periods, which mark the high points of civilization
in the lower Nile Valley (the others being Middle King-
dom and the New Kingdom).
The First Intermediate Period of Egypt,* [25] often de-
scribed as a “dark period”in ancient Egyptian history,
spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old King-
dom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumen-
tal evidence survives from this period, especially from
the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was
a dynamic time when rule of Egypt was roughly divided
between two competing power bases: Heracleopolis in
Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two
kingdoms would eventually come into conflict, with the
Theban kings conquering the north, resulting in reunifi-
cation of Egypt under a single ruler during the second part
of the 11th Dynasty.
Middle Bronze dynasties The Middle Kingdom of
Egypt lasted from 2055 to 1650 BC. During this period,
the Osiris funerary cult rose to dominate Egyptian popu-
lar religion. The period comprises two phases: the 11th
Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th* [26] and
13th Dynasties centered on el-Lisht. The unified king-
dom was previously considered to comprise the 11th and
12th Dynasties, but historians now at least partially con-
sider the 13th Dynasty to belong to the Middle Kingdom.
During the Second Intermediate Period,* [27] Ancient
Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the
end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New
Kingdom. It is best known for the Hyksos, whose reign
comprised the 15th and 16th dynasties. The Hyksos first
appeared in Egypt during the 11th Dynasty, began their
climb to power in the 13th Dynasty, and emerged from
the Second Intermediate Period in control of Avaris and
the Delta. By the 15th Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt,
and they were expelled at the end of the 17th Dynasty.
5.1. HISTORY 63

Late Bronze dynasties The New Kingdom of Egypt, “Age”made that of the old obsolete. In China, however,
also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, lasted from the any attempt to establish a definite set of dates for a Bronze
16th to the 11th century BC. The New Kingdom followed Age is complicated by two factors:
the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the
Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosper-
1. arrival of iron smelting technology, and
ous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later
New Kingdom, i.e. the 19th and 20th Dynasties (1292– 2. persistence of bronze objects.
1069 BC), is also known as the Ramesside period, after
the eleven pharaohs that took the name of Ramesses.
The earliest bronze artifacts have been found in
the Majiayao culture site (between 3100 and 2700
5.1.2 Central Asia BC),* [32]* [33] and from then on, the society gradually
grew into the Bronze Age.
Seima-Turbino Phenomenon Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred
to as the Erlitou (Wade–Giles: Erh-li-t'ou) period, which
Main article: Seima-Turbino Phenomenon some historians argue places it within the range of dates
controlled by the Shang dynasty.* [34] Others believe the
The Altai Mountains in what is now southern Russia and Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia (Wade–Giles:
central Mongolia have been identified as the point of ori- Hsia) dynasty.* [35] The U.S. National Gallery of Art de-
gin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phe- fines the Chinese Bronze Age as the “period between
nomenon.* [28] It is conjectured that changes in climate about 2000 BC and 771 BC,”a period that begins with
in this region around 2000 BC and the ensuing ecological, the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disinte-
economic and political changes triggered a rapid and mas- gration of Western Zhou rule.* [36] Though this provides
sive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward a concise frame of reference, it overlooks the contin-
into China and southward into Vietnam and Thailand ued importance of bronze in Chinese metallurgy and cul-
*
[29] across a frontier of some 4,000 miles.* [28] This mi- ture. Since this is significantly later than the discovery of
gration took place in just five to six generations and led to bronze in Mesopotamia, bronze technology could have
peoples from Finland in the west to Thailand in the east been imported rather than discovered independently in
employing the same metal working technology and, in China. While there may be reason to believe that bronze-
some areas, horse breeding and riding.* [28] It is further work developed inside China separately from outside in-
conjectured that the same migrations spread the Uralic fluence,* [37]* [38] the discovery of Europoid mummies
group of languages across Europe and Asia: some 39 lan- in Xinjiang suggests a possible route of transmission from
guages of this group are still extant, including Hungarian, the West.* [39]
Finnish and Estonian.* [28] However, recent genetic test- The Shang Dynasty* [40]* [41] of the Yellow River Valley
ings of sites in south Siberia and Kazakhstan (Andronovo rose to power after the Xia Dynasty. While some direct
horizon) would rather support a spreading of the bronze information about the Shang Dynasty comes from Shang-
technology via Indo-European migrations eastwards, as era inscriptions on bronze artifacts, most comes from or-
this technology was well known for quite a while in west- acle bones – turtle shells, cattle scapulae, or other bones
ern regions.* [30]* [31] – which bear glyphs that form the first significant corpus
of recorded Chinese characters.
5.1.3 East Asia Iron is found from the Zhou Dynasty, but its use is min-
imal. Chinese literature dating to the 6th century BC at-
East Asia timeline tests knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to
occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and
Dates are approximate, consult particular arti- historical record for some time after this.* [42] Historian
cle for details W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze“at
any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)"
and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal
China vessels all the way through the Later Han period, or to
221 BC [sic?].* [43]
Further information: History of China The Chinese bronze artifacts generally are either utilitar-
ian, like spear points or adze heads, or “ritual bronzes”
Historians disagree about the dates of a “Bronze Age” , which are more elaborate versions in precious materials
in China. The difficulty lies in the term “Bronze Age”, of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Exam-
as it has been applied to signify a period in history when ples are the numerous large sacrificial tripods known as
bronze tools replaced stone tools, and, later, were them- dings in Chinese; there are many other distinct shapes.
selves replaced by iron ones. The medium of the new Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be
64 CHAPTER 5. BRONZE AGE

highly decorated, often with the taotie motif, which in- 5.1.4 South Asia
volves highly stylized animal faces. These appear in three
main motif types: those of demons, of symbolic animals, South Asia timeline
and of abstract symbols.* [44] Many large bronzes also
bear cast inscriptions that are the great bulk of the sur- Dates are approximate, consult particular arti-
viving body of early Chinese writing and have helped cle for details
historians and archaeologists piece together the history
of China, especially during the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256
BC). Indus Valley
The bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty document Main article: Indus Valley civilization
large portions of history not found in the extant texts
that were often composed by persons of varying rank
and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of The Bronze Age on the Indian subcontinent began around
cast bronze lends the record they preserve a permanence 3300 BC with the beginning of the Indus Valley civiliza-
not enjoyed by manuscripts.* [45] These inscriptions can tion. Inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the Harappans, de-
commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to veloped new techniques in metallurgy and produced cop-
the date and place, the naming of the event commemo- per, bronze, lead and tin. The Indian Bronze Age was fol-
rated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for lowed by the Iron Age Vedic Period. The Late Harappan
the bronze, and a dedication.* [46] The relative points of culture, which dates from 1900 BC to 1400 BC, over-
reference these vessels provide have enabled historians lapped the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron
to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame Age; thus it is difficult to date this transition accurately.
of the Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the
evolution of the vessels and the events they record.* [47]
5.1.5 Southeast Asia

Dating back to the Neolithic Age, the first bronze drums,

called the Dong Son drums, have been uncovered in
Korea and around the Red River Delta regions of Vietnam and
Southern China. These relate to the prehistoric Dong
Son Culture of Vietnam. In Ban Chiang, Thailand,
Main articles: Gojoseon and Mumun Pottery Period (Southeast Asia) bronze artifacts have been discovered
dating to 2100 BC.* [51] However, according to the radio-
The beginning of the Bronze Age on the peninsula is carbon dating on the human and pig bones in Ban Chiang,
around 1000 BC – 800 BC.* [48]* [49] Although the Ko- some scholars propose that the initial Bronze Age in Ban
rean Bronze Age culture derives from the Liaoning and Chiang was in late 2nd millennium.* [52] In Nyaunggan,
Manchuria, it exhibits unique typology and styles, espe- Burma, bronze tools have been excavated along with
cially in ritual objects.* [50] ceramics and stone artifacts. Dating is still currently
broad (3500–500 BC).* [53] Ban Non Wat, excavated by
The Mumun pottery period is named after the Korean Charles Higham, was a rich site with over 640 graves
name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage ves-
excavated that gleaned many complex bronze items that
sels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over may have had social value connected to them.* [54]
the entire length of the period, but especially 850-550
BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of inten- Ban Chiang, however, is the most thoroughly docu-
sive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean mented site while having the clearest evidence of met-
Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago. allurgy when it comes to Southeast Asia. With a rough
date range of late third millennium BC to the first mil-
The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of the south- lennium AD, this site alone has various artifacts such as
ern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze produc- burial pottery (dating from 2100 BC – 1700 BC), frag-
tion (c. 700–600? BC) after a period when Liaoning- ments of Bronze, copper-base bangles, and much more.
style bronze daggers and other bronze artifacts were ex- What's interesting about this site, however, isn't just the
changed as far as the interior part of the Southern Penin- old age of the artifacts but the fact that this technology
sula (c. 900–700 BC). The bronze daggers lent pres- suggested on-site casting from the very beginning. The
tige and authority to the personages who wielded and on-site casting supports the theory that Bronze was first
were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at introduced in Southeast Asia as fully developed which
south-coastal centres such as the Igeum-dong site. Bronze therefore shows that Bronze was actually innovated from
was an important element in ceremonies and as for mor- a different country.* [29] Some scholars believe that the
tuary offerings until 100. copper-based metallurgy was disseminated from north-
See also: Liaoning bronze dagger culture west and central China via south and southwest areas such
as Guangdong province and Yunnan province and finally
5.1. HISTORY 65

into southeast Asia around 1,000 BC.* [55] of the chronometer enabled the precise determination of
Archaeological research in Northern Vietnam indicates longitude.
an increase in rates of infectious disease following the ad- The Minoan civilization based in Knossos on the island
vent of metallurgy; skeletal fragments in sites dating to the of Crete appears to have coordinated and defended its
early and mid-Bronze Age evidence a greater proportion Bronze Age trade. Illyrians are also believed to have roots
of lesions than in sites of earlier periods.* [56] There are in the early Bronze Age. Ancient empires valued luxury
a few possible implications of this. One is the increase goods in contrast to staple foods, leading to famine.* [61]
contact with bacterial and/or fungal pathogens due to in-
creased population density and land clearing/ cultivation.
The other one is decreased levels of immunocompetence
Aegean Collapse Main article: Bronze Age collapse
in the Metal age due to changes in diet caused by agricul-
ture. The last is that there may have been an emergence
of infectious disease in the Da But period that evolved Bronze Age collapse theories have described aspects of
into a more virulent form in the metal period.* [56] Ar- the end of the Age in this region. At the end of the Bronze
chaeology also suggests that Bronze Age metallurgy may Age in the Aegean region, the Mycenaean administra-
not have been as significant a catalyst in social stratifi- tion of the regional trade empire followed the decline of
*
cation and warfare in Southeast Asia as in other regions, Minoan primacy. [62] Several Minoan client states lost
social distribution shifting away from chiefdom-states to a much of their population to famine and/or pestilence.
heterarchical network.* [57] Data analyses of sites such as This would indicate that the trade network may have
Ban Lum Khao, Ban Na Di, Non Nok Tha, Khok Phanom failed, preventing the trade that would previously have re-
Di, and Nong Nor have consistently led researchers to lieved such famines and prevented illness caused by mal-
conclude that there was no forentrenched hierarchy.* [58] nutrition. It is also known that in this era the breadbasket
of the Minoan empire, the area north of the Black Sea,
also suddenly lost much of its population, and thus prob-
5.1.6 Europe ably some capacity to cultivate crops.
The Aegean Collapse has been attributed to the exhaus-
Main article: Bronze Age in Europe
tion of the Cypriot forests causing the end of the bronze
trade.* [63]* [64]* [65] These forests are known to have
existed into later times, and experiments have shown that
European timeline charcoal production on the scale necessary for the bronze
production of the late Bronze Age would have exhausted
A few examples of named Bronze Age cultures in Europe them in less than fifty years.
in roughly relative order. The Aegean Collapse has also been attributed to the fact
that as iron tools became more common, the main jus-
Dates are approximate, consult particular arti- tification for the tin trade ended, and that trade network
cle for details ceased to function as it did formerly.* [66] The colonies
of the Minoan empire then suffered drought, famine, war,
The chosen cultures overlapped in time and the in- or some combination of those three, and had no access to
dicated periods do not fully correspond to their esti- the distant resources of an empire by which they could
mated extents. easily recover.
The Thera eruption occurred around the Aegean Col-
Aegean lapse, 110 km (68 mi) north of Crete. Speculation in-
clude a tsunami from Thera (more commonly known to-
Main article: Aegean Civilization day as Santorini) destroyed Cretan cities. A tsunami
may have destroyed the Cretan navy in its home har-
bour, which then lost crucial naval battles; so that in
The Aegean Bronze Age began around 3200 BC,* [59] the LMIB/LMII event (c. 1450 BC) the cities of
when civilizations first established a far-ranging trade net- Crete burned and the Mycenaean civilization took over
work. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, Knossos. If the eruption occurred in the late 17th cen-
where copper was mined and alloyed with the tin to pro- tury BC (as most chronologists now think) then its im-
duce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and mediate effects belong to the Middle to Late Bronze Age
wide, and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of tin transition, and not to the end of the Late Bronze Age;
in some Mediterranean bronze artifacts points to the fact but it could have triggered the instability that led to the
that they may have originated from Great Britain.* [60] collapse first of Knossos and then of Bronze Age soci-
Knowledge of navigation was well developed at this time, ety overall. One such theory looks to the role of Cre-
and reached a peak of skill not exceeded (except per- tan expertise in administering the empire, post-Thera. If
haps by Polynesian sailors) until 1730 when the invention this expertise was concentrated in Crete, then the Myce-
66 CHAPTER 5. BRONZE AGE

naeans may have made political and commercial mistakes (2300–2000 BC : triangular daggers, flat axes, stone
in administering the Cretan empire. wrist-guards, flint arrowheads) and Bronze A2 (Bz A2)
Archaeological findings, including some on the island of period (1950–1700 BC : daggers with metal hilt, flanged
Thera, suggest that the centre of Minoan Civilization at axes, halberds, pins with perforated spherical heads, solid
the time of the eruption was actually on Thera rather than bracelets) and phases Hallstatt A and B (Ha A and B).
on Crete . According to this theory, the catastrophic loss
of the political, administrative and economic centre by
South Europe
the eruption as well as the damage wrought by the tsunami
to the coastal towns and villages of Crete precipitated the
The Apennine culture (also called Italian Bronze Age)
decline of the Minoans. A weakened political entity with
is a technology complex of central and southern Italy
a reduced economic and military capability and fabled
spanning the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age proper. The
riches would have then been more vulnerable to human
Camuni were an ancient people of uncertain origin (ac-
predators. Indeed, the Santorini Eruption is usually dated
cording to Pliny the Elder, they were Euganei; accord-
to c. 1630 BC, while the Mycenaean Greeks first enter the
ing to Strabo, they were Rhaetians) who lived in Val Ca-
historical record a few decades later, c. 1600 BC. Thus,
monica – in what is now northern Lombardy – during the
the later Mycenaean assaults on Crete (c.1450 BC) and
Iron Age, although human groups of hunters, shepherds
Troy (c.1250 BC) are revealed as mere continuations of
and farmers are known to have lived in the area since the
the steady encroachments of the Greeks upon the weak-
Neolithic.
ened Minoan world.
Located in Sardinia and Corsica, the Nuragic civilization
lasted from the early Bronze Age (18th century BC) to
Central Europe the 2nd century AD, when the islands were already Ro-
manized. They take their name from the characteristic
See also: Bronze Age in Southeastern Europe and nuragic towers, which evolved from the pre-existing me-
Bronze Age in Romania galithic culture, which built dolmens and menhirs. The
nuraghe towers are unanimously considered the best pre-
In Central Europe, the early Bronze Age Unetice culture served and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their
(1800–1600 BC) includes numerous smaller groups like effective use is still debated: some scholars considered
the Straubing, Adlerberg and Hatvan cultures. Some very them as monumental tombs, others as Houses of the Gi-
rich burials, such as the one located at Leubingen with ants, other as fortresses, ovens for metal fusion, prisons
grave gifts crafted from gold, point to an increase of social or, finally, temples for a solar cult. Around the end of the
stratification already present in the Unetice culture. All in third millennium BC, Sardinia exported towards Sicily
all, cemeteries of this period are rare and of small size. a Culture that built small dolmens, trilithic or polygonal
The Unetice culture is followed by the middle Bronze Age shaped, that served as tombs as it has been ascertained
(1600–1200 BC) Tumulus culture, which is characterised in the Sicilian dolmen of “Cava dei Servi”. From this
by inhumation burials in tumuli (barrows). In the eastern region they reached Malta island and other countries of
Hungarian Körös tributaries, the early Bronze Age first Mediterranean basin.* [67]
saw the introduction of the Mako culture, followed by the The Terramare was an early Indo-European civilization in
Otomani and Gyulavarsand cultures. the area of what is now Pianura Padana (northern Italy)
The late Bronze Age Urnfield culture, (1300–700 BC) before the arrival of the Celts, and in other parts of Eu-
is characterized by cremation burials. It includes the rope. They lived in square villages of wooden stilt houses.
Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland (1300– These villages were built on land, but generally near a
500 BC) that continues into the Iron Age. The Cen- stream, with roads that crossed each other at right an-
tral European Bronze Age is followed by the Iron Age gles. The whole complex denoted the nature of a for-
Hallstatt culture (700–450 BC). tified settlement. Terramare were widespread in the Pi-
anura Padana (specially along the Panaro river, between
Important sites include:
Modena and Bologna) and in the rest of Europe. The civ-
ilization developed in the Middle and Late Bronze Age,
• Biskupin (Poland) between the 17th and the 13th centuries BC.
• Nebra (Germany) The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during the Mid-
dle Bronze Age. It lasted for more than a millennium,
• Vráble (Slovakia) from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in
• Zug-Sumpf, Zug, Switzerland the 3rd century BC. It takes its name from the fortified
boroughs (Castellieri, Friulian cjastelir) that characterized
The Bronze Age in Central Europe has been described in the culture.
the chronological schema of German prehistorian Paul The Canegrate culture developed from the mid-Bronze
Reinecke. He described Bronze A1 (Bz A1) period Age (13th century BC) till the Iron Age in the Pianura
5.1. HISTORY
Padana, in what are now western Lombardy, eastern
Piedmont and Ticino. It takes its name from the town-
ship of Canegrate where, in the 20th century, some fifty
tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found. The
Canegrate culture migrated from the northwest part of
the Alps and descended to Pianura Padana from the Swiss
Alps passes and the Ticino.
The Golasecca culture developed starting from the late
Bronze Age in the Po plain. It takes its name from Go-
lasecca, a locality next to the Ticino where, in the early
19th century, abbot Giovanni Battista Giani excavated its
first findings (some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal
objects). Remains of the Golasecca culture span an area
of c. 20,000 square kilometers south to the Alps, between
the Po, Sesia and Serio rivers, dating from the 9th to the
4th century BC.
West Europe
Atlantic Bronze Age Main article: Atlantic Bronze
Age
The Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the pe-
riod of approximately 1300–700 BC that includes dif-
ferent cultures in Portugal, Andalusia, Galicia and the
British Isles. It is marked by economic and cultural ex-
change. Commercial contacts extend to Denmark and the
Mediterranean. The Atlantic Bronze Age was defined by
a number of distinct regional centres of metal production,
unified by a regular maritime exchange of some of their
products.
Great Britain Main article: Bronze Age Britain
In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have
been the period from around 2100 to 750 BC. Migration
brought new people to the islands from the continent.
Recent tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found
in early Bronze Age graves around Stonehenge indicate
that at least some of the migrants came from the area
of modern Switzerland. Another example site is Must
Farm, near Whittlesey, which has recently been host to
the most complete Bronze Age wheel ever to be found.
The Beaker culture displayed different behaviours from
the earlier Neolithic people, and cultural change was sig-
nificant. Integration is thought to have been peaceful, as
many of the early henge sites were seemingly adopted by
the newcomers. The rich Wessex culture developed in
southern Britain at this time. Additionally, the climate
was deteriorating; where once the weather was warm and
dry it became much wetter as the Bronze Age continued,
forcing the population away from easily defended sites
in the hills and into the fertile valleys. Large livestock
farms developed in the lowlands and appear to have con-
tributed to economic growth and inspired increasing for-
est clearances. The Deverel-Rimbury culture began to
67
emerge in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age (c.
1400–1100 BC) to exploit these conditions. Devon and
Cornwall were major sources of tin for much of western
Europe and copper was extracted from sites such as the
Great Orme mine in northern Wales. Social groups ap-
pear to have been tribal but with growing complexity and
hierarchies becoming apparent.
The burial of the dead (which, until this period, had usu-
ally been communal) became more individual. For ex-
ample, whereas in the Neolithic a large chambered cairn
or long barrow housed the dead, Early Bronze Age peo-
ple buried their dead in individual barrows (also com-
monly known and marked on modern British Ordnance
Survey maps as tumuli), or sometimes in cists covered
with cairns.
The greatest quantities of bronze objects in England were
discovered in East Cambridgeshire, where the most im-
portant finds were recovered in Isleham (more than 6500
pieces).* [68] Alloying of copper with zinc or tin to make
brass or bronze was practised soon after the discovery
of copper itself. One copper mine at Great Orme in
North Wales, extended to a depth of 70 meters.* [69] At
Alderley Edge in Cheshire, carbon dates have established
mining at around 2280 to 1890 BC (at 95% probabil-
ity).* [70] The earliest identified metalworking site (Sig-
wells, Somerset) is much later, dated by Globular Urn
style pottery to approximately the 12th century BC. The
identifiable sherds from over 500 mould fragments in-
cluded a perfect fit of the hilt of a sword in the Wilburton
style held in Somerset County Museum.* [71]
Ireland See also: Atlantic Bronze Age
The Bronze Age in Ireland commenced around 2000 BC,
when copper was alloyed with tin and used to manufac-
ture Ballybeg type flat axes and associated metalwork.
The preceding period is known as the Copper Age and
is characterised by the production of flat axes, daggers,
halberds and awls in copper. The period is divided
into three phases: Early Bronze Age (2000–1500 BC),
Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BC), and Late Bronze
Age (1200 – c. 500 BC). Ireland is also known for a rel-
atively large number of Early Bronze Age burials.
One of the characteristic types of artifact of the Early
Bronze Age in Ireland is the flat axe. There are five main
types of flat axes: Lough Ravel (c. 2200 BC), Ballybeg (c.
2000 BC), Killaha (c. 2000 BC), Ballyvalley (c. 2000–
1600 BC), Derryniggin (c. 1600 BC), and a number of
metal ingots in the shape of axes.* [72]
North Europe
Main article: Nordic Bronze Age
The Bronze Age in Northern Europe spans the entire
68 CHAPTER 5. BRONZE AGE

2nd millennium BC (Unetice culture, Urnfield culture, widely both for utilitarian objects and sculpture.* [76]
Tumulus culture, Terramare culture, Lusatian culture) A later appearance of limited bronze smelting in West
lasting until c. 600 BC. The Northern Bronze Age was Mexico (see Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamer-
both a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian ica) suggests either contact of that region with Andean
pre-history, c. 1700–500 BC, with sites that reached as cultures or separate discovery of the technology. The
far east as Estonia. Succeeding the Late Neolithic culture, Calchaquí people of Northwest Argentina had Bronze
its ethnic and linguistic affinities are unknown in the ab- technology.* [77]
sence of written sources. It is followed by the Pre-Roman
Iron Age.
Even though Northern European Bronze Age cultures 5.2 Outside the Bronze Age
were relatively late, and came in existence via trade, sites
present rich and well-preserved objects made of wool,
wood and imported Central European bronze and gold. 5.2.1 Japan
Many rock carvings depict ships, and the large stone
burial monuments known as stone ships suggest that ship- Main article: Jōmon period
ping played an important role. Thousands of rock carv-
ings depict ships, most probably representing sewn plank The Jōmon period lasted until 300 BC and, towards
built canoes for warfare, fishing and trade. These may the end of the period, the Japanese archipelago expe-
have a history as far back as the neolithic period and rienced the introduction of bronze and iron simultane-
continue into the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as shown by the ously. Bronze and iron smelting techniques spread to
Hjortspring boat. There are many mounds and rock carv- the Japanese archipelago through immigration and trade
ing sites from the period. Numerous artifacts of bronze from the Korean peninsula and the Chinese mainland.
and gold are found. No written language existed in the Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools,
Nordic countries during the Bronze Age. The rock carv- whereas ritual and ceremonial artifacts were mainly made
ings have been dated through comparison with depicted of bronze. Formerly, scholarly theories suggested that a
artifacts. bronze and iron using Yamato people gradually spread
across the Japanese archipelago, conquering and assimi-
lating the Jōmon people and their descendants, as well as
Caucasus pushing them east and north. Current archaeology sug-
gests a more complex picture of the“Jōmon-Yayoi tran-
Arsenical bronze artifacts of the Maykop culture in the sition,”including as regards ethnic categories; see the ar-
North Caucasus have been dated around the 4th millen- ticle on Yayoi people.
nium BC.* [73] This innovation resulted in the circulation
of arsenical bronze technology over southern and eastern
Europe.* [74] 5.2.2 Africa

Pontic–Caspian steppe See also: Prehistoric North Africa

The Yamna culture is a Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Although North Africa was influenced to a certain extent
Age culture of the Southern Bug/Dniester/Ural region by European Bronze Age cultures (for example, traces of
(the Pontic steppe), dating to the 36th–23rd centuries the Bell beaker tradition are found in Morocco), it has
BC. The name also appears in English as Pit-Grave Cul- long been believed that Africa did not have its own met-
ture or Ochre-Grave Culture. The Catacomb culture, c. allurgy traditions until the Phoenician colonization (ca.
2800–2200 BC, comprises several related Early Bronze 1100 BC) of North Africa, and that it remained attached
Age cultures occupying what is presently Ukraine. The to the Neolithic way of life. The civilization of Ancient
Srubna culture was a Late Bronze Age (18th–12th cen- Egypt, whose influence did not extensively cover Africa
turies BC) culture. It is a successor to the Yamna and the outside of the Nile's reach, was believed to be the sole ex-
Poltavka culture. ception to this rule as regards the whole range of ancient
cultures of Africa. Recently, however, some discoveries
have been made that appear to contradict these views.
5.1.7 Americas In the Termit region of eastern Niger, its ancient inhabi-
tants are now thought to have become the first iron smelt-
See also: Metallurgy in pre-Columbian America ing people in West Africa and among the first in the world
at around 1500 BC. Iron and copper working then con-
The Moche civilization of South America independently tinued to spread southward to Nigeria, and then moved
discovered and developed bronze smelting.* [75] Bronze elsewhere in the continent, reaching South Africa around
technology was developed further by the Incas and used AD 200. The widespread use of iron revolutionized
5.5. NOTES
the Bantu-speaking farming communities who adopted
it, driving out and absorbing the rock tool using hunter-
gatherer societies they encountered as they expanded to
farm wider areas of savannah. The technologically su-
perior Bantu-speakers spread across southern Africa and
became wealthy and powerful, producing iron for tools
and weapons in large, industrial quantities.
5.3 Trade in the Bronze Age
Trade played a major role in the development of the
ancient Bronze Age civilizations. With artefacts of
the Indus Valley Civilization being found in ancient
Mesopotamia and Egypt, it is clear that these civilizations
were not only in touch with each other but also trading
with each other. Early long distance trade was limited al-
most exclusively to luxury goods like spices, textiles and
precious metals. Not only did this make cities with ample
amounts of these products extremely rich but also led to
an inter-mingling of cultures for the first time in history.
Trade routes were not only over land but also over water.
The first and most extensive trade routes were over rivers
such as the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates which led to
growth of cities on the banks of these rivers. The domes-
tication of camels at a later time also helped encourage
trade routes over land, which were called caravans, and
linked Indus Valley with the Mediterranean. This further
led to towns sprouting up in numbers any and everywhere
there was a pit-stop or caravan-to-ship port.
5.4 See also
• Human timeline
• Life timeline
• Middle Bronze Age migrations (Ancient Near East)
• Namazga V and Altyndepe
• Oxhide ingot
• Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric
cultures
5.4.1 Seafaring
• Dover Bronze Age Boat—the earliest known seago-
ing plank-built vessel
• Ferriby Boats
• Langdon Bay hoard—see also Dover Museum
69
5.5 Notes
[1] Iron In Africa: Revising The History : Unesco. Por-
tal.unesco.org. Retrieved on 2013-07-28.
[2] Bronze was independently discovered in the Maykop cul-
ture of the North Caucasus as early as the mid-4th millen-
nium BC, which makes them the producers of the oldest
known bronze. However, the Maykop culture only had
arsenical bronze. Other regions developed bronze and its
associated technology at different periods.
[3] Radivojevic, M; Rehren, T; Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic, J;
Jovanovic, M; Northover, JP (2013). “Tainted ores
and the rise of tin bronzes in Eurasia, c. 6500
years ago”. Antiquity. 87 (338): 1030–1045.
doi:10.1017/S0003598X0004984X.
[4] Sljivar, D.; Boric, D.; et al. (2014). “Con-
text is everything: comments on Radivojevic et al”
. (2013)". Antiquity. 88 (342): 1310–1315.
doi:10.1017/s0003598x00115480.
[5] Radivojevic, M.; Rehren, Th.; Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic, J.;
Jovanovic, M. (2014). “Context is everything indeed:
a response to Sljivar and Boric”. Antiquity. 88 (342):
1315–1319. doi:10.1017/s0003598x00115492.
[6] Erb-Satullo, Nathaniel L.; Gilmour, Brian J.J.;
Khakhutaishvili, Nana (2015).“Crucible technologies in
the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age South Caucasus: copper
processing, tin bronze production, and the possibility
of local tin ores”. Journal of Archaeological Science
Volume. 61: 260–276. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.05.010.
[7] The Near East period dates and phases are unrelated to
the bronze chronology of other regions of the world.
[8] Piotr Bienkowski, Alan Ralph Millard (editors). Dictio-
nary of the ancient Near East. Page 60.
[9] Amélie Kuhr. The Ancient Near East, c. 3000–330 BC.
Page 9.
[10] Dalton, O. M., Franks, A. W., & Read, C. H. (1905).
The treasure of the Oxus: With other objects from ancient
Persia and India. London: British Museum.
[11] V.M. Masson, The Bronze Age in Khorasan and
Transoxiana, chapter 10 in A.H. Dani and Vadim
Mikhaĭlovich Masson (eds.), History of civilizations of
Central Asia, volume 1: The dawn of civilization: earliest
times to 700 BC
[12] Possehl, G. L. (1986). Kulli: An exploration of ancient
civilization in Asia. Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic
Press
[13] Piggott, S. (1961). Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. Balti-
more: Penguin Book.
[14] Killebrew, Ann E. (2013), “The Philistines and Other
“Sea Peoples”in Text and Archaeology”, Society of Bibli-
cal Literature Archaeology and biblical studies, Society of
Biblical Lit, 15, p. 2, ISBN 978-1-58983-721-8, archived
from the original on 2015-09-03, retrieved 2015-06-20.
70
Quote: “First coined in 1881 by the French Egyptolo-
gist G. Maspero (1896), the somewhat misleading term
“Sea Peoples”encompasses the ethnonyms Lukka, Sher-
den, Shekelesh, Teresh, Eqwesh, Denyen, Sikil / Tjekker,
Weshesh, and Peleset (Philistines). [Footnote: The mod-
ern term “Sea Peoples”refers to peoples that appear in
several New Kingdom Egyptian texts as originating from
“islands”(tables 1-2; Adams and Cohen, this volume; see,
e.g., Drews 1993, 57 for a summary). The use of quota-
tion marks in association with the term “Sea Peoples”
in our title is intended to draw attention to the problem-
atic nature of this commonly used term. It is noteworthy
that the designation “of the sea”appears only in relation
to the Sherden, Shekelesh, and Eqwesh. Subsequently,
this term was applied somewhat indiscriminately to sev-
eral additional ethnonyms, including the Philistines, who
are portrayed in their earliest appearance as invaders from
the north during the reigns of Merenptah and Ramesses Ill
(see, e.g., Sandars 1978; Redford 1992, 243, n. 14; for a
recent review of the primary and secondary literature, see
Woudhuizen 2006). Hencefore the term Sea Peoples will
appear without quotation marks.]"
[15] The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and
the Catastrophe Ca. 1200 B.C., Robert Drews, p48–61
Quote: “The thesis that a great “migration of the Sea
Peoples”occurred ca. 1200 B.C. is supposedly based on
Egyptian inscriptions, one from the reign of Merneptah
and another from the reign of Ramesses III. Yet in the in-
scriptions themselves such a migration nowhere appears.
After reviewing what the Egyptian texts have to say about
'the sea peoples', one Egyptologist (Wolfgang Helck) re-
cently remarked that although some things are unclear,
“eins ist aber sicher: Nach den agyptischen Texten haben
wir es nicht mit einer 'Volkerwanderung' zu tun.”Thus
the migration hypothesis is based not on the inscriptions
themselves but on their interpretation.”
[16] Mogens Herman Hansen (2000). A Comparative Study of
Thirty City-state Cultures: An Investigation, Volume 21. p.
57. Archived from the original on 2015-06-20. Retrieved
2015-06-05.
[17] under Shamshi-Adad I
[18] Finkelstein, Israel. “Ethnicity and origin of the Iron I
settlers in the Highlands of Canaan: Can the real Israel
stand up?.”The Biblical archaeologist 59.4 (1996): 198-
212.
[19] Finkelstein, Israel. The archaeology of the Israelite settle-
ment. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1988.
[20] Finkelstein, Israel, and Nadav Naʼaman, eds. From no-
madism to monarchy: archaeological and historical as-
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[21] Finkelstein, Israel. “The archaeology of the United
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[22] Finkelstein, Israel, and Neil Asher Silberman. The Bible
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and the Origin of Sacred Texts. Simon and Schuster,
2002.
CHAPTER 5. BRONZE AGE
[23] Karin Sowada and Peter Grave. Egypt in the Eastern
Mediterranean during the Old Kingdom.
[24] Lukas de Blois and R. J. van der Spek. An Introduction to
the Ancient World. Page 14.
[25] Hansen, M. H. (2000). A comparative study of thirty city-
state cultures: An investigation conducted by the Copen-
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Videnskabernes Selskab. Page 68.
[26] Othmar Keel and Christoph Uehlinger. Gods, goddesses,
and images of God in ancient Israel, 1998. Page 17 (cf.
“The first phase (Middle Bronze Age IIA) runs roughly
parallel to the Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty”)
[27] Bruce G. Trigger. Ancient Egypt: a social history. 1983.
Page 137. (cf. ... “for the Middle Kingdom and Second
Intermediate Period it is the Middle Bronze Age”.)
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steppe: mitochondrial DNA sequences from ancient central
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[31] C. Keyser et al. 2009. Ancient DNA provides new in-
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[38] Shang and Zhou Dynasties: The Bronze Age of China Heil-
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[54] Higham, C. F. W. (2011).“The Bronze Age of Southeast [71] Tabor, Richard (2008). Cadbury Castle: A hillfort and
Asia: New insight on social change from Ban Non Wat”
. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 21 (3): 365–389.
doi:10.1017/s0959774311000424.
[72] Waddell; Eogan.
[55] Higham, C.; Higham, T.; Ciarla, R.; Douka, K.; Kijngam,
A.; Rispoli, F. (2011). “The Origins of the Bronze Age [73] Philip L. Kohl. The making of bronze age Eurasia. Page
of Southeast Asia”. Journal of world prehistory. 24 (4):
227–274. doi:10.1007/s10963-011-9054-6.
[56] Oxenham, M.F.; Thuy, N.K.; Cuong, N.L. (2005).
“Skeletal evidence for the emergence of infectious dis-
ease in bronze and iron age northern Vietnam”. Ameri-
can Journal of Physical Anthropology. 126 (4): 359–376.
doi:10.1002/ajpa.20048. PMID 15386222.
[57] White, J.C. (1995). “Incorporating Heterarchy into
Theory on Socio‐political Development: The Case from
Southeast Asia”. Archaeological Papers of the Amer-
ican Anthropological Association. 6 (1): 101–123.
doi:10.1525/ap3a.1995.6.1.101.
71
[58] O'Reilly, D.J.W. (2003).“Further evidence of heterarchy
in Bronze Age Thailand”. Current Anthropology. 44 (2):
300–306. doi:10.1086/367973.
[59] “Ancient Greece”. British Museum. Retrieved 2012-
08-03.
[60] Carl Waldman, Catherine Mason. Encyclopedia of Euro-
pean peoples: Volume 1. 2006. Page 524.
[61] Lancaster, H. O. (1990). Expectations of life: A study in
the demography, statistics, and history of world mortality.
New York: Springer-Verlag. Page 228.
in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. Princeton,
N.J: Princeton University Press
H. W. (1998). Res maritimae: Cyprus and the eastern
Mediterranean from prehistory to late antiquity : proceed-
ings of the Second International Symposium “Cities on
the Sea”, Nicosia, Cyprus, October 18–22, 1994. At-
lanta, Ga: Scholars Press.
[64] Creevey, B. (1994). The forest resources of Bronze Age
Cyprus
[65] A. Bernard Knapp, Steve O. Held and Sturt W. Manning.
The prehistory of Cyprus: Problems and prospects.
[66] Lockard, Craig A. (2009). Societies, Networks, and Tran-
sitions: To 600. Wadsworth Pub Co. Page 96.
[67] Piccolo, Salvatore, op. cit., pp. 1 onwards.
[68] Hall and Coles, p. 81–88.
[69] O'Brien, W. (1997). Bronze Age Copper Mining in Britain
and Ireland. Shire Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-7478-0321-
8.
[70] Timberlake, S. and Prag A.J.N.W. (2005). The Archae-
ology of Alderley Edge:Survey, excavation and experiment
in an ancient mining landscape. Oxford: John and Erica
Hedges Ltd. p. 396.
landscapes. Stroud: The History Press. pp. 61–69. ISBN
978-0-7524-4715-5.
58.
[74] Gimbutas (1973). “The Beginning of the Bronze Age in
Europe and the Indo- Europeans 3500–2500 BC”. Jour-
nal of Indo-European Studies. 1: 177.
[75] “El bronce y el horizonte medio”. lablaa.org. Archived
from the original on 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2010-03-22.
[76] Antonio Gutierrez. “Inca Metallurgy”. In-
cas.homestead.com. Archived from the original on
2009-01-31. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
[77] Ambrosetti, El bronze de la región calchaquí, Buenos
Aires, 1904., accessed 28 March 2015.
72
5.6 References
• Figueiredo, Elin (2010). “Smelting and Recycling
Evidences from the Late Bronze Age habitat site of
Baioes”. Journal of Archaeological Science. 37 (7):
1623–1634. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.023.
• Eogan, George (1983) The hoards of the Irish later
Bronze Age, Dublin: University College, 331p.,
ISBN 0-901120-77-4
• Hall, David and Coles, John (1994) Fenland survey
: an essay in landscape and persistence, Archaeo-
logical report 1, London : English Heritage, 170 p.,
ISBN 1-85074-477-7
• Pernicka, E., Eibner, C., Öztunah, Ö., Wagener,
G.A. (2003) “Early Bronze Age Metallurgy in the
Northeast Aegean”, In: Wagner, G.A., Pernicka,
E. and Uerpmann, H-P. (eds), Troia and the Troad:
scientific approaches, Natural science in archaeol-
ogy, Berlin; London : Springer, ISBN 3-540-43711-
8, p. 143–172
• Piccolo, Salvatore (2013). Ancient Stones: The Pre-
historic Dolmens of Sicily. Abingdon (GB): Brazen
Head Publishing, ISBN 978-09565106-2-4,
• Waddell, John (1998) The prehistoric archaeology
of Ireland, Galway University Press, 433 p., ISBN
1-901421-10-4
• Siklosy et al. (2009): Bronze Age volcanic
event recorded in stalagmites by combined iso-
tope and trace element studies. Rapid Commu-
nications in Mass Spectrometry, 23/6, 801-808.
doi:10.1002/rcm.3943
• Roberts, B.W.; Thornton, C.P.; Pigott, V.C. (2009).
“Development of Metallurgy in Eurasia”. Antiquity.
83: 112–122.
5.7 Further reading
• Childe, V. G. (1930). The bronze age. New York:
The Macmillan Company.
• Fong, Wen (ed.) (1980). The great bronze age of
China: an exhibition from the People's Republic of
China. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of
Art. ISBN 0-87099-226-0. Archived from the orig-
inal on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-09-13.
• Kelleher, Bradford (1980). Treasures from the
Bronze Age of China: An exhibition from the Peo-
ple's Republic of China, the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN
0-87099-230-9.
• Wagner, Donald B. (1993). Iron and Steel in Ancient
China. Leiden, Netherlands; New York: E.J. Brill.
CHAPTER 5. BRONZE AGE
• Kuijpers, M. H. G. (2008). Bronze Age metalwork-
ing in the Netherlands (c. 2000-800 BC): A research
into the preservation of metallurgy related artefacts
and the social position of the smith. Leiden: Side-
stone Press. Archived from the original on 2013-
02-05. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
• Müller-Lyer, F. C.; Lake, E. C.; Lake, H. A. (1921).
The history of social development. New York: Al-
fred A. Knopf.
• Pittman, Holly (1984). Art of the Bronze Age: south-
eastern Iran, western Central Asia, and the Indus
Valley. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of
Art. ISBN 978-0-87099-365-7. Archived from the
original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2013-07-17.
• Higham, C. F. W. (2011). “The Bronze
Age of Southeast Asia: New insight on so-
cial change from Ban Non Wat”. Cam-
bridge Archaeological Journal. 21 (3): 365–389.
doi:10.1017/s0959774311000424.
5.8 External links
• "Bronze Age". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th
ed.). 1911.
• Links to the Bronze Age in Europe and beyond
Commented web index, geographically structured
(private website)
• Bronze Age Experimental Archeology and Museum
Reproductions
• Umha Aois – Reconstructed Bronze Age metal cast-
ing
• Umha Aois – ancient bronze casting videoclip
• Ancient bronze idol 13 Cent B.C.: Northern Russia
(Russian)
• Aegean and Balkan Prehistory articles, site-reports
and bibliography database concerning the Aegean,
Balkans and Western Anatolia
• Li; et al. (2010). “Evidence that a West-East
admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as
early as the early Bronze Age” (PDF). BMC Biol-
ogy. 8: 15. doi:10.1186/1741-7007-8-15. PMC
2838831 . PMID 20163704. Archived from the
original (PDF) on 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2010-03-
18.
• "The Transmission of Early Bronze Technology to
Thailand: New Perspectives"
• Human Timeline (Interactive) – Smithsonian,
National Museum of Natural History (August
2016).
5.8. EXTERNAL LINKS 73

5.8.1 Seafaring
• Divers unearth Bronze Age hoard off the coast of
Devon
Chapter 6

Middle Kingdom of Egypt

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with unknown parameter “country”(this message is
shown only in preview).

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The

Period of Reunification) is the period in the history
of ancient Egypt between circa 2050 BC and 1800 BC,
stretching from the reunification of Egypt under the im-
pulse of Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty to the
end of the Twelfth Dynasty. Some scholars also include
the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt wholly into this period
as well, in which case the Middle Kingdom would finish
c. 1650, while others only include it until Merneferre Ay
c. 1700 BC, last king of this dynasty to be attested in
both Upper and Lower Egypt. During the Middle King-
dom period, Osiris became the most important deity in
popular religion.* [1]
The period comprises two phases, the 11th Dynasty,
which ruled from Thebes and the 12th Dynasty onwards
which was centered on el-Lisht.

6.1 Political history

6.1.1 Reunification under the Eleventh Dy-
nasty
Further information: Eleventh dynasty of Egypt
After the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt entered
a period of weak Pharaonic power and decentralization
called the First Intermediate Period.* [2] Towards the end
of this period, two rival dynasties, known in Egyptology
as the Tenth and Eleventh, fought for power over the en-
tire country. The Theban 11th Dynasty only ruled south-
ern Egypt from the first cataract to the Tenth Nome of
Upper Egypt.* [3] To the north, Lower Egypt was ruled
by the rival 10th Dynasty from Herakleopolis.* [3] The
struggle was to be concluded by Mentuhotep II, who as-
cended the Theban throne in 2055 B.C.* [4] During Men-
tuhotep II's fourteenth regnal year, he took advantage of a
revolt in the Thinite Nome to launch an attack on Herak-
leopolis, which met little resistance.* [3] After toppling
the last rulers of the 10th Dynasty, Mentuhotep began
An Osiride statue of the first pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom,
Mentuhotep II
consolidating his power over all Egypt, a process which
he finished by his 39th regnal year.* [2] For this reason,
Mentuhotep II is regarded as the founder of the Middle
Kingdom.* [5]
Mentuhotep II commanded military campaigns south as
far as the Second Cataract in Nubia, which had gained its
independence during the First Intermediate Period. He
also restored Egyptian hegemony over the Sinai region,
which had been lost to Egypt since the end of the Old
Kingdom.* [6] To consolidate his authority, he restored
the cult of the ruler, depicting himself as a god in his own
lifetime, wearing the headdresses of Amun and Min* [7]
He died after a reign of 51 years, and passed the throne
to his son, Mentuhotep III.* [6]
Mentuhotep III reigned for only twelve years, during
which he continued consolidating Theban rule over the

74
6.1. POLITICAL HISTORY 75

whole of Egypt, building a series of forts in the east-

ern Delta region to secure Egypt against threats from
Asia.* [6] He also sent the first expedition to Punt dur-
ing the Middle Kingdom, by means of ships constructed
at the end of Wadi Hammamat, on the Red Sea.* [8]
Mentuhotep III was succeeded by Mentuhotep IV, whose
name significantly is omitted from all ancient Egyptian
king lists.* [9] The Turin Papyrus claims that after Men-
tuhotep III came “seven kingless years.”* [10] Despite
this absence, his reign is attested from a few inscrip-
tions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the
Red Sea coast and to quarry stone for the royal monu-
ments.* [9] The leader of this expedition was his vizier
Amenemhat, who is widely assumed to be the future
pharaoh Amenemhet I, the first king of the 12th Dy-
nasty.* [11]* [12]
Mentuhotep IV's absence from the king lists has
prompted the theory that Amenemhet I usurped his
throne.* [12] While there are no contemporary accounts
of this struggle, certain circumstantial evidence may point
to the existence of a civil war at the end of the 11th dy-
nasty.* [9] Inscriptions left by one Nehry, the Haty-a of
Hermopolis, suggest that he was attacked at a place called
Shedyet-sha by the forces of the reigning king, but his
forces prevailed. Khnumhotep I, an official under Amen-
emhet I, claims to have participated in a flotilla of 20
ships to pacify Upper Egypt. Donald Redford has sug-
gested these events should be interpreted as evidence of The head of a statue of Senusret I.
open war between two dynastic claimants.* [13] What is
certain is that, however he came to power, Amenemhet I
was not of royal birth.* [12] Old Kingdom priest, who predicts a king, Amenemhet I,
arising from the far south of Egypt to restore the kingdom
after centuries of chaos.* [16]
6.1.2 Early 12th Dynasty
Propaganda notwithstanding, Amenemhet never held the
Main article: Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt absolute power commanded in theory by the Old King-
From the 12th dynasty onwards, pharaohs often kept dom pharaohs. During the First Intermediate Period, the
well-trained standing armies, which included Nubian governors of the nomes of Egypt, nomarchs, gained con-
contingents. These formed the basis of larger forces siderable power.* [19] Their posts had become hereditary,
which were raised for defence against invasion, or for ex- and some nomarchs entered into marriage alliances with
peditions up the Nile or across the Sinai. However, the the nomarchs of neighboring nomes.* [19] To strengthen
Middle Kingdom was basically defensive in its military his position, Amenemhet required registration of land,
strategy, with fortifications built at the First Cataract of modified nome borders, and appointed nomarchs directly
the Nile, in the Delta and across the Sinai Isthmus.* [14] when offices became vacant, but acquiesced to the no-
Early in his reign, Amenemhet I was compelled to cam- march system, probably in order to placate the nomarchs
paign in the Delta region, which had not received as much who supported his rule.* [20] This gave the Middle King-
attention as upper Egypt during the 11th Dynasty.* [15] dom a more feudal organization than Egypt had before or
In addition, he strengthened defenses between Egypt and would have afterward.* [21]
Asia, building the Walls of the Ruler in the East Delta In his 20th regnal year, Amenemhat established his son
region.* [16] Perhaps in response to this perpetual un- Senusret I as his coregent,* [21] establishing a practice
rest, Amenemhat I built a new capital for Egypt in the which would be used repeatedly throughout the rest of
north, known as Amenemhet Itj Tawy, or Amenemhet, the Middle Kingdom and again during the New. In
Seizer of the Two Lands.* [17] The location of this capi- Amenemhet's 30th regnal year, he was presumably mur-
tal is unknown, but is presumably near the city's necrop- dered in a palace conspiracy. Senusret, campaigning
olis, the present-day el-Lisht.* [16] Like Mentuhotep II, against Libyan invaders, rushed home to Itjtawy to pre-
Amenemhet bolstered his claim to authority with propa- vent a takeover of the government.* [22] During his reign
ganda.* [18] In particular, the Prophecy of Neferty dates he continued the practice of directly appointing no-
to about this time, which purports to be an oracle of an marchs,* [23] and undercut the autonomy of local priest-
76 CHAPTER 6. MIDDLE KINGDOM OF EGYPT

hoods by building at cult centers throughout Egypt.* [24]

Under his rule, Egyptian armies pushed south into Nu-
bia as far as the second cataract, building a border fort at
Buhen and incorporating all of lower Nubia as an Egyp-
tian colony.* [25] To the west, he consolidated his power
over the Oases, and extended commercial contacts into
Syrio-Palestine as far as Ugarit.* [26] In his 43rd regnal
year, Senusret appointed Amenemhet II as junior core-
gent, and died in his 46th.* [27]
The reign of Amenemhat II has been often character-
ized as largely peaceful,* [26] but record of his genut,
or daybooks, have cast doubt on that assessment.* [28]
Among these records, preserved on temple walls at Tod
and Memphis, are descriptions of peace treaties with cer-
tain Syrio-Palestinian cities, and military conflict with
others.* [28] To the south, Amenemhet sent a campaign
through lower Nubia to inspect Wawat.* [26] It does not
appear that Amenemhet continued his predecessors' pol-
icy of appointing Nomarchs, but let it become heredi-
tary again.* [23] Another expedition to Punt dates to his
reign.* [28] In his 33rd regnal year, he appointed his son
Senusret II coregent.* [29]
Evidence for military activity of any kind during the reign
of Senusret II is non-existent.* [30] Senusret instead ap-
pears to have focused on domestic issues, particularly the
irrigation of the Faiyum. This multi-generational project Statue head of Senusret III
aimed to convert the Faiyum oasis into a productive swath
of farmland.* [30] Senusret eventually placed his pyra-
mid at the site of el-Lahun, near the junction of the paign against a location in Palestine from the entirety of
Nile and the Fayuum's major irrigation canal, the Bahr Middle Kingdom literature.* [36]
Yussef.* [31] He reigned only fifteen years,* [32] which is Domestically, Senusret has been given credit for an ad-
evidenced by the incomplete nature of many of his con- ministrative reform which put more power in the hands of
structions.* [30] His son Senusret III succeeded him. appointees of the central government, instead of regional
authorities.* [33] Egypt was divided into three waret, or
administrative divisions: North, South, and Head of the
6.1.3 Height of the Middle Kingdom
South (perhaps Lower Egypt, most of Upper Egypt, and
Senusret III was a warrior-king, often taking to the field the nomes of the original Theban kingdom during the war
himself. In his sixth year, he re-dredged an Old King- with Herakleopolis, respectively).* [37] Each region was
dom canal around the first cataract to facilitate travel to administrated by a Reporter, Second Reporter, some kind
upper Nubia.* [33] He used this to launch a series of bru- of council (the Djadjat), and a staff of minor officials and
tal campaigns in Nubia in his sixth, eighth, tenth, and six- scribes.* [37] The power of the Nomarchs seems to drop
teenth years.* [33] After his victories, Senusret built a se- off permanently during his reign, which has been taken
ries of massive forts throughout the country to establish to indicate that the central government had finally sup-
the formal boundary between Egyptian conquests and un- pressed them, though there is no record that Senusret ever
conquered Nubia at Semna.* [33] The personnel of these took direct action against them.* [33]
forts were charged to send frequent reports to the capi- Senusret III had a lasting legacy as a warrior Pharaoh.
tal on the movements and activities of the local Medjay His name was Hellenized by later Greek historians as
natives, some of which survive, revealing how tightly the Sesostris, a name which was then given to a confla-
Egyptians intended to control the southern border.* [34] tion of Senusret and several New Kingdom warrior
Medjay were not allowed north of the border by ship, nor pharaohs.* [38] In Nubia, Senusret was worshiped as a
could they enter by land with their flocks, but they were patron God by Egyptian settlers.* [39] The duration of
permitted to travel to local forts in order to trade.* [35] his reign remains something of an open question. His
After this, Senusret sent one more campaign in his 19th son Amenemhet III began reigning after Senusret's 19th
year, but turned back due to abnormally low Nile lev- regnal year, which has been widely considered Senus-
els, which endangered his ships.* [33] One of Senusret's ret's highest attested date.* [40] However, a reference to a
soldiers also records a campaign into Palestine, perhaps year 39 on a fragment found in the construction debris of
against Shechem, the only reference to a military cam- Senusret's mortuary temple has suggested the possibility
6.1. POLITICAL HISTORY 77

of a long coregency with his son.* [41]

The reign of Amenemhat III was the height of Middle
Kingdom economic prosperity. His reign is remarkable
for the degree to which Egypt exploited its resources.
Mining camps in the Sinai, which had previously been
used only by intermittent expeditions, were operated on
a semi-permanent basis, as evidenced by the construc-
tion of houses, walls, and even local cemeteries.* [42]
There are 25 separate references to mining expeditions
in the Sinai, and four to expeditions in wadi Hamma-
mat, one of which had over 2,000 workers.* [43] Amen-
emhet reinforced his father's defenses in Nubia* [44] and
continued the Faiyum land reclamation system.* [45] Af-
ter a reign of 45 years, Amenemhet III was succeeded
by Amenemhet IV,* [42] whose nine-year reign is poorly
attested.* [46] Clearly by this time, dynastic power be-
gan to weaken, for which several explanations have been
proposed. Contemporary records of the Nile flood lev-
els indicate that the end of the reign of Amenemhet III
was dry, and crop failures may have helped to destabi-
lize the dynasty.* [45] Further, Amenemhet III had an in-
ordinately long reign, which tends to create succession
problems.* [47] The latter argument perhaps explains why
Amenemhet IV was succeeded by Sobekneferu, the first
historically attested female king of Egypt.* [47] Sobekne-
feru ruled no more than four years,* [48] and as she ap-
parently had no heirs, when she died the Twelfth Dynasty
came to a sudden end as did the Golden Age of the Mid-
dle Kingdom.

6.1.4 Decline into the Second Intermediate

Period

After the death of Sobeknefru, the throne may have

passed to Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep,* [49]* [50]
though in older studies Wegaf, who had previously been
the Great Overseer of Troops,* [51] was thought to have
reigned next.* [52] Beginning with this reign, Egypt was
ruled by a series of ephemeral kings for about ten to fif-
teen years.* [53] Ancient Egyptian sources regard these as
the first kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, though the term
dynasty is misleading, as most kings of the thirteenth dy-
nasty were not related.* [54] The names of these short-
lived kings are attested on a few monuments and graffiti,
and their succession order is only known from the Turin
Canon, although even this is not fully trusted.* [53]
After the initial dynastic chaos, a series of longer reign-
ing, better attested kings ruled for about fifty to eighty
years.* [53] The strongest king of this period, Neferhotep
I, ruled for eleven years and maintained effective con-
trol of Upper Egypt, Nubia, and the Delta,* [55] with
the possible exceptions of Xois and Avaris.* [56] Nefer-
hotep I was even recognized as the suzerain of the ruler
of Byblos, indicating that the Thirteenth Dynasty was
able to retain much of the power of the Twelfth Dynasty,
at least up to his reign.* [56] At some point during the
A kneeling statue of Sobekhotep V, one of the pharaohs from the
declining years of the Middle Kingdom.
13th dynasty, Xois and Avaris began governing them-
selves,* [56] the rulers of Xois being the Fourteenth Dy-
nasty, and the Asiatic rulers of Avaris being the Hyksos
of the Fifteenth Dynasty. According to Manetho, this
latter revolt occurred during the reign of Neferhotep's
successor, Sobekhotep IV, though there is no archaeo-
logical evidence.* [57] Sobekhotep IV was succeeded by
the short reign of Sobekhotep V, who was followed by
Wahibre Ibiau, then Merneferre Ai. Wahibre Ibiau ruled
ten years, and Merneferre Ai ruled for twenty three years,
the longest of any Thirteenth Dynasty king, but neither
of these two kings left as many attestations as either Ne-
ferhotep or Sobekhotep IV.* [58] Despite this, they both
78
seem to have held at least parts of lower Egypt. After 6.2.1
Merneferre Ai, however, no king left his name on any
object found outside the south.* [58] This begins the final
portion of the thirteenth dynasty, when southern kings
continue to reign over Upper Egypt, but when the unity
of Egypt fully disintegrated, the Middle Kingdom gave
way to the Second Intermediate Period.* [59]
6.2 Administration
When the Eleventh Dynasty reunified Egypt it had to cre-
ate a centralized administration such as had not existed
in Egypt since the downfall of the Old Kingdom govern-
ment. To do this, it appointed people to positions which
had fallen out of use in the decentralized First Interme-
diate Period. Highest among these was the Vizier.* [60]
The vizier was the chief minister for the king, handling
all the day-to-day business of government in the king's
place.* [60] This was a monumental task, therefore it
would often be split into two positions, a vizier of the
north, and a vizier of the south. It is uncertain how often
this occurred during the Middle Kingdom, but Senusret I
clearly had two simultaneously functioning viziers.* [60]
Other positions were inherited from the provincial form
of government at Thebes used by the Eleventh Dynasty
before the reunification of Egypt.* [61] The Overseer of
Sealed Goods became the country's treasurer, and the
Overseer of the Estate became the King's chief stew-
ard.* [61] These three positions and the Scribe of the Royal
Document, probably the king's personal scribe, appear to
be the most important posts of the central government,
judging by the monument count of those in these posi-
tions.* [61]
Beside this, many Old Kingdom posts which had lost
their original meaning and become mere honorifics were
brought back into the central government.* [60] Only
high-ranking officials could claim the title Member of the
Elite, which had been applied liberally during the First
Intermediate Period.* [61]
This basic form of administration continued throughout
the Middle Kingdom, though there is some evidence for
a major reform of the central government under Senusret
III. Records from his reign indicate that Upper and Lower
Egypt were divided into separate waret and governed by
separate administrators.* [23] Administrative documents
and private stele indicate a proliferation of new bureau-
cratic titles around this time, which have been taken as ev-
idence of a larger central government.* [62] Governance
of the royal residence was moved into a separate division
of government.* [23] The military was placed under the
control of a chief general.* [23] However, it is possible
that these titles and positions were much older, and sim-
ply were not recorded on funerary stele due to religious
conventions.* [62]
CHAPTER 6. MIDDLE KINGDOM OF EGYPT
Provincial government
Clay model of a Middle Kingdom house. Musée du Louvre.
Decentralization during the First Intermediate Period left
the individual Egyptian provinces, or Nomes, under the
control of powerful families who held the hereditary ti-
tle of Great Chief of the Nome, or Nomarch.* [63] This
position developed during the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties,
when the various powers of Old Kingdom provincial of-
ficials began to be exercised by a single individual.* [63]
At roughly this time, the provincial aristocracy began
building elaborate tombs for themselves, which have been
taken as evidence of the wealth and power which these
rulers had acquired as Nomarchs.* [63] By the end of
the First Intermediate Period, some nomarchs ruled their
nomes as minor potentates, such as the nomarch Nehry
of Hermopolis, who dated inscriptions by his own regnal
year.* [60]
When the Eleventh Dynasty came to power, it was neces-
sary to subdue the power of the Nomarchs if Egypt was
to be reunified under a central government. The first ma-
jor steps towards that end took place under Amenemhet
I. Amenemhet made the city, not the nome, the center
of administration, and only the haty-a, or mayor, of the
larger cities would be permitted to carry the title of No-
march.* [23] The title of Nomarch continued to be used
until the reign of Senusret III,* [23] as did the elaborate
tombs indicative of their power, after which they sud-
denly disappear.* [64] This has been interpreted several
ways. Traditionally, it has been believed that Senusret III
took some action to suppress the nomarch families dur-
ing his reign.* [65] Recently, other interpretations have
been proposed. Detlef Franke has argued that Senusret II
adopted a policy of educating the sons of nomarchs in the
capital and appointing them to government posts. In this
way, many provincial families may have been bled dry
of scions.* [23] Also, while the title of Great Overlord of
the Nome disappeared, other distinctive titles of the no-
marchs remained. During the First Intermediate Period,
6.5. LITERATURE 79

individuals holding the title of Great Overlord also of-

ten held the title of Overseer of Priests.* [66] In the late
Middle Kingdom, there exist families holding the titles
of mayor and overseer of priests as hereditary posses-
sions.* [64] Therefore, it has been argued that the great
nomarch families were never subdued, but were simply
absorbed into the Pharaonic administration of the coun-
try.* [64] While it is true that the large tombs indicative
of nomarchs disappear at the end of the twelfth dynasty,
grand royal tombs also disappear soon thereafter due to
general instability surrounding the decline of the Middle
Kingdom.* [64]

6.3 Agriculture and climate

It was I who brought forth grain, the grain god loved me,
the Nile adored me from his every source;
One did not hunger during my years, did not thirst;
they sat content with all my deeds, remembering me fondly;
and I set each thing firmly in its place.* [67]
extract from the Instructions of Amenemhat
Throughout the history of ancient Egypt, the annual
flooding of the Nile River to inundate the fields on its
banks was relied upon to feed the population. There is
evidence that the collapse of the previous Old Kingdom
may have been due in part to low flood levels, resulting Head and Torso of a Noblewoman, ca. 1844–1837 B.C.E. 59.1.
in famine.* [68] This trend appears to have been reversed Brooklyn Museum
during the early years of the Middle Kingdom, with rela-
tively high water levels recorded for much of this era, with
an average inundation of 19 meters above its non-flood der in ancient Egypt that a private lady could have a sculp-
levels.* [69] The years of repeated high inundation lev- ture made for herself. The heavy tripartite wig frames
els correspond to the most prosperous period of the Mid- the broad face and passes behind the ears, thus giving the
dle Kingdom, which occurred during the reign of Amen- impression of forcing them forward. They are large in
emhat III.* [70] This seems to be confirmed in some of keeping with the ancient Egyptian ideal of beauty; the
the literature of the period, such as in the Instructions of same ideal required small breasts, and also in this respect
Amenemhat, where the king tells his son how agriculture the sculpture is no exception. Whereas the natural curve
prospered under his reign.* [67] of the eyebrows dips towards the root of the nose, the ar-
tificial eyebrows in low relief are absolutely straight above
the inner corners of the eyes, a feature which places the
6.4 Art bust early in Dynasty XII. Around 1900 B.C. these artifi-
cial eyebrows, too, began to follow the natural curve and
dipped toward the nose.* [75]
One of the innovations in sculpture that occurred during
the Middle Kingdom was the block statue, which would
continue to be popular through to the Ptolemaic age al-
most 2,000 years later.* [71] Block statues consist of a 6.5 Literature
man squatting with his knees drawn up to his chest and
his arms folded on top his knees. Often, these men are Richard B. Parkinson and Ludwig D. Morenz write that
wearing a“wide cloak”that reduces the body of the fig- ancient Egyptian literature—narrowly defined as belles-
ure to a simple block-like shape.* [72] Most of the detail lettres (“beautiful writing”)—were not recorded in writ-
is reserved for the head of the individual being depicted. ten form until the early Twelfth dynasty of the Mid-
In some instances the modeling of the limbs has been re- dle Kingdom.* [76] Old Kingdom texts served mainly to
tained by the sculptor.* [73] There are two basic types of maintain the divine cults, preserve souls in the afterlife,
block statues: ones with the feet completely covered by and document accounts for practical uses in daily life. It
the cloak and ones with the feet uncovered.* [74] was not until the Middle Kingdom that texts were written
This statue to the right speaks well for the equality of gen- for the purpose of entertainment and intellectual curios-
80 CHAPTER 6. MIDDLE KINGDOM OF EGYPT

ity.* [77] Parkinson and Morenz also speculate that writ- [11] Redford. (1992) p. 72.
ten works of the Middle Kingdom were transcriptions of
[12] Gardiner. (1964) p. 125.
the oral literature of the Old Kingdom.* [78] It is known
that some oral poetry was preserved in later writing; for [13] Redford. (1992) p.74
example, litter-bearers' songs were preserved as written
verses in tomb inscriptions of the Old Kingdom.* [77] [14] p5. 'The Collins Encyclopedia of Military History', (4th
edition, 1993), Dupuy & Dupuy.
It is also thought that the growth of the middle class and
a growth in the number of scribes needed for the ex- [15] Arnold. (1991) p. 20.
panded bureaucracy under Senusret II helped spur the [16] Shaw. (2000) p. 158
development of Middle Kingdom literature,.* [48] Later
ancient Egyptians considered the literature from this time [17] Arnold. (1991) p. 14.
as “classic”.* [48] Stories such as the Tale of the ship-
[18] Grimal. (1988) p. 159
wrecked sailor and the Story of Sinuhe were composed
during this period, and were popular enough to be widely [19] Gardiner. (1964) p. 128.
copied afterwards.* [48] Many philosophical works were
also created at this time, including the Dispute between [20] Grimal. (1988) p. 160
a man and his Ba where an unhappy man converses with [21] Gardiner. (1964) p. 129.
his soul, The Satire of the Trades in which the role of the
scribe is praised above all other jobs, and the magic tales [22] Shaw. (2000) p. 160
supposedly told to the Old Kingdom pharaoh Khufu in [23] Shaw. (2000) p. 175
the Westcar Papyrus.* [48]
[24] Shaw. (2000) p. 162
Pharaohs of the Twelfth through Eighteenth Dynasty are
credited with preserving for us some of the most interest- [25] Shaw. (2000) p. 161
ing of Egyptian papyri:
[26] Grimal. (1988) p. 165

• 1950 BC: Akhmim Wooden Tablet [27] Murnane. (1977) p. 5.

• 1950 BC: Heqanakht papyri [28] Shaw. (2000) p. 163

• 1800 BC: Berlin papyrus 6619 [29] Murnane. (1977) p. 7.

[30] Shaw. (2000) p. 164

• 1800 BC: Moscow Mathematical Papyrus
[31] Gardiner. (1964) p. 138.
• 1650 BC: Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
[32] Grimal. (1988) p. 166
• 1600 BC: Edwin Smith papyrus
[33] Shaw. (2000) p. 166
• 1550 BC: Ebers papyrus
[34] Gardiner. (1964) p. 136.

[35] Gardiner. (1964) p. 135.

6.6 References [36] Redford. (1992) p. 76

[1] David, Rosalie (2002). Religion and Magic in Ancient [37] Hayes. (1953) p. 32
Egypt. Penguin Books. p. 156
[38] Shaw and Nicholson. (1995) p. 260
[2] Grimal. (1988) p. 156
[39] Aldred. (1987) p.129
[3] Grimal. (1988) p. 155
[40] Wegner. (1996) p. 250
[4] Shaw. (2000) p. 149
[41] Wegner. (1996) p. 260
[5] Habachi. (1963) pp. 16-52 [42] Grimal. (1988) p. 170
[6] Grimal. (1988) p. 157 [43] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 60
[7] Shaw. (2000) p. 151 [44] Shaw. (2000) p. 168
[8] Shaw. (2000) p. 156 [45] Shaw. (2000) p. 169

[9] Redford. (1992) p. 71. [46] Shaw. (2000) p. 170

[10] Gardiner. (1964) p. 124. [47] Grimal. (1988) p. 171

6.7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 81

[48] Shaw. (2000) p. 171 6.7 Bibliography

[49] K.S.B. Ryholt: The Political Situation in Egypt during
the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC, Carsten
Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen:
Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997
[50] Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs:
Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–
1069 BC, Stacey International, ISBN 978-1-905299-37-
9, 2008
[51] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 66
[52] Grimal. (1988) p. 183
• Aldred, Cyril (1987). The Egyptians. Thames and
Hudson.
• Arnold, Dorothea (1991). “Amenemhet I and the
Early Twelfth Dynasty at Thebes”. Metropolitan
Museum Journal. 26. doi:10.2307/1512902.
• Bell, Barbara (1975). “Climate and the History of
Egypt: The Middle Kingdom”. American Journal
of Archaeology. Archaeological Institute of Amer-
ica. 79 (3): 223–269. JSTOR 503481.

[53] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 64 • Foster, John L. (2001). Ancient Egyptian Literature:

An Anthology. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-
[54] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 65 292-72527-2.
[55] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 71 • Gardiner, Alan (1964). Egypt of the Pharaohs. Ox-
[56] Shaw. (2000) p. 172
ford University Press.

[57] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 72 • Grajetzki, Wolfram (2006). The Middle Kingdom of

Ancient Egypt. Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. ISBN
[58] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 74 0-7156-3435-6.
[59] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 75 • Grimal, Nicolas (1988). A History of Ancient Egypt.
Librairie Arthéme Fayard.
[60] Shaw. (2000) p. 174

[61] Grajetzki. (2006) p. 21

• Habachi, Labib (1963). “King Nebhepetre Men-
thuhotep: his monuments, place in history, deifica-
[62] Richards. (2005) p. 7 tion and unusual representations in form of gods”.
Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte. 19:
[63] Trigger, Kemp, O'Connor, and Lloyd. (1983) p. 108
16–52.
[64] Trigger, Kemp, O'Connor, and Lloyd. (1983) p. 112
• Hayes, William (1953). “Notes on the Gov-
[65] Grimal. (1988) p. 167 ernment of Egypt in the Late Middle Kingdom”
. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 12: 31–39.
[66] Trigger, Kemp, O'Connor, and Lloyd. (1983) p. 109 doi:10.1086/371108.
[67] Foster. (2001) p. 88
• Morenz, Ludwid D. (2003), “Literature as a Con-
[68] Bell. (1975) p. 227 struction of the Past in the Middle Kingdom”,
in Tait, John W., 'Never Had the Like Occurred':
[69] Bell. (1975) p. 230 Egypt's View of Its Past, translated by Martin Wor-
[70] Bell. (1975) p. 263 thington, London: University College London, In-
stitute of Archaeology, an imprint of Cavendish
[71] Teeter. (1994) p. 27 Publishing Limited, pp. 101–118, ISBN 1-84472-
007-1
[72] Bothmer, 94.
• Murnane, William J. (1977). “Ancient Egyptian
[73] Shaw, “Block Statue”.
Coregencies”. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civiliza-
[74] Late Period, 4–5. tion. The Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago. 40.
[75] Bothmer, Bernard (1974). Brief Guide to the Department
of Egyptian and Classical Art. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn • Redford, Donald (1992). Egypt, Canaan, and Israel
Museum. p. 36. in Ancient Times. Princeton University Press. ISBN
[76] Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 55–56; Morenz 2003, 0-691-00086-7.
p. 102; see also Simpson 1972, pp. 3–6 and Erman 2005, • Richards, Janet (2005). Society and Death in Ancient
pp. xxiv-xxv.
Egypt. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-
[77] Morenz 2003, p. 102. 84033-3.

[78] Parkinson 2002, pp. 45–46, 49–50, 55–56; Morenz 2003, • Shaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul (1995). The Dictionary
p. 102. of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson.
82 CHAPTER 6. MIDDLE KINGDOM OF EGYPT

• Shaw, Ian (2000). The Oxford history of an-

cient Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-
280458-8.

• Teeter, Emily (1994). “Egyptian Art”. Art Insti-

tute of Chicago Museum Studies. The Art Institute
of Chicago. 20 (1): 14–31. doi:10.2307/4112949.
JSTOR 4112949.

• Trigger, B.; Kemp, Barry; O'Connor, David; Lloyd,

Alan (1983). Ancient Egypt: A Social History. Cam-
bridge University Press.
• Wegner, Josef (1996). “The Nature and Chronol-
ogy of the Senwosret III-Amenemhat III Regnal
Succession: Some Considerations Based on New
Evidence from the Mortuary Temple of Senwosret
III at Abydos”. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 55:
249–279. doi:10.1086/373863.
 Chapter 7

New Kingdom of Egypt

“New Kingdom”redirects here. For other uses, see New Thutmose III (“the Napoleon of Egypt”) expanded
Kingdom (disambiguation). Egypt's army and wielded it with great success to con-
Warning: Page using Template:Infobox former country solidate the empire created by his predecessors. This re-
with unknown parameter “country”(this message is sulted in a peak in Egypt's power and wealth during the
shown only in preview). reign of Amenhotep III. During the reign of Thutmose III
(ca. 1479–1425 BC), Pharaoh, originally referring to the
king's palace, became a form of address for the person
The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the *
Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian who was king. [4]
history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century One of the best-known 18th Dynasty Pharaohs is Amen-
BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth hotep IV, who changed his name to Akhenaten in honor
Dynasties of Egypt. Radiocarbon dating places the ex- of the Aten and whose exclusive worship of the Aten is of-
act beginning of the New Kingdom between 1570–1544 ten interpreted as history's first instance of monotheism.
BC.* [1] The New Kingdom followed the Second Inter- Akhenaten's religious fervor is cited as the reason why he
mediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Interme- was subsequently written out of Egyptian history. Under
diate Period. It was Egypt’s most prosperous time and his reign, in the 14th century BC, Egyptian art flourished
marked the peak of its power.* [2] and attained an unprecedented level of realism. (See
The later part of this period, under the Nineteenth and Amarna Period.)
Twentieth Dynasties (1292–1069 BC) is also known as Towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, the situation had
the Ramesside period. It is named after the eleven changed radically. Aided by Akhenaten's apparent lack
pharaohs that took the name of Ramesses I, founder of of interest in international affairs, the Hittites had gradu-
the 19th Dynasty. ally extended their influence into Phoenicia and Canaan to
become a major power in international politics—a power
Possibly as a result of the foreign rule of the Hyksos dur-
ing the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom that both Seti I and his son Ramesses II would need to
saw Egypt attempt to create a buffer between the Levant deal with during the 19th dynasty.
and Egypt, and attained its greatest territorial extent.
Similarly, in response to very successful 17th century at-
tacks by the powerful Kingdom of Kush,* [3] the New 7.2 Nineteenth Dynasty
Kingdom felt compelled to expand far south into Nubia
and hold wide territories in the Near East. Egyptian Main article: Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
armies fought Hittite armies for control of modern-day
Syria.
Ramesses II (“the Great”) sought to recover territories
in the Levant that had been held by the 18th Dynasty.
His campaigns of reconquest culminated in the Battle of
7.1 Eighteenth Dynasty Kadesh, where he led Egyptian armies against those of
the Hittite king Muwatalli II. Ramesses was caught in
Main article: Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt history's first recorded military ambush, although he was
able to rally his troops and turn the tide of battle against
The Eighteenth Dynasty contained some of Egypt's most the Hittites thanks to the arrival of the Ne'arin. The out-
famous Pharaohs, including Ahmose I, Hatshepsut, come of the battle was undecided with both sides claim-
Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and ing victory at their home front, ultimately resulting in a
Tutankhamun. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on peace treaty between the two nations.
expanding Egypt's external trade by sending a commer- Ramesses II was also famed for the huge number of chil-
cial expedition to the land of Punt. dren he sired by his various wives and concubines; the

83
84 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

tomb he built for his sons, many of whom he outlived, most two full decades until 1140 BC.* [8] One proposed
in the Valley of the Kings has proven to be the largest cause is the Hekla 3 eruption of the Hekla volcano in Ice-
funerary complex in Egypt. land but the dating of this remains disputed.
His immediate successors continued the military cam- Rameses III's death was followed by years of bickering
paigns, although an increasingly troubled court—which among his heirs. Three of his sons ascended the throne
at one point put a usurper (Amenmesse) on the throne— successively as Ramesses IV, Rameses VI and Rameses
made it increasingly difficult for a pharaoh to effectively VIII. Egypt was increasingly beset by droughts, below-
retain control without incident. normal flooding of the Nile, famine, civil unrest and of-
ficial corruption. The power of the last pharaoh of the
dynasty, Ramesses XI, grew so weak that in the south
the High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the de facto
rulers of Upper Egypt, and Smendes controlled Lower
Egypt even before Rameses XI's death. Smendes eventu-
ally founded the Twenty-First dynasty at Tanis.

7.4 Image gallery

• Egyptian
and Hittite Empires, around the time of the Battle
of Kadesh.

• Relief of a Nobleman, ca.

1295-1070 B.C.E. Brooklyn Museum
7.3 Twentieth Dynasty
Main article: Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt

The last“great”pharaoh from the New Kingdom is widely

considered to be Ramesses III, a Twentieth Dynasty
pharaoh who reigned several decades after Ramesses
II.* [5]
• Queen Ahmose-Nefertari
In the eighth year of his reign the Sea Peoples invaded
Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in
two great land and sea battles. He incorporated them as
subject peoples and settled them in Southern Canaan al-
though there is evidence that they forced their way into
Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed
to the formation of new states, such as Philistia, in this
region after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire. He was
also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two
major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his sixth • Hatshepsut as a Sphinx. Daughter
year and eleventh year respectively.* [6] of Thutmose I, she ruled jointly as her stepson's
(Thutmose III) co-regent. She soon took the throne
The heavy cost of this warfare slowly drained Egypt's
for herself, and declared herself pharaoh.
treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of the
Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of the difficul-
ties is indicated by the fact that the first known labor
strike in recorded history occurred during the 29th year
of Ramesses III's reign, when the food rations for Egypt's
favored and elite royal tomb-builders and artisans in the
village of Deir el Medina could not be provisioned.* [7]
Something in the air prevented much sunlight from reach- • Queen Hatshepsut's Temple
ing the ground and also arrested global tree growth for al- at Deir el-Bahari, was called Djeser-Djeseru, mean-
7.4. IMAGE GALLERY 85

ing the Holy of Holies, in ancient times.

• Akhenaten

• Thutmosis III, a military man and

member of the Thutmosid royal line is commonly
called the Napoleon of Egypt. His conquests of the
Levant brought Egypt's territories and influence to
its greatest extent.

• Bust of Nefertiti. The wife of

Akhenaten, she held position as co-regent with
Akhenaten. She may also have ruled as pharaoh in
her own right as she is one of few candidates for the
identity of Pharaoh Neferneferuaten.

• Colossi of Memnon. Representing

Amenhotep III, this statue sits outside Luxor.

• Tutankhamun's mask. King

Tutankhamun, son of Akhenaten, restored Egypt
to its former religion. Though he died young and
was not considered significant in his own time, the
1922 discovery of his KV62 intact tomb by Howard
Carter, made him relevant as a symbol of ancient
Egypt in the modern world.
• Tiye, born a commoner, became queen
through her marriage to Amenhotep III. In the New
Kingdom, women gained influence in court, and
Tiye soon helped run affairs of state for both her
husband and son during their reigns.

• Detail Temple of Rameses II

• Akhenaten, born Amenhotep IV,

was the son of Queen Tiye. He rejected the old
Egyptian religion and went about promoting the • Nefertari's Temple at Abu
Aten as a supreme deity. Simbel
86 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

World. Michael D. Coogan, ed. Oxford University Press.

1998.

[5] Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor, eds. Ramesses III:

The Life and Times of Egypt's Last Hero (University of
Michigan Press; 2012)
• Giant Ramses II [6] Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell
Books, 1992. p.271

[7] William F. Edgerton, “The Strikes in Ramses III's

Twenty-Ninth Year”, JNES 10, no. 3 (July 1951), pp.
137–145.

[8] Frank J. Yurco, “End of the Late Bronze Age and Other
• Abu Simbel Temple of Crisis Periods: A Volcanic Cause,”in Gold of Praise:
Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honor of Edward F. Wente,
Ramesses II
ed: Emily Teeter & John Larson, (SAOC 58) 1999, pp.
456-458.

7.7 External links

• Middle East on the Matrix: Egypt, The New King-
dom—Photographs of many of the historic sites dat-
ing from the New Kingdom
• Abu Simbel
• New Kingdom of Egypt - Aldokkan

• King Tutanhkamun Guardian Statue

7.5 See also

• History of ancient Egypt

• The Stonemason Ostracon

7.6 References
[1] Christopher Bronk Ramsey et al., Radiocarbon-Based
Chronology for Dynastic Egypt, Science 18 June 2010:
Vol. 328. no. 5985, pp. 1554-1557.

[2] Shaw, Ian, ed. (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient

Egypt. Oxford University Press. p. 481. ISBN 0-19-
815034-2.

[3] Alberge, Dalya. “Tomb reveals Ancient Egypt's humil-

iating secret”. The Times. Retrieved 2003. Check date
values in: |access-date= (help)

[4] Redmount, Carol A. “Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of

Egypt.”p. 89-90. The Oxford History of the Biblical
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tributor777, Yobot, Yngvadottir, Puttyschool, Againme, AnomieBOT, LlywelynII, Materialscientist, Erud, GenQuest, Khruner, Armbrust,
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ple, Kjoonlee, Kaisershatner, Furius, Cedders, Lankiveil, Kwamikagami, Laurascudder, Summer Song, Shanes, C1k3, RoyBoy, Triona, The
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Polarscribe, Miranche, ChristopherWillis, Ben davison, Borisblue, Geo Swan, Ricky81682, Plumbago, Wikidea, Echuck215, SFTVL-
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trip, Dejvid, Ilyag, Joriki, Velho, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Kelly Martin, OwenX, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, TigerShark, LOL,
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icc65, Physchim62, Manufracture, King of Hearts, Chobot, EvilStorm, DVdm, JesseGarrett, Xtine66, Igordebraga, WriterHound, Gwernol,
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nani, Dumoren, Jgrantduff, Virek, Justin Eiler, Rjensen, Irishguy, Nick, Dppowell, Daniel Mietchen, Jpbowen, Matticus78, Dputig07,
Aldux, RUL3R, Ezeu, Semperf, Aaron Schulz, Xompanthy, Violet Evans, Alexpinna, BOT-Superzerocool, Gadget850, CDA, Psy guy,
Asarelah, Haemo, Bantosh, Caroline Sanford, Igiffin, Jkelly, BazookaJoe, Emijrp, Mike Dillon, J. Van Meter, Doogal, Silverhorse, Theda,
Denisutku, Steve McKinney, Arthur Rubin, Zec, KGasso, Esprit15d, Nolanus, JQF, BorgQueen, GraemeL, JoanneB, Barbatus, Ben King,
Shyam, Hayden120, Whobot, Tyrenius, Garion96, Petrograd~enwiki, Chris1219, Sugar Bear, Eaefremov, Argos'Dad, Bluezy, Katieh5584,
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Bom, Sardanaphalus, Attilios, Sintonak.X, SmackBot, MattieTK, Unschool, Haymaker, Bobet, Reedy, Prodego, KnowledgeOfSelf, Zerida,
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Kevinalewis, Izehar, Chris the speller, Yami Takashi, Keegan, Dahn, Persian Poet Gal, Miquonranger03, Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-
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truncate, TedE, MichaelBillington, Nick125, DoubleAW, Invincible Ninja, Dcamp314, BryanG, Alan Smithee, Drc79, N Shar, Jitterro,
ElizabethFong, Sibahi, Ceoil, Michael David, The undertow, SashatoBot, Superdosh, Kuru, John, AmiDaniel, Anriz, Kipala, Joelmills,
Dustin Pearson, Coredesat, Jazriel, DIEGO RICARDO PEREIRA, Tiki God, Tinturtle, LancasterII, A. Parrot, Comicist, Hvn0413,
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cadobravado, Sijo Ripa, Citicat, MTSbot~enwiki, Zapvet, Couprie, Hectorian, Rpab, Iridescent, JMK, TwistOfCain, Michaelgoodman,
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JForget, Bobo Fernandez, Tpbiii, Artiste-extraordinaire, Scohoust, Ninetyone, KyraVixen, Serienya, Bayou Banjo, Basawala, ChristineD,
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88 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

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Andrasnm, Mcorazao, Ericoides, Fetchcomms, Sophie means wisdom, Panarjedde, Sitethief, Hut 8.5, Smith Jones, TAnthony, MegX,
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rel, ZPM, Celithemis, Bongwarrior, VoABot II, MonicaChoi, Jeff Dahl, Noellepj, Tintin Montreal, Adhominem, Doug Coldwell, AyaK,
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Harryboyles, Thanatosimii, Sophia, 3dnatureguy, Kuru, Akendall, John, Naphureya, J 1982, SilkTork, Pat Payne, Edwy, Hemmingsen,
Jazriel, Missus Pounce Purr, Mgiganteus1, ManiF, Reuvenk, Peterlewis, Fontenot 1031, Ocatecir, CredoFromStart, Scetoaux, Aleenf1,
IronGargoyle, Delta Mars, A. Parrot, J Crow, Benjaminlobato, Slakr, Special-T, Werdan7, DigiFluid, LuYiSi, Mr Stephen, Ampho-
terik, Maksim L., SandyGeorgia, Doczilla, Nageeb, Midnightblueowl, Kanon6996, Ryulong, Jose77, Beepsie, Legars~enwiki, Mego'brien,
Quaeler, BranStark, Nehrams2020, Iridescent, Sander Goes, Toira~enwiki, Theone00, Shoeofdeath, Pooua, Locojefe, J Di, IvanLanin,
Casull, Tony Fox, CapitalR, MottyGlix, Ewulp, Civil Engineer III, JLCA, Tawkerbot2, Dlohcierekim, Ru48669, Ghaly, TheHorseCollec-
tor, Lahiru k, Switchercat, Joostvandeputte~enwiki, Hjonelynas, JForget, Lemonade8228, Planktonbot, CRGreathouse, CmdrObot, Code
E, Ale jrb, Car wizz, Picaroon, KyraVixen, RedRollerskate, JohnCD, Wichienmaat, CWY2190, BKalesti, THF, Ferdiaob, WeggeBot,
Neelix, NE Ent, Gregbard, Shanew2, Nauticashades, Nilfanion, Coldbringer, Michfan2123, Cydebot, Bill (who is cool!), Dumpkin the kiu,
Sainthazard, Aristophanes68, Mato, Gogo Dodo, Blank357, Life is like a box of chocolates, Hebrides, Egyptianfreak, JamesLucas, Aman-
dajm, Tawkerbot4, Doug Weller, DumbBOT, I3ad I3oyz, Chrislk02, Lee, Kozuch, Editor at Large, NMChico24, Omicronpersei8, Lo2u,
Thijs!bot, Epbr123, King Bee, Subliminal., Jmg38, Iiron munat, Daniel, Mojo Hand, Mdawg728, Headbomb, Djfeldman, Marek69, Bruske,
West Brom 4ever, Frank, Picus viridis, Cool Blue, BehnamFarid, Kislay, Renamed user 5197261az5af96as6aa, Sven Erixon, Dr. Friendly,
Dfrg.msc, NigelR, CharlotteWebb, The Hybrid, Ludde23, Michael A. White, Eddie Tor, Pruy0001, Wikidenizen, Dawnseeker2000,
Natalie Erin, Amun1, RoboServien, Escarbot, Oreo Priest, Dantheman531, Mentifisto, Porqin, KrakatoaKatie, Gossamers, AntiVan-
dalBot, Teentje, Chaleyer61, Majorly, Yonatan, Sebeex3, Luna Santin, Adammgriggs, Wengero, Quintote, DarkAudit, Drakonicon, D.
Webb, Modernist, Bluetooth954, Spencer, Fireice, TuvicBot, Sluzzelin, JAnDbot, Mainstreamegypt, WANAX, Husond, Forthnoggin, Za-
loopa, MER-C, The Transhumanist, Ericoides, Skufcakk, Vergiljtm, Jindalakshay, Struthious Bandersnatch, Hut 8.5, Time3000, East718,
Snowolfd4, Warthog32, Alastair Haines, SiobhanHansa, Acroterion, *KING*, Lester Long, Owen998, Nunki~enwiki, Natski-asnd8, Bibi
Saint-Pol, Exo81, Magioladitis, Ray & hay, WolfmanSF, Freedomlinux, Bongwarrior, VoABot II, Jeff Dahl, Dekimasu, Alexgt, Shot-
put king, MastCell, Hasek is the best, ‫باسم‬, Ling.Nut, Tedickey, CTF83!, Singularity, Dinosaur puppy, Steven Walling, WODUP,
Zephyr2k~enwiki, Avicennasis, Indon, Animum, Robotman1974, Andi d, 28421u2232nfenfcenc, Lethaniol, David Eppstein, LorenzoB,
Cpl Syx, Kingdomkey01, Glen, Chris G, DerHexer, JaGa, T55648L, Wdflake, Esanchez7587, TheRanger, Szechen, Gun Powder Ma, Writ-
erArtistDC, Nilemadden, Hdt83, MartinBot, Sp0, GoldenMeadows, The Irb Goti, Arjun01, WikiTownsvillian, Jim.henderson, Roastytoast,
Sm8900, Mschel, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, AlexiusHoratius, Gold-Horn, Fuckmeintheass, Bwb11, Lilac Soul, J.delanoy, Sasajid, Nev1,
Padishah5000, DrKay, Trusilver, King of Hearts81, Cyborg Ninja, Catmoongirl, Karanacs, Thegreenj, Extransit, Vanished user 342562,
Suikoman444, SU Linguist, Georgiou, Patronise, Acalamari, Bot-Schafter, Katalaveno, Johnbod, Mr Rookles, Darkspots, Mahewa, Ncmvo-
calist, Stefonalfaro, HumanDictionary117, Gil Grissom~enwiki, Pyrospirit, Chriswiki, DjScrawl, AntiSpamBot, RoboMaxCyberSem,
Alexb102072, Hiimbrady, Matthardingu, SJP, Bobianite, Gregfitzy, 83d40m, Aquatics, DesertMoh, Lanternix, Nsl1646, Sunderland06,
90 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

Sigmundur, KylieTastic, Joshua Issac, Juliancolton, WJBscribe, Tiggerjay, Rohitht, Jevansen, Gcpeoples, Natl1, Ministry of truth 02, Ice-
Dragon64, Andy Marchbanks, JavierMC, S (usurped also), Chach456, Davecrosby uk, Idioma-bot, Redtigerxyz, Lights, Vranak, King
Lopez, VolkovBot, CWii, Halayman, DSRH, Superball, It64, Webkami, VasilievVV, Super Knuckles, SexyBern, Jedravent, Philip True-
man, TXiKiBoT, Keeg bob, GimmeBot, Cosmic Latte, Levinkirill, Runningcupcake03, MeStevo, Davehi1, Kww, Pspman123, Caster23,
Miranda, Satseshat, Deep Atlantic Blue, Woodsstock, Qxz, Vanished user ikijeirw34iuaeolaseriffic, Retiono Virginian, Ocolon, Andrein,
Beyond silence, Seraphim, Corvus cornix, Slysplace, Elkadio1, LeaveSleaves, Cremepuff222, Natg 19, Wtt, Shane0016, WIKIWIKI-
WIKIWOO9292, Tipou, Wenli, Enigmaman, Skunyote, Strangerer, Anna512, Gunslayer123, Tcrichards, Letterare, Why Not A Duck,
Agüeybaná, Chenzw, Vscel4, Mikeygunit, Onceonthisisland, AlleborgoBot, Shawnvd, Movedgood, PericlesofAthens, FlyingLeopard2014,
D. Recorder, Hmwith, April Is Really Fooled, Adyrichter, SieBot, Nihil novi, Scarian, Speed Air Man, Weeliljimmy, Jauerback, Caltas,
Kaci12~enwiki, RJaguar3, Iheartcoop, Yintan, WiKKKipedia, Frost000, Slide Maintenance, Duplicity, Mark Burgess, Eaomatrix, Keilana,
Donnyj, Xenophon777, Android Mouse, Tiptoety, Oda Mari, Jasgrider, Dman646, Buster+dom, Faegrrrl, Ms2150, Timelesseyes, Mim-
ihitam, Oxymoron83, Monkyboy98, Pretty Green, Steven Crossin, Lightmouse, Tombomp, Ealdgyth, Hobartimus, Nskillen, B-mcadbr,
Danelo, BenoniBot~enwiki, Lowrider 211, Gunmetal Angel, GiLcY, Southsidney, IdreamofJeanie, AuburnPiIot, Slumach, Maelgwnbot,
Liamdanny2, SiefkinDR, Anchor Link Bot, Tomakiv, TaerkastUA, Spotty11222, Felizdenovo, Pinkadelica, Jons63, Gr8opinionater, Im-
ageRemovalBot, 任, Loren.wilton, Martarius, Albert Krantz, ClueBot, PipepBot, Fyyer, The Thing That Should Not Be, Xav71176, Ndeni-
son, XPTO, Luminez, Drmies, Anthonydapropo, Timberframe, Stone Heart8, Fenwayguy, Peanut4, Wee-Kee-Pee-Dee-Ah, LizardJr8,
Ashleyzilla, Parkwells, MKP5996, Goldkingtut5, Piledhigheranddeeper, Foohy46, ChandlerMapBot, Puchiko, Razorazar69, Ashashyou,
Mspraveen, DragonBot, Excirial, AssegaiAli, Malachirality, Mashmallow273, Canis Lupus, Jusdafax, CrazyChemGuy, Wikiscribe, 12
Noon, Whoisthecatalyst, Kidquill, Winston365, Ludwigs2, Abrech, Duncan1800, Lartoven, Sun Creator, Carsrac, Coinmanj, Nucle-
arWarfare, Arjayay, Jotterbot, Promethean, Kareem ayoub, Rainbow brite chick, Razorflame, Wdford, Readyman, MaxX232489, Fi-
nalfantasy7maniac, SchreiberBike, Gghhyytt, Froogle62, BOTarate, La Pianista, Thingg, Aitias, Dana boomer, Kevinli123, Phynicen,
Apparition11, Zykasaa, Stoljaroff1987, LightAnkh, Faulcon DeLacy, Maloney.john, Tammoor, Pichpich, Sumerophile, Rror, Ost316,
AndreNatas, IanCheesman, Galyet, WikHead, SilvonenBot, Mifter, Mm40, HarlandQPitt, WikiDao, Vianello, CandiMiami2014, ElMe-
Bot, Xp54321, Proofreader77, DangerTM, Hapydays101, Nubia123, DOI bot, Andochine, Wsvlqc, Jezza540, Captain-tucker, 11mon-
tel, ImogenPacker, GamemasterJJ, Ras4788, TutterMouse, Fieldday-sunday, CanadianLinuxUser, Crappyhead121, Looie496, MrOllie,
CarsracBot, RTG, Favonian, Exor674, LinkFA-Bot, Mmhrycak, Vyom25, Chopme, Hellobye11, Tutthoth-Ankhre, Barrydawsonisthe-
cougar, Ranjith221, Magic 3151, Aaronaaronaaron, Tassedethe, Numbo3-bot, Bbernet13, Tide rolls, MZaplotnik, Bfigura's puppy, Gail,
MuZemike, Jarble, Quantumobserver, Sun0004, Abellamar, Ret.Prof, ReeewQ, Falloutboyrocks0772, Fishthrowing16, Luckas-bot, Yobot,
Cimbom-fan, Senator Palpatine, Legobot II, Vandalizehahalol, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, Ojay123, MarcoAurelio, Ajh16, THEN WHO WAS
PHONE?, 2012sorreej, Andvd, Spaceinput120, VanishedUser sdu9aya9fasdsopa, Poo.bot.deluxe, 1exec1, Derfet, Taam, Bballover, Ad-
justShift, Zatoino, Theseeker4, Jo3sampl, Ulric1313, HappyTesting, JasonB007, Bobandjo520, Flewis, Materialscientist, D3ath2people,
Citation bot, Twiceuponatime, Rockoprem, ArthurBot, DirlBot, LilHelpa, Obersachsebot, Xqbot, NisarPakistani, Kea003, CoolingGib-
bon, 4twenty42o, Nfr-Maat, EgyptianWikipedian, Br77rino, Julle, Mayfarouk, Jolly Janner, Jhbdel, Omnipaedista, SassoBot, The In-
terior, Multixfer, Rachida10z, GhalyBot, Moxy, Astatine-210, Cekli829, JMCC1, Legobot III, Hope&Act3!, Tagrawo, Prari, FrescoBot,
MuhammedAkbarKhan, Tobby72, Flygongengar, Urgos, RoyGoldsmith, Jonathansuh, Jgw71, Свифт, Mfwitten, Wdwaltman, Soufray, Ci-
tation bot 1, Tkuvho, Pinethicket, Haaqfun, Laboris Dulcedo, Alonso de Mendoza, 10metreh, Vladmirfish, SolLuna, Doom2508, Deranged
Dodo, Ilovesweatymen, Dead666666666, Meaghan, Secret Saturdays, Barras, Reconsider the static, Amourabunny, Mnlira013, Cnwilliams,
Samuel Salzman, Diddud97, TobeBot, Trappist the monk, Hawesomeman, Deelybobber, Gaius Octavius Princeps, Orsd, TayyabSaeed, Ste-
gop, Yeng-Wang-Yeh, Nascar1996, Tbhotch, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, RjwilmsiBot, Ripchip Bot, Mandolinface, DASHBot, DiogenesTCP,
EmausBot, John of Reading, WikitanvirBot, Lalaithion, Distal24, Dewritech, Sinharib99, Dcirovic, K6ka, Thecheesykid, Italia2006, Weri-
eth, Jg2904, ZéroBot, Hit45, Antigrandiose, Xtzou, MithrandirAgain, Oncenawhile, Renato de carvalho ferreira, Hazard-SJ, Everard
Proudfoot, EddieDrood, Lawl95, Fabian Hassler, QwerpQwertus, SporkBot, AManWithNoPlan, Ocaasi, Copenhagen4, Raashi.swanlake,
Vanished user qwqwijr8hwrkjdnvkanfoh4, Brandmeister, Sahimrobot, L Kensington, Capolinho, ChuispastonBot, Ihardlythinkso, German-
Joe, Ariyonna11, Clarionk, Enika, Duryodhan kumar, Massimocicc, ClueBot NG, Alexcoldcasefan, , Justlettersandnumbers, Iritakamas,
MasriDefend, Ottermaton, Bucoli, Frietjes, Delusion23, Runehelmet, Morgan Riley, Danim, Chitt66, Fpan020, Platonicmaria, MerlIwBot,
Helpful Pixie Bot, VitoPisani, Sterling.M.Archer, Vagobot, Jay8g, Kndimov, George Ponderevo, Gabriel Yuji, Whitehex, AvocatoBot, Fu-
tureTrillionaire, OttawaAC, Michael Barera, Dailey78, Drift chambers, The Almightey Drill, MisterCake, Minsbot, BattyBot, MahdiBot,
David B Stephens, Cyberbot II, ChrisGualtieri, GoShow, StovePicture, Laberkiste, Heba.amir, Extratall, Siuenti, JYBot, Dexbot, Crumpled
Fire, Webclient101, Fady Lahoud, WroteOddly, Krakkos, Benjaminsvejgaard, Ld2601, Redd Foxx 1991, FillsHerTease, CensoredScribe,
LouisAragon, Monochrome Monitor, Eagle3399, Valery Staricov, Limnalid, Fitzcarmalan, BenEsq, Monkbot, ShawntheGod, ‫אפונה‬, John-
soniensis, Rogueblack, Kaitlyn153, EChastain, Cartakes, Tralala0, Billytnjng, TVShowFan122, KasparBot, Airplane Maniac, The name,
Thursby16, Zenedits, Ermahgerd9, Morel8910, Deeznuts1111, InternetArchiveBot, Rtrust, Timbuktu123, Smaha2109, AnAwesomeArti-
cleEditor, Robot psychiatrist, Motivação, Editor 357, White44Tree, TheFreeWorld, Cynulliad3 and Anonymous: 1723
• Old Kingdom of Egypt Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Kingdom_of_Egypt?oldid=769163690 Contributors: Malcolm
Farmer, William Avery, Leandrod, Paul Barlow, Llywrch, Tango, Gene Poole, Pjamescowie, EdH, Zoicon5, Stormie, Robbot, TOO, Tom
harrison, Matt Crypto, Jrdioko, OldakQuill, Antandrus, Mike Rosoft, Discospinster, Cnyborg, Wikiacc, Dbachmann, Bender235, Kbh3rd,
Furius, Deling, Bobo192, Jguk 2, Metnalboy, Alansohn, Arthena, Ricky81682, Sl, Wtmitchell, Velella, BanyanTree, Jguk, Ghirlandajo,
Japanese Searobin, Nefertum17, Chochopk, -Ril-, Twthmoses, Kralizec!, Cethegus, FlaBot, Markh, CJLL Wright, DVdm, YurikBot,
Sortan, RobotE, Pip2andahalf, Madkayaker, DanMS, Gaius Cornelius, NawlinWiki, Nirvana2013, Moe Epsilon, RUL3R, DeadEyeAr-
row, Brina700, Nathparkling, That Guy, From That Show!, Sardanaphalus, KnightRider~enwiki, SmackBot, Hydrogen Iodide, Zerida,
Pgk, BenBurch, Jab843, Yamaguchi 先生, Gilliam, Hmains, Skizzik, Bluebot, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Blicarea, Leoboudv, Fly-
guy649, Ugur Basak Bot~enwiki, -Ilhador-, Siva1979, Damate, Onlim, Robbins, A. Parrot, Beetstra, Dr.K., MTSbot~enwiki, TwistOf-
Cain, Ghaly, Juhachi, Lazulilasher, James5555, Neelix, Equendil, Slazenger, Mato, Nick Wilson, Doug Weller, DBaba, Mtpaley, Epbr123,
Marek69, Kathovo, Mmortal03, Mentifisto, Hmrox, RobotG, Chaleyer61, Gioto, Seaphoto, Prolog, Jj137, JAnDbot, Samar, PhilKnight,
Ataltane, Magioladitis, PacificBoy, VoABot II, Jeff Dahl, Jespinos, Nyttend, Robotman1974, Chris G, Simon Peter Hughes, Gun Powder
Ma, Rickterp, Nickels, R'n'B, AlexiusHoratius, J.delanoy, Pharaoh of the Wizards, BillWSmithJr, Uncle Dick, It Is Me Here, NewEng-
landYankee, Rosenknospe, Lanternix, Tanaats, KylieTastic, STBotD, VolkovBot, Halayman, Tunnels of Set, AlnoktaBOT, Philip True-
man, Berthold Werner, Apepch7, Rei-bot, Satseshat, Crohnie, Erigbyheyjude, LeaveSleaves, AnnekeBart, AlleborgoBot, PericlesofA-
thens, SaltyBoatr, SD Martin61, Botev, BotMultichill, Exxy, BloodDoll, Granius1980, Keilana, Pxma, Chromaticity, Tombomp, OKBot,
Denisarona, Escape Orbit, ClueBot, Morningstar1814, Feyre, Rjd0060, XPTO, Excirial, Alexbot, Estirabot, MacedonianBoy, M.O.X,
Aitias, Versus22, Sigma69, WikHead, Alexius08, Addbot, DOI bot, Guoguo12, Tcncv, Richard Bodley Scott, Fluffernutter, Funkis-
bunk, Glane23, Legobot, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Jayhayman, II MusLiM HyBRiD II, WellsSouth, Againme, Eric-Wester, AnomieBOT,
Speysider, IRP, Crash Cove, BarberJP, Materialscientist, Infoexpert, HappyArtichoke, Xqbot, JimVC3, Cavila, 4twenty42o, Onedaylemur-
7.8. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 91

swillruletheworld, YBG, Khruner, GhalyBot, Munchkyn, Cheeseth, Samwb123, Haploidavey, A.amitkumar, Cjc7122, Grósznyó, Nicolas
Perrault III, Orijentolog, Sebastiangarth, Intelligentsium, InvaderCito, BRUTE, Serols, Wgirl753, Jimys salonika, ItsZippy, Reaper Eter-
nal, Weedwhacker128, MrArifnajafov, Onel5969, Ripchip Bot, Slon02, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Look2See1, Da500063, Dewritech,
Wikipelli, Italia2006, ZéroBot, Bollyjeff, CN3777, Y-barton, L Kensington, Donner60, Orange Suede Sofa, Jcaraballo, Djhaman9, Clue-
Bot NG, Dsrtrat1, , Rtucker913, Joefromrandb, Civciv5, Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, BZTMPS, Trunks ishida, BG19bot, Bmusician, Krenair,
Iselilja, MusikAnimal, Marcocapelle, Silvrous, Cncmaster, Dailey78, Jonah Levi, Bradzarb, Drummerboy15, Ronsmith90, Labrynianrebel,
Haymouse, Khazar2, Iry-Hor, Calligrapher888, JYBot, SomeGuyWhoRandomlyEdits, Webclient101, AdamFromTheVillage, Lugia2453,
Mohty, Josefina1235, Ugog Nizdast, Frenzie23, Marleerose02, Monkbot, HowlingAngel, Polymathica, Kaitlyn153, Googled4life, Crystal-
lizedcarbon, Kethrus, HavelockWilltravel, ProprioMe OW, Williammacewen, AnnaliseVictoria19, BelugaBob1, Draco1117, Thomas3403,
John “Hannibal”Smith, Gluons12, Proffessordaddy, Ejejejndsfriifjijffdoiijof and Anonymous: 442

• Bronze Age Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age?oldid=768108727 Contributors: AxelBoldt, Youssefsan, William Avery,

Ray Van De Walker, SimonP, Zimriel, Stevertigo, Patrick, Michael Hardy, Dominus, Gdarin, Nixdorf, Collabi, Ixfd64, IZAK, Pjamescowie,
Glenn, Bogdangiusca, Rossami, Nikai, Charles Matthews, Andrevan, Reddi, Jay, The Anomebot, Steinsky, DJ Clayworth, Tpbradbury,
Itai, EikwaR, Wetman, UninvitedCompany, Nufy8, Robbot, Waerth, ChrisO~enwiki, Gregors, Altenmann, Lowellian, Hadal, Wikibot,
JamesMLane, DocWatson42, Jyril, Wiglaf, Tom harrison, Aphaia, Yak, Bradeos Graphon, Everyking, Chinasaur, Per Honor et Gloria,
PenguiN42, Gadfium, Keith Edkins, Quadell, Beland, Iceager, 1297, Adamsan, Icairns, Sam Hocevar, Creidieki, Okapi~enwiki, Imjust-
matthew, Ukexpat, Zondor, Esperant, Mike Rosoft, D6, Jayjg, Freakofnurture, Imroy, CALR, Moverton, Discospinster, ElTyrant, Rich
Farmbrough, Wclark, Vsmith, Florian Blaschke, Dbachmann, Paul August, Bender235, Malkin, Eric Forste, Lycurgus, Kwamikagami,
Adambro, Bobo192, Nigelj, Wisdom89, Jguk 2, Russ3Z, Chirag, Jojit fb, Flammifer, Hargrimm, Haham hanuka, Mareino, Ogress, Red
Winged Duck, Jérôme, Alansohn, Gary, Pinar, Miranche, Atlant, Gsandi, Wtmitchell, Rebroad, Garzo, Jheald, Sleigh, HenryLi, Feezo,
Woohookitty, TomTheHand, Benbest, Briangotts, Pol098, JeremyA, MONGO, Paradon, John Hill, SDC, Xiong Chiamiov, Graham87,
Magister Mathematicae, BD2412, RxS, Josh Parris, Sjö, Drbogdan, Rjwilmsi, Coemgenus, Саша Стефановић, CristianChirita, Isaac
Rabinovitch, Makaristos, InFairness, CQJ, Kalogeropoulos, Bhadani, Sydbarrett74, RJP, Nihiltres, GünniX, CarolGray, RexNL, Chobot,
DVdm, Voodoom, Bgwhite, Cactus.man, YurikBot, Wavelength, Jimp, Edward Wakelin, Pigman, Akamad, Gaius Cornelius, Ksyrie, Ele-
assar, Wimt, Thane, Anomalocaris, SEWilcoBot, Beanyk, PM Poon, Zwobot, Syrthiss, Snarius, DeadEyeArrow, Botteville, Smaines,
Deville, Codrinb, Closedmouth, IdoMagal, Reyk, Cobblet, Pádraic MacUidhir, RunOrDie, Nima.nezafati, Victor falk, That Guy, From
That Show!, Luk, Bigcheesegs, Treesmill, SmackBot, Amcbride, YellowMonkey, Tom Lougheed, InverseHypercube, Unyoyega, Bomac,
Jagged 85, RobotJcb, Kintetsubuffalo, Flamarande, Edgar181, Alsandro, Yamaguchi 先生, Gilliam, Hmains, Rudytan, Skizzik, Kev-
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Leevanjackson, DeLarge, Godardesque, BenGriffiths, Cydebot, ArgentTurquoise, Fatemi (usupred)~enwiki, JFreeman, Chasingsol, Fuzzi-
bloke, Doug Weller, Optimist on the run, Walgamanus, Kozuch, Omicronpersei8, Zalgo, Saintrain, Oxonhutch, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Chlo-
roform42, Headbomb, Marek69, Esemono, Kathovo, Itsmejudith, Echofilm, Dmitri Lytov, PER9000, Klausness, Escarbot, Mentifisto,
AntiVandalBot, QuiteUnusual, Tangerines, Smartse, Modernist, Dweir, Bèrto 'd Sèra, Gökhan, Sluzzelin, JAnDbot, MER-C, CosineKitty,
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ThinkBlue, Student7, KylieTastic, Rtelkin, Skryinv~enwiki, Jevansen, DorganBot, Yellowfiver, Idioma-bot, Markrimmell, Ariobarzan, Ma-
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TXiKiBoT, Oshwah, Mercurywoodrose, Laughingyet, Wiikipedian, Martin451, JhsBot, Don4of4, Jackfork, Wiae, Luuva, Kiinslayer,
Emma Ephemera, JemGage, Falcon8765, Spinningspark, Bryncaderfaner, Spitfire8520, Mike4ty4, AlleborgoBot, Ekendrick, PericlesofA-
thens, EmxBot, SieBot, Winchelsea, Gerakibot, Calabraxthis, Keilana, Flyer22 Reborn, Tiptoety, Oda Mari, Hxhbot, Carnun, Yerpo, Hzh,
Jdaloner, Tombomp, WSBaird, MagnusF, OKBot, Dcattell, Superbeecat, Illinois2011, Pinkadelica, Brenny91, Velvetron, ShajiA, Explicit,
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Dalesti, Shocks30, Widr, PatHadley, Highspeedrailguy, Helpful Pixie Bot, Titodutta, Gob Lofa, Ksusel, WNYY98, BG19bot, Chelsealb,
Vagobot, Hallows AG, MusikAnimal, AvocatoBot, Amp71, Mark Arsten, Compfreak7, Iamthecheese44, FoxCE, SmellyLilYou, Joshua
Jonathan, Romulan Ale, Glevum, EJcarter, Zedshort, Gibbja, BattyBot, R3venans, David.moreno72, DarafshBot, Derslek, Dexbot, FoCu-
SandLeArN, Crumpled Fire, Hmainsbot1, Mogism, Qazzaqazzaq, Sheldon65, Lugia2453, Frosty, Hair, WilliamDigiCol, Krakkos, Foonar-
res, Corinne, Hillbillyholiday, Epicgenius, Yulin Zhang, Vanamonde93, Burninthruthesky, Master of Time, DavidLeighEllis, Wikirictor,
Monochrome Monitor, S-adchen, JustBerry, Werddemer, JERIN.L.VARGHESE, Afro-Eurasian, Stamptrader, Cencer90, Epicface124,
Cancina5645, Artist robert jones, Ttocserp, Monkbot, HowlingAngel, Attar-Aram syria, BlueAlps, Braden12345, Crom daba, Joshistan,
Rsuwsearch, Johnhart151, Z. PUPU, Liann2009, Piesquared93, Cookingtheworld, Asdklf;, Calamity Fortune, Seapre, Julietdeltalima, YI-
92 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

TYNR, Nadavisediter3345, Olitrampoline, StewdioMACK, WyattAlex, Grathmy, Last edited by:, Isambard Kingdom, Margalob, Niall
Williams, KasparBot, Srednuas Lenoroc, Sro23, BU Rob13, O3fkz, Slimy goop, Cool123zs, Blablablaxox123, Sharma.pallav92, Inter-
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7.8.2 Images
• File:011-Mark_Antony,_with_Cleopatra_VII_-3.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/011-Mark_
Antony%2C_with_Cleopatra_VII_-3.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=163651
Original artist: CNG
• File:12_Tribes_of_Israel_Map.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/12_Tribes_of_Israel_Map.svg Li-
cense: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
• 12 tribus de Israel.svg Original artist: 12 tribus de Israel.svg: Translated by Kordas
7.8. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 93

• File:2007_07260179.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Mycenaean_sword_and_Wietenberg_

culture_axes_at_National_Museum_of_Transylvanian_History_2007.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Own work Original artist:
CristianChirita
• File:Abu_Simbel_Temple_May_30_2007.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Abu_Simbel_Temple_
May_30_2007.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons. Original artist: Than217 at English
Wikipedia
• File:Adam_Lenckhardt_-_Cleopatra_-_Walters_71416_-_Right.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
6/6d/Adam_Lenckhardt_-_Cleopatra_-_Walters_71416_-_Right.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Walters Art Mu-
seum: <a href='http://thewalters.org/' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Nuvola filesystems folder home.svg' src='https://upload.
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width='20' height='20' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.
svg/30px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_
filesystems_folder_home.svg/40px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='128' data-file-height='128'
/></a> Home page <a href='http://art.thewalters.org/detail/35053' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Information icon.svg'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png' width='20'
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1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x' data-file-
width='620' data-file-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Adam Lenckhardt
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• File:Alexander_the_Great,_100_B.C.E._–_100_C.E.,_54.162.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/
Alexander_the_Great%2C_100_B.C.E._%E2%80%93_100_C.E.%2C_54.162.jpg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Brooklyn Museum
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• File:Alexandre_Cabanel_-_Cléopatre_essayant_des_poisons_sur_des_condamnés_à_mort.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Alexandre_Cabanel_-_Cl%C3%A9opatre_essayant_des_poisons_sur_des_condamn%C3%A9s_%C3%
A0_mort.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://perso.orange.fr/verat/CABANEL.htm Original artist: Alexandre Cabanel
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BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: All Gizah Pyramids Original artist: Ricardo Liberato
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GFDL Contributors: Own work. See [#References #References] for references used creating the map.
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Seafaring_Ship.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Memphis University Press Original artist: Hateshepsut Deir-Bahari temple wall
relief
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medical_instruments.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: self-made, taken May 2005 Original artist: Jeff Dahl
• File:Anubis_attending_the_mummy_of_Sennedjem.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Anubis_
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• File:Applique_in_faience_per_tempietti_in_legno,_XXX_dinastia,_torso_di_re_380-342_ac..JPG Source: https:
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Applique_in_faience_per_tempietti_in_legno%2C_XXX_dinastia%2C_torso_
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• File:Assorted_bronze_castings.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Assorted_bronze_castings.JPG
License: Public domain Contributors: No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims). Original
artist: No machine-readable author provided. Gaius Cornelius assumed (based on copyright claims).
• File:BD_Hunefer.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/BD_Hunefer.jpg License: Public domain Contrib-
utors: Jon Bodsworth (photographer) Original artist: unknown Egyptian artisan
• File:Blank.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Blank.png License: Public domain Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
• File:Bronze_age_weapons_Romania.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Bronze_age_weapons_
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character:nN{\textdollar}{$}file/4.jpg Original artist: Work of Romanian goverment
• File:Bronze_cuirass_2900g_Grenoble_end_of_7th_early_6th_century_BCE.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/a/ac/Bronze_cuirass_2900g_Grenoble_end_of_7th_early_6th_century_BCE.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own
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• File:Bust_of_Roman_Nobleman,_ca._30_B.C.E.–_50_C.E.,_54.51.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
0/09/Bust_of_Roman_Nobleman%2C_ca._30_B.C.E.%E2%80%93_50_C.E.%2C_54.51.jpg License: No restrictions Contributors:
Brooklyn Museum Original artist: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
• File:Cairo,_Gizeh,_Sphinx_and_Pyramid_of_Khufu,_Egypt,_Oct_2004.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
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• File:Camel_and_the_pyramids.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Camel_and_the_pyramids.jpg Li-
cense: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: kallerna
94 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

• File:Caryatid_Mirror,_about_1540-1296_BC,_New_Kingdom,_Dynasty_18,_bronze_perhaps_with_black_copper_inlay_-_
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• File:Casco_Leiro.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Casco_Leiro.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contrib-
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• File:CleopatraVIICoin.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/CleopatraVIICoin.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-
3.0 Contributors: self-made, photographed at the Ancient Orient Museum, Tokyo Original artist: PHGCOM
• File:Cleopatra_VII_tetradrachm_Syria_mint.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Cleopatra_VII_
tetradrachm_Syria_mint.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work by uploader, photographed at the British Museum Origi-
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• File:Cleopatra_and_Caesar_by_Jean-Leon-Gerome.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Cleopatra_
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Cesarion.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright
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Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the file, specifically:“Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).”
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cense: Public domain Contributors: Edited version of Image:EdSmPaPlateVIandVIIPrintsx.jpg Original artist: Jeff Dahl
• File:Egypt-Memphis-Giant-Ramses-II.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/
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• File:Egypt.ColossiMemnon.01.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Egypt.ColossiMemnon.01.jpg Li-
cense: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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SnowFire at English Wikipedia
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Contributors: The original description page was here. All following user names refer to en.wikipedia. Original artist: Andrei nacu at English
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Contributors: Modified from en:Image:Egypt_1450_BC.svg by en:User:Andrei Nacu, modified by uploader Original artist: Original by
en:User:Andrei Nacu, edits by Jeff Dahl
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cense: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: Own work (Guillaume Blanchard) Original artist: ?
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cense: CC BY-SA 1.0 Contributors: Guillaume Blanchard, Juillet 2004, Fujifilm S6900 Original artist: Unknown<a
href='https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https:
//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11'
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Contributors: Own work Original artist: Thursby16
• File:Egyptian_glass_jar.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Egyptian_glass_jar.jpg License: Copy-
righted free use Contributors: http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/louvre_museum/louvre_museum_frame.html Original artist: Jon
Bodsworth
• File:Elam_cool.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Elam_cool.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contribu-
tors: ? Original artist: ?
7.8. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 95

• File:Fayum-22.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Fayum-22.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:

? Original artist: ?
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tributors: Own work Original artist: Abjiklam
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Contributors: Own work Original artist: User:Vzb83
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From the Open Clip Art website. Original artist: Open Clip Art
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Contributors: own code Original artist: (of code) cs:User:-xfi- (talk)
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tributors: http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/IsraelAt50/Pages/The%20Flag%20and%20the%20Emblem.aspx Original artist: “The Pro-
visional Council of State Proclamation of the Flag of the State of Israel” of 25 Tishrei 5709 (28 October 1948) provides the official
specification for the design of the Israeli flag.
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Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Flag_of_Lebanon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Flag_of_Lebanon.svg License: Public do-
main Contributors: ? Original artist: Traced based on the CIA World Factbook with some modification done to the colours based on
information at Vexilla mundi.
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href='//validator.w3.org/check?uri=https%3A%2F%2Fcommons.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%3AFilepath%2FFlag_of_Libya.
svg,<span>,&,</span>,ss=1'>valid</a>.
• File:Flag_of_Palestine.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Flag_of_Palestine.svg License: Public do-
main Contributors: Own work. Based on Law No. 5 for the year 2006 amending some provisions of Law No. 22 for the year 2005 on the
Sanctity of the Palestinian Flag Original artist: Orionist, previous versions by Makaristos, Mysid, etc.
• File:Flag_of_Sudan.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Flag_of_Sudan.svg License: Public domain
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tributors: see below Original artist: see below
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Contributors: Turkish Flag Law (Türk Bayrağı Kanunu), Law nr. 2893 of 22 September 1983. Text (in Turkish) at the website of the
Turkish Historical Society (Türk Tarih Kurumu) Original artist: David Benbennick (original author)
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sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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A9e061.JPG License: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Greek_-_Allegorical_Group_of_Triumphant_Ptolemy_-_Walters_541050_
-_Three_Quarter.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Walters Art Museum: <a href='http://thewalters.org/' data-
x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Nuvola filesystems folder home.svg' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
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srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg/30px-Nuvola_
filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Nuvola_filesystems_
folder_home.svg/40px-Nuvola_filesystems_folder_home.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='128' data-file-height='128' /></a>
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srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x' data-file-
width='620' data-file-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Anonymous (Greece)
• File:Guido_Cagnacci_003.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Guido_Cagnacci_003.jpg License: Pub-
lic domain Contributors: [1] Original artist: Guido Cagnacci
• File:Hatshepsut-SmallSphinx_MetropolitanMuseum.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/
Hatshepsut-SmallSphinx_MetropolitanMuseum.png License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Own Work (photo) Original artist: Keith
Schengili-Roberts
• File:Head_and_Torso_of_a_Noblewoman,_ca._1844-1837_B.C.E._59.1.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/4/44/Head_and_Torso_of_a_Noblewoman%2C_ca._1844-1837_B.C.E._59.1.jpg License: No restrictions Contributors:
Brooklyn Museum Original artist: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
• File:Head_of_a_King,_ca._2650-2600_B.C.E..jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Head_of_a_
King%2C_ca._2650-2600_B.C.E..jpg License: No restrictions Contributors: Brooklyn Museum Original artist: Edwin Wilbour Fund
96 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

• File:Head_of_an_Egyptian_Official,_ca._50_B.C.E..jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Head_of_

an_Egyptian_Official%2C_ca._50_B.C.E..jpg License: No restrictions Contributors: Brooklyn Museum Original artist: Head of an Egyp-
tian Official, ca. 50 B.C.E. Diorite
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utors: Own work Original artist: Thursby16
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Own work Original artist: Bryan Derksen
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Own work Original artist: Bryan Derksen
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BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
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tors: Own work Original artist: Iry-Hor
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Karnak_temple.jpg License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/karnak_html/karnak_12.html
Original artist: Jon Bodsworth
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cense: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Andrea Piroddi
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tle='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
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• File:Ka_Statue_of_horawibra.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Ka_Statue_of_horawibra.jpg Li-
cense: Copyrighted free use Contributors: http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/cairo_museum_24.html Original artist: Jon Bodsworth
• File:Khafre_statue.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Khafre_statue.jpg License: Copyrighted free use
Contributors: http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/cairo_museum_10.html Original artist: Jon Bodsworth
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utors:
• Khufu.JPG Original artist: Khufu.JPG:
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Guardian_Statue.jpg License: PD-US Contributors:
Original publication: ~1323 BC placed in the tomb of King Tutankhamun
Immediate source: Cairo museum
Original artist:
Ancient Egytian sculptor
(Life time: 1341-1323 BC)
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Lawrence_Alma-Tadema-_Anthony_and_Cleopatra.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Lawrence
Alma-Tadema
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_Ptolemaic_Period._The_Petrie_Museum_of_Egyptian_Archaeology,_London.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/
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The outline of history, being a plain history of life and mankind. New York: The Macmillan.
Original artist:
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7.8. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 97

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Sennedjem
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cense: Copyrighted free use Contributors: http://www.egyptarchive.co.uk/html/cairo_museum_22.html Original artist: Jon Bodsworth
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cense: Public domain Contributors: The Exodus Enigma (1985) by Ian Wilson, page 46, London: Wiedenfeld & Nicolson. Original artist:
myself, Kelvin Case
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The coin is Hellenistic Egyptian.
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seum Original artist: Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
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tors: self-made, photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Original artist: PHGCOM
98 CHAPTER 7. NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT

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cense: Public domain Contributors: The website of the European Space Agency (ESA) [1] Original artist: Unknown<a
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7.8. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 99

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