Egyptian Civilisation: An Abstract

By – Khushi Srivastava
Roll no. HIS/21/04
It is evident that Egypt shared plenty of similar features with other civilisations. Yet, each
civilisation is unique in its distinctive art, architecture, science and polity. In 1817, a person named
Giovanni Belzoni took off to explore Egypt. He was followed by a group of scientists. Since then,
archaeologists have been toiling to piece together evidences of the great civilisation that we know
of today.
According to archaeological evidences, cattle herding and cereal agriculture had been replaced by
a combination of foraging and cultivation along the Nile Valley by 5000 B.C. Two thousand years
later, small kingdoms and villages got unified under a single ideology. The major sources for
Egyptology are monuments, objects, and artefacts from archaeological sites, and literature. The
basis of chronology of Egypt to which the modern archaeologists refer is the work of Manetho (c.
282 BC).
The important pre-dynastic chiefdoms of Egypt were Naqada, Nekhen and Maadi. The famous
Narmer palette is a stone slab which commemorates King Narmer of Nekhen.
The Dynastic Period started around c.3100 BC. Technology, art and craft, polity, etc. were already
there in the Pre-Dynastic Period and further developments were added. Manetho had listed down
31 dynasties. These have been further grouped into several periods: Archaic (dynasties 1-2); Old
Kingdom (3-6); First Intermediate Period (dynasties 7-11); Middle Kingdom (dynasty 12); Second
Intermediate Period (13-17); New Kingdom ( dynasty 18-20); Third Intermediate Period (dynasties
21-26); Late Period (dynasties 27-31).
Centres of habitation were strung out by desert on one side and river Nile on the other. These
gradually developed into villages having their own deity. These villages collectively formed
provinces called the nomes. Due to the reign of Ethiopians, Assyrians and Persians, and the
ongoing flow of traders, diplomats, servants and craftsperson, the Egyptian population had racial
changes through the course of time. The majority of the public was tied to agriculture. Agricultural
productivity was high as the land was fertile. The king had control over the land as well as the
cultivation. Most cultivated crops were emmer wheat and barley. The form of the family was mostly
nuclear. Marriage was endogamous and consanguineous. Both the husband and wife had equal
rights over the property. And in the case of divorce, the woman had her share of property. The
household had servants and helpers. The upper classes had their own bakeries and
slaughterhouses.
The economic prosperity of ancient Egypt was dependent upon the fertility of the Nile. The land
belonged to the king only in theory. Private ownership was there. Land was owned by temples,
officials and nobles. Tax was collected in kind and through labor. There was an economic
hierarchy to be seen. The craftsperson and artisans stood above the peasants. Egyptians had
their bounty of grains, fish, vegetables, fruits, textiles and papyrus which they traded with other
regions for the resources they lacked. The concept of coinage was not established hence the
Egyptians had the barter system. The Egyptian seals serve as traces of commerce and trade.
The artisans were exceptionally skilled. The temples took charge of artisanal work and had
workshops arranged regularly. According to Rosalie David, the artisans were well equipped with
materials like leather, faience and ivory. Ivory was procured from Hippopotamus as the animal was
in abundance in Egypt as compared to Elephants. The fine statuettes and figurines of Cheops
display the intricate skills. The temples organised workshops for masonry, woodwork, painting,
etc. The painting pigments were extracted from various natural minerals and stones. Few colours
were reserved to be used only for the paintings of Gods and Goddesses. The Egyptians were
skilled craftspeople which is evident from their monuments, particularly the Pyramids of Giza. The
pyramids were the grand tombs of the pharoah. Some of the tallest structures reach a height of
nearly 500 ft. and spread across 13 acres and more. This particular topic demands an extensive
study because of the technology involved in constructing the pyramids.
The administration was presided over by the king known as pharoah. The king was believed to be
the incarnation of God Horus. In words of Brian Fagan, “Power came not so much from land
ownership as from the control of agricultural surpluses and labor, also from draconian forces.” He
further states that people were ruled by word and not by written law. Ma’at (rightness) was a
concept for justice and order. A hereditary bureaucracy effectively administered the state with
most of the official energy focusing on tax collection, supervision of harvests and administration of
irrigation. Egypt maintained an army of 20,000 men.
Trained scribes were an integral part of the government. Being a scribe in ancient Egypt meant a
life of prestige and honor. At the core of this non-money society was writing. Trade brought writing
to the land. It was well established around c.3100 BC. Hieroglyph (Greek term for ‘sacred carving’)
was the form of writing. The script constituted pictures as well as phonetics. They were written on
papyrus as well as carved on clay. The development of writing was efficient in governance, trade
and keeping records.
Upon hearing the word ‘Egypt’, one of the prominent things that click to the mind is mummies or
the process of mummification. It has been the subject of movies for so long. A lot of science goes
into the process than just wrapping the dead body with a cloth. The process dates back to the 3 rd
millennium BC or even earlier. It was somewhat of an extensive and dedicated procedure. After a
person died, the organs were removed and the body was stitched. The embalmers covered the
body with natron, a compound of sodium carbonate and sodium chloride, which dehydrated the
tissues. The body then was washed in the Nile and anointed with unguents to neutralise the smell.
Finally, it was bandaged and placed in a coffin. This process was expensive and thus was limited
to the royalty. Simpler techniques included dehydrating the body with natron and wrapping it with
household linen. The poorer people simply dumped their dead in remote caves.
This displays that the Egyptians had believed in life after death. At burial, the mummy began a
supposed second life. The body is identified with Osiris, ruler of the underworld. It was met by
Anubis, keeper of the kingdom of the dead. The heart of the dead was placed on a weighing scale
with a feather on the other end. It tested whether the dead was fit or not for the journey of the
‘afterlife’.
“Concerning Egypt I shall extend my remarks to a great length, because there is no country that
possesses so many wonders, nor any that has such a number of works that defy description.”-
Herodotus (c. 440 BC) The ancient Egyptian civilisation lasted for more than 5000 years. It covers
a period from c.3100 BC up until the annexation of Egypt by Alexander of Macedon in 332 BC.
Karl Wittfogel has attributed the civilisation’s success to the large-scale irrigation which provided
an impetus to empire-building. Robert J. Wenke and Deborah I. Olszewski in their book ‘Patterns
in Prehistory’ have noted that it is difficult to prise apart the many causes and effects that make up
the Egyptian history.