History of Egypt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRW7h8PeXtk&feature=related
According to legend, Menes, a king of Upper Egypt, united Lower and Upper Egypt about 5000 years agoand established a new capital city at Memphis. In reality, it is more likely that a number of different kings unified the two lands over a 200-year period. The ruler of the two lands wore a new double crown that combined the red crown of Lower Egypt with the white crown of Upper Egypt. He eventually came to be known by the title pharaoh, meaning ‘great house’.
Ancient Egyptians used the word pharaoh to describe their ruler because it was disrespectful to address him by his own name.
The pharaoh was so powerful that he alone decided the law . He was the main landowner in Egypt and he demanded heavy taxes in the form of goods from those wealthy Egyptians whom he allowed to own land.
At different times, people viewed the pharaoh as a god, as their protector and as their leader in battle. They believed he was descended from Re, the sun god, and that the spirit of the god Horus lived within him and made the pharaoh a god too.
His people expected him to make sure that:
- the Nile flooded as required
- there was enough food for people to eat
- the gods looked kindly on the people
- Egypt's army could defend it against any enemies
- truth, or Ma'at, was at the heart of Egyptian life.
Rights, freedoms and the law
The word Ma'at, and the goddess who represented it, stood for justice, truth, order and balance. People believed that the gods had brought order and justice to their world and pharaoh had to make sure that Egypt's laws were guided by Ma'at and expressed the will and goodness of the gods.
People believed that those who did not live according to Ma'at would suffer ill fortune in this life as well as in the afterlife.
Men and women had virtually the same legal status and legal and economic rights. The law gave both men and women an individual legal identity. Both sexes had the right to:
- purchase and sell land
- make contracts
- participate in court cases
- divorce their partners.
Slaves in ancient Egypt had rights that did not exist in any other ancient society. They were people who, due to debt, war or the pharaoh's orders, lost their freedom for a limited period of time and could pay to regain it. Ma'at required that they be well treated and that their children were born ‘free’
Egyptian dynasties
The pharaohs ruled Egypt from 3100 BC to 332 BC. The position of pharaoh was usually passed from father to son and so families of rulers (dynasties) ruled Egypt for many years. A new dynasty started when a new leader emerged and defeated the power of the old leader.
It was rare for a woman to rule Egypt. This occurred only if she was a close relative of the previous pharaoh and the heir was too young to rule in his own right.
Historians often divide Egypt's history on the basis of the 30 dynasties and groups of kings that had ruled there. Another way of dividing ancient Egypt's history is in terms of three kingdoms: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom (periods when particular dynasties had strong control).
Structure of ancient Egyptian society
While the pharaoh was the supreme ruler of Egypt, he could not rule without the support and efforts of other key people. He appointed:
- a vizier to act as chief judge and to take overall charge of all the government's work throughout Egypt
- nomarchs (governors) to take on this responsibility in each of Egypt's main regions, or nomes
- officials to maintain law and
- record the pharaoh's decisions and collect taxes.
Priests and priestesses oversaw religious practices throughout Egypt. The pharaoh or his son took on personal control of the army.
After the pharaoh, the vizier, the senior government officials and the priests, the next most important people in Egypt were the scribes and then artisans and craftspeople. After these came farmers, fishermen and other labourers. Servants and those with slave status were at the bottom of the social pyramid.
Farming work
Most men and many women worked in farming. They produced wheat and barley for making bread and beer or flax to make linen. Farmers also planted beans, cucumbers and leeks and cultivated grape vines from which to make wine, figs and pomegranates. Farmers worked on the pharaoh's land and could also rent or buy land for themselves.
The year's farming work began when the floodwaters receded and workers began to direct excess water into irrigation channels. Farmers used a hoe or light plough to prepare the soil on the fields. Then they spread the seed across the tops of the fields and sent in herds of sheep to press it into the ground.
At harvest time, they used sickles (a tool with a curved blade) to cut the grain and oxen to crush and separate it from the husk. Farmers then used wooden scoops to throw the grain into the air so that it could be separated from the chaff (the grain's outer covering) before being loaded into bags for storage. Tax officials came around once a year to collect up to half of what was grown.
In addition to sheep and oxen, Egyptian farmers also kept cattle, geese and goats. The number and type of animals a farmer owned was an indication of how wealthy the farmer was. Cattle were the most valuable livestock.
The fertile farming land resulting from Egypt's annual flood season meant that the Egyptians could grow enough food for themselves and for trading with others. This also meant that some people could be spared to do work in areas other than farming.
Work in towns
A large town provided employment for a wide range of skilled workers, mainly men. These included:
brewers, builders, coppersmiths, doctors, goldsmiths, jewellers, metalworkers, paper makers, potters, sandal makers, stonemasons, weavers, wig makers and woodworkers. There were also artists, fishermen, incense roasters and priests.
Some of these people worked in the pharaoh's palace workshops or offices or on one of his huge building sites. Others worked outdoors, in local workshops or in their own homes. Women's work in the towns was mainly as stallholders in the marketplace.
Scribes were people trained in the language and writing skills that were essential for recording government decisions, keeping tax records, writing official letters and preparing inscriptions.
Housing
Egyptians mainly built their towns and villages on high ground within or looking down on the farming land of the Nile valley. They used sun-dried mud bricks mixed with straw as the main building materials.
Houses had a number of features to help people cope with Egypt's hot climate. For example:
- They had flat roofs with vents to let in cool breezes from the north.
- In a two-storey house, the kitchen was often on the top floor so that people could take advantage of the cool air coming through the vents and gain some relief from the heat of cooking as well as the climate.
- Roofs often had a terrace on them so people could sleep and eat outdoors when there was a summer breeze.
- Window openings in the house itself were small and set high into the walls to minimise the impact of heat and glare. For this reason, rooms could appear quite dark.
Luxury and comfort were important features of the lives of wealthy people. They lived in large (often two-storey) houses with thick exterior walls covered in white limestone plaster to reflect the heat. The white plastered interior walls, ceilings and columns served as bases for decorative frescoes (paintings on plaster walls or ceilings) and enamelled wall paintings. Outside there would be beautiful gardens and pools surrounded by a high wall to provide privacy. The picture below shows you some of the typical features of a wealthy person's home.
Family life
Family life was important to the ancient Egyptians. Parents arranged their children's marriages. There was no formal marriage ceremony. When the parents had agreed on terms, the couple would live together and ‘start a house’. Girls married from about twelve years of age and boys from about fourteen.
Most men had one wife and it was common for a couple to have eight or more children. Each partner had control over his or her own property
Children
Children worked to help their family survive financially. At about eight years of age, they began to learn a trade or became involved in farm work. The skills children learned helped to support the family's way of life and enabled them to provide for their parents in old age (that is, in their thirties). Only a small minority had the chance to learn to read and write by attending a scribe's school.
Women's experiences of ancient Egypt
People had great respect for the goddesses of Egyptian religion and believed women had many of the same qualities.
Women in ancient Egyptian society had greater independence than women in other ancient societies because they had the legalto own property and to work. A woman was therefore not dependent on her husband for her survival and she had some freedom to enjoy life beyond the home.
Some aspects of women's treatment in ancient Egypt show that society did not see men and women as equals.
The pharaoh's son succeeded him as pharaoh. If there were no sons, the new pharaoh was the husband of one of the Great Royal Wife's
Cleopatra and Hatshepsut were two of the few female pharaohs.
https://drstoney.wikispaces.com/History+Year+8
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