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The Egyptian civilization

Ten thousand years ago the Sahara desert began to pass through a wet stage and it became possible to practice agriculture. Newcomers began to settle along the lake shores of the Fayum depression and next to the Delta. They kept cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, cultivated enmer wheat, barley and flax. These farmers brought with them many Asian agricultural innovations. They called their country Kemet or black land after the color of the alluvial soil. It was the Greeks, who named the land Egyptos. As their civilization progressed, farming took over from the hunting and fishing way of life along the Nile. Towns, sometimes fortified, were established. Artworks like the statuette of a dancer, perhaps a fertility symbol, was found masterfully carved by these early residents of the Nile valley. Upper Egypt was unified under a supreme leader. Lower Egypt followed suit and the first dynasty of all Egypt was established under King Narmer of Menes. The potter's wheel was invented new painting techniques appear on pottery. Tombs became more elaborate, extra chambers and wall paintings were added. The second dynasty came to power around 2800 BCE and Memphis became the capital of the united Upper and Lower Egypt. An accurate stellar calendar was produced and Hieroglyphic writings appear on the walls of temples and tombs. Cursive writing was used on the newly invented papyrus. King Djoser of the third dynasty had the first pyramid built by the architect Imhotep. The cult of the sun god Re was flourishing and stimulated the sciences of astronomy and mathematics. The third to the eighth Dynasties ruled between 2686 and 2134. The Egyptian original of the biblical famine story was chiseled into stone during the fifth dynasty. Pharaoh Ysesi ruled, when Knemhotep the helmsman visited the legendary Punt eleven times. Then power shifted to the provinces and Egypt splintered. Even at the beginning of their civilization. unlike in other parts of the world, an Egyptian woman could expect fair and loving treatment from her husband. Ptahotep a sage of the Old Kingdom writes: 'If you are a man of means, able to establish a household, love your wife at home. Fill her belly and clothe her back. Make her happy as long as you live, for she is a rich, producing field for her lord. Don't judge her, but don't let her gain control.' Further wisdom literature exemplified in an other story by Ptahotep advising his son thus: 'If you, find a disputant arguing, one having authority and superior to you, bend down your arms and bow your back; if you disagree with him, he will not side with you. If you desire to preserve friendship in a home into which you enter, whether as lord or as a friend, beware of approaching the woman for no good comes to a place where this is done. Beware of avarice; it is a bad and incurable disease. It alienates fathers and mothers, it drives wife and husband apart. Do not repeat slander. Repeat only matters seen and not what is heard.'

When a mummy was interned the soul had to face a divine tribunal and justify why it should be entitled to eternal life. The jury however could be bribed by religious activities and support for the priestly class during his lifetime. 'I was respectful to my father, pleasant to my mother, I have not killed, states one applicant for eternal life.' But unlike the text appearing in the Bible later, he adds: 'I have given no order to a killer, I have not robbed, I have not caused anyone suffering, I have not falsified the grain measures, I have not taken milk from children.' To succeed in life a young man had to obey rules passing on the wisdom of ancient sages. The text warns against wife beating, talking too loudly and recommend to listen respectfully to the advice of elders. Did the Egyptian boy listen? Not likely... He probably snickered to himself and went out to do all the things he had been warned not to do like drinking too much, chasing girls, playing hooky and hanging around race tracks. He was just as human as we are. The Egyptian is an engaging character spoiling his children, buying silver earrings for his cat, guzzling beer, puttering in his garden. These activities may be out of line with the drab Judeo-Christian religious rituals or with imposing temples, nevertheless they are the stuff of which human life is shaped and means more than stupendous battles, bloody sacrifices, treaties and state marriages. The Old Kingdom came to its end in 2294 BCE when Egypt fell before the attacks of the Amorites. This era took place during the 9th, 10th and 11th dynasties.. Social and political chaos prevailed until the Thebean princes of the eleventh dynasty reunited the country and the Middle Kingdom began. Thebes became the capital of all Egypt. By the time of Senwosret III Egypt gained control of Nubia. Literature reached a height never again attained. The finest jewelry was produced by artisans. Red carnelian, blue lapis lazuli and green turquoise was used profoundly, set in gold, embellished by granulation. 'In Egypt, pure gold is the dust on the high road', travelers reported back to their kings. Four and a half pounds was the weight of golden rosettes and stones cascading from the headdress of the wife of Tuthmose the Third.

The discovery of the Rosetta Stone was followed by the attempt of Jean Akerblad and Thomas Young to brake the code but it was Jean Francois Champollion the French scholar with great passion for languages who succeeded in deciphering the hieroglyphs. He also broke the riddle of the cartouches, letters encircled by an oval, listing the names of rulers. As a result of his work mountains of ancient hereto undeciphered texts were translated. In Egyptian, like in any other Semitic language, the absence of vowels makes translation doubly difficult. It is like trying to understand that THMNNWHT means The man in white. This forces scholars, to arbitrary add vowels. For instance NFR is Egyptian for beautiful and is usually pronounced nefer. Yet in ancient Egypt it may have been pronounced nofor, nifir, nufur or any combination of these. Difficulties aside from the work of generations of Egyptologists came narratives, teachings and poetry which were translated into earlier languages millennia ago. Egyptian sources were used liberally by the compilers of the Jewish Bible in Babylon along with other ancient records collected by successive rulers. The story of the 'Eloquent Peasant' is about Khunanup who sets out with his train of donkeys loaded with goods for the market. When he reaches the valley a low ranking official covets his possessions and arranges to rob him. Khunanup complains to the high steward Rensi in a series of eloquent pleas for justice: 'You are a father to the orphan, a husband to the widow, a brother to her who is divorced, a garment to the motherless; let me make your name in this land in accord with every good law, a leader devoid of rapacity, a magnate devoid of baseness, who destroys falsehood and fosters truth, and who comes to the voice of the caller...' Impressed, the steward relays the complaint to the king who orders the official arrested, all his possessions confiscated and given to the peasant. Sinuhe was a courtier of king Amenemhet of the 12th dynasty. Upon the king's death in 1962 Sinuhe expects turmoil and flees to Palestine. Once there he becomes the aid of a local prince. He marries his daughter, raises a family and prospers. It was a wonderful land called Yaa he writes. Figs and grapes were cultivated, had more wine than water. Its honey was abundant and its olive trees were numerous. I spent many years while my sons became strong men, each leader of his tribe. When Sinuhe helps the prince against an enemy tribe he is challenged to a man to man combat by a giant rival. The story is reminiscent to David and Goliath of the Bible: 'There came a strong man of Retenu to challenge me in my tent. He was a champion without equal and had defeated all of Retenu. He took up his shield, his ax and his armful of javelins. I made his arrows pass by me. I shot him, my arrow struck in his neck. He shouted and fell upon his nose.' Although successful in his new life, Sinuhe longs for home. He does not want to die away from home and buried in a ram's skin, the local custom, instead of proper Egyptian funeral and mummification. He appeals to the new king to allow his return. The king welcomes Sinuhe back. He writes: 'Years were caused to pass from my body. I was shaved and my hair combed out ... I was given fine linen and rubbed with the finest oil. I passed the night on a real bed....' The king orders a tomb constructed for him with a decorated chapel and Sinuhe happily waits for his day of mooring, his death. During the 13th and 14th dynasties, chaos erupted when the country was invaded by the Amu, called Hyksos by authors writing in Greek.

'That I may let you see my beauty in my finest royal linen when it is wet'comments the wife of the nobleman Nakhtmin in this stone carving in the times of the 18th dynasty. Sensuousness ripples across the lady in limestone, her pleated linen gown hugging every curve. A millennium before the age of pyramids, the Egyptians used mirrors and cosmetics. They painted their eyes with green malachite or gray gelena. By the time of the Dynasties, vanity was aided by henna for toe and finger nails, red ocher for the lips and cheeks. Myrrh, lilly oil and other scents to perfume the body. Tweezers and razors were used to remove unwanted hair. Fats of lion, hippo, snake, crocodile, cat and ibex to make hair grow. A lady past her prime had recipes for wrinkles and gray hair. She could resort to aphrodisiacs and select surgery for sagging breasts. Regrettably we know more about the pyramids, the great temples, queen Nefertiti and the treasures of Tutankhamun, than we know about the people or the authors of simple poetry like these two from New Kingdom times:

Seven days and I have not seen my lady love.
A sickness has pierced me.
I have become sluggish, and
I have neglected my own body.
If the best surgeons came to me
My heart will not be comforted with their remedies.
My lady love is more remedial than any potion;
She's better than the whole book of medical lore.
If I see her, then I'll be well.
Distracting is the foliage of my pasture
The mouth of my girl is a lotus bud,
Her breasts are mandrake apples,
Her arms are vines,
Her eyes are like berries,
Her brow a snare of willow,
And I the wild goose !

The world of Egypt belonged to the kings and the gods, their tombs and their temples. But it also belonged to the scribe and the written word. The period between 1550 and 1070 is called the New Kingdom. The founder of the 18th dynasty was Ahmose. He expelled the Hyksos and Egypt was freed, however he didn't stop there. He drove the Hyksos right back to Asia, recovered Syria, Palestine, and extended his kingdom to Asia. He has also conquered the Nubian kingdom of Cush on the Nile river in the Sudan. During this dynasty new trade relations were developed along the Red Sea as far as the kingdom of Sheba (Saba - Yemen) as well as in West Arabia via sea routes and caravans. The first tomb was cut in the cliffs of the Valley of the Kings for Tuthmosis, husband of Queen Aahames, mother of Hatshepsut. Tuthmosis was accompanied to the other world by the Book of the Dead first recorded on papyri.

Queen Hatshepsut was ruling Egypt between 1473 and 1458. Her well documented voyage to the legendary country of Punt on the Indian Ocean (Somalia), is recorded by an inscription in the temple of Dehr el Bahri. After the death of Tuthmose I she was acting as regent for her stepson Tuthmose III but eventually she assumed the double crown of Egypt. Against all opposition, the Egyptians didn't even had a name for a female pharaoh, she reigned ably. Sometimes she is called history's first great woman. A court official named Ineni writes: 'Egypt was made to labor with bowed head for her, the excellent seed of the gods. Bow rope of the South, stern rope for the North; and she the mistress of command, whose plans are excellent.'Hatshepsut sent a fleet south on a trading mission to the land of Punt, also called God's land, somewhere around the shores of Somalia a producer of incense and fragrant ointments which were in great demand for religious purposes and for cosmetics. Five ships traversed the length of the Red Sea and returned to Thebes amid a flurry of excitement: Down the gangplank and through the streets of the great city leading to the royal palace came visitors from Punt, bringing baboons, monkeys, dogs, a leopard, live myrrh trees, myrrh resins, eye cosmetics, leopard skins, throw sticks, ebony, ivory and electrum. Queen Hatshepsut also sent her army to Asia and Nubia, personally taking part in some of the campaigns. Towards the end of her reign, she came to depend more and more on her stepson Tuthmose III. a son of her husband from a lesser ranking wife who seemed to dislike her since later in his reign he not only omitted her name from the list of Egyptian kings but also had her images and titles erased from walls and temples. Eventually Tuthmose III became the greatest warrior king not only for the eighteenth dynasty, but for all times as well.

He led fourteen military campaigns into the Levant, secured the Nile up to the fourth cataract to the south and controlled territories to the Euphrates river in the north. Egypt rose to be a major military power. Ever since Tuthmosis the first, Egypt held loose dominion over many city states ruled by several kings in Syria and Palestine, but without armed presence total supremacy was impossible. These rulers were stirred to revolt by the king of Kadesh and massed their forces at Megiddo. The city commanded the pass through the Carmel ridge on the main road between Egypt and Syria. Spurning the advise of his officers Tuthmose led his troops charging through the narrow pass, where not anticipating such a daring move, the enemy had not even posted a token guard. Next day on the plains, Tuthmose overwhelmed his enemy and eventually took the fortress of Megiddo as well. The entire campaign took 175 days. Tuthmose was only twenty five years old. Following his great victory, year after year at the end of the rainy season, the Egyptian army would appear in Syria and Palestine to receive tribute. During his fifth campaign, Tuthmose plundered a number of Phoenician ships and began to transport his army by water capturing important port cities along the way and conducting forays inland. The eighth campaign marked the pinnacle of Tuthmose's Asiatic wars when he advanced beyond the Euphrates to challenge the king of Mitanni. He transported his ships overland to the Euphrates and ferried his troops across. It must have been an unforgettable sight to watch the Egyptian navy making its way across the desert sand dunes, perching on top of giant floats. Returning from his triumphant victory over Mitanni he had an elephant hunt conducted in the nearby marshes according to his biographer Amunemheb who also tells of a rouse employed in battle by the king of Kadesh. Noting that the Egyptians' chariots were drawn by stallions only the king loosed a mare in heat in their midst. The love struck stallions promptly broke formation and made kindling wood out of their chariots. Amunemheb saved the day by killing the mare. To capture the city of Joppa general Thuti made a fake surrender then smuggled 200 soldiers inside the city hidden under sacks of booty carried by a donkey train. The original of a very popular Arabian campfire story. Amenophis III was the builder of the great temples at Luxor and Karnak. During construction, two obelisks weighing 700 tons each and 100 feet tall were transported up the Nile by cargo boat from the temple of Hatshepsut at Karnak.

Nefertiti and her husband.

Amenophis IV, also called the monotheist pharaoh, was the son of Amunhotep and Queen Tiy. Possibly physically deformed, he was the husband of Nefertiti the most famous beauty of history. He has also practiced monotheism to worship one single all powerful god. As the result of his rejection of the many gods of Egypt, specially his defiance of the powerful priests of Amun, he became a prophet dishonored in his own land. His memory would be reviled, his name rubbed out from temples and monuments by later rulers. One aspect of his ideas survived however and did influence Egyptian culture for centuries, the Arts. Akhenaten started his reign as Amenophis IV and only in the fifth year of his reign did he change his name to Akhenaten, meaning the true spirit of Aten. To present his deity he devised a symbol a disc with rays of light ending in little hands which he called Aten by whose life giving brilliance man lives. The new worship took place in the open. No statues were made of the Aten, it was simply present everywhere shining upon Akhenaten, his wife, his daughters and all the people who came to celebrate its rites. Fluid, curving lines and exaggerated physical features typify early Amarna art carved in the walls of the great temple at Tell el Amarna, located on the east bank of the Nile, midway between Memphis and Themes. There he built his new capital he called Akhetaten, the horizon of the Aten. From Aten City he sought to spread his ideas throughout the empire. The Aten cult probably had little popular appeal. It appeared too early in history and the people must have found it hard to visualize and accept a god without face or personality, without the richness of myth or superstition. They continued doing what they had always done. Offered their prayers to the humble gods, the homely spirits who were involved in practical matters like warding off snakes and scorpions or protect women in childbirth. Unlike other gods the Aten was serenaded by musicians, some foreign artists among them, playing the giant lyre an instrument brought in from the east during this time. Temple service was revolutionized by introducing music, singing and dancing during service. In Akhenaten's time art styles reflect luxury and opulence surpassing anything presented before. Painted on the palace walls we see luxurious gardens, glazed tiles imitate real life brilliance of flowers. Jewel like faience grapes hung as if in an arbor. Amarna is full of detailed observations of life, birds, plants, animals and people. Akhenaten's artistic innovations went far beyond any art form presented before him. Whole walls contain single compositions of palaces and temples. Busy little figures go about their work, carrying on animated conversation, taking naps. How different are the representations of Akhenaten and his family full of tender gestures, human love and warmth. Akhenaten died in the seventeenth year of his reign and the Aten worship soon disintegrated.

The so called Amarna letters belong to this period. Discovered at Tell-el-Amarna in the Nile delta in the palace of Pharaoh Akhenaten, they provide contemporary evidence for the breakup of the Tuthmosis III empire. The Amorite cities of northern Syria instigated by the Hittites were in revolt, followed by the Canaanite cities of the south. The letters are written by the rulers of those towns which remained faithful to Egypt, notably the place called Aelia later renamed Jerusalem, asking for help against the invaders. Smenkhare' ruled next followed by young Tut'ankhamun, best known because of the riches in his tomb. The eighteenth dynasty ended with Haremhab. The nineteenth dynasty began with Ramesses I, an old man by the time of his accession to the throne. He soon passed on the kingdom to his son Sethos I also a military man who immediately marched his army into Palestine and restored Egyptian control. Next he dislodged the Hittites in Phoenicia and regained the lost tributaries. During his eleven year reign Sethos fought brilliantly. Recorded in a stela set up at Beth-shan, in the first year of his reign, we learn about bands attacking from across the Jordan and the attackers' defeat is described. Ramesses II was also a military man and a strong warrior king. He regained much of Egypt's former territories but was unable to retake Syria. Finally the new Hittite king signed a peace treaty with him and Ramesses even married his daughter. This union helped to cement friendly relationship between the two countries. Indeed his son Merneptah helped out the Hittites with grain shipments to relieve a serious famine. Ramesses ruled for 67 years outliving his twelve sons. The thirteenth, Merneptah, an old man at his coronation, had little heart for conquest but he was soon forced to go to war in Egypt's defense. The Meshwesh and the Libu, united for the purpose of settling in the fertile Delta, gathered in hordes including wives, children, personal gods, cattle and other livestock along Egypt's borders. Before the campaign, Merneptah relates a dream in which the god Ptah gives him a sickle sword for victory.

Ramesses III was a great ruler of the Twentieth dynasty . He had to fight the Meshwesh twice in his fifth and eleventh years of rule. In between he had to face the onslaught of the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and the Meshwesh who successfully smashed the Hittite empire. He defeated the People of the Sea and pushed through Palestine up to the lands of the Hittites in Syria. These wars ended in Egyptian victory but the empire was crumbling. Egypt lost control of her sea trade, Palestine was in shambles and faced total collapse as Ramesses grew old and fat in his palace. Inflation was rampant and the immense bureaucracy degenerated not unlike in our own world today. Necropolis (burial grounds) workmen had not been paid for some time and they engaged in history's first sit down strike refusing to bury the dead. Considering the extreme heat in sunny Egypt this retaliation by labor was worse than any modern garbage strike. Even an attempt was made on the king's life. Ramesses III died peacefully though having ruled for thirty two troubled years. His sons quarreled constantly. One Ramesses after the other ruled the country in a century of decline until the year 1100 when Ramesses X died. Ramesses XI was the last great emperor of Egypt. After his death Egypt split in two. The Report of Wennamun gives a picturesque account from Egypt's dying days as an international power when idle workmen turned marauders plagued the countryside. Law and order collapsed. Amenemope ruled from 993 to 984. The thirty chapter book called the Wisdom of Amunemope contains instructions for proper conduct and wisdom: Give your ears and hear what is said, give your mind over to their interpretation. It is to your advantage to keep them in your heart - reads the original text. In Proverbs 22:17 it is resurrected as: Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wisdom, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. Beware of stealing from a miserable man and raging against the cripple warns Amunemope. In the Proverbs 22:22 version it is: Rob not the poor, neither oppress the afflicted. Apply thine heart unto my knowledge. Amunemope's Two Brothers appears in the Bible as the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. Just a coincidence? During the Twenty second dynasty, the Egyptian throne was seized by a Libyan prince who made himself Pharaoh Shoshenq the first. He pillaged Palestine as recorded in reliefs at Karnak. He also fought in Asia and revived relations with Byblos. Shoshenq II is credited with a military campaign against Asir. In his itinerary a place called Judah is mentioned. The name simply means depressed land. The event is described briefly in 1 Kings 14:25 and 2 Chronicles 12:2-9. Not so in the Egyptian records! They list over a hundred cities in great detail which Shoshenq II subdued. The place names recorded are nowhere to be found in Palestine however they can be located with ease in West Arabia on the slopes of Asir by the Red Sea. The dynasty ended with Osorkon V when Tiglath-pileser III extended Assyrian domination from Phoenicia in the east and through the Nile valley in the west. In Niniveh the Assyrians created a treasure house of artifacts dating back to ancient Sumer. The Kingdom of Kush was originally established by the brown and black peoples of Nubia who later ruled Egypt in the Twenty fifth dynasty. In 701 an Egyptian force fought Sennacherib in Palestine on the side of the kings of Judah. King Esarhaddon was defeated at Silo but was successful in 671 and took Memphis.

The twenty sixth dynasty started with Necho I. Necho II. started to build a canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. He sent an expedition to sail around Africa and conducted another Egyptian expedition to West Arabia which took place in the last years of the fifth century. According to 2 Chronicles 35:20, Isaiah 10:9 and Jeremiah 46:2 the battle of Carchemish (krkmys) was fought between Egypt and Babylon however the location was not the Hittite Kargamesa (Jerablus) on the Euphrates river but a place written qrqms located near Taif in the southern Hijaz where two neighboring villages Oarr (qr) and Qamashah (qms) still stand. Apries (589 -570) supported the Palestinian kingdoms against Babylon. During his reign many descendants of the Arameans who were previously deported to Palestine fled to Egypt and settled in the Delta. The first ruler of the Twenty-seventh or Persian dynasty was Cambyses who annexed Egypt into the Persian Empire. Darius introduced the camel and completed the canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. The Persian rulers adopted to the Egyptian culture but Greek victories such as the one at Marathon hastened the end. It came in 404 when the Egyptians led by Amyrtaios revolted and throw off the Persian yoke. In 343 Persians regained brief control of Egypt. Philip II of Macedon added Greece to his empire. His son Alexander the Great became the founder of the Macedonian Empire and the Macedonian dynasty of Egypt. After defeating the Persians at Issus, Alexander conquered Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Bactria. In Egypt, Alexander transferred the capital to Alexandria and established the world famous Alexandria Library housing 400.000 scrolls. Alexander's Indian campaign was followed by his death at Babylon. His heirs were Philip Arrhidaeus, Alexander IV, Ptolemy and Seleucus who became rulers after the Wars of the Diadochi. Under the Ptolemaic dynasty Greek influence pervaded Egyptian art and culture. Ptolemi III introduced the leap year. The Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the Pharaohs into Dynasties. In Alexandria Erastosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference, Euclid formulated geometry and Archimedes made several basic scientific discoveries. During the reign of Epiphenes the Rosetta Stone was cut. In Judea the Maccabean revolt took place and a Jewish state was established for the next 150 years. Egypt wound up under the protection of Rome.

Cleopatra VII was trying to maintain independent status for Egypt by manipulating Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony but failed. Around the turn of the millennium the birth of Jesus is believed to have taken place. The water wheel came into common use in Greece and the Middle East. Architects in Mexico engineered the Pyramid of the Sun. Egypt, a major contributor to the Jewish religion, now became a primary source to Christianity for its legends such as the role of Virgin Mary,Â borrowed from the story of Isis and the infant Horus. Starting with Augustus the Roman emperors maintained direct rule in Egypt and maintained it until 395 when East and West separated under the leadership of Rome and Byzantinum respectively.

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