Nubia
{noo'-bee-uh}
Nubia was a region of ancient northeastern Africa between the Nile's First Cataract, the confluence of the White Nile and Blue Nile (near present Khartoum), the Red Sea, and the Libyan desert. The ancient Egyptians occupied its northern area intermittently from about the 20th century to the 8th century BC and strongly influenced its culture. In the late 8th and early 7th centuries, Nubia, known to the Egyptians as CUSH, with its capital at Napata, ruled Egypt. In 671 the Assyrians invaded Egypt and soon after drove the Cushites back into Nubia. The Egyptians destroyed Napata in 590, but the Cushites established a new capital at MEROE and maintained an independent kingdom until about AD 350. In the 6th century AD, Nubia was Christianized, and it remained so until it was overrun by the Muslim Mamelukes of Egypt in the 14th century.
Obelisk
Obelisk, slender, four-sided, tapering monument, usually a monolith, terminating
in a pointed or pyramidal top. The ancient Egyptians dedicated them to
the sun god and placed them in pairs at the sides of temple portals. A
line of incised hieroglyphs, giving the names and titles of the pharaoh,
commonly ran down each of their sides. Many obelisks were taken from Egypt,
notably those called CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES in New York City (Central Park)
and London (Thames embankment). A familiar American obelisk is the WASHINGTON
MONUMENT.
Osiris
{oh-sy'-ris}
Osiris, god of the dead and the underworld, was one of the most important
deities in ancient Egypt. A fertility god in the Pre-Dynastic Period, he
had by about 2400 BC become also a funerary god and the personification
of dead pharaohs. With his sister-consort ISIS and their son HORUS, he
formed the great triad of Abydos.
The only complete account of the Osiris myth occurs in Plutarch's Of Isis and Osiris, although Egyptian fragments support much of his version. The son of the earth-god Geb and the sky-goddess Nut, Osiris is credited with introducing the skills of agriculture to the Egyptians. He is murdered by his brother SET, but Isis recovers the 14 scattered parts of his dismembered body and restores him to life. Osiris, however, remains in the underworld as king, while his posthumous son Horus becomes the king of the living.
Osiris represented the resurrection into eternal life that Egyptians sought by arranging that after death their bodies would be embalmed and swathed like that of the beneficent god. Osiris is represented mummified in green stone statues, but in pictures the color of his flesh suggests that he was a black god. His body is customarily wrapped in white funeral cloths. In his hands he holds the crook and flail of kings and the scepter of the gods. The Ani Papyrus (c.1250 BC; British Museum) of the BOOK OF THE DEAD shows a green Osiris enthroned, sitting in judgment over the dead, who recite before him their 42 "negative confessions."
OSTRACA
Ostraca is a general term used to describe flakes of stone used as writing or drawing material. It is also extended to cover potsherds used for the same purpose. The Egyptians used ostraca for all sorts of purposes: keeping work records, making sketches of scenes and plans, practising writing, or simply for doodling. From sites such as Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings they exist in their thousands.
A hieratic ostracon bearing a list of names
A Coptic ostracon
The examples from TT99 are somewhat more modest.
Only one pharaonic example has been found, which probably dates to the
18th dynasty and contains a list of names; could they be workers on the
tomb? More examples bear Coptic writing, witnessing the use of the tomb
as a dwelling by Christians.
Perfume
Perfume, aroma produced by essential oils of plants and by synthetic aromatics.
The burning of incense in religious rites of ancient China, Palestine,
and Egypt led gradually to the personal use of perfume, widespread in ancient
Greece and Rome. During the Middle Ages Crusaders brought knowledge of
perfumery to Europe from the East. After 1500 Paris was the major center
of perfume-making. Since the early 19th cent. chemists have produced thousands
of synthetic scents. In the 20th cent. perfumes for men and women, most
a blend of natural and synthetic scents, were produced by prominent fashion
designers ).
Persia
Persia, old name for the Asian country of IRAN, in which the ancient Persian
empire had its core. The early Persians were presumably a nomadic tribe
that filtered through the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau. By the 7th cent.
B.C. they were established in the present region of Fars, which then belonged
to the Assyrian empire. Persian rulers were early associated with the Medes,
who created a strong state in the 7th cent. B.C. CYRUS THE GREAT, the first
of the ACHAEMENIDS, made himself ruler of MEDIA in the mid-6th cent. B.C.
and by rapid conquest established the great Persian empire.
From the beginning the Persians built on the foundations of earlier states, borrowing the political structure of Assyria and the arts of Babylonia and Egypt. The country was beset by dynastic troubles, concerning first the claims of Cambyses and later those of DARIUS I. Darius organized a highly efficient centralized system of administration and extended Persian rule east into modern Afghanistan and NW India and as far north as the Danube.
The Greeks revolted successfully in the PERSIAN WARS, and after the mid-5th cent. B.C. Persia was weakened by dynastic troubles, e.g., the rebellion of CYRUS THE YOUNGER against ARTAXERXES II and the successful revolt of Egypt . Finally, ALEXANDER THE GREAT destroyed the Achaemenid empire. After Alexander's death most of Persia fell to the Seleucids, who, though they introduced a fruitful Hellenistic culture, were unable to maintain control.
PARTHIA , which broke away in the mid-3d cent.
B.C. , became a kind of successor to the old Persian empire and came to
rival Rome. Its decline was followed by the establishment of a new Persian
empire in A.D. c.226 under the Sassanids. This state flourished until A.D.
637, when invading Arabs took the capital, Ctesiphon. Islam replaced ZOROASTRIANISM
, and the caliphate made Persia part of a larger pattern, from which modern
Iran eventually emerged.
Pharaoh
{fair'-oh}
From the New Kingdom onward the title pharaoh, from an Egyptian word meaning "the royal palace," was given to the kings of ancient EGYPT. It was later added to the king's name as part of his title. Egyptian kings were thought to be divine, incarnations of the god HORUS. Pyramids and the tombs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes were built to ensure the survival of the king's influence after his death. Ideas regarding the king's divinity eventually changed, however, and by the New Kingdom a distinction was usually made between the institution of divine kingship and the actual, individual pharaoh.
The exact origins of the graceful, swift, and agile Pharaoh hound are unknown, but it strongly resembles the erect-eared hounds depicted in ancient Egyptian art. The breed was officially recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1984. Pharaoh hounds range from 53 to 64 cm (21 to 25 in) in height and are similar in structure to the IBIZAN HOUND. Their short, glossy coats are chestnut in color; small white markings on the tail tip, chest, toes, and face are permitted.
Phoenician art
Phoenician art., The Phoenician region was a major trade center of the
ancient world, and its art reflects the influences of Egypt, Syria, and
Greece. Phoenician metalcraft and ivory work were copied in many neighboring
regions, and Phoenician works in glass, jewelry, clay, alabaster, faience,
and wood are found in all Mediterranean countries and Asia Minor. A well-known
example of Phoenician art is a glass- and gem-inlaid ivory from Nimrud
showing a lion attacking a man (British Mus.).
Piracy
Piracy, robbery by force of arms on the high seas. The pirate, who usually
attacks ships of all nations, holds no commission, and receives the protection
of no nation, is distinguished from the privateer, whose actions are licensed
by some government. Piracy has existed from the earliest times, and ancient
Egyptian, Greek, Phoenician, and Roman commerce was plagued by it. In more
modern times the Barbary pirates flourished in the Mediterranean, the VIKINGS
harassed the commerce of the Baltic Sea and the English Channel, and the
English buccaneers pillaged the SPANISH MAIN. With the growth of national
navies piracy declined. The last pirate stronghold, along the Straits of
Malacca and the China seas, was wiped out in the late 19th cent., but in
recent years there has been an increase in piracy, particularly in Asian
waters. Famous names in the history of piracy include BLACKBEARD, Sir Francis
DRAKE, Capt. KIDD, and Jean LAFITTE.
Polytheism
Polytheism, belief in a plurality of gods, not necessarily equal in importance,
each of which is distinguished by a special function. The Indian VEDAS,
for example, feature Agni the fire god, Vayu the wind god, and Indra the
storm god. Dynastic Egypt had hundreds of deities, but worship (as in Greek
Olympianism) was city-centered. The gods of polytheistic systems are organized
into a cosmic family, featured in legend and myth and expressing beliefs
about the individual's relationship to the universe. The lesser deities
of polytheism tend to diminish with time until the religion exhibits monotheistic
tendencies. Thus the Olympian sky god ZEUS became the head of all Olympian
deities; the Egyptian RA became the supreme god; and the several thousand
Vedic gods were gradually displaced by the trinity of VISHNU, SHIVA, and
BRAHMA. See MONOTHEISM.
POTTERY
Pottery is far and away the most common type of object found in any excavation of an ancient Egyptian site, whether a town site or a tomb. Petrie, the 'father of Egyptian archaeology', established how important it is as an aid to dating, and that excavators ignore it at their peril. However, too many did ignore it in the past, and it is only in the past 30 years that the study of pottery as a subject in itself has really been established. A fundamental book is Do. Arnold and J. Bourriau (eds), An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Pottery (Mainz 1993), which examines methods of manufacture and the clays used.
A Phoenician amphora A Phoenician amphora
Red-slipped siltware jar Red-slipped siltware jar
An enormous amount of pottery has been found in TT99, shown in the tables which you may already have looked at. Pamela Rose has grouped the material found so far into 'Recent', 'Late Roman', and 'Pharaonic'. The first two of these categories cover the majority of material found, although it has been possible to assemble a number of pharaonic vessels, four of which are illustrated here. More information will be found about the ceramics in the reports on the 1995 and 1996 seasons.
The Phoenician amphorae shown above are to be dated to the period between circa 800 BC and the early 6th century BC (R. Amiran, Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land (Jerusalem 1969), 241-249). The red-slipped siltware jars can also be attributed to the 8th and 7th centuries BC, and perhaps a little later in Nubia ( D.A. Aston, Egyptian Pottery of the Late New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period (Twelfth-Seventh Centuries BC) (Studien zur Archäologie und Geschichte Altägyptens 13, Heidelberg 1996), 76, fig. 221).
Pottery utensils
Pottery, utensils made of clay hardened by heat. It is of three main types:
porous-bodied pottery, stoneware, and porcelain. Raw clay becomes porous
pottery when heated to about 500°C. Unlike sun-dried clay, it retains
a permanent shape and does not disintegrate in water. STONEWARE is made
by raising the temperature, and PORCELAIN is baked at still higher heat.
This makes the clay glassy (vitrified) and adds strength.
Pottery is shaped while the clay is in its pliant form. Either a long rope of clay is coiled (hand-building) or the clay is shaped by the hands as it is spun on a potter's wheel (used in Egypt before 4000 B.C.). After drying to leatherlike hardness, the piece is fired in a KILN. The type of finish, or glaze, determines the number of firings. Early unglazed pottery was colored by firing alone. In most parts of the world pottery was the earliest craft. Prehistoric remains of pottery in Europe and the Americas have great importance in ARCHAEOLOGY.
Notable ancient pottery includes the Greek
vases of 800–300 B.C.; Chinese porcelain of the 6th–10th cent. A.D.; and
the ceramic tiles used in Islamic architecture of the 15th cent. MAJOLICA
and stoneware were the major types of European pottery until the advent
of porcelain in the 18th cent. Pottery made by the prehistoric peoples
of the Americas reveals great artistic and technical skill, and the traditional
designs are still being used today. North American colonists were making
baked-clay bricks and tiles by 1612; by the late 19th cent. many pottery
firms had been established. Today, despite mass production and the proliferation
of utensils made of synthetic materials, the demand for hand-crafted pottery
continues.
Predynastic Egypt
The civilization of ancient Egypt is significant in several ways. Together
with those of Mesopotamia, India, and China, it was one of the earliest
civilizations, and it is perhaps the best example of continuous cultural
evolution based on internal stimuli, rather than the complex mix of internal
and external factors found, for example, in Mesopotamia. Egyptian influence
on other peoples was also significant.
Its HIEROGLYPHIC writing system and other cultural elements were adapted by ancient kingdoms of the Sudan. Syria-Palestine was strongly affected by Egyptian religion and art. And the cults of some Egyptian gods had followers in both Greece and Rome. The two last regions and the Bible are the most important antecedents of the modern western world that owe something to Egypt. The western alphabet is derived from a Phoenician one possibly modeled on Egyptian hieroglyphs; Egyptian ideas are found in some parts of the Bible; and Greek sciences and especially, art were originally influenced by Egypt. Finally, archaeology and historical writing have made Egypt a subject of great public interest, stimulating many books, novels, exhibits, and movies.
The image of Egyptian history moves continually closer to reality as new facts are discovered and new kinds of research-- anthropological and other--supplement more traditional archaeological techniques. Egypt's well preserved pyramids and cemeteries on the dry desert, and sturdy stone-built temples, have been studied by archaeologists since the early 19th century, but river-plain town mounds and all sites in densely settled northern Egypt now receive more attention than previously.
Funerary and temple inscriptions survived well, but they paint an idealized, oversimplified picture of history and society. PAPYRUS exists and ostraca (pottery fragments) are rarer but more realistic. They now are better studied and are supplemented by new types of archaeological analysis .
Environment strongly affected history. In a largely rainless climate, Egypt's high agricultural productivity depended on a long but very narrow floodplain; on average 19.2 km (11.9 mi) wide, it reached a maximum of 248 km (154.1 mi) in the Delta and was formed by the Nile's annual inundation. Periodic, long-term decreases in its volume might create social stress and political and military conflict; increases in volume increased food supplies and favored stability and centralized government.
The deserts to the east and west had valuable stones and minerals and helped protect Egypt from much external attack or infiltration. To the south (northeast Africa) and northwest (Syria-Palestine), however, important kingdoms developed. Egypt traded with and exploited these kingdoms but was also sometimes threatened by them. Beyond Syria-Palestine greater powers--in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran--were alternately Egypt's allies and its rivals in imperial expansion, but none was a direct threat before the 7th century BC.
Achievement, continuity, and innovation characterized
Egyptian civilization. Major achievements included a continuous drive toward
political unity and social stability; the creation of a surplus in food
and materials that supported a superstructure of administrators, soldiers,
priests, and craftsmen; and the invention or adoption of a writing system
(c.3100 BC). Literacy made government more effective, stabilizing and enriching
religious, intellectual, and scientific information.
In turn, these developments promoted the growth of elaborate and often
colossally scaled architecture in brick and stone; and the growth of highly
accomplished art forms (statuary, relief, and painting), which were among
the most distinctive of the ancient world.
Continuity was very strong. Egypt's religion , its concepts of social order, and its system of strong monarchical government remained fundamentally the same for over 3,000 years. Environmental stability helped, as did ethnic and linguistic continuity; unlike other areas of the Near East, Egypt did not periodically have to absorb large new populations with languages and ideas different from those already established. Equally important was a powerful and tenacious worldview shared by all Egyptians--an orderly cosmos, enfolding gods, humans, and nature, had been created in complete and perfect form at the beginning of time; its perfection held off the destructive, chaotic forces that surrounded it.
Adherence to traditional forms of belief, politics, and culture was believed necessary to maintain perfection and prevent the collapse of the universe. Egyptian art and religious architecture (temples and tombs) closely followed established conventions of style and content because their role was to depict this ideal order--and thus be one of several means ritually integrating Egypt with the cosmos. Art for decorative, aesthetic, and propagandistic purposes was also real, but very secondary.
Change and innovation nevertheless occurred, sometimes violently. Egypt's periodic interludes of disunity were politically disorderly and economically painful in part because inherent problems and contradictions (for example, obvious weakness in "perfect" institutions such as kingship) came to the surface and demanded solutions. Less obviously, change also took place in more stable periods. Bureaucracies were periodically reformed or restructured in the interests of both royal power and fairer government. Religious concepts became increasingly rich and complex. Styles in art and architecture changed subtly to meet new needs and tastes, but all successful innovation required adherence to basic, traditional norms.
Predynastic Egypt
Egyptian history is usually divided into periods roughly corresponding to the 30 dynasties of kings listed by Manetho, an Egyptian chronicler of the 3d century BC. The period before c.3100 BC, a time for which no written records exist, is called the Predynastic era.
Well before 5000 BC many communities of Paleolithic hunters and gatherers lived in the Nile valley and across savanna lands stretching far to the east and west. As rainfall decreased, especially after 4000 BC, the western lands became arid deserts and human settlement was confined to the valley and its fringes. However, here exotic fauna such as elephants and giraffes persisted as late as 2300 BC before finally retreating southward.
Annually inundated, and with natural irrigation basins that retained floodwaters, the Nile valley was an ideal setting for Mesolithic economies with incipient agriculture to evolve into Neolithic ones based on sedentary agriculture, with domesticated crops and animals. The process is hard to follow in Egypt because major Predynastic sites, on the floodplain, are inaccessible or destroyed and most data come from peripheral settlements and low-desert cemeteries. In northern Egypt, however, the development of Neolithic life can be traced at Merimdeh and in the Fayum (5000-4000 BC); there and elsewhere in the north the pervasive northern culture emerged, characterized by monochrome pottery using incised and applied decoration.
The earliest Neolithic phases of southern Egypt are not yet identified, but two cultures existed there by c.4000 BC: the Tasian, influenced by the north, and the Badarian, which originated in the eastern desert. The former evolved into phases labelled Nakada I (Amratian) and II (Gerzean), representing a material culture very different from that of the north. In the south, among other differences, pottery is more varied in fabric, often has a black top, and favors painted decoration (white on red and red on light-colored desert clays).
Historically significant patterns can be discerned. Political elites developed, supported by agricultural surplus, partly through control over valuable resources that were beginning to be used in new technologies. Originally, tools and weapons were made of stone and organic materials, but in southern (and slightly later in northern) Egypt copper and precious metals became increasingly important. By Nakada II times, larger, more efficient river ships were built and trade along the Nile was expanding.
These and other factors stimulated the emergence of an elite class whose graves are larger and richer than normal, and ultimately regional political leaders are identifiable by "chieftains's tombs" at several sites. According to later traditions, by late Predynastic times (c. 3300 BC) chiefdoms had coalesced into two competitive kingdoms, northern and southern. Gradually, the characteristic material culture of the south had been spreading, and it replaced the once different one of northern Egypt in Nakada III times.
Throughout the period 5000-3100 BC foreign influences were significant, but direct ones are hard to distinguish from indirect. Domesticated grains and some domesticated animals may have come via Syria and Palestine, perhaps at the time of Merimdehs's earliest phase, which shows influences from these regions in material culture also. Both northern and southern Egypt traded with Syria, Palestine, and northeast Africa throughout Predynastic times. Particularly striking and so far found mainly in southern Egypt (Nakada I and II) are Mesopotamian-style cylinder seals, pottery, and artistic motifs, but these may have come through intermediaries rather than by direct contact.
Predynastic architecture, using wood, matting, and mud brick, is best attested in cemeteries, where pit graves were lined with wood or brick and roofed with matting or stone slabs; eventually, some graves had small, solid superstructures of brick and rubble. Some settlements have been partially excavated; and a possible Predynastic temple was recently found at HIERAKONPOLIS. Art was well developed but small scale. Figurines and statuettes of individual humans or animals, some modeled realistically, were made in mud, pottery, and ivory; slate cosmetic palettes might be in bird or animal form; and painted designs on pottery placed humans, animals, and boats together in sometimes complex designs.
Most of these art forms were from tombs and were magical or religious representations. In later Predynastic times, however, ivory knife handles and ceremonial palettes, perhaps dedicated to temples, bore scenes in relief, possibly including depictions of historical events, as did a wall painting in a chieftains's tomb at Hierakonpolis. Battles, hunts, and ceremonial scenes were favorite motifs. In all areas, conventions typical of historical art were emerging.
Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom
The two kingdoms were apparently unified by King Narmer (later called MENES or Meni, "the founder"); a ceremonial slate palette shows him surveying slaughtered prisoners, striking a northern enemy, and wearing the regalia of both kingdoms. He and his immediate predecessors were buried at ABYDOS, at or near the southern capital; Buto in the northwest Delta had been the northern capital.
Narmer's successors were the pharaohs (kings) of the 1st and 2d dynasties. Some argue that the 1st dynasty kings were buried at Abydos, in pit tombs topped by moundlike superstructures and surrounded by cult buildings, possible prototypes for the later PYRAMID complexes. This theory assigns the pharaoh unique status from the outset. However, MEMPHIS was the new capital of united Egypt, and 1st dynasty tombs at nearby SAQQARA are also claimed as royal. Similar in size and type to other elite tombs (implying that royal status was yet to grow), 2d dynasty royal tombs are less well documented; two were at Abydos, with cult complexes, and the rest were at Saqqara.
Royal power had greatly increased by the 3d dynasty (c. 2686- 2613 BC), when much larger royal tombs, now dominated by step pyramids in stone, were built at Saqqara. The best preserved is Zoser's (Djoser's); the pyramid was 62 m (190 ft) high and surrounded by a complex of buildings, representing both a funerary cult place and eternal palace, the whole protected by a towered stone wall. Even more dramatic were the pyramids of the 4th dynasty at Giza and elsewhere. KHUFU's (Cheops's) Giza pyramid, the largest ever, has a volume of 2.59 million cubic meters (91.46 million cubic feet). Pyramids of the 5th and 6th dynasties at Abusir and Saqqara were smaller but still impressive.
In its totality, the pyramid complex served the dead king but also linked kingship and cosmos together. The complex consisted of temple and imitation palace, with the pyramid a means of ascent; scenes within the complex, however, depicted the king's role in the cosmos as overthrower of chaos, and the pyramid also represented the primeval mound upon which the creation of the universe had taken place. During the 5th dynasty, temples of the sun god Ra (Re), the creator and maintainer of the universe, were built near pyramids, reflecting the unique relationship between sun god and king; the latter was habitually called "son of Ra" from the 6th dynasty on.
The materials, organization, and labor required by the pyramids, and the many estates supporting the cult and personnel of each, clearly reveal the king's firm control over Egypt and its resources. This was achieved through a complex government, consisting of a central bureaucracy, directly under the pharaoh's supervision, and more than 30 provincial bureaucracies reporting to the center. Periodically, kings restructured aspects of the system; royal sons were first used, then excluded to avoid rivalries; high central officials were reduced in power if they threatened royal control, but restrengthened if the lower ranks and provinces became too independent. Throughout the Old Kingdom, revenues were collected, labor and resources exploited, and justice and arbitration provided; literary works extolling the bureaucracy and advising on proper behavior were popular.
Internal strength encouraged expansion and aggression abroad. In the Early Dynastic period, the Egyptians already had extensive trade contracts with Syria, Palestine, and northeast Africa; they pushed into the Sinai and northern Nubia, creating both buffer zones and Egyptian-dominated trade routes. Later, in the 4th and 5th dynasties, Egyptian armies went further, raiding Palestine and southern Nubia; by the 6th dynasty, however, regional kingdoms in these areas were stronger, and Egypt, still campaigning, was on the defensive.
Initially, the royal court with its adjacent cemeteries was the major center of intellectual, artistic, and architectural activity, but as towns began to develop in various parts of Egypt, they too shared in the cultural life of the time. Royal relatives and central officials were buried under MASTABAS, rectangular superstructures of brick or stone. The mastabas contained chapels and other rooms, increasing in number over time and opening up more wall space to be covered with reliefs and paintings. These depicted the funerary cult and also scenes showing the preparation of a multitude of foods, liquids, and objects for the benefit of the deceased.
Such art, appearing realistic, actually followed conventions that were to remain dominant for millennia thereafter. In painting and relief, human and animal figures are always drawn according to a set of fixed proportions, and reality is ignored so as to present the most characteristic aspects. Humans, for example, always have heads, legs, and feet in profile but eye and torso presented frontally. Figures were scaled according to their importance, and perspective was ignored. Landscapes were depicted in schematic form, but architecture was rarely attempted. Subject matter is also highly selective, for an idealized world is shown; aging, disease, injury, and death are omitted, except for inferior beings such as foreigners and animals.
Statuary was intended at all times mainly for temples and tombs, and consisted of representations of gods, kings, and deceased individuals. Complex compositions were avoided, although sometimes two or more figures might be shown side by side. Life-size statues were not uncommon, but most were smaller; colossal royal figures embellished temples. As in painting, set conventions were closely followed in statuary; whether seated or standing, figures are always facing forward, with arms and legs in standardized positions. Technically, the carving was often superb, although many clumsy works were also produced. Materials included hard stones, softer stones such as limestone, and wood; statues were often painted in bright colors. Sculptors depicted the ideal human; true portraiture in any form was hardly every attempted.
First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom
Centralized rule began to break down under the 7th dynasty. In the ensuing First Intermediate period (c.2181-2040 BC), the Memphite monarchs were powerless to prevent provincial warlords from fighting each other over territory; eventually two separate kingdoms emerged, one ruled by the 9th and 10th dynasties from Heracleopolis, the other by the 11th dynasty from THEBES. They tried to dominate each other but were impeded by the semi-independence of provincial rulers, and they also had to be simultaneously aggressive against foreigners to protect their rears, secure trade advantages, and recruit or compel the valuable services of Palestinian and Nubian warriors for the civil wars. Finally, in the 20th century BC, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep of the 11th dynasty conquered the north and rebuilt a centralized monarchy, inaugurating the Middle Kingdom.
The intensity and causes of these disruptive events are uncertain. Later Egyptian writers, appalled by the deviation from accepted norms, exaggerated the revolutionary aspects; they also described an imaginary environmental deterioration, actually a poetic cosmological counterpart to social disorder. More significant were external pressure and internal political instability that long endured; even the 11th dynasty may have been ended by a coup, and the victor, AMENEMHET I was himself later assassinated.
The 12th dynasty, which he founded (1991 BC), worked hard to restore royal prestige, seriously damaged by civil war and periodic famine. Its kings, living near Memphis, reduced provincial power and developed a loyal central elite, using subtly propagandistic literature to encourage recruitment and transform the royal image from insecure war leader to confident, semidivine ruler. The external situation remained dangerous. The northern Nubian and Sinai buffer zones were reoccupied and, for the first time, heavily fortified. Foreign trade and diplomatic contact expanded, but Egyptian activity was more restricted than in the Old Kingdom.
Social change was considerable. People had become more conscious of their individual rights, and royal policy had to both satisfy and temper this. Religion was affected; funerary beliefs and rituals once largely restricted to kings now spread throughout all classes. First Intermediate period Egyptians had felt less dependent on the state, stressing their economic self-sufficiency, and even under the 12th dynasty royal policies encouraged the growth of a middle class, buried in well-furnished tombs and active at cult centers such as Abydos. OSIRIS, formerly a royal funerary god, became accessible to all.
Architectural remains are now more varied. At Kahun, a large town was divided up into zones of better and poorer houses, reflecting socioeconomic differences; superbly designed fortresses were built in Nubia; and the ground plans of several temples have survived. Some kings built cenotaphs (dummy tombs) at Abydos, where many private memorial chapels of unique type have also recently been discovered.
Funerary remains continue to be the best source of artforms. At Thebes a new type of royal tomb developed, culminating in the unique terraced monument of Nebhepetre topped, not by a pyramid, but by a cubical version of the primeval mound. The pharaohs of the 12th dynasty, anxious to be identified with the autocratic Old Kingdom, revised the classic complex pyramid but included unusual subterranean elements evoking the mythical tomb of Osiris. Royal statues were often idealized, but some depicted a care-worn and more realistic figure. The elite continued to be buried in mastabas and rock-cut tombs, decorated first in awkward but striking styles reflecting the breakdown in centralized stylistic norms, but later returning to more sophisticated, traditional modes.
Second Intermediary Period
Decline and invasion marked the Second Intermediate period (1786-1567 BC). High officials became so powerful in the 13th dynasty that they manipulated and fought over the royal succession. Much shorter reigns imply depositions, assassinations, and possible short-term "elections" of kings. As a result, Egypt's military presence in the vital buffer zones weakened and invasions occurred.
The Cushites of Upper Nubia occupied Lower Nubia, while Syro-Palestinians conquered Egypt itself and established the 15th dynasty. These HYKSOS (from the Egyptian for "ruler of a foreign land") exploited Egyptian ideology but remained Syro-Palestinian in culture. Eventually, Theban vassals (17th dynasty) began a war of independence, resisted by an alliance of Hyksos and Cushites.
New Kingdom
Expelling the Hyksos, the Theban insurgents founded the 18th dynasty, inaugurating ancient Egypt's most brilliant period, the New Kingdom (1570-1085 BC). Its rulers included HATSHEPSUT, THUTMOSE III, AKHENATEN, SETI I, and RAMSES II. Under their leadership Egypt became more expansionist than ever before. The early rulers of the 18th dynasty reconquered southern Nubia and Palestine. Thutmose III (c.1504-1450) tried to wrest domination of Syria from Mitanni, a north Mesopotamian power, but failed. Thutmose did set up efficient imperial governance, with viceroys controlling foreign vassals who paid rich tribute and sent their successors to be raised in Egypt. International relations were widespread. Babylonia, Assyria, the Hittites, and the Mycenaeans had strong diplomatic and commercial links with Egypt, as did Punt, an incense-producing region on the Red Sea depicted in vivid detail in Hatshepsut's funerary temple at DEIR EL-BAHRI.
Internally, the pattern of royal succession was deviant for a while. Hatshepsut, regent for her young nephew Thutmose III, declared herself pharaoh and ruled for 22 years. Female pharaohs were very rare, and Thutmose resentfully destroyed her monuments after her death. More significant in general was the transformation of the earlier system of Hyksos vassals into a centralized autocracy. The kings' large armies, generated by foreign wars, cowed internal rivals, and they set up a streamlined bureaucracy, with a chief minister over each half of the country. There was neither council nor parliament, all appointments being made and revoked directly by the kings, who made frequent tours of inspection.
A special feature of this period was the increasingly wealthy priesthoods, on which the king lavished estates, personnel and gifts; they eventually owned one-third of Egypt's arable land. Nevertheless, they could not easily rival the king, for they were appointed directly by him. Moreover, pharaoh had always had a dual nature, human and divine, and the latter was heavily emphasized. Royal dogma taught that each king was possessed by the divine ka, or soul of kingship; he was HORUS, son of Osiris, mythically the last god to rule earth in primeval times, and was identified with Amun-Ra (AMON-RE). This god, combining the Theban deity with the sun god, was tutelary deity of the empire.
The religious reformer Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV, 1379-1362 BC) carried royal absolutism to an extreme. During his reign, all endowments were transferred to a single god, a cosmic pharaoh who manifested himself as the Aten or sun-disk. At Tell el-AMARNA (Akhetaten) in Middle Egypt, Akhenaten built Aten's cult center and a new royal capital. There he, his queen NEFERTITI, and their children were a holy family, with the king appearing as virtually the Aten on earth.
Possibly mentally unstable, Akhenaten was nevertheless a strong and skillful ruler. Government was staffed by loyalists, and Akhenaten was aggressive abroad. Armies campaigned in the Sudan, and Egypt's allies and vassals were supported against the Hittites, who now dominated Syria instead of Mitanni, and were attacking Egyptian-held territory. As the archives of Amarna show, Akhenaten maintained contact with great powers and closely followed rivalries and rebellions among his vassals.
Akhenaten's innovations were ended by his successors, who restored polytheism and returned to Thebes; one, TUTANKHAMEN, had the richest royal tomb ever to survive. Later, a new royal line, the 19th dynasty (1320-1200 BC), destroyed Akhenaten's monuments, but the dynasty maintained the same efficiently centralized government and regained territory lost in Palestine. Seti I and Ramses II fought several campaigns against the Hittites, but ultimately a peace treaty was signed. Palestine and Nubia were secure, but new threats appeared. Ramses's son Merenptah had to fight off a major invasion by hitherto minor enemies, the seminomads of Libya, who were aided by the SEA PEOPLES, warriors of western Anatolia and the Aegean. Internally, the 19th dynasty continued to stress the king's divinity and skillfully divided preeminence and economic benefits between Amun-Ra and the gods PTAH of Memphis and Ra of HELIOPOLIS. It was thus less likely that any priesthood would be unduly powerful.
Social history is now richly documented. The careers of many high officials or royal sons are known; for example, Ramses's son Prince Khaemwase was an early archaeologist, restoring many ancient monuments. Social strata were clearly defined. The highest priests, soldiers, and officials received lavish rewards but were liable to disgrace or removal. Middle-class people, who included many craftsmen, were well off, as can be seen from the prosperous village of Deir el Medinah, housing for 400 years the artisans who cut and decorated the royal tombs. Law, always a major responsibility of pharaonic government, was well developed. It was probably codified, many magistrates were available, and sometimes a god's image, carried in public procession, was called on for legal judgements. Women's legal status was high; they owned and bequeathed property, initiated divorce, and sometimes served as deputies representing a husband who was an official. Land remained the basis of wealth; foreign and internal trade was dominated by the pharaoh and state institutions, but private sales were common and often recorded in writing.
New Kingdom art and architecture were varied and revealing. Gods' temples include the earliest in Egypt to have survived relatively intact; stone-built, they could be colossal in scale. Amun-Ra's Theban temple (KARNAK) came to occupy over 3.2 ha (8 acres). Every temple was designed to integrate Egypt ritually with the cosmos. Exterior scenes of royal victories magically protected the god's image within, while the interior walls of the courtyards and chambers were covered with scenes depicting public festivals and the hidden, inner rituals. These derived cosmological significance from the temple's form; the sanctuary was the primeval mound of creation, the ceilings were painted as skies and supported by columns representing giant vegetation, and the two-towered pylon, or entryway was identified as the notched horizon where the sun god rose and renewed the universe. Royal palaces, although built in brick, deliberately copied temple architecture so as to stress the pharaoh's divine nature; floor frescoes depicted resurgent nature, wall paintings illustrated royal victories and ceremonies, and ceilings were painted as celestial vaults.
Domestic architecture is best known from Amarna and Deir el Medinah. At the former, many upper-class houses , with numerous rooms, service areas, and gardens, have been excavated; at both sites the other end of the scale is represented by small, five-roomed houses, with extensive use made also of the flat roof. Generally, houses were not lavishly decorated with wall paintings or carpets, but the minor arts were very well developed. Tutankhamen's thrones and chairs were well crafted in exotic woods and exquisite jewelry, and containers in stone, metal, and other materials were frequent. Even here, art had a purpose; for example, furniture often incorporated figures of Bes, a demigod warding off evil spirits. Specifically, funerary items, such as coffins and BOOKS OF THE DEAD (collections of magical texts and pictures on papyrus), could also be works of art.
Royal tombs show a radical change. The pyramid was abandoned, to be taken over in a smaller scale by private tombs. Nearly all New Kingdom royal tombs are tunnels cut in the walls of the remote VALLEY OF THE KINGS, their walls covered with a brightly painted underworld full of gods and demons. Royal funerary cult rites were performed in temples separate from the tombs and at the foot of the cliffs fronting the valley.
Amarna art and architecture is unusual in several respects. Akhenaten modified the traditional temple type, stripping it of roofs and lintels so that its interior was completely filled with sunlight and removing the sanctuary as unnecessary. The royal tomb, now badly damaged, was at Amarna, as were the nobility's tombs. The latter minimize offering-cult and traditional daily-life scenes, but emphasize royal ceremonies and depict the city with a fullness and detail unique in Egyptian art. The Amarna style is more fluid and realistic in depicting humans and animals, yet it adheres to many old traditions, such as making important people larger in scale than others and ignoring perspective.
Historically, the 20th dynasty represents deterioration. An early king, RAMSES III (c.1198-66 BC), did repulse major invasions by Libyans and Sea Peoples and build a magnificent funerary temple, but thereafter the empire shrank and ambitious royal building programs failed. Government was impeded by officials' independence, as offices became hereditary and corruption and inefficiency increased. The New Kingdom ended in a civil war under Ramses XI.
Late Dynastic, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods
After 1085 BC, Egypt split between a northern 21st dynasty claiming national recognition and a line of Theban generals and high priests of Amun who actually controlled the south. The 22d dynasty rose from long-settled Libyan mercenaries and used a decentralized system, with kings based in the north and their sons ruling key centers elsewhere. Rivalries and sporadic civil wars resulted, and by the 8th century BC Egypt had divided into 11 autonomous states, their subjects dependent on congested, walled towns for security and exhibiting increased anxiety by adherence to local rather than national gods.
Thus weakened, the country fell to Cushites, whose 25th dynasty brought limited unity and resisted Assyrian expansion into Syria-Palestine. Assyria, provoked, occupied Egypt (617, 667-664 BC), but a 26th dynasty regained independence, only to fall before Persia. The Persians ruled Egypt from 525 to 404 BC, and again from 341 to 333 BC.
Despite these vicissitudes, the country was often prosperous in the Late Dynastic period. Great temples were built but survived poorly, and artisans produced a steady stream of statues, often in bronze. Several much earlier styles and even specific scenes were copied in temple and tomb reliefs, partly to link Egypt ritually with its "perfect" past. There was also a quasi-realistic style, especially in statuary; but in this and reliefs softer, rounded contours later became popular.
In the 4th century BC Egypt was wrested from Persia by Alexander the Great; Alexander's general Ptolemy (PTOLEMY I) established a Macedonian dynasty that ruled the country for over 300 years. Strong centralization and expansion abroad brought prosperity first, but later internal dynastic conflicts encouraged rebellions. Although the Ptolemies supported traditional religion, native Egyptians resented the Greek officials and soldiers. A Roman takeover followed the death of CLEOPATRA VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler, in 30 BC. For about two centuries, conditions were favorable under the Romans; Egypt was protected from invasion, private land ownership grew, and irritating distinctions between Hellenized and traditional Egyptians were broken down.
The details of Hellenistic and Roman social, legal, and economic life are better known in Egypt than anywhere else, because many papyri (written in Greek and demotic, a script developed from hieroglyphs) survived in the dry climate. Traditional life continued everywhere, Greek civilization being confined to Alexandria and a few other towns. Temples continued to be built in traditional form, but art had a hybrid quality. Wall scenes in tombs show a sometimes skillful but often clumsy mix of Egyptian and Hellenistic Greek styles and subjects. Later, emperors' faces in realistic Roman style were grafted incongruously onto traditional statues of the pharaoh, and realistic portraits, painted on wood, were integrated with Egyptian-style mummies and coffins. Sacred bird and animal cults were now especially popular, and many, sometimes striking, images were produced.
Eventually, Roman policies created great problems for Egypt. Government had been by officials salaried by the state via general revenues, but a new "liturgical" system required the middle class to pay administrative costs directly. Peasants, forced to cultivate poorer lands to increase yield and onerously taxed, began to flee the countryside. In the late 3d century AD, Diocletian's reforms met the resulting economic crisis, but administrative disintegration had begun. Egypt, like the rest of the empire, became Christian, but was rebellious and heretical, and eventually was divided up among four ruling families. Distressed and divided, it feel easily before the Arab conquest of 639-642.