Ancient Egypt was a great and rich civilization. From the pyramids to their temples and tombs, they built monuments and created arts with an everlasting impact that would echo through millenia even to this day. But how exactly did a few tribes, settled around the Nile tens of thousands of years ago, come to achieve such greatness?
Pre-Dynastic Period
Humans began settling around the Nile around 120,000 years ago in what is know as the Middle Pleistocene era. The river Nile has been the lifeline of this region for millennia. Ancient people settling there formed tribes along it around 5500BC and had a strong grip on animal husbandry, farming and pottery. They even developed a basic writing system compromised of symbols. The figure below shows a map of the region and how it was split into two main areas; Upper and Lower Egypt.
Figure 1: Map of Upper and Lower Egypt
As the Nile flows from South to North, the Southern Region is called Upper Egypt and the Northern Region by the Nile Delta is called Lower Egypt. Both sides of Egypt had similar cultures but also some unique beliefs and traditions.
Birth of the Empire
It wasn't until about 3100BC, that Egypt was finally unified into one kingdom. It is believed King Meni (also known as Narmer) who ruled over Upper Egypt finally managed to defeat the Lower Egyptians and form a unified kingdom of Egypt becoming the first pharaoh in history. King Narmer is depicted on the Narmer Palette wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt as a symbol of Egypt's union, shown in the figure below.
Figure 2: Crowns of Upper, Lower and All Ancient Egypt
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Figure 3: Front & Back of Narmer Palette Depicting Egypt's Union
This marked the beginning of the Ancient Egyptian Empire. During The Early Dynastic period the famous Hieroglyphs language was developed, Egyptians started building bigger and fancier tombs, the power and wealth of kings permanently increased. Moreover, the new line of kings "Pharaohs" also founded the city of Memphis near the Nile Delta to increase their hold on all of Egypt and solidify their dynastic legitimacy.
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Next stop: The Old Kingdom
I am huge history & geography geek and I want to bring you some entertainment and hopefully education, through creating content about topics I am very passionate about.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt/
- http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-egypt/
- https://www.ancient.eu/egypt/
- https://www.livescience.com/55578-egyptian-civilization.html/
- Personal Studies & Knowledge
Figure 1, is my own creation based on: link
Figure 2, has been modified based on a creation by: Wikimedia commons (GFDL, CC BY-SA 2.5)
Figure 3, source: Wikimedia commons (PD-old-100)
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Thank you!
Looking forward to seeing more of your articles @elprofessor
Would love to know your thoughts on a documentary widely available called The Pyramid Code - have you seen it?
Happy steeming 😊
Hi! I am not familiar with that documentary but I will watch it and report back 😊
I am glad you enjoy my work!
Be sure to check out my upcoming post in a few hours, will discuss the pyramids!
Great...will look forward to reading more!
Here's a link to the first episode of The Pyramid Code which I hope you find as enlightening as I did...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lq0aDf540M0