古代エジプト

ギザのピラミッドは、古代エジプトの文明の最も有名なシンボルの1つです。

Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River, situated in the place that is now the country Egypt. Ancient Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3100 BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology)^[1] with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Menes (often identified with Narmer).^[2] The history of ancient Egypt occurred as a series of stable kingdoms, separated by periods of relative instability known as Intermediate Periods: the Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age and the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.

エジプトは新王国でその権力の頂点に達し、ヌビアの大部分と近東のかなりの部分を支配し、その後ゆっくりと衰退の時期に入りました。その歴史の過程で、エジプトは、ヒクソス、リビア人、ヌビア人、アッシリア人、アケメネス朝のペルシャ人、そしてアレキサンダー大王の指揮下にあるマケドニア人を含む多くの外国勢力によって侵略または征服されました。アレキサンダーの死の余波で形成されたギリシャのプトレマイオス王国は、クレオパトラの下で紀元前30年までエジプトを支配していました。 、それはローマ帝国に落ち、属州になりました。^[3]

古代エジプト文明の成功は、農業のためにナイル川の谷の条件に適応する能力から部分的にもたらされました。肥沃な谷の予測可能な洪水と制御された灌漑は余剰作物を生み出し、それはより密集した人口と社会の発展と文化を支えました。資源に余裕を持って、政府は谷と周辺の砂漠地域の鉱物開発、独立した書記体系の早期開発、共同建設と農業プロジェクトの組織化、周辺地域との貿易、そして軍隊を後援しましたエジプトの支配を主張することを目的としています。これらの活動の動機付けと組織化は、ファラオの管理下にあるエリート書記、宗教指導者、および管理者の官僚機構であり、精巧な宗教的信念体系の文脈でエジプト人の協力と団結を確保しました。^[4]

古代エジプト人の多くの業績には、記念碑的なピラミッド、寺院、オベリスクの建設を支援した採石、測量、建設技術が含まれます。数学のシステム、実用的で効果的な医学のシステム、灌漑システムと農業生産技術、最初に知られている板張りのボート、^[5]エジプトの信仰とガラス技術、新しい形式の文学、そして最も初期に知られている平和条約。ヒッタイト。^[6]古代エジプトは永続的な遺産を残しました。その芸術 と建築は広くコピーされ、その古物は世界の隅々まで運ばれました。その記念碑的な遺跡は、何千年もの間、旅行者や作家の想像力を刺激してきました。ヨーロッパ人とエジプト人による近世の古物と発掘に対する新たな敬意は、エジプト文明の科学的調査とその文化遺産のより大きな理解につながりました。^[7]

歴史

ナイル川は、人類の歴史の多くのために、その地域の生命線となっています。^[8]ナイル川の肥沃な氾濫原は、人間に定住した農業経済と、人間の文明の歴史の基礎となったより洗練された中央集権化された社会を発展させる機会を与えました。^[9] 遊牧民の 現代の人間の 狩猟採集民は、約12万年前、更新世中期の終わりまでナイル渓谷に住み始めました。旧石器時代後期までに、北アフリカの乾燥した気候はますます暑く乾燥し、この地域の人口は川の地域に集中することを余儀なくされました。

先王朝時代

先王朝時代と初期王朝時代には、エジプトの気候は今日よりもはるかに乾燥していませんでした。エジプトの広い地域は樹木が茂ったサバンナで覆われ、放牧された有蹄動物の群れが横切っていました。葉と動物相はすべての環境ではるかに多産であり、ナイル地域は水鳥の大集団を支えました。エジプト人にとって狩猟は一般的だったでしょうし、これは多くの動物が最初に家畜化された時期でもあります。^[10]

紀元前5500年頃までに、ナイル渓谷に住む小さな部族は一連の文化に発展し、農業と畜産をしっかりと管理し、陶器や櫛、ブレスレット、ビーズなどの身の回り品で識別できるようになりました。エジプト北部（南部）におけるこれらの初期の文化の最大のものはバダリ文化であり、おそらく西部砂漠に端を発しています。高品質の陶器、石器、銅の使用で知られていました。^[11]

Badariが続いたナカダ文化：Amratian（Naqada I）、Gerzeh（Naqada II）、及びSemainean（Naqada III）。^{[12] [必要なページ]}これらは多くの技術的改善をもたらしました。エジプト原始王時代には早くも、エジプト先王朝時代にエチオピアから黒曜石が輸入され、フレークから刃やその他の物体を形作るために使用されていました。^[13]ナカダII時代には、近東、特にカナンとビブロス海岸との接触の初期の証拠が存在します。^[14]ナカダ文化は約1、000年の間に、いくつかの小さな農村から強力な文明へと発展し、その指導者たちはナイル渓谷の人々と資源を完全に支配していました。^[15]ネケン（ギリシャ語、ヒエラコンポリス）にパワーセンターを設立し、後にアビドスに、ナカダIIIの指導者たちはナイル川に沿ってエジプトの支配を北に拡大した。^[16]彼らはまた、南はヌビア、西は西部砂漠のオアシス、東は地中海東岸と近東の文化と交易し、エジプトとメソポタミアの関係。^{[17] [いつ？ ]}

The Naqada culture manufactured a diverse selection of material goods, reflective of the increasing power and wealth of the elite, as well as societal personal-use items, which included combs, small statuary, painted pottery, high quality decorative stone vases, cosmetic palettes, and jewelry made of gold, lapis, and ivory. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines.^[18] During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a full system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language.^[19]

Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150–2686 BC)

初期王朝時代には、早期におよそ現代的だったシュメール-アッカド語の文明メソポタミアや古代のエラム。第三世紀の BCエジプトの司祭マネトはから王の長蛇の列グループ化されたメネスを30の王朝、今日でも使用されたシステムの中に、自分の時間に。彼は、上エジプトと下エジプトの2つの王国を統一したと信じられていた「メニ」（またはギリシャ語でメネス）という名前の王から公式の歴史を始めました。^[20]

統一国家への移行は、古代エジプトの作家が表現したよりもゆっくりと起こり、メネスの現代的な記録はありません。しかし、現在、一部の学者は、神話上のメネスが、象徴的な統一行為において、儀式用のナルメルパレットに王室のレガリアを身に着けて描かれているナルメル王であった可能性があると信じています。^[22]紀元前3000年頃に始まった初期王朝時代、最初の王朝時代の王はメンフィスに首都を設立することで下エジプトの支配を固め、そこから肥沃なデルタ地域の労働力と農業を支配することができました。だけでなく、儲かる重要な貿易ルート レバント。王朝時代初期の王の力と富の増加は、アビドスの精巧なマスタバの墓と葬式のカルト構造に反映されていました。これらは、神聖な王の死後を祝うために使用されました。^[23]王によって開発された強力な王権制度は、古代エジプト文明の存続と成長に不可欠な土地、労働力、および資源に対する国家の管理を正当化するのに役立った。^[24]

古王国（紀元前2686年から2181年）

Major advances in architecture, art, and technology were made during the Old Kingdom, fueled by the increased agricultural productivity and resulting population, made possible by a well-developed central administration.^[25] Some of ancient Egypt's crowning achievements, the Giza pyramids and Great Sphinx, were constructed during the Old Kingdom. Under the direction of the vizier, state officials collected taxes, coordinated irrigation projects to improve crop yield, drafted peasants to work on construction projects, and established a justice system to maintain peace and order.^[26]

エジプトの中央行政の重要性が増すにつれ、彼らの奉仕の代償として国王から領地を与えられた新しいクラスの教育を受けた書記官と役人が生まれました。王はまた、彼らの死すべきカルトと地元の寺院に土地を与え、これらの機関が王の死後、王を崇拝するための資源を確保するようにしました。学者たちは、これらの慣行の5世紀がエジプトの経済的活力を徐々に侵食し、経済はもはや大規模な中央政府を支援する余裕がないと信じています。^[27]王の権力が衰えるにつれて、州執政官と呼ばれる地方知事が王の職の覇権に異議を唱え始めた。これは、紀元前2200年から2150年の間の深刻な干ばつと相まって^[28]。  is believed to have caused the country to enter the 140-year period of famine and strife known as the First Intermediate Period.^[29]

First Intermediate Period (2181–2055 BC)

エジプトの中央政府が旧王国の終わりに崩壊した後、政府はもはや国の経済を支援または安定させることができませんでした。地域の知事は危機の時に助けを国王に頼ることができず、その後の食糧不足と政治紛争は飢饉と小規模な内戦にエスカレートしました。しかし、困難な問題にもかかわらず、地元の指導者たちは、国王に敬意を表することなく、新たに発見された独立を利用して、地方で繁栄する文化を確立しました。自分たちの資源を管理できるようになると、州は経済的に豊かになりました。これは、すべての社会階級の間でより大きく、より良い埋葬によって実証されました。^[30]創造性の爆発で、地方の職人は以前は古王国の王族に制限されていた文化的モチーフを採用して適応させ、書記はその時代の楽観主義と独創性を表現する文学的スタイルを開発しました。^[31]

王への忠誠心から解放されて、地元の支配者たちは領土支配と政治権力をめぐって互いに競争し始めました。 紀元前2160年までに、ヘラクレオポリスの統治者が北のエジプト南部を支配し、テーベに本拠を置くライバルの一族であるインテフ家が南のエジプト上部を支配しました。インテフが権力を拡大し、北方への支配を拡大するにつれて、2つのライバル王朝の間の衝突は避けられなくなりました。紀元前2055 年頃、ネベペトレメンチュヘテプ2世の下の北テバン軍がついにヘラクレオポリスの支配者を打ち負かし、2つの土地を再統合しました。彼らは、中王国として知られる経済的および文化的ルネッサンスの時代を開始しました。^[32]

中王国（紀元前2134年から1690年）

中王国の王たちは国の安定と繁栄を回復し、それによって芸術、文学、そして記念碑的な建築プロジェクトの復活を刺激しました。^[33]メントゥホテップ・イイーと彼の十一王朝の後継者はテーベから支配したが、宰相I Amenemhatは、の先頭に王位を想定した時に十二王朝1985年の周りの BCの街に王国の首都を移しItjtawyに位置して、ファイユーム。^[34]イチタウィから、第12王朝の王たちは先見の明のある埋め立てを行った。地域の農業生産量を増やすための灌漑計画。さらに、軍は採石場と金鉱が豊富なヌビアの領土を再征服し、労働者は外国の攻撃から身を守るために「支配者の壁」と呼ばれる防御構造を東デルタに建設しました。^[35]

国王が軍事的および政治的に国を確保し、農業と鉱物の莫大な富を自由に使えるようになると、国の人口、芸術、および宗教が繁栄しました。神々に対するエリート主義の古王国の態度とは対照的に、中王国は個人的な信心深さの表現の増加を示しました。^[36]中王国文学は、自信を持って雄弁なスタイルで書かれた洗練されたテーマとキャラクターを特徴としていました。^[31]当時のレリーフと肖像画の彫刻は、技術的な洗練の新たな高みに達した微妙で個々の詳細を捉えました。^[37]

中王国の最後の偉大な統治者であるアメンエムハト3世は、セム語を話すカナン人の近東からデルタ地域への入植者に、彼の特に活発な採掘と建設のキャンペーンに十分な労働力を提供することを許可しました。しかし、これらの野心的な建築と採掘活動は、彼の治世の後半の深刻なナイルの洪水と相まって、経済に負担をかけ、第13王朝と第14王朝の後半の第2中間期にゆっくりと衰退しました。この衰退の間に、カナン人の入植者はデルタ地域のより大きな支配を引き受け始め、最終的にはヒクソスとしてエジプトで権力を握るようになりました。^[38]

第2中間期（紀元前1674年から1549年）とヒクソス

紀元前1785 年頃、中王国王の権力が弱まると、すでにデルタに定住していたヒクソスと呼ばれる西アジアの人々がエジプトの支配権を握り、アヴァリスに首都を設立し、旧中央政府にテーベへの撤退を余儀なくさせました。。王は家臣として扱われ、敬意を表することを期待されていました。^[39]ヒクソス（「外国の支配者」）は、エジプトの政府モデルを保持し、王として識別され、それによってエジプトの要素を彼らの文化に統合した。彼らと他の侵略者は、エジプトに新しい戦争の道具、特に複合弓と馬車を導入しました。^[40]

南に後退した後、ネイティブのテバン王は、北を支配するカナン人のヒクソスと南のヒクソスのヌビア人同盟国であるクシテスの間に閉じ込められていることに気づきました。何年にもわたる家臣の後、テーベは 紀元前1555年まで30年以上続いた紛争でヒクソスに挑戦するのに十分な力を集めました。^[39]セケンエンラー・タオ2世とカモセ王は最終的にエジプト南部のヌビア人を打ち負かすことができたが、ヒクソスを打ち負かすことはできなかった。そのタスクはカーメスの後継者、に落ちたイアフメス1世, who successfully waged a series of campaigns that permanently eradicated the Hyksos' presence in Egypt. He established a new dynasty and, in the New Kingdom that followed, the military became a central priority for the kings, who sought to expand Egypt's borders and attempted to gain mastery of the Near East.^[41]

New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC)

新王国時代のファラオは、国境を確保し、ミタンニ帝国、アッシリア、カナンなどの近隣諸国との外交関係を強化することで、前例のない繁栄の時代を築きました。トトメス1世と彼の孫トトメス3世の下で行われた軍事作戦は、ファラオの影響力をエジプトがこれまでに見た中で最大の帝国にまで拡大しました。メルエンプタハから始まって、エジプトの支配者たちはファラオの称号を採用しました。

Between their reigns, Hatshepsut, a queen who established herself as pharaoh, launched many building projects, including restoration of temples damaged by the Hyksos, and sent trading expeditions to Punt and the Sinai.^[42] When Tuthmosis III died in 1425 BC, Egypt had an empire extending from Niya in north west Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia, cementing loyalties and opening access to critical imports such as bronze and wood.^[43]

The New Kingdom pharaohs began a large-scale building campaign to promote the god Amun, whose growing cult was based in Karnak. They also constructed monuments to glorify their own achievements, both real and imagined. The Karnak temple is the largest Egyptian temple ever built.^[44]

紀元前1350 年頃、アメンホテプ4世が王位に就き、一連の急進的で混沌とした改革を開始したとき、新王国の安定が脅かされました。彼の名前をアケナテンに変えて、彼は以前は不明瞭だった太陽神 アテンを最高の神として宣伝し、他のほとんどの神の崇拝を抑制し、首都を新しい都市アケタテン（現代のアマルナ）に移しました。^[45]彼は彼の新しい宗教と芸術的なスタイルに専念していた。彼の死後、アテンのカルトはすぐに放棄され、伝統的な修道会が復活しました。その後のファラオ、ツタンカーメン、アイ、ホルエムヘブは、現在アマルナ時代として知られているアケナテンの異端についてのすべての言及を消すために働きました。^[46]

紀元前1279 年頃、ラムセス2世は、ラムセス2世としても知られ、王位に就き、さらに多くの寺院を建て、より多くの彫像やオベリスクを建て、歴史上他のどのファラオよりも多くの子供を産みました。^[a]大胆な軍事指導者であるラムセス2世は、カデシュの戦い（現代シリア）でヒッタイトに対して軍隊を率い、停滞した後、紀元前1258年頃に最初に記録された平和条約に最終的に合意しました。^[47] 

しかし、エジプトの富は、特に西のリビアの ベルベル人と、エーゲ海からの船員の推測された連合である海の民による侵略の魅力的な標的になりました。^[b]当初、軍はこれらの侵略を撃退することができたが、エジプトは最終的にカナン南部の残りの領土の支配を失い、その多くはアッシリア人に転落した。外部の脅威の影響は、汚職、盗掘、市民の不安などの内部の問題によって悪化しました。彼らの力を取り戻した後、アメン神殿の大祭司テーベでは広大な土地と富が蓄積され、その拡大した力が第3中間期に国を分裂させました。^[48]

第3中間期（紀元前1069年から653年）

紀元前1078年にラムセス11世が亡くなった後 、スメンデスはタニス市から統治し、エジプト北部の権威を引き継ぎました。南部は、スメンデスを名前だけで認めたテーベのアメン大司祭によって効果的に支配されていました。^[49]この間、リビア人は西部のデルタに定住しており、これらの入植者の首長は彼らの自治権を増やし始めた。リビアの王子たちは、945年にシェションク1世の下でデルタを支配しました BC, founding the so-called Libyan or Bubastite dynasty that would rule for some 200 years. Shoshenq also gained control of southern Egypt by placing his family members in important priestly positions. Libyan control began to erode as a rival dynasty in the delta arose in Leontopolis, and Kushites threatened from the south.

紀元前727 年頃、クシテ王ピイが北方に侵入し、テーベ、そして最終的には第25王朝を樹立したデルタの支配権を掌握しました。^[51]第25王朝の間に、ファラオタハルカは新王国時代とほぼ同じ大きさの帝国を創設した。 25王朝のファラオは、メンフィス、カルナック、カワ、ジェベルバルカルを含むナイル渓谷全体に寺院や記念碑を建てたり、復元したりしました。^[52]この期間中、ナイル渓谷は中王国以来最初の広範囲にわたるピラミッド（現代のスーダンの多く）の建設を見た。^{[53] [54] [55]}

エジプトの広範囲にわたる名声は、第3中間期の終わりに向かって大幅に低下しました。その外国の同盟国はアッシリアの勢力圏に陥り、 紀元前700年までに2つの州間の戦争は避けられなくなった。 紀元前671年から667年の間に、アッシリア人はアッシリアによるエジプトの征服を始めました。タハルカと彼の後継者であるタヌトアメンの治世は、エジプトがいくつかの勝利を収めたアッシリア人との絶え間ない対立に満ちていました。最終的に、アッシリア人はクシテスをヌビアに押し戻し、メンフィスを占領し、テーベの寺院を略奪しました。^[57]

後期（紀元前653年から332年）

アッシリア人はエジプトの支配を、第26王朝のサイテ王として知られるようになった一連の家臣に任せました。 紀元前653年までに、サイテ王プサムテク1世は、エジプト初の海軍を形成するために採用されたギリシャの傭兵の助けを借りて、アッシリア人を追放することができました。ナウクラティスの都市国家がナイルデルタのギリシャ人の故郷になるにつれて、ギリシャの影響力は大幅に拡大しました。サイスの新しい首都に拠点を置くサイスの王たちは、経済と文化の短いが活発な復活を目撃しましたが、紀元前525年に、カンビュセス2世が率いる強力なペルシア人が 、エジプトの征服を開始し、最終的にはペルシウムの戦いでファラオのプサメティコス3世を捕らえました。その後、カンビュセス2世はファラオの正式な称号を引き継ぎましたが、イランからエジプトを統治し、エジプトをサトラップの支配下に置きました。ペルシア人に対するいくつかの成功した反乱は紀元前5世紀をマークしましたが、エジプトはペルシア人を永久に倒すことはできませんでした。^[58] 

Following its annexation by Persia, Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. This first period of Persian rule over Egypt, also known as the Twenty-Seventh Dynasty, ended in 402 BC, when Egypt regained independence under a series of native dynasties. The last of these dynasties, the Thirtieth, proved to be the last native royal house of ancient Egypt, ending with the kingship of Nectanebo II. A brief restoration of Persian rule, sometimes known as the Thirty-First Dynasty, began in 343 BC, but shortly after, in 332 紀元前、ペルシャの支配者マザスは戦いなしでエジプトをアレキサンダー大王に引き渡した。^[59]

プトレマイオス朝（紀元前332〜30年）

紀元前332 年、アレキサンダー大王はペルシア人からの抵抗をほとんど受けずにエジプトを征服し、エジプト人に配達人として歓迎されました。アレキサンダーの後継者によって確立された管理、マケドニア プトレマイオス王国は、エジプトのモデルに基づいて、新たなに基づいていた首都のアレクサンドリア。この都市は、ヘレニズムの支配の力と威信を示し、有名なアレクサンドリア図書館を中心とした学習と文化の拠点となりました。^[60]アレクサンドリアの灯台プトレマイオス朝が商取引やパピルス製造などの収益を生み出す企業を最優先事項にしたため、街を貿易が流れ続ける多くの船の道を照らしました。^[61]

Hellenistic culture did not supplant native Egyptian culture, as the Ptolemies supported time-honored traditions in an effort to secure the loyalty of the populace. They built new temples in Egyptian style, supported traditional cults, and portrayed themselves as pharaohs. Some traditions merged, as Greek and Egyptian gods were syncretized into composite deities, such as Serapis, and classical Greek forms of sculpture influenced traditional Egyptian motifs. Despite their efforts to appease the Egyptians, the Ptolemies were challenged by native rebellion, bitter family rivalries, and the powerful mob of Alexandria that formed after the death of Ptolemy IV.^[62] In addition, as Rome relied more heavily on imports of grain from Egypt, the Romans took great interest in the political situation in the country. Continued Egyptian revolts, ambitious politicians, and powerful opponents from the Near East made this situation unstable, leading Rome to send forces to secure the country as a province of its empire.^[63]

Roman period (30 BC – AD 641)

エジプトはの州になったローマ帝国30で の敗北以下、BCマルクス・アントニウスとプトレマイオス朝の女王クレオパトラVIIにより、オクタヴィアン（後の皇帝でアウグストゥス）アクティウムの海戦。ローマ人はエジプトからの穀物の輸送に大きく依存し、ローマ軍は皇帝によって任命された知事の管理下で、反乱を鎮圧し、重い税金の徴収を厳しく強制し、当時悪名高い問題となった盗賊による攻撃を防ぎました期間。^[64]ローマではエキゾチックな贅沢品の需要が高まっていたため、アレクサンドリアは東洋との交易路においてますます重要な中心地になりました。^[65]

ローマ人はギリシャ人よりもエジプト人に対して敵対的な態度を示しましたが、ミイラ化や伝統的な神々の崇拝などのいくつかの伝統は続いていました。^[66]ミイラの肖像画の芸術は繁栄し、一部のローマ皇帝は、プトレマイオス朝ほどではなかったものの、ファラオとして描かれていました。前者はエジプト国外に住んでいて、エジプトの王権の儀式的な機能を果たしていませんでした。地方行政はローマ様式になり、ネイティブのエジプト人に閉鎖されました。^[66]

西暦1世紀半ばから、キリスト教はエジプトに根付き、もともとは受け入れられる別のカルトと見なされていました。しかし、エジプトの宗教とギリシャ・ローマの宗教からの改宗者を獲得しようとし、人気のある宗教的伝統を脅かしたのは妥協のない宗教でした。これはキリスト教への改宗者の迫害につながり、303年に始まったディオクレティアヌスの大粛清で最高潮に達しましたが、最終的にはキリスト教が勝利しました。^[67] 391年、キリスト教皇帝テオドシウスは異教の儀式を禁止し、寺院を閉鎖する法律を導入した。^[68]アレクサンドリアは、公的および私的な宗教的イメージが破壊された大規模な反異教の暴動の場面になりました。^[69]結果として、エジプトの先住民の宗教文化は絶えず衰退していた。先住民は彼らの言語を話し続けましたが、象形文字の文章を読む能力は、エジプトの神殿の僧侶や巫女の役割が減少するにつれて徐々に消えていきました。寺院自体が教会に改築されたり、砂漠に捨てられたりすることもありました。^[70]

In the fourth century, as the Roman Empire divided, Egypt found itself in the Eastern Empire with its capital at Constantinople. In the waning years of the Empire, Egypt fell to the Sasanian Persian army in the Sasanian conquest of Egypt (618–628). It was then recaptured by the Roman Emperor Heraclius (629–639), and was finally captured by Muslim Rashidun army in 639–641, ending Roman rule.

Government and economy

Administration and commerce

ファラオは、国の絶対君主だったと、少なくとも理論的には、土地とその資源の完全な制御を振るいました。王は最高の軍事司令官であり、政府の長であり、彼は彼の業務を管理するために役人の官僚機構に依存していました。行政の担当では、コマンドの彼の第二だった、宰相王の代表者と協調土地調査、財務省、構築プロジェクト、法制度、および務め、アーカイブ。^[71]地域レベルでは、国は州執政官によって統治されるノモスと呼ばれる42もの行政区域に分割された。、彼の管轄権の宰相に責任があった。寺院は、経済のバックボーンを形成しました。彼らは礼拝所であっただけでなく、穀物や商品を再配布した監督者が管理する穀倉や宝庫のシステムに王国の富を集めて保管する責任もありました。^[72]

Much of the economy was centrally organized and strictly controlled. Although the ancient Egyptians did not use coinage until the Late period,^[73] they did use a type of money-barter system,^[74] with standard sacks of grain and the deben, a weight of roughly 91 grams (3 oz) of copper or silver, forming a common denominator.^[75] Workers were paid in grain; a simple laborer might earn 51⁄2 sacks (200 kg or 400 lb) of grain per month, while a foreman might earn 71⁄2 袋（250kgまたは550ポンド）。価格は全国で固定され、取引を容易にするためにリストに記録されました。たとえば、シャツの価格は5銅デベン、牛の価格は140 デベンです。^[75]固定価格表によると、穀物は他の商品と交換される可能性があります。^[75] 紀元前5世紀の間に、造られたお金は海外からエジプトに導入されました。当初、コインは真のお金ではなく標準化された貴金属として使用されていましたが、その後数世紀で国際的なトレーダーはコインに依存するようになりました。^[76]

社会的地位

エジプト社会は高度に階層化されており、社会的地位が明確に示されていました。農民は人口の大部分を占めていましたが、農産物は土地を所有していた州、寺院、または高貴な家族によって直接所有されていました。^[77]農民も労働税の対象となり、コルベシステムで灌漑または建設プロジェクトに取り組む必要がありました。^[78] Artists and craftsmen were of higher status than farmers, but they were also under state control, working in the shops attached to the temples and paid directly from the state treasury. Scribes and officials formed the upper class in ancient Egypt, known as the "white kilt class" in reference to the bleached linen garments that served as a mark of their rank.^[79] The upper class prominently displayed their social status in art and literature. Below the nobility were the priests, physicians, and engineers with specialized training in their field. It is unclear whether slavery as understood today existed in ancient Egypt, there is difference of opinions among authors.^[80]

古代エジプト人は、基本的に法律の下で等しくなるように、すべての社会階級の人々を含む、男性と女性を、閲覧、さらにはlowliest農民を請願する権利た宰相救済と彼の裁判所を。^[81]奴隷は主に年季奉公として使用されたが、奴隷制を売買し、自由または貴族への道を歩み、通常は職場の医師によって治療された。^[82] Both men and women had the right to own and sell property, make contracts, marry and divorce, receive inheritance, and pursue legal disputes in court. Married couples could own property jointly and protect themselves from divorce by agreeing to marriage contracts, which stipulated the financial obligations of the husband to his wife and children should the marriage end. Compared with their counterparts in ancient Greece, Rome, and even more modern places around the world, ancient Egyptian women had a greater range of personal choices, legal rights, and opportunities for achievement. Women such as Hatshepsut and Cleopatra VII even became pharaohs, while others wielded power as Divine Wives of Amun. Despite these freedoms, ancient Egyptian women王室の高僧を除いて、行政の公式の役割に参加することはあまりなく、明らかに寺院で二次的な役割しか果たしておらず（多くの王朝のデータはあまりありません）、男性ほど教育を受けていない可能性がありました。^[81]

法制度

法制度の長は公式にはファラオであり、彼は法律を制定し、正義を提供し、法と秩序を維持する責任がありました。これは古代エジプト人がマアトと呼んだ概念です。^[71]古代エジプトの法典は存続していないが、裁判所の文書によると、エジプトの法律は、複雑な一連の法令を厳密に遵守するのではなく、合意に達し、紛争を解決することを強調する常識的な善悪の見方に基づいていた。^[81]新王国ではケンベットとして知られる地方の長老評議会は、少額裁判所および軽微な紛争を含む訴訟の判決に責任を負っていた。^[71]殺人、大規模な土地取引、および盗掘を含むより深刻な事件は、大宰相またはファラオが主宰した盗掘に言及されました。原告と被告は彼ら自身を代表することが期待され、彼らが真実を語ったという宣誓を誓うことを要求された。場合によっては、州は検察官と裁判官の両方の役割を引き受け、自白と共謀者の名前を得るために殴打で被告人を拷問する可能性があります。告発が些細なものであろうと深刻なものであろうと、裁判所の筆記者は、将来の参考のために、事件の苦情、証言、および評決を文書化しました。^[83]

Punishment for minor crimes involved either imposition of fines, beatings, facial mutilation, or exile, depending on the severity of the offense. Serious crimes such as murder and tomb robbery were punished by execution, carried out by decapitation, drowning, or impaling the criminal on a stake. Punishment could also be extended to the criminal's family.^[71] Beginning in the New Kingdom, oracles played a major role in the legal system, dispensing justice in both civil and criminal cases. The procedure was to ask the god a "yes" or "no" question concerning the right or wrong of an issue. The god, carried by a number of priests, rendered judgement by choosing one or the other, moving forward or backward, or pointing to one of the answers written on a piece of papyrus or an ostracon.^[84]

Agriculture

有利な地理的特徴の組み合わせは、古代エジプト文化の成功に貢献しました。その中で最も重要なのは、ナイル川の毎年の氾濫から生じる豊かな肥沃な土壌でした。したがって、古代エジプト人は豊富な食料を生産することができ、人口は文化的、技術的、芸術的追求により多くの時間と資源を費やすことができました。税金は人が所有する土地の量に基づいて査定されたため、古代エジプトでは土地管理が非常に重要でした。^[85]

エジプトの農業はナイル川の循環に依存していました。エジプト人は、アケト（洪水）、ペレト（植栽）、シェムウ（収穫）の3つの季節を認識しました。洪水の季節は6月から9月まで続き、川の土手に作物の栽培に理想的なミネラル豊富なシルトの層が堆積しました。洪水が後退した後、成長期は10月から2月まで続きました。農民は、溝や運河で灌漑された畑に種を耕し、植えました。エジプトはほとんど降雨がなかったので、農民はナイル川に頼って作物に水をやりました。^[86]月から月に、農家は使用鎌を、次にた作物、収穫する脱穀Aとしわらを穀物から分離するためにフレイル。ふるい分けは除去籾殻を穀物から、粒は、その後、小麦粉に粉砕ビールを作るために醸造、または後の使用のために保存しました。^[87]

古代エジプト人は、エンマーコムギと大麦、および他のいくつかの穀物を栽培しました。これらはすべて、パンとビールの2つの主要な主食を作るために使用されました。^[88] 開花を始める前に根こそぎにされた亜麻の植物は、茎の繊維のために育てられました。これらの繊維はその長さに沿って分割され、糸に紡がれ、それは亜麻布のシートを織り、衣服を作るために使用されました。パピルスナイル川のほとりで育つことは紙を作るために使われました。野菜や果物は、居住地に近く、高台にある庭の区画で栽培され、手で水をやらなければなりませんでした。野菜には、ワインにしたブドウに加えて、ネギ、ニンニク、メロン、カボチャ、豆類、レタス、その他の作物が含まれていました。^[89]

動物

エジプト人は、人と動物のバランスの取れた関係が宇宙秩序の本質的な要素であると信じていました。したがって、人間、動物、植物は単一の全体のメンバーであると信じられていました。^[90]したがって、飼いならされた動物と野生の動物の両方が、古代エジプト人にとって精神性、交際、および栄養の重要な源でした。牛は最も重要な家畜でした。政府は定期的な国勢調査で家畜に対する税金を徴収し、群れの大きさは家畜を所有していた土地や寺院の威信と重要性を反映していました。古代エジプト人は牛に加えて、羊、山羊、豚を飼っていました。家禽アヒル、ガチョウ、ハトなどは網に捕らえられ、農場で飼育され、そこで生地を強制的に与えられて肥育されました。^[91]ナイル川は豊富な魚の供給源を提供した。ミツバチも少なくとも古王国から飼いならされ、蜂蜜とワックスの両方を提供しました。^[92]

The ancient Egyptians used donkeys and oxen as beasts of burden, and they were responsible for plowing the fields and trampling seed into the soil. The slaughter of a fattened ox was also a central part of an offering ritual. Horses were introduced by the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period. Camels, although known from the New Kingdom, were not used as beasts of burden until the Late Period. There is also evidence to suggest that elephants were briefly utilized in the Late Period but largely abandoned due to lack of grazing land.^[91] Catsより多くのエキゾチックなペットなど、アフリカの中心部から輸入している間、犬、サルは、一般的な家族のペットであったが、サハラ以南のアフリカ ライオン、^[93]ロイヤリティのために予約されていました。ヘロドトスは、彼らの家に彼らの動物を飼っているのはエジプト人だけであると観察しました。^[90]後期には、猫の女神バステトやイビスの神トートなど、動物の形での神々の崇拝が非常に人気があり、これらの動物は儀式の犠牲のために大量に飼われていました。^[94]

天然資源

Egypt is rich in building and decorative stone, copper and lead ores, gold, and semiprecious stones. These natural resources allowed the ancient Egyptians to build monuments, sculpt statues, make tools, and fashion jewelry.^[95] Embalmers used salts from the Wadi Natrun for mummification, which also provided the gypsum needed to make plaster.^[96] Ore-bearing rock formations were found in distant, inhospitable wadis in the Eastern Desert and the Sinai, requiring large, state-controlled expeditions to obtain natural resources found there. There were extensive gold mines in Nubia, and one of the first maps known is of a gold mine in this region. The Wadi Hammamat was a notable source of granite, greywacke, and gold. Flint was the first mineral collected and used to make tools, and flint handaxes are the earliest pieces of evidence of habitation in the Nile valley. Nodules of the mineral were carefully flaked to make blades and arrowheads of moderate hardness and durability even after copper was adopted for this purpose.^[97] Ancient Egyptians were among the first to use minerals such as sulfur as cosmetic substances.^[98]

The Egyptians worked deposits of the lead ore galena at Gebel Rosas to make net sinkers, plumb bobs, and small figurines. Copper was the most important metal for toolmaking in ancient Egypt and was smelted in furnaces from malachite ore mined in the Sinai.^[99] Workers collected gold by washing the nuggets out of sediment in alluvial deposits, or by the more labor-intensive process of grinding and washing gold-bearing quartzite. Iron deposits found in upper Egypt were utilized in the Late Period.^[100] High-quality building stones were abundant in Egypt; the ancient Egyptians quarried limestone all along the Nile valley, granite from Aswan, and basalt and sandstone from the wadis of the Eastern Desert. Deposits of decorative stones such as porphyry, greywacke, alabaster, and carnelian dotted the Eastern Desert and were collected even before the First Dynasty. In the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, miners worked deposits of emeralds in Wadi Sikait and amethyst in Wadi el-Hudi.^[101]

Trade

The ancient Egyptians engaged in trade with their foreign neighbors to obtain rare, exotic goods not found in Egypt. In the Predynastic Period, they established trade with Nubia to obtain gold and incense. They also established trade with Palestine, as evidenced by Palestinian-style oil jugs found in the burials of the First Dynasty pharaohs.^[102] An Egyptian colony stationed in southern Canaan dates to slightly before the First Dynasty.^[103] Narmer had Egyptian pottery produced in Canaan and exported back to Egypt.^[104][105]

By the Second Dynasty at latest, ancient Egyptian trade with Byblos yielded a critical source of quality timber not found in Egypt. By the Fifth Dynasty, trade with Punt provided gold, aromatic resins, ebony, ivory, and wild animals such as monkeys and baboons.^[106] Egypt relied on trade with Anatolia for essential quantities of tin as well as supplementary supplies of copper, both metals being necessary for the manufacture of bronze. The ancient Egyptians prized the blue stone lapis lazuli, which had to be imported from far-away Afghanistan. Egypt's Mediterranean trade partners also included Greece and Crete, which provided, among other goods, supplies of olive oil.^[107]

Language

Historical development

r n kmt 'Egyptian language'
Egyptian hieroglyphs

The Egyptian language is a northern Afro-Asiatic language closely related to the Berber and Semitic languages.^[108] It has the second longest known history of any language (after Sumerian), having been written from c. 3200 BC to the Middle Ages and remaining as a spoken language for longer. The phases of ancient Egyptian are Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian (Classical Egyptian), Late Egyptian, Demotic and Coptic.^[109] Egyptian writings do not show dialect differences before Coptic, but it was probably spoken in regional dialects around Memphis and later Thebes.^[110]

Ancient Egyptian was a synthetic language, but it became more analytic later on. Late Egyptian developed prefixal definite and indefinite articles, which replaced the older inflectional suffixes. There was a change from the older verb–subject–object word order to subject–verb–object.^[111] The Egyptian hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic scripts were eventually replaced by the more phonetic Coptic alphabet. Coptic is still used in the liturgy of the Egyptian Orthodox Church, and traces of it are found in modern Egyptian Arabic.^[112]

Sounds and grammar

Ancient Egyptian has 25 consonants similar to those of other Afro-Asiatic languages. These include pharyngeal and emphatic consonants, voiced and voiceless stops, voiceless fricatives and voiced and voiceless affricates. It has three long and three short vowels, which expanded in Late Egyptian to about nine.^[113] The basic word in Egyptian, similar to Semitic and Berber, is a triliteral or biliteral root of consonants and semiconsonants. Suffixes are added to form words. The verb conjugation corresponds to the person. For example, the triconsonantal skeleton S-Ḏ-M is the semantic core of the word 'hear'; its basic conjugation is sḏm, 'he hears'. If the subject is a noun, suffixes are not added to the verb:^[114] sḏm ḥmt, 'the woman hears'.

Adjectives are derived from nouns through a process that Egyptologists call nisbation because of its similarity with Arabic.^[115] The word order is predicate–subject in verbal and adjectival sentences, and subject–predicate in nominal and adverbial sentences.^[116] The subject can be moved to the beginning of sentences if it is long and is followed by a resumptive pronoun.^[117] Verbs and nouns are negated by the particle n, but nn is used for adverbial and adjectival sentences. Stress falls on the ultimate or penultimate syllable, which can be open (CV) or closed (CVC).^[118]

Writing

Hieroglyphic writing dates from c. 3000 BC, and is composed of hundreds of symbols. A hieroglyph can represent a word, a sound, or a silent determinative; and the same symbol can serve different purposes in different contexts. Hieroglyphs were a formal script, used on stone monuments and in tombs, that could be as detailed as individual works of art. In day-to-day writing, scribes used a cursive form of writing, called hieratic, which was quicker and easier. While formal hieroglyphs may be read in rows or columns in either direction (though typically written from right to left), hieratic was always written from right to left, usually in horizontal rows. A new form of writing, Demotic, became the prevalent writing style, and it is this form of writing—along with formal hieroglyphs—that accompany the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone.^[120]

Around the first century AD, the Coptic alphabet started to be used alongside the Demotic script. Coptic is a modified Greek alphabet with the addition of some Demotic signs.^[121] Although formal hieroglyphs were used in a ceremonial role until the fourth century, towards the end only a small handful of priests could still read them. As the traditional religious establishments were disbanded, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was mostly lost. Attempts to decipher them date to the Byzantine^[122] and Islamic periods in Egypt,^[123] but only in the 1820s, after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and years of research by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion, were hieroglyphs substantially deciphered.^[124]

Literature

Writing first appeared in association with kingship on labels and tags for items found in royal tombs. It was primarily an occupation of the scribes, who worked out of the Per Ankh institution or the House of Life. The latter comprised offices, libraries (called House of Books), laboratories and observatories.^[125] Some of the best-known pieces of ancient Egyptian literature, such as the Pyramid and Coffin Texts, were written in Classical Egyptian, which continued to be the language of writing until about 1300 BC. Late Egyptian was spoken from the New Kingdom onward and is represented in Ramesside administrative documents, love poetry and tales, as well as in Demotic and Coptic texts. During this period, the tradition of writing had evolved into the tomb autobiography, such as those of Harkhuf and Weni. The genre known as Sebayt ("instructions") was developed to communicate teachings and guidance from famous nobles; the Ipuwer papyrus, a poem of lamentations describing natural disasters and social upheaval, is a famous example.

The Story of Sinuhe, written in Middle Egyptian, might be the classic of Egyptian literature.^[126] Also written at this time was the Westcar Papyrus, a set of stories told to Khufu by his sons relating the marvels performed by priests.^[127] The Instruction of Amenemope is considered a masterpiece of Near Eastern literature.^[128] Towards the end of the New Kingdom, the vernacular language was more often employed to write popular pieces like the Story of Wenamun and the Instruction of Any. The former tells the story of a noble who is robbed on his way to buy cedar from Lebanon and of his struggle to return to Egypt. From about 700 BC, narrative stories and instructions, such as the popular Instructions of Onchsheshonqy, as well as personal and business documents were written in the demotic script and phase of Egyptian. Many stories written in demotic during the Greco-Roman period were set in previous historical eras, when Egypt was an independent nation ruled by great pharaohs such as Ramesses II.^[129]

Culture

Daily life

Most ancient Egyptians were farmers tied to the land. Their dwellings were restricted to immediate family members, and were constructed of mudbrick designed to remain cool in the heat of the day. Each home had a kitchen with an open roof, which contained a grindstone for milling grain and a small oven for baking the bread.^[130] Ceramics served as household wares for the storage, preparation, transport, and consumption of food, drink, and raw materials. Walls were painted white and could be covered with dyed linen wall hangings. Floors were covered with reed mats, while wooden stools, beds raised from the floor and individual tables comprised the furniture.^[131]

The ancient Egyptians placed a great value on hygiene and appearance. Most bathed in the Nile and used a pasty soap made from animal fat and chalk. Men shaved their entire bodies for cleanliness; perfumes and aromatic ointments covered bad odors and soothed skin.^[132] Clothing was made from simple linen sheets that were bleached white, and both men and women of the upper classes wore wigs, jewelry, and cosmetics. Children went without clothing until maturity, at about age 12, and at this age males were circumcised and had their heads shaved. Mothers were responsible for taking care of the children, while the father provided the family's income.^[133]

Music and dance were popular entertainments for those who could afford them. Early instruments included flutes and harps, while instruments similar to trumpets, oboes, and pipes developed later and became popular. In the New Kingdom, the Egyptians played on bells, cymbals, tambourines, drums, and imported lutes and lyres from Asia.^[134] The sistrum was a rattle-like musical instrument that was especially important in religious ceremonies.

The ancient Egyptians enjoyed a variety of leisure activities, including games and music. Senet, a board game where pieces moved according to random chance, was particularly popular from the earliest times; another similar game was mehen, which had a circular gaming board. “Hounds and Jackals” also known as 58 holes is another example of board games played in ancient Egypt. The first complete set of this game was discovered from a Theban tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat IV that dates to the 13th Dynasty.^[136] Juggling and ball games were popular with children, and wrestling is also documented in a tomb at Beni Hasan.^[137] The wealthy members of ancient Egyptian society enjoyed hunting, fishing, and boating as well.

The excavation of the workers' village of Deir el-Medina has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented accounts of community life in the ancient world, which spans almost four hundred years. There is no comparable site in which the organization, social interactions, and working and living conditions of a community have been studied in such detail.^[138]

Cuisine

Egyptian cuisine remained remarkably stable over time; indeed, the cuisine of modern Egypt retains some striking similarities to the cuisine of the ancients. The staple diet consisted of bread and beer, supplemented with vegetables such as onions and garlic, and fruit such as dates and figs. Wine and meat were enjoyed by all on feast days while the upper classes indulged on a more regular basis. Fish, meat, and fowl could be salted or dried, and could be cooked in stews or roasted on a grill.^[139]

Architecture

The architecture of ancient Egypt includes some of the most famous structures in the world: the Great Pyramids of Giza and the temples at Thebes. Building projects were organized and funded by the state for religious and commemorative purposes, but also to reinforce the wide-ranging power of the pharaoh. The ancient Egyptians were skilled builders; using only simple but effective tools and sighting instruments, architects could build large stone structures with great accuracy and precision that is still envied today.^[140]

The domestic dwellings of elite and ordinary Egyptians alike were constructed from perishable materials such as mudbricks and wood, and have not survived. Peasants lived in simple homes, while the palaces of the elite and the pharaoh were more elaborate structures. A few surviving New Kingdom palaces, such as those in Malkata and Amarna, show richly decorated walls and floors with scenes of people, birds, water pools, deities and geometric designs.^[141] Important structures such as temples and tombs that were intended to last forever were constructed of stone instead of mudbricks. The architectural elements used in the world's first large-scale stone building, Djoser's mortuary complex, include post and lintel supports in the papyrus and lotus motif.

The earliest preserved ancient Egyptian temples, such as those at Giza, consist of single, enclosed halls with roof slabs supported by columns. In the New Kingdom, architects added the pylon, the open courtyard, and the enclosed hypostyle hall to the front of the temple's sanctuary, a style that was standard until the Greco-Roman period.^[142] The earliest and most popular tomb architecture in the Old Kingdom was the mastaba, a flat-roofed rectangular structure of mudbrick or stone built over an underground burial chamber. The step pyramid of Djoser is a series of stone mastabas stacked on top of each other. Pyramids were built during the Old and Middle Kingdoms, but most later rulers abandoned them in favor of less conspicuous rock-cut tombs.^[143] The use of the pyramid form continued in private tomb chapels of the New Kingdom and in the royal pyramids of Nubia.^[144]

• Model of a household porch and garden, c. 1981–1975 BC

• The Temple of Dendur, completed by 10 BC, made of aeolian sandstone, temple proper: height: 6.4 m, width: 6.4 m; length: 12.5 m, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

• The well preserved Temple of Isis from Philae is an example of Egyptian architecture and architectural sculpture

• Illustration of various types of capitals, drawn by the Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius

Art

The ancient Egyptians produced art to serve functional purposes. For over 3500 years, artists adhered to artistic forms and iconography that were developed during the Old Kingdom, following a strict set of principles that resisted foreign influence and internal change.^[145] These artistic standards—simple lines, shapes, and flat areas of color combined with the characteristic flat projection of figures with no indication of spatial depth—created a sense of order and balance within a composition. Images and text were intimately interwoven on tomb and temple walls, coffins, stelae, and even statues. The Narmer Palette, for example, displays figures that can also be read as hieroglyphs.^[146] Because of the rigid rules that governed its highly stylized and symbolic appearance, ancient Egyptian art served its political and religious purposes with precision and clarity.^[147]

Ancient Egyptian artisans used stone as a medium for carving statues and fine reliefs, but used wood as a cheap and easily carved substitute. Paints were obtained from minerals such as iron ores (red and yellow ochres), copper ores (blue and green), soot or charcoal (black), and limestone (white). Paints could be mixed with gum arabic as a binder and pressed into cakes, which could be moistened with water when needed.^[148]

Pharaohs used reliefs to record victories in battle, royal decrees, and religious scenes. Common citizens had access to pieces of funerary art, such as shabti statues and books of the dead, which they believed would protect them in the afterlife.^[149] During the Middle Kingdom, wooden or clay models depicting scenes from everyday life became popular additions to the tomb. In an attempt to duplicate the activities of the living in the afterlife, these models show laborers, houses, boats, and even military formations that are scale representations of the ideal ancient Egyptian afterlife.^[150]

Despite the homogeneity of ancient Egyptian art, the styles of particular times and places sometimes reflected changing cultural or political attitudes. After the invasion of the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period, Minoan-style frescoes were found in Avaris.^[151] The most striking example of a politically driven change in artistic forms comes from the Amarna Period, where figures were radically altered to conform to Akhenaten's revolutionary religious ideas.^[152] This style, known as Amarna art, was quickly abandoned after Akhenaten's death and replaced by the traditional forms.^[153]

• Egyptian tomb models as funerary goods. Egyptian Museum in Cairo

• Kneeling portrait statue of Amenemhat holding a stele with an inscription; c. 1500 BC; limestone; Egyptian Museum of Berlin (Germany)

• Fresco which depicts Nebamun hunting birds; 1350 BC; paint on plaster; 98 × 83 cm; British Museum (London)

• Portrait head of pharaoh Hatshepsut or Thutmose III; 1480–1425 BC; most probably granite; height: 16.5 cm; Egyptian Museum of Berlin

• Falcon box with wrapped contents; 332–30 BC; painted and gilded wood, linen, resin and feathers; 58.5 × 24.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Religious beliefs

Beliefs in the divine and in the afterlife were ingrained in ancient Egyptian civilization from its inception; pharaonic rule was based on the divine right of kings. The Egyptian pantheon was populated by gods who had supernatural powers and were called on for help or protection. However, the gods were not always viewed as benevolent, and Egyptians believed they had to be appeased with offerings and prayers. The structure of this pantheon changed continually as new deities were promoted in the hierarchy, but priests made no effort to organize the diverse and sometimes conflicting myths and stories into a coherent system.^[154] These various conceptions of divinity were not considered contradictory but rather layers in the multiple facets of reality.^[155]

Gods were worshiped in cult temples administered by priests acting on the king's behalf. At the center of the temple was the cult statue in a shrine. Temples were not places of public worship or congregation, and only on select feast days and celebrations was a shrine carrying the statue of the god brought out for public worship. Normally, the god's domain was sealed off from the outside world and was only accessible to temple officials. Common citizens could worship private statues in their homes, and amulets offered protection against the forces of chaos.^[156] After the New Kingdom, the pharaoh's role as a spiritual intermediary was de-emphasized as religious customs shifted to direct worship of the gods. As a result, priests developed a system of oracles to communicate the will of the gods directly to the people.^[157]

The Egyptians believed that every human being was composed of physical and spiritual parts or aspects. In addition to the body, each person had a šwt (shadow), a ba (personality or soul), a ka (life-force), and a name.^[158] The heart, rather than the brain, was considered the seat of thoughts and emotions. After death, the spiritual aspects were released from the body and could move at will, but they required the physical remains (or a substitute, such as a statue) as a permanent home. The ultimate goal of the deceased was to rejoin his ka and ba and become one of the "blessed dead", living on as an akh, or "effective one". For this to happen, the deceased had to be judged worthy in a trial, in which the heart was weighed against a "feather of truth." If deemed worthy, the deceased could continue their existence on earth in spiritual form.^[159] If they were not deemed worthy, their heart was eaten by Ammit the Devourer and they were erased from the Universe.

Burial customs

The ancient Egyptians maintained an elaborate set of burial customs that they believed were necessary to ensure immortality after death. These customs involved preserving the body by mummification, performing burial ceremonies, and interring with the body goods the deceased would use in the afterlife.^[149] Before the Old Kingdom, bodies buried in desert pits were naturally preserved by desiccation. The arid, desert conditions were a boon throughout the history of ancient Egypt for burials of the poor, who could not afford the elaborate burial preparations available to the elite. Wealthier Egyptians began to bury their dead in stone tombs and use artificial mummification, which involved removing the internal organs, wrapping the body in linen, and burying it in a rectangular stone sarcophagus or wooden coffin. Beginning in the Fourth Dynasty, some parts were preserved separately in canopic jars.^[160]

By the New Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians had perfected the art of mummification; the best technique took 70 days and involved removing the internal organs, removing the brain through the nose, and desiccating the body in a mixture of salts called natron. The body was then wrapped in linen with protective amulets inserted between layers and placed in a decorated anthropoid coffin. Mummies of the Late Period were also placed in painted cartonnage mummy cases. Actual preservation practices declined during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, while greater emphasis was placed on the outer appearance of the mummy, which was decorated.^[161]

Wealthy Egyptians were buried with larger quantities of luxury items, but all burials, regardless of social status, included goods for the deceased. Funerary texts were often included in the grave, and, beginning in the New Kingdom, so were shabti statues that were believed to perform manual labor for them in the afterlife.^[162] Rituals in which the deceased was magically re-animated accompanied burials. After burial, living relatives were expected to occasionally bring food to the tomb and recite prayers on behalf of the deceased.^[163]

Military

The ancient Egyptian military was responsible for defending Egypt against foreign invasion, and for maintaining Egypt's domination in the ancient Near East. The military protected mining expeditions to the Sinai during the Old Kingdom and fought civil wars during the First and Second Intermediate Periods. The military was responsible for maintaining fortifications along important trade routes, such as those found at the city of Buhen on the way to Nubia. Forts also were constructed to serve as military bases, such as the fortress at Sile, which was a base of operations for expeditions to the Levant. In the New Kingdom, a series of pharaohs used the standing Egyptian army to attack and conquer Kush and parts of the Levant.^[164]

Typical military equipment included bows and arrows, spears, and round-topped shields made by stretching animal skin over a wooden frame. In the New Kingdom, the military began using chariots that had earlier been introduced by the Hyksos invaders. Weapons and armor continued to improve after the adoption of bronze: shields were now made from solid wood with a bronze buckle, spears were tipped with a bronze point, and the khopesh was adopted from Asiatic soldiers.^[165] The pharaoh was usually depicted in art and literature riding at the head of the army; it has been suggested that at least a few pharaohs, such as Seqenenre Tao II and his sons, did do so.^[166] However, it has also been argued that "kings of this period did not personally act as frontline war leaders, fighting alongside their troops."^[167] Soldiers were recruited from the general population, but during, and especially after, the New Kingdom, mercenaries from Nubia, Kush, and Libya were hired to fight for Egypt.^[168]

Technology, medicine, and mathematics

Technology

In technology, medicine, and mathematics, ancient Egypt achieved a relatively high standard of productivity and sophistication. Traditional empiricism, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri (c. 1600 BC), is first credited to Egypt. The Egyptians created their own alphabet and decimal system.

Faience and glass

Even before the Old Kingdom, the ancient Egyptians had developed a glassy material known as faience, which they treated as a type of artificial semi-precious stone. Faience is a non-clay ceramic made of silica, small amounts of lime and soda, and a colorant, typically copper.^[169] The material was used to make beads, tiles, figurines, and small wares. Several methods can be used to create faience, but typically production involved application of the powdered materials in the form of a paste over a clay core, which was then fired. By a related technique, the ancient Egyptians produced a pigment known as Egyptian blue, also called blue frit, which is produced by fusing (or sintering) silica, copper, lime, and an alkali such as natron. The product can be ground up and used as a pigment.^[170]

The ancient Egyptians could fabricate a wide variety of objects from glass with great skill, but it is not clear whether they developed the process independently.^[171] It is also unclear whether they made their own raw glass or merely imported pre-made ingots, which they melted and finished. However, they did have technical expertise in making objects, as well as adding trace elements to control the color of the finished glass. A range of colors could be produced, including yellow, red, green, blue, purple, and white, and the glass could be made either transparent or opaque.^[172]

Medicine

The medical problems of the ancient Egyptians stemmed directly from their environment. Living and working close to the Nile brought hazards from malaria and debilitating schistosomiasis parasites, which caused liver and intestinal damage. Dangerous wildlife such as crocodiles and hippos were also a common threat. The lifelong labors of farming and building put stress on the spine and joints, and traumatic injuries from construction and warfare all took a significant toll on the body. The grit and sand from stone-ground flour abraded teeth, leaving them susceptible to abscesses (though caries were rare).^[173]

The diets of the wealthy were rich in sugars, which promoted periodontal disease.^[174] Despite the flattering physiques portrayed on tomb walls, the overweight mummies of many of the upper class show the effects of a life of overindulgence.^[175] Adult life expectancy was about 35 for men and 30 for women, but reaching adulthood was difficult as about one-third of the population died in infancy.^[c]

Ancient Egyptian physicians were renowned in the ancient Near East for their healing skills, and some, such as Imhotep, remained famous long after their deaths.^[176] Herodotus remarked that there was a high degree of specialization among Egyptian physicians, with some treating only the head or the stomach, while others were eye-doctors and dentists.^[177] Training of physicians took place at the Per Ankh or "House of Life" institution, most notably those headquartered in Per-Bastet during the New Kingdom and at Abydos and Saïs in the Late period. Medical papyri show empirical knowledge of anatomy, injuries, and practical treatments.^[178]

Wounds were treated by bandaging with raw meat, white linen, sutures, nets, pads, and swabs soaked with honey to prevent infection,^[179] while opium, thyme, and belladona were used to relieve pain. The earliest records of burn treatment describe burn dressings that use the milk from mothers of male babies. Prayers were made to the goddess Isis. Moldy bread, honey, and copper salts were also used to prevent infection from dirt in burns.^[180] Garlic and onions were used regularly to promote good health and were thought to relieve asthma symptoms. Ancient Egyptian surgeons stitched wounds, set broken bones, and amputated diseased limbs, but they recognized that some injuries were so serious that they could only make the patient comfortable until death occurred.^[181]

Maritime technology

It has been suggested that portions of this section be split out into another article titled Ancient_Egyptian_technology#Navigation_and_ship_building. (Discuss) (February 2020)

Early Egyptians knew how to assemble planks of wood into a ship hull and had mastered advanced forms of shipbuilding as early as 3000 BC. The Archaeological Institute of America reports that the oldest planked ships known are the Abydos boats.^[5] A group of 14 discovered ships in Abydos were constructed of wooden planks "sewn" together. Discovered by Egyptologist David O'Connor of New York University,^[182] woven straps were found to have been used to lash the planks together,^[5] and reeds or grass stuffed between the planks helped to seal the seams.^[5] Because the ships are all buried together and near a mortuary belonging to Pharaoh Khasekhemwy, originally they were all thought to have belonged to him, but one of the 14 ships dates to 3000 BC, and the associated pottery jars buried with the vessels also suggest earlier dating. The ship dating to 3000 BC was 75 feet (23 m) long and is now thought to perhaps have belonged to an earlier pharaoh, perhaps one as early as Hor-Aha.^[182]

Early Egyptians also knew how to assemble planks of wood with treenails to fasten them together, using pitch for caulking the seams. The "Khufu ship", a 43.6-metre (143 ft) vessel sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza in the Fourth Dynasty around 2500 BC, is a full-size surviving example that may have filled the symbolic function of a solar barque. Early Egyptians also knew how to fasten the planks of this ship together with mortise and tenon joints.^[5]

Large seagoing ships are known to have been heavily used by the Egyptians in their trade with the city states of the eastern Mediterranean, especially Byblos (on the coast of modern-day Lebanon), and in several expeditions down the Red Sea to the Land of Punt. In fact one of the earliest Egyptian words for a seagoing ship is a "Byblos Ship", which originally defined a class of Egyptian seagoing ships used on the Byblos run; however, by the end of the Old Kingdom, the term had come to include large seagoing ships, whatever their destination.^[183]

In 2011, archaeologists from Italy, the United States, and Egypt excavating a dried-up lagoon known as Mersa Gawasis have unearthed traces of an ancient harbor that once launched early voyages like Hatshepsut's Punt expedition onto the open ocean. Some of the site's most evocative evidence for the ancient Egyptians' seafaring prowess include large ship timbers and hundreds of feet of ropes, made from papyrus, coiled in huge bundles.^[184] In 2013 a team of Franco-Egyptian archaeologists discovered what is believed to be the world's oldest port, dating back about 4500 years, from the time of King Cheops on the Red Sea coast near Wadi el-Jarf (about 110 miles south of Suez).^[185]

In 1977, an ancient north–south canal dating to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt was discovered extending from Lake Timsah to the Ballah Lakes.^[186] It was dated to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt by extrapolating dates of ancient sites constructed along its course.^[186][d]

Mathematics

The earliest attested examples of mathematical calculations date to the predynastic Naqada period, and show a fully developed numeral system.^[e] The importance of mathematics to an educated Egyptian is suggested by a New Kingdom fictional letter in which the writer proposes a scholarly competition between himself and another scribe regarding everyday calculation tasks such as accounting of land, labor, and grain.^[188] Texts such as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus show that the ancient Egyptians could perform the four basic mathematical operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—use fractions, calculate the areas of rectangles, triangles, and circles and compute the volumes of boxes, columns and pyramids. They understood basic concepts of algebra and geometry, and could solve simple sets of simultaneous equations.^[189]

2⁄3
Egyptian hieroglyphs

Mathematical notation was decimal, and based on hieroglyphic signs for each power of ten up to one million. Each of these could be written as many times as necessary to add up to the desired number; so to write the number eighty or eight hundred, the symbol for ten or one hundred was written eight times respectively.^[190] Because their methods of calculation could not handle most fractions with a numerator greater than one, they had to write fractions as the sum of several fractions. For example, they resolved the fraction two-fifths into the sum of one-third + one-fifteenth. Standard tables of values facilitated this.^[191] Some common fractions, however, were written with a special glyph—the equivalent of the modern two-thirds is shown on the right.^[192]

Ancient Egyptian mathematicians knew the Pythagorean theorem as an empirical formula. They were aware, for example, that a triangle had a right angle opposite the hypotenuse when its sides were in a 3–4–5 ratio.^[193] They were able to estimate the area of a circle by subtracting one-ninth from its diameter and squaring the result:

Area ≈ [(8⁄9)D]² = (256⁄81)r² ≈ 3.16r²,

a reasonable approximation of the formula πr².^[194]

The golden ratio seems to be reflected in many Egyptian constructions, including the pyramids, but its use may have been an unintended consequence of the ancient Egyptian practice of combining the use of knotted ropes with an intuitive sense of proportion and harmony.^[195]

Population

Estimates of the size of the population range from 1-1.5 million in the 3rd millennium BCE to possibly 2-3 million by the 1st millennium BCE, before growing significantly towards the end of that millennium.^[196]

A team led by Johannes Krause managed the first reliable sequencing of the genomes of 90 mummified individuals in 2017 from northern Egypt (buried near modern-day Cairo), which constituted "the first reliable data set obtained from ancient Egyptians using high-throughput DNA sequencing methods." Whilst not conclusive, because of the non-exhaustive time frame (New Kingdom to Roman period) and restricted location that the mummies represent, their study nevertheless showed that these ancient Egyptians "closely resembled ancient and modern Near Eastern populations, especially those in the Levant, and had almost no DNA from sub-Saharan Africa. What's more, the genetics of the mummies remained remarkably consistent even as different powers—including Nubians, Greeks, and Romans—conquered the empire." Later, however, something did alter the genomes of Egyptians. Some 15% to 20% of modern Egyptians' DNA reflects sub-Saharan ancestry, but the ancient mummies had only 6–15% sub-Saharan DNA.^[197] They called for additional research to be undertaken. Other genetic studies show much greater levels of sub-Saharan African ancestry in the current-day populations of southern as opposed to northern Egypt,^[198] and anticipate that mummies from southern Egypt would contain greater levels of sub-Saharan African ancestry than Lower Egyptian mummies.

Legacy

The culture and monuments of ancient Egypt have left a lasting legacy on the world. Egyptian civilization significantly influenced the Kingdom of Kush and Meroë with both adopting Egyptian religious and architectural norms (hundreds of pyramids (6–30 meters high) were built in Egypt/Sudan), as well as using Egyptian writing as the basis of the Meroitic script.^[199] Meroitic is the oldest written language in Africa, other than Egyptian, and was used from the 2nd century BC until the early 5th century AD.^{[199]:62–65} The cult of the goddess Isis, for example, became popular in the Roman Empire, as obelisks and other relics were transported back to Rome.^[200] The Romans also imported building materials from Egypt to erect Egyptian-style structures. Early historians such as Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus studied and wrote about the land, which Romans came to view as a place of mystery.^[201]

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Egyptian pagan culture was in decline after the rise of Christianity and later Islam, but interest in Egyptian antiquity continued in the writings of medieval scholars such as Dhul-Nun al-Misri and al-Maqrizi.^[202] In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, European travelers and tourists brought back antiquities and wrote stories of their journeys, leading to a wave of Egyptomania across Europe. This renewed interest sent collectors to Egypt, who took, purchased, or were given many important antiquities.^[203] Napoleon arranged the first studies in Egyptology when he brought some 150 scientists and artists to study and document Egypt's natural history, which was published in the Description de l'Égypte.^[204]

In the 20th century, the Egyptian Government and archaeologists alike recognized the importance of cultural respect and integrity in excavations. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (formerly Supreme Council of Antiquities) now approves and oversees all excavations, which are aimed at finding information rather than treasure. The council also supervises museums and monument reconstruction programs designed to preserve the historical legacy of Egypt.

• Frontispiece of Description de l'Égypte, published in 38 volumes between 1809 and 1829.

• Tourists at the pyramid complex of Khafre near the Great Sphinx of Giza

See also

• Glossary of ancient Egypt artifacts
• Index of ancient Egypt-related articles
• Outline of ancient Egypt
• List of ancient Egyptians
• List of Ancient Egyptian inventions and discoveries
• Archaeology of Ancient Egypt

Notes

Citation

References

Further reading

• Baines, John; Málek, Jaromír (2000). Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Checkmark Books. ISBN 978-0-8160-4036-0.
• Bard, Kathryn A., ed. (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-66525-9.
• Grimal, Nicolas (1994) [1988]. A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-631-19396-8.
• Helck, Wolfgang; Otto, Eberhard, eds. (1972–1992). Lexikon der Ägyptologie. O. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-01441-0. – de:Lexikon der Ägyptologie
• Lehner, Mark (1997). The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-05084-2.
• Redford, Donald B., ed. (2001). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.
• Wilkinson, R.H. (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-05120-7.

External links

• "Egypt/2 Ancient Egypt" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 (11th ed.). 1911.
• BBC History: Egyptians – provides a reliable general overview and further links
• World History Encyclopedia on Egypt
• Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book Door Marshall Clagett, 1989
• Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy A site that shows the history of Egyptian metalworking
• Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt, Art History.
• Digital Egypt for Universities. Scholarly treatment with broad coverage and cross references (internal and external). Artifacts used extensively to illustrate topics.
• Priests of Ancient Egypt In-depth-information about Ancient Egypt's priests, religious services and temples. Much picture material and bibliography. In English and German.
• Ancient Egypt
• UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology
• Ancient Egypt and the Role of Women by Dr Joann Fletcher
• Full-length account of Ancient Egypt as part of history of the world