Egypt

Definition

Egypt is a country in North Africa, on the Mediterranean Sea, which boasts one of the oldest extant civilizations on earth. Traces of early habitation in Egypt date back 700,000 years and evidence of overgrazing of cattle on the land which is now the Sahara Desert has been dated to about 8,000 BCE. This evidence, along with artifacts discovered, points to a thriving agricultural civilization in the region at that time. There is no doubt the land was inhabited even earlier, however, in that the artifacts we have show a sophistication of development which suggests improvements made over time.

The name 'Egypt' comes from the Greek 'Aegyptos' which was the Greek pronunciation of the Egyptian name 'Hwt-Ka-Ptah'(which means House of the Spirit of Ptah. Ptah was a very early god of the ancient Egyptians). In the early Old Kingdom Egypt was simply known as 'Kemet' which means 'Black Land' so named for the rich, dark soil along the Nile River and, later, the country was known simply as Misr which means 'Country', a name still in use by Egyptians for their country in the present day.

But, Ptah wasn't the only god that they worshiped. In fact, there were lots of diffrent gods and goddesses in Egyptian mythology.  Some of the most known are, Ra, Hours, Set, Anubis, Isis, Osiris, and Thoth are some of the names that are inside in Ancient Egyptian tombs. There are other gods and goddesses too. Like, Bast, Sekhmet, Tawaret, Sobek, Bes, Geb, Nut, Shu, Nun, and Hathor. Ptah was an important god too, but each and every god and goddess counted in the Ancient Egyptian mythology.

The history of Egypt is vast, encompassing some 10,000 years, and their architecture, mathematics, skill in construction, administrative skills and mythology influenced both Greece and Rome and still astound and fascinate people today. The pyramids of the Giza plateau, the temple at Abu Simbel, the tomb of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, amaze people today even in ruin. Many theories abound regarding how these monuments and tombs were constructed but modern architects and scholars are far from agreement on any single one. Considering the technology of the day, some have argued, a monument such as the Great Pyramid of Giza should not exist. Others claim, however, that the existence of such buildings and tombs suggest superior technology which has been lost to time. Most modern scholars today reject the claim that the pyramids and other monuments were built by slave labor and recent archeological excavations in and around Giza go to support this view.

From approximately 3150 BCE, when the semi-mythological King Menes ruled Egypt to 525 BCE when the Persian General Cambyses II defeated the Egyptians at Pelusium, Egypt was a powerful sovereign nation. Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE and the country remained under Greek influence by way of the Ptolemaic Dynasty until the death of the last of the Ptolemaic rulers, Cleopatra VII in 31 BCE (defeated at the Battle of Actium by Octavius Caesar) after which it became a province of the Roman Empire.

The historian Will Durant writes, "The effect or remembrance of what Egypt accomplished at the very dawn of history has influence in every nation and every age. 'It is even possible', as Faure has said, 'that Egypt, through the solidarity, the unity, and the disciplined variety of its artistic products, through the enormous duration and the sustained power of its effort, offers the spectacle of the greatest civilization that has yet appeared on the earth.' We shall do well to equal it" (Our Oriental Heritage, 217). Egyptian culture and history has long fascinated people world-wide; whether through the work of early archeologists in the 19th century or the famous discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter in 1922. It is an important testimony to the power of the Egyptian mythos that so many works of the imagination, from films to books to paintings, have been inspired by it.

Written by Joshua J. Mark, published 02 September 2009.

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Articles

• Meager Returns: Agricultural Wages in Roman Egypt

  In February 247A.D, Eirenaios the manager (phrontistes) of a unit of the large estate belonging to Aurelius Appianus in the Fayum part of Egypt recorded in his account book that for the month he had employed 500 days of labor from workers unaffiliated with the estate. He paid them 2 drachmae a day. Unlike...

• The concept of law and justice in ancient Egypt

  This thesis discusses the interaction between the concepts of ”justice” (ma’at) and ”law” (hpw) in ancient Egypt. Ma’at, one of the earliest abstract terms in human speech, was a central principle and, although no codex of Egyptian law has been found, there is abundant...

• Pharaonic Egypt and the Ara Pacis in Augustan Rome

  This paper explores processes of cultural appropriation, and specifically Augustan visual receptions of pharaonic Egypt. As a test case, I consider the possibility of Egyptianizing precedents for the Ara Pacis, including the architecture of Middle and New Kingdom jubilee chapels. This requires looking...

• History of Ancient Egyptian Obstetrics and Gynecology: A Review

  For its time, the study and practice of medicine in Ancient Egypt was revolutionary. Primitive by today’s standards, physicians in Egypt nonetheless showed great initiative and impressive knowledge of the human body and its inner workings, as well as the treatment of illness and disease. Surgical intervention...

• Land tenure, rural space, and the political economy of Ptolemaic Egypt (332 BC-30 BC)

  In this paper I argue that statist (or “despotic”) assumptions of royal power does not adequately describe the nature of political power in the Ptolemaic development of Egypt. I examine the process of Ptolemaic state formation from the point of view of the expansion and the settlement...

Illustrations

More Illustrations

Egypt Books

• Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt Margaret Bunson Gramercy (17 August 1999) Currently unavailable

• Cleopatra: A Life Stacy Schiff Little, Brown and Company (01 November 2010) Currently unavailable

• Chariots of the Gods Erich von Daniken Berkley Trade (01 January 1999) Price: $9.25

• Egyptian Tales, The Complete Collection W. M. Flinders Petrie LeClue22 (11 July 2008) Currently unavailable

• The History of Herodotus - Complete [Annotated] [Illustrated] Herodotus LeClue 22 (02 July 2008) Currently unavailable