Options
The emergence of early states in the Nile Valley (2nd half of the 4th millennium

The emergence of early states in the Nile Valley (2nd half of the 4th millennium

1 slide

2 slide

3 slide

4 slide

5 slide

The purpose of the lesson. Why do people unite into states? Why is it needed? Is this necessary or not? What role did the Nile play in the formation of the state?

6 slide

7 slide

What continent is Egypt on? In what part of it? AFRICA N W E S NE Egypt is located in northeast Africa. Working with the atlas

8 slide

N W E S Libyan Desert Nile SOURCE 1 rapids - MOUTH 12 - 15 km In June - July in Central Africa there were heavy rains and snow melted on the tops of the mountains. Streams of water rushed into the river. The Nile flood began (July 19). The river turned a muddy green color and then red. The water rose every day, flooding the entire valley to the very mountain cliffs. Only in November did the Nile return to its banks and the water became blue and transparent. The lifeless desert turned into a blooming paradise.

Slide 9

How is Egypt protected from the west? N W E S Libyan Desert To the west of Egypt is the Libyan Desert. Which sea washes the shores of Egypt in the east? From the east, Egypt is washed by the waters of the Red Sea. What river is the document talking about? Where does it originate and where does it flow? The Nile is the second longest river in the world (after the Amazon - 6992 km): its length is 6670 km. The river originates in the south, on the East African Plateau, and flows into the Mediterranean Sea in the north. Neil ISTOCK What are rapids? The rapids of the Nile are rocky obstacles at the bottom of the river. 1st threshold - What is the Nile Delta? Delta is a branching at the mouth of a river as it flows into the sea or lake. MOUTH What happens to the river when the summer solstice begins? During the summer solstice, the Nile began to flood.

10 slide

C W E S Libyan Desert Nile SOURCE 1 threshold - MOUTH Describe the natural and climatic features of Egypt. Narrow Nile Valley (fertile soils). Rocky barren deserts. Lack of rain. Sandstorms. Average annual temperature: + 25-30 ˚С (in summer + 40-52 ˚С). What is an oasis? An oasis is a place in the desert where there is water and vegetation. 12 - 15 km

11 slide

C W E S Libyan Desert Nile SOURCE 1 threshold - MOUTH Average annual t: + 25-30 ˚С Describe the flora and fauna of Egypt. Flora: Date palms. Acacias. Papyrus (reed). Fauna: Crocodiles. Hippos. Wild cats. Birds: geese, ducks, pelicans. Fish.

12 slide

Task for students Match the concepts and definitions: A. Oasis B. Source C. Rapids D. Mouth D. Delta 1. The place where the river originates. 2. Rocky obstacles on the river. 3. A branching in the lower reaches of a river when it flows into the sea or lake. 4. A place in the desert where there is water and vegetation. 5. The place where the river flows into the sea, lake, etc. A B C D D A B C D E 4 1 2 5 3

Slide 13

Glory to you, the Nile comes to revive Egypt. He who irrigates the desert far from water, the lord of fish and birds, and grass for livestock, who brings all kinds of food and bread. If he hesitates, life ceases and people die. When he comes, the earth rejoices and all living things are joyful. Food appears after it is spilled. Everyone lives thanks to him and gains wealth by his will.

Slide 14

Student assignment 1. What natural conditions in Egypt were favorable for agriculture? How? 2. What difficulties did nature create for the first inhabitants of the Nile Valley?

15 slide

16 slide

The irrigation system of gardens and vegetable gardens included special devices - shadufs. They consisted of two pillars with a crossbar. Attached to the crossbar was a swinging pole, at one end of which was a stone and at the other a leather bucket. They used a bucket to draw water from the well and water the fields.

Slide 17

Irrigation, or watering, is the artificial application of water to certain lands in order to accelerate the growth and maturation of plants. Over time, large canals were diverted from the Nile bed, from which there were grooves that cut through all areas of the fields.

18 slide

Narrow dams made of clay and reeds stretched along the large canals. Dams enclosed fields on all sides and held back water. And to prevent water from stagnating on the field, the excess was drained into the river through special “gates” in the embankments.

Slide 19

In the Valley and Delta, nomes are emerging - communities associated with local irrigation systems. The nome consisted of several villages united around a fortified city, in which there was a temple of the patron god and the residence of the ruler-priest.

20 slide

Many years ago, about forty kingdoms arose in the Nile Valley. The rulers of the Egyptian kingdoms were constantly at war with each other. 1 threshold -

21 slides

Why is the state needed? Is unification into a state a necessity or a voluntary choice?

Slide 22

1st threshold - Around 3000 BC. e. the king of Southern Egypt (Mina or Menes) managed to conquer Northern Egypt - a single Egyptian state was formed, the territory of which now extended from the first threshold of the Nile to the delta. What happened in Egypt around 3000 BC? e.? A state always has a certain territory. 3000 BC e. Northern Egypt Southern Egypt

Description of the presentation by individual slides:

1 slide

Slide description:

2 slide

Slide description:

Nature of Ancient Egypt In northeast Africa, the deep Nile River flows from south to north. On its shores was located the most ancient state in the world - Ancient Egypt. In the southern part of the Nile, in Upper Egypt, the climate is hot and dry. In Lower Egypt there is rain and humidity. Upper and Lower Egypt are closely related. Every year, from mid-July, the Nile flooded for four months. After the water drained, soft porous silt was formed, which was fertile soil. The inhabitants of the Nile called their country “Kemet”, which meant “black earth”.

3 slide

Slide description:

Nature of Ancient Egypt In the Nile Valley, papyrus and acacia were of great economic importance. Papyrus is a perennial aquatic plant; ropes, mats, and baskets were woven from its fibers. The young shoots were eaten raw and the lower part was fried. Fishing flourished in the Nile; large animals were inhabited by crocodiles and hippopotamuses. The river was a means of transportation. Cargo was transported along it and sent to other areas. On the border with the desert there lived predators: lions, hyenas, cheetahs. Herbivores include buffalos. There were many poisonous snakes. Ancient Egypt was rich in building materials: sandstone, pink granite, limestone. Copper and gold were mined here.

4 slide

Slide description:

Formation of the state The Egyptians spent a lot of effort digging drainage canals through which the water remaining after sowing went into the Nile. This is how irrigation appeared - the irrigation system. People living in a certain territory were called nomes. By the time the Egyptian state was formed, there were about forty such nomes. Two states emerged: Northern and Southern Egypt. As a result of the struggle in 3000 BC. King Mina (Menes) conquered Northern Egypt and united the entire country, building the capital - the city of Memphis.

5 slide

Slide description:

Religious Beliefs in Ancient Egypt Scientists count about 2,000 gods in which the ancient Egyptians believed. Each city had its own divine patron. It is necessary to highlight the god Ra - the son of the Sun. The Egyptians believed that the sunrise depended on Ra. Many temples were built for Ra. Among the revered gods was Osiris, the son of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Heb. Osiris had a brother, Set, and a wife, Isis. Seth was jealous of his brother and killed him. Isis learned of her husband’s death, but could not resurrect him until revenge on Seth took place. Osiris' son Horus fights Set and kills him. Osiris is resurrected, passes the throne to his son, and he himself goes into the underground kingdom of eternity.

6 slide

Slide description:

Animal Worship Animal worship was common in ancient Egypt. Each locality had its own sacred animal. If a person unknowingly killed such an animal, he paid a fine. If intentionally, he was subject to execution. When the animal died, it was solemnly buried. Archaeologists have found many such burials. The cult of honoring the cat was widespread everywhere. The cat exterminated rodents and destroyed the crops. Statues and figurines in the form of cats were made. The death of a cat was considered a huge grief. Among the wild animals the crocodile was worshiped. He was credited with the ability to control the floods of the Nile.

Slide 7

Slide description:

Ruler of Ancient Egypt The ancient king of Egypt was called a pharaoh. Outwardly, the pharaoh was different from other people. His main clothing was a loincloth, but on his head was a double crown, which showed that the pharaoh was the ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. The pharaoh was considered a deity, and a cult of priests served him. They performed the ritual of dressing the pharaoh at dawn, believing that the first rays of the sun gave the pharaoh strength. After his morning activities, Pharaoh made sacrifices, read messages, and wrote answers to them. All residents obeyed the pharaoh; he was considered the supreme deity and patron of all living things. An important duty of the pharaoh was to honor the gods with rituals.

8 slide

Slide description:

Pyramids of Ancient Egypt The ancient Egyptians sought to preserve the memory of the deceased kings, believing that the pharaoh continued to defend his kingdom after death. Therefore, the final refuge of the pharaoh had to be durable and memorable. During the Old Kingdom, tombs - pyramids - began to be built. The first person to build a step pyramid for himself was Pharaoh Djoser.

Slide 9

Slide description:

Pyramids of Ancient Egypt On the territory of modern Cairo, on the border of the Libyan Desert, more than 80 pyramids are scattered over a distance of 70 km. Of these, three are the most famous: the pyramid of Mikerin, the pyramid of Khafre and the pyramid of Cheops, which is considered one of the 7 wonders of the world. Scientists are still trying to understand how the Egyptians managed to lift such heavy blocks of stones and place them in a joint without a gap.

10 slide

Slide description:

Daily Life in Ancient Egypt Houses in Ancient Egypt were protected from the sun and cold. Such houses were built from fragile material. Externally, Egyptian houses were unattractive, had small windows, and those sides of the house that faced inward had no windows. Ordinary Egyptians lived in adobe huts made of papyrus. There was little furniture in the houses. A table for a woman's toiletries was a must. In the common room there were chairs, stools, and few tables. But it was all for the rich residents. The poor Egyptians ate while sitting on mats and slept on mattresses. The presence of pottery indicated the wealth of the family.

It is unknown whether Sumer or Egypt was the cradle of the world's most ancient civilization. It is possible that the civilization that arose in northeast Africa, on the banks of the great Nile, was more ancient. In any case, there is no doubt that a centralized state arose here for the first time in world history.

Geography and natural conditions

The boundaries of ancient Egypt itself are sharply delineated by nature itself -

its southern limit was the impassable first Nile rapids, located near modern Aswan, 1300 km from the Mediterranean coast;
from the west the sandy ledges of the Libyan plateau pressed towards the river;
Lifeless rocky mountain spurs approached from the east.

Below the first rapids, the Nile carried its waters due north along a narrow long valley (Upper Egypt), the width of which ranged from 1 to 20 km. Only two hundred kilometers from the mouth, where the river in ancient times branched into several branches, the valley expanded, forming the famous Nile Delta (Lower Egypt). The sources of the Nile, located thousands of kilometers from Egypt, were not known to the Egyptians, and it is there that one should look for the reasons for the peculiar water regime of the river, those of its features that for thousands of years had a huge impact on many aspects of the life of the ancient inhabitants of the country. Two thousand kilometers south of the first Nile rapids, near the current capital of Sudan, Khartoum, two rivers join - the White and Blue Nile.

The rapid Blue Nile originates from the high-mountainous Ethiopian Lake Tana, and the calm, deep-flowing White Nile flows towards it, through a chain of great lakes and the swampy plains of Central Africa. In the spring, when snow melts intensively in the mountains of Ethiopia, and the rainy season is in full swing in Tropical Africa, the rivers feeding the Nile simultaneously absorb enormous amounts of excess water, carrying tiny particles of eroded rocks and organic remains of lush tropical vegetation. In mid-July, the flood reaches the southern borders of Egypt. A flow of water, sometimes ten times greater than the usual norm, breaking through the neck of the first Nile rapids, gradually floods the whole of Egypt.

Philae Island near the first rapids of the Nile. On the island is the temple of Hathor, later associated with Isis.

The flood reaches its highest point in August-September, when the water level in the south of the country rises by 14 m, and in the north by 8-10 m above normal. In mid-November, a rapid decline in water begins, and the river enters its banks again. During these four months, organic and mineral particles brought by the Nile settle in a thin layer on the space flooded during the flood period.

This sediment gradually created the Egyptian soil. All the soil in the country is of alluvial origin, the result of thousands of years of activity by the river during its annual floods. Both the narrow stone bed of the Upper Egyptian valley and Lower Egypt, which was once a sea bay, are completely covered with a deep layer of river sediments - soft porous Nile silt. It is this very fertile, easy-to-cultivate soil that is the main wealth of the country, the source of its stable high yields. The moistened soil of the Nile Valley, ready for sowing, shines like black varnish. Kemet, which means Black, was what its ancient inhabitants called their country, noting a very significant feature: in the harsh natural conditions of North Africa with its hot and dry climate, surrounded by waterless spaces of rocky-sandy deserts, only on soil created and watered by the Nile, only On this alluvial black soil, the very possibility of human settlement appeared, the main source of existence of which was irrigation agriculture.

Palette in the shape of an elephant. Graywacke. About 3650-3300 BC It was found in a rich tomb near Hierakonopolis, Upper Egypt.

The floodplain of the Nile should have greeted the first people inhospitably: impenetrable thickets of Nile reeds - papyrus - and acacias along the banks, vast swamps of the low-lying Delta, clouds of insects, predatory animals and poisonous snakes of the surrounding deserts, many crocodiles and hippopotamuses in the river and, finally, the unbridled river itself , during the flood period, a mighty stream sweeps away everything in its path. It is not surprising, therefore, that for the first time people settled in the valley itself only at the Neolithic stage, already having quite advanced stone tools and various production skills, and they came here under the pressure of external conditions.

Climate change and the arrival of the first people

The climate of North Africa 10-12 thousand years ago was less arid than it is now. More recently, the melting of the ice that covered part of Europe at the end of the Ice Age has ended. Humid winds swept over North Africa, heavy rains fell, and in place of the current deserts there was a savannah with tall grass and a rich fauna. Hunting tribes, who were at the Mesolithic and early Neolithic stages, lived in the vastness of what is now the Sahara. It was they who left us rock paintings depicting elephants, ostriches, giraffes, antelopes, buffaloes, and dynamic scenes of hunting them. All these animals are not desert dwellers. Numerous wadis - dry river beds that once flowed into the Nile from the west and east - are also evidence of a milder climate in the past.

By the 5th millennium BC the influence of humid winds weakens, a dry season begins in North Africa, the groundwater level drops, the savanna gradually turns into a desert. Meanwhile, some hunting tribes, taming animals, managed to become shepherds. The advancing dryness increasingly forced these tribes to reach for the drying up tributaries of the Nile. It was along the wadi that numerous sites of tribes at the Late Paleolithic stage were discovered.

The advance of the desert continued, the last Nile tributaries dried up, people were forced to move closer and closer to the Nile itself. The Neolithic era (up to the 4th millennium BC) is associated with the appearance of pastoral tribes at the border of the Nile Valley itself, with their acquisition of the first farming skills.

Archaeological excavations of settlements of the late Neolithic era, dating back to the 6th-4th millennium BC, show that their inhabitants already led a completely sedentary lifestyle, were engaged in agriculture (stone grain grinders, wooden sickles with flint inserts, grains have reached us barley and wheat-enamel), cattle breeding (bones of bulls, rams, and pigs were discovered), hunting, fishing, and gathering. The inhabitants of these settlements, located, as a rule, along the edge of the valley, were still timid in front of the Nile and made no attempts to curb the river.

Creation of an irrigation system

Bone figurine with lapis lazuli eyes. Naqada I period (c. 4000-3600 BC). Upper Egypt.

With the advent of copper tools, with the entry into the Chalcolithic era (Copper-Stone Age), people began a decisive attack on the Nile Valley. Over the course of thousands of years, the Nile created with its sediments higher banks compared to the level of the valley itself, so there was a natural slope from the shore to the edges of the valley, and the water after the flood did not subside immediately and spread along it by gravity. To curb the river, to make the flow of water manageable during the flood period, people strengthened the banks, erected coastal dams, built transverse dams from the banks of the river to the foothills in order to retain water in the fields until the soil was sufficiently saturated with moisture, and those in the water in a suspended state, the silt will not settle on the fields. It also took a lot of effort to dig drainage canals through which the remaining water in the fields was discharged into the Nile before sowing.

So in the first half of the 4th millennium BC. In ancient Egypt, a basin irrigation system was created, which became the basis of the country's irrigation economy for many millennia, until the first half of our century. The ancient irrigation system was closely linked to the water regime of the Nile and ensured the cultivation of one crop per year, which, under local conditions, ripened in winter (sowing began only in November, after the flood) and was harvested in early spring. Abundant and sustainable harvests were ensured by the fact that during the flood, the Egyptian soil annually restored its fertility, enriched with new deposits of silt, which, under the influence of solar heat, had the ability to release nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, so necessary for the future harvest. Consequently, the Egyptians did not have to worry about artificially maintaining soil fertility, which did not require additional mineral or organic fertilizers. More importantly, the annual flooding of the Nile prevented soil salinization, which was a disaster in Mesopotamia. Therefore, in Egypt, the fertility of the land did not decline for thousands of years. The process of curbing the river and adapting it to the needs of people was long and apparently covered the entire 4th millennium BC.

Change in the social structure of the valley tribes

Every group of people, every tribe that dared to descend into the Nile Valley and settle there in a few elevated places inaccessible to flooding immediately entered into heroic combat with nature. The acquired experience and skills, purposeful organization, and hard work of the entire tribe ultimately brought success - a small part of the valley was developed, a small autonomous irrigation system was created, the basis of the economic life of the team that built it.

Probably, already in the process of the struggle for the creation of an irrigation system, serious changes took place in the social life of the tribal community, associated with a sharp change in living conditions, work and organization of production in the specific conditions of the Nile Valley. We have almost no data about the events that took place and are forced to reconstruct them completely hypothetically.

A vessel made of rock - breccia. Predynastic period or Earlier Kingdom (3100-2686 BC)

In all likelihood, at that time there was a neighboring land community (no clear traces of the existence of a rural community were found in the historical period of Pharaonic Egypt). The traditional functions of tribal leaders and priests also underwent changes - they were given responsibility for organizing and managing a complex irrigation economy. Thus, the economic levers of control were concentrated in the hands of the leaders and their immediate circle. This would inevitably lead to the beginning of property stratification. The economically dominant group needed to create means to maintain the position in society that had developed in its favor, and such means of political domination over the overwhelming majority of community members were apparently created already at this time, which, naturally, from the very beginning should have left a certain imprint on the character the community itself. Thus, in the conditions of creating irrigation systems, a unique community of people arises within the framework of a local irrigation economy, which has both the features of a neighboring land community and the features of a primary state formation. By tradition, we call such public organizations by the Greek term.

Creation of the state in Ancient Egypt

Each independent nome had a territory, which was limited by the local irrigation system, and represented a single economic whole, having its own administrative center - a city surrounded by walls, the residence of the ruler of the nome and his entourage, and there was also a temple of the local deity (it should be noted that this reconstruction made on the basis of later data - archaeologically predynastic cities are practically unknown to us).

Wars of the nomes and their unification

Standing woman. Tree. Abydos, temple of Osiris. Early Kingdom c. 3100–2649 BC. Kept in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

By the time the unified Egyptian state was formed, there were about forty such nomes. In the conditions of the narrow Upper Egyptian valley, each nome located on the left or right bank of the Nile was in contact with its southern and northern neighbors, while the nomes of Lower Egypt were often still isolated from each other by swamps.

The sources that have reached us do not make it possible to sufficiently trace the history of the nomes until the emergence of a united Egypt, into which they entered as local administrative and economic units, but retained their originality and tendency to isolate themselves over the centuries. From those distant times, flat slate tablets covered with symbolic relief images of internecine wars have been preserved. We see bloody battles on land and river, processions of prisoners tied with ropes, the theft of numerous herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. In this long, stubborn struggle, the strong nomes conquered their weaker neighbors. As a result of this struggle, large associations of nomes appeared in both Upper and Lower Egypt, headed by the ruler of the strongest victorious nome. Of course, the peaceful annexation of individual nomes to their stronger neighbors is not excluded. In the end, somewhere in the second half of the 4th millennium BC. The nomes of the South and North of the country united into the Upper Egyptian and Lower Egyptian kingdoms. One of the southernmost nomes of Upper (Southern) Egypt, with its center in the city of Hierakonpolis, united the Upper Egyptian nomes.

Here we should make the following digression. Due to the fact that ancient Egyptian writing (unlike Mesopotamian cuneiform) does not convey vowels, scientists have to reconstruct the true ancient sound of Egyptian words and proper names indirectly, mainly from data on the later sound of Egyptian proper names that have come through other writing systems (II -1st millennium BC). These reconstructions still remain very unreliable; most Egyptologists continue to use conventional, obviously inaccurate readings. These conventional readings give most of the Egyptian proper names in the various books. Some names are given in the ancient Greek transcriptions that have come down to us, and some cities are left with the names that the Greeks gave them in late antiquity, for example Memphis (in the conventional Egyptological reading Men-nefer), Thebes (in the conventional Egyptological reading Waset), Buto, Hierakonpolis, Heliopolis.

Terracotta figurine of a woman. Naqada II period (c. 3500-3400 BC). Stored in the Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA.

One of the nomes of the western Delta, with its center in the city of Buto, becomes the unifier of the North. The kings of the Upper Epshet kingdom wore a white headdress, the kings of the Lower Egyptian kingdom wore a red crown. With the creation of a unified Egypt, the double red and white crown of these kingdoms became a symbol of royal power until the end of ancient Egyptian history.

The history of these kingdoms is practically unknown; only a few dozen names, mostly Upper Egyptian, have reached us. We know little about the centuries-long fierce struggle of these kingdoms for hegemony in Egypt, which was won by the united and economically strong Upper Egypt. It is believed that this happened at the end of the 4th millennium BC, but the oldest Egyptian chronology is still very unreliable.

Economic conditionality of the association of nomes

With the help of individual nomes, and even larger associations, it was extremely difficult to maintain at the proper level the entire irrigation economy of the country, which consisted of small, unconnected or weakly connected irrigation systems. The merger of several nomes, and then all of Egypt into a single whole (achieved as a result of long, bloody wars) made it possible to improve irrigation systems, constantly and in an organized manner to repair them, expand canals and strengthen dams, jointly fight for the development of the swampy Delta and, in general, rationally use water Nila. Absolutely necessary for the further development of Egypt, these measures could only be carried out through the joint efforts of the entire country after the creation of a single centralized administrative department.

Ivory comb. From a tomb near Abydos. Dynasty I (reign of Jet - 2860–2830 BC).

Nature itself seemed to ensure that Upper and Lower Egypt complemented each other economically. While the narrow Upper Egyptian valley was almost entirely used for arable land, and there was very limited grazing land here, in the spacious Delta, large areas of land reclaimed from the marshes could also be used as pasture. It is not for nothing that there was a practice, later attested, of delivering Upper Egyptian cattle at certain times of the year to the pastures of Lower Egypt, which became the center of Egyptian cattle breeding. Here, in the North, most of the Egyptian gardens and vineyards were located.

So by the end of the 4th millennium BC. The long so-called pre-dynastic period of Egyptian history finally ended, which lasted from the time of the appearance of the first agricultural crops near the Nile Valley until the country achieved state unity. It was during the predynastic period that the foundation of the state was laid, the economic basis of which was the irrigation system of agriculture throughout the valley. The end of the predynastic period also saw the emergence of Egyptian writing, apparently initially brought to life by the economic needs of the nascent state. From this time the history of dynastic Egypt begins.

The Population of Ancient Egypt and Their Neighbors

The people who mastered the Nile Valley and created a great original civilization in such ancient times spoke the Egyptian language, now dead. The first written monuments in this language go back to the end of the predynastic era, the last hieroglyphic inscription dates back to the 4th century. AD. It should be said that the late Egyptian (Coptic) language existed in Egypt along with Arabic in the Middle Ages, and in some areas it survived until the beginning of modern times.

The old Egyptian language belonged to one of the African groups of Afroasiatic, or Semito-Hamitic, languages. However, a lot of indirect evidence suggests that the tribes that settled in the Nile Valley were not ethnically united and differed in their dialects. Naturally, over the course of many thousands of years of existence, ethnic heterogeneity was gradually smoothed out.

We know very well what the Egyptians of the dynastic period looked like. Many painted flat reliefs present them to us as people of average height, broad shoulders, slender, with black straight hair (often a wig). In accordance with tradition, images of Egyptian men are always painted in brick color, women - yellowish. There are also numerous images of representatives of the tribes and peoples that the inhabitants of the Nile Valley most often encountered. We see:

Western neighbors of the Egyptians - light-skinned, blue-eyed Libyans;
their eastern neighbors, immigrants from Western Asia, are tall, with yellowish dark skin, a convex nose and abundant facial hair, with constant characteristic beards;
southerners, inhabitants of Nile Ethiopia, or Nubia, look dark purple;
Black, curly-headed representatives of the Negroid tribes of South Sudan are also found on the reliefs.

Periodization of the history of dynastic Egypt

A fragment of a palette depicting a bull killing an enemy. Late Nagada (c. 3300-3100 BC)

Periodization of the history of dynastic Egypt from the semi-legendary king to Alexander the Great, approximately from the 20th century. BC. until the end of the 4th century. BC, is closely connected with the Manetho tradition. , a priest who lived in Egypt shortly after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, wrote a two-volume History of Egypt in Greek. Unfortunately, only excerpts from his work have survived, the earliest of which are found in the works of historians of the 1st century. AD. But what has come down to us, often in a distorted form, is extremely important, since these are excerpts from the book of a man who described the great history of his country, based on authentic Egyptian documents that were well accessible to him and already irretrievably lost.

Manetho divides the entire history of dynastic Egypt into three large periods - the Ancient, Middle and New Kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms is divided into dynasties, ten for each kingdom, for a total of thirty dynasties. And if Manetho’s division of Egyptian history into three large periods actually reflects certain qualitative stages in the development of the country, then such a uniform distribution of dynasties across kingdoms seems arbitrary, and these dynasties themselves, as can be seen, are very conditional formations.

Basically, the Manetho dynasty includes representatives of one reigning house, but often, apparently, can accommodate several unrelated ruling houses, and on one occasion two royal brothers are assigned to two different dynasties. Despite this, science still adheres to the Manetho dynastic tradition for convenience. Adjustments have been made to the stage-by-stage periodization of the history of ancient Egypt - the first two Manetho dynasties are allocated to the Early Kingdom, and the last, starting with the XXI dynasty, to the Later Kingdom.

Early kingdom

The Early Kingdom is the reign of Egypt's 1st and 2nd Manetho dynasties, covering more than two hundred years of dynastic Egyptian history (c. 3000-2800 BC).

Unification of Egypt

Manetho considers a king named Menes (Mina), the founder of the First Dynasty, to be the unifier of Egypt. He can probably be identified with the king who bears the throne name (“Chorus the Fighter”) in the ancient Egyptian chronicles. However, he was not the first Upper Egyptian ruler to claim power over all of Egypt. The so-called palette of Narmer, one of the predynastic rulers of Upper Egypt, found during excavations at Hierakonpolis, tells in symbolic form about the victory of this king over the inhabitants of Lower Egypt. Narmer is represented on this relief tablet at the time of his triumph, crowned with the united crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Apparently, some of Narmer’s predecessors also laid claim to dominance over all of Egypt, while Menes headed the list of Egyptian kings that has come down to us thanks to the work of Manetho, probably because it was with him that a strong chronicle tradition began in Egypt. But even under Menes, as well as under his predecessors and followers, the achieved unity of the country was not yet final. The conquered Lower Egypt for a long time did not want to admit its defeat, and bloody military clashes took place there throughout almost the entire Early Kingdom.

The kings of the first two dynasties were most likely from the Upper Egyptian nome of Thinis, located in the middle part of Upper Egypt. In the Tinis nome, in the vicinity of the city of Abydos, which in the future became famous as a center for the veneration of the god of the dead Osiris, the tombs of the kings of the Early Kingdom - Dzher, Semerkhet, Kaa, etc. - were discovered during excavations. The names of these kings, as well as the name of the king, included Hor-Akha, a god in the form of a falcon was mentioned - Horus, the patron saint of most of the kings of the Early Kingdom.

Economic development

The level of development of the productive forces of the society of that time can be judged by the tools of production that have come down to us in abundance from early dynastic burials. These are primarily products made of copper - flat working axes, knives, adzes, harpoons, fishhooks, pitchforks, wooden hoe tips; in addition, battle axes with rounded blades, daggers, bowls and vessels of various shapes.

Copper instruments from the tomb of Pharaoh Hotesemeui (II Dynasty). Stored in the British Museum, London, UK.

But along with copper ones, many stone, especially flint, tools and household items for various purposes were also found. Also found in the burials were wooden tools, ivory items, jewelry made from Egyptian faience (Egyptian faience is a special plastic mass that, when fired, hardened and acquired a glassy surface, usually blue), and a variety of ceramic dishes made without the use of a potter's wheel. Mostly unfired brick and wood were used in construction. The use of stone in construction was still very limited and was of an auxiliary nature (lintels, etc.).

So, Egypt during the Early Kingdom lived during the Copper-Stone Age. But the country’s irrigation system had already been created and was constantly being improved and expanded, which made it possible to take advantage of the natural conditions of the Nile Valley. All this contributed to the fact that, at a still low technical level, a huge increase in labor productivity was achieved, primarily in agriculture, a surplus product appeared, and therefore the possibility of its appropriation arose with all the ensuing consequences.

The rapid progress of the country was also facilitated by the fact that the Egyptians found almost everything they needed either in the valley itself or in its immediate vicinity. Various types of stone were found everywhere, including soft, easy-to-work limestone. The acacia groves, still extensive at this time, provided timber for construction; some types of wood were delivered from Lebanon by sea, others received from Central Africa. Thickets, which were widely used by the Egyptians both for the production of a kind of “paper” and for weaving papyrus vessels used for fishing and hunting waterfowl in the quiet backwaters of the Delta, were also an inexhaustible source of raw materials. Young shoots of papyrus were used for food. The Nile was famous for its abundance of fish, the main non-vegetable food product of ordinary Egyptians.

Bone tag from the strap. Pharaoh Den - I dynasty. OK. 2985 BC Stored in the British Museum, London, UK.

Of the cereal crops grown in Egypt during the Early and Old Kingdoms, the main crop was barley, which over time began to be partially replaced by emulsified wheat. This type of wheat, also known as emmer or spelt, is one of the oldest cultivated cereals, almost supplanted later by more productive types of wheat. Cattle breeding was widely developed. The monuments testify to the existence of various breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, and pigs. Gardening, horticulture, and viticulture are developing (especially intensively in the Delta). The canvases that have come down to us from burials of that time indicate the development of flax growing and weaving. The Egyptians also engaged in fishing, waterfowl breeding, and hunting.

Formation of the state apparatus and social stratification

The creation and strengthening of a single state is a complex and lengthy process, stretching over almost the entire period of the Early Kingdom. The unification of Egypt could not, of course, fail to introduce significant changes in the structure of government of the country, the management of the huge irrigation system of Egypt, the concern for the expansion, improvement, and normal functioning of which lay with the royal administration.

The period of the Early Kingdom is the time of formation of the pan-Egyptian state apparatus. The inscriptions of the 1st and 2nd dynasties are replete with the names of many departments and positions that previously existed or arose for the first time in connection with the complication of economic and administrative management, both in the center and in the nomes, throughout the entire Early Kingdom. These changes are apparently associated with the search for optimal forms of management, as well as accounting and distribution of produced material assets.

Our knowledge about the social relations of the Egyptians during the Early Kingdom is very scarce and fragmentary. It is known that there was a large diversified industry, which included arable lands and pastures, vineyards and gardens, a food department, craft workshops and shipyards. Impressions of the seals of the royal economy of the 1st and 2nd dynasties have come to us not only from the royal tombs, but also from the burials of the then nobles and numerous minor officials who, apparently, received allowances from the royal economy.

Tomb of Pharaoh Djer - 1st Dynasty in Abydos. OK. 2999–2952 BC.

It is natural to assume that in addition to the royal household - the “house of the king” and the “house of the queen” – there should have been non-royal households. However, there is practically no information about them. But judging by the luxurious burials of the nobility for that time, not much different from the royal burials, this nobility, which came from the nomes and was closely connected with them, retained great economic independence and probably still had significant property. We have no information about the people who worked in the royal household and in the households of the nobility, and the methods of exploitation of the people involved in these households; they will appear in a later period, already in the era of the Old Kingdom. An analysis of the burials of the period of the 1st and 2nd dynasties allows us only to draw a conclusion about the sharp inequality of property in Egypt already at this early time of its social development: along with the rich burials of the nobility, more modest burials of people who probably occupied a certain position in the Egyptian administrative and economic apparatus are known, in the households of the king and nobles. Very poor burials (just shallow holes on the edge of the desert) of the lower strata of Egyptian society were also discovered.

External and internal struggle during the first dynasties

We know little about the historical events of those distant centuries. The kings of the first two dynasties waged constant wars with the Libyan cattle-breeding tribes, capturing a lot of livestock and bringing prisoners to Egypt. The Egyptian army also appeared in the Sinai mountains, protecting the copper mines from the raids of the Central Asian shepherd tribes. The Egyptians also penetrated the first Nile rapids, into Nubia. But most of all information has reached us about military clashes in Lower Egypt: the struggle with the rebellious and rebellious North continues until the end of the Second Dynasty.

Menes is also credited with the founding of the “White Walls” () - a city that arose on the left bank of the Nile on the eve of Lower Egypt at its junction with Upper Egypt - a fortress and stronghold of the southerners’ domination over the Delta. The internecine wars in the North ended with the final victory of the South under the king of the Second Dynasty, who brutally suppressed the last uprising in the Delta. Symbolically depicting his victory over Lower Egypt on the bases of his two statues, he also cites on them the numbers of the enemies who fell in this last battle - about 50 thousand northerners.

During the period of the Early Kingdom, some kind of intra-dynastic struggle also took place, the external expression of which was the replacement in the throne name of the king of the god Horus, the divine patron of the kings of the Early Kingdom, by the god Seth, the eternal enemy of Horus. Then a temporary compromise was reached, and the names of Horus and Setha coexist in the throne name of one of the kings of the Second Dynasty. But subsequently, Horus wins a complete victory over his enemy, and Seth is expelled from the royal throne.

The defeat of the North and the cessation of dynastic strife led to the end of the Second Dynasty and the final unification of the country, which opened a new era in the history of Egypt - the era of the Old Kingdom. Memphis becomes the capital of a unified state. According to the most common opinion, one of the names of this city - Het-ka-Ptah, which means “Estate of the double of Ptah” - the main god of the capital - is where the Greek Aigyuptos and our name of the country - Egypt - go back. Let us add on our own behalf, a double (ka) - according to the Egyptians, an exact copy of man and god, closely connected with images and living almost forever. The idea of a double gave rise to a huge number of wall and statue images in temples and tombs, which are the most important source for studying various aspects of the life of ancient Egypt.

Mon, 04/25/2016 - 17:52 | Mikova Natalia...

Municipal autonomous educational institution

"Cherdyn secondary school named after A.I. Spirin"

Lesson project on the topic:

"State formation in the Nile Valley"

history teacher, 1st qualification category

Cherdyn, 2016

The lesson project “Formation of the State in the Nile Valley” is a multi-variant development of a lesson on the history of the Ancient World for 5th grade students that meets the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard LLC

Textbook:“History of the Ancient World” (authors: T.P. Andreevskaya, M.V. Belkin, E.V. Vanina, M.: IC “Ventana-Graf” 2014

Means of education: multimedia equipment, interactive whiteboard, handouts, map of Ancient Egypt.

Lesson type: a lesson in “discovering” new knowledge.

Lesson objectives: achieving the following results:

Personal– formation of value guidelines and meanings of educational activities based on the development of cognitive interest in the subject of history.

Metasubject– possession of the skills to work with educational information (analyze and summarize facts, formulate and justify conclusions, etc.), demonstrate a willingness to cooperate with other students, group and collective work.

Subject – search for the necessary information in various sources (text, graphic, visual) - to choose from; compare data from different sources, identify similarities and differences; talk orally about historical events; characterize the natural conditions and lifestyle of the Egyptians; reveal the meaning of historical concepts.

Tasks:

1. Personal:

- with the help of a video fragment and appeal to personal experience, develop the cognitive interests of schoolchildren and motivate them to educational activities and study the subject of history.

2. Subject:

Study and characterize, based on the text of a written source, map, illustrations, the natural conditions of Ancient Egypt, the way of life of the Egyptians;

Based on information search (in the textbook), determine the meaning of new concepts and names (threshold, delta, Kemet, papyrus, dam, irrigation, nomes)

Working in groups, ability to participate in productive group communication.

Based on the information received during the lesson, be able to summarize the material and formulate conclusions.

3.Teaching methods: problematic, heuristic

Forms of organization of cognitive activity of students: collective, in groups, individual.

During the classes

Lesson stage, time

Teacher's actions

Student activities

Organizational and motivational.

(3 minutes)

Greetings.

Option 1. - Guys, now watch a short video very carefully. Your task is to understand why I offered you this particular video material? What is he talking about?

Organizes a conversation with students on questions and, if necessary, asks clarifying questions.

Ready for the lesson.

Carefully watch a video about modern Egypt (tourism, attractions, nature).

Possible answers: - because we will study Egypt;

About (modern) Egypt;

Personal UUD:

Cognitive UUD:(information) analysis of information sources

Option 2.

Communicative UUD: productive interaction in pairs

Greetings.

Option 2. Distributes sources of information to each pair of students: a map of Ancient Egypt, a historical source (a fragment of an essay by Deodorus Sicilian about Egypt), pictures illustrating the nature of Ancient Egypt and the way of life of the Egyptians.

Guys, look at the handouts and draw a conclusion about the topic of our lesson.

Interviews 2-3 students: asks them to name the topic and explain the choice. Asks the class if they support or disagree with the proposed topics.

Ready for the lesson.

They carefully consider the proposed materials, confer in pairs and draw a conclusion.

Formulate the answer orally and explain the choice of topic. The rest of the students agree or disagree.

Updating knowledge

(4 minutes)

Offers to fill out a table to update knowledge.

Conducts a survey (2-3 students) using the table. Asks students to clarify what they entered in the table, was it in Egypt before or exists now?

Suppose the nature and climate of Egypt, the way of life of people in this country changed over time or remained the same?

Complete your tables if necessary. What problem are you facing?

Fill out the table: About Egypt

	I want to know

Option 2. Answering the teacher’s questions, formulate the topic of the lesson.

PROBLEM : Is my knowledge about Egypt reliable? What was the nature, climate, geographical location of Egypt, and the way of life of the Egyptians in ancient times?

Personal UUD:

Meaning formation, the formation of value guidelines and meanings of educational activities based on the development of cognitive interests and educational motives.

Goal setting and planning

(3 minutes)

Asks students to determine the goal of the lesson and ways to achieve it

Option 1. Suggest how and with what help we can achieve the goal and solve the problem?

Determine the goal: answer problematic questions, learn more about Ancient Egypt.

Formulate the task: create a description of the geographical location, nature, climate, way of life in Ancient Egypt.

Get acquainted with the sources, look at the images, illustrations.

Regulatory UUD: setting an educational task based on the correlation of what students already know and what is not known.

"Discovery of new knowledge"

Invites students to divide into groups and work with different sources of information (if there is difficulty, you can draw lots - offer to draw a variant of the source of information), reminds the rules of working in a group.

Option 1. Groups receive appropriate handouts; in their absence, they use a textbook: a map (p. 28), a written historical source (a fragment from a reader or textbook can be given (p. 32), illustrations (p. 28, 29, 30).

Option 2. Asks to redistribute sources between groups (so that each student has the necessary source within the group)

Gives the technical task to the groups, suggests using the corresponding reminders on the flyleaf of the textbook (Memo No. 1 - for all students on preparing an oral answer, Memo No. 2 - for working with written sources, Memo No. 5 - for working with a map, Memo No. 6 - for working with illustrations.

After voicing the descriptions, asks students to make a preliminary conclusion by answering the question:

How did the natural, climatic conditions and geographical location of Egypt influence the life and activities of the ancient Egyptians?

Divided into groups (4 people each). They get acquainted with the technical specifications and repeat the instructions. They study the sources, discuss the information received in a group and complete the task: 1) Students (each) compose in a notebook: a written description of Ancient Egypt (working on a map, illustrations and a source (from a textbook), a diagram of the location of Egypt - according to a source from a textbook, 2 ) One or two students from the group orally describe Ancient Egypt. The rest are complementary.

Working with the map(children’s answers, a possible option: 1-2 show on the map, 1-2 read the compiled description): 1) Egypt, indicated on the map in green, was located in North-East Africa, on the Sinai Peninsula, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ; 2) washed by the Mediterranean Sea from the north, and the Red Sea from the east; 3) was divided into Lower, Upper Egypt and Nubia; 4) The main river, the Nile, was divided into rapids; 5) To the west of the Nile was the Libyan Desert, and to the south the Nubian Desert; 6) In the Nile Valley and in the oases, the Egyptians were engaged in agriculture; 7) The most important trade routes passed through Egypt (from Africa to Asia, along the Red and Mediterranean Seas); 8) on the shores of the Red Sea and in Nubia there were quarries, gold and copper mines; 9) in different periods of the 2nd thousand. BC. the capital of Egypt was in Thebes and Memphis; 10) Egyptian pharaohs, including Thutmose III, waged campaigns of conquest (in Nubia, the Sinai Peninsula, and Western Asia).

Children conclude:

The territory of Egypt, especially in the Nile Valley, was more suitable for agriculture, thanks to the silt and hot climate. The Egyptians used papyrus and acacia wood in their farming. They were engaged in fishing, extracting metal and rocks (stone, granite).

Cognitive UUD: independent selection of information, the ability to consciously and voluntarily construct a speech statement in oral and written form.

Communicative UUD: productive interaction in the group. Cooperation is the coordination of efforts to achieve a common goal, the implementation of joint activities.

Interiorization - speech acts that serve as a means of communication (transferring information to other people)

Cognitive UUD:

informational - highlighting new words and their definition.

Logical – analysis of the information received and formulation of a conclusion.

Independent work with verification against the standard

Invites students to refer to the title of the paragraph in the textbook (p. 27) (the topic formulated at the beginning of the lesson will most likely differ from the title of the paragraph) and guess what else they need to learn in the lesson to achieve the goal and how to do it. What is a state?

Gives guiding questions (on the board or slide) to formulate a written answer:

1) How was the formation of the state in Ancient Egypt related to the characteristics of its location, lifestyle and activities of the Egyptians?

2) How many nomes were formed in the Nile River valley (what is a “nome”)?

3) What kingdoms arose in Ancient Egypt?

4) Who, when and how united Ancient Egypt into one state? Name the capital.

Asks students to do a self-test and self-assessment according to the criteria (put it in their notebooks).

Children's answers: - how and when was the state formed in the valley (on the banks) of the Nile (Ancient Egypt)? - Why did the state arise in the Nile Valley?

Find information in the textbook

A state is an association of people in one territory, subject to certain authorities and laws.

Individually, find information in the textbook on pages 30-31, write down the main information in a notebook.

Carry out a self-test against the standard.

1) In order to get a good harvest, the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt had to unite to carry out irrigation (build irrigation systems, drain swamps). 2) 40 nomes (nome is a community of people living in a certain territory with an administrative center and ruler) 3) Northern (Lower) Egypt, Southern (Upper) Egypt. 4) King Mina (Menes) in 3100 BC. (conquered Northern Egypt). Memphis.

Regulatory UUD: comparison of what needs to be achieved with what has been achieved.

Cognitive UUD:

general educational – choosing the most effective way to solve a problem,

independent selection of information,

establishing cause-and-effect relationships.

Regulatory UUD: comparison of what needs to be achieved with what has been achieved, evaluation of work results.

Primary consolidation

Invites students to check how they have learned new material.

Organizes teamwork with all students. Step 1 – the text is displayed on the screen, students answer in a chain.

Step 2 – use the interactive whiteboard to fill in the blanks. Both techniques allow you to immediately monitor the correctness of answers and correct errors.

Insert missing words into the text.

Ancient Egypt, one of the oldest states in the world, was located in the northeastern _____________ on the banks of the ________ river. The widest part of the river, where it was divided into “branches”, was called -_______. The main occupation of the ancient Egyptians was ____________________, they also did ____________,

They mined ____________, _____________, _________. To get a good harvest, they strengthened the banks - built ___________, as well as ________________ systems. Gradually, in the valley of ________, ____communities of people were formed - _______, which in a long struggle united into the _____kingdoms__________ and ___________-Egypt. King of _________Egypt in _______BC. united the whole country. Mina founded a new capital - __________.

Communicative UUD: interaction - communicative and speech actions aimed at taking into account the position of the interlocutor (intellectual aspect of communication)

Cognitive UUD: establishing a relationship between given conditions (question, text) and the requirements of the task.

Repetition. Reflection.

Invites students to compare the knowledge gained in the lesson with the table they filled out at the beginning.

What else would you like to know?

What did you learn to do?

Do you think ancient Egypt and modern Egypt are different? Call it what?

Have we solved the problem?

Depict your attitude towards the results of your work in class as a smiley face (hands out templates), show it to each other, the whole class and put it in your notebook.

Offers to write down homework.

If the source from the textbook (p. 32) was not used in the lesson.

They compare what they learned with what they wanted to know. They plan a way to replenish and supplement knowledge.

Answers: - work with a map, - a source, - illustrations, - a textbook.

Find information and use it to complete tasks.

Make assumptions and draw conclusions.

They differ in territory and state borders, capital, lifestyle and activities.

Draw a smiley face and show it in pairs to all students. They thank each other for their work.

Write down your homework: paragraph 5 of the textbook, questions in the text and at the end of the paragraph (p. 31); look again at the map and illustrations in the textbook;

Work orally with the source on page 32 using memo No. 2.

Regulatory UUD:

Assessment of educational activities, identification and awareness by students of what has already been learned and what still needs to be learned, awareness of the quality and level of assimilation, display of the assessment result in a symbolic form.

Application

Handout:

Map of Ancient Egypt (without symbols), link http://megabook.ru/media/Ancient%20Egypt%20 (interactive%20map)

Illustrations are in a separate file.

Technical specifications for working with illustrations in the textbook

Look carefully at the illustrations (pages 28 (except for the map), 29, 30).
When working with illustrations, use Memo No. 6, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
Write a detailed description of the illustrations in your notebook, using all the information received.

Terms of reference for working with written historical sources

When working with a historical source, use Memo No. 2, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
Based on the information received from the source, write a description of Egypt in your notebook or draw up a diagram of the location of Ancient Egypt with symbols and describe it orally.

Diodorus Siculus. Historical library

Diodorus (lived in I. BC) - Greek historian, was born in the city of Agyria on the island of Sicily (that’s why he is called “Sicilian”), for thirty years he worked on the work “Historical Library” in forty books (extant to us 14).

30. Egypt extended mainly (from the north) to the south... From the west it is protected by the Libyan desert, full of wild animals... Of the parts of the country facing the east, they are protected by a river, others are surrounded by desert and swampy places called abysses.

31. ...The fourth side is entirely washed by the Egyptian (Mediterranean) Sea, which has almost no piers...

...So, Egypt is strengthened on all sides by nature itself...

32. ...Having entered Egypt, the Nile ... does not flow in a straight direction, but forms all sorts of twists ... for on each side of the river there are mountains stretching along the shore for a long distance ... The Nile, dividing in the lower part of Egypt into many parts, forms the so-called outline of the Delta. Its sides form the outermost branches of the river, while the base is the sea, which receives the flow of the river. The Nile flows into the sea with seven mouths...

36. To those who see the floods of the Nile, it seems amazing...For while all other rivers begin to decrease during the summer solstice, only this one... day after day increases so much that in the end it floods almost all of Egypt. And since the country is flat and towns and villages lie on artificial embankments, this view is reminiscent of the Cyclades islands.

Questions for the document:

Which state does Diodorus Siculus describe in his memoirs?
Where is this state located?
How is it protected from the west?
How is the eastern part of the country protected?
What sea is the northern part of the country washed by?
What river is the document talking about?
Where does the river originate?
Where does it flow?
What happens to the river when the summer solstice begins?

Self-test according to the standard and evaluation criteria.

1) In order to get a good harvest, the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt had to unite to carry out irrigation (build irrigation systems, drain swamps).

2) 40 nomes (nome is a community of people living in a certain territory with an administrative center and ruler)

3) Northern (Lower) Egypt, Southern (Upper) Egypt.

4) King Mina (Menes) in 3100 BC. (conquered Northern Egypt). Memphis.

Text for initial pinning

Ancient Egypt, one of the oldest states in the world, was located in the northeasternAfrica on the river bank Nile. The widest part of the river, where it was divided into "branches" was called -delta. The main occupation of the ancient Egyptians wasagriculture, that's what they didfishing, trade (craft), mined gold, copper, stones (granite). To get a good harvest, they strengthened the banks - builtdams, and irrigationsystems. Gradually in the valleyNila formed 40 _communities of people -nomov, who in a long struggle united in2 kingdoms Nizhny (North) And Upper (South)-Egypt. Tsar Southern Egypt in 3100 BC united the whole country. Mina founded a new capital -Memphis.