The Ancient Egyptian Empire originated on the Nile River more than 5000 years ago in ancient times. The rulers of the land were the pharaohs. A pharaoh was something like a king. The kingdom of the ancient Egyptians is best known today for the pyramids and other structures made of oversized blocks of stone. Pictures and writings from this period have also been found.
For millennia, Egypt was a powerful country on the Mediterranean Sea. But about 300 BC, 2300 years ago, Alexander the Great conquered the Egyptian Empire: since then, Greeks ruled Egypt or Egyptians who knew Greek. And about 2000 years ago, Egypt joined the Roman Empire. Later, rulers who believed in Islam conquered the country.
Nowadays, there is again a separate state called Egypt . Its culture is not the same as that of ancient Egypt, but they are still proud of it. People all over the world are interested in pharaohs and pyramids.
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Why is the Nile so important?
The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It flows mainly through the desert before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. However, he comes from an area in Africa that rains heavily for months. When the Nile carried this muddy flood to the Mediterranean Sea, it inundated the low-lying valley and deposited fertile mud. As soon as the floods receded, the people could grow everything they needed as farmers and what the priests, soldiers, and scribes of the pharaoh needed on the moist and fertilized fields.
After the flood, the cultivated areas had to be remeasured and redistributed. Characters were used to note what had to be saved for bad times when the Nile brought less mud with it. Early on, leaders and their warriors could dominate large stretches of the Nile. Leaders then became kings who ruled larger and larger parts of Egypt. Religion made this king a lord like a god who had to be obeyed at all times.
Why was The Empire of Egypt a great empire?
A distinction is made between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt was much more significant: the long, thin strip of fertile land along the Nile. Lower Egypt was the small section at the end of the Nile. The river splits into several branches before flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. This is called a river delta. Many people lived in the Nile delta, which is still the case today.
Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt were united and separated several times again. After that, the period of the Old Kingdom began, from 2700 to 2200 BC. The later sections are called the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. In between, there were always times of war in the country when it was not sure who was actually in charge.
The life of priests and office workers in the Egyptian Empire
Priests enjoyed special privileges in Egypt. They lived tax-free, earned well, and also had social influence. Another distinguished class included the administrators, primarily nobles and the so-called scribes. Their job was to collect taxes and administer justice. Egypt was a bureaucratic state: there were around 1,600 professions and titles. The crowd of civil servants made sure that the people worked. Absences or downtimes due to illness were logged and had to be reworked.
Taxation laws were simple and effective. The water level of the Nile was used to calculate how much the farmers had to pay off. If the level of the Nile was high, this indicated a good harvest, and the farmers had to reckon with high taxes. The structures of the significant administrative economy functioned for several millennia.
The workers and artisans belonged to the largest class. With a lot of work, they could make a modest fortune. The goal of this class was, similar to today, your own four walls.
Representation of the Egyptian Empire
The Pharaos in the Ancient Egyptian Empire
In the long history of the Egyptian empire, there were many pharaohs. Some of them are said to have ruled for hundreds of years. In reality, what is meant is that a line of fathers and sons were in power, a dynasty. Some pharaohs were particularly important, or much is known about them today.
In the Egyptian Empire, the pharaohs were considered gods incarnate. Even after their death, they should continue to watch over their people from the afterlife – their subjects built them monumental buildings for this purpose.
The most important Pharaohs
1. Cheops
Cheops was a pharaoh in the Old Kingdom. He built a pyramid in which he was buried after his death. The Pyramid of Cheops is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
2. Akhenaten and Nefertiti
Akhenaten and Nefertiti were pharaohs and pharaohs around 1300 BC. It was believed that Akhenaten abolished all Egyptian gods for a long time, so everyone believed in only one god: Aten, the sun. Today we know that the other gods continue to be worshiped. But Aton was critical to Akhenaten. The art of this time also looks different than before and after: A picture shows the pharaoh with his family, as is customary in everyday life.
3. Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun was not a very important pharaoh per se. He became the pharaoh as a child and did not rule for very long. But robbers did not find his grave. It was almost undamaged when scientists discovered it in 1922. His death mask, meaning the sculpture over the face of the dead pharaoh, became famous.
4. Ramses II
Ramses II was a great builder. Many temples and giant statues of him were built during his long reign. He reigned from 1279 to 1213 BC – longer than any other pharaoh. During this time, he had many wives and over 80 children. His sons were buried in a massive tomb with over 100 chambers. After a great battle, Ramses signed the first peace treaty in history with one of his neighbors.
He also built a large city in the Nile Delta called Ramsesstadt. Here some Hebrews lived as enslaved people and had to do hard labor. Moses found this unfair and went with them through the wilderness to Israel., At least, that’s what the Bible says.
5. Cleopatra
Cleopatra became the first female pharaoh. She was very adept at becoming a ruler in place of her brother. In their time, Romans fought against each other, namely Antony and Octavian, who was later called Augustus. Cleopatra and Antony became lovers, but Octavian was victorious in the Roman civil war. Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.
If you are interested in jewelry, the following link to Amazon will offer suggestions for Egyptian pendants considered in ancient Egypt as suitable fortune necklaces.
Conclusion
For a long time, little was known about the ancient Egyptians. Wise men of Ancient Greece reported a little of it, such as Herodotus. People were also interested in Egyptian writing in Europe as early as the modern period.
Around the year 1800, France fought Britain. French soldiers also came to Egypt in this war, along with scientists. These scientists wrote down much of what they saw and experienced. It took almost ten years to complete her book on it: Description of Egypt. A few years later, these findings helped to finally be able to read the Egyptian script, the hieroglyphs. This was particularly important to know what the Egyptians had said and thought.
Ancient Egypt was always in trend when something significant was found. An example of this is Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. Scary films about living mummies were soon being made. They also made clothes or furniture reminiscent of ancient Egypt. Today there are museums in Egypt and many major cities worldwide that show what it was like in ancient Egypt.
