Ancient Egypt

Introduction

Ancient Egypt was, at first, a series of city-states along the Nile, divided into two halves; Upper and Lower Egypt. The Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world; it is mellow and easily navigated. It also floods very regularly and provides easy irrigation, a source of drinking water, fertile soil, and transportation. Egypt’s population increased, people began to specialize in certain types of labour, and a complex society developed.

In 3150 BCE, the area was unified. There are three major periods of stability: The Old Kingdom, the first period of stability after unification (2575 - 2130), the Middle Kingdom (2040 - 1640), and the New Kingdom (1539 - 1075).

Arts, Science, and Technology

Most writings near the beginning were religious, but as it evolved, more and more non-religious transcriptions became common. Hieroglyphics were evolved and adapted into the hieratic, which made it easier to write. The demotic version made it even easier than the hieratic. These changes were needed and made in the interest of record-keeping and more professional instances. Hieroglyphics stayed the preferred way of storytelling.

Egyptians believed that if they created these pieces of art depicting a perfect world, the underworld and the perished Pharaohs would manifest a good life for Egypt forever. They also believed that in the next life, their drawings would come to life, so many people made themselves look youthful, happy, and successful.

Egyptians had no form of proper building tools that we have today such as excavators and large forklifts, they had to carry a lot of the stone that made up the pyramids on their own, without wheels. They also had to manually level the ground, and the stone they used was incredibly difficult to mine away without specific hand tools.

The measurement of time in ancient Egypt is almost entirely based on specific experiences that depended on the closeby around them; the time calculations wouldn’t be the same if it was taken in a dryer area. It also didn’t have any room for smaller increments of time than the hours; no seconds or minutes.

Ancient Egyptian medication was still primarily based on religion and magic, and prayers were most often chosen to cure an illness or any injury before any scientific medication was applied to the affliction. Other than that, though, many things stayed the same, but adapted with modern technology and especially the industrial revolution; bone saw blades, treatments for specific common illnesses in Egypt, surgery, and fixing broken bones.

Gods and Myths

God of the Sun
Depicted as a man with a falcon head
First Pharaoh to exist
His boat was believed to be the sun.
Created and controlled the sun cycle.
At night, he slayed beasts in the underworld.
Defeated the god Amun and became the all-powerful Amun-Ra.

Osiris

God of the Dead
Depicted as a Mummy; symbolizes death.
Killed by Seth, but bought back to half-life.
Became the god of the underworld.
Judged the dead.

Min

God of fertility and agriculture.
Oversaw the travelers in the Eastern Deserts.
Masculine figure covered in shrouds and an erect penis.
Symbolized as a head of lettuce; a commonly believed aphrodisiac.

Mummification

Egyptians were very good at mummification.
Some mummies are over 5000 years old.
Mummification is important in order to go to the afterlife.
Mummification is a 70-day process.
All organs were removed except for the heart.
The brain was removed through the nostrils.
Special jars were used to store the organs in the tombs; they were called Canopic jars.
- The kind of form the mummified Pharaoh told them which organs to guard.
- Baboons - Small Intestine
- Jackals - Stomach
Natron was used to dry the body; salt with a high concentration of sodium bicarbonate.
After the mummy was dried, it was wrapped in linen.
- Often decorated with spells and charms.
A death mask was placed over the face, and the mummy and the mask were sealed in a coffin.