“Now I want to talk about Egypt, because this country has more strange and interesting things compared to all other countries.”

Ancient Greek historian Herodotus

Rice. The king of Egypt defeats his opponents. Image on the wall of the tomb

Describe the king's clothing and weapons. Why do you think he was portrayed above other people?

§ 5. The emergence of the state in ancient Egypt

A country among sands. In the northeast of the African continent lies a huge desert. The Nile River flows among its sands. It originates far in the south, in the center of Africa. In the valley and delta of the Nile lies a country that has been called Egypt since ancient times. If you look at Egypt from a bird's eye view, it will seem like a thin green thread stretching among the vast yellow sands. This narrow river valley is full of life. On the muddy banks, near the water, tall reeds grow - papyrus. Further from the shores, where the soil is drier, dense thickets of acacias, fig trees, and date palms rise. The waters and banks of the Nile abound with living creatures. Fish splash in the river, clumsy hippopotamuses graze and important pelicans walk in the coastal backwaters, and huge crocodiles lurk in the thickets of papyrus.

Rice. Ancient Egypt

Locate the Nile Valley and Delta, Upper and Lower Egypt on the map. Which sea does the Nile flow into?

Once a year the Nile overflows its banks. This happens because in the summer there are heavy rains in its upper reaches. The entire valley disappears under water for several months, turning into a huge lake. Only the tops of the hills and the artificial embankments on which the inhabitants of the valley build their settlements remain unflooded.

Rice. Hippopotamus. Ancient Greek figurine

As the flood begins, the clear waters of the Nile turn into a muddy green stream. It is made this way by particles of silt carried from the upper reaches of the river. By mid-autumn the waters subside and the river returns to its banks. The soil of the valley is filled with moisture and covered with a layer of soft fertile silt. It can be easily processed, and the grains will yield a bountiful harvest.

The formation of a unified Ancient Egyptian state. People settled the valley of Egypt many thousands of years ago. Since ancient times, their main occupation was agriculture. The climate of Egypt is hot, dry, and there is practically no rain here. The only source of moisture for farmers' fields was the waters of the Nile. But its floods happened only once a year, and the rest of the time it was necessary to water the crops, drawing water from the river. Over time, people learned to dig canals through which river water flowed to the fields. But such work was beyond the strength of one family or even an entire village. Several rural communities had to unite to build canals. To supervise the work, the community members elected a special person - a nomarch (head of the nome). Gradually, he became the sole ruler of the territory under his control - the nome - and began to transfer his power by inheritance.

In ancient times, there were about forty nomes in Egypt. Their rulers sought to subjugate their neighbors and seize more fertile lands. After a long struggle, all the nomes of the Nile Delta were united into the state of Lower Egypt. At its head was the king. At the same time, another state was formed in the south of the country - Upper Egypt. Around 3000 BC. e. the king of Upper Egypt subjugated Lower Egypt and united the entire country under his rule.

Rice. The king of Upper Egypt wins the battle. Image on a stone slab

A powerful kingdom was formed, stretching from the rapids of the Nile in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the north. Its capital was the city of Memphis.

How was the Ancient Egyptian state structured? At the head of the united Egypt was a ruler who was called the pharaoh. He owned all the power in the country and all the land in the state. The nobles were subordinate to the pharaoh: closest advisers, military leaders, nomarchs. They administered justice, punished the guilty, supervised the construction of roads and canals, and collected taxes for the treasury. The nobles were helped to govern the country by officials, who in Egypt were called scribes.

The majority of Egypt's population were farmers. Each of them received from the pharaoh a small plot (allotment) of land on which they could farm. For the use of the plot, farmers paid a tax to the pharaoh. If taxes were not submitted on time, those responsible were punished.

The lowest level in Egyptian society was occupied by slaves. Usually these were prisoners captured in the war. Slaves had neither land nor property and had to work for their master - the pharaoh or nobleman.

Let's sum it up

On the fertile lands of the Nile Valley, the Ancient Egyptian state was formed - one of the oldest on Earth.

Nobles- the most famous and rich people.

3000 BC e. Formation of a unified Ancient Egyptian state.

Questions and tasks

1. What significance did the Nile floods have for the Egyptian economy?
2. What, in your opinion, was the main reason for the emergence of the state in Ancient Egypt? What role did the natural conditions and occupations of its inhabitants play in this process?
3. Tell us about the emergence of the first states in Egypt.
4. When and how was the unified Ancient Egyptian state formed?
5. What was the structure of the Egyptian state? Who made up the bulk of its population?

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.

The boundaries of ancient Egypt proper were 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, sandy ledges of the Libyan Plateau crowded towards the river, and 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).

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, full-flowing White Nile flows towards it through the 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 ten times greater than the usual norm, breaking through the neck of the first Nile rapids, gradually floods the whole of Egypt. 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.

Moistened soil, ready for sowing, in the Nile Valley is black. Kemet, which means Black, was what its ancient inhabitants called their country.

“The Egyptian soil is black, loose, precisely because it consists of silt carried by the Nile from Ethiopia” (Herodotus “Muses”, Book Two “Euterpe”, 12).

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 and 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 connected with the water regime of the Nile and ensured the cultivation of one crop per year, which under these conditions ripened in winter (sowing began only in November, after the flood) and was harvested in early spring.

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 nom.

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 walled city, the residence of the ruler of the nome and his entourage; there was also a temple of the local deity.

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; 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 became part of as local administrative and economic units (while retaining their originality and tendency to isolation 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. 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 Egyptian 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.

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.

By the end of the 4th millennium BC. The long predynastic period of Egyptian history 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 emergence of Egyptian writing also dates back to the end of the predynastic period. From this time the history of dynastic Egypt begins.

Manetho considers the unifier of Egypt (about 3000 BC) to be a king named Menes (Mina), the founder of the First Dynasty. He can probably be identified with the king who in the ancient Egyptian chronicles bore the throne name Hor-Aha (“Horus the Fighter”). 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. Less was topped by 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 did not want to admit its defeat for a long time, and bloody military clashes took place there throughout almost the entire Early Kingdom.

However, the opinion about the creation of a single centralized state in Egypt under Pharaoh Menes has been criticized in modern scientific literature. The unification of the state cannot be considered a one-time act of this pharaoh. It was the result of the actions of a number of rulers over many years, as mentioned above, it was a painful, bloody, violent process.

Similar processes took place in the ancient Mesopotamia and other states of the Ancient East, as well as in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Periodization of the history of dynastic Egypt from the semi-legendary king Menes 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. Manetho, 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. h.e. 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 the original 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 the named kingdoms is divided into dynasties, ten for each kingdom - 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 classified as the Early Kingdom, and the last, starting with the XXI dynasty, are classified as the Later Kingdom.

ANCIENT WORLD HISTORY:
East, Greece, Rome/
I.A.Ladynin and others.
M.: Eksmo, 2004

Chapter

EAST

Chapter II.

Ancient Egypt until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

3. The emergence of early states
in the Nile Valley (second half of the 4th millennium BC)

A powerful leap in the development of ancient Egyptian society occurred with the beginning of the II predynastic period (c. XXXVI-XXXI centuries BC, the time of the archaeological cultures of Gerze/Nagada II and Semain/Nagada III). The settlements became larger, turning into early cities, and the burials began to differ in wealth, which indicates the emergence of a property elite. Writing is born.

Many finds of this period have analogies in the cultures of Asia, which led a number of scientists to think about the conquest of Egypt by a people invading from the East, who allegedly created the Egyptian state (the so-called “dynastic race”). In reality, these analogies are the result of intensive trade contacts between Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean (and through it with more distant countries; this is how Central Asian lapis lazuli got to Egypt). Apparently, by the beginning of this period, Egyptian society had reached the level of early statehood - the stage of identifying the state apparatus.

The first states of Egypt were small in size and arose from associations of communities that supported economic cooperation and gravitated towards a common center of cult and power, which also served as a place for storing common supplies, a center for crafts and trade (these were the largest settlements of the second half of the 4th millennium BC AD). The emergence of state power was stimulated by the need for the development and consolidation of irrigation systems, and it arose primarily in the course of joint activities of communities to create them. Subsequently, Upper Egypt was divided into 22, and Lower Egypt - into 20 small districts-nomes (as ancient authors called the regions of Egypt; their rulers, who often transferred their powers by inheritance, are designated in science by the Greek term “nomarch”), with their own cults and traditions of the local authorities. These nomes go back to the most ancient states of the 2nd predynastic period (towards the end of it the first images of the sacred emblems of nomes, known even later, are found).

For a long time it was believed that as a result of wars between nomes, two large states were formed - Upper Egyptian, with the capital in Hierakonpolis (Greek; Egyptian name - Nekhen; in science, Egyptian cities are often mentioned under their ancient Greek names), and Lower Egyptian, with the capital in The city of Buto (Egyptian Pe-Dep; the Egyptians themselves later considered Buto and Hierakonpolis to be their most ancient cult centers). Then, by the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. Upper Egyptian kings conquered the Nile Delta and unified the country. New archaeological evidence has shown that the course of events was more complex. Apparently, by the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e. in Upper Egypt there were several relatively large (consisting of more than one nome each) states; by the 32nd century. BC e. pulled together into two kingdoms with centers in Hierakonpolis (southern Upper Egypt) and Thinis (its north-central part). At the same time, the kingdom of Hierakonpolis tried to subjugate the regions of Nubia bordering it from the south, and the kingdom of Tinis tried to subjugate the states of Lower Egypt (the center of one of them could indeed be the city of Buto). OK. XXXI century BC e. King Narmer of Thinis subjugated the kingdom of Hierakonpolis, after which he conquered the Nile Delta.

The victories of the Upper Egyptian kings and important rituals with their participation were immortalized on the monuments of Narmer, as well as his predecessors. There are clearly more military scenes, and the names of the kings often compare them with some ferocious animal; therefore, there is no doubt that the kings of the late II predynastic period in Egypt were military rulers who no longer experienced any restrictions on their power from the bodies of communal self-government. As you can see, the initial stage of state formation, when such bodies still played an important role, in Egypt back in the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. was replaced by the sole power of hereditary military leaders (obviously, the inter-nome wars in the Nile Valley, due to the narrowness of its borders, were particularly intense and fierce, which strengthened the role of such military leaders). By the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. the power of the kings acquires a sacred character: they are compared with the god Horus (this is expressed in special names, which are written in combination with the image of a falcon that embodies this god) and are depicted in special, also revered white and red crowns (later they were combined, symbolizing a single power over Upper and Lower Egypt).

State formation in the Nile Valley 5th grade

1.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.
• About 10 thousand years ago, people settled in the Nile valley and delta.
• The territory where Ancient Egypt was located was well protected from external enemies. So, in the south there were mountain ranges and rapids of the Nile.

1.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.
• Fishing flourished in the Nile; large animals were inhabited by crocodiles and hippopotamuses. The river was a means of transportation.
• 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.

2. Formation of the state

• Gradually, a community of people living in a certain territory and associated with a specific irrigation system arose. They had an administrative center - a city surrounded by walls. It housed the ruler and his entourage, and also housed the temple of the local deity. Such associations are called “nomes” in science. By the time the Egyptian state was formed, there were about forty such 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.

• Mysteries of history

• Scientists, speaking about dates in the history of the Ancient East, often use the words “approximately”, “probably”, “approximately”. This is explained by the fact that each ancient people had their own time, their own ways of measuring it, and it was counted from different sources. Thus, the ancient Egyptians counted their dates from the time of accession to the throne of the new ruler. They wrote, for example, that such and such an event happened in the eighth year of the reign of Ramesses II.

• ● The main wealth of Ancient Egypt was the water and fertile silt that the Nile provided. But only people created conditions favorable for their residence in these places.

• ● Around 3000 BC. e. A unified Egyptian kingdom arose.

HOMEWORK

• PARAGRAPH 5
• QUESTIONS PAGE

The predynastic period is characterized by the emergence of agriculture on future lands, the formation of primary slave states and the appearance of writing. All this happened in the period from the fifth to the third millennium BC, so historians conditionally divide this rather long stage into two periods. The emergence of a state in the valley of a single river occurred after the collapse of tribal relations and the unification of all the people inhabiting this territory into a single society.
Early Kingdom Egypt includes three dynastic periods. Egyptologists are confident that it lasted from 3120 to 2649 BC. e. The Archaic era gave way to the Tinis period, which in turn developed into the so-called Early Dynastic. Having written language, the first dynasty already kept chronicles, the state was engaged in irrigating the river valley and even had its own army. The temples of that period were simple, and due to the lack of preserved architectural monuments, fine art can be judged only through a few tombs. Mastabas, as they were called, had the shape of a truncated, that is, partially rebuilt pyramid, with a burial chamber underground, as well as several auxiliary rooms. It was the walls of the interior that were covered with paintings and reliefs. Considering that each mastaba consisted of two parts, a visible above-ground one and a hidden underground one, the latter was considered more important for burial. The mummy was placed in a burial pit, and a chapel was made in the upper lobe.
It is important to note that the Egyptians, as early as three thousand years BC, achieved a good level of knowledge in astronomy and geometry, and also developed foreign maritime trade. Memphis became the capital of the first state and King Menes ruled there, uniting the lower and upper kingdoms.

The Old Kingdom, genetically related to the Early Kingdom, as the second most important period of ancient Egypt, includes the reign of subsequent dynasties, from the third to the sixth. The state became united, strong, powerful, an economic balance appeared and, no less important, a military-political structure. Naturally, this became a prerequisite for cultural flourishing and gave descendants a luxurious heritage. The most significant changes during the transition from one period to another affected the tombs of the pharaohs, since nothing changed globally in other areas, and the ruling dynasties were related to each other. By the way, at that time the capital was still Memphis. The first Egyptian pyramids, which the whole world now admires, mobilized many peasants and artisans. Of course, this was a very large-scale and serious construction. The reasons for the change in the shape of the tombs and the abandonment of the usual scale are not thoroughly known, but it is clear that this could have been an autocratic decision of the ruler.
The social system of Ancient Egypt would be the envy of some modern states, since it was literate and pyramidal. At the top, with absolute power, was the pharaoh. He was considered the incarnation of God and was the owner of everything, for example, lands, everything that grows and lives on them. The legislative, executive and, of course, judicial powers were in the hands of the ruler and were completely controlled by him. Next came the nobles, servants and work detachments. Numerous surviving documents, explanatory inscriptions in tombs and countless images show the outline of the royal economy and indicate the existence of temple and personal, private households.
The delta and valley gave the people the opportunity to actively engage in agriculture, so the state placed great emphasis on irrigation. Before this, irrigation farming also prevailed, since the unique nature itself gave the Egyptians this unique opportunity, but almost all of the country’s soil was alluvial, so the population annually depended on the level of floods and the natural regulation of the fertility of water sediments. Poultry farming, livestock raising, fishing and even gardening fed the entire country, and the grain grown, for example, was often sent down the Nile. Viticulture and flax cultivation provided drinks and clothing, so the state was self-sufficient and prosperous. Tools made of stone and copper significantly increased the level of productivity and made it possible to develop construction, hence the growing cities and settlements.
Everything would have been wonderful, but after the end of the reign of the sixth dynasty of the Memphis kings, the country broke up into many principalities and was divided into nomes. Of course, this promised inevitable decline and the onset of a transition period.
In general terms, the entire era of the Old Kingdom is perfectly illustrated by one very interesting fact, which, by the way, is unique in world history. Pharaoh Pepi II, from the last ruling dynasty, was on the throne for a long 94 years and this period is still the longest reign.