Kwame's+Research+Notes

__ Ancient Egypt: Old Kingdom Research Notes __ Political and Social Organization: ·  The Early king Narmer(__Menziz__) of Egypt stressed the two most important aspects of his kingship—divinity and unification. ·  The king was the "good god" Narmer who originally united and continued to unite the two lands of Upper and Lower Egypt. ·  He was also the upholder of justice, who secured the proper order of life both in nature and in society. ·   As chief priest of all the temples of Egypt, the king was the link between his people and the other gods of the universe, who protected and nourished his land. Theoretically the king ruled because he was a god, and his rule was therefore also absolute. ·  But in practice anyone who had the power to take and hold the throne could claim divinity. Thus some commoners, foreigners, and women became divine kings.

·  The man who held the office of //chancellor// not only controlled the royal treasuries and granaries but also supervised the ballot and collection of taxes. ·  In the Old Kingdom the vizier was often chancellor as well, and later the chancellor was clearly responsible to the vizier. ·  During the “Nile floods” All the administrative organization that held the country together during the Old Kingdom fell apart into chaos; the country splintered apart into dozens of chiefdoms. ·  Each of these chiefs declared themselves king of all Egypt, but their claim was as brief as the wind. The establishment of the Egyptian king pretty much died out as local governors and officials associated themselves with their own region rather than with the king. Plagues & Diseases: ·  After the magnificence and creative energy of the Old Kingdom, the Nile began to a series of poor floods which caused widespread hunger and death.

·  The Egyptian Ipuwer papyrus describes a series of calamities befalling Egypt, including a river turned to blood, men behaving as wild ibises, and the land generally turned upside down. However, this is usually thought to describe a general and long term ecological disaster lasting for a period of decades, such as that which destroyed the Old Kingdom. The document is usually dated to the end of the Middle Kingdom, or more rarely, to its beginning, fitting the Old Kingdom destruction, but in both cases long before the usual theorized dates for the Exodus. And/Or ·  The Plagues of Egypt, the Biblical Plagues or the Ten Plagues are the ten calamities imposed upon Egypt by God in the Bible (as recounted in the book of Exodus, chapters 7 - 12); in order to convince Pharaoh to let the poorly treated Israelite slaves go. The Plagues of Egypt are recognized by Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

·  **Pre-plague: Snake** (Exodus 7:9-12): When Moses came before pharaoh he carried a rod which became a snake. The Court magicians' rods also became snakes, but Moses' rod ate theirs. ·  **Nile** **River** (Exodus 7:14-25): The Nile River was changed to blood. This plague was against the god Hapi, spirit of the Nile in flood and "giver of life to all men." ·  **Frogs** (Exodus 8:1-15): The land was filled with them so that they became objects of loathing. The frog-headed goddess, Hekt (52, 62), played a part in "creation."  ·  **  Lice  **  (Exodus 8:16-19): At present there is no known link between this plague and a god of the Egyptian pantheon. However, the Egyptian magicians, unable to duplicate this plague, attribute it to "the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19), and they withdraw. ·  **Flies, or Beetles** ("insects" -- Exodus 20 - 32): Although it is not clear which insect the Hebrew word 'arob refers to, this plague may have been against Khephera(74), a scarab-headed (104) god regarded as a manifestation of Atum or Ra. ·  **Murrain, or Anthrax** (Exodus 9:1-7): This judgment was against the bull god (revered as early as the Archaic Period (35), and the sacred cattle of Hathor, the cow-headed love goddess.  ·   **Boils** (Exodus 9:8-12): Against the god of healing, Im-Hotep (69), an outstanding nobleman of the Old Kingdom. Although not actually deified until later than the time of the Exodus, he was no doubt revered at this time   ·   **Hail** (Exodus 9:13-15): The sky goddess Nut was "the mother of the sun-god Ra, whom she swallowed in the evening and gave birth to again in the morning" (90). She was especially culpable in this plague in that she was supposed to protect the land from destructions which came down from heaven   ·   **Grasshoppers, or Locusts** (Exodus 10:1-20): The locust-headed god was Senehem. During the plague, the locusts were so thick that the "eye of the earth" was darkened.   ·   **Darkness** (Exodus 10:21-27): One of the greatest gods of Egypt, next to the pharaoh, was the sun (65, 100, and 118). The sun-god Amon-Ra was the principle deity of the pantheon. He made all growth possible ·  **Pharaoh** (Exodus 11-12): The last plague was not only against the supreme god of Egypt, Pharaoh himself, but also against the future pharaoh, his son, the very next god (Horus) of Egypt. He was to die on the same level as animals (not as a god), for the prophecy was that the firstborn of man and cattle would die.

Art Literature and Music: ·  The Old Kingdom was the most dynamic period in the creation of Egyptian art. ·  Architects and Masons master the skills necessary to build monumental structures out of stone. ·  Sculptors formed the earliest portraits of individuals and the first life size statues in wood, copper, and stone. ·  Sculptors also  perfected the art of carving intricate relief decoration and, through keen observation of the natural world. ·  Sculptors made portraits of animals, people, and even landscapes. ·  These images and structures had two main reasons: to ensure an ordered existence and to defeat death by preserving life into the next world. ·  These artists formed a principle for art that would rule over Egypt for more than 3000 years. ·  Most of the art we have acquired from the Old Kingdom came from tombs, walls of the tombs, either the pyramids or tombs of less important people. ·  Massive Limestone usage. ·  Paintings were rarely used ·  Copper was also used widely ·  During this period Hieroglyphic writing reached its sophistication ·  Some Instruments were very simple like a percussion instrument, and some were very complicated such as a harp ·  In the old kingdom the simplest percussion instruments were basically our hands, clapping; this was most depicted on the some Old Kingdom Tombs. ·  Egyptian music was based on a minor pentatonic scale of 5 full notes.

Climate & Graphic Factors: ·  commonly warm and hot days, cool nights ·  Egypt gets less than 80 millimetres of perception each year ·  Summer extends from May to October ·  Winter extends from November to April ·  The Air is usually hot and dry ·  Egypt’s landscape is sandy ·  Blowing winds created a lot of “Sand Dunes”

Events and Leaders: ·  King Narmer(mensis) was one of the greatest kings of the Old Kingdom ·  King Narmer Officiated the unity of upper and lower Egypt ·  One great event in the period of the Old Kingdom is the chaos the fell upon upper and lower Egypt and caused them to break into separate “Chiefdom’s” ·  In each of these “Chiefdom’s” a king ruled over their inhabitants and claimed that he, himself was ruler of all of Egypt and had the closest relationship with the gods, with all the ruler’s of each “Chiefdom” claiming this, it caused tension in between them ·  The 10 plagues that cursed Egypt in its declining years were great controversial events, Scientist believe these events were caused by a swift climate change and have brushed it of as experiencing the four seasons, Religious believers believe the plagues were caused by Pharaoh not responding to Moses’s demand to let his people go

Agriculture and Economy
 * Relied on Nile
 * Relied on nature grazing animals animals.
 * dikes used to protect community from floods.
 * gold, copper, and other metals
 * paid for services through food

__ Bibliography __