The rise and fall of the ancient Egypt
The ancient Egypt has thousands of years of civilizations. During this time-honored history, the political, economic, military and religious system that was unique to Egypt was formed. Despite the fact that this system had helped the Egypt to gain relative stability in ancient time as compared with other nations, it is still necessary to note that it is this uniqueness that is also the underlying reason for the fall of the ancient Egypt.
First of all, it goes without saying that the ideal geographical position of the ancient Egypt that had contributed a lot to the stability of ancient Egypt. Because of the climate reason, people in the North Africa began to concentrate around the Nile, which thus became
…show more content…
“They had a kind who to them was a living god on earth, not merely heaven’s chosen. They worshiped deities endowed with human bodies and animal heads or incarnated in crocodiles, bulls, cats, and other creatures, and they continued to do so long after they had become a sophisticated people.” (). From this sentence it is fair to say that people in ancient Egypt were willing to follow their king piously, which greatly facilitated the Pharaohs in governing the nation. Egypt people referred to their king as the Pharaoh. The Egyptians believed that their Pharaohs had the same power as the gods. Under the Pharaoh, there were some officials who enjoyed privileges in the ancient Egypt. They enjoyed high social status, land and slaves, leading an extravagant life. By contrast, the peasants, handcrafts and businessmen were the civilians who lead a stable yet tough and poor life whereas the slaves had been leading a life without the basic guarantee. Under the leadership of the Pharaohs, the ancient Egypt gained rapid development and stability in many aspects. Ancient Egypt had been a nations featuring centralization for a long time. The Pharaohs has all the power including the legislative power, executive power, judicial power and religious power. The Pharaohs had a set of governmental institutions including the central government and the local government responsible for the governance of the different regions in the
The Nile shaped Egypt by influencing its geography, popular distribution, and settlements. The majority of settlements in Ancient Egypt were located around the Nile River Delta (Doc. A), where land was fertile, trade was good, and there were many natural resources. Because of geography in this civilization, Egyptians could easily protect and defend themselves, as well as settle down and have good lives.
Egypt would be nothing without their famous government and rulers. The biggest, most important ruler, of Ancient Egypt, was and is the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was the most vital leader to not just of the government, but also of the religion in Egypt. There were tears of the Egyptian government. So, under the pharaoh, was the vizier. A vizier is the main overseer of the land. The other officials reported to vizier each day. Under the vizier, were the Nomarks. They rule over a certain area of land called a nome. Almost like a governor. A nome was almost like a state. The role of a nomark would be hereditary and be passed down from father to son. The laws of Ancient Egypt were believed to be partially codified. There were 8 books that set out the legal code. Most people believe that Egyptian law was based on common sense and the view of right and wrong. This is how Egyptian’s complex religion helped make Egypt a working civilization.
Ancient Egypt was a captivating and intricate civilization. Over the years, historians have found it easier to study this civilization, rather than other historical civilizations, because the Egyptians went through great lengths to record their history. Besides being decent record keepers, they were very religious, and “ahead of their time,” due to their technological and economic breakthroughs. Because of the aspects of this culture, it has to be one of the greatest civilizations of the world.
The Ancient Egyptians government would be compared to as a kind of monarchy. Their King was called the Pharaoh and everyone in the civilization listened to everything that he said. Every Law and Business transaction went through this man. In our day we have only one leader but thousands of others that decide the laws of our country. We also have a vice president in America, if I had to pick a person to be the vice president of a Pharaoh in Egypt it would be the man called the vizier's. He was also well respected in the community and mostly was involved in the business aspect of the Pharaoh's job. The people of the Egyptian community really had no influence in the pharaoh's decisions, unlike America where we vote on all of our government officials. We also have people that don't allow our president to gain too much power, Unlike the Egyptians, where the Pharaoh had all the power in the community.
As widely admired civilizations both Ancient Egypt and ancient Greece prospered for many years, and is due to its political governing. In ancient Egypt the Pharaoh was perceived to be the embodiment of the all mighty sun god, and regarded him as a god himself. Therefore the Pharaoh was the ruler of all of Egypt and citizens did not have a say in politics. Egyptian class structure is best portrayed by
The people groups in ancient Egyptian were very different than our societies social groups today. Ancient Egyptians were grouped in a hierarchical system with the Pharaoh at the top and farmers and slaves at the bottom. The groups of people nearest to the top of society were the richest and most powerful. The Pharaoh was believed to be a god on earth and had the most power. He was responsible for making laws and keeping order. Ensuring that Egypt was not attacked or invaded by enemies and for keeping the gods happy so that the Nile flooded and there was a good harvest. The Vizier was the Pharaoh's chief advisor
The pharaoh served as the ruler, as the people believed that the pharaoh was the closest thing to a god on
Ancient Egypt is such an interesting and amazing society to study due to the various factors that allowed the city and population to thrive. The culture, quite different to other cultures around the world in ancient times, developed quite unique traditions, technologies and ideas. Small features of this society including aligning the 4 corners of the pyramids and being able to divide the year into 365 days makes it truly fascinating, The main reason that this society was able to thrive and be successful can be attributed to the great Nile River. Due to this people were able to settle which lead to the creation of a surplus, which could be sustained for around 2000 years.
Government and Religion were inseparable , the Pharaoh lead the Government and represented the Gods in Human form. the egyptian people would also use temples to worship Gods on a daily basis. The society was built on order, law and defending the country for the people, and to make sure they were taken care of. The hierarchy enabled Egypt to create stability and organization, from the Pharaoh to the farmers for 3000 years.
Before Egypt was ruled over by Rome, it was a major religious and political center. The Pharaohs ruled over Egypt was a strong fist, and acted benevolently towards their people, as they were seen as protectors of the natural order. This is due to the fact that Egyptian politics is intertwined with religion. Egyptian religion was much more complex than any other belief system in the surrounding area. This is due to the idea that separate interpretations of religion do not contradict each other, but instead are both accepted equally among members of the society.
“As the pharaohs lost legitimacy and fell prey to feuding among rivals for the throne, regional elites replaced the authority of the centralized state. Egypt, which had been one of the most stable corners of Afro-Eurasia, endured more than a century of tumult before a new order emerged. ”(page 88, Worlds Together, Worlds Apar) The ancient Egyptian soil was closely distributed in the narrow area around the Nile, and the ancient Egyptians achieved great success in agricultural production by managing and controlling the annual flooding of the Nile. In 3000 years of ancient Egyptian civilization, they built a huge pyramid, temple, obelisk, founded at that time the world's most advanced
Although Egyptians were polytheistic, they worshiped the sun god, Atum or Re, as he was the source of life. This is important because the Egyptian king took the title of “Son of Re”. The king, hence the descendant of the god, was the mother and father of all men without equal. The king akin to the living god, and his rule was law. Despite there being no laws, the words out of the king’s mouth were the law. As a king, he handles the army to protect his possessions and people.
Egyptians began to settle along the banks of the Nile River, Starting as far north as to the city of Alexandria all the way down south to Aswan. They developed into a well-structured society as Far East to the Red Sea and west to Dakhia, Oasis among many (Figure 1.). The Nile River reached far lending a hand in creating a well-known civilization that consisted of building pyramids and producing crops for their pharaoh. Evolving from hunters and gatherers into agriculturalists throughout history, Egypt has claimed to be one of the earliest and most spectacular civilizations of ancient times. One could wonder if, what led to the collapse of this great society resulted from the Egyptians interaction with the environment by overusing
First and foremost, Ancient Egypt was structured in the form of a pyramid. The top of the pyramid of course was the gods. These gods included Ra, Osiris, and Iris, and according to the people of Egypt, these gods controlled almost the entire earth. Leaders in Egypt were called pharaohs so they were believed to be Gods in human form which is amazing. The ruler in status were powerful nobles and priests. Only nobles could hold government posts and in those positions they profited from tributes paid to the pharaoh. Priests were responsible for pleasing the gods. While soldiers fought in wars or quelled domestic uprisings. When there was no war to fight, the soldiers supervised
Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest ancient civilizations in human history. Ancient Egypt was the longest lasting civilization in the ancient world and lasted for about 2,500 years. ancient Egypt was able to last so long because of their many great accomplishments. The most important thing that lead to the accomplishments and success of ancient Egypt was The Nile River. Ancient Egypt is often referred to as the “Gift of the Nile” because of how important the Nile River was to the success and longevity of ancient Egypt. Without the Nile River, ancient Egypt would have never been able to things like farm, use papyrus, build boats, trade or fish. The Nile River was the sole reason as to why ancient Egypt was able to become so successful.