The Palette Of King Narmer

The first reason the Nile River shaped Ancient Egypt was by setting the calendar. The Nile River Flood Cycle Chart shows that Akhet was the flood season and lasted from mid-June to mid-October (Doc B). The flood season flooded the fields and fertilized the the soil with silt. When the fields flooded it was a sign for the farmers that planting season was coming. The Nile River Flood Cycle Chart states, ¨crops in the Lower Nile harvested and sent to the market.” (Doc B). This season was called Shemu and it was from mid-February to mid- June. The farmers knew what to do when that season came because of the Nile’s flood cycle. All in all this is how the Nile shaped

Egypt has one of the longest histories of any nation in the world. Written history of Egypt dates back to about 5,000 years, the commencement of civilization. While there is divergence in relation to Early Egyptian times, it is said that Egypt came to be around 3200 B.C., during the reign of a king by the name of Menes and unified the northern and southern cities of Egypt into one government. In 1675 B.C., Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos, people from the east, bringing along the very first of chariots and horses ever to come across Egyptian soil. Approximately 175 years later in 1500 B.C., the Egyptians had gotten rid of the Hyksos and driven them out. In 1375 B.C., Amenhotep IV had become the king of Egypt.

During the annual flood its waters brought a rich deposit of fertile soil on the valley floor. Foliage was far more prolific and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals began to be domesticated. Small tribes began living in the Nile valley in about 5550 B.C. This was the first of a series of cultures that began to demonstrate firm control of agriculture and animals. The Amratian and Gerzeh cultures brought a number of technological improvements such as mud brick buildings that allowed for better living as a permanent residence. The Naqada was also a well known culture that manufactured a diverse selection of material goods. They even began to use written symbols during the later phases of the

Around 3500 B.C, the first ancient River Valley Civilizations were formed. The Nile was the first civilization in the River Valley. Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia were three of these civilizations, that contributed crucial things for societies to come.

Nomads, Chariots, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000 - 1200 BCE During the second millennium of 2000-1200 BCE was a period of migrations, wars and construction of Afro-Eurasia. While the riverine cities were flourishing in the fourth and the third millennium BCE in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus River Valley, the increased droughts and deserts shook the agricultural economy. Since there was a climate change in these areas and droughts, farmers had to make radical changes in their lifestyle. An example of how the climate changed these ancient societies includes the fall of Egyptian Kingdom, due to the drought of the Nile River, which usually had annually monsoons that helped the Egyptians flourish (Tignor et al, 2008).

Around 40 million people, half of Egypt’s population, lived in the Nile Delta region. The Nile flowed up towards the delta, making it easy for the Ancient Egyptians to trade goods, have water, and plant crops. The Nile river shaped Ancient Egyptian society by providing a seasonal calendar, an irrigation system to help with crops, and safe, secured, settlement lands. The Nile river helped shape Ancient Egypt Society by providing a seasonal calendar which dictated the harvest cycle.

Because they grew only one crop per year, the nutrients were not depleted quickly and of course, each flood washed new fertile sediment onto the floodplains where they planted their crops. (Struggle Over the Nile).

There are debates amongst scholars as to whether king Narmer acted alone in his unification efforts. It is proposed that Narmer’s predecessor Menes started the process of unification of which Narmer completed. Some scholars believe that Menes and Narmer were the same person. The unification of Egypt was may have not been the doing of just a single man, but, like most important historical events, was a long process of time and evolution, of which alliances and marriages were involved. "Replacée dans cette analyse, l 'unification apparaît moins comme une conquête que comme un phénomène d 'assimilation du Nord par le Sud; mais dans ce processus la guerre constitue l ' une des composantes. Parce qu 'elle est valorisante pour le vainqueur, elle sera exaltée

On a cultural, economic and political level, Egypt has been largely shaped by the idiosyncrasies of its various rulers. Egypt’s first leap towards becoming an advanced civilisation began with King Narmer’s unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Although the first 200 years of Egypt’s unification do not appear to have been peaceful, cultural development accelerated ahead during the early dynasties. The tensions between the North and South throughout Egypt’s second dynasty continued to grow until Khasekhemwy’s ascension to the throne. As the last King of the Second Dynasty, he is widely recognised as the King that resolved the conflict between the two sides, however, how this was achieved is not known.

Menes was a pharaoh in the first dynasty. He was born around the 3200 BCE. Menes was very powerful and went by many names. Two of his names were Narmer and Scorpion king. Menes wanted even more power. So he tried to unify upper and lower Egypt. His armies took control of Lower Egypt. He then married a princess from Lower Egypt to strengthen his control over the newly unified country. Menes wore both the white crown of Upper Egypt and the red crown of Lower Egypt to show his leadership over the two kingdoms. Later, he combined the two crowns into a double crown. Many historians consider Menes to be the first pharaoh of Egypt. Menes founded Egypt's first dynasty which lasted for 200 years. Menes build a new capital

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

Document B, a chart of “The Nile River Flood Cycle,” written by Katherine Hinds was written to explain how the different seasons of Egypt were affected by the river’s flood cycle. Hinds’ view on the river’s flood cycle may be influenced by the fact that she will unintentionally compare ancient Egypt’s different seasons to modern times, however, this bias is not evident in the text. The seasons mentioned were Akhet, the flood season, Peret, the planting and growing season, and Shemu, the harvest season. Akhet took place in mid-June to mid-October, and in these months the fields were subjected to flooding, due to the surrounding river, which meant farmers were provided with more labor such as canal repair. Peret came to pass in mid-October to mid-February where enough time has passed for the water to subside and supply irrigation canals, in which crops were planted and sustained until Shemu, which took place until the cycle resumed its place in Akhet, where they were then harvested and sold in the market. The document’s intent was to express how the different seasons were useful to everyday life long ago. It is significant because it shows how people were employed and citizens were provided with

Jean-Pierre Corteggiani from the French Institute of Oriental Archeology states that “the Nile is therefore life itself to Egypt.” He said that the eastern part of the desert of Sahara would be nothing without the water supplied by the Nile river. Water was life at the time of the ancient Egyptian civilization. The source of life of this river comes from the mountains of Ethiopia, 2,000 kilometers from the Delta. However, between the months of June to September when is storm season, the Nile river overflows becoming a sea converting nearby cities into islands. Therefore, Egyptians tried to keep a record of the Nile’s first signs of overflow by building Nilometers to measure increases in the water level. It took 10 years to control the annual overflowing. A thought of that time was that gods spread blessings all over the river, since the banks of this river gave the pass to agriculture. As new techniques were developed, so the ancient Egyptian civilization production increased as well. Nonetheless, the Nile river became the natural route for traders.

The Old Kingdom of Egypt, ruled by the 3rd to the 6th dynasties, spanned the five centuries between about 2755 bc and 2255 bc. In about 3100 bc the country was united under one rule by strong chieftains from the south. The idea, however, that Egypt was divided into two distinct parts—Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the north—persisted. The unification of Egypt, or one of the stages leading to it, is commemorated on the carved stone Palette of King Narmer (c. 3100 bc, Egyptian Museum, Cairo), on which the king, wearing the crown of the south, is shown subjugating peoples of the north.

From around 6000 BC, Hunter-gatherer communities resided around the river Nile, which flows through the harsh and arid desert. As the Sahara desert continued to dry, it increasingly confined them to the Nile area due to their dependence on the rich