Some Juicy History

Egypt Please!

     Figure 3:Rosetta Stone 196 BC

 Egypt was a giant mystery for many until the Rosetta Stone(Figure 3) came into play and helped us decipher the hieroglyphs of Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is a stele that is inscribed with an ancient decree from a king. The decree is translated in three different languages, Ancient Greek, Demotic Script and Egyptian Hieroglyph. This stone slab helped us finally read and understand the ancient writings of this civilization. So its discovery was a grand one indeed! Without it Egypt would still be a land full of wonder.

Early Dynastic Period: 3050-2686

Egypt was a thriving nation that survived due to the fertile soil brought after the yearly floods of the Nile River. The first human settlements near the Nile date back to 5,000 BCE and were a very agriculturally adapted group that would make pottery, jewelry and also domesticate their animals. They eventually started to develop symbols that were then established into a whole system of Hieroglyphs which created the language the Egyptian's used throughout the 30 dynasties. Egypt's history is just a bunch of breaking up and getting back together business, its like a bad romance. You see Egypt was made up of two kingdoms Upper Egypt(the part of Egypt where the Nile river begins/or the south part of Egypt) and Lower Egypt(the part of Egypt where the Nile River flows out/or the north part of Egypt) these two kingdoms would constantly unify and then disagree and split up.

          Figure 4: Royal Crowns of Egypt

Each kingdom is identified through the crowns the pharaohs would wear(Figure 4). The bowling pin looking head piece was for Upper Egypt and the strange red one was for Lower Egypt. Whenever the kingdoms would unify the Pharaoh would wear the head piece that had both aspects of lower and upper Egypt which was called the double crown.

Figure 5: Narmer Palette 31st century BC

The person who was first believed to unify the two kingdoms was king "Meni." The unification of the two kingdoms was a gradual one. Some people think that Meni was actually the pharaoh Narmer who is depicted on a palette with the double crown of Egypt, he is shown in a composite perspective. His strength is shown in his body posture which is displaying him in a powerful position(the smiting of an enemy). The palette is symbolic in regards to unification(Figure 5) . 

Old Kingdom: 2686-2181 BC

One of the greatest monuments of Egypt was the Giza Plateau and the Sphinx, these were made early in Egyptian history during the Old Kingdom time period(4th dynasty). The three pyramids were tombs dedicated to three Pharaohs which were Khafre, Menakure and Khufu. The Sphinx is a half lion half human interpretation of the Pharaoh Khafre it is associated with the god Horus. Horus is the national patron god of Egypt. It was believed that, in the years that followed after the construction of the Sphinx, the famous false beard was placed on the chin of the sphinx but it fell off due to lack of structural support. The next years of the old kingdom contained some strife between authority figures. The power of pharaoh diminished and normarchs began to challenge the pharaoh's supremacy. This on top of drought led to the 140 year old famine called the intermediate period. 

So all of this is a great start to understanding the Egyptian Civilization however we are going to have some fun. Yes history can be fun. I know its hard to believe. Instead of sounding all textbook like and scholarly I'm going to try to make Egypt fun to learn about so bare with me. 

So lets begin to imagine what it would be like to be an Egyptian..

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt