Formation of the Kingdom

Ancient man lived first by hunting and gathering wild foods. In the Nile Valley he learned very early to grow grain crops and to raise livestock. The Nile River overflowed its banks for about half of each year, leaving a deposit of fertile silt. There was little or no rain. To first drain the fields and to then irrigate them required men working together, and so the early Egyptians became organized into communities. Ancient Egyptian, the common language, was an Afro-Asiatic tongue related to the present-day Berber, Cushitic, and Coptic tongues. Racially, the Egyptians were a Mediterranaen subgroup of the Caucasoid race. They have traditionally been called Hamites, but the term is no longer used by most scholars.

The country divided naturally into two parts. The south, from which the Nile flowed, was called Upper Egypt (because it was upriver). The north, consisting of the Delta, through which the Nile emptied into the Mediterranean, was Lower Egypt. Together, the sections were known as the Two Lands. There was easy contact between them, because boats were carried northward on the Nile by the current and were propelled southward by the prevailing north wind. Sails were invented by the Egyptians about 4000 B.C.

There was also some contact with neighboring countries. Egyptians sailed to the Lebanon coast for cedar oil, resins, and timber. They obtained copper from the Sinai Peninsula. With copper for tools, the Egyptians learned to carve stone and soon were producing handsome stone vases as well as fine sculptures.

For trade goods the Egyptians had many products---salt from the shallow waters of the Delta; beads of glass, which they discovered how to make about 4000 B.C.; papyrus stalks for rope, baskets, and a writing material called papyrus; linen woven from the native flax; jewelry made of the gold and gemstones found in the Eastern Desert. The Egyptians, however, often obtained their imports by sending military expeditions to take what was wanted rather than by trading.

Monarchy developed as the system of government in each of the Two Lands, and a struggle for supremacy began. Apparently Lower Egypt gained control briefly about 3400 B.C. Around that time a new people started to appear among the Egyptians, bringing with them art forms and objects of Mesopotamian origin, and introducing Semitic words into the language. Some of the newcomers became members of the ruling class.

About 3100 B.C. a king of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and united the Two Lands. According to tradition, the king was Menes, but a carved inscription names Narmer as the conqueror. Rulers had several names, however, and Menes and Narmer may have been the same person. The conqueror is reckoned as the founder of Dynasty I. Memphis was founded as the capital of the united country.

The king came to be called the pharaoh. He was considered an incarnation of the god Horus. Theoretically, he owned all the land and had complete power over all affairs, both civil and religious.

The Egyptians had many gods and goddesses. Each community or region had its own favorite, and as time passed various local deities rose to national importance. Shrines and temples from this era have not survived.

Belief in life after death began early among the Egyptians, and with it began the practice of preserving the body. This could be easily accomplished by burial in the dry, hot sand of the desert. Food and other articles for use in the afterlife were placed with the body. After tombs superseded graves for the wealthy, means of mummifying (embalming) the body were developed.

The early tombs were mastabas, rectangular structures of mud brick, with slightly sloping walls. By the end of Dynasty II, the interiors of royal mastabas were being constructed of cut stone.

Pictographic writing (writing in which pictures represent objects) developed in Egypt about the time the Two Lands were united, apparently a little later than in Mesopotamia. It was carved in stone or painted on walls or on papyrus. There soon evolved the system of hieroglyphics , in which pictographs came to represent ideas as well as objects. Later, hieroglyphs were also used to represent sounds. Instead of developing the sound symbols into an alphabet, the Egyptians used them for some 3,000 years only to supplement the other hieroglyphs.

Egypt was a rich country, and many persons were engaged in creating luxuries for the wealthy. Goldsmiths and lapidaries produced beautiful jewelry. Sculptors carved stone and ivory into exquisite figurines and vessels. Apothecaries made ointments, lotions, and perfumes, and craftsmen shaped delicate alabaster vials to contain them.