June 11, 2011
Dr. Jonathan Loopstra
Research Paper Assignment
Ancient Egyptian
We all should know at least little bit about the history of the world in general and some countries specifically because learning about history helps us to learn about people’s tactics to survive and learn for their mistakes to collapse. As a result, we can pick the good ones and forget others. In this work assignment, I will cover the culture of Egyptian because Egyptian has a complex background. In their detailed cultural background, I going to cover some potential activities that Egyptians used to do, so their spiritual bodies will have a good life, as they believed[1]. Egypt is one of the richest countries in the world for the surviving documents and manuscripts that help us to understand about their past livings. The best resources that we have are the pyramids and the stuff in them. The pyramids are very big and contain a lot of heavy stones. They were built at a time that there were not new machines to help them put these big stones on each other. We all may have heard about or see the pyramids or the pharaohs from the radios or TVs, but have you ever thought about or asked yourself how Egyptians built these pyramids or why did build them?
The Book of the Dead tells us for information about Egypt. “The Book of the Dead is the common name for the ancient Egyptian funerary texts known as The Book of Coming [or Going] Forth By Day.”[2] Egyptians were aware of afterlife, so they had this book to help them afterlife. Actually, there are many kinds of that book. I think most of pharaohs had their own books. It contains a variety of thoughts and ideas about their religions; The Book of the Dead was a description by pictures or paintings of ancient Egyptians belief and ideas about afterlife.[3] In addition, their religions were care about afterlife. They placed them with dead people; as a result, dead people could pass the danger and fear after they die.[4] Also, some of them were found on the tombs, and some of them were found on the walls of pyramids. Egyptians would have spelt and designed them because they made these books. For example, the Book of the Coming Forth by Day had its own mean which is talking about the freedom of spirits to come and go when they would be forgiven afterlife by gods.[5] One of the examples of these books was found with the mummified body of Tuthmosis III on his cloths and coffin during New Kingdom.[6] Pictures were painted with the coffins or on walls and tombs. This way is helping us to understand pictures easily than writings. In general, most of them were found in pyramids.
The pyramids were, as first time, great achievements for humankinds because for the first time people started using technology. During the old kingdom, these pyramids were built[7]. Kings had power over people; sometimes, they were worshiped. So, they had a lot of workers to do their orders. Pyramids were the place for these kings not only during they lived, but also after they died. They would have special places different from others. There were about 2.3 million stones in the pyramid and each weighted about 2.5 to 1.5 tons.[8] It is surprise people because without modern technologies Egyptians made these giant pyramids. The only thing that amazes me a lot is organizing this big number of workers. A lot of people worked every day with one day off to build these pyramids; there were about 10000 workers.[9] So, they could have nice lives after death when they come alive again. Pharaohs would be placed in the pyramids after they were mummified.
Mummification was a process that doctors, in ancient Egypt, used to use for dead bodies especially for pharaohs; they used oil, and then wrapped the bodies by cloth[10]. This process of mummification is very important for historians and experts because now there are some mummified bodies that help them considering Egyptians’ daily lives and mummification. In every nation, usually the best things are for richer people. The same thing is true for Egyptians as well. Pharaohs had to be mummified and placed in the pyramids. “The king alone was the source of all law and could adjust it according to the particular circumstances of the case being considered”[11]. The mummification and pyramids were for rich people. Rich people had more power, so they could be mummified and kept in the pyramids. Pyramids were home for pharaohs’ daily life and after life which they believed that their spiritual bodies will come alive again.
Egyptians at this time believed that humans had two bodies, one of them is the physical body, and the other one was spiritual body.[12] After they died, as they thought, their spiritual body would survive forever. I think that is not a crazy thought because nowadays we as most people in Muslims, Christians, and Jews believe that we will come alive again after death. We practice our religions as a preparation for after death’s live. Egyptians were the same. They prepared for afterlife with little differences with us. They used to put every needs and goods with the dead body, so after his physical body is gone, his/her spiritual body would utilize the things that were prepared for him/her.[13] Moreover, they observed that human body would be destroyed when they die. For that purpose, they got a solution which was mummification. Pharaohs thought they would be powerful when they come alive again because they were powerful on the earth.
Pharaohs were very powerful that they pretend to be gods or sometimes goddesses, and they ruled all Egyptians.[14] People followed their instructions or worshiped them. Djoser was the second ruler to be crowned in 2667 B.C. during Egyptian’s Old Kingdom.[15] He was very pious, and for the first time he defined as a god by Egyptians. He got reputation over Egypt, and became the role model for other Egyptian empires for 2000 years.[16] Djoser’s skillful acts were great for Egyptians because for the first time they used stones for buildings instead mud. Also, it was another good achievement for Egyptians. Mud buildings would be destroyed soon by rain, flood, or wind. In addition, he proved his smartness for all people. Djoser was not very strick with his people. He had right hand man who ran his works of building underground places, with very nice structure.[17]
In the past, there was usually one person that ruled a country. However, pharaohs had some other people close to them to work for them. Moreover, they had so many people to work for them and build buildings for them whom at that time called slaves. These slaves were not the same that when we think about slaves before Civil War in the United States; however, they were offered food, bread, beer, and clothes.[18] During their work, they could take one day off, so they would go fishing or hunting.[19] “The pharaoh was charged by the gods with the care of Egypt, not as his private possession for own personal enjoyment but in accordance with original act of creation.”[20] Rulers were responsible for the countries’ economy, daily life, and infrastructure. They had to aware of the country’s economy, agriculture, and social relationships. “Equally important as the pharaoh's governing role was his religious function.”[21] Some people didn’t totally believe that pharaohs were gods, but they obeyed them. However, Egyptians couldn’t convert to other religions because they afraid of pharaohs.[22] People had to follow the pharaohs because sometimes they were harsh rules. They worked for them as well. More than workers, pharaohs had soldiers as well as workers.
Military forces were necessary for people in the past. They had to have invasions to expand their power or to stay against others who wanted to colonize their country. On the other hand, they had to be prepared to defeat their countries. For example, Snefur became the first kind of the forth dynasty who ruled during 2613 to 2589 B.C. and who had a great military.[23] The military campaign was against neighborhood countries of Egypt. They brought about forty ships which made of wood, 7000 slaves, and 20000 cows and bulls.[24] Another pharaoh is ruling during 1864 B.C., Sesostris III .[25] “His objective is threefold- to secure Egypt’s southern border, to take control of trade routes of Nubia, and to plunder as much Nubian gold as his troops could carry.”[26] After all, Sesostris III was very proud on his troops when his troops burnt the fields, slaughtered men, enslaved women and children of the enemy. At a time that people didn’t know much about military buildings, Egyptians were very smart about that. As a result, they built some big wall to protect them of Nubians.[27] Egyptians would have been in a great age with their intelligent pharaoh who had great ideas to get more needs and expand his power. Most of the pharaohs were men; however, sometimes they had women as pharaohs.
That is not strange to hear that a woman ruled ancient Egypt. Egyptians had the same system which is dynasty; sons get the power of ruling if his father dies, with other ancient peoples who lived before modern age. After Thutmose II died in 1479 B.C., he left the power for his son who was too young to rule.[28] As a result, the wife of Thutmose II came to govern instead the boy. Later, she called herself king when she gain more power.[29] Of course, she would have built some buildings or sculptures for herself the same as other pharaohs. Then she had some changes of her body, so she would be like a man; she wore beard and wore men’s clothes.[30]
Usually, men had more than a wife and especially wealthy people had some wives.[31] However, it was a thought that women were weaker than men. It was just their custom. Women were treated courteously the same as men. They could own lands or properties. So, there were not a big difference between men and women.[32] I think it had affected their society to be more stable because when there are no differences between women and men, they can help each other from their daily working. In ancient Egypt, because women’s duty was to take care of children, they couldn’t study a lot. “Most women only held the title ‘Mistress of the House’.[33] As a result, most of them haven’t had opportunities to get governmental posts. Nowadays, in some countries, there are some rules and laws different for men with women. However, it didn’t work in ancient Egypt because they had the same rules for men and women; women could be a witness or have the same punishment as men if they committed a crime.[34] Most of this information worked for wealthy women at a time when most of peasant women were slaves and worked for wealthy people. The main point is women were the same as men in many ways. However, women had to follow fathers and husbands instructions.[35]
Parents arranged marriages for their children[36], as it’s common in some countries nowadays. Usually, the girls were around 12 years old, but the boys were older than them by two or three years. I think it’s not a good time for marriage because they are too young to find goods and needs for their family. Any ways, it was in the past. Also, husbands were responsible to find jobs and get resource of live, so they could survive, but as I mentioned above, wives usually took care of their children.[37] That was true that wives could have their own lands or properties, but usually wives let their husbands to manage the work of the lands.
In every country, daily life for upper classes is different from lower classes. It’s the same for ancient Egyptians. They were care about their lives a lot, so they wanted to have a nice life. To learn about Egyptians, historians and especially Egyptologists depend on tombs, transcripts, sculptures, and drawings. Unfortunately, some of them were destroyed or disappeared. However, we know that people enjoyed their days and nights. Most of the entertainments were for pharaohs because they were Egyptians’ gods and goddess most of the times. Egyptians also enjoyed their daily lives with having many kinds of sports. Despite sports, they had a lot of activities; dancing, reading poetries, playing music, drawing, and sculpture.
Egyptians enjoyed their daily lives with variety of sports.[38] The best resources for that, as usually for most of other things, are tombs, paintings, and drawings. Nile had many different animals in, so they used to hunt a lot. They made competitions for the hunters, and then the best hunters were rewarded.[39] That is a good way for people to be encouraged for hunting, so they could get resources of life. People got food, at the same time it was participation of sports. They were urged to catch other animals that were dangerous for their lives or had bad connotation for their crops. Also, fishing was another sport for them. They were rewarded for catching big or the number of fish as well.[40]
Egyptians’ culture the same as others’ culture contains dancing. However, there are some differences from one culture to another in the way of dancing. Egyptians used to have a dance which is called Kemet by Egyptians in groups, but they had separations in gender groups at the same time.[41] I am not sure what made them to dance separately at a time that there were not big differences between male and female. Their ordinary culture needed dancing during some occasions.[42] They danced when someone was dead. Moreover, they danced to decrease the pharaohs’ anger.[43] They used to dance with singing during harvesting as well. Dancing is usually something that would be practiced with music.
Music is an important thing to take away sadness and unhappiness. Since the first dynasty, Egyptians gave a great attention to music.[44] There were many different instruments that Egyptians used to play.[45] They must have had nice music during dancing and singing, but we are not so sure about that. “Unfortunately, there is but little record of how ancient Egyptian music must have sounded like.”[46] So, historians and Egyptologists depend on different things to learn about Egyptians music and its instruments. The only thing that could help them about that is compositions of poetries. Poetries have different rhythms and tunes. For example, ‘Song of the Threshers’ which was sung during laborers worked.[47] Most of the poetries and lyrics that they used were talking about those situations that they were in. They loved Nile, so they sang for it a lot.
Nile was very important for them because it was their best resources for live and to grow their plans. They planted their needs, and the river was very significant for them because sometimes there were floods which could help them to grow crops far from Nile. During the summer, the river would make floods to 25 to 26 feet, and the water stayed in polls when it was used for farming by Egyptians.[48] It was a gift for them to learn of planting and living together in cities. This river made many people to settle down there, and people especially from Africa migrated to Egypt. In addition, people started farming and planting there.[49] So, Nile was the only reason for people to build the first empire. Water is another importance for people to travel via. As a result, Egyptians used to travel via Nile; they did care about roads or streets.[50] All in all, the benefits of the river made people to love it and have songs and drawings about.
Egyptians were well known by their drawings. They had difference pictures and images to represent different things. They drew these drawings, so they could survive for ever and not to forget the history.[51] Nowadays, we depend on their drawings to get information about Egyptians. They were very intelligent of these drawings because they used different colors.[52] They had nice styles for the pictures that started in about 3000 B.C. and until the third century stayed popular.[53] They would draw some drawings during hunting to show that they were good hunters. Ancient Egyptians were not only famous for drawings, but also, they were famous and still famous for their sculptures.
Sculpture was another thing that pharaohs liked to have. Sculptures were the very significant for the temples and tombs.[54] Ancient Egyptians had a belief about them; they were made with a great quality of powerful spirituals. People who made sculptures were very important for pharaohs because pharaohs needed them. As a result, they made sculptures of them with very giant stones. Also, as Egyptians were aware of afterlife, they made some sculpture to stay in like coffins. “An important role for sculptors was to carve shabtis, small funerary statuettes.”[55] Today, we can see many big sculptures that survived from ancient Egyptians. They wanted to show how powerful they were by showing them.
To sum it up, Egyptians loved to daily life, so they had many kinds of sports, dancing, music, and poetries. They spent nice life with each other without big differences between men and women. However, women followed fathers and husbands’ orders. Following others’ orders was not just for women, but also it was for workers. Workers followed pharaohs instructions because they powerful. In addition, pharaohs needed different places from others, so they built pyramids with big stones. Pharaohs bodies were buried in the pyramids with needs and goods, so when they come alive again, as they believed, they would use them again and live in the pyramids. Pyramids contain a lot of information on their walls or tombs that help us to understand the way that they lived. More than that, pharaohs decided to have sculptures as big as sculptors could build. Pharaohs wanted them to show how powerful they were by these sculptures. We can get information about Egyptians from their books that were put with their dead bodies or drew in the walls and tombs.
Bibliography
Ancient Egyptian Dance www.ancientegyptianfacts.com on 2011, Accessed May 27, 2011 http://www.ancientegyptianfacts.com/ancient-egyptian-dances.html
Ancient Egypt Sport www.king-tut.org.uk on 2008, accessed May 27, 2011 http://www.king-tut.org.uk/ancient-egyptians/ancient-egyptian-sports.htm
Ba Ankh Amen, Ancient Egyptian Music www.all-about-egypt.com on 2009, Accessed May 27, 2011 http://www.all-about-egypt.com/ancient-egypt-music.html
Brian Handwerk, Giza Pyramids Hold Pharaohs' Ancient Secrets www.gizapyramids.org on 2008, Accessed June 3, 2011, Accessed June 3, 2011 www.gizapyramids.org/pdf%20library/national_geographic-giza.pdf
Charles A. Frazee, Ph. D. World History the Easy Way (Hauppauge, New York 11788, 1997), p. 51 http://books.google.com/books?id=c_lN_q15ZiEC&pg=PA51&dq=ancient+egypt+nile&hl=en&ei=Ip_yTfirCY2VOrue1LYH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=ancient%20egypt%20nile&f=false
Colleen Manassa, Yale University, Egypt Engineering an Empire, A&E Television Networks, 2006
Daily Life in Ancient Egypt www.ancient-egypt-online.com on 2008, Accessed June 3, 2011 http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/daily-life-in-ancient-egypt.html
Don Michael Randel, the Harvard Dictionary of Music ( the President and fellows of Harvard College, 2003), p. 286 http://books.google.com/books?id=02rFSecPhEsC&pg=PA286&dq=ancient+egypt+music&hl=en&ei=r5zyTfrsFsWg-wa0lNHiBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ancient%20egypt%20music&f=false
Dr. Brendan, The Ancient World, (Prentice Hall; 1 edition March 9, 2009) p. 18
Egypt: Daily Life www.sptimes.com, Accessed June 2, 2011 http://www2.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptCredit.4.2.html
Egyptian Sculpture www.britishmuseum.org, accessed June 2, 2011 http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/galleries/ancient_egypt/room_4_egyptian_sculpture.aspx
Holy Quran, Al-Qasas chapter, verse 39
Jackson, Western Civilization, Suzanne Jeans (Wadsworth Cengage Learning 2009), p. 18
John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVPBible Background Commentary, (Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship/USA 1997), p. 226 http://books.google.com/books?id=wIA3tH9HqY4C&pg=PA266&dq=Ancient+Egyptian+parents+arranged+marriage&hl=en&ei=n5TyTZWaOo2YOtTElasH&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&sqi=2&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBQ#v=snippet&q=women%20followed&f=false
Mummification www.ldoceonline.com, Accessed May 28, 2011 http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/mummify
Narrator from Egypt Engineering an Empire, A&E Television Networks, 2006
Peter Weller, Host, Egypt Engineering an Empire, A&E Television Networks, 2006
Pharaoh www.newworldencyclopedia.org on December 11, 2008, Accessed May 28, 2011 http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pharaoh
Salima Ikram, American University in Cairo, Egypt Engineering an Empire, A&E Television Networks, 2006
Stephen Harvey, The University of Chicago, Egypt Engineering an Empire, A&E Television Networks, 2006
The Egyptian Book of the Dead www.thenazareneway.com accessed June 10, 2011 http://www.thenazareneway.com/index_egyptain_book_dead.htm
The Sculptor in Ancient Egypt www.australianmuseum.net.au on September 22, 2009, accessed June 2, 2011 http://australianmuseum.net.au/The-Sculptor-in-ancient-Egypt
Women in Ancient Egypt www.mediterraneas.org December 2, 2004, Accessed June 2, 2011 http://www.mediterraneas.org/article.php3?id_article=61
Zahi Hawass, Supreme Council Antiquities, Egypt, Egypt Engineering an Empire, A&E Television Networks, 2006
[1] Jackson, Western Civilization, Suzanne Jeans, p. 18
[4] Marie Parsons
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Jackson, Western Civilization, Suzanne Jeans, p. 18
[9] Narrator from A&E Television Networks, 2006
[11] Dr. Brendan, The Ancient World, p. 18
[12] Jackson, Western Civilization, Suzanne Jeans, p. 18
[13] Jackson, Western Civilization, Suzanne Jeans, p. 18
[14] Holy Quran, Al-Qasas chapter, verse 39
[15] Narrator from A&E Television Networks, 2006
[16] Ibid
[17] Ibid
[18] Ibid
[19] Narrator from A&E Television Networks, 2006
[20] Dr. Brendan, The Ancient World, Prentice Hall, p. 18
[22] Holy Quran, Yunus Chapter, verse 84
[23] Narrator from A&E Television Networks, 2006
[24] Ibid
[25] Ibid
[26] Ibid
[27] Zahi Hawass
[28] Narrator from A&E Television Networks, 2006
[29] Colleen Manassa
[30] Stephen Harvey
[33] Ibid
[36] John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, p. 226
[39] Ibid
[40] Ibid
[42] Ibid
[43] Ibid
[45] Don Michael, p 286
[47] Ibid
[48] Charles A. Frazee, Ph. D. P51
[49] Peter Weller
[50] Salima Ikram
[52] Ibid
[53] Ibid
Nice work, dude, you should have put a lot of efforts until you wrote this, nice again, keep working hard......
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