Egypt in the pharaonic Era

The pharaonic Era dates Back to 3000 years B.C. till Alexander the great conquered Egypt in 323 B.C. During the pharaonic Era, Egypt witnessed many aspects of progress and renaissance in all fields.

Histoians divide the Pharaonic Era into three sucessive divisions: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Modern Kingdom. the Pharaonic Era is thus divided into three dynasties.

Ancient Age (dynasties l & 11)

in 3200 B.C. Menes managed to unify north and south of Egypt and established the first ruling dynasty. to secure the unity of Egypt, Menes established the city of Memphis near Delta.

Old Kingdom (Dynasties from lll to Vl)

During the Old Kingdom. Egypt enjoyed stability, security and peace, a matter that achieved its economic, cultural and artistic progree in this time. The kings of the Old Kingdom ruled till 2800 B.C. after the throne of Egypt moved to Manf by Zoser, whose pyramid is the oldest known one at Saqqara. The Egyptian civilization flourished in this period, a matter represented in the building of the Giza pyramids: Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren) and Menkaura (Mycerinus).

The First Middle Age (Dynasties from Vll to X)

This age began in 2200 B.C. when Menthotpe ll (Mentuhotep) managed to reunify the country.

The Middle Kingdom (Dynasties Xl & Xll)

After Menthotpe ll, the Prince of Thebes, managed to reunify the country and founded a strong government, Egypt flourished economically. In 2000 B.C. Amenemhet l played a great role in the renaissance of the Middle Kingdom.

The King and queens of Dynasty Xll acquired fram all over the world in the fields of policy, war, culture civilization and regligion such as Ahmos, hero of liberation, Amenhotep l who laid down fair standards for wages and incentives, Tuhutmos l, the warrior who expanded the Egyptian borders north and south, and spread out education everywhere, Tuhutmos lll who possessed a unique military genius, Tuhutmos lV, the dipolmat who was the first to record international agreements.

This is in addition to Akhenaton who was the first to call for the oneness of the creator and Tut Ankh Amun, who gained fame in the modem time. the most famous queens of this were Ahmos Nefetari, wife of Ahmos l, Tee, mother of Akhenaton, Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaton and Hatchepsut who ruled Egypt for 20 years.

The secound Middle Age (Dynasties Xll, XVll)

In 1725 B.C. the Hyksos attacked Egypt and occupied the Egyptian lands. Yet, the princes of Thebes, led by Ahmos l, managed to expel them out of Egypt.

The Modern Kingdom (Dynasties XVlll, XX)

After Ahmos expelled the Hyksos, he worked on establishing a well-equipped army. Ramsis ll, one of the most famous kings of the Modern Kingdom, siqned the first peace treaty in history with the Hittites.

The Late Age (Dynasties XXl to XXX)

From Dynasty XXl tile Dynasty Xvlll, the Assyrians and the Persians occupied Egypt, till the rule of the Pharaohs ended during the reign of Dynasty XXX when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt.

Arts of the Pharaonic Civilization Architecture

Ancient Egyptians made outstanding achievements in architecture, as can be clearly seen from everlasting monuments they have left behind. The first pyramid ever built in Egypt was Zoser's then Mium's pyramids. However, the Giza pyramids together with the Sphinx, built during the 4th Dynasty, are the most famous of the 97 pyramids built to be tombs for Pharaohs.

During the period of the Middle Kingdom, many funerary temples were built. the 12th Dynasty kings were also interested in el-Fayyoum area where they attended to irrigation works. The most famous of those temples was the Labyrinth Temple ot the "Maze Palace" as called by the Greeks. The temple was built in Hawwara by king Amenemehet lll, who also built castles, fortresses and walls along Egypt's eastern borders.

The period of the Middle Kingdom was the heyday of architectural, where exquisite inscriptions and fine artworks were engraved on the walls of colossal temples, the most prominent ones were Karnak, Luxor and Abu Simble.

The era of Thutmouse l was a turning point in using pyramids as tombs. On the west bank of the Nile at luxor, there were craved-into-mountains tombs with rich and luxurious funerary fumiture. This can be clearly seen in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

In order to keep wall inscriptions intact, the artists of the Modern Kingdom deliberately used deep slightly embossed engravings, thus, avoiding distortion or erosion.

The most recently discovered tomb of the Valley Kings was that of the sons of King Ramsis ll; a vast tomb containing 15 mummies. Pharaonic obelisks were cut out of granite and erected in two-somas at the entrance of temples. Some of the most beautiful examples of architectural art in the ancient Egyptian empire are the temples of Amun, Cheops in Karnak and Luxor Ramsium and Hetshep-sut at ad-Deir al-Bahari as well as the rock-embedded temples such as the major and minor temples of Abu Simbel.

New trends in the architectural, plastic and applied arts emerged as can be clearly seen in the sculptured colossal and minor statues and ormamented temple columns and mural inscriptions. this elevated style is evident in thousands of small statues made from alabaster, wood or ivory and pieces of antiquites made of glass and earthenware and jewelry inlaid with precious stones.

Literature

Ancient Egyptian monuments stll bear witness to their excellent talent in writing and literature. Humanity is indebted to ancient Egyptian for inventing writing, later called by the Greeks the "hieroglyphic alphabet"; composed of 24 letters. Writings were made in black or red ink on papyrus. Egyptian excelled in religious writing whuch takled their religious creeds and theories of the after life, secrets of the universe, various myths od gods, prayers and songs. the oldest examples of which were "The Pyramids Texts" and "The Book of the Dead".

Ancient Egyptian writers were excellent story writers. They used words as a tool to convey wisdom and rules of good conduct. Ancient Egyptians were bent on narrating their heritage of wise sayings and proverbs, chanting them in their feasts and ceremonies. They pursued the tradition of documenting current events of their times. the rich cultural climate was instrumental in generating several Egyptian men of letters and philosophers who left masterpieces indecative a high level of culture and thought in Egypt.

Music

Music and songs were a favorite object fo all Egyptian, Music was used for educating young people as well as in public and private ceremonies, particularly in the army. It was equally used in prayers and burial of the dead.

Egyptian from the Old kingdom knew wind stringed instruments such as the "harp" know at the time as "Tipoti". They also invented many new types of percussion instruments which were further improved across their history.

Ornamentation

Ornaments, characterized by high artistic precision and beautiful, were also known to ancient Egyptians. Decorative elements were drived from natural surroundings including papyrus, palm trees, lotus flowers and precious stones, Amulets, believed to protect them against evil spirits, were accustomed to use Kohl (as eye-liner). barcelets, necklaces, rings and henna. Costumes in pharaonic Egypt varied from one class to anther. Clothes were made of soft linen or silk fabrics imported from ancient Syria (Phoenicia). Clothes different according to the occasion.