ancient egypt

1. 1. Pharaonic Egypt with its world famous civilization existed between 5,500 and 332
BCE.
2. It spread across the valley and delta of the River Nile
3. Northward in the North-East corner of Africa, with a large desert to the West
4. and East, and sea to the North and further East.
5. However, it was the valley of the Nile that defined the state of Egypt where the land
was rich in
6. resources such as wild and domesticated animals, fish, birds, stone quarries and
7. metals, specially gold, in the Eastern Desert.
8. The people of ancient Egypt have left behind numerous monuments and artifacts,
9. many of them covered in the script now known as hieroglyphs; a form of
pictorial
10.writing used to inscribe their language and document aspects of their culture.
11.Important Achievements
12.Ancient Egyptians had an agricultural economy, an organized government
system,
13.social traditions and a set of strictly enforced laws unlike most of their
14.prehistoric predecessors, Egyptians had a stable society where many people
lived
15.their entire lives in the same place and thus, such stability allowed for
16.achievements in several areas.
17.Interestingly, in this ancient society many individuals were relatively
18.wealthy,
19.compared to their ancestors, and thus, could afford healthcare, which was
20.available because social stability allowed medical experimentation to flourish.
21.Ancient Egyptians mastered the process of mummification; a process that
22.entailed knowledge of the human body and how it works.
23.A mummification process was done by using a long hooked implement that
was
24.inserted through the nostril, to break the thin bone of the brain case
25.(called the ethmoid bone)
26.to allow the removal of the brain, and to facilitate the process of preservation.

2. 27.It is interesting to note here that many priests in Pharaonic Egypt
28.were also medical doctors. From the calendar to the Pyramids, the ancient
29.Egyptian culture is known for its achievements in nearly all fields of
knowledge.
30.The numeric system (including fractions), a written language,
31.mummification, time keeping, Papyrus, courts and justice system,
32. even eye-makeup and door locks are among its most famous
achievements.
33.
1. Although the ancient Egyptian civilization was not the earliest to
2. flourish, it lasted longer than any other,
3. and it was absolutely the most spectacular civilization in history, especially in its
heyday.
4. The civilized life (such as agriculture and building towns) appeared in Egypt as early
as the
5. sixth millennium BCE. It developed into distinctive regional cultures in both
6. Upper and Lower Egypt. The unification of the two lands (Upper and Lower Egypt)
took
7. place in around 3100 BCE under the legendary ruler Mena who is said to
8. have founded the capital city of Memphis on the border between Upper and Lower
Egypt.
9. Historians divide the history of Pharaonic Egypt into the following periods:
10.Prehistory
11.(up to 3100 BCE)
12.The Archaic period
13.(3100 to 2700 BCE)
14.The Old Kingdom (2700 to 2200 BCE)

3. 15.The First Intermediate Period (2200 to 2060 BCE)
16.The Middle Kingdom (2060 to 1635 BCE)
17.The Second Intermediate Period (1635 to 1552 BCE)
18.The New Kingdom (1552 to 1070 BCE)
19.The Third Intermediate Period (1070 to 712 BCE)
20.and The Late Period (712 to 332 BCE)
21.At the times of prosperity ( the three kingdoms) the kings of Egypt initiated
numerous building projects
22.and sent out expeditions to extend Egypt's borders and expand trade routes,
23.while during the so-called First, Second and Third Intermediate Periods,
24.the land was politically fragmented
25.often reverting to local rule in Upper and Lower Egypt.
26.Historians also divided Pharaonic history into a number of ruling families known as
‘dynasties’,
27.each consisting of a sequence of rulers, usually united by such factors as
28.kinship or the location of the principal royal residences.
29.This essentially political approach has served very well over the years as a way
30.of dividing up the Egyptian chronology into a series of convenient blocks
31.each with its own distinctive characteristics.
32.The Archaic Period
33.Also known as the Early Dynastic Period,
34.comprises the first two dynasties that ruled Egypt for almost 400 years.
35.The greatest achievement during this period was forming the powerful unified state
36.and forging a national consciousness in all its regions.
37.The highest offices in the government were reserved for members of the royal
family.
38.The Old Kingdom
39.During the Old Kingdom
40.Egypt experienced a long and uninterrupted period of economic prosperity and
political stability.
41.As a continuation of the Early Dynastic Period, it rapidly

4. 42.grew into a centrally organized state
43.ruled by King believed to be endowed with qualified supernatural powers.
44.It was administered by a literate elite selected, at least partly, on merit.
45.Egypt enjoyed almost complete self sufficiency and safety with its natural borders;
46.no external rivals threatened its dominance of the north-eastern corner of Africa
47.and the immediately adjacent areas of Western Asia.
48.Egyptian advance in religious
49.ideas was reflected in breathtaking
50.achievements in arts and architecture.
51.The Old Kingdom began with the 3rd Dynasty which was dominated by the reign of
Djoser.
52.His famous pyramid at Saqqara is an example of his ambition and power.
53.Aided in his projects by his no less celebrated architect Imhotep,
54.he conceived the idea of being buried under an immense monument of stone,
55.which was to assume the form of a pyramid;
56.a sort of gigantic monumental stairway that would enable the deceased pharaoh
57.to enter the realm of the sun and the sky and meet his peers, the gods.
58.The 4th Dynasty brought the three sovereigns who were
59.the builders of what posterity has considered among the Seven Wonders
60.of the World, namely Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.
61.These three kings had the advantage of an absolute power of their people and of a
faithful and devoted court.
62.The most famous of all is King Khufu (Cheops, in Greek),
63.the owner of the the Great Pyramid of Giza;
64.the only wonder that still exists from the seven ancient ones.
65.The Great Pyramid was the tallest building on earth for 45 centuries.
66.The Middle Kingdom
67.Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, Egypt started to suffer economically
68.due to the financing of mortuary monuments and the lower inundations of the Nile.
69.This led to the decentralization of power and eventually led to civil wars in different
regions.

5. 70.It was not until the 11th Dynasty under King Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II,
71.that Egypt was reunited again.
72.Under the 11th Dynasty, Egypt recovered quickly from the civil wars which had long
divided the country.
73.The Middle Kingdom starts with Amenemhet I and his descendants, who
74.essentially had no legitimate claim to rule and were not of royal origin but
75.they took several shrewd political measures to establish their dynasty.
76.Amenemhet I introduced co-regencies to counteract any attempt to place
77.a rival claimant on the throne after his death.
78.In the year 20 of his reign he made his eldest son (later Senusret I) his co-regent,
79.and they ruled together for twenty years. This custom was continued throughout the
dynasty
80.and ensured a smooth succession, even when violent events occurred.
81.These kings also dealt with the problem of a powerful provincial nobility,
82.which had contributed to the downfall of the Old Kingdom.
83.Under Amenemhet I the nobles retained many privileges and built
84.magnificent rock-cut tombs in their own provinces.
85.Their political and military strength still posed a threat to the king,
86.and a later ruler of Dynasty 12, Senusret III took
87.decisive action and suppressed these men, removing their rights and privileges
88.and closing their local courts so that they never again challenged royal authority.
89.Their great provincial tombs ceased after his reign, and a new
90.middle class, consisting mainly of craftsmen, tradesmen, and small farmers,
replaced the nobles.
91.The New Kingdom
92.After the end of the Middle Kingdom, Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos
93.who came from West Asia and formed the 15th Dynasty.
94.The New Kingdom was started by the Theban rulers of the 18th Dynasty
95.who succeeded in driving the Hyksos out of Egypt.
96.They attributed their victory over the Hyksos to the support of their local god, Amen,
97.and later credited him with the military advances in Asia,

6. 98.which laid the foundations of the Egyptian empire.
99.With the help of the priests, the kings of Egypt associated Amen
100. with the sun god Re, creating an all-powerful deity Amen-Re.
101. As Egypt’s foreign conquests reached their peak by mid-18th Dynasty,
102. the God’s universality and role as creator of all peoples were emphasized.
103. His great temple at Karnak shows unequaled and unprecedented power.
104. Amen-Re became the supreme state god and the “King of Gods,”
105. who assimilated the characteristics and powers of other major deities
106. such as Re, Min, and Ptah.
107. The wealth and cosmopolitan outlook that the Egyptians enjoyed by mid-18th
Dynasty
108. resulted from the founding of the world's first empire.
109. The military valor and prowess of the Kings of 18th Dynasty were legendary.
110. The achievements of the Tuthmosis I were surpassed only by those of his
111. grandson Tuthmosis III who undertook 17 campaigns in order to control the
area and was never defeated.
112. Eventually, under Amenhotep III, peaceful diplomacy, the exchange of royal
gifts, and marriages
113. between the royal families replaced active warfare between Egypt and the
Ancient Kingdoms.
114. And towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, Amenhotep IV inherited
115. the throne of Amenhotep III and began to make unprecedented changes.
116. At first he lived in Thebes (which is Modern day Luxor) with his Queen
Nefertiti.
117. Apparently he had already started to promote the cult of his favorite god,
118. the Aten, by building temples to the deity in proximity to Amen-Re’s temple
at Karnak.
119. Unlike other rulers Amenhotep IV did not simply wish to claim the superiority
of his God.
120. He attempted to impose a form of solar monotheism on Egypt based on the
121. worship of the life force present in the sun and symbolized by the Aten (sun’s
disk).

7. 122. This cult, unlike others, did not tolerate the existence of other deities.
123. As his relationship with Amen-Re’s priesthood deteriorated, Amenhotep IV
124. took radical steps. He disbanded the priesthood of all gods except Aten,
125. obliterated the gods’ names from the monuments, and diverted the income
from those cults to support Aten.
126. He expressed his allegiance to Aten by changing his name to Akhenaten.
127. Finally, he moved his capital city from Thebes to a new,specially selected
slide in Middle Egypt.
128. There, he built Akhetaten (known today as Amarna, or Tell el-Amarna) as his
political and religious capital.
129. The son of Akhenaten is the famous golden pharaoh Tutankhamun,
130. whose almost intact tomb was found in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings on the
west bank of Luxor.
131. Of all the Pharaohs who continue to live in legend long after their death
132. is the great king Ramesses II, who ruled Egypt for 67 years.
133. His reign was marked by diplomatic and military triumphs
134. as well as monumental construction programs all over Egypt and Nubia.
135.
1. Today, we tell you the story of Imhotep.
2. Who is Imhotep? And why does his name stand out in the history of ancient Egypt?
3. Although not a royal figure in ancient Egypt, Imhotep (Imouthes in Greek) is known
better than many others,
4. and he eventually became one of the most famous figures in the ancient world.
5. His name means “he who comes in Peace".
6. Imhotep gained renown as architect, physician, sage, scribe, poet, astronomer,
priest, and visier.
7. He is known as the world's first named architect.

8. 8. who built Egypt's first Pyramid, and is identified as the first physician in the
9. world.
10.Imhotep was born in the village of Gebelein, south of ancient Thebes,
11.and his father was also an architect named Kanofer.
12.Very little details are available of his life as a man.
13.Imhotep the Architect
14.Imhotep is the first master builder known to us by name.
15.He is credited as the first architect to build a pyramid:
16.Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara,
17.which is considered to be one of the most brilliant architectural structures of
the ancient world.
18.and recognized as the first monumental stone structure.
19.Imhotep is also known to have made
1. contributions to the building of the unfinished pyramid of Sekhemkhet.
2. Known as the patron of architects, knowledge and scribes in ancient Egypt,
3. Imhotep’s achievements have been acknowledged by many historians.
4. For example, James Henry Breasted describes him saying:
5. “In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs, in medicine and
architecture;
6. this remarkable figure of Djoser’s reign left so notable a reputation that his name
was never forgotten.
7. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes,
8. to whom they regularly poured out a libation from the water
9. jug of their writing outfit before beginning their work."
10.Imhotep The Physician
11.Since the earliest, prehistoric days, medicine had been practiced in ancient Egypt,
12.and it became quite advanced in later periods.
13.It is believed that, as the high priest, Imhotep also served as the nation's chief
physician in his time.
14.As a physician, he had to take medical care of thousands of workers engaged in the
great project of the Step Pyramid.

9. 15.Some historians credited him as being the founder of Egyptian medicine
16.and some identify him as the real author of the Edwin Smith papyrus,
17.where more than 90 anatomical terms and 48 injuries are described.
18.As such, Imhotep appears as the first physician in ancient Egypt,
19.at the same time, he stands out as the first physician who is known by name in the
written history of the world.
20.Despite his many other accomplishments in a variety of fields,
21.Imhotep is best remembered as the first great physician,
22.as it appears from the inscriptions on the walls of temples.
23.Indeed we learn that Imhotep was:
24.The good physician of gods and men, a kind and merciful god,
25.assuaging the suffering of those in pain,
26.healing the diseases of men, and giving peaceful sleep to the restless and suffering.
27.The god who protects human beings, who gives to him who calls upon him,
28.who gives life to men and women.
29.The god who gives a son to him was none.
30.It is often thought that he was the one who founded a school of medicine in
Memphis,
31.some 2,200 years before the Western Father of Medicine Hippocrates was born.
32.Sir William Osler tells us that Imhotep was: " the first figure of a physician to stand
out clearly from the mists of antiquity."
33.Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases,
34.15 of which were of the abdomen, 11 of the bladder, 10 of the rectum, 29 of the
eyes,
35.and 18 of the skin, hair, nails and tongue.
36.Imhotep treated tuberculosis,
37.gallstones,
38.appendicitis,
39.gout and arthritis.
40.He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry.
41.He extracted medicine from plants.

10. 42.Imhotep also knew the position and function of the vital organs and circulation of
the blood system.
43.The Encyclopedia Britannica says that the evidence afforded by
44.Egyptian and Greek texts support the view that Imhotep’s reputation was very
respected in early times.
45.His prestige increased with the lapse of centuries, and his temples in Greek times
were the centers of medical teachings.
46.Imhotep the God.
47.Egyptians saw Imhotep as the “inventor of healing: and therefore, a 100 years after
he died,
48.he was elevated to the status of a medical demigod.
49.The cult of Imhotep reached its peak in Greco-Roman times,
50.and he was identified with Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine.
51.Around 2,000 years after his Death, in about 525 BCE, he was proclaimed a god,
52.and replaced Nefertum in the great triad at Memphis.
53.In the Turin Canon, he was known as the “son of Ptah,”
54.and he was also associated with Thoth, the god of wisdom, writing and learning.
55.The worship of Imhotep lasted until about 550 CE.
56.Several temples were erected in his honor at Philae, Memphis and elsewhere,
57.and patients flocked to these temples from far and near,
58.and returned to their homes on the banks of the Nile filled with gratitude
59.for the gift of healing that had been bestowed upon them by the great physician.
60.Imhotep is indeed an example of the “personality cult.”
61.As a learned sage, he was the deified after death,
62.and became a special intercessor for the living, very much like the Roman Catholic
saints.