OVERVIEW
The nation of Egypt is in northern Africa. It has a long and rich history dating back many hundreds of years before Christ. Lots of events in the Bible take place in and around Egypt. Here are some of them:
1. Abraham lived there during a famine (Genesis 12:10).
2. Joseph was sold to Egyptians and his whole family joined him there after he became an Egyptian leader (Genesis 37-50).
3. The Hebrews were enslaved there after Joseph died (Exodus 1:6-11).
4. Moses was born and raised there (Exodus 2:1-10).
5. God led the Hebrews out of Egypt to the Promised Land (Exodus 12:31-42).
6. The prophet Jeremiah went there with a group of Israelites after Jerusalem was destroyed (Jeremiah 43:7).
7. The Old Testament was translated into Greek in Alexandria, a city in Egypt.
8. Mary and Joseph fled there to protect the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:14).
GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Egypt as a nation grew up around the Nile River. The ancient historian Herodotus called Egypt “the gift of the Nile.” Though the country’s boundaries have changed during its history, it has always included the Nile River valley and its delta. The Nile River provides Egypt with its only source of fresh water. Except for the Nile, the country is all desert. Almost no rain falls on a regular basis. (Rainfall actually ranges from eight inches per year to less than an inch per year!) The Nile provides water for irrigation of crops, and its frequent floods have produced rich soil all along the river from the silt deposits the floods leave behind. The Nile valley, which is surrounded by cliffs on each side of the river, is long and narrow. At the widest point it is ten miles across; at the narrowest it is just one mile wide. Inside those cliffs is the fertile soil that is used for agriculture.
Resources
Egypt’s most important natural resource was the rich soil along the Nile. On it, ancient farmers raised grains such as barley, emmer, and wheat. Onions, leeks, beans, and lentils were common vegetables. Dates, figs, and grapes were the most widely grown fruits. Oil came from castor oil plants and sesame rather than from the olive, as in other Mediterranean lands. Flax provided linen for cloth. Domesticated animals included oxen, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys, and horses.
Another important resource was Egypt’s abundant supply of stone. Granite mountains rise between the Nile and the Red Sea, and deposits of alabaster and other fine stone are found in the same region. South of Aswan stand the granite mountains of Nubia. The quarries of Syene at Aswan are famous for their extremely hard and durable red granite. Gold was reasonably plentiful in the Nubian Mountains, and gold-bearing quartz veins were found in the mountains east of the Nile. Egyptians controlled the copper and turquoise mines of the Sinai during much of their important historical periods. In ancient times some timber was available in Nubia for building the barges that carried the huge loads of stone for construction of pyramids, temples, and other magnificent structures.
The Nile itself was an all-weather highway. One could float northward with the weak current and sail southward against it by means of the prevailing northerly winds. In fact, the Nile was the main “road” of ancient Egypt. Land routes normally conducted traffic only to the river’s edge. In addition to the massive north-south commerce, ferry boats regularly moved from shore to shore.
Along the river grew papyrus reeds from which writing material could be made. Pottery was made from the clay that was deposited along the Nile, and the poor used the clay for sun-dried bricks to make their houses.
Size
The narrow tract of fertile farmland covers just about 5,000 square miles in the middle of a vast desert. At one end of the Nile valley are the waterfalls that limit navigation on the Nile. At the other end is the Nile delta. For most of ancient history, Egypt extended from the Mediterranean Sea south to Aswan (the first waterfall). At the peak of its power it extended all the way to the fourth set of waterfalls on the Nile-1,100 miles south of the Mediterranean Sea.
The delta is a wide, pie-shaped area at the northern border of Egypt where the river empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The delta measures some 125 miles north and south, and 115 miles east and west. The more heavily populated southern region of the delta provided ancient Egyptians with some 5,000 square miles of farmland, making the total of valley and delta about 10,000 square miles, roughly equal to the state of Maryland.
West of the Nile extends a chain of oases, which are green, fertile areas in the desert caused by the presence of a natural water supply, usually from underground springs. The largest of the oases is the Fayum oasis, about 70 miles southwest of Cairo. In the center of the Fayum is Lake Qarun, which today covers some 90 square miles and is about 17 feet deep at the deepest point. It is surrounded by about a half million acres of good farmland.
The ancient Egyptians lived in comparative isolation and peace in their valley home. The cataracts on the south, the deserts on east and west, and the harborless Mediterranean coast protected them from invasion and left them free to develop their own culture. Outside influences came chiefly from the two northern corners of the delta. There were Semitic invasions from the east, and Libyans (possibly of European origin) from the west. Defenses were erected to protect against both. The security of their valley home and the regular provision of the sun and the Nile gave the Egyptians a sense of confidence and well-being that many other nations of the ancient Near East did not have.
PEOPLE AND CULTURE
The culture of Egypt is not the same today as it was in ancient times. Egypt as a unique civilization ended with the Arab conquest in the seventh century AD. The culture was greatly diluted during the several preceding centuries by Greco-Roman influences, and the people intermarried.
Though the origins of the ancient Egyptians are not well understood, physically they show affinities to three other people groups. People with negroid characteristics moved north from Nubia. People from the east migrated across the Isthmus of Suez into the delta, and Mediterranean people dominated the Nile Valley from early times. Yet however diverse their origins may have been, ancient Egyptians were conscious of themselves as a distinctive people. Men stood about five feet six inches in height and women about five feet. They were slight but strong-boned, with round heads and oval faces. The men had little face or body hair, and throughout antiquity they were commonly smooth-shaven, while Semites were bearded.
Archeologists list a series of successive “predynastic” cultures (before the first dynasty) in Egypt that mastered basic techniques and learned how to build a civilization with minimal resources. They developed an irrigation system for effective agriculture. At a very early time they discovered how to turn flax into linen for clothing. Boats were made from papyrus reeds and trees that grew along streambeds in the south. Sun-baked bricks provided building material, and clay was available for pottery. The latter was made by hand; the pottery wheel did not appear until dynastic times.
Writing appeared in Egypt about the end of the predynastic period. Hieroglyphics, or sacred signs, were called “the words of God” and were believed to be of divine origin. By 2700 BC, they had learned how to make “paper” by crisscrossing strips cut from the pith of the papyrus plant and forming them into sheets. About the same time they developed techniques for cutting stone. Commonly they cut a groove along a line in a quarry where a block was to be split off. There they drove in wedges of dry wood and wetted them to swell the wood and split the block off. Sometimes they lit a fire along the groove to heat the stone and then poured water over it to split it away from the main rock.
Social Classes
In theory and in practice during ancient times, the pharaoh owned all the land of Egypt. He was divine, and the gods had assigned to him the deeds to all the land. Of course, he made gifts to the gods for the support of the temples, to his most loyal supporters, and for the maintenance of his own worship cult after his death. Thus, large parts of the kingdom slipped from his hands, but much remained as the possession of the crown. By the beginning of the Middle Kingdom (see Ancient History, below), nobles held great tracts of land, but the king managed to sweep aside their power and repossess a considerable amount of acreage. During the Empire period, the king made large grants to the temples, especially the temple of Amon at Thebes. This generosity enhanced the power of the priesthood at the expense of the crown.
As increasing amounts of land passed out of the control of the crown, and as social and economic life became more complex, an intricate class structure developed. A major division in Egyptian society grew between the educated and the uneducated, but it was not that simple. At the top were the royal family and the great nobles. Below them was a group of lesser nobles and officials. Lower yet was a class of craftsmen who served both upper classes. Then, at least during the Empire, there were farmers who owned small plots that they worked themselves. At the bottom of the social structure were free serfs and slaves. Slavery became common only under the Empire, when slaves were obtained as prisoners of war, primarily from Palestine and Syria to the north and Nubia to the south. Some slaves, like Joseph, found their way into domestic service at the palaces and on the large estates, but most of them worked on the land and some served in the mines. Slavery was never as important in Egypt as in other Near Eastern countries, however.
Family Life
Egyptians apparently married in early adolescence. Children were weaned at three. Boys were circumcised between the ages of six and twelve. Although education was designed for boys of the upper classes, girls-especially of royal families-frequently received some formal education. Egyptian women evidently enjoyed much greater freedom and prestige than women of other Near Eastern countries. They went about rather freely and accompanied their husbands in the conduct of business and even at social events. The family might even accompany the husband and father on an outing when he went fishing or hunting, though they did not take part in the action. Egyptians normally had more than one wife, and the size of a man’s harem depended on the amount of money he had. But the status of the chief wife was protected, and her first son was her husband’s heir. Professions open to women included the priesthood, midwifery, mourning, dancing, and perhaps scribal activity (there was a feminine word for scribe).
Furniture was meager in the Egyptian home. Beds, chairs, stools, footstools, and stands for water jugs seem to have been the main items. Dining tables do not appear to have been used; there were stands on which trays of food might be placed. The poor simply sat on the floor, slept on floor mats, and spread out their meals on the floor.
Houses were normally built of mud brick. Houses of the wealthy were set amid gardens and frequently had decorative pools. Rooms might be color-washed on the inside and even decorated with frescoes. Roofs were flat and provided a second bedroom in the hottest months. Houses sometimes had a second story. Though remains of two or three villages of workmen on government projects have been found, virtually nothing is known of the layout or size of the important cities of ancient Egypt.
Clothing
Women wore long linen garments extending from the armpits to the ankles and held up by straps over the shoulder. During the Empire period, the skirt was made fuller and pleated. Men wore loincloths fastened with a belt and extending to the knee. The upper classes often wore it pleated in front. During the Middle Kingdom and the latter part of the Empire, the loincloth was extended to midcalf, and men sometimes also wore a short-sleeved tunic. As a result of Asian influence during the Empire period, Egyptians of the upper classes frequently wore colored clothing instead of the prevailing white of other periods.
Men were clean-shaven, but the king and a few top officials wore false beards for ceremonial purposes. Both men and women wore wigs, and both men and women used eye paint for medicinal and decorative purposes. Women wore lipstick and rouge and applied henna to their nails, the palms of their hands, and the soles of their feet. Men and women of the upper classes wore a variety of jewelry. People of all classes applied oils and fats to their skin to protect them in the hot, dry climate. They also all used perfume.
Amusement
There were no organized games in ancient Egypt. Sportsmen went out alone or with their families. They might hunt in the desert with bows and arrows and dogs, go fishing, or go driving in a chariot. Boys and young men among the peasants enjoyed wrestling. Soldiers participated in war dances, which were a sort of physical drill. A game like checkers was the chief indoor entertainment of men and women alike.
Law and Punishment
The king was viewed as the source of all law, and apparently there was no written code to which all could appeal. Courts followed precedent set in past cases, and periodically the king modified the legal system by new edicts. Procedure in the courts involved administering an oath to tell the truth, speeches by accuser and accused, judgment of the court, and notes taken by a court recorder. In some cases torture was used to extract a confession.
Treason, murder, and perjury were capital crimes. The latter was so serious because the court oath was taken “by the life of Pharaoh,” thus, swearing falsely meant injury to the king. Other serious crimes were punishable by mutilation (cutting off nose or ears) or hard labor in the mines and quarries (a living death). A person convicted of theft might be sentenced to repay double or triple what had been taken. Beating was the usual punishment for minor offenses. During the Empire, Egypt had a kind of police force with a contingent in each town.
Religion
All of Egyptian life was bound up with religious considerations. As the “gift of the Nile,” Egypt worshiped the great river as Hapi. The sun, which gave life to all things, was deified under such names as Amon-Re and Aton. The king was the offspring of the gods and was in some sense god incarnate. The ten plagues in Moses’ day were an attack on the gods of the Egyptians. Turning the Nile into blood, bringing intense darkness on the land, and smiting the firstborn of the divine pharaoh involved a discrediting of Egyptian gods, as did the other plagues in various ways.
The greatest concern of all individuals was immortality and the blessing of the gods upon them in the next life. Egyptians were not morbid in that they were preoccupied with death; they sought to project or continue as many of the pleasant aspects of this life as possible into the next life.
Ancient Egyptians, unlike modern Western peoples, had no concept of an inanimate world. All natural phenomena were personalized and considered to be either friendly or unfriendly beings that affected human activity. The gods were looked on as patrons of various activities or functions. Thus, Bes, a bandy-legged dwarf, was the patron of music and conception, and the goddess Taurt (a combination of hippopotamus, lioness, and crocodile) was associated with childbirth. Charms of both were made in abundance, and these two gods seem to have been more widely regarded among the masses than the chief gods of Egypt.
Most important of all the gods was Re, or Ra, the sun god. The pharaoh was his physical son and earthly embodiment. When he died, he rejoined his divine father in the sky. Re generated the god Shu, personification of air, and the goddess Tefnut, personification of moisture. These gave birth to two children: Geb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess. The legends present different stories of how mankind came into being. One legend has Re generating them with his tears. Another legend has Khnum (the Egyptian god who presided over the flood cycles of the Nile) forming them on his potter’s wheel. During the Empire, Amon, the god of Thebes, became identified with Re, and the sun god henceforth became known as Amon-Re. The great three gods of Thebes were Amon, his consort Mut, and their son Khonsu (the moon god).
Rivaling Amon-Re in importance was Osiris, god (king) of the dead. Legend has it that the benevolent ruler Osiris was murdered by his brother and brought back to life by his wife, Isis, through various magical devices; thereafter, he ruled in the west as king of the blessed dead. Eventually the experience of Osiris became that of every human being. Through magical formulas of the sort used by Isis, the individual could come to Osiris and even in some sense become Osiris. In addition to the knowledge and pronouncement of such formulas, the individual had to appear at a judgment for the weighing of his heart in the balance of righteousness. If declared innocent of wrongdoing, he was allowed to enter the kingdom of Osiris and enjoy a blessed hereafter.
Some of these notions about exiting to the next life began to appear on the walls of pyramid tombs in the Old Kingdom (“pyramid texts”). During the Middle Kingdom, they were recorded on coffins (“coffin texts”). During the Empire, they were compiled as the “Book of the Dead.” Portions continued to be inscribed on the walls of tombs from the Empire period to about AD 300.
Language and Writing
Ancient Egyptian was related to both Semitic and Hamitic languages. By about 311 BC, both hieroglyphics (pictorial characters used in inscriptions and more formal writing) and hieratic (a more running hand) were in use. Hieroglyphs may stand for a letter, a syllable, a sound, a word, or an idea. Francois Champollion discovered the meaning of the hieroglyphs in 1822, primarily with the help of the Rosetta Stone. About 700 BC, a more rapid script called demotic came into being and continued to be written until early Christian times. Thereafter, the ancient language came to be written down in a Greek script with a few extra letters and was known as Coptic.
Education
Egyptian education, available almost exclusively to most upper-class boys, was designed to provide trained personnel for the priesthood, government offices, or the professions. Boys began their training at an early age, commonly about four. Classes started early in the morning and normally ended about noon, in order to avoid the heat of the day. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were the standard fare. Good handwriting and the ability to compose letters were essential for all leaders in society. Eloquence was also valued. Learning by imitation was achieved through copying handwriting samples and model letters. Pieces of stone and pottery fragments provided inexpensive writing tablets, with papyrus being reserved for final drafts of important compositions. Knowledge of arithmetic was especially important for workers in government offices where taxes were collected.
The highest form of education was priestly training, and a prince might enroll in a school for priests. But often he was educated by tutors in classes held at the palace. Such classes normally were designed for children of the harem; princesses and non-royal children might also attend them.
After lower school, a boy might attend a “House of Life,” a kind of academy or senior college. There, outstanding persons might lecture on a variety of subjects (including medicine). Presumably resembling Plato’s academy in Athens, such “houses” did not have a prescribed curriculum or regular examinations.
Science
The ancient Egyptians excelled in applied mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. The annual flood of the Nile required an early development of the ability to resurvey the land rapidly after waters receded. Engineering skills were necessary to produce the irrigation system on which all Egyptian life depended. Moreover, their massive building projects necessitated a knowledge of mathematics. Egyptians could add and subtract but had cumbersome procedures for multiplication and division. They could calculate the area of a square, a triangle, a rectangle, and a circle and could do simple exercises in geometry. It is thought that experience rather than mathematical reasoning ability was responsible for most of their mathematical successes. They understood that the calendar must have 365 days in it, and they divided the year into 12 months and the months into three 10-day weeks. As early as 2000 BC, they had invented an adequate water clock.
With their elaborate practice of embalming, one would expect their knowledge of anatomy to be superior. They distinguished between injuries and diseases and performed some amazing surgery. Treatment was, however, a curious combination of scientific and superstitious efforts.
Egyptian scientists, with a practical rather than theoretical motivation, amassed a vast collection of facts about astronomy, chemistry, geography, medicine, surgery, mathematics, and natural history.
Architecture
As the ancient Egyptians built their great temples, they were most concerned with stability and enduring qualities. They were built to last forever. Thus they were made of stone (commonly limestone or sandstone) and roofed with great stone slabs supported on massive columns. The tops of the columns generally were decorated with images of lotus, papyrus, or palm leaves. Great statues of a king were placed inside these temples. Light entered the temples through windows in the side of the raised central hall; the side aisles were lower. Though the roofs of these temples were flat, Egyptians knew how to construct a round arch by at least 2700 BC Greatest of the remaining temples is the temple of Karnak at Luxor. The hall there, built by Ramses II, has a forest of 134 sandstone columns, the central avenue of which has 12 columns that soar to a height of 70 feet, the tallest columns in the ancient world as far as we know.
Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom built great pyramids as burial places along the west bank of the Nile south of Memphis. Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom constructed smaller pyramids in the Fayum area. During the Empire period, they carved tombs out of the cliffs west of Thebes. Pharaohs as divine beings covered the walls of their tombs at Thebes with religious scenes. The nobles had their tombs decorated with scenes of everyday life-a life that they wished to perpetuate beyond the grave.
Music
All that is known of Egyptian music must be gleaned from the musical instruments found in tombs or pictures of musical instruments painted on tomb walls. Three instruments used in religious exercises were the sistrum, tambourine, and castanets. The sistrum was a metal loop fastened to a handle. Holes were cut in the sides of the loop so that three metal rods could be loosely fastened in it. When the sistrum was shaken, the rods would rattle. This is the instrument referred to in 2 Samuel 6:5. Miriam used the Egyptian timbrel, or tambourine, in celebration after crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20).
Stringed instruments in ancient Egypt included the harp, lyre, lute, and a kind of guitar. Wind instruments included the single and double flute and the trumpet, the latter apparently used only for military purposes. At first, instruments were used singly to accompany a singer or dancer. Orchestras existed during the Empire period, when Israel escaped from Egyptian bondage.
ANCIENT HISTORY
In the period just before about 3100 BC, Egypt consisted of two separate kingdoms: Lower Egypt (the northern portion of the Nile valley and delta) and Upper Egypt (the southern portion of the Nile valley). Then the king of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and unified the two lands under his sole rule. But the division was never quite forgotten, and Egypt was referred to as the “Two Lands” throughout its history. The pharaohs wore a double crown, a combination of the low red crown of Lower Egypt and the white crown of Upper Egypt. The king’s palace was called the “double palace,” and even the royal granary was double. The Hebrews recognized this duality, for throughout the Old Testament they called Egypt mitzrayim, a word with a dual ending.
The pharaoh credited in the ancient sources with the unification of Egypt was called Narmer, or sometimes Menes; Narmer-Menes began the first dynasty of united Egypt. Though the ancient Egyptians did not reckon in dynasties, modern historians follow the practice of Manetho, an Egyptian priest of the mid-third century BC, who compiled a list of kings down to the Persian period and divided it into thirty dynasties; later others added a thirty-first dynasty. The ancients did not use such terms as “Old Kingdom” and “Middle Kingdom” either, but modern scholars find them a convenient way of organizing Egyptian history.
Early Dynastic Period (3100-2700 BC, Dynasties 1-2)
Kings of the first two dynasties ruled at This, some three hundred miles south of Cairo, but they built Memphis as another administrative center. They consolidated their hold over the land and developed the theory that the king was divine. Contacts with the outside world were considerable, and there are many indications in Egypt of influences from Mesopotamia at this time.
Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC; Dynasties 3-6)
The Old Kingdom is especially remembered for its building operations. The pyramids were erected at that time. The capital was located at Memphis (biblical Noph), southwest of modern Cairo. Contacts with Phoenicia were numerous. Artistic standards were being developed, and literary and medical beginnings were significant. Egypt was an absolute monarchy. The divine king was served by an army of officials; the whole population might be enlisted to prepare his tomb.
The first king of the third dynasty was Djoser, who built the step pyramid at Saqqara. The earliest great stone structure in the world, it consists of six layers, or steps, rising to a height of just over two hundred feet. The architect was Imhotep, his vizier or prime minister, who later was deified and credited with the beginnings of architecture, literature, and medicine. Imhotep is identified by the Greeks with the god of medicine, Asklepios.
The fourth-dynasty pharaohs were the great pyramid builders. They were responsible for erecting the three great pyramids at Giza between about 2600 and 2500 BC The greatest of these, attributed to Khufu, covers 13 acres, originally rose to a height of 481 feet, and contains about 2.3 million blocks of limestone averaging 2.5 tons each. The second pyramid stands 447 feet high and is accompanied by the sphinx, a statue with the body of a lion and the face of the king. The third pyramid is 204 feet high. These pyramids are not isolated examples. Several more small pyramids were built at Giza, and there were nine pyramid fields in all, scattered along the western bank of the Nile south of Memphis. During the fifth and sixth dynasties, there appeared the pyramid texts, carved and painted inscriptions, magical spells, and hymns that were supposed to aid the deceased in the afterlife.
The artistic standards of Egypt were established during the Old Kingdom. The king and the gods were portrayed in a stylized form. Art tended to be conceptual; that is, instead of reproducing what he saw, the artist painted what he knew to be there. For example, a school of fish became individual fish painted whole instead of being pictured naturally with one fish obscuring part of the fish next to it. In a similar manner the saddlebags on a donkey were shown with the one facing the viewer reproduced in a natural way. The other one, known to be behind the donkey’s back, was flipped up in the air above the donkey’s back.
The importance of an individual determined his size in a pictorial representation. In a battle scene the pharaoh would be the largest figure, his commanding officers next in size, the common soldiers smaller yet, and enemy troops smallest of all. Egyptian art was intended to tell a story: much of it was more like a motion picture than a snapshot. A wine-making scene might include picking the grapes, treading out the juice (normally done with bare feet), and storing the juice in jars.
Evidently Egyptian medical knowledge was also developing during the Old Kingdom. Though the sources for knowledge of Egyptian medicine are the great papyri of the Middle Kingdom, there is some indication that this medical knowledge originated in more ancient times. Numerous archaic expressions appear in the texts. Perhaps Egyptians knew something of the circulation of the blood; they talked about feeling the “voice of the heart.” Egyptian medical practice combined a hodgepodge of home remedies, charms and incantations, and scientific expertise. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus is a remarkable study dealing especially with the treatment of broken bones.
During the sixth dynasty, the Old Kingdom began to break up as a result of poor rulers, aggressive nobles, fiscal difficulties, Nubian incursions in the south, and Asian attacks in the northeast.
First Intermediate Period (2200-2050 BC; Dynasties 7-11)
During the Old Kingdom, there was political stability and prosperity. The Nile flood came predictably and was therefore not devastating. There was enough for all to eat. If anyone behaved well and worked hard and studied diligently in school, that person could count on the proper promotions and general success in life. Social, political, economic, and religious institutions remained constant and could be counted on to assume their regular place in the rhythm of life.
But during the first intermediate period things began to change. The old aristocracy fell. The central government broke down; nobles ruled many districts and took the title of kings. It was no longer true that if one did certain things he could count on success. The collapse of the whole philosophy of life of the Old Kingdom brought spiritual upset and spawned attempts at the reevaluation of life. Some of the literature of the time advocates the hedonistic approach of drowning one’s problems in pleasure. Others recommended a stoical approach to steel oneself against the hardships of life.
Middle Kingdom (2050-1780 BC; Dynasty 12)
Late in the eleventh dynasty, princes of Thebes (440 miles south of Memphis) struggled to restore order and royal control and were partially successful. The Middle Kingdom was the period of the twelfth dynasty, ruled by native Thebans who made their capital at Lisht in the Fayum. The six rulers of this dynasty took the names of Amenemhet and Sesostris. Each of them ruled some thirty years, and most of them took their sons on the throne as co-regents before death, eliminating the danger of a usurper. Since these kings did not dare to deprive the nobles of their largely independent power, a feudal condition existed during much of the period.
Unable to function as absolute kings, these pharaohs had to rule by persuasion and the development of goodwill. Their rendering of ma’at (social justice) was constantly emphasized, and if a person could not obtain ma’at at the hands of the nobles, he was promised it at the hands of the king. Their propaganda program also portrayed the pharaoh as concerned with responsible leadership instead of merely exercising authority. The pharaoh was the shepherd of his people.
Middle Kingdom pharaohs were wise enough not to exhaust the treasury on great pyramids; instead, they undertook public works such as a massive effort to increase farmable acres in the Fayum, construction of a defensive wall across the isthmus of Suez, and systematic working of the Sinai copper mines. Extensive trade took place with Crete, Lebanon, Syria, and Punt.
The Middle Kingdom was a time when Amon began to emerge as the great god of Egypt. He was combined with the sun god Re, and Amon-Re came to supersede the gods who had formerly stood for Thebes. As god of the nation, he was to become the great god and thus assume a universal quality. Religious texts, which had graced the walls of the pyramids during the Old Kingdom, now were inscribed on coffins instead. Their use was available to nobles as well as kings.
A literary flowering occurred during the Middle Kingdom. Scientific literature is represented by such outstanding works as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus and the Smith Surgical and Ebers Medical papyri. The “Instructions of Merikare” portrays something of the wisdom literature of the period, and the “Tale of Sinuhe” introduces entertainment literature.
If we hold to the early date of the Exodus (about 1446 BC) and add 430 years for the period of Israelite sojourn in Egypt (Exodus 12:40), we will conclude that the Israelites entered Egypt about 1876 BC This would be early in the reign of Sesostris III (of Senwosret, or Sen-Usert; 1878-1840 BC). Sesostris was a vigorous king who extended Egyptian control south to the second cataract and campaigned up into Syria. He was also able to reverse the feudalistic conditions of the earlier period. He took away the power of the nobles and appointed royal officials in their stead. Possibly this achievement was related to the famine in Joseph’s day, and Joseph’s use of that famine to strengthen royal control (Genesis 47:13-26).
Second Intermediate Period (1780-1570 BC; Dynasties 13-17)
With the passing of the strong twelfth dynasty, Egypt relapsed once more into a period of disintegration. The Hyksos (“rulers of foreign lands”), Semites from Syria and Palestine, gradually infiltrated into the delta region and took control there about 1730 BC. They made their capital at Tanis, or Avaris, in the eastern delta. Meanwhile, Theban princes ruled weakly in the south and were commonly subordinate to the Hyksos.
Apparently as a result of Egyptian hatred of the Hyksos and stringent efforts to obliterate their memory, the Hyksos are a very shadowy people. Little remains on which to base a reconstruction of their history. Presumably they were responsible for introducing new kinds of bronze swords and daggers, the powerful compound bow, and the horse and chariot. The Egyptians adopted these with good success and used them to overthrow Hyksos power and build an Empire in Palestine and Syria. The struggle of Theban princes to gain release from Hyksos control was prolonged and apparently fierce at times. The effort began late in the sixteenth century BC and was completed by Ahmose I (1570-1546 BC).
The Empire Period (1570-1090 BC; Dynasties 18-20)
Ahmose launched the eighteenth dynasty and may be viewed as initiating the Empire, or New Kingdom, period. After defeating the Hyksos in Egypt, he carried on successful campaigns against Nubia as well as Sharuhen in southern Palestine. Subsequently, he was forced to subdue nobles who had managed to gain independence from the central government during the Hyksos era. Amenhotep I (1546-1525 BC) was also forced to fight the Nubians in the south and Libyans in the northwest.
Without a son to succeed him, Amenhotep was followed on the throne by his sister Ahmose, who married Thutmose I (1525-1508 BC), probably a relative. Thutmose had to subdue rebellious Nubians during the first year of his reign, and he expanded Egypt’s Nubian holdings. Between two Nubian attacks, he mounted an offensive in Syria; thus he could claim an empire that stretched from the Euphrates River to the third cataract of the Nile. Moses may have been born early in his reign. Thutmose began the practice of carving out royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings west of Thebes.
Evidently the only surviving child of the union of Thutmose and Ahmose was a daughter, Hatshepsut, who was married to Thutmose II (1508-1504 BC), a son of Thutmose I by a secondary princess. Thutmose II had to quell rebellious Nubians, but little else is known of his reign. Since his marriage to Hatshepsut produced two daughters but no sons, he decided to marry his daughter Marytre to a son (Thutmose III, 1504-1450 BC) by a minor wife.
Hatshepsut continued to rule during the childhood of Thutmose III and refused to step aside when he came of age. She dominated Egypt from 1504-1482 BC During her reign, Egypt enjoyed economic prosperity. Her building activities were considerable. Not the least of her achievements was the erection of two great obelisks at the temple of Karnak at Luxor. The one remaining shaft stands 97 feet high and weighs 700,000 pounds. She also conducted trade expeditions to the land of Punt. Hatshepsut is sometimes identified as the pharaoh’s daughter who rescued Moses from the Nile (Exodus 2:5).
Finally, in 1482 BC, Hatshepsut met an untimely end, probably at the hands of Thutmose III. Within months he had assembled an army and was leading it north into Palestine-Syria to subjugate rebellious princes there. A great initial victory at Megiddo cowed northern Palestinians but did not break their will to resist. Thutmose found himself campaigning in Palestine or Nubia almost annually for the next two decades.
What started out as an Egyptian impulse to punish the Hyksos turned into a spirit of imperialism, which enjoyed a sense of power in victory. As the frontiers expanded, there was almost always a peril to attend to somewhere during subsequent generations; some of them were real and some remote. Thus, the sense of security that Egyptians had enjoyed during earlier centuries-when contained within their valley home-gave way to a feeling of insecurity. And as the god Amon-Re smiled on Egyptian military efforts, he was rewarded with quantities of booty and handsome gifts. In time the temples gained so much wealth and power that they came to exercise great clout in political and economic circles. Especially great was the power of the priesthood of Amon at the temple of Karnak.
Thutmose III was one of the greatest of Egypt’s ancient pharaohs. A conqueror and empire builder, he is often called the Napoleon of ancient Egypt. There was hardly a city of any size in the kingdom where he did not engage in building activities. With him began an effort to glorify the pharaoh as sportsman, athlete, warrior, and god that was to last for several generations. If one accepts the early date of the Exodus, Thutmose III is often considered to have been the pharaoh of the great oppression of the Hebrews.
Thutmose was succeeded by his son Amenhotep II (1452-1425 BC), who may have been the pharaoh of the Exodus. Serving briefly as co-regent with his father, he enjoyed an easy transition to sole rule over the empire. Though forced to conduct two campaigns into Syria and Palestine to subdue rebellious towns, he seems generally to have enjoyed a peaceful reign. Like his father, he sought to be known for his prowess as a sportsman and his ruthlessness as a warrior.
After the little-known reign of Thutmose IV (1425- 1412 BC), Amenhotep III (1412-1375 BC) ascended to the throne of Egypt. Frequently called “the magnificent,” he reveled in the wealth that poured in from the empire. Once, in the brief space of only fourteen days, he had excavated for his wife a lake 6,400 feet long and 1,200 feet wide. Here on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes a royal barge could float about while musicians aboard provided entertainment for the king and queen. Amenhotep built several temples, including a mortuary temple at Thebes. Here, the famous colossi of Memnon, seated statues of the king about seventy feet high, were attached. Though artists dutifully represented him as a great conqueror on temple walls, he seems to have engaged in stifling only one uprising in Nubia and probably never set foot in Palestine or Syria.
Just as Amenhotep III made no effort to maintain the empire, neither did his son Amenhotep IV (1387-1366 BC). Because of ill health, Amenhotep III made his son co-regent in 1387 BC, but the son paid little attention to the affairs of state. Of a mystical bent, he devoted himself to the establishment of the cult of the sun god Aton at a new capital named Amarna. Aton worship was nearly monotheistic (the king was worshiped along with the one god) and thus constituted a religious revolution of sorts. But Aton worship had few adherents outside the court. Religious changes, political changes connected with the move of the capital, and artistic changes were three of the main elements of the so-called “Amarna Revolution.”
Amenhotep IV took the name Akhnaton (“spirit of Aton”). Akhnaton paid no attention to numerous appeals (the Amarna letters) from royal princes of Palestine and Syria for help against invaders, and the empire disintegrated. Acceptance of the early date of the Exodus would place the Hebrew conquest and the subsequent settling-in process during the reigns of Amenhotep III and IV, precisely when Egyptian power over Palestine disappeared.
When Akhnaton died, Tutankhamen (1366-1357 BC) succeeded to the throne. A young boy of eight or nine, he was associated with Eye, a favorite of Akhnaton, as co-regent. When Tutankhamen died nine years later, Eye continued to rule until 1353 BC. Because of the discovery of his magnificently furnished, unrifled tomb in 1922, Tutankhamen has received attention out of proportion to his significance in antiquity. The thousands of objects from his tomb illustrate the wealth, grandeur, and artistic achievements of ancient Egypt and help to demonstrate what it meant for Moses to turn his back on the riches of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26).
When Eye died, Harmhab, commander-in-chief of the army, succeeded to the throne (1353-1319 BC). He reorganized the state and reestablished a strong government. Dying childless, Harmhab designated as his successor Ramses I, commander of the army and vizier, or prime minister. Ramses (1319-1318 BC) and Seti I (1318-1299 BC) made valiant attempts to restore the Asiatic empire lost by Akhnaton. In connection with their efforts, the capital was moved to Tanis in the delta, from which military campaigns could be more effectively launched.
Ramses II (1299-1232 BC) continued the effort to restore Egyptian control in Palestine. In the fifth year of his reign, he met the Hittites in battle at Kadesh in Syria and narrowly missed being destroyed in battle. Subsequently, he fought battles all the way from southern Palestine to northern Syria. In the twenty-first year of his reign, Ramses made a peace treaty with the Hittites and kept it to the end of his days. He built massively all over Egypt, notably at his capital of Tanis at Thebes at Abu Simbel (south of Aswan), and at Memphis. Many of those who accept a later date for the Exodus believe he was the pharaoh of the Exodus.
Ramses’s thirteenth son, Merneptah (1232-1222 BC), was the only Egyptian king who claimed to have defeated the Hebrews in battle. But some scholars argue that he never invaded Asia and that this statement is to be interpreted as a customary claim of victory over the king’s opponents in surrounding lands, whether or not he ever met them in battle.
Ramses III (1198-1164 BC) fought off a Libyan invasion of the delta in his fifth and eleventh years of reign, and in his eighth year he repulsed an invasion of sea peoples, among whom were Philistines. He was the last ruler of the Empire period to maintain outposts in Palestine and Syria. In his later years, the Egyptian economy deteriorated and led to great suffering. Hunger marches resulted.
During the reigns of Ramses IV-XI (1167-1085 BC), there was a steady decline of the Egyptian state. During the reign of Ramses IX (1138-1119 BC), unpaid mercenary troops roamed as marauders in the delta, and tomb robbery reached epidemic proportions. Finally, Herihor, viceroy of Nubia and commander of military forces in the south, seized control of Upper Egypt and made himself high priest of Amon in Thebes. The empire had come to an end.
The Postempire Period
In the postempire period, Egypt came under the rule of Libyan kings (945-712 BC) and Ethiopian kings (712-670 BC). After a brief period of Assyrian domination (670-663 BC), a native dynasty asserted itself (663-525 BC). Then the Persians conquered and held the land until Alexander the Great marched through in 331 B.C. Thereafter, the Ptolemies ruled Egypt until the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC At that point the Romans took over. They controlled the land when Mary and Joseph fled there after the birth of Jesus. During the Greco-Roman period, Hellenistic culture dominated Egypt.
During the early postempire period, when Egyptian culture was still dominant, several kings figured in biblical history. During the fifth year of Rehoboam, king of Judah (probably 926 BC), Shishak I of Egypt invaded Judah and brought great havoc there (1 Kings 14:25-26). He even marched into the territory of Israel, as archaeological discoveries show. About 700 BC, in the days of King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, Tirhakah of Ethiopia led an army into Palestine to help the Jews against invading Assyrians (2 Kings 19:9). Near the end of the seventh century BC, Pharaoh Neco led an army through Judah to come to the aid of weakened Assyria. When King Josiah tried to stop him, the Hebrew monarch lost his life (2 Kings 23:28-30). During the last days of the kingdom of Judah, while Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Jerusalem (588-586 BC), Pharaoh Hophra invaded Palestine in a vain effort to aid the Hebrews and defeat the Babylonians. Jeremiah predicted the Egyptians’ destruction (Jeremiah 44:30).
Who?
Who were the Egyptians? The Egyptians lived in northern Africa and had their own, distinct culture because they lived in the Nile Valley. This area was isolated from many surrounding nations.
Where?
Where is Egypt? It is the territory in northern Africa surrounding the Nile River, beginning at its delta in the north. In ancient times the country extended from the Mediterranean Sea to the first waterfall on the Nile at Aswan. Later it expanded to include all of the Nile Valley to the fourth waterfall, and areas east and west of the Nile.
What?
What was Egypt like in ancient times? It was a grand empire ruled by kings, called pharaohs, who had great wealth and commanded great respect. But Egypt was also the source of much science and mathematics that were advanced beyond the surrounding cultures.
When?
When was the greatest period in Egyptian history? The great period of pyramid building was from about 2600-2500 BC. Literature, math, and science prospered during the Middle Kingdom, about 2050-1780 BC. But the greatest expansion of the nation and domination of surrounding areas occurred during the Empire Period, 1570-1090 BC.
Why?
Why does Egypt play such a key role in ancient history? The ancient Egyptians organized their country around a national leader. This leadership allowed the country to use its resources to develop its land, educational system, military strength, and architecture.
How?
How did the ancient Egyptians thrive? Egypt was protected from invasion on many sides. The Nile Valley has high cliffs that protect it. The Mediterranean Sea had no usable ports, so boats could not land. On the east and west vast deserts make travel to Egypt difficult.
Amarna Tablets
Archeology
Cloth and Cloth Manufacturing
Clothing
Euphrates River
The Exodus
Fayum
Hieroglyphics
Hittites
Music and Musical Instruments
Nile River
Osiris
Perfume
Persia
Pharaoh
Philistines
Phoenicia
Plagues upon Egypt
Ptolemaic Empire
Pyramids
Rosetta Stone
Scribe
Slavery
Abraham
Alexander
Hezekiah
Hophra
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Jesus
Joseph
Mary
Moses
Ramses (Person)
Rehoboam
Shishak
QUICK QUOTE
“Sound the loud timbrel o’er Egypt’s dark sea!
Jehovah has triumphed—his people are free.”
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)