Ancient Egypt
From Genco
[edit] Ancient Egyptian Dependence on the Nile
Water is fundamental to man’s existence. As a living being, man cannot survive for long without it. Throughout history, this basic requirement for water has led developing communities to centralize along waterways due to the power and life sustaining qualities that water provides.
Runoff from hills, mountains, and plains, flowing across watersheds, and channeling water into nearby ponds, lakes, and rivers provides the moisture required to produce crops and support both animal and plant life on which man feeds. Rivers provide the means to transport grains, minerals, materials, products from one region to another. Thereby, communities located along waterways often become centers of trade and finance. To townsfolk living on the banks of a river, the river also functions as a center of social life, offering both romance and recreation. In looking back in history, the importance of water to a society’s prosperity has not changed much in time. Just as modern societies are often influenced by man’s dependence on water for the sustenance of life, Ancient Egypt was as well.
In ancient times, Egyptian society depended upon the Nile River for its existence. Society flourished for approximately 3000 years because of the Egyptian people’s ability to harness the power of the river for agricultural purposes, social events, community projects, religious purposes. The central importance of the river in the Ancient Egyptian’s daily life is evident in history and is reflected in their art, religion, writings, politics, and social life. The river shaped nearly every facet of their existence.
The ancient Egyptians were a religious people. Two of the earliest religious cults were sun and nature. As an agricultural society, they depended upon the cyclical nature of the Nile floods to replenish the lands with fertile topsoil and they depended upon the sun to help produce a bountiful harvest. Witnessing the natural processes of the earth likely influenced their beliefs in the afterlife.
Kamil explains, “The sun and the river, which together formed the dominating cause of existence, made a profound impression on the people. They were two natural forces with both creative and destructive power. For the life-giving rays of the sun that caused the crop to grow could also cause it to shrivel and die. And the river that invigorated the soil with its life-giving silt could destroy whatever lay in its path or, if it failed to rise sufficiently, bring famine. The sun and the river, moreover, shared in the pattern of death and rebirth: the sun ‘died’ when it sank on the western horizon only to be ‘reborn’ in the eastern sky the following morning. And the ‘death’ of the land followed by the germination or ‘rebirth’ of the crops each year were directly connected with the river’s annual flood. Rebirth was, therefore a central feature of the Egyptian scene. It was seen as a natural sequence to death and undoubtedly lay at the root of the ancient Egyptian conviction of life after death. Like the sun and the crops, man, they felt assured, would rise again to live a second life.”
Such religious beliefs pervaded society. Egyptians often buried their dead on the West bank of the Nile River presumably due to their belief that the underworld was located in the west where the sun died each day. Relatives of the dead often buried miniature boats in their tombs to transport the soul in the afterlife. Like many other tomb artifacts, these were often marked with symbols of the sun God Re.
Not all of the barques were miniature, however. Next to Khufu’s Great Pyramid near Cairo, archaeologists unearthed a 142' wooden barque they believe his son Djedefre buried for the dead pharaoh to use in the afterlife. Some scholars argue that the vessel was actually used to transport Khufu in a funeral procession. Such processionals are a common scene in the paintings of tomb walls. Puzzling to scholars however was why two barques were buried in Khufu’s tomb. Egyptians believed Re traveled in two barques, one for day travel and one for the night. Some speculate that perhaps this is the reason.
The Egyptian’s desire to immortalize their pharaohs led to their massive efforts to construct monuments, tombs, temples, and colossi in their king’s honor. Such structures often contained façades or false entrances. Sometimes dummy temples would be packed with rubble. So the question arises as to why did the people of ancient Egypt put forth such enormous effort to erect such structures if they served no useful purpose. One can only wonder. But, as Roberts writes in the January 1995 issue of National Geographic, “…some archaeologists speculate that there was an Old Kingdom belief that a work of art, a building, even a chanted phrase had power and utility in the afterlife in direct proportion to its uselessness in the real world.”
The Nile supported Egyptian society’s needs throughout the construction of these enormous structures, some which stood as tall as 400 feet. Construction projects of this scale required an enormous labor force, a structure and organization capable of coordinating the work effort, support from the local community to produce crops to feed the labor force, and craftsmen skilled in trades as architects, sculptors, scribes. Today, many of these pyramids, colossi, temples and tombs still stand as remnants from ancient Egypt’s past. Through these clues historians have been able to piece together the stories, myths, and history of one of the most successful and enduring societies in the world.
The pictograms, hieroglyphics, murals and contents found in such edifices reveals a great deal about daily life in ancient Egypt. They offer answers to the question of why construction of these monuments was undertaken in the first place and give evidence of the effect they had on the life of the common man. The symbolism of the tomb paintings carried spiritual meaning. Through pictograms, murals on tomb walls we also know that their religious beliefs had a fundamental effect in shaping the organization and structure of Egyptian society.
Scholars argue that the first written language arose out of the need to keep records of harvests and rainfall. Historians believe that as few as one percent of the populace were literate. Scribes held a special position in Egyptian society and were revered as powerful and important people. The occupation required mastery of over 700 hieroglyphs representing objects, ideas, or sounds. Their education involved the study of reading, writing, and mathematics. Scribes functioned as tax collectors, record keepers, even architects. Scholars further suggest advances in astrology arose out of their need to predict the annual flood.
From a barren, desolate landscape to a lush, fertile strip of land capable of supporting plant life, Egypt became the most advanced civilization of ancient times. Without their ingenuity in mastering the power of the river, the enduring success of Ancient Egyptian civilization would not have been possible.•
