Complete Nile Valley Civilization Material (Civilization of Ancient Egypt, Middle and New Egypt)
Nile Valley Civilization
Nile River Valley Civilizations (Ancient, Medieval and New Egyptian civilizations) - Egypt is a country through which the Nile River flows into Lake Albert in the territory of the State of Uganda. The Greek historian Herodotus says that "Egypt was a gift from the Nile".
Ancient Egyptian civilization is the oldest civilization in the world, known from the discovery of the Rosetta stone which was read by the French scholar, Champollion in 1822. The writing of the Ancient Egyptians was hieroglyphic (picture writing). The writing was later simplified into hieratic and finally demotic, writing it on papyrus leaves with a straw pen.
Spiritual civilization in the form of burial by placing the corpse in the grave and embalming (mummifying) so that it remains intact, this process is called hoeker bestafung. The Egyptians believed that when a dead person lives on, his soul must remain intact so that his body needs to be preserved (mummified).
The structure of Egyptian society is as follows.
a. The king (pharaoh) and his family
b. Nobles
c. Traders/entrepreneurs
d. Farmer
e. workers
f. Slaves
All slaves are obliged to serve the class above them so that they suffer greatly. The livelihoods of the Egyptian population are farming to produce wheat and cotton as well as trading. The Egyptians worshiped many gods. The god Ra/Re is the sun god and the supreme source of life. The god Osiris was the god of justice in the afterlife who was considered the god of water and the god of the land. The god Isis was a wind god who lived on the Nile River.
The Egyptians believed in sacred animals such as the eagle as a link between humans and the sun god. The ox is considered as the animal supporting the world. The animals that live in the Nile are considered to bring fertility. The kingdom of Egypt was successfully united by Pharaoh Menes so that he was symbolized as a king with twin crowns (Nesutbitti).
The ancient Egyptian calendar system had 12 months, with a difference of five days between the lunar and solar years. Egypt traded wheat, ceramics and cotton. Trade centers in Thebe, Memphis and Al Amarna. The king of Egypt was considered a god by his people. The king had the title Pharaoh and the capital of his kingdom was in Memphis. The reign of ancient Egypt was divided into three.
a. Ancient Egypt (3400 BC – 2160 BC)
The King of Ancient Egypt was Menes who succeeded in uniting Egypt from civil war so that Egypt was considered safe.
b. Middle Egypt (2160 BC – 1788 BC)
The capital city of Egypt at this time at Thebe, its king was named Sesotris III. He managed to unite Egypt back from civil war. He seeks to expand the territory into Palestine and Sudan. After being replaced by Menemhet III, the Kingdom of Egypt was increasingly advanced in agriculture. They are familiar with the technology of draining swamps for agricultural land. Middle Egypt retreated under the attacks of the belligerent Hykos.
c. New Egypt (1500 BC – 1100 BC)
With the experience of the Hykos attack from Asia, the people of Egypt realized and rose under King Ahmosis I and expelled the Hykos from Egypt so that a strong New Egypt was established and lasted until 1100 BC. The Egyptian people were invited to worship the god Amon and King Thutmosis III built the house of the god Amon Re in the cities of Karnak and Luxor. After being replaced by King Amenhotep IV, the Egyptian people began to embrace monotheism, namely worshiping only the god Amon who was depicted as a sun disc was considered universal.
Egyptian culture
a. Get to know astronomy.
b. Get to know medicine.
c. Build a pyramid.
d. There are Luxor and Karnak temples.
e. There is an obelisk monument and a sphinx statue.
f. There are mummies of the Egyptian kings, namely preserved corpses.
The collapse of Egypt was caused by the following factors.
a. Attack of the Assyrians in 672 BC.
b. Attack from the Persians.
c. Attacked by Macedonia under Iskandar Zulkarnaen.
d. Fell to the Romans under Octavian.
e. British controlled.