A History of Ancient Egypt

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Marc Van De Mieroop. A History of Ancient Egypt

Table of Contents

List of Tables

List of Illustrations

Guide

Pages

Blackwell History of the Ancient World

A History of Ancient Egypt

List of Illustrations

Maps

Preface to the Second Edition

1 Introductory Concerns

1.1 What is Ancient Egypt? Chronological boundaries

Geographical boundaries

What is ancient Egyptian history?

Who are the ancient Egyptians?

1.2 Egypt’s Geography

The Nile River

The desert

Climate

Frontiers and links

1.3 The Makeup of Egyptian Historical Sources

Papyri and ostraca

Monumental inscriptions

Historical criticism

1.4 The Egyptians and Their Past

King lists

Special Topic 1.1 The five names of the kings of Egypt

Egyptian concepts of kingship

1.5 The Chronology of Egyptian History

Modern subdivisions of Egyptian history

Absolute chronology

1.6 Prehistoric Developments

The beginning of agriculture

Naqada I and II periods

Special Topic 1.2 Egyptian city names

NOTES

2 The Formation of the Egyptian State (ca. 3400–2686)

2.1 Sources

2.2 Royal Cemeteries and Cities. The Late Naqada culture

Dynasty 0

2.3 The First Kings. Images of war

The unification of Egypt

2.4 Ideological Foundations of the New State

Kings

Cemeteries

Festivals

Royal annals and year names

Gods and cults

Bureaucracy

Special Topic 2.1 Canons of Egyptian art

2.5 The Invention of Writing

Precursors at Abydos

Hieroglyphic script

Special Topic 2.2Languages and scripts of ancient Egypt

Key Debate 2.1The impetus to state formation in Egypt

2.6 Foreign Relations

The Uruk culture of Babylonia

Late 4th‐millennium Nubia

Late 4th‐millennium Palestine

NOTES

3 The Great Pyramid Builders (ca. 2686–2345)

3.1 Sources

3.2 The Evolution of the Mortuary Complex

Djoser’s step pyramid at Saqqara

Sneferu’s three pyramids

The great pyramids at Giza

Solar temples of the 5th dynasty

Special Topic 3.1 The afterlife of the mortuary complexes

3.3 Administrating the Old Kingdom State. Neferirkara’s archive at Abusir

Sources in Translation 3.1 A papyrus from Abusir

Officialdom

Special Topic 3.2 Administering Egypt

3.4 Ideological Debates?

Problems of royal succession

The gods Horus and Ra

3.5 Foreign Relations

Contacts with Nubia

Contacts with Asia

The western desert

3.6 Later Traditions about the Old Kingdom

Djoser and Imhotep

Sneferu

The great pyramid builders

Sources in Translation 3.2 A Middle Kingdom tale about the 5th dynasty

Key Debate 3.1 How was the Great Pyramid built?

4 The End of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2345–2055)

4.1 Sources

4.2 The Rise of the Regions and Political Fragmentation. Nomes and nomarchs

Special Topic 4.1 Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts

Officials’ biographies

Pepy II

Sources in Translation 4.1The Tale of Pepy II and his general

Why did the Old Kingdom dissolve?

4.3 Foreign Relations

Nubian independence

Sources in Translation 4.2The inscription of Pepynakht Heqaib

The eastern desert and the Levant

Mercenaries

4.4 Competition between Herakleopolis and Thebes. Herakleopolis

Thebes

4.5 Appraising the First Intermediate Period. Middle Kingdom literary reflections

Historical critique

Key Debate 4.1Climate change and the First Intermediate Period

NOTES

5 The Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650)

5.1 Sources and Chronology

5.2 Kings and Regional Elites

Reunification and the 11th dynasty

The start of the 12th dynasty and the foundation of Itj‐tawi

Provincial powers in the early Middle Kingdom

Royal interference in the provinces

Administrative reorganization

Royal power in the 13th dynasty

Special Topic 5.1 The Heqanakht papyri

5.3 Kings as Warriors

Sources in Translation 5.1The Execration Texts

The annexation of Nubia

5.4 Egypt in the Wider World. The early Kingdom of Kush

The eastern desert and Sinai

Syria and Palestine

The world beyond

Rhetoric and practice in foreign relations

Sources in Translation 5.2A lawsuit of the 13th dynasty

5.5 The Cult of Osiris

5.6 Middle Kingdom Literature and its Impact on Egyptian Culture

Special Topic 5.2 Reading Egyptian literature

Key Debate 5.1Co‐regencies

NOTES

6 The Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos (ca. 1700–1550)

6.1 Sources and Chronology

6.2 Avaris: Multiple Transformations of a Delta Harbor. A history of Avaris

Cultural hybridity

Other immigrants

6.3 The Hyksos. The name Hyksos

Hyksos origins

Egyptian cultural influences

Sources in Translation 6.1The Rhind mathematical papyrus

Political history

The 14th and 16th dynasties

Hyksos rule in Palestine?

6.4 Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush. The independence of Lower Nubia

The Kingdom of Kush

Kerma

The extent of the Kingdom of Kush

6.5 Thebes in the Middle

Royal tombs

Seqenenra Taa

Kamose’s war

6.6 The Hyksos in Later Perspective

Queen Hatshepsut

The gods Ra and Seth

Special Topic 6.1Egyptian gods

Manetho and Josephus

Key Debate 6.1 Who were the Hyksos?

NOTES

7 The Birth of Empire: The Early 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550–1390)

7.1 Egypt in a New World Order

7.2 Sources and Chronology

7.3 Egypt at War. War and society in the New Kingdom

The “war of liberation”

The annexation of Nubia

Sources in Translation 7.1The biography of Ahmose son of Ibana

Wars in western Asia

Sources in Translation 7.2The Annals of Thutmose III

7.4 Egypt and the Outside World

7.5 Domestic Issues. Royal succession

Hatshepsut

Royal funerary customs

New Kingdom bureaucracy

Special Topic 7.1 The tomb of Rekhmira

Building activity in the early 18th dynasty

Key Debate 7.1Hatshepsut’s proscription

NOTES

8 The Amarna Revolution and the Late 18th Dynasty (ca. 1390–1295)

8.1 An International Age

The Club of the Great Powers

The administration of Syria and Palestine

The rise of the Hittites

A failed marriage alliance

8.2 Amenhotep III: The Sun King

Amenhotep III’s divinity and his building projects

The king’s family

The king’s court

8.3 From Amenhotep III to Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten

8.4 Akhenaten

Theban years (years 1 to 5)

Akhetaten (years 5 to 12)

Sources in Translation 8.1Hymn to Aten

Special Topic 8.1 The city of Akhetaten

Turmoil (years 12 to 17)

Akhenaten’s successors

Sources in Translation 8.2The Restoration Stele of Tutankhamun

8.5 Akhenaten’s Memory

Key Debate 8.1The end of the Amarna period

NOTES

9 The Ramessid Empire (ca. 1295–1213)

9.1 Domestic Policy: Restoration and Renewal

Sety I

Rameses II

9.2 International Relations: Reforming the Empire. Wars in Syria

Sources in Translation 9.1Rameses defends his account of the battle of Qadesh

Egyptian–Hittite peace

A new imperial structure

Foreigners in Egypt

9.3 Rameses’s Court. Officials

Special Topic 9.1Litigation over real estate

The royal family

9.4 A Community of Tomb Builders

Sources in Translation 9.2Letters from Deir el‐Medina

Key Debate 9.1Markets in ancient Egypt

NOTES

10 The End of Empire (ca. 1213–1070)

10.1 Problems at Court

Sety II and Amenmessu

Saptah and Tausret

Sethnakht

10.2 Breakdown of Order

Tomb robberies

Workers’ strikes

10.3 The Decline of Royal Power

10.4 Pressures from Abroad

Libyans and Sea Peoples

Special Topic 10.1The Tale of Wenamun

Sources in Translation 10.1 The “Israel Stele” of Merenptah

The end of the international system

10.5 End of the New Kingdom

Sources in Translation 10.2 Disregard for the king

Key Debate 10.1The Sea Peoples

NOTES

11 The Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1069–715)

11.1 Sources and Chronology

11.2 Twin Cities: Tanis and Thebes (the 21st dynasty, 1069–945)

Tanis

Thebes

A peaceful coexistence

Sources in Translation 11.1Sheshonq I’s accession to power

11.3 Libyan Rule (22nd to 24th dynasties, 945–715) Centralization and diffusion of power

The God’s Wife of Amun

11.4 The End of the Third Intermediate Period. Nubian resurgence

Saite expansion

Sources in Translation 11.2Piy’s victory stele

Key Debate 11.1Fortresses in Middle Egypt

NOTES

12 Egypt in the Age of Empires (ca. 715–332)

12.1 Sources and Chronology

12.2 The Eastern Mediterranean in the 1st Millennium

12.3 Egypt, Kush, and Assyria (ca. 715–656) Military incidents

12.4 Egypt, Greeks, and Babylonians (656–525) Greek–Egyptian relations

Military activity

12.5 Recollections of the Past Under the Kings of Kush and Sais

12.6 Egypt and Persia (525–332)

Domination and resistance

Sources in Translation 12.1The Petition of Petiese

Mixing cultures

Special Topic 12.1The Apis bull and other animal cults

Key Debate 12.1King Cambyses and the Apis bull

NOTES

13 Greek and Roman Egypt (332 BC–AD 395)

13.1 Sources and Chronology

13.2 Alexandria and Philae. Alexandria

Philae

13.3 Kings, Queens, and Emperors

The Ptolemies

Queen Cleopatra VII

Roman Egypt

13.4 Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. Administration

Sources in Translation 13.1The Rosetta Stone

Special Topic 13.1The archive of Menches, village scribe

Culture and religion

Special Topic 13.2Manetho’s History of Egypt

13.5 Economic Developments: Agriculture, Finance, and Trade

13.6 The African Hinterland

13.7 The Christianization of Egypt

Key Debate 13.1Greeks and Egyptians in Ptolemaic Egypt

NOTES

Epilogue

NOTE

Guide to Further Reading

Chapter 1: Introductory Concerns

Websites

Chapter 2: The Formation of the Egyptian State (ca. 3400–2686)

Websites

Chapter 3: The Great Pyramid Builders (ca. 2686–2345)

Websites on the pyramids

Chapter 4: The End of the Old Kingdom and the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2345–2055)

Chapter 5: The Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055–1650)

Websites

Chapter 6: The Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos (ca. 1700–1550)

Websites

Chapter 7: The Birth of Empire: The Early 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550–1390)

Websites

Chapter 8: The Amarna Revolution and the Late 18th Dynasty (ca. 1390–1295)

Websites

Chapter 9: The Ramessid Empire (ca. 1295–1213)

Websites

Chapter 10: The End of Empire (ca. 1213–1070)

Websites on Medinet Habu

Chapter 11: The Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1069–715)

Websites

Chapter 12: Egypt in the Age of Empires (ca. 715–332)

Websites

Chapter 13: Greek and Roman Egypt (332 BC–AD 395)

Websites

Epilogue

Glossary

King List

Bibliography

Index

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This series provides a new narrative history of the ancient world, from the beginnings of civilization in the ancient Near East and Egypt to the fall of Constantinople. Written by experts in their fields, the books in the series offer authoritative accessible surveys for students and general readers alike.

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From the Early Dynastic Period on, Egypt was subdivided into units that we call nomes, after the Greek term for regional administrative districts. Each nome had its territory, name, and symbol, a system that was fixed by the 5th dynasty and survived into the Graeco‐Roman Period, albeit with changes over time. An official was responsible for them and represented the king locally. The nome‐system enabled the administration of the country in a methodical and uniform manner. It made it easier to assess dues and to deal with local issues. The drawback for the king was that officials – we call them nomarchs, a modern designation that takes into account multiple ancient Egyptian titles and disregards temporal changes – could develop a local power base, which in times of weak central government enabled them to gain autonomy.

At the apex of the entire bureaucracy was the king. The center of the state was wherever he was. Manetho, who lists the capital of each dynasty, states that the first two dynasties were from This or Thinis. Since all kings of the 1st dynasty and two of the 2nd were buried at Abydos and kings were buried near their capital in later periods, we locate the ancient city in Abydos’s vicinity, probably beneath the modern town of Girga, where it is impossible to excavate. The capital’s position near Abydos suggests that the dynasty 0 lords buried there were the main forces behind the unification of Egypt, but its location was too far from the Delta to be strategically ideal. It is thus no surprise that the administrative capital of Early Dynastic Egypt was farther north, at Memphis alongside the officials’ burial site at Saqqara. In the Old Kingdom Memphis did become Egypt’s political capital. The city was perfect for that purpose as it lies just south of where the Nile Valley and Delta meet, and the early high administrators of the state were in closer contact with the two parts of the land there than at Abydos. One of the ancient names of the Memphis region was Ankh‐tawy, “The Life of the Two Lands,” which reasserted the ideological union of Upper and Lower Egypt.

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