Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient N. Africa, focused along the lower R. Nile. The history of ancient Egypt happened as a sequence of stable empires in which the intermediate periods divided. Some successes of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt are quarrying and surveying.
Herodotus described Egypt as the gift of the River Nile referencing the establishment of the land through the deposits of the river.
#1 Significance of The Nile to Ancient Egypt
The Nile was very important to the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. It provided climate and fertility to the area. During the rainy season, the Nile would flood and the overflow would reach the land. After the water recedes, there would be remains of thick fertile soils. This permitted the Egyptians to farm and raise their livestock. The ancient Egyptians took critical steps to manage the floods by building dams and canals.
For the Egyptians to have a successful farming period, they would plant crops as soon as the water recedes and harvested before the next floods. To be able to do this, they created an Egyptian calendar based on the relationship between Moon, Sun, and Nile’s flooding.
Recently, the Aswan High Dam has managed to bring the water body under control. To build the dam, engineers relocated the temple of Abu Simbel. They recorded, deconstructed, and rebuilt it in a higher place.
Another great gift of the Nile is the papyrus reeds. The ancient Egyptians used these reeds to develop strong and durable writing surfaces to record their calendar’s details. They would also soak and woven the papyrus’ fibers into sheets that they dried and polished. The Egyptians would then combine the sheets into scrolls.
Thirdly, the water body provided transport between cities. The travel allowed trading activities to take place around the region.
#2 The Story of Osiris
Osiris is the god of the afterlife in the religion of ancient Egypt. Osiris was one of the 1st whom people related to the mummy wrap. Set, his brother, killed him and cut him into several pieces. Isis, his sister, and wife collected his pieces and wrapped his body up, enabling him to resurrect.
#3 Ancient Egyptian Deities-Descriptions and Depictions
The ancient Egyptian writings tell us of the gods’ bodies in great detail. Some texts give accurate explanations of particular gods and goddesses. The god Anubis is in Egyptian art as a jackal or a dog. Hathor could be a cobra, cow, or a lioness. Ammit was a goddess in the religion of ancient Egypt. She had a body that was part crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus. One of her titles was Devourer of the Dead.
#4 Akhenaten and the Egyptian Religion
Akhenaten was a pharaoh in ancient Egypt. History notes Akhenaten for leaving Egypt’s customary religion and instituting Atenism. After the Pharaoh’s death, people destroyed his statues and his name was not on the list of rulers. Akhenaten was lost to history.
#5 The Ancient Egyptian Scribes
Most of the information that people know concerning ancient Egypt is because of the efforts of ancient Egyptian scribes. People put monumental structures under their watch. The scribes documented economic and administrative works. Scribes were part of the royal court, and they didn’t pay taxes. Besides, the ancient Egyptian scribes were so valuable that they did not do any heavy manual work. Thoth was the scribe of the gods who had information on scientific laws.
#6 Intentional Mummification Process
Intentional mummification was common in ancient Egypt for burying Egyptian kings. It took more than 67 days to finish the mummification of a lifeless body. The 1st step is to push a rod up the nose and into the brain. From there, the experts in mummification break the brain into small pieces and remove them via the nose.
They then make holes in the dead body to remove every organ apart from the heart that the Egyptians would use. They used it in the heart’s weighing event or ceremony. The experts would use jars to put the organs. They filled the hole with spices and they would leave the dead body under salt to get dry. Later, they would wrap the body in bandages made of linen. After the process, Egyptians would put a mask over the head.
#7 Who is Imhotep?
Imhotep was an Egyptian chancellor to King Djoser. Moreover, Imhotep is the architect of the step pyramid. People do not know a lot about Imhotep but in the over 2500 years following his end, people praised him.
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