| Ancient Egypt is known as being the world's | | | | Long distance trade was common in ancient |
| first organized society. People in ancient | | | | Egypt. Sustained contacts with southwest Asia |
| Egypt settled and built houses along the | | | | and very good craft specialization meant that |
| banks of the River Nile and evolved from | | | | development of towns and hierarchy |
| hunters and gatherers to subsistence | | | | flourished. A headman, believed to be able to |
| agriculturists. Egyptians also developed | | | | control the Nile flood, had the power and |
| their religion, institutions and a written | | | | this power rested on his reputation as |
| hieroglyphic language. | | | | "rainmaker king". The Egyptian towns became |
| | | | political centers and trading centers. |
| This is clearly one of the most impressive | | | | |
| early civilizations of antiquity. There is | | | | When the Black Land of the Delta and the Red |
| something truly fascinating about Egypt and | | | | Land of Upper Egypt united, this was the most |
| the land of the Pharaohs. | | | | important political event in ancient Egypt. |
| | | | The Black Land of the Delta has dark, rich |
| The Nile, the Egyptians and their | | | | soil and the Red Land of Upper Egypt is a |
| institutions had an amazing bond. This was | | | | sun-baked desert. |
| one of the unique features of the ancient | | | | |
| Egyptian civilizations. The soil around the | | | | Horus was the chief Delta god and Seth was |
| Nile brought a copious deposit of rich silt | | | | the Upper Egypt god. The two god myths had to |
| every year from the Ethiopian tableland, | | | | be combined when their kingdoms were |
| making it productive and fertile. | | | | combined. Horus was the son of Osiris and |
| | | | Isis. He avenged the evil Seth's slaying of |
| The level of the Nile rose every year in July | | | | his father by murdering Seth. This shows the |
| and continued to do so until the end of | | | | triumph of good over evil. |
| August, when the flood was at its highest. | | | | |
| Near the end of October, this flood would | | | | Horus took over his father's thrown and was |
| recede and leave behind a deposit of silt and | | | | regarded by the ancient Egyptians as the |
| also streams and lagoons that became natural | | | | ancestor of the pharaohs. After the |
| reservoirs for fish. The Nile returned to its | | | | unification, every pharaoh took a Horus name |
| lowest level in April, which is when | | | | to show he was Horus reincarnated. |
| vegetation started to decrease, seasonal | | | | |
| pools dried out and the game would head | | | | King Menes of Upper Egypt, according to |
| north. The cycle would begin again in July | | | | tradition, united the two kingdoms, |
| and repeat itself annually. | | | | establishing his capital at Memphis. Memphis |
| | | | was known then as the "White Walls". Some |
| Egyptians were the first people to believe in | | | | scholars regard Menes as being purely |
| life after death. This is to do with the rise | | | | legendary and others believe he was the Horus |
| and fall of the river. When the flood waters | | | | King Narmer. |
| rose and fell, this meant the land would | | | | |
| "die" every year and be "reborn" when the | | | | Artisans and civil servants worked for the |
| crops grew. Rebirth was seen as natural. The | | | | central government in the course of the Early |
| sun also "died" when it set and was "reborn" | | | | Dynastic Period. They fashioned the |
| every day in the eastern sky. Egyptians | | | | sophisticated art traditions and learning |
| reasoned that the human life cycle must be | | | | that constituted the basic pattern of the |
| similar to the other natural phenomena. | | | | ancient pharaonic Nile civilization. |
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