3.Middle Kingdom Egypt

Middle Kingdom 2175-1541 BCE

Middle Kingdom 2175-1541 BCE

• Thebes (the new capital) unites Egypt. • Egypt annexes Nubia.• Trade expands, a golden age of literature and

craftsmanship.• Pharaohs build large temples, public projects.

Pharaohs only accepted if strong.• Eternal life opens to everyone, influencing

Judaism and Christianity.

An Afterlife for all

• During the Old Kingdom, only the king’s KA could live in the afterlife.

• During the Middle Kingdom, Egyptians believed in two different eternal lives, both open to everyone.


• Princess Neith (Pepi’s sister) had her pyramid inscribed with the Pyramid Texts.

• Next, the governor Medunefer had them painted on his tomb.


• Soon, everybody was doing it.• By the Middle Kingdom, everyone’s KA or BA could live

forever in the afterlife.


• Ra’s solar boat still existed, but now all believers could join the king’s journey to the stars.


• Another new choice lead to the land of Isis and Osiris.

Final Judgment

O shabti, detailed to [serve] me … if I am summoned or if I am detailed to do any work that is to be done in the afterlife … you shall detail yourself to me every time, [whether] for maintaining the fields, irrigating the banks, or ferrying sand from east to west. “Look, here I am,” you shall say.2O shabti, detailed to [serve] me … if I am summoned or if I am detailed to do any work that is to be done in the afterlife … you shall detail yourself to me every time, [whether] for maintaining the fields, irrigating the banks, or ferrying sand from east to west. “Look, here I am,” you shall say.2

Both trips began at the Island of Fire. Here, your heart was weighed against MAAT.

Those that failed thrown into a pit of fire.

Final Judgment


“When a man remains after passing away, his deeds are set alongside him.…He who reaches [the next life] without wrong doings Will exist

there like a god.”

When a man remains after passing away,His deeds are set alongside him.…He who reaches [the next life] without wrongdoingsWill exist there like a god.3When a man remains after passing away,His deeds are set alongside him.…He who reaches [the next life] without wrongdoingsWill exist there like a god.3

Egyptian Book of the Dead


• Next, a difficult journey with many dangers:


• mazes, and gates to enter,


• ,dangerous waterways to cross,


• , demons to tame, and tests of knowledge.


• For example, you had to recite all the parts of a ship.

Field of Offering

• The Egyptians imagined the Land of Isis and Osiris like Egypt, only much bigger and better.

• “I shall eat in it and I shall wander in it.I shall plough in it and I shall reap in it.I shall have sex in it and I shall be content in it.”

Field of Offering

Changes in burial customs.

Priests made many magical spells to help the spirit get to Osiris’ land.

Early coffins had them painted on the inside.

Cheat Notes to the Field of Offering.


• Mummies no longer needed careful raping, they just had to look like Osiris.

Three-dimensional wooden models replace painted tomb walls.


• Eventually, magical objects replaced Coffin Texts. These helped the spirit find the land of Osiris and Isis.


Shabti to do your work

the shabti


O shabti, detailed to [serve] me … if I am summoned or if I am detailed to do any work that is to be done in the afterlife … you shall detail yourself to me every time, [whether] for maintaining the fields, irrigating the banks, or ferrying sand from east to west. “Look, here I am,” you shall say.2

• Egyptians made a one in a life pilgrimage to Djedu (main temple to Osiris).

Around 1996, Mentuhotep II ruthlessly unites Egypt from Thebes.

Mentuhotep II 2046 – 1995 BCE

Mentuhotep II 2046 – 1995 BC

He appoints Thebians to all the major offices of state and installs a

garrison in Nubia.

Mentuhotep II 2046 – 1995 BC

• He builds a new kind of monument.

• Decoration included scenes of battle.

• A pit contained the bodies of sixty or more Thebian soldiers that had died on his campaigns.

Mentuhotep II

• His tomb honored the king, the soldiers, and the gods.

• He adopted the epithet of “the living god, foremost of kings.”

Middle Kingdom 2175-1541 BC• Next, the 12th dynasty claims the throne .

12th Dynasty 1938-1755 BC• The most stable line of kings ever to rule over

ancient Egypt. • They conquered and annexed Nubia.• Golden Age of Literature• They establish regular trade routes.

Growth of Egyptian Trade

12th Dynasty1938-1755 BC

• Amenemhat I (1938–1908) was a commoner by birth.

• He came to power by means of a coup d’état.

Succession amended• Amenemhat I named his favorite son

Senusret as successor.

• Both ruled as co rulers for many years.

• This solved the problem of “whose the king?”

12 th Dynasty

They defeated the Nubians at Wawat.

Amenemhat I (1938–1908)• “Then I killed the Nubians of

the entire remainder of Wawat. I sailed upstream in victory, killing the Nubian upon his land; and I sailed downstream, uprooting crops and cutting down the remaining trees. I put their houses to the torch, as is done to a rebel against the king.”

• They built forts along the Nile,

12th Dynasty

• And along the northern boarder.

12th Dynasty

• They made Thebes a city of great temples.

• Temples, canals, farming improvements, and city projects outshined the Kings tombs.

Thebes during the 12th Dynasty

12th Dynasty

• They tore down parts of the Pyramids of Giza.

• They used stones from the Great Pyramid in their own pyramids.

It was after supper, when night had fallen, and I had spent an hour of happiness. I was asleep upon my bed, having become weary, and my heart had begun to follow sleep. When weapons of my counsel were wielded, I had become like a snake of the necropolis. As I came to, I awoke to fighting, and found that it was an attack of the bodyguard. If I had quickly taken weapons in my hand, I would have made the wretches retreat with a charge! But there is none mighty in the night, none who can fight alone; no success will come without a helper. Look, my injury happened while I was without you, when the entourage had not yet heard that I would hand over to you when I had not yet sat with you, that I might make counsels for you; for I did not plan it, I did not foresee it, and my heart had not taken thought of the negligence of servants.[7]

Heliopolis obelisk (Senusret I)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenemhat_I

Whie Chapelof (Senusret I Karnak

12th Dynasty

• Artists projected royal power with portrait sculpture on a grand scale.

A surprising end c1541BCE

• Like the end of the Old Kingdom Amenemhat III (50 year reign) had no young male heir.

• His sons were so old, that they died after a short time.

• The kingship passed from king to king quickly.

Hyksosthe Sea People

• From the Sea came invaders with the latest bronze age military technology.

• Into Egypt they storm, conquering Lower Egypt even the ancient capital of Memphis.

• The Hyksos had arrived.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pulasti_(Philistine)_and_Tsakkaras_(painting).png

End MK

Next TimeNew Kingdom Egypt

The menace to the North

• The town of Hutwaret full of foriengers • uled northern Egypt and were recognized as

overlords in the rest of the country. They transformed their capital at Hutwaret into a town wholly Asiatic in culture, worshipped a foreign god (Baal), and were buried following foreign rites

Middle Kingdom 2175-1541 BC• Amenemhat I’s reign (1938–1908). RENAISSANCE RULER• Amenemhat’s response was to order the construction of a

series of fortified bases, strung out along the frontier zone, within signaling distance of each other.

• An expeditionary force led by his trusted vizier Intefiqer arrived from Egypt to overthrow Wawat

• Then I killed the Nubians of the entire remainder of Wawat. I sailed upstream in victory, killing the Nubian upon his land; and I sailed downstream, uprooting crops and cutting down the remaining trees. I put their houses to the torch, as is done to a rebel against the king.

Middle Kingdom 2175-1541 BC7th ynasty forts eastern delta and 2nd catarachlarge temple complexes at KarnakNew God Amon1878-1841 Sesostris III conquest of Lower Nubia and gold minestrade routes red sea sinai crete and byblosAmernmhet III creation of Lake Moeris mortuary temple and pyramidroyal shpinxes Literature The maxims of King Amenemhet, The

tale of Sinuhe

Middle Kingdom 2175 – 1541 BC


• Afterlife beliefs and burial customs, in particular, underwent profound changes in this climate of innovation, with concepts previously reserved for the king being adopted by the wider population, then adapted, elaborated, and codified.


• political sphere, the shock of civil war and its lingering aftermath prompted a security clampdown and the introduction of repressive measures throughout the Nile Valley.


• political sphere, the shock of civil war and its lingering aftermath prompted a security clampdown and the introduction of repressive measures throughout the Nile Valley.

• The Egyptian civil war, once formally declared,

dragged on for more than a century (2080–1970),

2nd Intermediary Period 1778-1610

Domestic problems then invasion of the Hykos 1650

Hyksos conquore Upper Egypt capital AuarisHorses and Chariots

New Kingdom and Empire 1570-715

• Amosis drove out the Hyksos and drove them into Palestine founds 18th Dynasty

• Thutmosis I Egypt became the leading major power war into asia Euphrates and Nubia

• 1501 Queen Hatshepsut


• 1480—1448 Thutmosis III Egypts greatet terrirotyexpansion Euphrates to 4th Catarcact of the Nile

• 1480 subjugates Phoenicia and Palestine • 1370-1358 Amenophis IV the heretical king and

favorite wife Nefertiti• worship of Aton the sun disk monotheism• Song of the Sun • Captial moved to Akhetaton


• Tutankamen returned the capital to Thebes• Haremhab a former general made himself kin• fights against Hittite


• 1345-1200 19th Dynasty• SehosI and Ramses II fight the Hyksos and reqongered

Syria• battle of Kadesh vs Muatalli• 2500 Chariots top guns of the time, moblie firing

platfom and could smash into people compound bow• The great builder left his name everywhere• Ramses peace treaty with King of Hittites• Campagine in Palastine and tiive of Israel


• wanted to be the greatest pharoh of all time.

Powerful pharaohs created a large empire that reached the Euphrates River.

Hatshepsut encouraged trade.

Ramses II expanded Egyptian rule to Syria.

Egyptian power declined.

Large drainage project created arable farmland.

Traders had contacts with Middle East and Crete.

Corruption and rebellions were common.

Hyksos invaded and occupied the delta region.

Pharaohs organized a strong central state, were absolute rulers, and were considered gods.

Egyptians built pyramids at Giza.

Power struggles, crop failures, and cost of pyramids contributed to the collapse of the Old Kingdom.

NEW KINGDOM MIDDLE KINGDOM

OLD KINGDOM

Three Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt1

Religion

• Belief that many gods and goddesses ruled the world and the afterlife

Amon-Re: sun god Osiris: god of the underworld and of the Nile

• The pharaoh was believed to be a god as well as a ruler

Falcon Headed Sun God

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/section-deities.htm

Religion

• Belief in eternal life after death. Relied on the Book of the Dead to help them through the afterworld.

• Practiced mummification, the preservation of the body for use in the next life.

Book of the Dead

Collection of spells, hymns, and prayers intended to secure a safe passage to the underworld for the deceased

Pyramids

http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/egypt/Pyramids.html

The Great Sphinx

http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/egypt/Sphinx.html

Mythology

Egyptian goddess Isis, tomb painting, ca. 1360 BC.

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/section-myths.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/%C3%84gyptischer_Maler_um_1360_v._Chr._001.jpg

HIGH PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSESServed gods and goddesses

PHARAOHEarthly leader; considered a god

NOBLESFought pharaoh’s wars

MERCHANTS, SCRIBES, AND ARTISANSMade furniture, jewelry, and fabrics for

pharaohs and nobles, and provided for other needs

PEASANT FARMERS AND SLAVESWorked in the fields and served the pharaoh

Social Classes2

Daily Life

The Egyptians - Daily Life Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/life/story/main.html

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.egyptweb.norfolk.gov.uk/images/egypt1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.egyptweb.norfolk.gov.uk/eglife.htm&h=547&w=507&sz=41&hl=en&sig2=vRDATK2YAvchuJA3Kqlk3Q&start=7&tbnid=vIG16VXroNn_WM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=123&ei=YxecRcyAAamEJZDpkJIN&prev=/images?q=egypt+daily+life&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/dailylife/dailylife.html

Preparations for the Underworld

Preparations for the Underworld

Priests protected your KA, or soul-spirit

Priests protected your KA, or soul-spirit

ANUBIS weighs the dead person’s heart against a feather.

ANUBIS weighs the dead person’s heart against a feather.

The Final JudgementThe Final Judgement

Anubis Horus Osiris Anubis Horus Osiris

Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara

Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara

King Snefru 2613 BC to 2589 BC

• Height 101.1 metres (332 ft) Base 188.6 metres (619 ft) Slope 54°27'(lower)43°22'(upper)

“Bent” Pyramid of King Sneferu

“Bent” Pyramid of King Sneferu

• Manetho (3rd Century BC) • wrote the first history of

Egypt, The Aegyptiaca.• He was an Egyptian historian

and priest.

• Manetho (3rd Century BC) • The Aegyptiaca divides

Egyptian history into 30 dynasties, which historians still use today.

• Modern historians added a 31st

• Manetho (3rd Century BC) • The Aegyptiaca puts the 30

dynasties into 3 major Kingdoms of political stability and unity (OLD MIDDLE NEW).

• Manetho (3rd Century BC) • The Aegyptiaca The

Kingdoms are followed by times of political instability and disunity called Intermediate Periods (1-3).

Ancient Egypt’s Chronology

• EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD, 2950–2575 BC• OLD KINGDOM, 2575–2125 BC• FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 2125–2010 BC• MIDDLE KINGDOM, 2010–1630 BC• SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 1630–1539

BC• NEW KINGDOM, 1539–1069 BC• THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, 1069–664 BC

EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD, 2950–2575

• 1-3 dynasties establish and absolute monarchy• At the end of the Third Dynasty, the monarch

and his administration had achieved their ultimate goal: absolute power.

• Mathetho’s dynasties show an unbroken succession of kings since the time of the Gods.

• The King was divine, the sons and grandsons of the creator god Atum.

• The king had superhuman powers. • In pre dynastic times kings were depicted as a

lion or other wild animals.

At Gebel Sheikh Suleiman, a pre dynastic King takes the form of a giant scorpion.

which Hollywood made famous.

Narmer (Menes) 2950unites Egypt under a single king.

• They recall a past where livelihoods were dominated by animal husbandry, where the man wielding the crook and flail—the man controlling the herds—was the leader of his community.

Namer Palette Mesopotamia one side Egyptian the other.

• king of upper and lower egypt

• hieroglphics eastern desert influence, mesopotamia a little bit

• belief in an afterlife building of tombs or monuemnts across the river on western side

• founds memphis

• king was decendent of gods so intermediary between gods and people in charge of order and protecting egypt

• kings wore not one but two distinctive crowns, to symbolize the two halves of their realm. From earliest historic times, the red crown was associated with Lower Egypt. It consisted of a squat, squarish cap with a tall tapering projection rising from the back, and attached to the front of this projection was a curly protuberance reminiscent of a bee’s proboscis. Its counterpart, the white crown—tall and conical with a bulbous end—was the symbol of Upper Egypt.

• Like other totalitarian rulers throughout history, Egypt’s kings had an obsession with grand buildings, designed to reflect and magnify their status.

• The most ancient of all royal titles, in use even before Narmer’s time, was the Horus title. It explicitly identified the king as the earthly incarnation of the supreme celestial deity, Horus, who was worshipped in the form of a falcon.

• he signs of a vulture and a cobra, representing two goddesses the protectors of upper and lower egypt.

• Narmer’s successors of the First Dynasty, the royal tomb itself was accompanied by a series of subsidiary graves for members of the court. In one case, the king’s afterlife companions were all in the prime of life when they died,

• Retainer sacrifice peaked at a relatively early stage: the tomb of Djer, third king of the First Dynasty (circa 2900), was surrounded by 318 subsidiary burials

• he same mortuary provision was considered appropriate for both dogs and concubines

• truly national administration was one of the major accomplishments of the First to Third dynasties,

• he government presided over a centrally controlled command economy, financing royal building projects on a lavish scale

• writing was swiftly embraced by Egypt’s early rulers, who recognized its potential, not least for economic management.

• he height of the inundation directly affected the level of agricultural yield the following season, and would therefore have allowed the royal treasury to determine the appropriate level of taxation.

gypt’s early kings could turn their attention to increasing productivity,

The monuments were not just symbols of the king’s authority throughout the country; they were also practical instruments of that authority in the central management of the economy.

3.Middle Kingdom Egypt

Education

Transcript of 3.Middle Kingdom Egypt