Introduction
In a complex society, civilization refers to social stratification and community development. The impacts of civilization are always evident through improvement in communication systems, urban development, and complete dominance over the natural environment. Most of the factors contributing to civilization are socio-politico-economic characteristics such as labor specialization, centralization, taxation, culturally ingrained ideologies of progress, monumental architecture, and supremacism, among others. Civilization has taken place in various societies such as Egypt. Formerly, there was a society by the name Kemet which later was named Egypt after the civilization process. The civilization started in 4TH millennium BCE in northeastern Africa. Ancient Egypt has a lot of achievements mostly as a result of fascinating architectural art and monuments which have been preserved up to date. The archaeologists are continuing to discover a lot of secrets in the arts, which makes researchers learn about Egyptian prehistory. The life in ancient Egypt in terms of civilization could be likened to an oasis in the middle of a desert in northeastern Africa. Egypt, formerly known as the Kemet, is the first ever instance of any human beings from different ethnic affiliations, composing themselves into a single nation. This paper explains the Ancient Egyptian civilization in Economy, social class, Religion and arts, government, and sciences.
The Civilization of the Economy in Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians highly valued economy. The ancients Egyptians were excellent traders and farmers. In the trading sector, Ancient Egyptians traded various such as grains which they got from their agricultural activities, linen, papyrus and gold for other products such as lapis lazuli, ivory, iron, copper, ebony, cedar wood. For instance, there existed numerous mineral deposits such as gold in the route between the Red Sea and Nile river. The trades were facilitated by the Nile river, which was used to transport goods to various ports for trade. From the ports, the products were distributed to multiple merchants by the use of carts, camel or on foot. The ancient Egyptians used public marketplaces and their shops to trade. The Egyptians also used the Mediterranean Sea port to import goods and maintain the basic standards of living by trading with Lebanese. Among the goods imported from Lebanese were timber, which was essential but unavailable within Egypt. The trading was a milestone towards civilization as it provided the Ancient Egyptians with the opportunity of acquiring merchandise which is unavailable to them.
Also, Ancient Egyptians adopted agriculture as a source of their livelihood to generate crops for self-sustenance. By then, Egyptians chief source of wealth was the River Nile’s fertile floodplains. For instance, the Ancient Egyptians preferred where the river formed deltas and in places where the River Nile banded into hills of limestone. The region’s agricultural prosperity and stability made neighboring communities such as Isthmus invade.
The Government Civilization in Ancient Egypt
The government of Egypt seemed to be among the world’s pioneers in terms of organization. The Africans in the country decided to unite and be ruled under the African valued. The land had been occupied with pastoral groups, settlers of different farming lands and other communities of people who had occupied the ancient Kemet. Therefore, after the coming together of these various communities and forming a single nation, there were many villages and towns which came into existence under one central government’s control. The formerly considered millennial-old customs and fashions of life which had been passed through generations became more than just a mere clan or family achievement but a national aspect. The nation came under a single ruler of Narmer known as the Per-aa which in Hebrew is Pharaoh. Per-aa means the ‘Great House.’ The unification took place 3400 BCE which was among the most historic moments. The white Crown Upper Kemet gained political control due to the southern King’s conquering of other kings along the Nile valley. Consequently, the white and Red crowns of Kemet combined to form a supreme reigning symbol of god on the earth known as Per-aa (‘Class Notes’). Narmer played a crucial part in the founding the Egypt nation as he united all areas covering the river Nile such as the forty-two ultimate nomes. It proved a hard task for Narmer to break the forty-two different ethnic groups which were under the nomarch leadership and putting them under his rule. For easy administration, Narmer divided this territory into seven smaller administrative units as sepats. The seven Egyptian pyramids represented these seven sepats, including Elephantine, Edfu, Seila, el-Klua, Abydos, Naqada, and Hebenu. However, there was later addition of sepat system through the inclusion of Bubastis in the north.
The Religious and Arts Civilization in Ancient Egypt
In the Ancient Egyptian administration was divine king known as Per-aa, who was a God’s incarnation. The king was following an African idea of religion as his ancient African predecessors were religious leaders. Per-aa acted as a spiritual leader who besides explaining various natural events affecting his residents, also provided food (‘Class Notes’). The Egyptian perceived the king’s descendants as an assurance of their legitimacy. Since per-aa was a sign of the very presence of god, no individual dared to challenge them directly. The direct link of a king to the supreme deity gave them the mandate to serve people. Besides, the priesthood recognized the king as god’s son. The religious priests had named Per-aa as Sa Ra, which meant the ‘Son of god.’ Through the priesthood appreciating the king as the son of god, it reinforced the impact on people’s mind, thus making them respect par-aa. The king who could have been found less of divined could not be spared but withdrawn from leadership. The ancient Egyptian conducted a ritual ceremony to affirm the balance between divinity and humanity. The priests were put in charge of officiating the national ceremony where they represented both human and divine.
The ancient Egyptian did value natural resources such as river Nile and the sun. People appreciated the sun as they perceived the phenomenon as the response to the supernatural and natural. The Sun’s was identified as divine since its early manifestation. All the life experiences in Kemet were related by its residents to the regularity of sun and flowing of river Nile.
In the arts sector, the ancient Egyptians were so advanced and innovative. Their innovation is evident, especially in architecture. An excellent example is the phenomenal pyramids which were built to represent the sepats in the nation (Jamison 2014). The technology used in making the pyramids baffles many up to date as the technology was sophisticated. Another art used by the ancient Egyptians is designing a calendar. The priesthood decided to assist people in reading different agricultural seasons. For instance, through the calendar, ancient Egyptians could predict the rainy season, harvesting and cultivation. The Egyptians would read different types of the sky. Ancient Egyptian artisans were among the highly skilled laborers in the country because they created most of the world’s considered arts, which are very beautiful. For instance, the artisans curved many stones to make various portraits.
Social Classes Civilization in Ancient Egypt
Since ancient times, Egyptians were very organized, both politically and socially. The social organization depends so much on the hierarchical political structure of Egypt. The top most level is pharaoh was believed to be the representation of gods in the earth; thus, according to him the highest social class. The government officials follow the pharaohs down the social pyramid. The government officials such as the vizier, the army general, and chief treasurer assist pharaoh in his administration. The army general delegates the administrative roles to the soldiers. The social class that follows is nobles and priests who serve as minor government officials. Nobles and priest join hand with high government officials to help pharaoh in administration. Scribes and soldiers follow the noble and priest social class. This class of people engages in calculating taxes and recording important events. The subsequent social class is merchants and craftsmen. Members of this social class are the basic workers who contributed to the economy through skilled activities. The second to last social class is the unskilled workers and farmers. This category of workers is involved in activities that do not require skills. Also, many agricultural farmers belong to the unskilled workers and farmers’ category. The bottom social class in the pyramid is slaves. Egypt had a lot of slaves who they used in doing manual jobs for free or little pay. The slaves mostly contributed to the building of the phenomenal Egyptian pyramids.
References
‘Class Notes’-3. The rise of Kemet/Egypt
Jamison, D., (2014). Daudi Azibo: Defining and Developing Africana Psychological Theory, Research, and Practice. Journal of Pan African Studies, 7(5).