Fascinating history-Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Egypt Old Kingdom Period: 2686-2181 BC

During the Old Kingdom, Egypt was mostly unified as a single state; became more complex and its successes increased, it expanded militarily. Old Kingdom rulers built the first pyramids. These pyramids were both tombs and monuments to the kings who built them. Building monumental architectural structures such as the Pyramid of Cheops and the Sphinx at Giza, as well as temples to different Gods, required a central government that could offer huge resources.

The pyramids were not built by slaves, but by peasants who worked in the pyramids during the dead season of agriculture. These villagers; He worked with specialists such as stone masons, mathematicians, and priests. As a tax, each household was required to provide one worker for these projects; but the rich could pay the price instead. This demonstrates both the power of the state to force people into the workforce and the advantages enjoyed by elites who can avoid paying to provide labor.

In addition, the Egyptians began to build ships built of wooden planks tied together with ropes and insulated with reeds. With these ships, products such as ebony, incense, gold, copper and Lebanon cedar, which were especially important in construction projects, were traded on maritime routes.

Middle Kingdom: 2000-1700 BC

Egypt was reunified during the Middle Kingdom, when the kings took power from the regional governments. After the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian kings generally maintained trained regular armies. The fact that the Egyptian state was able to establish and maintain a regular military force and build fortifications showed that it regained control of important resources.

As a result of the political fragmentation, the Second Intermediate Period began. While more incidents could be recorded through writing, many were still not recorded, and many were lost or destroyed. Therefore, an exact date for the Second Interim Period cannot be determined.

Around 1650 BC, the Hyksos emerged, taking advantage of the political impotence in Egypt. The Hyksos were Semitic people, meaning they spoke a language of Middle Eastern origin. This indicated that they were not native to Egypt. The Hyksos, together with their own political rulers; It also brought many cultural and technological innovations, such as bronze working and pottery techniques, new animal species and new crops, horse and chariot, compound bow, battle axes, and fortification techniques for warfare.

New Kingdom: 1550-1077 BC

Around 1500 BC, the New Kingdom period of Egyptian history began with the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt and the re-establishment of centralized political dominance. This period was Egypt's wealthiest and most powerful.

Also during this period, Egypt's most famous female ruler, Hatshepsut, established trade networks that prospered Egypt, and commissioned hundreds of construction projects, statues, and an impressive mortuary temple at Dayr el-Bahari. He also ordered the restoration of neglected or damaged temples during the Hyksos period.

The word pharaoh, which originally meant the king's palace, came to be used to mean king during this period, further emphasizing the idea of ​​a holy kingdom. Religiously, the pharaohs associated themselves with Amon-Ra, although they also recognized other Gods.

In the mid-1300s BC, a pharaoh tried to break this tradition by choosing to worship only Aton and even changing his name to Akhenaton in honor of this god. Some researchers see this as the first example of monotheism, that is, believing in the existence of a single God. However, this change did not continue after Akhenaten.

During the New Kingdom period, Egypt was defeated by the pharaohs Seti I and II, who tried to increase Egypt's power against the Libyans in the west and the Hittites in the north. He reached the height of his power during the reigns of Ramses. The city of Kadesh, where the wall between the two empires was located, was the source of the conflict between the Egyptians and the Hittites, and they fought for it several times and then made the world's first known peace treaty.

Third Intermediate Period: 1069-664 BC

As a result of war expenses, increasing drought, famine, popular uprisings, and official corruption, Egypt was divided into locally administered city-states. A military force from the southern Nubian kingdom of Kush took advantage of this political division and conquered the united Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Kush. Kushites were expelled from Egypt by the Assyrians in 670 BC. The Assyrians established a vassal state in Egypt that was self-governing but paying tribute to a more powerful state.

In 656 BC, Egypt was reunified and fell out of Assyrian control. The country enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity until 525 BC. In 525 BC, the Persian king Cambyses defeated the Egyptian rulers and took the title of Pharaoh as well as the title of Persian kingdom.