Government & social class
Government:
The Ancient Egyptian Government was ruled by kings that are called pharaohs. The pharaoh was the supreme leader, and he had complete power over the government. The Egyptians also believed that he was not just the leader, but also a god. However, the pharaoh couldn't run the government alone, so he had rulers and leaders under him who controlled different parts of the government.
The vizier was the primary leader of the government after the pharaoh. The vizier was the chief minister of the land, which is called now the Prime Minister. To be a vizier, Egyptian law stated that you have to judge fairly, act by the law, and not act willfully or headstrong. There were people called the Nomarks. They were local governors under the vizier. Nomarks ruled over an area of land called a nome. A nome was like a state or province. Nomarks were sometimes appointed by the Pharaoh. Imhotep was the first vizier and the most famous. Imhotep was the architect for the first pyramid and was later made into a god.
The Ancient Egyptian Government was ruled by kings that are called pharaohs. The pharaoh was the supreme leader, and he had complete power over the government. The Egyptians also believed that he was not just the leader, but also a god. However, the pharaoh couldn't run the government alone, so he had rulers and leaders under him who controlled different parts of the government.
The vizier was the primary leader of the government after the pharaoh. The vizier was the chief minister of the land, which is called now the Prime Minister. To be a vizier, Egyptian law stated that you have to judge fairly, act by the law, and not act willfully or headstrong. There were people called the Nomarks. They were local governors under the vizier. Nomarks ruled over an area of land called a nome. A nome was like a state or province. Nomarks were sometimes appointed by the Pharaoh. Imhotep was the first vizier and the most famous. Imhotep was the architect for the first pyramid and was later made into a god.
Social Class:
The ancient Egyptian population was divided into groups of people with different responsibilities and jobs. These social classes were made up of six levels. In terms of importance, the social pyramid shows the levels of each class.
The top level is the pharaoh and the one after it is the government officials. These two levels were the most wealthy and powerful. The bottom levels contain the peasants, farmers , construction, workers, and slaves. These were the largest social classes.
The ancient Egyptian population was divided into groups of people with different responsibilities and jobs. These social classes were made up of six levels. In terms of importance, the social pyramid shows the levels of each class.
The top level is the pharaoh and the one after it is the government officials. These two levels were the most wealthy and powerful. The bottom levels contain the peasants, farmers , construction, workers, and slaves. These were the largest social classes.
Religion
Religion:
In Ancient Egypt, religion was very important. The religion was strongly affected by tradition, which made them resistant to change. Ancient Egyptians were polytheistic (worshiped many gods) with a short period of monotheism (worshiped one god). Their religion hosted almost 700 different gods and goddesses. Also, it was not rare for deities to combine and form a new deity. The belief that the Pharaoh wasn't only the ruler, but also a god, is called the Divine Kingship.
In Ancient Egypt, religion was very important. The religion was strongly affected by tradition, which made them resistant to change. Ancient Egyptians were polytheistic (worshiped many gods) with a short period of monotheism (worshiped one god). Their religion hosted almost 700 different gods and goddesses. Also, it was not rare for deities to combine and form a new deity. The belief that the Pharaoh wasn't only the ruler, but also a god, is called the Divine Kingship.
The Pharaohs held a tremendous amount of power due to people's beliefs. In addition, priests were very powerful in Ancient Egypt. People believed that when things were going well, the pharaoh and the priests were doing their jobs well. If anything bad happened to the country, the pharaoh and the priests were to blame. The Egyptians are most known for their beliefs and ideas of the afterlife. They also believed that the physical body had to be preserved in order to allow a place for their spirit to dwell in the afterlife. Mummification was performed to preserve the body, because of this.
art & architecture
The pyramids:
Ancient Egyptians built pyramids as monuments and burial places to the Pharaohs. According their religion, the Egyptians believed that the Pharaoh needed certain things to succeed in the afterlife. The Egyptians buried the Pharaohs with all sorts of items and treasure that the would need to survive in the afterlife, deep inside the pyramid. In ancient Egypt are around 138 Egyptian pyramids buit. The Pyramid of Khufu, which is also called the Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest one. When the Great Pyramid of Giza was first built, it was over 480 feet. It was the tallest man-made structure for over 3800 years. The Pyramid of Khufu is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Scientists estimated that it was made made out of 2.3 million blocks, weighing 5.9 million tons. It was also estimated that it took over 23 years and at least 20,000 workers to build the Great Pyramid of Giza. |
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Examples of Egyptian art & architecture
Writing
Ancient Egyptians developed more than one writing system. The first and the most famous one is hieroglyphics. The word Hieroglyphic means sacred inspiration which comes from Greek words. Hieroglyphic is a system in which symbols or pictures. The hieroglyphic writing was used to record important royal, economic and administrative information. The priests and the scribes used to carve hieroglyphs in stones, such on temples for inspiration. Around the same time that hieroglyphic were developed, the scribes developed two new types of writings to make it easier for everyday use. The first one was the hieratic writing. The hieratic writing was more cursive than hieroglyphic. Over the time a third type of writing came out that was similar to the hieratic writing. It was called the Demotic writing and it replaced the hieratic writing.
The number system
The number system based on ten, we use today came originally from ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptian numerals numerical system was used in Ancient Egypt around 3000 BC until the first millennium AD. The system of numeration was based on the scale of ten, and it was written in hieroglyphs. The Egyptians also had the hieratic form of numerals and it stressed an exact finite of series notation. A researcher and entrepreneur in biotechnology named Herbert Boyer proved that 50 years ago the hieratic script used a different numeral system, using individual signs for the numbers. The individual numbers were written in a ciphered in relationship to the Egyptian alphabet, during the oldest hieratic texts.