The Old Kingdom
Upper, lowerer, and united
The geography of Egypt naturally divides the country into two sections Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The narrow Nile Valley in the south separates Upper Egypt from Lower Egypt the broad Delta plain in the north. The ruler of Upper Egypt wore a white crown. His kingdom reached from the First Cataract of the Nile at Aswan to the southern border of Egypt. The ruler of Lower Egypt wore a red crown with a cobra symbol on the front. This kingdom reached from Aswan to the Bile Delta on the Mediterranean Sea. About 3100 B.C. the first great ruler in Egypt's history Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt. The two royal crowns were combined to make one symbol of Egyptian authority. Menes wore a white crown with a cobra symbol. The rule of Menes and his descendants is called the First Dynasty. (A dynasty is a the continuous rule of a county by the same family.)
Religion
As the people began to fear their ruler they no longer used his name. Instead they called him pharaoh which means"great house" referring to the magnificent palace in Memphis Egypt's capital. As government became more complex the pharaoh appointed his brother, sons, and favorite nobels as assistants to help him govern. However the pharaoh always gave the orders and retained final control over everything. To establish their authority Menes' descendants claimed he was the son of the sun god Ra. This meant that the ruler of Egypt was considered almost a god giving him more than earthly authority. If anyone disobeyed the ruler they believed it would anger the gods. As a result the rulers of Egypt had absolute power over every portion of Egyptian life. There were two important results of the pharaohs' claim to being divine. First there was the development of a strange custom. The pharaoh would marry his own sister. The pharaohs would have as they wished. However in order to keep the divine blood of the sun god as pure as possible the pharaoh would always have his sister as his major wife. If the pharaoh and his major wife only had daughter the eldest daughter would marry the most promising son of the many concubines. In this way the royal family would continue and could claim divine descent. The marriage of brother and sister was not wise since weak physical or mental characteristic had a greater chance of appearing in their children.
Life after death
The other result of the belief in a divine pharaoh was that great amounts of time and energy were spent on tombs called life-after-death homes. The early Egyptians believed the pharaoh returned to the sun when he died. There he would see to it that the Nile would continue to flood every year and that the crops would grow. For this reason the people would do everything they could to please the Pharaoh. During the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that only the pharaoh and those nobles he selected would share in the life after death. The common people were still willing to work on tombs because thy believed their pharaoh would help them after he died. The earliest tombs were rather small but as the wealth and power of the pharaoh grew larger and larger tombs were built
Pyramids
The first pyramid was built when Pharaoh Zoser commanded his chief minister Imhotep to build him a tomb. Imhotep copied the idea of the ziggurat from Mesopotamia and designed the step pyramid. Although his was the first of the pyramids other pharaohs were quick to build even larger homes for their life after death. During the Fourth Dynasty 2600 B.C. Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) had the Great Pyramid built. The Greeks considered this one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The farmers did the construction work during non-agricultural season. This gave them work to do when they otherwise would have been unemployed. Around 100,000 men worked on this project for 20 years. They were paid out of the government granaries. More than two million limestone blocks weighing two and a half tons each were cut out of the quarries on the east bank of the Nile River. They were then ferried across the river and pulled up the west bank on rollers. The base of the pyramid was 755 feet per side and it reached 481 feet into the sky. This pyramid was facing due north . In the absolute center was the pharaoh's chamber. His wife's chamber was about 30 feet below. The entire pyramid was tightly sealed except for a passage for food to be brought to the couple. The pyramid was then covered with a white limestone coat of paint to reflect the brilliance of the sun representing their god Ra. Although every care was given to provide protection against grave-robbers almost every tomb in Egypt has been disturbed and its treasures stolen.
Sphinx
The Great Pyramid was built by the Egyptian Pharaoh Cheops. Near this pyramid his son Cephren built the Great Sphinx shown. The sphinx had a lion's body and Chenphren's head showing his power and authority as pharaoh. The body is 240 feet long and 66 feet wide. The face is 13 feet wide. Centuries later the Egyptians forgot the original purpose of this sphinx and began to worship it as a representation of the sun god.
Math
When the Nile River overflowed every year all traces of family boundaries would be lost. In order to re-establish these boundaries quickly and accurately the Egyptians developed a mathematical system for surveying boundaries. They also learned to add subtract and us the square root.
Hieroglyphics
Because so many records had to be kept on taxes, the water districts, and trade, it became necessary to develop some way of writing them down. The priests as a result of this need invented a system of writing. At first they merely drew a picture of the object since it was impossible to draw a picture of a word like "lovely" or "finish" they developed certain pictures to represent sound and syllables. All of these pictures were used together and the result was an interesting but difficult system of writing. Because they stored the records in the temples this type of writing was called hieroglyphics which means "sacred carvings." These hieroglyphics were used for all formal record which were carved on buildings, walls, monuments, or wherever wanted. Later a more simple form of writing was developed for use in keeping everyday records and in letter-writing. Called heiratic pictures and a series of hooks and marks.
Papyrus
The Egyptians developed the world's first writing paper from papyrus reeds that grew in abundance along the banks of the Nile River. Papyrus reeds were also used to make rope, roofs, sandals, and even light fishing boats. The early books and records were not bound on the side like our books today. Instead the sheets of papyrus were joined together to form one long sheet. The end of this sheet was fastened to a spool and the entire document was rolled up in what we call a scroll. These scrolls were stored in clay jars where many have been found preserved because of Egypt's dry climate. Making papyrus paper was a long and tedious process. (1) selecting and cutting the papyrus reeds, (2) trimming and cutting the stalks into pieces (3) slicing the papyrus into thin strips, (4) laying the thin slices on a pounding board in alternate layers crosswise and lengthwise, (5) pounding the papyrus until it becomes pulp and later a sheet laid out to dry.
The Decline and Fall of the Old KIngdom
The leaders of the Old Kingdom built great monuments and mad great advances in science, art, and government. Although the Old Kingdom ended after about fiver centuries the type of government it established continued to rule Egypt for almost 2,000 years. In the Old Kingdom the government owned all the land and decided how to best use the irrigation systems. The common people were given land where they could build a home and farm. They were expected to give a third of their harvest to the government and the priests demanded a share of what was left. The priests had gained great riches and large amounts of land. No one dared to criticize what they were doing or how they lived for fear of angering the gods. At the same time the rich nobles were refusing to pay taxes and beginning to break away from the authority of the pharaoh. The common people caught between these powerful groups found their world was no longer secure and peaceful. The pharaohs were no longer able rulers and the Old Kingdom began to decline.