The fall of the Old Kingdom marked the beginning of a new era. The natural disaster caused the social class to crumble, religion to disappear, and a loss of revenue, which in turn helped its collapse. The destruction of old kingdom shows historians the effects of a non-stable government and social class have when it is hit with a natural disaster. No matter what Egypt might have done before, nothing could have prepared it for what was about to happen with the oncoming drought. With the arrival of the drought the source of income and a food source, grain, became scarce. Grain was a vital part of the political aspect of the old kingdom. The people had to decide whether it was important to feed their family or sustain the amount of wealth the person had. Decreasing amount of wealth and food source causes a person to start thinking about themselves and their own families. Egyptians started to become irritated and robbed the Pharaoh. “The Egyptians have completely lost the traditional values of staying together and helping each other survive. Here it is now every man for himself. The political portion of the old kingdom begins with the Pharaoh. The loss of respect and belief in the Pharaoh caused its people the take matters into their own hands. . “The grain of Egypt is/common property/ "I go-get-it." and the whole palace is without its revenues. The king 's storehouse is "I go-get-it," for everyone” (Hawass, 19). The loss of revenue caused a loss of the religiousness of the tombs because the amount of wealth was shown by the lavishness of a tomb. Egyptians in desperate need of money and food for not only themselves but also their families caused them to start to steal from the tombs. This caused a phenomenon call the Tomb Raiders. The tomb Raiders took with them the Pharaohs wealth and the common food and wealth
When Ramesses III went into power in 1187 B.C.E., that part of the world was having a very difficult time. Anyone who knows Greek history will tell you about how that was the time of the Trojan War. Even in times where civilizations were isolated compared to today, a war that big will cause disrupt all over the world. The fall of Mycenae was also no laughing matter. It left many people homeless and fleeing for their lives, and almost was the end to several other civilizations. The world as a while was very desperate for food, and Egypt, being a bread basket had all eyes turned to it. A group of people, known today as the Sea People were also on the move. The Sea People gave a blow to the Hittite empire and threatened Egypt many times.
The Earth goes through many periods of warming and cooling, but for ancient civilizations, it is the beginning of a new civilization and variation in culture. Specifically, the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, evidence for its demise is evident in the earth. The civilization fell due to a period of vast warming and drying of the earth, a practice that left the Egyptians without water and reasons to move closer to the Nile River Valley (Tignor p. 85). Ancient Mesopotamia and Indus Valley suffered from the climate trend of 2200 and 2150 BCE, the monsoon rains did not arrive leaving the lands bereft and the people without food. These climate change instigators of migration cause the original civilizations to dissipate, leaving the strongest to survive, as well as separating different groups of the party is
They would also have horrible crops that would destroy crops and valuable items. The Nile River was divided into three kingdoms; the old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom. Since the Nile River Valley civilization was along the Nile River, they knew how to take advantage of the good soil. The good soil helped this civilization grow good crops, the kind of crop they would grow consisted of wheat and flax. They used flax to make clothes for their people. In the old kingdom the person with the most power were pharos. These people believed that their pharos were gods, therefore, they praised them. Although, the pharos were the main rulers, they kept a vizier to help them keep track of the business of
A major drought occurred while Joseph was in Egypt. He had an advantage however, he was forewarned by God in Pharaoh's dream and knew what to do. During seven years the weather would be great and there would be an abundance and you they stored up. The seven years that followed were full of severe drought and famine.
Society-Peasants and farmers made up the bulk of the population however the land was owned by the pharaoh or one of the temples which were very wealthy. Peasants were also subjected to tax labor and were at times required to do public projects such as irrigation or construction
The mummification process was very important in ancient Egypt. The rich pharaohs cared a lot about their mummification process, their funeral and their tombs. They did all what they could do to get the fanciest funeral and tomb. Some of their tombs were built out of mud brick or sometimes even stone. However, the poor citizens in ancient Egypt didn’t have as fancy funerals as the pharaohs had. They concentrated on their mummification process and that’s where most of their money went after their death.
Farming is the main supply for a country back then. The crops that farmers produce basically was the only food supply. That makes famers a very important part of society. Farmers back t...
Conscious of the geographical region, Egyptians settled around the Nile, as the Nile provided substance (agriculture, irrigation, trading routes, etc.). The Egyptians noticed that the Nile would flood regularly, and exploited this natural flooding by building an irrigation system to support their agriculture, as well as their society. “Hymn to the Nile” depicts this prosperous age of agriculture, “Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples.” ("Ancient History Sourcebook: Hymn to the Nile, c. 2100 BCE."). However, the Nile might have contributed to the eventual collapse of ancient Old Kingdom Egyptian civilization. The Nile partially destroyed the society that it had once nurtured. A series of low or high floods over the course of a few years immensely impacted their agriculture, which in turn created epidemics of famine and civil unrest. The Egyptian civilization eventually prospered once more, only centuries later and with new social
In Egypt, the Nile River overflowed its banks annually, creating fertile, mineral-rich soil. The yearly rise of the Nile in Egypt was gentle and predictable. The Egyptian’s found security in the Nile’s 365-day cycle of inundation and Egypt’s perimeter of sea and desert
Agriculture was still the main occupation of the time for most people. Two big problems that the people faced were those of war and poor harvest. It was said that perhaps the largest problem was the problem with poor grain. For the majority of people there was also the problem of land. For these people they either had no land of their own or insufficient amounts of it to support a family even when times were good. Poor harvests also had an effect on government as well. Bad harvests tended to cause the taxes to fall and couldn’t provide sufficient provisions for the army. One thing that did seem certain, however, was that monarchs didn’t help much with their pursuits of glory by means of war and food consumption.
Although in conventional terminology the ‘Iron Age’ commenced with the Catastrophe, it is now quite clear that iron did not come into regular use until well over a century after the Catastrophe ended” (75). Another possible reason, the Vanderbilt professor discredits is earthquakes. Drews discusses many regions that the “damage from earthquakes that is certain” (37). However, the natural disaster would not explain the sacking and or complete destruction of some areas such as in Egypt (38-39). As the author states, “Damage is one thing, however, and destruction is another.
When analyzing the fall of both empires, one must take into consideration that it did not just happen over night. In the case of the Egyptian empire, the reign of Ramses II was the final chapter of glory. Following his death, Egypt slowly but surely entered their declining stages beginning with the war against the “Sea Peoples.” The invaders, also known as the Peleset by Egyptians, were on a war path going along the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Flow of History). The Peleset came across both Syria and Palestine before coming to Egypt, where one of the first naval battles recorded in history was fought and ultimately won in Egypt's favor. Eventually, the Peleset settled down in Palestine and became the Philistines. Although Egypt had won the war, they gained very little out of it. Most of the results of the war were negative and Egypt's strength plummeted in the following decades (Flow of History).
It is clear that tombs and burial rituals were a key element in the Egyptian society and their way of life as it ties into almost all things they did on a daily basis. Whatever a person’s status was when they were alive followed them into the afterlife. Food and luxury goods were buried with a person so that they could have it in the afterlife. The tombs became a person’s new house after they died. Therefore, making it as nice as possible was really important. Art work and clay models were added to a person’s tomb as material goods needed for the afterlife. They were also seen as decorations that kept the tombs looking nice. Throughout the years, Egyptian artworks on the inner parts of the tombs and on the coffins show a development in the Egyptian customs. Each new development was created to better preserve the bodies and comfort of the dead.
...n 1163 B.C., Egypt entered a period of slow decline (Scarre 1997:116). Pharaohs became less powerful, and their prestige dwindled. Hungry soldiers were terrorizing the community, while tomb robbers were raiding the pyramids for resources that were very much needed. They had buried their pharaohs with food, goods and jewelry, all of which were needed to keep the civilization in tact. They had built too many pyramids, and there were setbacks in Asia which corrupted trade. People did not understand why the pharaohs could not fix the problems that were going on. They viewed them as gods and lost trust and faith. Egypt fell apart as these things culminated with loss of belief in the pharaohs.
Providing extremely fertile soil is one, if not the most important, roles the Nile River played in the life of the ancient Egyptians. By providing fertile soil, the Nile made it easy for cities and civilizations to grow alongside the banks of the river. This fertile soil comes from the annual flooding of the Nile. This replenishes the top soil with silt deposits that hold much needed nutrients for crops to grow. Ancient Egyptians developed highly complex irrigation methods to maximize the effect of the Nile waters. When the Nile overflows in mid summer, Egyptians divert the waters through the use of canals and dams. As the water seeped into the farm land, rich deposits of silt ensured a good harvest for the year. This allows the civilizations of Egyptians to grow enough food to feed the community. Without the annual flooding of the Nile, Egyptians would have a very difficult time growing necessary amount food to sustain life. Most of the land in the Egyptian nation is dry desert. Very little rain falls year round here. The river provides the needed water to grow the crops as well as provide drinking water for the people. Th...