The Ancient Egyptians

By the same author

Coptic EgyptHistory and Guide

The American University in Cairo Press, rev. ed. 1990

The Monastery of St. Catherine in SinaiHistory and Guide

The American University in Cairo Press, 1991

Aswan and Abu SimbelHistory and Guide

The American University in Cairo Press, 1993

LuxorAncient Thebes and the Necropolis

Sakkara and MemphisThe Necropolis and the Ancient Capital

Upper Egypt and NubiaThe Antiquities from Amarna to Abu Simbel

TheAncient Egyptians

Life in the Old Kingdom

Jill Kamil

New and Completely RevisedMaps and Illustrations by

Elizabeth Rodenbeck

The American University in Cairo Press

Dedicated with love to my granddaughtersNatasha, Nadine,

and Dina

Copyright © 1984, 1996 byThe American University in Cairo Press

113 Sharia Kasr el AiniCairo, Egypt

All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,

without the prior written permissionof the publisher.

Dar el Kutub No. 3724/96ISBN 977 424 392 7

Printed in Egyptat the Printshop of the American University in Cairo

Contents

Acknowledgments vn

Chronology vm

Introduction I

I Beginnings 5

The Gift of the Nile • Hunters and Gatherers • Adjusting to the Environ-ment • Semi-Nomadic Settlers • A Settled Way of Life • The Nile and Soci-ety • Burial Practices in Upper Egypt • Leadership • On the Threshold ofCivilization • Cultural Exchange • Toward Unification • The PredynasticLegacy • Origin of Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs • Sense of CosmicOrder

II Growth 36Search for the Earliest Kings • Divergence of Opinion • Early Records •Royal Cenotaphs and Tombs • Unity Consolidated • Loyalty Won • CultCenters • Artificial Development of Cult Centers • Keepers of the CultStatue • Local Prestige • Threat of the Use of Force • Provincial Celebration• Creating a Tradition • Unified Artistic Expression • AnthropomorphicGods • Zoser's Step Pyramid • Preparing for a National Festival

III Control 71The Great Pyramid Age • The Economic Structure • Recruitment of Labor •Funerary Estates • The Giza Group • How the Pyramids were Built • Wor-kers' Accommodation • The Cult of the King • Cult Statues • The Sphinx •The Egyptian Religion • Significance of the Pyramidal Shape • The King isDead, Long Live the King • The Kingship Ideal

IV Organization 99Sun Temples and Solar Worship • Abu Sir Archives • All the King's Men •The Power of Pepi • A Boy on the Throne • To Protect a Heritage • KingLists • The Pyramid Texts • Propagating the State Dogma • Guardians of aTradition • The Final Collapse

V Travel 117The Watery Highway • Sea Voyages • Movement Overland • Rural Move-ment • Journey to the Afterlife

VI Living 129Enjoyment of Life • Noble Men and Women • Food and Drink • Clothingand Accessories • The Ideal Family • Right and Wrong • Children • PeasantFarmers and Laborers • Piety of the People • The Royal Family • Honor ofAncestors • Class Mobility

VII Work 154The Earliest Industries • Medical Practice • Mummification and Priests •Scribes and the Law • Papyrus Production and the Bureaucracy • Art andArchitecture • Shipbuilding • Stone and Pottery Vessels • Textile Manufac-ture • Viticulture • Other Industries • Wages • The Farming Masses • Ani-mal Husbandry • The Bucolic Afterlife

VIII Leisure 175Entertainment • Outdoor Sport • Indoor Games • Folk Tales and Myths •Rural Festivals

Conclusion 187

For Further Reading 190

Index 192

VII

Acknowledgments

For this new and updated edition I have received advice, en-couragement, and help from many sources, particularly fromDr Kent Weeks, professor of Anthropology and Egyptology atthe American University in Cairo, and Dr Zahi Hawwas, direc-tor of the Giza plateau. I would also like to thank Lyla PinchBrock for her patient editing of the manuscript and invaluablecritical analysis. I would like to add that the hypotheses pre-sented here - on the creation of cults, the importance of festi-vals, and the significance of ancestor worship - are not neces-sarily shared by these scholars.

VIII

Chronology

Prehistoric Egypt(All dates are approximate and some periods overlap)

Lower Paleolithic (early Old Stone Age) 100,00 - 50,000 BC

Middle Paleolithic 50,00-20,00080

Late Paleolithic 30,000 -10,000 BC

Final Paleolithic 12,000 -6000 BC

Neolithic 6000 - 3 400 BC

IX

Early Dynastic Period

First Dynasty 3ooo - 2 890 BCSecond Dynasty 2890 - 2686 BCThird Dynasty 2686-257560

Old Kingdom

Fourth Dynasty 2575-246560Senefru • Khufu • Redjedef • Khafre • Baufre • Menkaure • Shepseskhaf •Dedefptah

Fifth Dynasty 2465-2322 BCUserkaf • Sahure • Neferirkare • Shepseskare • Neferefre • Nyuserre •Menkauhor • Djedkare • Unas

Sixth Dynasty 2181-214560Teti • Userkare • Meryre (Pepi I) • Merenre • Neferkare (Pepi II) • Mer-enrell • Menkure

Ancient Egyptian chronology remains a controversial issue among scholarsand is subject to variation. Guidance here is taken from the Department ofAnthropology and Egyptology of the American University in Cairo, whichdivides the Early Dynastic Period into three dynasties (3000-2575 BC). TheOld Kingdom (the period covered by this book) extends from the FourthDynasty to the end of the Sixth (2575-2145 BC).

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Introduction

Egypt's ancient history covers some three thousand years fromNarmer, the legendary King Menes (3000 BC) who united the TwoLands of Upper and Lower Egypt, to the conquest of Alexanderthe Great (33230). This period has been roughly divided intothirty dynasties, which have been grouped into three great peri-ods, the Old, Middle, and New kingdoms. The first period, theOld Kingdom or 'pyramid age' (2575 to 2145 BC), is the subject ofthis book. It traces the origins of Egyptian civilization from theearliest settlers in the Nile Valley through the rise and fall of an eraunparalleled in grandeur, power, wealth, and prestige. During theOld Kingdom the core of Egyptian thought and institution wasformed. It was a time to which the ancient Egyptians themselveslooked with pride and regarded as a model throughout their his-tory.

Since the 19605, archaeologists have taken a keen interest in theorigins of the ancient Egyptian civilization.They have studied thelifestyle and culture of Predynastic communities based on discov-eries made in the Nile Valley by scholars before and around theturn of the twentieth century - among them Flinders Petrie atNaqada and Quibbell and Green at Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) -along with a vast amount of information which has come to lightfrom more recently excavated sites in the Delta and Upper Egypt.As a result, we now know more than ever before about thegrowth of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

In view of this, it is surprising how few books have been writ-

2 Introduction

ten for non-professional readers to bring them up to date on re-cent discoveries. Many outdated theories still dominate popularliterature and there is a tendency, even in some specialized publi-cations, for early concepts to persist that are now known to bemistaken. The boundaries of our knowledge are rapidly openingup but publication has fallen behind the progress made. This ne-glect is largely responsible for the impression that little of value isknown about the rise of the first class-based society.

This book attempts to remedy the situation. My aim is to syn-thesize a vast amount of information that has been revealed on theearliest human occupation of the Nile Valley by describing theformative years of the dynastic civilization, pursuing the ideals ofthe expanding state in the Old Kingdom, and tracing its fall at theend of the Sixth Dynasty.

This work differs from earlier histories in concentrating on asingle period, the Old Kingdom, and in including national festi-vals, religious rites, and mortuary rituals as part of the narrative.Two themes in particular are developed: i) that ancestor worshiplay at the root of ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, and 2) that awell-devised plan to establish cult centers created both a commonreligious and cultural tradition and a reciprocal service relation-ship between the central government and distant communities.

Today we tend to ask the very same questions about ancientEgypt once posed by the earliest travelers and scholars. Who werethe first inhabitants in the Nile Valley? What led them to a settledexistence? How was unification between Upper and LowerEgypt achieved in a land that physically did not lend itself to cen-tralization? What triggered the growth of a complex and highlystratified society in which a ruling class created monumentalworks of art by extracting surplus production and labor from themasses? How were the administration, judiciary, and religion or-ganized and maintained? How did the ancient Egyptians live,work, and travel? How did they spend their leisure time? Today,

Notes on Chronology and Terminology 3

we might raise additional questions: What was the role of womenin ancient Egypt? What do we know of childhood and education?What was the attitude of the affluent elite toward the masses?How were the latter recruited for large-scale building construc-tion? Did the ancient Egyptians have a pacific or aggressive socialideal? Did they have a moral code? What was the cause of the re-markable homogeneity and continuity of their ancient civiliza-tion?

Notes on Chronology and Terminology

The latest subdivisions of Manetho's royal dynasties have beenadopted here. The Early Dynastic Period covers the first threedynasties (3100-2575 BC) and the Old Kingdom the Fourth toSixth dynasties (2575-2145 BC). In the most ancient King List, onthe Turin Papyrus, there is no interruption in the line of Narmer(Menes) until the end of the reign of Unas in 2345 BC, a period ofsix and a half centuries.

The word 'pharaoh,' derived from per-aa 'great house,' is notused here, so that a distinction may be made between the 'GreatHouse' - the palace hierarchy and its associated departments,which owned the land, monopolized trade, and formulated a statereligion - and the king as an individual. The words 'province' and'governor,' as well as the Greek 'nome' and 'nomarch,' are aban-doned in favor of 'cult center' and 'local leader' to distinguish thelatter from the officials - usually members of the royal family -who were later given power in the settlements by royal decree.Only toward the end of the Old Kingdom did provinces exist inthe true sense of the word.

The Predynastic site commonly known by its Greek name Hi-erakonpolis is here referred to by its Egyptian name Nekhen, inorder to relate the 'souls of Nekhen' and the 'souls of Pe' (origi-nally sacred centers of ancestor worship) as parallel political insti-

4 Introduction

tutions. The word 'emblem' is used rather than 'totem' to de-scribe the images depicted on flagpoles on Predynastic potteryand early ceremonial palettes and maceheads, because 'totem' hasassociations with worship, of which there is no evidence. Finally,Greek spellings of the kings' names (Cheops, Chephren, andMycerinus) have been abandoned in favor of the ancient Egyptianspellings as transliterated by Sir Alan Gardiner: Khufu, Khafre,and Menkaure.

IBeginnings

The Gift of the Nile

Egypt, which produced one of the great literate societies of theancient world, lies in the northeast corner of the African conti-nent. It is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north and bylarge tracts of barren desert to east and west. The Western (orLibyan) Desert and the Eastern (or Arabian) Desert are separatedby the River Nile. The longest river in the world, the Nileemerges from the lakes of equatorial Africa and flows 6,671 kilo-meters to the sea. It cascades over Egypt's granite threshold(known as the First Cataract) at Aswan and flows northwardalong its narrow valley in Upper Egypt toward modern-dayCairo. About 320 kilometers before it reaches the sea, the Nilefans into a wide triangle, the Delta, forming Lower Egypt.

The 'Two Lands,' one of the ancient Egyptian terms for thecountry, is geographically true. Physically isolated from neigh-boring countries - buffered by sea, sand, and the First Cataract- the land is internally divided: Upper Egypt is mostly' barrenapart from the narrow ribbon of verdant land flanking the Nile,while Lower Egypt is completely fertile. In Upper Egypt maxi-mum temperatures range from 5O°C in summer to 2O°C in winter,whereas the Delta has a temperate climate with maximums of35°C in summer and i3°C in winter. Upper and Lower Egyptwere united in ancient times only in their uniform dependence onthe River Nile, the basis for the great productivity of the soil. Pri-

6 Beginnings

or to the construction of the High Dam at Aswan in the 19605 theriver annually brought a copious deposit of rich silt from thetableland of Ethiopia. Because rainfall was almost nonexistent inEgypt, the people were entirely dependent on the river to watertheir crops. It was ultimately upon this regular and abundant wa-ter supply, with its rich alluvium deposits, that the ancient civi-lization was based. When the Greek traveler and historianHerodotus came to Egypt around 445 BC he aptly describedEgypt as "the gift of the Nile."

In order to trace the earliest known human habitation in Egyptit is necessary to go back in geological time to the ancestor of themodern Nile. For hundreds of thousands of years the river hadpoured its heavily charged waters over the sloping plateau ofnortheastern Africa. Not until Miocene times did a cooling of theworld's climate and a reduction of forested areas affect the land-scape of Egypt. The swiftly flowing water found depressions andchannels in the limestone plateau and began to carve its bed. Thisdid not occur in one continuous movement but in sharply definedstages. Each lowering of the riverbed resulted in the formation ofterraces, which were left high above the newly formed river val-ley. The highest terraces, over a hundred meters above the river,date from between 650,000 and 5 50,000 BC. They reveal no signsof human life. It is only at the thirty-meter level of terraces insome parts of Upper Egypt that we can break from purely geo-logical dating and trace the earliest known human occupation ofthe country.

Hunters and Gatherers

Hand-axes, fist-wedges, and other primitive implements datingback to the period known as the Lower Paleolithic, between100,000 and 50,000 BC, have been found in widely separated areas

Hunters and Gatherers

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Kufra £££$;.

Gilf Kibir =

Gabal Uwenat ^ &-

Scale

500 kmLake .Victoria

The Nile Valley

8 Beginnings

from northern Sudan to the region of Asyut in Middle Egypt.Such tools were fashioned to provide a grip for the hand and wereused for chopping, digging, skinning, crushing, and probablystabbing. Tool development from the Lower to the Middle Pale-olithic (around 50,000 to 20,000 BC) was a slow process; hand-axes disappeared and more refined tool-manufacture appeared.This was a period in which people and animals alike migratedover vast areas of northern Africa. The humans sometimes livedin camps and caves around main sources of food like the oases ofthe Western Desert and in the Fayyum depression. There was atendency to form groups, sometimes of several families, and es-tablish a home base. These groups did not produce their ownfood; they simply collected wild plants when available and devel-oped hunting aids, such as the thigh bones of animals for clubsand spears.

During most of the Late Paleolithic (30,000-6000 BC) therewas a marked decrease in local rainfall, and the White Nile wasjoined by the Atbara and the Blue Nile to bring an increase in theannual summer flood. This swollen water - the direct result of therains in Ethiopia - poured toward Egypt. It covered most of theearly terraces in Upper Egypt, buried the river channel, and large-ly obliterated the discarded implements of early human settle-ment along the banks. When the flood water reached Kom Omboit was no longer confined by sandstone cliffs to the east and westbut spread out to form lakes and marshy tracts along the banks ofthe river. Its velocity diminished and the increasingly sluggish riv-er was able to deposit some of its dark, mineral-rich silt along itsbanks. It carried the surplus alluvium northward to the Delta.

The climate during this time was somewhat cooler than today,and possibly more humid. Plants grew in the enriched soil andmuch of Egypt became fertile. It was a semi-tropical environmentwith trees and swamps extending from Sudan in the south toDakhla Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert. Animal life was not

Hunters and Gatherers 9

much different from that of East Africa today. Fossilized bonesreveal the presence of elephant, cheetah, giraffe, ostrich, lion, wildass, buffalo, gazelle, and hyena. They roamed around the waterholes, which hosted a profusion of waterfowl. These ideal condi-tions also existed along parts of the western bank of the Nile as farnorth as the shore of Lake Qarun in the Fayyum, where fish,shellfish, crocodile, and hippopotamus flourished.

Despite such attractive conditions for a sedentary existence inthe Nile Valley, most groups continued a nomadic life. They ex-ploited natural sources of food, moving over extensive areas. Evi-dence of elaborate flint-mining between Qena and Asyut, withadvanced tools like retouched blades, indicates that more perma-nent hunting and fishing camps were established along the banksof the Nile, but rock drawings at various sites in the Eastern andWestern deserts attest to a continued nomadic existence.

Comparative studies of early societies reveal that people do notbecome sedentary unless compelled to do so for environmental orother reasons. The groups that gravitated toward the Nile did notconsciously choose to settle there. Increasing desertification innorthern Africa eventually forced many hunters to abandon theplains, follow sources of water, and move toward the valley. Thisoccurred gradually, and a semi-nomadic pattern continued wellinto the Final Paleolithic era (12,000 to 6000 BC).

Some of the groups, especially those that moved down toEgypt from the south, may have been cattle-breeders - like theNuer in present-day southern Sudan - only drawing near the riv-er to water their herds. Others, moving in from the Sahara, mayhave gradually given up large-game hunting for small-game hunt-ing and eventually set up camp on the edge of the desert above thefloodplain. There they could continue to hunt as well as exploitthe river's resources. Experiments in the trapping and domestica-tion of birds and animals were probably carried out and tech-niques developed for making more specialized tools and

io Beginnings

weapons. Large concentrations of knife-blades, chisels, awls, andscrapers have been found between Qena and Sohag, along with abola, a rope with a stone attached for catching animals.

Adjusting to the Environment

The dramatic desertification of the Western Desert, which causedlakes to shrink, fauna to perish, and considerable denudation, hasonly occurred within the last five thousand years. In tracing hu-man settlement in Egypt we can see a slow and steady adjustmentto local conditions, but it remained precarious. The Nile floodcame with regularity, but like the searing sun that drove huntersand gatherers from the savanna, the river could also be a destruc-tive force. Too high a flood could cause destruction, sweepingaway shelters and livestock; a series of low floods could causefamine. The rise and ebb of the flood, however, occurred withtireless regularity, and a similar rhythm gradually developed inthe lives of the people who depended upon it.

In spring when the river was low, the land was left bare to thefury of the hot, dry, desert winds, the khamasin. Seasonally flood-ed depressions dried out, vegetation - with the exception ofhardy acacia, tamarisk, and sycamore along the edges of the NileValley - began to diminish, and the earth became scorched andashen dry. Animals on the fringes of the valley may have movedsouthward or scattered into the desert in search of food. Fishingwas limited to the permanent pools, side channels, and the riveritself; wooded areas near the water offered turtles, rodents, andNile clams, which were collected in large amounts. July markedthe peak of summer, when the Nile became swollen with the an-nual flood and spilled out over the land. The people withdrewwith their animals to the higher land which flanked the valley. Asthe low-lying desert became progressively submerged, they

Semi-Nomadic Settlers 11

moved again to outcrops on the dry rim of the plateau, wherethey waited until the water had reached its full height, toward theend of August. When the river began to recede it left behind a fair-ly uniform deposit of silt, as well as lagoons and streams that be-came natural reservoirs for fish. A variety of plants including wildwheat, brush, bulrush, and papyrus formed lush vegetation in thenewly enriched soil. Thus began the season of abundance. Thepeople gathered together their possessions, rounded up their ani-mals, and went back to the floodplain. The level of the river con-tinued to fall, until by April it was at its lowest level. Vegetationdiminished and seasonal pools dried out. Then in July the Nilestarted to rise again, and the cycle was repeated.

This annual movement of people, mirroring changes in the lev-el of the Nile, continued until the middle of this century when theconstruction of the High Dam at Aswan put an end to the floods.A strong bond between the people and the land, with its three dis-tinct seasons - the drought (shemu)^ the inundation (akhet), andthe growing or 'coming forth' (peret) - is an important, and earlyestablished, feature of Egyptian civilization.

Semi-Nomadic Settlers

Seasonal settlements can be traced to many sites, including thosealong the northern fringe of the Fayyum's Lake Qarun; at Merim-da on the southwestern edge of the Delta in Lower Egypt; and atBadari, Hammamiya, and Tasa near Asyut in Upper Egypt. Thesecultures, named after the sites where they were first identified,were not necessarily the earliest - or the only - herding and farm-ing settlements. Countless others in Upper Egypt were doubtlessobliterated by the swirling waters of particularly high floods inages long past or, in the Delta, submerged beneath successive lay-ers of alluvial soil. Despite these lost settlements, available evi-

12 The Beginnings

dence attests to varying phases of development at different sitesbut little, if any, contact between them. For thousands of years thecommunities who lived near the banks of the Nile appear to haveremained independent of one another.

The oldest known seasonal settlements are in the Fayyum. Thedepression was filled by the Nile around 8000 BC, creating a con-siderable lake with a much higher water level than it has today.(Dimeh, for example, an ancient site now isolated in the desert,may originally have been an early settlers' camp on the northernshore.) Then the level of the lake gradually fell. Mud huts werebuilt on mounds along its north and northeastern shores wherethe land was fertile and, beginning around 5,000 BC, emmer,wheat, barley, and flax were cultivated and harvested using sickle-flints set in wooden handles. Judging from the great care given totheir storage, crops were plentiful. Underground silos lined withbasketry were constructed on ground well above the level of thelake. The people also buried their dead here, in simple graves un-der the dry desert sand. Traces of cloth reveal that they wove linenclothing, probably worn beneath an outer garment of leather.Stone beads and pendants show that they had also developeddrilling techniques. Pottery made of coarse clay was fashionedinto a variety of simple shapes.

As well as the cultivation of grain and flax, sheep, cattle, andpigs were kept. Hooks, spears, and harpoons were used to catch

Reed basket,Fayyum culture

Semi-Nomadic Settlers 13

fish in the shallow waters of the lake and, despite increases in ani-mal husbandry, expeditions into the desert to hunt large mammalscontinued.

A seasonal, semi-nomadic existence can also be traced in UpperEgypt. Burial grounds of the 'Badarian' culture have been identi-fied at many sites south of Asyut. They most likely date to aboutthe same period as early occupation in the Fayyum, around 5000BC. The actual settlements, probably built on natural levees alongthe banks of the river, have long disappeared. The burial grounds,however, were constructed in the desert above the floodplain,thebodies laid to rest in the fetal position in shallow oval graves in thesand surrounded by basketry, skins, and objects of daily life.These have been well preserved and provide evidence upon whichto base our knowledge of early society. Ivory spoons, figurines,and small copper objects - hammered, not cast - were among thegrave goods.

Remnants of clothing show that the people wore kilts, some-times with decorative girdles, and feathered headgear. Strings ofblue-glazed beads, anklets of shells, and bracelets of ivory werealso buried. Oval slate palettes which bear traces of red ocher orgreen malachite were probably used to grind body paint for cere-monial purposes. Indeed, some of the characteristic red-brownpottery of these sites - blackened around the rim - bears traces ofthe prepared pigment.

Ivory carvings,Fayyum culture

14 Beginnings

A Settled Way of Life

The earliest evidence of fully sedentary village life in Egypt can befound at Merimda, a sandy rise in the Western Desert on the edgeof the Delta near the Rosetta branch of the Nile. Radiocarbonreadings reveal evidence of occupation from 4440 to 4145 BC, al-though some scholars suggest a date of as early as 5040 BC for thefirst Merimda settlement. Groups of small, flimsy, pole-framedhuts made of wicker were built on spurs overlooking largestretches of arable land. Many were oval in shape and most weretoo small to accommodate an adult. They were clearly not houses.The fact that few habitations of this period have been found in ei-ther Upper or Lower Egypt suggests that in a climate as graciousas that of Egypt shelter was less important than in other regions ofthe world. The huts may have been used for much the same pur-pose as in rural communities in Egypt up to the present day: forstoring food and tools rather than for human habitation. Theselightly-constructed shelters may have further provided shade forworkshops and cooking areas.

The granaries at Merimda were not separated from the com-munity as in the Fayyum, but scattered through it: storage was as-sociated with individual farmsteads, which suggests that eachfamily was responsible for its own food production. The burialpractices at Merimda also differed from those of the Fayyum: thedead were buried around their shelters. This was a practice quitealien to the nomadic, or even semi-nomadic, way of life. The bod-ies were laid in shallow oval graves with pottery, garments, spin-dles, and, for the first time, flowers: a bouquet was found on thechest of a body in one grave. A molded clay head - the oldestknown sculpture from Egypt - was also found. In almost all buri-als a pottery jar was placed in front of the contracted body of thedeceased, whose head lay toward the south and whose face wasdirected toward the west. The earliest pottery was coarse mono-

A Settled Way of Life

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Predynasticsites and 'ancient routes

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NaqadaJ Coptos

al-Kab

16 Beginnings

chrome ware in simple shapes. Large jars to store domesticatedgrain - specifically emmer, which originated in western Asia-were later buried up to their necks in the ground.

Subsequent stages of settlement can be traced to several sites inLower Egypt including Omari, north of Helwan at the mouth ofthe Wadi Hof in the Eastern Desert; Maadi, opposite the Saqqara-Abusir necropolis; Heliopolis; and Buto, in the north centralDelta. Spinning and weaving were well developed at Omari; bothcoarse- and fine-weave garments were produced and there is evi-dence of leather-working. In contrast to the early settlers of theFayyum and Merimda, those of Omari seem to have used morejewelry for personal adornment, including pendants and neck-laces. Their granaries contained wheat and barley, and there is evi-dence that they baked a sort of cake of crushed emmer and barley.They used ostrich eggshells for containers and even cooking pots.Refuse heaps composed of ashes, flint implements, and animalbones have been found along with hearths.

Dietary habits and social patterns were in transition and someof these early settlements were to develop into important com-munities. Maadi, for example, a settlement of farmers and stock-breeders who raised beef-cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs, later de-veloped into an important trading center; Heliopolis became a re-ligious capital; and Buto (Tell al-Fara'un), grew to be the majorDelta settlement.

The Nile and Society

The period from 5000 to 340030 was characterized by the im-proved preparation of stone tools and weapons to suit an increas-ingly sedentary existence. With an increase in settled farming,bringing an increase in economic security and leisure, there was amarked rise in population. Arts and crafts began to flourish. What

The Nile and Society 17

is known as the Naqada culture, overlapping with the Badarianculture, developed over a span of nearly a thousand years - from4000 BC to the beginning of the dynastic period. This was a crucialtime, during which many of the components of what we call 'civi-lization' were laid. One of the highlights of this period was theformation of a 'class-based society,' a term used by anthropolo-gists today to denote early civilization prior to the introduction ofwriting.

The Naqada culture was widespread in Upper Egypt fromNekhen (Greek Hierakonpolis, opposite al-Kab) in the south, toAbydos in the north. It was named after Naqada (opposite Qift)and fell into three stages, Naqada I, Naqada II, and Naqada III.Precise stratigraphic techniques in contemporary archaeologyhave facilitated a better understanding of this culture, which wascharacterized by slow and continuous change in the economy andsocial organization, as well as the stylistic evolution of grave ob-jects. Both Naqada and Nekhen are important sites in tracing Pre-dynastic development in Upper Egypt.

Naqada was situated within the loop of the Nile north of Lux-or where the river most closely approaches the Red Sea. Some ofthe earliest settlers may have set up camp on levees at the edge ofthe river, but all evidence has since disappeared. Either the campswere built of perishable materials and swept away by the flood, orthey were depleted by modern farmers digging away at the en-riched soil to fertilize their fields - a practice that continues to thisday. At the edge of the Naqada floodplain, however, one of theearliest and largest settlements in the Nile Valley was found. Itspread over a ninety-meter-square area, with a vast adjacent bur-ial ground of over two thousand graves packed into seventeenacres. The Predynastic settlement of Nekhen, revealed in recentexcavations, was considerably smaller. Its graveyard comprisedsome two hundred individual burials extending for three kilome-ters along the edge of the desert. Both Naqada and Nekhen were

18 Beginnings

ideal locations for settlement. They were situated at the edge ofwadis (dried-out waterways) where the people could plant wheatand barley, as well as hunt and herd animals.

How long such a life would have continued had it not been forclimatic change is difficult to say. Recent geological studies haveshown that there were fifty-year fluctuations in the level of theNile flood: extended periods of relatively high annual floods werefollowed by equally long periods when the annual high-waterlevel fell below the average. When a period of low water coincidedwith a decline in rainfall, pasturage shrank, wadis dried up, andthe river failed to cover the inner floodplain. The repercussionwas that people drew together into larger settlements as they wereforced to move nearer the valley, and there was consequentlymore interaction among them.

An awareness grew of the need to make lasting and economicaluse of the flood waters. Large-scale cultivation of grain, necessaryto feed the growing communities, required group effort. The ear-liest steps in water management probably involved reinforcingnatural embankments along the edge of the Nile as soon as theflood reached its peak in order to retain it on the floodplain. Bysubsequently erecting lateral embankments (dikes) the entry andexit of the flood could be controlled, and the water could even beguided to land quite distant from the river. Basins were dug to re-tain the water long enough to produce a crop. And with the help

Unconventional potterywith incised geometriclines, Naqada I

Burial Practices in Upper Egypt 19

of such basins, a channel could be dug toward the low-lyingdesert, which was then brought to productivity. When the 'blackland' (the silt-rich soil) spread over parts of the 'red land' (the ariddesert), the settlers became peasant farmers: Egypt's soilboundand conservative fellahin. Great care was given to the communalstorage of grain, a concept that grew from the need to assure foodsupplies.

Burial Practices in Upper Egypt

The earliest graves at the Naqada burial grounds, like those of theearlier Badarian sites, were shallow. The bodies, sometimes two ina single grave, were covered with coarse matting, twigs, or animalskins. With the development of larger settlements and a morestratified society, grave pits were replaced by well-constructedbrick-lined tombs and the grave goods reflected a more highly de-veloped standard of living. The quality and range of these goodsclearly show a developing artistic sense among a growing com-munity of professional craftspeople. Clay figurines, carved ivoryplaques, ivory and bone combs, and a huge variety of polishedpottery were produced. Some pottery items were black-topped,others took fancy forms such as double vases or square contain-ers, and others were fashioned into the shapes of birds and fish.

Bone hairpins andcombs, Naqada I

2O Beginnings

In the next stage of development (Naqada II), the graves be-came larger. They were rectangular pits, often lined with wovenbranches and brush, roofed with sticks and matting, and coveredwith mounds of earth. The bodies of both men and women showthat they braided or plaited their hair and wore necklaces of shellsand stone beads. Although the bodies were covered with no morethan mats and hides, they remained remarkably well-preserved.Some continued to be placed in the contracted position, and cer-tain burial rituals were becoming standard. Burnished potterywas invariably placed at the north end of the tomb, for example,while the southern end was reserved for wavy-handled jars. Vary-ing sizes and positions of tombs show, for the first time, an associ-ation between social status and burial custom. While most peoplecontinued to be interred in shallow graves covered with mats andhides, important people were buried in larger graves, segregatedfrom their poorer neighbors. This tendency continued through todynastic times.

Leadership

As sprawling, semi-sedentary settlements began to coalesce intomore heavily populated communities, leadership became an in-creasingly vital part of social development. This is especially ap-parent at Nekhen, where there are five unusually large gravesamong the burials. One in particular, in the eastern part of thecemetery, was more elaborate than the others. It was brick-lined,plastered, and decorated with images of people, boats, and ani-mals in red, white, and black on a yellow background. Referred toas the 'painted tomb' at Hierakonpolis, it is now lost, but it wasimportant for several reasons. Firstly, both the leader and thesite became sacred through the very act of building such a largestructure and Nekhen retained its importance throughout an-

Leadership 21

cient history. Secondly, its brick walls and floor made this tomb afore-runner of the large brick-lined tombs of the early dynas-ties. Thirdly, it had the earliest known attempt at mural decora-tion, and it is interesting to note the emergence at so early a date,of certain motifs that were to become part of the artistic tradit-ion in dynastic times. There is a victor - whether local leader orking - smiting bound enemies with a raised club; a leader standsbeneath a sunshade; and the owner of the tomb is shown larger(that is, more powerful) than the accompanying figures. In ad-dition, representations of high-prowed boats with deck-cabinshave their prototypes on the Predynastic pottery found at thissite. A figure holding two lions, on an ivory knife-handle fromGebel al-Arak, is thought to be of Mesopotamian origin - strik-ing evidence for cultural diffusion.

Nekhen and Naqada both bear marks of having developed intocommunities of substantial influence in Predynastic times. Eachwas strategically situated with direct connections through largewadis: west to Kharga Oasis and east to the gold-bearing regionbetween the Nile Valley and the Red Sea. Each eventually becamea cult center, of Horus (the hawk) and Set (a mythical desert ani-mal) respectively. Their rulers came to exemplify the emergingideology of power and were probably buried in the so-called roy-al tombs in the Predynastic cemeteries in both places.

Abydos is another site where lasting associations of leadership

From the 'paintedtomb' at Nekhen

22 Beginnings

developed. Royal monuments of the First and Second dynastieswere found here and recent excavations have revealed, amongother things, a Predynastic cemetery. Abydos developed a sacredaura and was later believed to be the burial place of Osiris - thegod depicted in mythology as an earthly leader who ruled in Pre-dynastic times.

In settled societies where the deceased are buried close to theliving, there is a great awareness of and respect for the dead, whichcan become a form of ancestor worship. The myth of Osiris as anideal ruler (see chapter in) occurs in so many different forms thatit must contain an element of truth. It is not beyond the bounds ofreason, therefore, to suppose that he was originally a leader whoexercised ingenuity and led his people to an understanding of thebenefits of water control. Perhaps he judged cases of disputed em-bankments, canals, or catchment basins because he was associatedthroughout dynastic times with water as a source of fertility, thesoil, sprouting vegetation, and judgment. Over the millennia peo-ple paid homage through pilgrimage to Naqada, Nekhen, andAbydos, the three sites associated with early leaders.

On the Threshold of Civilization

Between about 3400 and 3000 BC Egypt entered the last stage ofits Predynastic experience. Evidence of the Naqada III orGerzean culture - named after a village north of Meidum in theFayyum where it was first identified - can be found at numeroussites throughout Egypt. In contrast to the slow pace of earlier de-velopment, rapid advances were now being made. Craft special-ization was one direct result of food sufficiency: flint of fine qual-ity was obtained from beds in the cliffs along the Nile Valley andfashioned with unsurpassed skill into ripple-chipped kniveswhich, far too delicate for utilitarian use, were obviously orna-

On the Threshold of Civilization 23

mental. Although art, in today's sense of the word, did not exist,people were skilled in the execution of their work. Slate palettesfor grinding paint were carved in decorative fish, bird, and animaldesigns. Amulets were produced in a larger assortment of stonesand in different designs. A keen artistic sense can be seen in theway that the roughly-made slates of Badarian times were nowformed into bird, hippopotamus, and fish designs. Ivory stat-uettes have been found, although it is not known whether thesewere fertility figures - since some were carved with exaggeratedsexual characteristics - or toys like the small stone balls, gamepieces, and a kind of chessboard that were often buried with chil-dren. Furniture was placed in tombs: low stools made of stoneand wood-frame beds with mattresses of woven linen lashed tothe frame. Decorative ware included small boxes of ivory, orwood inlaid with ivory, to hold a woman's possessions. One ofparticularly fine execution has its lid carved with a human figurein low relief and its sides decorated with geese. Clearly the ownersof such objects were no longer primarily concerned with survival.

At a more practical level, tools like axe-heads, adzes, hoes, chis-els, daggers, and knives of beaten metal were produced. TheGerzean period was also known for its vases produced from a va-riety of hard and brightly-colored stone: basalt and alabaster,white limestone, red breccia, marble, diorite, and granite. Thestone was shaped by skilled artisans using stone drills. These ob-

Decorated ivory box,Naqada III or Gerzean period

24 Beginnings

jects were made to serve a growing elite, whose tombs underwentchange during this period. They were lined with matting, wood,or mud-brick and extra chambers were added to accommodategrave goods. The simple mound over the tomb of previous timesbecame enlarged into a low rectangular superstructure to whichthe Arabic word mastaba (bench) has been given. These con-tained a complex of rooms, also frequently lined with matting orstrengthened with wooden planks.

In the late Gerzean period a distinctive ware developed - wide-lipped, buff-colored - in addition to the black-topped pottery.

These vessels were fired in an improved kiln in which highertemperatures could be produced and better controlled. This re-sulted in the manufacture of uniform texture and color that pro-vided a suitable surface for decoration. Drawings were made onthe pots in manganese before firing and the designs - some remi-niscent of the 'painted tomb' at Nekhen - cast considerable lighton ancient society. They include drawings of boats, hills, plants,animals, and humans. The boats - invariably rowing boats - wereeach identified with emblems on poles, sometimes with twostreamers hanging from them. These ensigns were visible marksof tribal identity. Being represented on boats, they further suggestincreased river trade among different communities to acquire allthat was needed to enhance the status of local leaders. Some of theboats appear to have cabins, which may have served as shade foran important traveler.

Cultural Exchange

Trade in luxury goods became a royal business in dynastic times.In the Gerzean period, however, the importation of raw materialsfor the development of industries seems to have been a local affair.Because of their strategic location, some of the settlements were

Cultural Exchange 25

destined to acquire more wealth than others. Upper Egypt be-came rich from the procurement of stone and minerals from theEastern Desert. Copper and turquoise mined in Sinai broughtwealth to some of the Delta settlements. Trade with Nubia sawthe flow into Egypt of copper and incense from the lands lyingeven further south. The presence of cedarwood, used in tomb-construction, boat-building, and furniture-making in Egypt, sug-gests trade with Byblos on the eastern Mediterranean.

Maadi, twelve kilometers south of modern-day Cairo, devel-oped into a Predynastic commercial community. That is to say, itsmain activity was not agriculture - although herding and farmingwere practiced there - but commerce. It enjoyed a favorable posi-tion for trade with Sinai and western Asia via Wadi Digla, whichruns eastward to the Bitter Lakes. Attractive and well-madeproducts carved from a wide variety of stones, as well as largequantities of copperware, have been found at Maadi. These mayhave been trade items. Huge amphorae found in large cellars be-low the forty-five-acre site strongly resemble those of Palestine.They are characterized by ledge or wavy handles that have noprototypes in the Nile Valley. Their contents included perfumedvegetable fat and other items imported from the east. Small paint-ed pots, evidently imported from Palestine, form the most dis-tinctive link between the two regions. Underground houses, notfound elsewhere in Egypt, suggest that Maadi may even have ac-

Pottery with elaboratedecoration, Late Gerzean

26 Beginnings

commodated foreign merchants, whose wares were transportedin this distinctive pottery to other parts of the country.

Cultural diffusion is a natural process following commercialcontact. Its evidence has been found in Egypt in the forms ofcylinder seals, motifs of fantastic animals with intertwined necksdepicted on the handles of weapons and palettes, recessed panel-ing in tomb architecture, and the facade of a building in Tell al-Fara'un (ancient Pe [Buto], which developed into a major settle-ment in the Delta) featuring cones that have their prototypes inMesopotamia. Objects of early Egyptian manufacture have alsobeen found at Byblos on the Mediterranean in present-dayLebanon. The land bridge of Sinai facilitated the free flow of tradeand culture. A similar exchange occurred between Egypt and Nu-bia to the south. Egypt's rich agricultural surplus, linen, and hon-ey were exchanged for mining rights in Nubia and access to traderoutes beyond the Second Cataract.

Toward Unification

As certain settlements became richer - and consequently larger -than their neighbors, their leaders prospered. In Upper Egypt,Nekhen came to enjoy particularly strong leadership. In LowerEgypt the formation of a major settlement is not so clearly de-

Wavy handled vasesof Palestinian type

Toward Unification 27

fined, because many Delta settlements were submerged by flooddeposits in relatively recent times. Now, however, excavations atmany sites in the eastern and central Delta - including TellIbrahim Awad, Tell Samara, Tell Farkha, and Tell al-Kabir - castlight on settlements of the same time span as the late Gerzean inUpper Egypt. Tell al-Fara'un has now been identified as Pe(Buto), the traditional counterpart of Nekhen in Upper Egypt.

Products of Upper Egyptian origin began to appear in theDelta during the Late Predynastic Period and pottery from theDelta made its way to Upper Egypt. This long-distance internaltrade did not lead to a uniform material culture, however. On thecontrary, toward the end of the Predynastic Period the TwoLands of Upper and Lower Egypt - later to form the basis of thecountry's political organization - stand out as separate entitieswith greater clarity than ever before.

The thrust toward unification was spearheaded by UpperEgypt, but the reason remains obscure. One cause might havebeen the economic attraction of the Delta: Upper Egyptians, con-fined to the narrow and - in view of the changing climatic condi-tions - increasingly hostile environment of the Nile Valley, mayhave been encouraged to move northward toward the temperateclimate and abundant food supply of the Delta. Awareness of thebenefits of contact with the countries of the eastern Mediter-ranean may have been an added inducement. Whatever the rea-son, the leaders of Nekhen first extended their influence towardNaqada and then farther north to Thinis (modern Girga), justnorth of Abydos.

Political expansion was not without warfare, judging from thenumber of maces with disc-shaped heads in hard stone foundalongside an unusually large number of broken bones among thebodies of the dead at Naqada. Confrontation between varioussettlements is also suggested by decorative motifs on two palettesof this period found at Abydos. One, the Battlefield Palette,

i8 Beginnings

shows slain captives being preyed upon by lions, while the TownsPalette is thought to represent different clans destroying walledsettlements. The possibility of internal conflict is also suggestedfrom oral traditions. Myths, once dismissed as unreliable, arenow being recognized as reflections of important historical andsocial realities. The many myths describing battles between Ho-rus of Lower Egypt and Set of Upper Egypt may, in their earliestform, have been based upon actual conflict between the twostrong Upper Egyptian settlements: Nekhen, where the hawkwas the emblem, and Naqada, associated with the Set animal. Po-litical integration was extremely slow. Several centuries passedbefore objects of Upper Egyptian origin replaced those in theDelta and until the names of Ka and Narmer - two of the earliestkings identified in Upper Egypt-were found at Tell IbrahimAwad in the Delta.

The Predynastic Legacy

Civilization, until recently, was equated with literacy, and becausethe earliest known records of ancient Egypt were those dating tothe First Dynasty, 'civilization' and 'First Dynasty' became syn-onymous. Today it is known that the origins of the world's earli-est civilizations predate the appearance of written records. InEgypt, there is evidence not only of a class-based society but alsoof the invention of writing long before the dynastic period. A par-tially robbed Predynastic tomb at Abydos, dating to around 3200BC, provides evidence that the hieroglyphic script was developedmuch earlier than archaeologists had previously supposed, mak-ing Egyptian one of the world's oldest written languages. Rough-ly painted inscriptions on the seals and labels of funerary equip-ment were precise records - trademarks that revealed the owner'sidentity, the contents of a vessel, or the quality of the contents.

The Predynastic Legacy 29

The leaders who lived during the crucial years immediately pri-or to unification identified themselves with names like Ka andIryhor or with symbols like the elephant and the scorpion.

Only in dynastic times did the names and titles of kings be-come standardized. The early pictographic records were most ex-plicit, however. One 'scorpion' leader left a fascinating record ona pear-shaped macehead (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), a largeobject, apparently used for ceremonial purposes, and carved inthree registers. Dominating the central scene is the scorpion kinghimself.

He wears the distinctive headgear that has become known asthe White Crown of Upper Egypt and his tunic has a bull's tail,which became a common attribute of kings. He is depicted in anagricultural setting breaking the ground with a hoe. Behind himare fan-bearers and people rejoicing. Below is another agriculturalscene, while the top register shows dead lapwings, associated withvarious tribes on the borders of Egypt, hung from standards bear-ing their emblems. The event is an unmistakable record of mili-tary triumph by a leader whose attributes included physical

Relief sceneon maceheadof King Scorpion

30 Beginnings

prowess and bravery - inherited from his ancestor, the tribalhunter - and whose obligations included water control and en-suring the fertility of the land.

Along with the invention of writing, breaking the bonds im-posed by the lunar month was another important Predynasticlegacy. Ancient Egyptians were dependent upon the annual flood,as it signaled the start of the whole agricultural cycle. To forecastits arrival would obviously be advantageous but difficult, as nofixed number of lunar months corresponded to the agriculturalyear. Countless years of living in an environment of rhythmic cy-cles eventually led to the observation that the rising flood waterswere accompanied by a heavenly sign. Sothis, also known as Sir-ius or the dog-star, was the brightest of all fixed stars in the nightsky. Its position changed as the earth moved around the sun, caus-ing a shifting point of observation. At one stage during the lunarcycle, the light of Sothis was entirely swallowed up by the bright-ness of the sun and the star became invisible for a period of seven-ty days.

A night would come at the end of this period when Sothis be-came visible in the eastern sky just before dawn, in the glow of therising sun. This sighting is referred to as the 'heliacal rising,' andwas witnessed just before the flood waters began to rise each year.It was an astronomical event of great importance because it her-alded the promise of the land's rebirth and the beginning of an-other agricultural year. The new Egyptian calendar was based ona year of three seasons, starting with the sighting of Sothis. Theearliest written evidence of the heliacal rising appears on a smallivory tablet belonging to Djer, the second king of the First Dy-nasty (around 3000 BC). It reads: "Sothis, Opener of the Year, In-undation, i."

The ability to anticipate the flood level was an important meansby which a leader could vindicate his power, thus the invention ofthe nilometer was another important legacy. In its most primitive

Origin of Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs 31

form, a nilometer was merely a scale consisting of a series of hori-zontal notches marked on a convenient rock. As soon as the watercrested on the southern border, the cataract region at Aswan, in-formation regarding its height could be rushed by courier to allparts of the country, where other nilometers were still registeringits rise. Preparations could then be made to maximize the water'suse. This simple invention may have led to the concept that theking was divine: he governed the crops and the seasons. He was aprovider who had power over that powerful force of nature, theNile.

Origin of Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs

It is not possible to trace religion as a vehicle of reverence in Pre-dynastic times because the only sources of reference are burialgrounds, and despite the abundance of material remains there isno indication of the extent to which the idea of divinity - outsidethe power of natural forces - was formulated. Whatever it wasthat encouraged devotion and emotional com-mitment is so farunknown, apart from the certainty of life beyond the grave. Thisis clearly demonstrated at all Predynastic sites and remained oneof the most basic aspects of the ancient religion. In contrast toother early societies where rites of fasting ensured the annual re-generation of the land, Egyptians took it for granted. The cyclicalregularity and predictability of the environment gave them faithin their own immortality. Death seems not to have been regardedwith fascination and fear as the final, supreme crisis of life but asthe necessary prelude to rebirth.

The discovery of some burials in both Badari and Naqadawhere the body was laid prone with the head pointing south (thesource of the Nile and the annual flood) and the face turned to thewest has led to the notion that Egyptians early regarded the west-

32 Beginnings

ern horizon, the place of the setting sun, as the gateway to the af-terlife. Certainly the sun and the river, which together formed thedominating means of survival, must have made an early impres-sion on them. They were two natural forces with both creativeand destructive power: the life-giving rays that caused the crop togrow could also cause it to shrivel and die; and the river that invig-orated the soil could also destroy whatever lay in its path. Boththe sun and the river embodied the pattern of death and rebirth:the sun died when it sank on the western horizon only to be re-born in the eastern sky the following morning; the death of theland was followed by the rebirth of the crops with the river's an-nual flood the following year. The moon (Thoth), too, symbol-ized death and rebirth, its waxing and waning seen as the resur-gence of vitality like the flood waters, the sprouting grain, and therising sun. Rebirth was a central feature of the Egyptian scene. Itwas seen as a natural succession to death, and undoubtedly lay atthe root of the ancient Egyptian conviction in the afterlife.

The natural desiccation of bodies into leather-like figures thatoccurred when they were buried in hot desert sand may have en-couraged the belief that the preservation of mortal remains wasimportant. The fact that the most minute facial details, includinghair and eye-lids, were frequently preserved may lie at the base ofthe ancient belief that the likeness of the deceased was necessaryfor eternal life.

Corpses were first wrapped in matting, skins, or strips of wo-ven cloth. When it was observed that bodies in large tombs per-ished more easily than those interred in pits - a few instances ofhigh-status, brick-lined graves at Naqada containing poorly-pre-served human remains suggests that this type of enclosure wasconsidered ineffective - attempts were made to preserve the bodyby artificial means. Natron (sodium carbonate) was applied to thebody. In Early Dynastic times, in an effort to main-tain the de-ceased's likeness, the head and body were carefully molded over

Origin of Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs 33

the corpse in plaster, complete with painted facial details, geni-talia, and breasts.

From the Third Dynasty, statues were fashioned after the like-ness of the owner of a tomb and placed in a sealed-off chamberknown as the serdab. This statue served as a substitute should thebody be damaged beyond recognition and consequently fail to beidentified. It also served as repository for the immortal aspectknown as the ka.

It is not known exactly how the ancient Egyptians envisagedthe relationship between a person and their ka, or indeed howearly the concept of a spirit or guardian-double was formulated.The symbol of the ka - two upraised arms - first appeared onPredynastic standards painted on pottery. Mortuary texts, basedon early rituals and beliefs, indicate that at death the ka became aseparate entity. It played a role in the deceased's association withthe tomb, the "everlasting abode," and guided their fortunes inthe afterlife. A dead person was described as one who joined hisor her ka. "How beautiful it is in the company of my ka forever,"chants a mortuary priest in the Old Kingdom, as revealed in thePyramid Texts. The priests were described as 'servants of the ka,'and offerings to the ka became the subject of prayer in a complexmortuary ritual. Beliefs in the sustenance of the ka were early de-veloped and continued for thousands of years.

There was always the fear in Predynastic times that the shallowgraves might be desecrated and the bodies destroyed by desert an-imals like the wolf and the jackal. Mounds built over the gravemay have been an attempt to keep these animals from digging upthe bodies. Also, in an early effort to assuage the hunger of thesecreatures and prevent them from violating the tomb, food mighthave been laid near the grave. As a result, an association betweenwolves or jackals and burial grounds developed. Eventually a rit-ual to propitiate these animals evolved into the belief that the wolf(Wepwawet) and the jackal (Anubis) guarded the dead. Wep-

34 Beginnings

wawet is called the 'foremost of the westerners' in the earliestmortuary texts and his name means 'opener of the ways (to the af-terlife).' Anubis ultimately became associated with embalming.Feasts of Anubis are mentioned as early as the First Dynasty.

It is clear that the ancient Egyptians had great respect for thedead and the inhabitants of the afterlife. The number of elaboratepreparations provide ample proof of their deep interest in the fateof the departed. No effort was spared to assist in the renewal oflife or to preserve the memory of the deceased through mortuarygifts, prayers, and funerary rituals. Material equipment to servethe dead throughout eternity eventually became, with the growthof the state, an industry to which all classes of society were calledinto requisition.

Sense of Cosmic Order

The long period of social and cultural development was well ad-vanced before the political unification of Upper and LowerEgypt. During that time many basic religious rituals were formu-lated. The regularity of nature's forces provided the basis of theancient Egyptians' sense of order and balance. Like many otherearly societies, their religious focus was on nature, which provid-ed their means of existence. They were able to explain the originsof life in relation to their environment. Their early observationsof nature and the solar forces were later incorporated into thedoctrine that formed the basis of the official religion (see chapteriv). The lack of explanation of these observations strongly sug-gests that certain concepts were already taken for granted. Thesight of the flood waters subsiding each year leaving mounds ofearth upon which plants grew undoubtedly triggered the idea thatin the beginning there was a watery waste (Nun), out of which thefirst land appeared. On this primordial mound the intense rays of

Sense of Cosmic Order 3 5

the sun brought forth plant life. There were many explanations asto how the sun moved across the heavens each day and presum-ably through the underworld at night in order to rise in the east-ern sky the following morning. The most widely held view in-volved river transport: the orb that rose in the eastern sky - corre-sponding with the east bank of the river - crossed the heavenlyriver (the sky) by boat to set in the western sky - the west bank ofthe river. Between Nut, the sky - traversed by the sun by day andwith glittering heavenly bodies by night-and Geb, the earth,which annually gave forth vegetation, there were two other dis-cernible phenomena, air (Shu) and moisture (Tefnut). If the an-cient Egyptians harbored any concern about how the sky mightbe held aloft it was presumed to be by four great pillars, themountains of the deserts to east and west, like the supporting pil-lars of early shelters.

When a person died, they, like the setting sun, entered the after-life beyond the horizon. And, like the sun, they would rise andlive again. The host of the dead were seen to take their place withthe circumpolar stars (the 'imperishable ones') in the northernpart of heaven. This was regarded as the place of the afterlife. AFirst Dynasty tomb inscription records that there the deceasedperson became an akh, a glorified spirit; the akhs were spiritswhich, like the stars, "know no destruction."

IIGrowth

Search for the Earliest Kings

With the advent of the First Dynasty, around 3000 BC, an aston-ishing transformation took place: the unification of Upper andLower Egypt. It turned an individual from the most successfulamong leaders into a ruler without peers, a divine king with ab-solute power over a united country, the 'Two Lands.' The splen-did civilization that was to peak in the Great Pyramid Age waslaunched. The ancient Egyptians attributed unification of theircountry to a single king, Menes, who is traditionally credited asthe first king and founder of the capital at Memphis. About twen-ty-five kilometers south of present day Cairo, Memphis wasstrategically situated at a point where the Nile Valley of UpperEgypt widened into the vast Delta region of Lower Egypt. Theancient Egyptians knew Memphis as the 'White Wall,' and de-scribed it as 'the balance of the Two Lands.' It was their capital forabout one thousand years and remained an important religiousand commercial center throughout the three thousand years ofthe country's ancient history. It was honored by most of the im-portant kings throughout this time and was traditionally the placewhere they were crowned.

Until just before the turn of the twentieth century all that wasknown of Menes and the early kings was from vague accounts byclassical writers like Herodotus, Josephus, and Africanus, andfrom king-lists drawn up by the Egyptians themselves at different

Search for the Earliest Kings 37

periods of their history. The king-lists were unreliable, often frag-mentary and contradictory. The most complete was recorded byManetho, an Egyptian historian who lived in the reign of Ptole-my II (28 5 - 47 BC). It was based on oral traditions and fragmentsof earlier lists. He divided the history of Egypt into thirty dynas-ties - from Menes until the Greek conquest - and these have beengrouped into three 'great periods': the Old, Middle and Newkingdoms. Manetho's account forms the basis of the chronologywe still use today.

Early Egyptologists sought evidence for the existence of Menesand thought they had found an answer in 1898-99 when an ar-chaeological team came upon a cache filled with votive objects ofhistorical importance at the Predynastic burial ground at Nekhen(see chapter i). Among the objects were the ceremonial 'scorpion'macehead and a shield-shaped slate palette - the Palette of Nar-mer - now in The Egyptian Museum, Cairo. The latter causedtremendous excitement. It was decorated with reliefs in registerson both faces inscribed in the name of Narmer and was generally

Ceremonialpalette of Narmer

38 Growth

regarded as a record of unification: the definitive victory of thesouthern kingdom over the Delta. The king's name was clearly in-scribed in the frame of a serekh - the distinctive 'palace-facade'design of recesses and buttresses associated with the royal palace.On one side of the palette the king wears the White Crown ofUpper Egypt and is shown with a raised club striking a kneelingenemy. On the other side he wears the Red Crown of LowerEgypt and, accompanied by standard bearers later called 'Follow-ers of Horus,' inspects the bodies of decapitated enemies. In alower register, he is shown as a bull trampling an enemy. The bullbecame linked with royal ideology in early times, as an animalthat inspired the greatest respect for its strength and virility.

The discovery of the palette identified Narmer as the first kingto wear the distinctive crowns of each of the Two Lands, butwhether he was the same person as the legendary Menes was notclear. Subsequent evidence was confusing: on some of the jar sealsfound in early dynastic graves at Abydos, Narmer's name was in-scribed adjacent to hieroglyphic signs for mri, which was taken bymany scholars as proof that he was the legendary Menes. AtNaqada, however, some grave objects bore the single nameNarmer, while others showed Narmer and Aha alongside one an-other. On an ivory tablet from Naqada and on jar seals found atother burial grounds, Aha's name alone was inscribed. Whichking came first, Narmer or Aha? If Aha came first, should he thenbe identified with Manetho's Menes? This issue remained athorny one among scholars for nearly a century and has only veryrecently been put to rest. Archaeologists digging at Abydos havefound historical proof of the order of succession of the first twodynasties: an impression on a clay seal names the earliest kings asNarmer, Aha, Djer, Djet, Den, Enezib, Semerkhet, and Ka.

Throughout ancient Egyptian history, the drawing up of royalgenealogies was carried out with care. The idea was undoubtedlyto establish a decisive beginning to the unified state by giving

Divergence of Opinion 39

Narmer ultimate credit for both his own achievements and thoseof his predecessors. The genealogies are also significant in theirdemonstration of pious regard for royal ancestors. More than athousand years later, a scene in the Temple of Seti I at Abydosshows the king and his son (later Ramses II) presenting offeringsto the names of the kings written in elliptical cartouches, connect-ing the Nineteenth Dynasty royal house in continuous sequenceto the first dynastic kings.

Divergence of Opinion

Despite proof of the sequence of rule, there still remains consider-able divergence of opinion on the Early Dynastic Period. Newdiscoveries and observations on the Egyptian civilization arecompelling scholars to modify their views time and again. Manytheories earlier regarded as plausible are proving to be unfound-ed. New hypotheses on the vital early years of the civilization arebeing made. Even the historical importance of the Palette ofNarmer has been challenged. Many scholars, unconvinced of itsmessage of unification, point out that archaeological techniques acentury ago were poor by today's standards and that the palettewas not accurately recorded in situ. In other words, they claim itis not clear whether Narmer himself commemorated his ownconquest or whether the Palette was sculpted hundreds, maybethousands, of years after his death in commemoration of an his-torical event.

Another question that remains unresolved is whether Narmerwas indeed the first king to unify the Two Lands or whether therewas an earlier union between Upper and Lower Egypt. When lit-tle was known about the kings of the first two dynasties - andeven less about the Predynastic Period - what appeared as a sud-den cultural advance at the beginning of the First Dynasty wasdescribed by some scholars as the incursion of a new 'master race'

40 Growth

into Egypt. Supporters of this hypothesis pointed to carvingssuch as the ceremonial slate palettes found at Abydos, the 'paint-ed tomb' at Nekhen, and the appearance of people traditionallyknown as the 'Followers of Horus' as evidence for their claim.More recent scholars have refuted the master-race theory. Theyargue that dynastic Egypt was as clearly a continuation of the Pre-dynastic culture as the late Gerzean period was the culmination oflong cultural and social development. The question of a Predy-nastic union nevertheless remains a hotly debated issue, especiallyin view of an astounding discovery made recently at the alreadyheavily excavated site of Abydos. In a Predynastic cemetery evi-dence has been found of the possibility that there may have beenas many as fifteen kings before Narmer.

Another important issue that has recently gained currency re-lates to the origin of the concept of the 'Two Lands.' This term,which was used by the ancient Egyptians to describe their owncountry, is central to an understanding of its political and socialdevelopment. Before the end of the nineteenth century, ourknowledge of Egypt's history did not extend beyond the reign ofSenefru, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty (2575 BC), and Pre-dynastic Egypt was only a shadowy outline. It was widely be-lieved at this time that small, isolated, Predynastic communities inboth Upper and Lower Egypt gradually coalesced until two inde-pendent kingdoms emerged and that the formation of these feder-ations was a step toward unification.

Elevation of thepaneled brickworkknown as 'palace facade'

Early Records 41

Today scholars are revising their views. Nekhen, the capital ofan Upper Egyptian kingdom, and Pe, the capital of a LowerEgyptian kingdom, are being presented as artificially created par-allel institutions. That is to say, although evidence has come tolight of major settlements in both Upper and Lower Egypt, it issuggested that the concept of Two Lands, rather than a single uni-fied state, was promoted to bind together a country that did notlend itself - physically or culturally - to unification. Valley andDelta were linked only in their dependence on the Nile. This factappears to have been recognized by the early kings, who gaveeach part of the country a distinctive name, thereafter treatingthem as though they had once been independent kingdoms. Theconcept was inviolable.

Throughout ancient history, there was never a king of Egypt,nor a cabinet, nor a treasury. There was a 'King of Upper andLower Egypt,' a 'double cabinet,' a 'double treasury,' and even a'double granary.' Each name was a powerful expression of na-tional unity. The 'Great House' itself, the palace which formedthe seat of the government, had a double entrance representingthe two ancient kingdoms, and its hieroglyph was frequently fol-lowed by the determinative signs of two houses. The one point onwhich there is general consensus among scholars is that unifica-tion was not the result of a single, victorious battle but an evolu-tionary process that continued for two, or even three, generationsbefore a king could assume the titles 'King of Upper and LowerEgypt,' and 'Lord of the Two Lands.'

Early Records

The invention of writing in Predynastic times was followed by itsrapid development in the Early Dynastic Period. Certain ruleswere early established, especially in regard to royal epithets writ-

42 Growth

ten in sequence. The names of Aha, Djer, and Djet were inscribedwithin a serekh surmounted by a hawk.

This 'Horus name' of the king became the first and most en-during of the royal titulary. It was a graphic representation denot-ing the king in his dwelling place, undoubtedly modeled on thedesign used in First Dynasty palace architecture, which is first inevidence on the partially-intact paneled wall of Aha at Nekhen.On an ivory label belonging to Aha, his Horus name is shownalong with a nebty or 'two ladies' title. This second important partof the titulary combined the cobra associated with Lower Egyptand the vulture of Upper Egypt over two basket-like signs denot-ing 'lord' (that is, lord over each part of the country). Other titleswere to follow.

Also dating to the reign of Aha is a record on an ivory label ofan historical event. In the middle register a ceremony is being per-formed. Although the crucial center portion of the label is miss-ing, two figures in the lower register can be seen performing somefunction over an unidentified object. The ceremony is describedas "receiving the south and the north."

Royal Cenotaphs and Tombs

Until the 19305 the main sources of our knowledge of the earliest

'Horus name'of King Aha

Royal Cenotaphs and Tombs 43

kings and the suggestion that they may have been regarded as di-vine in the First and Second dynasties came from Abydos. In acemetery known as Umm al-Qaab the kings were buried intombs far grander than anything previously constructed. The su-perstructures have entirely disappeared but excavations of thetombs themselves show that they were large, shallow, rectangulartrenches hewn out of the bedrock and divided by a series of cross-walls. These were brick-lined, frequently with a second lining ofwood. The king was buried in the central chamber. The otherchambers were store-rooms designed to contain provisions forhis afterlife. Pottery jars held oil, beer, grain, and other foodstuffs.Grave goods included a variety of exquisitely fashioned furniture,toiletries, and an unprecedented wealth of jewelry in gold andchoice foreign materials like lapis lazuli and obsidian. In neigh-boring subsidiary pit graves, servants and retainers of the royalhousehold or artisans of various industries were buried. Studieson the remains of these tombs show that their owners were all un-der the age of twenty-five, suggesting that they were put to deathin order to serve the king in the afterlife. This practice did not sur-vive past the early dynasties.

Like the Predynastic tombs at Nekhen, the royal structures atAbydos stood apart - much larger and more impressive than thesurrounding tombs. They were expressions of power and pros-perity; both burial places and symbols of leadership. Recent re-

Ivory label fromNaqada showingevents in Aha's reign

44 Growth

excavation of the monuments has revealed that they were built inseveral stages rather than to a single plan. It would appear that inthese early years when unity was being consolidated the royaltombs were progressively enlarged as the most evident signs ofthe kingship ideal.

Between 1936 and 1956 the theories built up around the earlykings collapsed when another royal burial ground was discoveredat Saqqara in honor of the same kings who were buried at Aby-dos. Scholars were nonplused. Where were the kings actuallyburied? The tombs at Saqqara were generally larger than those atAbydos and, moreover, were situated west (the direction associ-ated with the dead) of the capital at Memphis, which argued in fa-vor of the Saqqara tombs being the actual burial places and thestructures at Abydos being cenotaphs associated with the birth-place of the kings.

Many scholars nevertheless clung to the idea that Abydos wasthe burial ground and suggested that the massive tombs atSaqqara belonged to officials who controlled the strategic fortifi-cation on the border between the Two Lands. The controversyhas not yet been conclusively resolved. Recent excavations atAbydos, however, have revealed evidence that is re-tilting thescales in its favor: the tomb of Aha has proved to be a grand con-struction, and successive burials show increasing elaboration indesign and inscribed objects. These link the royal tombs to the

Decoration onmacehead of Narmer

Unity Consolidated 45

nearby Predynastic burial ground, which perhaps belonged to theimmediate forerunners of the kings of the First Dynasty.

The earliest indication that the king was regarded as a godcomes from Abydos. Huge walled constructions - long referredto as 'forts'-were built on the plain below the royal burialground. These have now been identified as mortuary templesbuilt to serve the royal cult and provide the massive storage spacenecessary for its perpetuation. The enclosure of Khasekhemwy,built at the end of the Second Dynasty, is the largest.

Unity Consolidated

Picking up the threads of the historical narrative, a ceremonialmacehead (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) dating to Narmer'sreign is another record of conquest. This time it shows the kingenthroned and wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt only.The protective wings of a vulture hover above the covered nichein which he sits. In front of him are standard-bearers, an unidenti-fied seated figure on a palanquin, foreign bearded captives, a pre-cise record in numerals and signs of 120,000 men, 400,000 oxen,and 1,422,000 goats. Perhaps the seated figure is Neith-hotep, aqueen in whose impressive monuments at Helwan and Naqadathe names of both Narmer and Aha appear. She may have been

White crown,red crown,and double crown

46 Growth

the consort of Narmer and the mother of Aha, which would pro-vide the earliest evidence of the rule for royal succession passingto the son of the 'Great Royal Wife' (see chapter vi).

The most prosperous reign of the First Dynasty was that ofDen, the fifth king. It heralded a time of innovation, not only intomb construction but also in the enhancement of the kingshipideal. He was the first king to wear the Double Crown whichcombined the White Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Crownof Lower Egypt. Den also adopted a new royal title known as thenesw-bit title, which, like the earlier nebty title, combined sym-bols of Upper and Lower Egypt, this time in the form of the sedgeand the bee. None of these early titles was ever abandoned, noteven in later periods when others were added to the royal titulary.The prominence given to their enumeration became a part of agrowing tradition.

Perhaps the most important record of Den's reign is an ebonylabel that records the earliest Sed festival. It shows the king in theupper right-hand register in two adjacent representations. In thefirst, he is enthroned on a stepped platform facing a court. Hewears the White Crown and the close-fitting robe and emblemsthat came to be associated with the legendary ancestor Osiris. Inthe second he is shown wearing the Double Crown and a tunic,striding between crescent-shaped objects or boundary markers.A great deal has been written about the Heb Sed but no explana-

Nesw-bit title

Loyalty Won 47

tion of its purpose or origin has been fully accepted; nor has itsstrange name - the 'tail-festival' - been explained. Most early rep-resentations of the king depict him wearing the tail of an animalattached to the back of his simple garment. Perhaps this tail be-came a part of the recognized royal insignia during the earliestHeb Sed and gave the festival its name. The various robes and em-blems of office, including the artificial beard, combined to projectan image of power and authority. According to available evi-dence, Den initiated the first national festival in which the kingappeared in a dramatized setting to perform rituals before peoplefrom all parts the country. This suggests that it was in his reignthat unity was consolidated.

Loyalty Won

The method by which loyalty and allegiance were won is crucialto an understanding of ancient Egyptian society. Even today,lacking some sort of local administrative device no individual canhold down large masses of people or elicit the loyalty of commu-nities of which they are not a part. There must be some sort ofwilling response. Most scholars attribute the king's success in an-cient Egypt to his claim to divinity. But it is unrealistic to supposethat any individual could engender the trust and confidence ofcommunities from Elephantine to the Mediterranean by simple

Ebony label of Denshowing (top right) theHeb Sed ritual performedbetween markers

48 Growth

pronouncement. Especially when, as we have seen, settled com-munities had developed a strong sense of identity, internal soli-darity, even a cooperative spirit in the pursuit of common goalslike agricultural control and the storage of grain. There was such ahigh degree of self-sufficiency in some areas that leaders couldmaintain a growing body of workers to build their tombs and ar-tisans to produce grave goods. Even if allegiance were won byarmed conflict, this would not explain how loyalty was main-tained.

Generations of scholars have addressed the meaning and func-tion of divine kingship - its ideological base, complex organiza-tion, and ceremonial ritual - in life and in death. But it is a ques-tion of challenge and defeat to admit that we still do not have avery clear picture of what actually happened that could so bolsterone man's authority that the Great House could turn to mattersof culture: art, architecture, literature, and religion throughoutUpper and Lower Egypt. And more, that the pattern set wouldcontinue for thousands of years. Fortunately, three literarysources, considered as a unit, suggest the method by which con-trol was established and maintained. The first is a secular text, thePalermo Stone, the second is a collection of mortuary literatureknown as the Pyramid Texts, and the third is the so-called Mem-phite Drama, written in mythological language. Despite theirwidely divergent subjects, they all support the hypothesis thatunity between Upper and Lower Egypt was consolidatedthrough the artificial creation of local cults which neutralized thedifferences between widely-dispersed communities and providedan ideological base for ceremonial ritual and leadership.

Cult Centers

The Palermo Stone, named after the city where the largest of sev-eral surviving fragments is housed, provides clear evidence of the

Cult Centers 49

creation of cults. Twenty-one of the thirty-odd entries relate tothe fashioning of images. A large part of the original slab is miss-ing but the stone lists the names of the earliest kings from thereign of Djer, the third king of the First Dynasty, and records suchnoteworthy information as the biennial cattle count and theheight of the inundation. It reveals that the kings traveled widelyand with some regularity in the Early Dynastic Period to lay thefoundations of buildings that were called 'throne-of-the-gods';among the activities regarded as sufficiently important to serve asreference points were ones expressed in such specific terms as 'thebirth of Anubis,' 'the birth of Min,' and other gods. Some kingsexplicitly note that the deities came into being simultaneouslywith their visit, as in the case of the gods Sheshat and Mefdet inthe reign of Den. Sheshat, whose symbol was a star on a pole sur-mounted by inverted horns, was associated with an activityknown as 'stretching the cord' - probably measuring out areasfor sacred buildings. Numerous other 'births' are mentioned onthe Palermo Stone, including those of Wadjet the cobra-goddessof the Delta settlement of Pe, Nekhbet the vulture-goddess ofNekheb in Upper Egypt, Neith of Sais, Ptah of Memphis, Har-ishaf the ram, Hathor the cow, Matit the lioness of Thinis (northof Abydos), Min of Coptos (opposite ancient Naqada), and Thoth.

The Pyramid Texts - inscribed on walls of pyramids of thekings who ruled toward the end of the Old Kingdom - under-score the creation of cults in mortuary literature. Although thiscompilation of prayers and rituals concerns the welfare of theking in the afterlife, some of the dialogues, especially those ad-dressed to the gods in heaven, have strong political overtones thatreflect an earthly experience.

I am Horns...It is I who restored you... who should be restored.It is I who set you in order... you settlements of mine.

5° Growth

/ built you... you city of mine...(And) you shall do for me every good which I (desire).You shall act on my behalf wherever I go.

The Memphite Drama is also explicit on the creation of cults. Thisremarkable text, which most scholars ascribe to the Sixth Dy-nasty, has survived in a late copy. It is in the form of a drama, withthe dialogues recited in mythological language. Ptah of Memphisis presented as a creator-god who declares that he

... gave birth to the gods,He made the towns,He established the provinces,He placed the gods in their shrines,He settled their offerings,He established their shrines,He made their bodies according to their wishes,Thus the gods entered into their bodiesOf every wood, every stone, every clay,Everything that grows upon him,In which they came to be.They were gathered to him, all the gods with their kas,Content, United with the Lord of the Two Lands.

Wooden label fromAbydos suggesting formof cult center of Neith

Cult Centers 51

The text suggests that shrines were built and cult statues madeout of various local materials. Most were probably small at first,each given a definitive form based on either the Predynastic em-blem of the settlement or a plant, bird, or animal indigenous to thearea. By an act of magic (an important facet of early society), the sta-tues were then animated; each was provided with a ka (immortalspirit) which set it apart from the work of human hands. This mayhave been achieved in a ritual similar to that performed on a corpseto imbue it with eternal life by touching the mouth with an adze.

Labels of wood and ivory attached to objects and stores placedin tombs further support the artificial creation of cults. All the la-bels bear texts relative to the commodity to which they were at-tached, but frequently some of the larger labels record events inthe king's reign. Although these texts cannot be deciphered withcertainty, it is possible to glean their meaning. Two identical labelsfound at Abydos, which date to the reign of Aha, give an idea ofthe appearance of an early cult center. In the top register, the Ho-rus name of the king can be seen to the right. There is a boat and astructure of reeds, branches, and beams topped with an ensign oftwo crossed arrows on an animal skin identified with Neith. Inthe second register, a figure holds a vessel marked "electrum" (agold and silver alloy), which is offered "four times," thus con-firming the Memphite Drama text concerning offerings. To the

First Dynastyrepresentations ofshrines show themas lattice-work structures

52 Growth

right is a bull in an enclosure and a structure similar to that ofNeith, this time surmounted by a bird. The shrines depicted onthese labels, and similar light structures for Anubis and Harishafdepicted on other labels dating to the reign of Den, suggest thatthey were made of uncovered lattice-work, perhaps on a carryingframe and thus portable. Recent excavations of early temple foun-dation deposits at Abydos have revealed examples of the so-called'tent-shrines' made of faience and limestone. These, like theshrines depicted on the labels, provide a prototype for later archi-tecture.

The Abydos labels show that statues were placed in front ofshrines in a courtyard surrounded by a fence. The shrine of Neithhas two flagstaffs to the left of the courtyard which are similar tothose depicted on pottery of the Gerzean period: stylized stream-ers that later symbolized neter, the Egyptian word for 'god' or'divine.' Shrines were referred to as 'god's houses' and the earliestword for a settlement was 'seat' or 'abode' (of a god).

A wooden label dating to the reign of Djer, Aha's successor, re-veals an activity that may also be related to the cults. In the topregister two large figures are shown being carried toward theserekh of the king. They may be statues being presented for a roy-al blessing. The fact that they are larger than life is not surprising:parts of three colossal Predynastic limestone statues of the ithy-phallic god Min of Coptos (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) showthat statues more than double life-size were fashioned.

Artificial Development of Cult Centers

Archaeological evidence supports the idea of uniform cult centerdevelopment. Recent excavation of some of the earliest settlementsites has revealed certain elements which point to artificial devel-opment. All sacred enclosures, for example, were kept apart from

Artificial Development of Cult Centers 53

the eyes of the public, surrounded by a wall. At Nekhen, al-though later temple-remains largely obliterated the earliest struc-ture, the 'main deposit' (where the macehead of Scorpion and thePalette of Narmer were found) lay beneath a mud-brick shrinebuilt on the site, which was constructed on a mound of desertsand protected by a rounded wall of sandstone blocks. At Ele-phantine, among the granite boulders at the southern tip of the is-land, a tiny shrine - which was much later developed into thenow-restored temple of Satis - featured a surrounding wall. Andat Abydos an early dynastic structure composed of a complex ofsmall brick buildings dedicated to Khenti-Amentiu (the jackal)stood in the corner of a heavily walled enclosure.

Another feature common to the earliest known cult centers arehundreds of votive offerings. Belief in a power within a statue atthe theoretical level gives rise to a need to secure prosperity, fertil-ity, and the like by propitiating or pleasing it at the practical level.Some of the baked clay objects placed at cult centers were socrude as to suggest they were made by local artisans for simplepeople who wished to make offerings. At Elephantine, the clayofferings included animals, human figurines (both male and fe-male, adult and child), and model pots. At Abydos there was asimilar scattering of votive objects. Although no early architec-ture has been encountered at Coptos, the range of votive objects

Wooden label ofDjer from Saqqarashowing ritualbefore the king

54 Growth

found beneath the site - including tiny statues of scorpions, frogs,birds, crocodiles, and animals - again suggests an early shrine likethose of Nekhen, Elephantine, and Abydos. Uniformity can befound too in the images of the gods, in the sense that, along withtheir hieroglyphic determinatives, they remained archetypes towhich future generations had recourse, and no one was more im-portant than the others. The gods remained vague characters, laterdescribed in such terms as 'he of Ombos' (Set), 'he of Edfu' (Ho-rus), 'she of Sais' (Neith), and 'he of Qift' (Coptos). Prayers andhymns addressed to them differed only in epithets and attributes.It was clearly the place, not the god, that mattered.

It also seems certain that some cult centers owed their rapidand continued growth to geopolitical factors. The ancient Egyp-tians developed twin cities: one on the site of an ancient settle-ment and the other more strategically situated to exploit mineraldeposits and trade routes. The cult center of the vulture-goddessNekhbet, for example, was not at the ancient settlement site ofNekhen on the west bank of the Nile but on the east bank atNekheb (modern al-Kab), which gave access to the mineral-richEastern Desert with its deposits of copper, agate, and jasper. Pe(Buto) and Dep (modern Fara'un) were twin cities on a majortributary in the Delta; the latter was a convenient departure pointfor trade. Naqada (Ombos) was the site of a Predynastic commu-nity in the Western Desert, while Coptos (Qift), almost opposite,lay at the mouth of Wadi Hammamat, the shortest route to theRed Sea and the gold-bearing veins of the Eastern Desert. Therewas no twin city on Egypt's southern border, where Khnum ofElephantine guarded the Cataract Region, Egypt's main source ofgranite, with access to the oases of the Western Desert as well as tocopper, feldspar, and gold further south in the Eastern Desert.The material achievements of the unified state depended on theresources of the land, and there is every indication that its admin-istration was early mapped out.

The pyramids of Giza fromthe village of Nazlet al-Simman.(Michael Jones)

The Great Pyramid with the boatmuseum in the foreground. (Michael Stock)

The modern village of Mit Rahina andits distinctive palm groves rise above theruins of ancient Memphis. (Robert Scott)

Khufu's funerary boat is made ofcedar. A second boat awaits excavation.(Robert Scott)

Young farmhands milking a cow.Tomb of Ti. (Robert Scott)

(Elderly men transport papyrus plants.Tomb of Nefer. (Robert Scott)

A farmhand carries a basket of ducklings.Tomb of Kagemni. (Robert Scott)

A farmhand attends his flocks. Tombof Nefer. (Robert Scott)

Dancers going through theirpaces with clappers beating time.Tomb of Mehu. (Robert Scott)

Fishermen in papyrus skiffs.Tomb of Kagemni. (Robert Scott)

Offering-bearers in a newly-discoveredSixth Dynasty tomb at Saqqara. (Robert Scott)

Local Prestige 55

Keepers of the Cult Statue

Once a shrine was built and the statue imbued with 'power,' indi-viduals were appointed to take care of it. They were not priests aswe use the term today, their role at first being no more than actingas 'servants of god' to take care of the shrine and the cult statue. Atthe popular level, the ancient Egyptians probably came to believethat the statue in the shrine held the key to a good crop, health,and fertility. They made pious gestures not much different fromtoday's offerings and prayers to the shrines of Christian saints andMuslim sheikhs. In fact, it is not unreasonable to suggest that to-day's mulids (religious holidays), when people set up camparound sacred shrines and leave simple offerings - sometimes nomore than a piece of cloth or bunch of flowers - as gestures oftheir devotion, represent a time-honored practice. At the officiallevel, royal endowments were substantial when the king attendedthe 'birth' days of the gods. They came in the form of bread andcakes, oxen and other cattle, geese and other birds, jars of beer andwine. The annual celebrations involved the slaughter of sacrificialanimals in the name of the king. These offerings, having once lainon the altar of the shrine and fulfilled their religious function,were used for the maintenance of the servants of god. The balancewas distributed to the people, the laity.

Local Prestige

The creation of cult centers not only neutralized the differencesbetween the various settlements but created a strong bond be-tween people of all walks of society. Under the guidance of theGreat House their religious observance soon became a conven-tion. Political vision is evident from the beginning of the historicalperiod; there remained managerial skills to see it brought to

56 The Beginnings

fruition, and here the local elite came into play. It was they whomobilized people to construct shrines to house sacred statues andpaid them in kind with lavish gifts like electrum, perhaps linen,and land, in order to provide them with the means to cater for thesplendor that must inevitably have surrounded royal visits. Theprestige of the elite, thus enhanced, created an atmosphere inwhich it was no difficult task to draw on them to carry out thecensus of land and livestock on behalf of the king, or later to re-cruit labor for mining and trading expeditions. They had power,however, only by virtue of the king; the land earmarked for theiruse belonged not to them as individuals but to the local cult.

The significance of the title Followers of Horus (literally 'thegods who follow Horus,' that is, the king) has long been debatedamong scholars. In the late nineteenth century, some Egyptolo-gists concluded that the dynastic kings were the successors of anearly Predynastic union of the Two Lands, which was triggeredfrom Lower Egypt. Others observed the great strides made in artand architecture at the start of the First Dynasty and presentedthe master-race theory. Now, however, it seems the Followers ofHorus may simply have been the king's appointed officials whoacted on his behalf. The earliest mention of them by name can betraced back to the reign of Den. One, Hemaka, bore the title 'seal-bearer of the King of Lower Egypt,' suggesting that he had au-thority to act on his king's behalf.

Threat of the Use of Force

The concept that the gods and the king had mutual claims on oneanother was strong, but there was always the risk of resistance.When this happened, coercion was used. The king threatened todeny the performance of the cult. The Pyramid Texts (many ofwhich date to Predynastic times, especially those that include

Threat of the Use of Force 57

phrases referring to a time when the dead were laid to rest in sim-ple sand pits and when desert animals were prone to desecratebodies) include utterances in which the king addresses the gods inheaven as he may have addressed the cult centers: "that he maydestroy (their) power and confer (their) powers." "Worship him,"he declared. "Whom he wishes to live will live; whom he wishesto die will die." And he goes on: "This king comes indeed; hetakes away powers and bestows power; there are none who shallescape."

The effect of such a threat on a community of landed leadersand servants of god can well be imagined. It meant more than lossof identity: it amounted to a threat of annihilation. In such event,the sacred name and divine attributes of the local god could be ab-sorbed by a neighboring god (as not infrequently happened-Wast, for example, the goddess of Waset south of Thebes, was ab-sorbed by Montu the hawk-god of neighboring Armant), but theleader would lose his prestige and the servants of god their posi-tions.

Little wonder that the Pyramid Texts abound with proclama-tions of loyalty: "O King, may you stand among the gods andamong the spirits, for it is fear of you which is on their hearts. OKing, succeed to your throne at the head of the living, for it isdread of you which is in their hearts." To fear god and honor theking were one and the same act.

According to Herodotus, a tradition survived that Khufuclosed temples in the land, and the Westcar Papyrus (a later docu-ment that related events in the Old Kingdom) refers to his closingdown at least one temple. There is therefore every indication thatthe divine king shared a common feature with the leaders of mostearly societies: he was a warlord. Among his remembered desig-nations from early times were "Horus fights," "Horus seizes,"and "Horus decapitates." In the lower register of the ceremonialPalette of Narmer the king is shown as a bull trampling a fallen

58 Growth

enemy; on an ivory label found at Abydos dating to the reign ofDen he is shown in a pose that was to become classic: smiting anenemy with a raised club. Although the accompanying captionreads "first time of smiting the east" and is generally taken to referto evidence of foreign conquest, the fact that the enemy is shownin pharaonic dress suggests it might refer to border conflict. Inany event, it became the symbolic portrayal of punishment in-flicted on any who committed an offense to a king or cult.

"My name is there in the horizon, the holy images fear me," ut-ters the king in the Pyramid Texts, and confirmation that this wasno idle warning survives in oral traditions: as we have noted, thestory of the closing down of at least one temple survived to thetime of Herodotus in the fifth century BC. The Palermo Stonerecords the destruction of an unidentified locality called Werka inthe reign of Den; and several places like Shemra and Ha, men-tioned in the early documents, never reappear. Gradually thereemerged some twenty cult centers in Upper Egypt and perhapssixteen in Lower Egypt, according to Old Kingdom documents.There was no local administration apart from the activities thatcentered around the shrines, which remained small until a laterperiod. In fact, temples constructed around or above the originalsanctuaries were never completed. They were always under con-struction - continually tended, enlarged, and altered - to enhancethe aura of successive kings. Nor were any sacred objects ever de-stroyed. If no longer needed, they were buried in the consecratedground.

Provincial Celebrations

People all over the land were drawn together into public lifethrough frequent royal journeys to participate in provincial cele-brations. The anniversary of the 'birth' day of a local god was onein which public life reached a peak of intensity. Surrounded by an

Provincial Celebrations 59

enclosure wall, the sacred shrine of the deity was accessible onlyto the servants of god for most of the year. On this one occasion,however, the shrine was brought out of seclusion. A sense of aweundoubtedly surrounded it when it appeared to the populace,carried in procession. In ancient times, as today, neighboring cultcenters probably took part in each other's festivals, not as activeparticipants, but as willing sightseers. When the villagers saw theroyal barges carrying his majesty or his representative to officiateat the celebration, it was a confirmation of order, a repeat perfor-mance. In texts of all periods, the verb 'to appear' was used equal-ly to refer to sunrise, creation, kingly rule, and the appearance ofgods on their 'birth' days.

There was no aspect of life in ancient Egypt that was not tied, inone way or another, to belief in appearance (birth) and reappear-ance (rebirth). Such ceremonial invention created homogeneousbelief in the power of the king over the 'powers' (the gods) andover the Nile flood. Through the creation of cults the GreatHouse managed to establish a measure of cohesion such that a na-tional festival, the Heb Sed, could be held at which all provincialleaders were called upon - indeed they felt it an honor - to attend.Moreover, when large numbers of men were required by theGreat House for expeditions or building construction they couldbe recruited in the name of the king from the cult centers he hadbuilt. In return for missions successfully accomplished the king

Ivory label showingDen striking a dwellerof the Eastern Desert

6o Growth

gave thanks and made sacrificial offerings at the shrine of the localgod. He further expressed his gratitude to the leaders by reward-ing them with land grants to help maintain the cults on whichtheir success, and hence their prestige, depended. It was a symbi-otic relationship between the king and local god, state and temple

Creating a Tradition

The effort that went into promoting nationalism by creating acommon culture was largely successful. After one short setbacktoward the end of the First Dynasty, described by Manetho as atime of "very great calamities," there was a change of dynasty, andstability was reestablished. This lasted until the reign of Per-ibsen,the sixth king of the Second Dynasty, when he broke with tradi-tion by abandoning the royal Horus title and adopting a Set title.In other words, he exceptionally surmounted his serekh with theSet animal instead of the hawk of Horus. The reason for such arevolutionary act is not clear; evidence is lacking because thetombs of the first three kings of the Second Dynasty have neverbeen found. Perhaps the leaders of the two Upper Egyptian cultcenters, Nekhen where Horus was chief deity and Naqada associ-ated with Set, were engaged in a power conflict. Be that as it may,the adoption of a Horus-and-Set title by Per-Ibsen's successor,

Inscription onstone vase ofKhasekhem(wy)

Creating a Tradition 61

Khasekhem - whose name is also written in dual form asKhasekhemwy - indicates that differences were reconciled.Thereafter, Khasekhemwy adopted another epithet, "the TwoLands are at peace with him" (found on a clay seal), which sug-gests that his adoption of the dual form of his name may havebeen a mark of his satisfactory resolution of the conflict betweenUpper and Lower Egypt. Two of his statues, a stela, and threestone vessels indicate he resorted to warfare. On the base of oneseated statue, figures are shown in the contortions of death, andthe text records "northern enemies." Two identically inscribedvases also refer to northern enemies, this time "within the centerof Nekheb." The goddess Nekhbet in vulture form is shownstanding on a circle in which the word 'rebel' is inscribed. In herclaw she holds the emblem of unity before the serekh of the king,shown as Horus wearing the White Crown. After the reign ofKhasekhemwy the Horus title was readopted, and it remainedstandard throughout ancient history.

The whole episode involving Horus and Set was importantenough to become a part of the country's mythological tradition;the two gods appear as antagonists reconciled. Epic battles are thestuff of oral tradition, and the confrontations between Horus andSet were eagerly transmitted because of their dramatic content.They fought terrible battles in countless myths, from which Ho-rus always emerged victorious. Variations came with the passage

Horus name of Sekhemib,Set name of Peribsen,and Horus and Set nameof Khasekhemwy

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of time, until the popular myth came to penetrate many spheresunrelated to society. The sun hidden by clouds symbolized theloss of the eye of Horus at the hands of his enemy, Set; the moonwas described as one of the two eyes of the heavenly hawk, in-jured at its waning and gradually restored; in due time every of-fering at a shrine or to a deity was a sacrifice known as the eye ofHorus. But most important was the association of the eye withkingship: the uraeus on the royal crown was specifically referredto as the eye of Re, signifying the power of the king. It became asymbol of luck associated with ideas that lay at the very heart ofthe Egyptian culture.

Unified Artistic Expression

Having consolidated unity, Khasekhemwy organized a Sed festi-val like that recorded in the reign of Den. To celebrate the occa-sion he commissioned a royal statue, which is important becauseit represents the massive and distinctive character of the mono-lithic statuary being developed at that time in royal workshops. Astyle in art developed early and soon became another concrete ex-pression of national unity.

From the First Dynasty, when Memphis became capital andmonumental tombs were built on the necropolis of Saqqara, there

Second Dynastyfunerary stelafrom Saqqara

Unified Artistic Expression 63

had grown a demand for luxury goods. Stone and other raw mate-rials for their production were easily transported by river, andwork was provided for an ever increasing number of artists andartisans. Striving to please a rich and powerful elite who valuedfine work, the artisans perfected their skills. A finely carved fu-nerary stela from Saqqara shows the owner seated on a chair infront of a funerary meal of bread and beer, meat, poultry, and jarsof wine. Scenes such as these became part of the artistic tradition.It seems likely that the canon of proportion and conventionalways in which the human body was represented were laid downat Memphis. Its 'chief craftsman' was attached to the shrine of thelocal god Ptah, who was early seen as the inspiration behindbuilder, carpenter, potter, and artist alike. Unfortunately, littlesculpture has survived from the first two dynasties, but fragmentsof life-size or near life-size wooden statues that can be dated toDjer, Den, and Ka reveal that certain poses early became tradi-tional. Two fragments of feet, ankles, and calves in the mortuarystructures at Saqqara in particular show that statues were pro-duced from an early stage in the posture with the left foot ad-vanced - the conventional pose of most male statues. And twostatues of Khasekhemwy found at Nekhen are the earliest ex-

Limestone statueof Khasekhemwy

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amples of the king seated with one hand on his knee, the othercrossed over the chest. He wears the White Crown and is robedin the cloak generally associated with the Sed festival.

Anthropomorphic Gods

Stylized art can also be seen in the earliest anthropomorphic fig-ures. These composite representations that combine the humanbody and an animal head first appeared on cylinder seals and ob-jects of the Early Dynastic Period.

From their uniformity, they would appear to have been an arti-stic device to identify the local god with an idealized figure of theking. Each is shown as an animal or bird head, in side view and of-ten with some sort of headgear, mounted on a human figure in theone-foot-forward stance (for male figures) and carrying a staff.The bottom row of one ivory label found at Nekhen depicts an-thropomorphic gods all carrying before them the ankh - the sym-bol of life. Such uniformity strongly suggests a single guideline.

Zoser's Step Pyramid

The Third Dynasty (2686-2575 BC) marks the culmination of a

Anthropomorphic godson Early Dynastic objects

Zoser's Step Pyramid 65

long period of vision and invention. Zoser's step pyramid atSaqqara, together with other buildings within the complex, sum-marizes the immense achievements of the first two dynasties. It isa remarkable monument, a stage set for the king to reenact in theafterlife his experience on earth. It represents the increasing pros-perity and confidence of the nation, its political unity, and organi-zation such that the Great House was able to quarry, transport,and construct such a monument. It is the earliest surviving struc-ture to be built entirely of stone.

Zoser's builder, Imhotep, had no stone architectural traditionfrom which to draw, so he turned to contemporary structures forinspiration. In this lies the importance of his building works atSaqqara. He faithfully imitated the brick, wood, and reed struc-tures of the state capital that have all since perished. He tran-scribed matting, papyrus, and palm-stalk fences into heavy ma-sonry and, notwithstanding the many innovations such as but-tressed walls, he staunchly followed earlier traditions. He adopt-ed many features of Khasekhemwy's enclosure at Abydos, in-cluding the positions of the entrances to the vast complex (544 by277 meters) and a square mound of sand clad in brick that becamethe first stage of Zoser's pyramid. The enclosure wall, moreover,was built in the same recessed paneling as earlier royal monu-ments. The facades of the shrines in the Heb Sed court are remi-niscent of their organic prototypes: some are constructed as bun-

Engaged columnsin Step Pyramidcomplex at Saqqara

•aiiimil

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dies of reeds or papyrus with heads fanning out to form capitals;others are carved to represent animal skins bound over the fan-ning heads of reed columns to prevent them from weakening inthe wind. Whether tent-like structures with convex roofs, tallhuts of matting with corners reinforced by bundles of reeds tiedtogether to form a cornice, even pendant leaf capitals and reedfences - all were simulated in stone. In transforming buildingsconstructed of perishable building materials into a durable medi-um for the king's afterlife, Zoser's funerary complex mirrors thecapital. It casts considerable light on the rituals involved in theSed festival and the cult of royal ancestors.

The main feature of the complex is the Step Pyramid itself, ris-ing in six unequal tiers over a myriad of corridors and storagechambers below ground. It stands near the center of a huge, fif-

Entrance Heb Sed CourtColonnade

Southern NorthernBuilding Building

Ground plan of Step Pyramid complex

Zoser's Step Pyramid 67

teen-thousand-square-meter court. It was the dramatic setting forthe king, Lord of the Two Lands, to display his person before rep-resentatives from Upper and Lower Egypt.

At one end of the complex, near the southern face of the pyra-mid, a large elevated platform may once have held a double dais -like that depicted on the label of Den (chapter i) - where the kingsat on a throne on a stepped platform facing the court. Nearer thecenter of the court, two B-shaped constructions, somewhat likejoined horseshoes and known as half-moon markers, symbolizedthe boundary markers between which he strode in his Heb Sedritual.

Six carved limestone panels - actually false doorways - foundin the corridors beneath the Step Pyramid itself and under the so-called 'south tomb' in the southwest corner of the Great Court,depict Zoser either standing or striding in different ritual cloth-ing. Like Narmer (see chapter i) he wears the White Crown, theroyal beard, a thigh-length garment with a strap over the leftshoulder, and a bull's tail attached to the back of his tunic. In threeof the panels he strides between crescent-shaped markers likethose earlier depicted on Den's label. In front of him is a standardof the wolf-god Wepwawet - associated with Abydos, the birthplace of the early kings - and above his head hovers the vulture,associated with Nekhen, a site also associated with early leader-ship. Recent studies have revealed that all the subterranean panelsare aligned with the dummy gateway on the southern wall of thecomplex, which makes it appear that Zoser was not only stridingbetween the symbolic boundaries in the Great Court but out ofthe complex completely, probably to 'circuit the walls' in one ofthe oldest ceremonies dating from the First Dynasty.

To the east of the Great Court is a building popularly known asthe T-temple, thought to represent the palace where the king tookup residence. It served as a robing chamber where he could donthe appropriate apparel for his dual role as King of Upper and

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Lower Egypt and receive the emblems and scepters of power. ThePyramid Texts abound with such utterances as: "O King, fill yourhand with the Ars-scepter that it may equip you as a god"; "OKing, take your bright tunic, take your cloak upon you, be cladwith the Eye of Horus"; and "O King, I bring you the Eye of Ho-rus ... put his Eye on your brow in its name Great-of-Magic ...appear as King of Upper and Lower Egypt."

The Heb Sed court, to the east of the Great Court, had shrinesthat may have accommodated cult statues brought by the differ-ent delegations on portable shrines. The festival was an opportu-nity for the delegations to travel to the capital and pledge theirloyalty to the king. In return, they received gifts. The PyramidTexts contain many references to "a boon which the king gives"and the few early texts that have survived show that this some-times came in the form of precious minerals, linen, foodstuffs, andlivestock. Alternatively, and in view of the kingship ideology,statues of the king may have been installed inside the doorwaysand niches of the shrines on both sides of the Heb Sed court. Oth-er structures in the complex also reflect the dual nature of king-ship: two subterranean tomb chambers (one regarded as the actu-al tomb, the other - the 'south tomb' - variously interpreted as aburial place for his canopic jars or for his ^-statue, or as repre-senting his cenotaph in Upper Egypt, the birth-place of thekings); and parallel shrines known as the 'house of the North' and

One of the reliefsof Zoser stridingbetween markers

Preparing for a National Festival 69

the 'house of the South,' situated to the north of the Heb Sedcourt (these may be symbolic reconstructions of the shrines of theroyal ancestors in Upper and Lower Egypt, textually referred toas the 'souls of Nekhen' and the 'souls of Pe'). There is no doubtthat Zoser revered his royal ancestors. In a cache in the subter-ranean corridors of his pyramid, stone vessels included the namesof virtually all of them. They may have been collected during thelast stages of construction of his tomb from destroyed funeraryestates all over the country.

The Sed festival provided an opportunity for the various cultcenters to see how many of them were united in recognition of theking, not as a recently crowned monarch or celebrating his jubileeas in later tradition, but as a divine leader to whom they owed al-legiance. Although interpretation of the hieroglyphs on Zoser'spanels is not certain, some may read "creation" or "dedication."Participation at the Sed festival clearly marked the cult centers asthe common property of the Great House.

Preparing for a National Festival

Because of the paucity of written material one can only speculateon the activities that went into preparing for such a festival. Yet itis important to do so because the care and attention expended onfestivals is vital to our understanding of political and social life inancient Egypt. Perhaps by observing the present we can moreclearly understand the past: national and religious festivals inEgypt today suggest that river craft were built or assembled at thevarious cult centers to carry the delegations to the capital. Deci-sions had to be made on the livestock and other gifts to be trans-ported for presentation. Choosing the size of a delegation proba-bly presented no great difficulty since the larger the entourage of alocal dignitary, the more enhanced his image would be. He was

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undoubtedly seen off by a large assembly of people and, becauseall cult centers were within easy reach of the river, the flotilla grewas it sailed toward the port of Memphis. Both northbound andsouthbound vessels converged at the apex of the Delta.

At Memphis, there would have been a reception committeealong with hordes of sightseers from outlying towns and villages.The dignitaries and the bearers of the sacred statues would havebeen accompanied from the port to the Great House, where theyentered through the largest bastion of the enclosure wall to theeast, as suggested by Zoser's funerary complex. The various dum-my doors in the surrounding wall - three each to the north andsouth, four to the west, and five to the east - perhaps served spe-cific functions but their significance has been lost. The sacred stat-ues would have been placed in their respective shrines and prepa-rations made for the upcoming celebration. When the delegationsreturned home, their leaders personally enriched and the image oftheir cults enhanced, the local population could look on themwith increased awe. Participation in the festival cemented the linkbetween the king and the leaders of the cult centers. Throughthem, the Great House was able to monopolize trade and issueroyal decrees to announce when men were required to serve a na-tional cause: if an army was needed to settle disputes withBedouins hindering the free movement of trade; when a largemining expedition was planned for supplies of copper or gold; orwhen a corvee had to be organized to build mighty monuments inthe name of the king - the loyalty of these local dignitaries was as-sured. They were ready to serve their king and country. Each ofZoser's successors was able to marshal a vast portion of the coun-try's workforce to construct the most magnificent monumentsthe world has ever known.

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The Great Pyramid Age

On the limestone plateau to the north of the ancient capital ofMemphis are the three pyramids of Giza. They were built in theFourth Dynasty (2575-2465 BC) and are among of the most fa-mous monuments in the world. Now mostly denuded of theirouter facing of fine-quality limestone, they once rose in pure geo-metric simplicity, nowhere betraying an entrance. The earliest andlargest of the group belongs to Khufu. Known as the Great Pyra-mid, it is the only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the ancientworld. The second pyramid, constructed by his successor Khafre,is only slightly smaller, while the third, that of Menkaure, is lessthan half the height of the other two.

The enormous strides made in the mastery of stone can becharted in stages from the time of Zoser, when stone for his StepPyramid complex (i) was cut into easily handled blocks, to Khu-fu's Great Pyramid, when the mass and durability of the newmedium was handled for its distinctive qualities. Evidence fromthe very ruined layer pyramid of Khaba at Zawiyet al-Aryan (2), astepped structure south of Giza with subterranean chambers,shows that the pattern of tomb construction established in thedynasty of Zoser was at first continued. A change came with thepyramid of Meidum (3), which has been attributed to the ThirdDynasty king Huni. Although this was also initially conceived asa step pyramid, it was later enlarged by Senefru, who also filled inthe steps and turned it into the first 'true pyramid.' Senefru's own

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Heliopolis

Mokattam Hills

\Pyramid of Abu Rawash

Pyramidsof Giza

Pyramid ofZawiyet al-Aryan

Pyramid ofAbuGhurab

Pyramids of Abu Sir

MEMPHIS/ ,'-,

Mit Rahina

^ ..Necropolis

and PyramidsofSaqqara

Pyramidsof Dahshur

The Gizanecropolis

Dahshur

Meidum »

The Great Pyramid Age 73

ind west

corridors

(I) (4)

(5)

(3) (6)

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mortuary structures, the 'bent' (4) and 'northern' (5) pyramids atDahshur, reveal more confidence in the handling of large blocksof limestone, as well as the ability to assemble an ever-increasinglabor force. The stones in the lower courses of the bent pyramidincline inward and downward for stability while the highercourses were laid horizontally, a technique that was continued inthe northern pyramid. These innovations show the striving for anarchitectural ideal, which was finally achieved with the perfectsymmetry of the pyramid of Khufu on the Giza plateau (6).

The pyramids of Dahshur and Giza conform to what becamethe established plan of pyramid complexes in the Fourth Dy-nasty: the flat-faced pyramid itself (the tomb), its mortuary tem-ple, and a causeway linking it to a valley temple. Each complex in-cluded queens' pyramids and at least one subsidiary 'satellite'pyramid with its own entrance and tomb chamber but with nei-ther sarcophagus nor mortuary objects.

Pyramid-building represented the largest ongoing industry.The enormous investments in time, labor, artisanal skills, and ma-terials in each huge structure was a ringing insistence that serviceto the Great House was the most important task of the state. Theassembly of labor and organization of vast numbers of workersrepresent a triumph of management. Wheeled conveyances wereunknown four thousand years ago. Consequently, it is difficult tovisualize the task of moving huge blocks of stone from quarry tosite and then lifting them to a height of over 146 meters above theplateau. Not surprisingly, the Great Pyramid has been subjectedto more in-depth studies over a longer period of time and hasbeen longer theorized and debated upon as to its function andpurpose than any other single monument in Egypt. Even today,following ten recent years of the most meticulous archaeologicalsurvey using precise tools and techniques in what is known as theGiza Plateau Mapping Project, many questions remain unan-swered.

The Economic Structure 75

The Economic Structure

Senefru was the first king of the dynasty that was the 'age of thegreat pyramid builders.' He was a vigorous leader and his reignsaw a rising tide of prosperity. His bent and northern pyramids atDahshur (the pyramid of Meidum has also been attributed tohim) illustrate rapid progress in constructional techniques. Mean-while reliefs and statuary production also reached new peaks inhis reign. This was made possible through centralized controlover sources of raw material and labor through creation of thepost of vizier, which became the inherited right of princes borneby the first queen, who bore the title Great Royal Wife. The vizierbore two other important titles: 'high priest of Heliopolis' (withtwo assistants known as 'treasurers of god') and 'master ofworks.' Senefru's elder son Kanufer was the first recorded holderof the title. Another son, Netjereperef, was appointed 'overseer ofthree leaders in Upper Egypt.'

As top-ranking officials, viziers were responsible for the regis-tration of people and property for tax purposes. They supervisedand recorded various transactions, especially those involvingland, and as 'sealbearers of the king' had the authority to certifythem. Apart from being "the eyes and the ears of his sovereign ...as a skipper, ever attentive (to his wants) both night and day," itwas the viziers' task to supervise the biennial census of raw mate-rials, produce, and cattle for the royal treasury. As revenue helpedconsolidate the position of the king, the regular collection of taxeswas methodical. Fortunately the Nile Valley yielded a rich har-vest, so taxes, based on the extent of the arable land, could be high.The country's resources - both its mineral and agriculturalwealth - flowed smoothly into the capital. Departments knownas the 'White House' and the 'Red House' functioned as the statearchives. Here scribes equipped with palette and reeds, ink cakesand papyrus rolls, kept complete records of the produce in store-

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houses. Cursive writing known as hieratic - which first made itsappearance on early dynastic clay tablets - now became exten-sively used, especially for everyday government business. It con-sisted of simplified forms of hieroglyphs, some so abbreviatedthat all likeness to the original was lost. Standard-weight rings ofgold and copper were used in some palace transactions (coinagewas not introduced to Egypt until much later by the Greeks), buttaxes were mostly calculated in produce: cattle, poultry, grain,wine, and industrial products.

Recruitment of Labor

It is not known whether the people resisted when large bodies ofmen were mobilized to help build the funerary complexes, minethe raw material for their construction, and fight punitive wars tosafeguard sources of supply. It was a national duty. Leaders of cultcenters were committed to - and successful in - raising the re-quired numbers of people. Perhaps they considered participationin a glorious deed to be reward enough. Ostraca bearing thenames of dead officials at quarry sites - along with their birthplace and parentage - suggest that those who died on duty weretransported home for burial. We also know from autobiographi-cal texts that every effort was made to recover the bodies of expe-dition leaders who died abroad and ensure that they were suitablyburied.

In return for satisfactory service and loyalty an official was per-mitted to build a private tomb on the necropolis, in the shadow ofthe royal pyramid. Mortuary priests were similarly encouraged tocooperate with the Great House:

O all you gods who shall cause this pyramid and thisconstruction of the king to be fair and endure, you

Funerary Estates 77

shall be effective, you shall be strong, you shall havesouls, you shall have power, you shall be given breadand beer, oxen and fowl, clothing and alabaster.

It was a reciprocal service relationship at two levels, secular andreligious, which obviously worked; the size and splendor of thepyramids stand as evidence.

Funerary Estates

Each of the funerary complexes was economically independent.Every worker was paid in rations from the enormous surplusproduced by the agricultural land, endowed by the Great Houseas funerary estates, which were exempt from taxes. Some estateswere situated in the valleys near the funerary complexes, others indistant provinces, some even in unoccupied land in the Deltawhere peasant farmers or captives from military skirmishes inNubia and Libya were settled. The reign of Senefru saw the firstsubstantial increase in the number of such estates. Some thirty-five were mentioned individually on the Palermo Stone in hisreign, as well as 122 cattle farms. In Senefru's valley temple thecollection of taxes became a subject of sacred art: each of his fu-nerary estates, individually named, is shown as a female offering-bearer. A text in the tomb of prince Nekure, son of Khafre, showsthat his funerary monument was endowed with the revenue of nofewer than twelve towns. The income from these estates was the-oretically reserved for the perpetual maintenance of the royalmonuments. In practice, however, part of the income went to-ward the payment of officials, artisans, and retainers at construc-tion sites and to pursue the policy of the Great House in support-ing local leaders and maintaining local shrines. There is evidencethat Khufu rebuilt, restored, or "embellished with silver and

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bronze statues" several provincial shrines, including those atDendera and Bubastis. This was necessary because each succes-sive reign produced a fresh demand for raw materials for furtherfunerary and national monuments and for the ever-increasing up-per class aspiring to lavish funerary equipment. Pyramid con-struction brought together people from all walks of society.

Royal children, the sons of concubines, and promising youngmen of noble families were educated together and formed earlyfriendships. When they grew up they acquired positions of trust.The most important officials were thus bound together by educa-tion, friendship, and blood. Senefru's reign came to evoke the im-age of orderly rule and he himself was the archetypal 'good king.'On his finely carved funerary stela found at Dahshur he is shownenthroned. He wears the Double Crown and holds the flail.Above his head is a cartouche - a loop made by a double thick-ness of rope with the ends tied together - in which his name is in-scribed. To his right are his conventional nesw-bit and nebty titlesand, in the bottom right-hand corner, the earliest evidence of anew element in the royal titulary, the 'golden Horus' name, whichdepicts the hawk above a sign for gold.

The Giza Group

The size of the population in the Old Kingdom is not known. Itwas probably from one to one and a half million, largely farmers.Until recently, the idea that they were mobilized for three monthsevery year to serve the state - when agricultural work was at astandstill due to the annual flood - was generally accepted. Nowstudies on the organization of work suggest year-round labor. In-scriptions left by quarry workers show that stone was usually ex-tracted in April and November, not during the inundation in Au-gust and September as was previously supposed. Moreover, to

How the Pyramids were Built 79

build the Great Pyramid an extremely large work force was re-quired (a great mass of masonry estimated at sixteen million tonswent into its construction) and full-time as well as part-timeworkers were needed. There were teams to prepare the site forconstruction, quarry-workers to extract local stone for the coreof the pyramid, others to quarry the fine quality limestone for itsfacing and for statues, stelae, and sarcophagi. This limestone camefrom Tura, on the east bank of the Nile. On the western plateau,ramps had to be built to haul the blocks to the building site, whereteams of men, straining at the ropes strung over their shoulders,raised them to the required height. Giza was a vast constructionsite where workers from all over the country toiled to build agrand necropolis, planned with precision by 'master builders/Officials as well as workers - as we now know from the discoveryof a workers' settlement and neighboring burial ground - had tobe housed, fed, and sometimes buried on the Giza plateau.

How the Pyramids were Built

Having chosen the Giza plateau as an ideal location for Khufu'smortuary structure, the pyramid base had first to be accurately lev-eled. The idea has long been held that this was achieved using a gridof water-filled channels that covered the area of the base and that by

Senefru's limestonestela at Dahshur

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subsequently marking the waterline and then draining off the wa-ter, trenches of uniform depth could be excavated. This theory wasput to rest when it was observed that the pyramids of both Khufuand Khafre were built up on huge cores of bedrock; in the case ofKhafre, the bedrock rose to a height of over ten meters. Thus in or-der to level the site, from the outside, the ancient Egyptians appearto have surveyed the area using stakes mortared into the bedrock.Sockets in pairs have been found around the pyramids, whichattest to this method for achieving perimeter level accuracy.

The core of Khufu's pyramid was built of local limestone,which was mined from the main quarry on the plateau, identifiedas the depression directly south of the pyramid. The facing stonefrom Tura had to be transported, probably in crude blocks, acrossthe river. During the annual inundation, the high level of the Nilewould have enabled ships to approach the Giza plateau. The ideaof a harbor at Giza, long suspected, has now been confirmed withthe discovery of what appears to be the ruins of a stone pier. Per-haps it was fed by a canal during low Nile so that shallow-bot-tomed vessels with their heavy loads could moor there all yearround. It is likely that there was also a network of smaller canalsdug off the main waterway to transport food for the workers.

One can imagine both harbor and plateau teeming with work-ers and their ever-present overseers. The quarry must have re-sounded with copper chisels and stone hammers chipping onstone. Teams of twenty to fifty men hauled the stone up broadramps of piled rubble by ropes slung over their shoulders. Per-haps they chanted and grunted in rhythm much as work-gangs dotoday at construction sites. Once the stone was raised to theplateau then gangs of workers, this time in groups of ten underthe watchful eyes of overseers, were organized to raise the mightyblocks to their required position above the bedrock. An estimated2,300,000 in number, these blocks weighed an average of two anda half tons each, with some up to sixteen tons.

Workers' Accommodation 81

Generations of scholars have debated the baffling question ofhow the ancient Egyptians raised such huge blocks to their elevat-ed positions. One suggestion was that a vast sloping ramp wasbuilt straight up to the pyramid, but this would not be practicableas it would have had to be about one kilometer in length. Anothersuggestion was that a brick ramp was constructed, but no evi-dence of this in the form of debris has yet been discovered. A re-cent tentative theory, based on a large quantity of limestone chipsand mortar (a mixture of gypsum and local clay called tafla) thatnow fills the main quarries on the plateau, is that a ramp wrappedaround the pyramid and grew with it. Workers could conceivablydrag the stones up each course at a time, lay them, raise the ramp,and then proceed with the next course. If the surface of the rampwere plastered with clay then water would have acted as a lubri-cant and facilitated movement of the blocks.

Workers' Accommodation

A massive wall with a gateway at the foot of the Giza plateau,which probably bordered the harbor, gave access to a workers'community, which is among the most remarkable discoveries ofrecent years. One camp accommodated the general workers, an-other was a service area with two bakeries to provide bread tofeed the vast numbers of people, and a third camp housed special-ized workers and overseers. In the bakeries, large containers thatcould hold some fifteen kilograms of dough were found. Theywere apparently covered with coals in large vats to bake the bread.A large number of bread molds found are identical to those de-picted in the Fifth Dynasty nobles' tombs at Saqqara. The grainsdug up suggest that the bread was made of barley, which was alsothe basis for beer, another part of the people's staple diet.

An estimated thirty thousand people lived near the construe-

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tion site. Among them were artisans who decorated the tombs ofthe relatives of the king and his loyal and devoted officials. In theruins of this vast settlement area are thousands of fragments ofpottery, including cooking pots, beer jars, trays for sifting grainand flour, along with some fine burnished red ware. The discov-ery of typical Upper Egyptian pottery suggests that some of thefood may have been sent to Giza from other areas of the country,which would support the idea that a national effort was requiredto raise the pyramids. The community reveals a high degree of or-ganization. Records were kept of every activity, including thename, hours, and rations of each worker. Perhaps the most re-markable picture of the pyramid builders comes from the ceme-tery associated with these communities. Some six hundred tombshave been excavated west of the service area. As would be expect-ed, they have no uniform architectural features. Some werecopied from the tombs of the upper classes, with vaulted ceilings,some were tiny replicas of pyramids within an enclosure wall, andone even had a pyramidal superstructure. This last discovery rais-es the issue of whether the pyramidal shape was exclusively re-served for royal tombs, as previously supposed, or whether theshape evolved from mounds placed over Predynastic graves. Inother words, was the pyramid a development of folk architecture,or did the masses seek to emulate the wealthy? The workers'cemetery had narrow streets, in imitation of the cemetery to thenorth of Khufu's pyramid for his loyal officials, and the funerarytexts are most explicit. A certain Petti wrote,

Listen all of you (who approach this tomb), the priest ofHathor will strike twice any who enters this tomb ordoes harm to it. The gods will confront him. The croco-dile., hippo, and lion will eat him. The gods will not al-low anything to happen to me or to my tomb because Iam [one] honored by his lord [the king].

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The tomb of Petti's wife, constructed immediately to the northof her husband's, bore a similar text but with the additional threatof "snakes and scorpions," who would strike any desecrater. Aninteresting text in the tomb of an official called Wag is addressedto "the tomb-makers, draftsmen, craftsmen, and sculptors whomade my tomb. I gave them bread and beer. I hope they were sat-isfied." Quite clearly, the workers were not slaves whipped bymerciless overseers as described by classical writers likeHerodotus, but willing contributors to the national cause. Many,unfortunately, bore the scars of their labor, and burials showmissing limbs, crushed fingers, and compressed vertebrae frombearing heavy loads.

The Cult of the King

To ensure that a hierarchy of officials could take care of all mattersrelated to the royal mortuary cult, there were scribes to keep ac-counts and overseers to take charge of cattle, stores, and otherproperty. Certain titles reflected the king's trust and favor, othersspecified responsibilities. They ranged from overseers and priests,to cooks, farmhands, and skilled and semi-skilled workers.

Khufu's mortuary temple, now destroyed, lay adjacent to theeast side of the pyramid. Its ground plan shows that it was sepa-rated from the pyramid itself by a paved alleyway and comprisedan entrance hall, open court, five niches for statues, and an altar infront of an inner sanctuary. The purpose of the five statues is notclear, but since the number did not vary in subsequent mortuarytemples they obviously served a specific function. Traces of adrain in the court suggests that an altar for sacrificial slaughter orlibations may once have stood there. A large proportion of the ut-terances in the Pyramid Texts contain words spoken by mortuarypriests making offerings of everything considered necessary forthe king's afterlife:

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You have your water, you have your food, you haveyour efflux which issued from Osiris; the tomb is openfor you, the doors of the coffin are drawn back foryou, the doors of the sky are thrown open for you;raise yourself O king.

Five boat pits have been found around the Great Pyramid. Thetwo to the south contain full-size wooden boats - one now in amuseum above its pit, the other unexcavated. Boats had an impor-tant symbolic and ritual role in ancient Egypt but the significanceof their burial on the plateau remains uncertain. The fact thatthere are five precludes the possibility that they were ritual boatsfor carrying the soul of the king to the four cardinal points or thatthey were solar boats for his journey across the heavens andthrough the underworld. They may originally have been usedduring his lifetime for ceremonial journeys and buried on theplateau as part his funerary equipment. There may even be someconnection that so far eludes us between the five niches for statuesin his mortuary temple and the five boat pits around the pyramid.

Little remains of the valley temple of Khufu, which lies beneath

Diorite statue of Khafre.Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Cult Statues 8 5

the modern village of Nazlat al-Simman. The valley temple ofKhafre, however, is a remarkable monument that serves as a goodexample of Fourth Dynasty architecture. No other building ofthis dynasty has survived in such a state of preservation. It is builton an almost square ground plan with thick walls of local lime-stone faced, both inside and out, with Aswan granite. Two shortentrance passages lead to a long antechamber where the famousdiorite statue of Khafre, one of the great treasures of the EgyptianMuseum in Cairo, was found. The original location of this mag-nificent work was probably the T-shaped hall leading westwardout of the antechamber. Architectural elements along the wallsand fragments of diorite, schist, and alabaster found nearby revealthat a total of twenty-three statues once stood there.

Cult Statues

It would appear that the creation of royal statues was a large in-dustry in the Old Kingdom and it seems likely that at Giza stan-dards were strictly maintained. In large galleries to the north ofKhufu's pyramid (reexcavated in 1993) fragments of figurineshave been found that suggest a royal workshop. One eroded frag-ment shows the king with one leg forward, another is a head andcrown carved against a pillar with the projection of the colonnadeabove, and a third is a bust cut off at the arms in the manner of 'tri-al pieces' of later times. They might well be samples given to dif-ferent sculptors to reproduce on a large scale and en masse. Royalstatues undoubtedly played an important part in maintaining na-tional unity. Although none of Khufu have survived, recent stud-ies suggest that they may have been usurped much later by Ram-ses II and are now at Memphis. The magnificent diorite statue ofKhafre shows the king with a hawk spreading its wings aroundthe royal headcloth. This expresses much the same idea as the

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hawk depicted on top of the royal serekh bearing the king's name:kingship. Menkaure, builder of the third pyramid at Giza, wasfrequently sculpted in pair-statues (dyads) or as a member of agroup of three (triads). These triads were composed of the king,the goddess Hathor, and different local deities. Fragments of stat-ues in stone and copper found at many sites suggest that theremay originally have been as many triads as there were cult centers.Statues at cult centers were housed in a special building known asa '&<z-house.' Surviving examples at Tell Basta and Bubastis showthat they were more grand than the shrines to local gods in havinglimestone elements decorated with reliefs. Their function proba-bly arose from the fact that the king could not discharge his ritualduties simultaneously all over the land, nor could he make offer-ings of thanks to the local gods for every mission successfully ac-complished. In placing a statue of himself at cult centers, he couldmake symbolic offerings of thanks to the local god whenever nec-essary. The fact that in later periods - when the simple shrines hadgrown into large temples - the king would be depicted in reliefmaking these offerings and being blessed in return suggests thisoriginal function.

The Sphinx

Near Khafre's valley temple is the Great Sphinx - one of theworld's best known and most frequently photographed monu-ments. It has commanded a great deal of attention in recent yearsbecause of the rate of its deterioration. This vast statue with thebody of a lion and a human head was carved directly from an out-cropping of rock left unexcavated on the Giza plateau. It is isolat-ed in a horseshoe-shaped trench, the stone from which was usedto build the Sphinx Temple to the east. The lowest part of the stat-ue lies in the hard rock strata of the plateau, while most of the

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body was carved through softer layers, with the neck in the soft-est strata of all. Fortunately, the strata from which the head wascarved were harder. The builders of the Sphinx, aware of the fri-able nature of the body, gave it its shape by the addition of stoneblocks.

The Sphinx remains an enigma to this day. The Old Kingdomsources are silent about it, and the earliest references to it are fromthe Eighteenth Dynasty, about a thousand years after it was built,when it was described as Re-Harakhte, "Horus of the Horizon."Recent excavations and study in the Giza Plateau Mapping Pro-ject (started in 1984) show that the Sphinx Temple was designed asan integral part of Khafre's pyramid complex: both the SphinxTemple and Khafre's Valley Temple lie on the same terrace, theirback and front walls being nearly aligned, and the walls of bothwere built of large limestone blocks faced with red granite. Cer-tain architectural features of the Sphinx Temple, however, show asimilarity in style and technique to the monuments of Khufu.This interesting observation has led to speculation that the Sphinxmay have been the main feature of a temple originally designednot by Khafre but by his father.

The GreatSphinx, Giza.(Amr Gamal)

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The possibility of solar alignments between the Sphinx and thepyramids has now been raised. Some scholars believe that theSphinx was a representation of the sun-god and that the court ofthe Sphinx Temple was the earliest sun temple, its twenty-foursquare granite pillars each symbolizing one of the twenty-fourhours of the day and night and the two sanctuaries (one to theeast, one to the west) aligned on the central axis of the temple rep-resenting the sun's daily circuit. Other scholars see the Sphinx asrepresenting the king in the form of Horus, facing the rising sunand giving offerings. Either way, scholars are generally predis-posed to the idea that the Sphinx Temple complex was designed tofulfill the function of a trend that developed during the reigns ofKhufu and Khafre toward the solar-oriented religion. Evidenceappears from the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, when themortuary temple of the pyramid of Meidum was built against theeast face of the pyramid, toward the rising sun.

The Egyptian Religion

That the centralized power in the Fourth Dynasty should bematched by an equally unified religion is a concept that has longbeen held by scholars. But generation upon generation of themost rigorous philologists have not managed to discern an inte-grated system. What is clear, however, is that what appears to be acomplex mesh of diverse cult activities in ancient Egypt emergesfrom a single mold of thought, which was based on age-old anddeep-rooted traditions.

Every religion is composed of two parts: ritual practices and in-tellectual conceptions. Ritual practices in ancient Egypt were, inthe first place, closely related to burial practices and belief in theafterlife, which were sincere and deep-rooted; secondly, there wasfaith in the efficacy of prayers and offerings. As for the intellectual

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view of nature and the origins of the universe, this came later.There are several 'creation stories' in ancient Egypt, the earliest(and the one on which subsequent theories were largely based) isknown as the Heliopolis Doctrine. It describes the period fromthe creation of the physical world up to the triumph of Horus asking. It involved the Nine Gods of the Ennead and was based onthe claim that Heliopolis was the site of the creation. In the begin-ning a watery waste, Nun, filled the void that was the universe.Within these waters reposed the sun-god Atum (whose namemay have meant either 'not being' or 'being complete'). When thewaters subsided a primordial hill appeared - much as the Nileflood waters withdrew each year leaving mounds of alluvial soilout of which plants grew. On this hill Atum manifested himself asthe physical sun, Re. Atum-Re's emergence dispersed darknessand created light. Alone, he masturbated to produce two children:Shu the god of air and Tefnut the goddess of moisture, whose un-ion then created Geb the earth-god, and Nut the sky-goddess.Geb and Nut were at first joined together but Shu came betweenthem, placing air between earth and sky. In order to create a linkbetween the solar sphere and human society mythology de-scribed Geb and Nut as the father and mother of Osiris (the leg-endary ancestor associated with the fertile land), his wife Isis, andtheir counterparts Set (associated with the arid desert) and hiswife Nephthys.

The myth of Osiris underwent many changes with the passageof time. In one form it relates how he ruled the land justly with hiswife Isis at his side. He taught the people the art of making agri-cultural implements and controlling the waters of the Nile flood.Isis, equally loved by the people, taught them how to grind grainand weave linen and, in her devotion to her husband, she intimat-ed the benefits of domestic life. Osiris's brother Set was jealous ofhis popularity and, secretly aspiring to his position of favor,tricked him into entering a coffin designed to fit him alone. He

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then sealed it and cast it on the waters of the Nile, where it wasborne northward by the flow. Numerous myths describe Isissearching for Osiris, how she collected the parts of his body (ear-lier discovered by Set and hacked into fourteen pieces and scat-tered throughout the land), and reassembled them with the neces-sary prayers and incantations. Then she descended on Osiris inthe form of a bird and received his seed. In due time she gave birthto Horus and raised him to manhood. The grown Horus then setout to avenge his father's death, and the myths relating to his bat-tles with Set are many. In one terrible confrontation Horus's eyewas ripped out by his antagonist. But he recovered, was victori-ous, and became the prototype of kingly rule.

The purpose of the Heliopolis Doctrine (fragments of whichappear in the Pyramid Texts) was to explain the creation of thephysical world in terms that could be understood and at the sametime to present the divine character of the king as of solar descent.Kings of the early dynastic period were already regarded as heirsto their legendary ancestor Osiris: early reliefs and statuary revealthat they wore the cloak and held the emblems associated withhim at their Sed festival, and battles between Horus and Set werealready part of the mythological tradition. In uniting the twospheres - the solar, which featured Atum-Re as creator, and na-ture, which featured Osiris as the wise and benevolent ancestor -official sanction was given to widespread beliefs. The Heliopolis

Amm-Re

Shu (air) Tefmat (moisture)

Geb (earth) Nut (sky)

Osiris Isis Set Nephthys

solar cult

nature cult

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Doctrine brought the marvel of the creation closer to the peopleby linking it with the existing royal line. Horus was not onlythe king, son of Osiris, he was also 'the god' or the 'good god,'physically and spiritually linked with the natural forces commonto the Two Lands: the sun and the river (with which Osiris wasassociated).

In the Pyramid Texts the king is so closely associated with thelife-giving river that he could declare: "I have inundated the land.I have satisfied the Two Lands, I have united the Two Lands." Healso lays claim to being "the son of Atum" and "the well-belovedson of Re, begotten for Re, conceived for Re, born of Re."

This intellectual view of the universe was early portrayed in art.In the ruins of a small shrine at Heliopolis, built by Imhotep forhis king Zoser, is a representation of the earth-god, Geb, wearinga wig, beard, and necklace. He is shown seated, and behind him isa row of gods, mostly destroyed, which must have representedthe other gods of the Ennead. Evidence of an association betweenthe king and solar power can be traced to the Fourth Dynasty,when four kings compounded their names with the sun-god:Djedef-Re, Khaf-Re, Bauf-Re, and Menkau-Re. A common epi-thet that appears in the names of the kings from the Fourth Dy-nasty is "Horus the great god, lord of heaven."

Homage to the solar orb was repeated with compelling author-ity in the Pyramid Texts:

Hail to you, Re, you who traverse the sky and crossNut, having traversed the winding waterway. Hailto you, O Re, in your life and in your beauty... bringme the milk of I sis, the flood ofNepthys, the overspillof the lake, the surge of the sea, life, prosperity, health,happiness, bread, clothing, and food, that I may livethereby. Hail to you, Unique One, who daily en-dures. Hail to you... who takes his place at the zenith

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of the sky, in the place where you are content. Youtraverse the sky in your striding, you include Lowerand Upper Egypt within your journeyings.

Significance of the Pyramidal Shape

The high priest of Heliopolis bore titles both religious and practi-cal: he was 'chief of observers' as well as 'leader of expeditions,'and 'master of works.' As leader of expeditions he acquired rawmaterial from all over the country and as master of works heraised monuments in the name of his king, monuments that weremuch more than tombs.

The shape of the pyramid has long been a subject of discussion.That it had some sort of religious significance is certain, and theidea that the king was buried under the symbol of the ben-ben.,which came to represent the mound of creation, has long heldsway. The original stone symbol, if there ever was one, is now lostbut it seems probable, based on its artistic depiction as a determi-native in the Pyramid Texts, that it was an upright stone with arounded top. Its development into a pure geometrical form camein stages over successive reigns. Whether the remarkable spectacleof the sun's rays shining down to earth on a cloudy day inspiredthe shape is by no means certain, even though the Pyramid Textsdescribe the king as ascending to heaven on the rays of the sun:"May the sky make the sunlight strong for you, may you rise upto the sky as the Eye of Re"; and "I have laid down for myself thissunshine of yours as a stairway under my feet on which I will as-cend to that mother of mine, the living uraeus which should beupon me, O Re." Conservation of the monuments at Giza be-tween 1987 and 1989 involved clearance of the so-called 'airshafts' that extend at an angle from the tomb chamber to the outerface of the pyramid. To the great surprise of the excavators, they

The King is Dead, Long Live the King 93

were found to be blocked at both ends. The purpose of the shaftswas therefore neither air circulation, as once supposed, nor, as hadalso been suggested, for the observation of the constellations. Theshafts would appear to have served a religious function, perhapsto enable the soul of the deceased to ascend directly to the place ofthe ancestors in the northern sky: "I ascend to the sky among the'imperishable stars/ my sister is Sothis, my guide is the morningstar, and they grasp my hand at the field of offerings."

The pyramidal shape may, in fact, have been many things atonce: a material representation of the sun's rays which providedthe practical means by which the king could ascend to heaven; adevelopment of the mound of creation; a symbol of kingship andthe religion of the first great nation-state; and, finally, a royaltomb.

The King is Dead, Long Live the King

Upon the death of a king, accession took place as quickly as possi-ble, probably at dawn with the symbolic spreading of light. Dur-ing the time the king was prepared for burial (normally seventydays, though 272 days is given as the interval between death andburial in the case of Queen Meresankh III, a grandchild of Khufu)his successor underwent a number of elaborate rituals. These in-cluded purification by two priests representing Horus and Set;the adoption of sacred regalia such as the scepter, crook, and flail;and taking official possession of the crowns of Upper and LowerEgypt, to which praises were henceforth addressed. Then it seemscertain that the future king, duly empowered, journeyed to theprovinces to visit the provincial deities, pay respects to the localelite, and perhaps share in a dawn prayer demonstrating that therewas no break in continuity. Perhaps it was there he announcedthat preparations should be made for the coming coronation.

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Meanwhile, a period of mourning was observed for the de-ceased king. All work came to a standstill as news spread to differ-ent parts of the country. Services were conducted. Mortuary ritu-als in the Pyramid Texts include such passages as: "The sky weepsfor you, quakes at you, the mourning-woman called to you." Af-ter the king's remains had undergone mummification, an elabo-rate funerary ritual including bathing and the regeneration of thespirit was carried out in the valley temple. Then the funerarycortege made its way to the mortuary temple, where priests recit-ed formulae guaranteeing the supply of provisions and offeredprayers for the rebirth of the immortal spirit. The utterances inthe Pyramid Texts, being haphazard compilations of mortuaryritual obtained from various sources and probably of differenttime periods, often present contradictory views about the de-ceased's method of conveyance to the afterlife: "A stairway to thesky is set up for me that I may ascend on it to the sky"; "You shallascend to the sky as a great bird"; "The king is bound for the skyon the wind, on the wind"; "The king ascends on the thighs ofIsis, the king climbs upon the thighs of Nepthys"; "The reed-floats of the sky are set in place for this king, that he may be onhigh from the east to the west in company with his brethren thegods." Or, he would become a spirit and take his place among theancestors, the imperishable stars: "O king, you are this great star,the companion of Orion, who traverses the sky with Orion, whonavigates the underworld with Osiris. You ascend from the eastof the sky, being renewed at your due season and rejuvenated inyour due time."

Mortuary and provincial priests alike went through their ritualpaces in mourning the king: "O king... I have mourned you, Iwill not forget you, I will not be inert until the voice comes forthfrom you every day, in the monthly festival, in the half-monthlyfestival, at the setting down of the brazier at the festival of Thoth... as your yearly sustenance which you fashioned for your

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monthly festivals." On the royal necropolis where the funeralwas carried out, at the cult centers preparing to attend the corona-tion, along the banks of the Nile where the people could watchthe royal boat, and among workers and bargemen whose taskswere temporarily suspended, there was a ringing insistence on thepinnacle of power, the royal cult.

One of the requirements of succession was to conduct the fu-neral of the previous ruler. The deceased king was addressed byhis son: "Hail to you, my father, on this your day when you standbefore Re when he ascends from the East and when you are cladwith your dignity which is among the spirits"; "Raise yourself,my father ... traverse the sky, make your abode in the Field of Of-ferings ... raise yourself, go in your spirit-state"; "O Atum, raisethis king up to you, enclose him within your embrace, for he isyour son of your body for ever."

As part of the coronation ritual, the living Horus undoubtedlypaid honor to the dual shrines of Upper and Lower Egypt in or-der to mark a new beginning, a renewal of the union between theTwo Lands. He took his official dress, which included the em-blems of power on his chest, the ceremonial beard, and the bull'stail attached to his waist. Perhaps he made a circuit of the walls ofthe ancient city in a carrying chair borne by pole-bearers. The an-niversary of his 'appearing' (that is, coronation) became an annualevent.

The passing of each king meant no more than the official trans-ference of power to his son and heir. Horus followed Osiris andthe cycle was repeated as tirelessly as the cycles of nature. Aliveand dead, the king was the focal point of national unity. Glorifica-tion of the dead king and the living king helped solidify that pow-er. The former became "a great power, who has power over thepowers. The king is a sacred image, the most sacred of the sacredimages of the Great One."; "Behold, the king is at the head of thegods, and he is provided as a god.... The gods do obeisance when

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meeting the king, just as the gods do obeisance when meeting therising of Re when he ascends from the horizon." The living kingwas honored daily at dawn: "O Re, if you dawn in the sky, youdawn for the king, lord of all things"; "Make salutation, you gods,to the king (when he) shines anew in the East. ... Rejoice at theking, for he has taken possession of the horizon."

The Kingship Ideal

For the majority of the population, the creation of a political sys-tem based on the ideological framework of kingship changedtheir way of life little. The idea that the land belonged to the kingwas perhaps not seriously challenged. The Great House was thestate and the king was the giver of bounty. Support of the dogmawas sincere and unchanging because the king was seen by the laityas a descendent of a farmer like themselves, Osiris, and, at the in-tellectual level, he had benevolent qualities and pacific attributes.These were hu, sia, and maat - generally described as 'authority,''perception/ and 'justice.' Maat was a common epithet of thekings of the Fourth Dynasty. It was an abstract concept that de-veloped into the spirit of national guidance. It referred to the har-monious state of the universe which was seen to be in order - thesun reborn daily in the eastern sky and the land unfailingly rebornafter the death of the crop each year - as well as to good rule andsocial justice. As the organizer and judge of the community, theking was neb maat, lord - or owner - of maat. Abstract ideaswere represented as gods: in the Pyramid texts maat was de-scribed as a power, the goddess of truth. The established order be-came part of the ritual and inviolable. The Two Lands were des-tined throughout the country's long history to erupt into politicaldisorder and the spiritual vigor of the nation would decline underforeign occupation, but the people found proof in nature that a

The Kingship Ideal 97

powerful force was not indifferent to temporal affairs, and theone who controlled the natural forces was the king. Even whennational harmony was temporarily disrupted at the death of aking, maat was inevitably reinstated at the coronation of his suc-cessor. There was total confidence in the order of things as theywere.

The cult centers were drawn into the state religion in their dailyprayers: "Make salutation, you gods, to the king (when he) shinesanew in the East. ... Rejoice at the king, for he has taken posses-sion of the horizon." Neith of Sais was described in the mortuarytexts as the "daughter of Re"; Hathor the cow-goddess of Den-dera was linked with Nut the sky-goddess or with Isis the motherof Horus. The waxing and waning of Thoth, the moon-god, wasalso described: the moon was one of the two heavenly eyes of Ho-rus that suffered an injury from Set only to be restored everymonth. In every temple in the land, hymns and prayers to the sun-god could be conducted in harmony with nature through themedium of the local gods:

May you wake in peace,, O purified, in peace,May you wake in peace, O Horns of the East, in peace,May you wake in peace, O soul of the East, in peace,May you sleep in the Night-bark,May you wake in the Day-bark,For you are He who oversees the gods,There is no god who oversees you.

Scholars from all over the world have long pondered over themeaning of the words 'god' and 'gods' in ancient Egyptian texts,which, although written side by side, were never confused withone another. In the present context it can be seen that all the 'gods'were drawn into the central theology of the state through 'god,'the king, who was in direct line to Osiris the legendary ancestor of

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solar origins. It seems certain that the Heliopolis Doctrine was afactor in national unity as strong as, if not stronger than, the cre-ation of local cults, which neutralized the differences between set-tlements and gave them equal prestige; through it, all the 'gods'were drawn into the central theology just as, much later (in theMiddle Kingdom), they would be solarized by compoundingtheir names with the sun-god Re and adopting the solar disk ontheir heads. Having thus consolidated the cultural heritage byformulating a state religion, the Great House could now embarkon an era of increased solar worship in the Fifth Dynasty.

IVOrganization

Sun Temples and Solar Worship

Menkaure's pyramid was incomplete when he died. The facingwas unfinished and both the mortuary and valley temples werehastily assembled in mud-brick and wood. The pyramid is thesmallest of the three principal pyramids at Giza, occupying aquarter of the area covered by the Great Pyramid and less thanhalf its height. The smaller size of Menkaure's and subsequentpyramids has frequently been taken as an indication of a diminu-tion of centralized power. Some scholars suggest that the statecould no longer support large-scale enterprises; others believethat it simply became redundant for each king to endeavor to out-do his predecessor. In fact, although the Fifth Dynasty pyramidsat Saqqara were small and built of inferior material, their mortu-ary temples were large and decorated with magnificent reliefs.Moreover, each king built a massive sun temple at Abu Sir northof Saqqara, which suggests that labor was not reduced so much asredirected.

The male line of Senefru ended with Menkaure's death. Hissuccessor, Shepseskhaf, appears not to have been a son of theGreat Royal Wife, and not only his lineage but his ideas were un-traditional. In place of a pyramid, his tomb at Saqqara - known asmastabat fara'un ('Pharaoh's bench' in Arabic) - has the appear-ance of a large rectangular sarcophagus. The break in traditionwas only temporary, because subsequent kings of the Fifththrough to the end of the Sixth Dynasty built funerary complexes

ioo Organization

with the same elements as those of the Fourth Dynasty, consistingof a pyramid, mortuary temple, causeway, and valley temple. Thesun temple reflected the same architectural uniformity (mainstructure, causeway, valley temple), except that instead of thebulk of the pyramidal structure there was the elevation of the sa-cred ben-ben., which was perched on top of a huge, squatobelisk- standing on a base of hewn stone - near the center of acourt that featured a vast offering table. Such purposeful designserved a specific function. The sun temples were built not formortuary rituals to a dead king (as in the pyramid complex), butas public buildings made for theater. Here, the processions andactivities of the living king were displayed before the people, andhe provided bounty. The sun temples could be built and decorat-ed on an impressive scale because the labor trained under theFourth Dynasty kings was released from large-scale pyramidconstruction. The resources that previously went into funerarymonuments, and the building of private tombs as gifts to thekings' relatives and favored officials, were channeled into the con-struction of sun temples.

Artistic standards were maintained in the Fifth Dynasty. Anumber of fragmentary royal heads show that work of outstand-ing quality was produced. An innovation was statuary on a colos-sal scale. The first free-standing, larger-than-life sculpture of dy-nastic times is the head of Userkhaf - first king of the Fifth Dy-

Son of Re' includedin royal titulary

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nasty - found in his mortuary temple at Saqqara. Like the life-size statues of Khafre, it gave a powerful impression of themajesty of kingship. Surviving texts reveal that the Great Housecontinued to protect the authority of the king, whose power, atfirst, remained unchallenged. The kings continued to compoundtheir names with that of the sun-god Re: Sahu-re, Neferirka-re,Shepseska-re, Neferef-re, Nyuser-re, and Djedka-re; they alsoadopted a new epithet - 'Son of Re' - which became a regular ele-ment of the royal titulary.

Only two of the massive monuments these kings built in honorof their father the sun-god have so far been located with certainty.Four others, referred to in texts, await discovery. The sun templesbore such names as Pleasure of Re, Horizon of Re, and Field ofRe and comprised huge open courts surrounded by high walls.Although they were dedicated to the sun-god, there are no sur-viving shrines to accommodate a cult image. Worship was in theopen, beneath the sky. The entrance to the open court may havebeen so oriented that on the spring or autumn equinox the rays ofthe rising sun would shine through the gateway to strike the sa-cred symbol. It is likely that the sun temple of Re-Harakhte (Ho-rus of the Horizon) at Heliopolis, frequently referred to in textsbut totally destroyed, was built at this time of intense solar wor-ship.

The sun temples were adorned with reliefs along the corridorsthat opened from the entrance hall and ran along the sides of thecourt, and in small chambers. The quality of limestone was suchthat both raised and sunken reliefs could be executed with greatprecision. The former, carved to a depth of no more than a fewmillimeters, were exquisite carvings that were sensitive to the playof light. The deeper-carved sunken reliefs were for the diffusedlight of inner chambers and corridors. The reliefs largely con-cerned rites performed by the king and officials at the Sed festival,the flora and fauna through the three seasons of the agricultural

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year, and the ceremonial sacrifice of foreign captives. In a smallshrine in the sun temple of Nyuserre there are also representa-tions of temple foundation ceremonies: the king and the goddessSheshat (probably represented by the queen) are each depictedholding a measuring cord near the ground to mark the dimen-sions of the temple. A sand bed was subsequently laid, on whichstone blocks were placed to form a firm foundation. At each cor-ner of the temple, deposits consisting of models of tools, imple-ments, and offerings, as well as scarabs or plaques bearing thename of the royal founder were placed.

The scenes of the Sed festival include the opening ceremonies atwhich representatives from Upper and Lower Egypt are assem-bled to witness the king's claim to the land by striding betweenmarkers. In the closing ceremony he is borne on a box-like litterflanked by the Chief of Pe and the Chief of Nekhen - the royalancestors of Lower and Upper Egypt, respectively. The proces-sion then moves toward the shrines of Horus and Set - represent-ing two of the earliest cult centers - and, at each destination, apriest gives bows and arrows to the royal priest, who hands themto the king, who shoots an arrow to each of the cardinal points.The king is then enthroned four times, each time facing one of thepoints of the compass.

Abu Sir Archives

Bureaucratic records written on papyri, now known as the AbuSir archives, have been found in the mortuary temple of Ne-ferirkare. In a mud-brick storeroom, around two thousand piecesof papyrus were found - some complete rolls, others mere frag-ments. Taken together with similar finds at neighboring temples,they provide a wealth of information on ancient bureaucracy:records, registers, lists, instructions, and letters. They include

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royal edicts, state archives, schedules for religious sacrifices, ac-counts, and deliveries between the sun temples, the Great House,and the funerary complexes. Prior to this discovery, an under-standing of the administration of the Old Kingdom was primarilygained through analyzing titles and speculating on their signifi-cance. Now for the first time scholars have access to actual re-cords. The archives (not yet fully deciphered) give us the first realinsight into elaborate officialdom; the circle of activities that sur-rounded the king and the strict observance of ritual spring to life.

There was a remarkable system of registration and supervisionof assets. Daily accounts were kept of commodities - mostlyfoodstuffs - received from funerary estates, each mentioned byname. The Egyptian system of counting was decimal; units wereindicated by strokes; tens, hundreds, and thousands each hadtheir particular signs. Ten thousand was represented by a finger;100,000 by a tadpole, and 1,000,000 by the kneeling figure of thegod Heh with upraised arms. Tables were drawn up in red andblack ink for each day of the thirty-day month.

Both the funerary and the sun temple complexes were stateproperty and carefully guarded. Cylinder seals bearing incised hi-eroglyphs were rolled across the clay that sealed documents,wooden chests, doorways of storehouses, and even sacks and jars.Regular inspection of all seals was carried out and columns wereleft in the administrative records for observations of theft or anyother disorder. The lists of donations to the sun temples were ex-tremely large. On the occasion of Nyuserre's Sed festival in thethirtieth year of his reign, the list of items included 100,600 mealsof bread, beer, and cakes. Thirty thousand meals were recordedfor another festival.

Sun temple staff, like those of the mortuary temples, were part-time workers, working in rotation. Ten-day work periods seem tohave been interspersed with leave, presumably in order for themto return to normal village life when seasonal obligations so de-

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manded. Huge numbers of people received partial support fromthe state. Payment was in kind, mostly in the form of rations ofstaple food and clothing. Nor were offerings wasted: after themortuary priests had taken their share, the balance was undoubt-edly distributed among the workers and their families. Distribu-tion of meat by the king was part of the tradition. Recent studieson the sun temples have revealed that there were huge slaughter-houses where offerings were made by the king to the sun-god.Records show that for the duration of one celebration alone, sixanimals were slaughtered each day for an unspecified number ofdays. On another occasion, thirteen oxen were sacrificed on tenconsecutive days in one temple alone.

The purpose of the huge altar in the sun temple of Abu Ghurabwas not, until now, fully understood. New evidence suggests thatit was a huge slaughterhouse, and the alabaster altar with the fourhetep signs was the place where the bulls were laid before beingsacrificed. The role of the butcher in such temple rituals was animportant one. The legs of a sacrificial bull would first be tied to-gether and the animal tethered to a limestone block in the pavingstones. The throat would be cut, the spurting blood caught in avessel of alabaster, and finally the foreleg would be severed with alarge flint knife and carried to the main altar. After the appropriateoffering had been made, the king, the font of all honors, could im-mediately demonstrate his largesse and distribute the meat. Thegiving of food on festive occasions has remained a traditionamong Egypt's wealthy until today.

All the King's Men

Some viziers and important officials in the Fifth Dynasty borenames compounded with Ptah, the god of Memphis who was rep-resented from the First Dynasty as a smooth-headed standing fig-

All the King's Men 105

ure in an open shrine, wearing a tightly-fitted garment that resem-bles the dress of the king at the Sed Festival. The suggestion bysome early scholars that this represented a religious rift in theFifth Dynasty has now been abandoned; titles reveal that officialssuch as Ptah-Shepses, who was 'high priest of Ptah' and 'chief ofcraftsmen,' also held a responsible post in the earliest sun templeat Abu Sir.

Among the well-preserved reliefs in Nyuserre's sun temple arerecords of the names and careers of various officials, all of whomwere scrupulous in expressing debt and loyalty to the king in theirbiographies. A builder called Nekhebu wrote: "His majestyfound me a common builder... and conferred upon me (succes-sive posts of) journeyman builder, master builder, and master of acraft. His majesty did all this because (he) favored me so greatly."Loyalty to king and country in and around the capital remainedstrong.

Memphis was the center of commerce. As trade with neighbor-ing countries increased-to fulfill the demands of the state-products and raw materials were transported there from Nubia,Sudan, and Sinai; a fleet of ships sailed across the 'great green' (theMediterranean) to import cedar wood and other products fromwestern Asia for which there was a growing need. Wealth wasamassed in the capital, but farther afield, at distant cult centers,administrative reforms were necessary. Whereas the viziers of theFourth Dynasty were often in charge of the administration ofseveral cult centers - some were even assigned to supervise areasin both Upper and Lower Egypt - the situation changed after thereign of Userkhaf, when traces of the accumulation of power inthe hands of the provincial elite in Upper Egypt can be detectedfor the first time, and reforms were set in motion. The GreatHouse tightened up the hitherto rather informal system of grad-ing high-ranking officials. A large number of titles, still not fullyunderstood, were introduced in the reign of Neferirkare. Then,

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under Djedkare, the office of 'overseer of Upper Egypt' was in-troduced.

The Power ofPepi

Just as Khufu stands out as the dominant figure of the Fourth Dy-nasty, the powerful Pepi I, who ruled for over thirty years, domi-nates the Sixth. He had major problems to contend with. One wasthe cost of maintaining ancestor cults by providing perpetual en-dowments for funerary monuments, which severely taxed the re-sources of the state. The other was the fact that the Great House,in granting concessions to leaders of cult centers, had fostered aspirit of self-sufficiency. Some leaders had acquired land in returnfor their services to the state and began to derive wealth from it.Others - like those of Elephantine, who took charge of most ofthe quarrying and transportation of Aswan granite for the royalmonuments - began to organize a lucrative trade with the south,ostensibly for the king but not without benefit to themselves.

Where once the highest ambition of a local dignitary was toperform his duties and have a tomb built near his king's pyramid,their wealth became such that they could now afford to be buriedin their own provinces. Five provincial cemeteries of brick- orrock-tombs sprang up in the Sixth Dynasty. The border provinceof Elephantine was among the first to agitate for independence.Abandoning their title 'first after the king,' the powerful leaderscalled themselves 'great chief,' inscribed along with the name oftheir province. One of them boasted of bringing people fromneighboring areas to settle in the outlying districts of his provinceto infuse new blood into it. The 'great chiefs' began to play therole previously performed only by the king or his representative:participation in cult ritual and its related seasonal festivals.

Pepi recognized the problems and sought to minimize them.During his reign a number of decrees related to the economy were

The Power of Pepi 107

tabled. Among them was protection of certain temples from com-pulsory labor dues and exempting two monuments of his remoteancestor Senefru from taxation. He also exempted architects, cat-tle, and herds of donkeys at the temple of Min at Coptos fromtaxes. These measures were, perhaps, not so much an attempt towin the loyalty of the chiefs of strategically important cult centersas recognition of the forces of change. He followed the footstepsof the early kings in enhancing his own reputation by enlargingancient shrines and converting them into temples - apart fromCoptos, those in Tanis, Bubastis, Abydos, and Dendera arespecifically mentioned.

Pepi also pursued a vigorous foreign policy: control was gainedover Nubia to the south and Egyptian influence was extended tosouthern Palestine and to Punt on the Somali coast. Raw materi-als, minerals, incense, resins, and fragrant gums flowed intoEgypt. The success of his policy is clearly reflected in the autobi-ography of Weni, one of Pepi's officials, who was able to raise agreat army - which included various contingents under the com-mand of the chief priests of the temples of Upper and LowerEgypt - in order to protect trade routes.

Art and architecture attained great heights in the Sixth Dynastybut a difference in royal statuary can be discerned. While the life-sized copper statue of Pepi I and his son found at Nekhen (Egypt-ian Museum, Cairo) reflects the all-powerful king striding for-ward in the traditional stance, and while cult statues in the earlytradition continued to depicti him seated on a throne, wearing theWhite Crown, the Heb Sed robe, and a hawk on the back of histhrone (reminiscent of Horus depicted on the throne of Khafre), anew trend was developing. The king was shown also in a moresubservient role. A statuette of Pepi for the first time shows a kingkneeling, offering libation vessels. This trend was later continuedin temple reliefs, where the king was untiringly shown in consortwith the gods and making offerings to them.

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The exclusivity of the royal family broke down when Pepimarried two of his daughters to a chief near Abydos called Khui.His son and successor, Merenre, also gave his daughter in wed-lock to a provincial lord. Thereafter the position of vizier - oncethe exclusive right of princes - passed into the hands of any no-bleman of outstanding ability. Times were changing. AncientEgypt's aristocratic period of confidence had passed and thecountry was in transition.

When Pepi was ready to commission his mortuary complex hesent his chief builder and two 'treasurers of god' along with abody of workers to the quarries of Wadi Hammamat to procurethe finest stone. What remains of his pyramid in north Saqqara isa very dilapidated structure, and the robbers who forced an en-trance completely wrecked the black basalt sarcophagus. But thepyramid must once have been a fine structure. It was known asMen-nefer (meaning 'beautiful monument'), a designation whichcame to refer to the nearby capital, replacing the earlier 'WhiteWall.' Men-nefer was later corrupted by the Greeks to Memphis.

A Boy on the Throne

Merenre had a short reign and was succeeded by his half-brother,Pepi II, a child of six years old. The rule of Pepi II was one of thelongest in history - some ninety years according to the Turin Pa-pyrus - during which time continued efforts were made by theGreat House to reestablish control. New estates were founded,one specifically dedicated to the maintenance of Pepi I's ancestorcult, for which the copper statue found at Coptos was made.There was a further increase in royal decrees to exempt religiousfoundations from taxation and the people who ran them from ser-vice. Also, in an effort to show a link with a greater past, Pepi II'smortuary temple was decorated with reliefs of the activities of the

To Protect a Heritage 109

Fifth Dynasty king Sahure, as depicted in his sun temple; the verynames of the Libyans defeated in battle were copied. What wasoriginally an historical record in Sahure's reign took its place inthe repertoire of achievement of a successful ruler. By the reign ofTeti we have the earliest evidence (at Edfu) of the title of 'greatchief being combined with that of 'high priest' of the local deity.

To Protect a Heritage

When political power is not contested it needs no reinforcement.Only during times of disharmony or change does tradition needto be stressed. For hundreds of years, the energies of the state hadbeen channeled toward unifying the country and maintainingcontrol over cult centers in order to monopolize its resources.Despite efforts made to enhance the image of the Great House,when the provincial elite began to acquire wealth the tide ofchange could not be controlled. Perhaps an awareness grew dur-ing this time of the need to record and transmit the sacred heritagebefore it was too late.

Learned literates could look back to early records and tracehow their ambitious and imaginative ancestors had formalized hi-eroglyphic writing, codified art forms, standardized mortuaryritual, and formulated a national religion. Now, in order to ensurethat such a memorial to achievement was not swept from the pub-lic memory, evidence was gathered and committed to writing. Anupdated king list was compiled, mortuary texts were gathered andinscribed in the pyramids, and dramatizations of kingship ritualsand oral traditions were put to written record. This was an extra-ordinary achievement, because although much of the textual evi-dence was forged in mythological language it formed a lasting his-torical base for the future.

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King Lists

Lists of dead kings, which the ancient Egyptians themselves com-piled, gave continuity and historical sequence to their ideology.They were royal ancestors to whom pious regard was shown. Theinformation revealed by the Palermo Stone was drawn from earli-er king lists that predate the historic period. Written centuries af-ter unification - and probably aided by a nobility register - themargin of error was undoubtedly small. Menes - whetherNarmer, Scorpion, Aha, or a composite figure that embodied theachievements of many leaders - became the traditional unifier ofthe country and a decisive beginning to the First Dynasty. Theimportance of the Palermo Stone was that, apart from listing thenames of successive kings, it documented religious festivals, thebiennial census, and the height of the Nile flood during successivereigns, and it itemized the 'birth' days of gods.

The compilers of the king lists also laid claim to an even moreancient and embellished heritage: the 'time of the gods.' Re thesun-god, Shu the god of the atmosphere, Geb the earth-god,Osiris the legendary ancestor, Set his adversary, and Thoth themoon-god and measurer of time were all there. Thoth, accordingto a later king list - the Turin Papyrus - lived for 3,726 years, andwas described as the scribe of the gods, keeper of the secret books,and hence a god of wisdom. With an obvious pride in the past,which was regarded as a model of order, compilers of the king listscredited the earliest kings with achievements that came only later.Den of the First Dynasty, for example, was said to have writtenbooks on anatomy, yet in his reign the hieroglyphic writing sys-tem was still in its formative stages. Conversely, Zoser of theThird Dynasty was dignified with the invention of stone architec-ture, although it had been used in some architectural elements ofearlier monuments.

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The Pyramid Texts

Mortuary rituals inscribed in the pyramid of Unas and the kingsof the Sixth Dynasty, were undoubtedly collected from manysources. They cover very ancient rituals, fragmentary allusions tomyths, mortuary spells, hymns, and prayers on behalf of thedead, and offerings of food, drink, clothing, and other items forthe afterlife. Some of the verses were written in the first person, asspoken by the king, others in the third, as by mortuary priests.No effort was made to collate them or present a coherent picture.Presumably at every funeral there were variants of traditionalrecitations. Textual contradictions - which naturally occur withtransmission over time and place - abound. Apart from the desireof individual priests to create the necessary atmosphere of pietyand hope, there may have been many who deliberately drama-tized their recitations. One prayer for the rebirth of Osiris in-tones: "Loosen your bandages. They are not bandages, they arethe locks of Nephthys, the weeping goddess hanging over thebody of her dead brother." Another example is an imaginativerendition of the king's spirit ascending to the sky: "Clouds darkenthe sky, the stars rain down, the bows stagger, the bones of thehell-hounds tremble, the (porters) are silent, when they see Unasdawning as a soul." Although the Pyramid Texts were written inroyal tombs, they were undoubtedly part of the mortuary tradi-tion throughout the land. They formed the basis of similar litera-ture in the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom, and the so-calledBook of the Dead in the New Kingdom.

Propagating the State Dogma

The fragmented text known as the Memphite Drama is a remark-able document in which the political, religious, and social history

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of ancient Egypt's formative years are presented in the form of amythological drama in three acts. It survived in a late copy onwhat is known as the Shabaka Stone, after the Kushite king whofound it (around 720 BC), recognized its importance, and had itcopied on stone. Its precise date is still a matter of dispute, but itslanguage resembles that of the Pyramid Texts and many scholarsattribute it to the late Fifth or Sixth Dynasty, which supports thehypothesis of a conscious effort to put tradition to writing.

The drama was staged in the capital, Memphis, and the per-formers enacted the story of the creation of the physical world upto the triumph and coronation of Horus as king. It was live the-ater, which presented the ancient Egyptian view of the world andsociety. The first act, introduced by a 'presenter,' proclaims thepolitical unity of Upper and Lower Egypt with Memphis as thecenter of the realm. The local god is declared to be Ptah Ta-Tjenen(Ttah the risen land'), the primordial hill on which Atum the sun-god manifested himself. The reigning monarch, introduced as'King of the Two Lands,' is justified by the ritual combat betweenHorus and Set. Surrounded by the gods of the Ennead, the antag-onists are called upon to struggle no more but to unite instead.Geb the earth-god commands the Ennead to judge between thetwo. In the first scene he makes Set king of Upper Egypt and Ho-rus king of Lower Egypt. In the second scene, Horus acquiresdomination over both Upper and Lower Egypt, now united. Thefirst act of the drama thus confirmed political unity and provideda legal base for the rule of Horus as king; the play was clearly setin a national framework.

The second act presents the story of Osiris, the legendary an-cestor associated with water, the land, and rebirth: Set's attack onhim and his dismemberment, the recovery of his body by Isis andher sister Nephthys, battles between Horus and Set, and thecrowning of Horus as king. Act three centers around a council ofgods and their decision to build the royal city and construct the

Propagating the State Dogma 113

'White Wall.' Here the actors place reeds and rushes on each sideof the entrance to the temple of Ptah and the presenter says:

These reeds and rushes here placed side by side byAtum symbolize Horns and his rival Set. As brothersnow at one and reconciled, their struggle is ended.Peace is made in Memphis, called the 'Balance of theTwo Lands' because it stands athwart their bound-aries and holds the balance there between them both.

Ptah is again presented as the primordial hill that contained all theelements necessary for life and political order, and it is argued thateverything that existed originated in his heart (that is, in Egyptianparlance, in his mind) and was made manifest by being pro-nounced by his tongue (that is, by means of the spoken word).The performance ended with a hymn to Ptah, the great andmighty, the eternal ocean Nun, Ta-Tjenen the first land, the 'loftythrone' where the sun-god Atum-Re came to be, the site whereIsis beheld the body of her beloved husband drowning in the wa-ter, where she saved him, bound his limbs together, and broughthim back to life. Each act, indeed every scene, was in accordancewith tradition.

It has been argued that the Memphite Drama represents an in-tellectual account of the creation because Ptah conceived of theworld in his heart and brought order - gods, cities, temples, andall earthly things - into being through the 'word'. In fact, the dia-logue should be taken at face value: a political process by means ofwhich power was granted to inanimate gods by naming them. It isinteresting to observe a tradition that survived to the second cen-tury ad, when the Hermetic writings state that "our ancestors in-vented the art of creating gods."

The authors of the Memphite Drama neither obscured nor de-nied widely-held beliefs. The drama confirmed the sacred charter

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of the Heliopolis Doctrine and provided the conventional por-trait of an ideal ruler that all future kings were bound to observe.Moreover, in casting Ptah as himself the primordial hill on whichthe first god Atum appeared, the drama underscored the reputa-tion of the capital and its local god, which was retained to the endof ancient Egyptian history.

Guardians of a Tradition

As the thread of a tradition passes from generation to generation,more and more people become its guardians. With the passage oftime the ideology with strong political, social, and religious rami-fications is further embellished. Battles between Horus and Set,for example, became one epic struggle between two protagonistsrepresenting Upper and Lower Egypt; Set became associatedwith the desert and with evil, Horus with benevolence. All sea-sonal and kingship festivals stressed the triumph of Horus overSet. The former was the prototype of the 'good god,' the latter itsopposite. Set featured in all ritual sacrifices; as an animal wasbound, killed, and dismembered so would the enemies of the kingsuffer that fate. All variations became part of a living and enduringtradition. Leaders could come and go, loyalties change, but evenalien conquerors and usurpers were accepted as king once theytook the sacred emblems of kingship, wore the Double Crown,underwent the necessary coronation rituals, gave prestige to thevarious cult centers by rebuilding or enlarging their temples, hon-ored the royal ancestors in festivals like the Sed, and made pil-grimage to their shrines. Dynasties of Libyans, Kushites, Greeks,and Romans are all marked by great building activity, and all ac-tively participated in the ancestor cult as well as the rituals andfestivals that formed the fabric of society.

The Final Collapse 115

The Final Collapse

The causes of the Old Kingdom's collapse are still debated amongscholars. Social change, the undertaking of huge non-economicenterprises like constructing the pyramids and the sun temples,and the drain on the treasury caused by the maintenance of royalancestor cults were undoubtedly contributing factors. The excep-tionally long reign of Pepi II, when leaders of cult centers foundthemselves increasingly rebelling against supervision by theGreat House, was another cause. These factors, and the costs ofmaintaining provincial loyalty, lavishing resources on festivals,and rewarding officials by helping with their tomb construction,must have combined to burden the state.

But the famine that hit the land toward the end of the Sixth Dy-nasty was, perhaps, the most decisive factor in its collapse. TheGreat House may have managed to maintain a high degree of po-litical stability despite the independence of some provincialchiefs, but its great resources could not provide security againstthe consequences of continual natural disasters like low flood andfamine. Year after year the sun scorched the land, the Nile failedto revitalize it, and the crops failed to grow. Society could not sus-tain a catastrophe of such dimensions. It cast doubt on the veryability of the divine king to control nature and ensure the eternalwell-being of the land and its people. A period of political turmoiland spiritual disillusionment swept the land.

Yet so deeply rooted were the traditions - and so ingeniouslyimposed were its ideals - that although the Old Kingdom civi-lization collapsed and a period of anarchy and bloodshed fol-lowed, distinctive features of the early culture endured. The OldKingdom, when the hard core of Egyptian thought and institu-tion was formulated, became the classic standard, the time whichthe ancient Egyptians themselves regarded as a model throughouttheir history. They believed that there was once a Golden Age, the

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'first time,' when the principles of justice reigned over the land.What was actually meant by this oft-repeated phrase - the 'firsttime' - in ancient Egyptian texts is not known. It implies the be-ginning of an event and is often taken to mean 'the beginning,' or'creation.' The 'first time' might, however, simply have represent-ed recapitulations that reflected the Egyptians' pride in their ownculture; a confirmation that order once existed.

VTravel

The Watery Highway

There was ceaseless activity in ancient Egypt. Because the geogra-phy of the land made transport difficult - if not impossible - ex-cept by boat, the bulk of the movement was dependent on theNile and its subsidiary canals. The importance of the river toEgypt's economy cannot be underestimated. It was the vitalartery that linked Upper and Lower Egypt, the most effective andpractical method for transporting goods destined for the royaltreasury, and the means by which provincial dignitaries jour-neyed to attend festivals in the capital and the 'Followers of Ho-rus' to conduct the biennial census. Even when excursions wereorganized to neighboring countries in search of raw materials, thelogistics of sailing had to be considered. When trade with Nubiawas expanded in the Sixth Dynasty, for example, channels wereexcavated through great granite obstructions in the cataract re-gion. When valuable commodities such as myrrh or frankincensewere imported from Punt, the Nile was used to transport boat-building material to the point where it most closely approachedthe Red Sea (Coptos) and then, after being carried through theWadi Hammamat, boats were built on the shore.

All major settlements were within easy reach of the river and allvalley temples in both pyramid and sun temple complexes were atthe edge of the Nile. Ownership of a boat - or access to the use ofone - was vitally important. In fact, the ancient Egyptian attitudetoward movement was so closely linked to the idea of sailing that

118 Travel

travel south was referred to as 'going upstream' and travel northas 'going downstream.' Boats were so familiar a sight and so con-nected to the commercial and religious life of the people that it isnot surprising to find them among the earliest objects depicted inart and included among funerary equipment.

Naturally, shipbuilding was one of the oldest industries. Cargovessels with flat stern and bow varied in size and could transportanything from stone weighing hundreds of tons to agriculturalproducts and livestock. On ceremonial occasions when specialstone was brought to the capital for the construction of a royaltomb, a train of barges would be used. Perhaps the king per-formed the solemn act of holding the foremost rope. Because ofthe varying water level of the Nile and the constantly changingsand banks and central channel, no costly ports were built. A ves-sel simply landed on the sandy riverbank, drove in a mooring peg,and fastened prow and stern. Even large boats were built withvery shallow draft; they skimmed the water, scarcely a third oftheir length touching the surface, their prow and stern high out ofthe water.

Ownership of a boat was important even in villages that lay farfrom cult centers. The Nile was the watery highway on which lifeand prosperity depended; ferry services were operated along itsbanks and in many subsidiary canals. Boats were needed for themovement of crops and livestock in the simplest villages, and theservices of the ferryman were required to transport the dead forburial on the necropolis.

The earliest boats painted on Predynastic pottery were skiffs orrafts made of papyrus reeds lashed together. These were propelledby oars or paddles and continued to be used by fishermen fortraveling along canals or in the marshes throughout the historicalperiod. Also appearing on Predynastic pottery and in the paintedtomb of Nekhen are long, flat sailing boats used by people ofrank. They were probably made of local acacia wood, and the

The great ceremonial courtof the Step Pyramid Complex atSaqqara lies between the entrancecolonnade and the pyramid itself.(Robert Scott)

The shrines in the Heb Sed Court ofZoser's funerary complex at Saqqarahoused statues of deities. (Robert Scott)

The Step Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqarawith newly excavated tombs in theforeground. (Michael Stock)

The sophistication of the earliest stonearchitecture is reflected in the shrines ofthe Heb Sed Court at Saqqara. (Robert Scott)

Triad of Menkaure with thegoddess Hathor and a local deity.Egyptian Museum, Cairo. (Robert Scott)

Mereruka was a high-ranking nobleman,a member of the elite. (Robert Scott)

Scribes kept strict records and dealt with cases of tax evasion. Tomb of Mereruka. (Robert Scott)

The Great Sphinx at Giza with thePyramid of Khafre in the background.(Michael Stock)

An attentive Mereruka listens to his wifeplaying the harp. Tomb of Mereruka.(Robert Scott)

The Watery Highway 119

deck-cabins, which could have been enclosed with plaited mat-ting, stood behind the main mast on the deck. Near the tomb ofthe First Dynasty king Aha at Abydos a great (but empty) boatpit-over thirteen meters long and nearly three meters wide-was found. It raises a vision of this king traveling in state.

Sailors were titled according to the size of the boat. When hugesarcophagi or granite columns like the ten-meter-high palm-capi-tal monoliths depicted in the causeway of Unas at Saqqara wereshipped, the crew comprised captains, directors, and overseers.The relief at Saqqara shows that the columns were shipped inpairs on two boats and a fragment of an autobiographical textstates that it took only seven days to cover the distance of nearly athousand kilometers from Aswan to Memphis. It is interesting tonote that quarrymen and stone-masons were organized like aship's crew, in 'groups often.'

Apart from the great boat pits discovered at Giza, boats havebeen excavated in large numbers in recent years, especially atAbydos. Twelve have been found in mud-brick graves outside thesurrounding walls of Shunet al-Zibib; and two of twelve cham-bers of a partially-robbed tomb of a 'scorpion' king were filled tothe roof with undisturbed vessels that have been dated to thereign of Aha. Adding to the confusion and raising many ques-tions regarding the function of boats, is a simulated boat made ofmud-brick that was found at the edge of the plateau at Abu Sir.The evidence is tantalizing because no firm conclusions can bedrawn. Some of the vessels have been found in conjunction withroyal burials, others - at Abydos, Helwan, and Abu Sir - withnon-royal burials. It is believed (though by no means certain) thatthe boats at royal funerary complexes may have religious signifi-cance, related to the journey of the divine king in the afterlife: "Iassume my pure seat which is in the bow of the bark of Re. It isthe sailors who row Re, and it is they who will row me; it is thesailors who convey Re round the horizon, and it is they who will

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convey me round the horizon." The most plausible explanationfor the vast numbers of boats buried at Abydos is that they werepilgrims' vessels used to transport them to the sacred site wherethe ancestors were buried. But this does not explain why the boatswere actually buried there nor how the pilgrims returned home.One thing is now certain: boat burials were a feature of great im-portance in the Old Kingdom.

In historical times, the person who used a boat took no part inits management; this was the job of the pilot, who, with hisknowledge of the river and with the help of a pole to test thedepth of the water, gave directions to the steersman. Althoughtravel southward was facilitated by the prevailing north wind(travel northward being with the current), the Nile does not flowin a straight south-north line. There are places where it flows eastto west - as between Qena and Nag Hammadi - and there wereoccasions when the wind failed to blow, so sometimes a laborious,zig-zag course was necessary, or even towing from the bank.Consequently, boats carried both single sails and oars (generallyabout twelve on each side). In places where the water was tooshallow and a boat became stuck on a sandbank, it was refloatedby the simple mechanics of pushing and heaving. Passing throughplaces where islands or rocks lay athwart the river, as in theCataract region, a vessel was towed by a group of sailors onshore,its passage controlled by others using oars and rudders on deck.

Sea Voyages

Egyptians traveled great distances in search of raw materials.Once monumental building in stone began, the need to bringlarge quantities to the Memphite necropolis made timber for boatconstruction one of Egypt's most pressing requirements. Woodwas also needed for the substructures of the tombs, the interior of

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the pyramids, and for flagstaffs, coffins, and doorways. The bestquality wood was the cedar from Lebanon, and one of the earliestsurviving texts that specifically makes mention of an Egyptianfleet records that in the reign of Senefru forty ships sailed acrossthe 'great green' (the Mediterranean) to Byblos and returned toEgypt laden with timber. The text mentions that the ships wereone hundred cubits long (approximately forty-five meters). Theterm 'Byblos ship' was used of a seaworthy vessel, and these dis-played certain modifications in comparison with craft designedfor river and canal traffic, though it is likely that they hugged theshore rather than heading across open sea. They had a long hull, ahigh curved stern with two rudders situated on each side, a singlemast held by four ropes, and a wide sail. For added strength, a ca-ble connected the bow and stern above the deck. The Egyptianfleet was a familiar sight on the eastern Mediterranean. A shrinewas set up at Byblos in honor of Hathor, Egypt's popular cow-goddess. It provided a place of worship for the sailors and a con-venient point from which to recruit laborers from among the in-habitants, largely fishers and farmers, to fell the timber and trans-port it to the port. Byblos became a sort of protectorate to whichtraders brought their wares: cedar oil (frequently mentioned onoffering lists), Syrian wine, lapis lazuli, and Asiatic copper for theEgyptian treasury. Some of the foreign traders were rewarded fortheir efforts by a trip to Egypt; in Sahure's sun temple a relief de-picts the homebound fleet with bearded Syrians aboard, theirarms uplifted in homage to the king.

Sahure also sent ships down the Red Sea to Punt on the Somalicoast; indeed, travel along this waterway was more frequent thanis usually supposed. The ship-building material had to be trans-ported overland from Coptos to the region around Quseir.(While engaged on such a mission, one caravan leader and thetroop with him were murdered by Bedouin tribes; Pepi-Nakht, acompetent nobleman from Elephantine, was dispatched by the

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Great House to resolve the problem and recover the body.) Thefrequency of expeditions to Punt is clear from the text in the tombof a subordinate official from Elephantine, who recorded that heaccompanied his lord on a dozen occasions. The imports fromone journey alone were eighty thousand measures of myrrh,some six thousand units of electrum, and 2,600 staves of ebony.

Movement Overland

No effort was spared to build the most beautiful and enduringmonuments, and no distance was too great to travel in search ofmetal and stone of the finest quality. The extent of internal move-ment and communication can best be realized by considering thewidely separated areas from which the raw material came: copperand turquoise from the mines in Sinai, basalt from the easternDelta, limestone from the Tura quarries south of Helwan, al-abaster from Hat-Nub in Middle Egypt, fine and coarse granitefrom the quarries around Aswan, diorite from the Western Desertof Lower Nubia, and gold and copper ores from the EasternDesert. A text in Wadi Hammamat shows the size of missionssent to quarry in the Eastern Desert: one thousand officials,twelve hundred quarrymen, and one hundred 'necropolis work-men.'

When stone was quarried for statues or sarcophagi, it wasroughly shaped before transportation in order to reduce theweight. The stones were then eased onto wooden sledges andtowed by gangs of men to the river to be levered onto the waitingbarges. Having sailed to their destination on the swift-flowingcurrents, the stone would be transferred to sledges again anddragged to the chosen site. Although there is a representation of ascaling-ladder on wheels in a Fifth Dynasty tomb, wheels werenot used for transportation in the Old Kingdom.

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Regular incursions into Nubia were carried out from earlytimes. Djer left an inscription at the entrance to the SecondCataract, situated some two hundred kilometers south of Aswanand the gateway to sources of incense, ebony, ivory, animal skins,ostrich feathers, and gold. There is evidence that one site, near aparticularly rich vein of copper in Wadi Alaqi in the EasternDesert of Nubia, was occupied for two centuries while largequantities of ore were smelted. Throughout the Fourth and Fifthdynasties there was considerable activity there. Rock inscriptionsat Kulb, a gold-mining area south of the Second Cataract, revealsthe southernmost point at which prospectors worked.

One of the most important discoveries made during the Nu-bian salvage operations in the 19605 was an apparent attempt bythe Great House to control Lower Nubia by creating centers ofpermanent occupation. Apart from Wadi Alaqi, the ruins of an-other settlement were discovered in Buhen - also below the Sec-ond Cataract - where copper ore was crushed and smelted. Royalnames on mud-seals include Khafre and Menkaure of the FourthDynasty and Userkaf, Sahure, Neferirkare, and Djedkare of theFifth. The reign of Sahure was particularly active. The PalermoStone mentions eighty thousand measures of myrrh, six thousandunits of electrum, 2,900 units of wood, and 23,020 measures ofunguent brought from Punt in his reign.

Although primarily maintained to satisfy Egyptian require-ments, the relationship between Egyptians and Nubians was mu-tually beneficial. The Nile in Nubia was flanked by a wall of hillsto east and west that closely confined the valley. Apart from a nar-row strip between the Nile and the ridges, and at the mouths ofsubsidiary river beds, the land was desolate. The Nubians wereimpoverished: they lived in settlements of low-built houses alongthe river's edge or beside water holes and channels. They depend-ed on Egypt for corn, oil, honey, clothing, and other items. It wasfrom these tribes that Weni recruited additional troops to sup-

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press agitating Bedouins in the frontier provinces of the Delta andin Sinai. He quelled revolts on no less than five occasions and wasthenceforth appointed 'keeper of the door of the south,' Elephan-tine. His main responsibility appears to have been to keep Nubiantribes on the border from warring with one another and hinder-ing trade. Weni's success is attested by the fact that in the fifth yearof Merenre's reign the king personally traveled from Memphis tothe First Cataract to receive homage from the Nubian chiefs. Arock inscription in the Cataract region records the occasion. Itshows him leaning on a staff while the chiefs of Medja, Irtje, andWawat bow to him.

Weni's next task was to improve methods of communicationbetween Nubia and Memphis to aid in the conveyance of graniteblocks for the king's tomb. The now-aged official was put incharge of digging five channels through parts of the cataract. Theproject was so successful that Weni claimed: "Indeed, I made a(saving) for the palace with all these five canals." Three boats andfour barges were then constructed to transport the "very largeblocks for the pyramid," and so great was Egypt's prestige inLower Nubia that the timber for their construction was providedby the local chiefs. Weni wrote: "The foreign chiefs of Irtje,Wawat, Yam, and Medja cut the timber for them. ... I did it all inone year."

The Nubians respected the loose sovereignty exercised overthem. With peaceful relations and the waterway open it was nat-ural that the surrounding areas should be more fully exploited, es-pecially the ridges of Nubia's Eastern Desert bearing rich veins ofgold-bearing quartz. Broken pottery vessels with the names ofPepi I, Merenre, and Pepi II have been found as far south as Ker-ma in Sudan. Journeys even further south were no longer formi-dable, and a closer interest in Yam (Upper Nubia) and Kush (Su-dan) developed. The gateway to the vast riches of the interior ofAfrica was open. Caravans could explore overland routes to dis-

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tant Punt, previously only approached by sea, in order to importexotica considered indispensable to the wealthy. Caravan leaderstraveling on foot were accompanied by pack-donkeys - camelswere introduced only in the much later Persian Period. The jour-neys must have been interminable and exhausting. The convoyswere obliged to travel slowly, following old river channels wherewells and springs could be found. It took months to cover routesthat camels can today cover in a few weeks. The expeditions wereusually successful but they were not without hazard, and morethan one nobleman lost his life venturing into unknown regionsof Africa.

The tombs of successive noblemen from Elephantine clearlyindicate the vigorous approach being introduced in Egypt's for-eign policy toward the end of the Old Kingdom. Harkhuf wasone such leader. He was the first recorded explorer in history,who made four journeys to Yam, the inhospitable region south ofthe Second Cataract. He also traveled westward to unexplored re-gions on the 'Elephant Road,' which may have been the route ex-tending southward from Kharga Oasis, used today for transport-ing herds of camels from the Sudan. His first journey took sevenmonths. His second was more adventurous, and he recorded that"never had any companion or caravan-leader who went forth toYam done (it)," and that he brought back items "the likes ofwhich no one has ever brought back before." When Harkhufreached Yam on his third expedition he found the country in anuproar. The chiefs were engaged in war with the settlements of theTemehu (tribes related to the Libyans). Egypt had always actedon the defensive against incursions on the Nile Valley from theWestern Desert. Under the adventurous Harkhuf, however, aconvoy followed the chief of Yam westward and reduced him tosubjection. On his return journey Harkhuf's convoy - laden withtributes and products and furnished with a heavy escort - so im-pressed the tribal chiefs of the Nubian border that they offered

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him guides to complete his journey. It was on his fourth missionthat Harkhuf brought back to Egypt gold, ostrich feathers, lionand leopard skins, elephant tusks, cowry shells, logs of ebony, in-cense, gum Arabic, and a dancing pygmy for the child-king,Pepi II.

Overland journeys, whether in search of raw materials or tofight punitive wars to keep trade routes open, needed tremendousorganization. In the reign of Pepi I when the Bedouin tribes werehindering mining operations in Sinai, Weni was sent at the head ofa considerable force to suppress them. Able-bodied men wererounded up from all over the country, their numbers augmentedby Nubians of several different tribes. In his autobiographical textWeni recorded that the force numbered thousands, including rep-resentatives of the Great House, with royal seal-bearers, heads ofthe provinces, and chiefs of the priests, as well as "chief district of-ficials at the heads of the troops from the villages and towns thatthey governed." It was a national effort and it says a great deal forthe integrated society of the Old Kingdom that, under Weni'sleadership, this motley group was orderly and well supplied withsufficient rations. He wrote: "It was I who commanded them ...so that no one attacked his fellow, so that no one seized a loaffrom a traveler, so that no one took a cloth from any town, so thatno one took a goat from anyone." On his return to the court Weniwas granted the most distinguished mark of favor he could re-ceive: the right to carry a staff and wear sandals in the palace, inthe presence of the king.

Due to Weni's successful mission for the Great House, Pepigranted him the furnishings for his tomb in the choicest whitelimestone from the quarries of Tura. This included a sarcophaguswith its lid, a door-shaped stele with its setting, and a table for of-ferings. Having ensured the continued loyalty of his 'servant'Weni by this generous gesture, the king ordered him to go to Se-heil Island, south of Elephantine, to select granite for his own sar-

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cophagus and lid and to Hat Nub for a piece of local alabaster forhis table of offerings. Central control over raw materials was agreat source of power. Foreign trade and mining were controlledby the Great House and distribution was regulated. Royal work-shops played a crucial role in transforming these raw materialsinto the luxury goods required for the ever-increasing upperclasses. Well into the Sixth Dynasty, when there was a breakdownin central control, men like Weni remained subservient to thegovernment.

Rural Movement

In the rural areas the people traveled on foot, and the donkey andthe ox were the only beasts of burden. As they made their way tothe granaries and storehouses laden with produce, their routeswere trodden into firm dirt-track roads. These were used by thepeasant community, by herdsmen and their cattle, by female of-fering-bearers from the estates, and as playgrounds for children.

Almost all of Egypt's cultivable soil was used for crop-grow-ing, and the land was irrigated through a system of large and smallcanals. The farmer who dug a canal to regulate the flow of waterto the crops simultaneously constructed a dike with the excavatedearth, and this served as a path between the fields. Since regular at-tention was given to canals to guide water to land that would oth-erwise remain barren, and precautions were intermittently takento prevent over-flooding, the paths were kept in good order. Theywere used by the farmers and their livestock. Larger dikes besidedeep canals could serve also as tow-paths for small boats. Therewere no bridges. When a canal had to be crossed herders simplyguided their animals through the shallow water; alternatively, aferryman was inevitably available, using a pole like a punt to crossa canal, and was probably paid for his services in farm produce.

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Journey to the Afterlife

It is not surprising that the Nile, the watery highway-on which lifeand prosperity depended, should be reflected in ancient Egyptianreligious beliefs, nor that boats should be regarded as a means bywhich the deceased would reach the afterlife. First the dead had tocross the 'lily-lake' - the sacred region where they were purified.This crossing was conceived in the same manner as the livingtransported their dead along channels to the burial grounds: by aferryman who stood in the stern of the boat facing backward as hepoled along. Funerary texts indicate that this individual had a te-dious job waiting for passengers and resented being called upon atinconvenient hours. He would complain of being woken up or ofhaving a faulty vessel and would offer other excuses to save him-self the trouble. According to the Pyramid Texts, even the de-ceased king had to cajole the ferryman to do his duty. Indeed, theancient Egyptians regarded the ferrying of a boatless traveleracross a canal or marshy area as a good deed of the caliber of giv-ing food to the hungry and clothing to the poor.

VILiving

Enjoyment of Life

Most of the buildings of ancient Egypt, including the royal palace,were made of wood and sun-dried brick. Stone was reserved fortombs and temples, so most of the surviving structures are of a fu-nerary nature. This gives the erroneous impression that the an-cient Egyptians were preoccupied with the afterlife. Evidence tothe contrary is abundant. They thought of the afterlife as a naturalsequence to their earthly existence and decorated their tombswith categories of activities they wished to repeat. Representa-tions of agriculture and food - common to all tombs - were sym-bolic of the fertile land of Egypt. Ripe wheat fields and orchardsladen with fruit would provide food for the afterlife. Scenes ofhunting, fishing, and the rearing and care of animals were likewisesymbolic in their purpose. Presumably it was not considered nec-essary to depict the canal system of irrigation, methods used intransforming stone into monuments, or techniques of construc-tion. What was important was to ensure that the best food wasgrown for eternity, prepared in the best possible way, and ade-quately stored.

Burial grounds around Memphis, Giza, and Helwan attest tothree distinct social classes in the Old Kingdom: the nobility, offi-cials and artisans, and peasant farmers. The king was the leader ofthe nobility and after him came the royal family, members of oth-er powerful families, and those promoted in rank. Artisans em-ployed by the state came next, along with overseers, superinten-

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dents, and their families. At the bottom of the scale were farmers,herdsmen, and laborers. Inequality was accepted as the normalcondition. However, within each social stratum the people hadtheir own gradations of power and wealth.

Noble Men and Women

Our knowledge of life in the Old Kingdom is chiefly derivedfrom the reliefs and contents of the tombs of the nobles at Gizaand Saqqara. Tomb reliefs provide a rich saga of the daily lives ofaristocratic families. Their wealth depended on coordinating dif-ferent activities in the interest of the Great House, including theinspection and supervision of industries, the collection of graintaxes, and the documentation of income from mining expeditions.In short, their job was to administer state property.

Large estates were usually self-supporting, and there is everyindication that noble men and women were proud and ambitious.They took obvious pride in their responsibility, appearance, andpossessions. They were frequently borne on tours of inspectionin a carrying-chair on the shoulders of pole-bearers. From thisvantage they could inspect vineyards, granaries, and fisheries, aswell as leather, papyrus, furniture, and weaving factories. Noblefamilies lived well and appreciated material comforts. An impor-

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tant official often had a small town house - one of a pair builtback-to-back and opening onto a street - located near the king'spalace, and a larger country house on one of the estates under hiscontrol. The country house was airy and spacious, well suited tothe warm climate with latticed windows and large open court-yards. Some of the mud-brick structures were built on founda-tions of stone covered with clay. The wealthier homes had lime-stone lintels above the doorways, and wooden beams. Floorswere frequently paved with brick tiles. Houses were usually white-washed inside and out, as attested by the ruins of some wealthyhouses excavated at Giza; the purpose may have been hygienic aswell as aesthetic. Insect pests were controlled by washing the housewith a solution of natron, and the ancient Egyptians appear tohave had well-developed drainage systems. The earliest evidenceof a bathroom comes from a Second Dynasty tomb at Saqqara. Itreveals that water was drained off into pits that could be closedwith a metal plug or emptied through a copper conduit. House-hold waste was accumulated and swept out from time to time -but only as far as the street or to an empty lot. There the piles ofrefuse grew and probably attracted scavengers, much as they dotoday. All useful items were fashioned with care. Chairs and beds- which often had leather or rope-weave seats or mattresses fas-tened to the frame with leather thongs - had legs carved in theform of the powerful hind-limbs of ox or lion. Furniture fre-

Grave goods: a slate dishwith two hieroglyphicsymbols; copper basinsfor ablutions; legs of a bed

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quently had decorative copper fittings. The handle of a spoonmight be fashioned to resemble a lotus blossom; a calyx might formthe bowl of a wine glass. As early as the First Dynasty, a stone lampwas shaped like a papyrus bud. The earliest lamps were shallowpottery bowls with wicks of twisted grass; the oil was animal fat.

Chests and boxes were richly inlaid with ivory; clothes andother objects were tidily laid inside them. Beneath the high bedsthere was adequate storage. Vases and vessels of copper, gold, andsilver were equipped with stands to raise them to the requiredheight. Tables were either round on a central pedestal or shapedlike a half-ellipse on four legs. Chairs tended to be low, the occu-pant having to recline or squat. Guests could also sit on beautifulwoven mats on the floor. Walls were decorated with hanging rugsand the ceilings were frequently painted blue.

Every household cultivated part of its land, and gardeningcame to play a large part in the daily lives of the wealthy families.Vines, palms, fruit trees, and vegetables grew on their estates. Ifextra water were needed in the heat of the summer, gardenersfilled heavy jars from the canals and brought them in pairs onyokes. In the unfinished tomb of Neferherenptah at Saqqara is ascene of gardeners clapping sticks to scare away birds and water-ing and cutting lettuce. As early as the Third Dynasty an impor-tant official named Methen had a large house - two hundred cu-bits (approximately ninety meters) square - which he mentions

Half-ellipse table

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was "built and furnished." In his garden he claimed "fine treeswere planted, and a very large lake made; figs and vines (are) plen-tiful ... and a great quantity of wine (is) made there."

That the ancient Egyptians were great nature-lovers is attestedby the encyclopedic lists of birds, plants, and animals recorded inmonuments. Their feeling for nature is also revealed in a commonmortuary prayer that hopes the deceased might return, sit in theshade, and eat the fruit of the trees they had planted.

Food and Drink

Representations of tables laden with large varieties of food anddrink show that the upper classes ate heartily. Great piles of fish,beef, and fowl, along with bread and honey, weighed down atable. Red wine was served. Eating was a sensual delight, both asregards smell and taste. The nose was a determinative sign used inwriting both these nouns, as well as the verb 'enjoy' or 'take plea-sure in.' Food was enhanced by the use of salt and oil, the formerserving also for curing and preserving fish and meat. The sweetproduct valued above all others was honey and bee-keeping wasan important minor industry. In a tomb at Saqqara belonging to awoman of the lesser nobility her relatives had laid out food onrough pottery, alabaster, and diorite bowls and dishes beside hersarcophagus. Undisturbed for thousands of years, the food wasidentified as a type of barley cereal, a cooked quail, a pigeon stew,fish (cleaned and dressed with the head removed), ribs of beef,two cooked kidneys, wheat bread, small cakes, and stewed fruit.It is unlikely that this represented the courses of a single meal.

A well-stocked larder included lentils, chick peas, cow peas,and ordinary peas, as well as beans. Eggs were stacked in earthen-ware dishes. Goats and cows supplied milk, butter, and cheese.The oil of sesame seeds and refined butter - ghee - were used for

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cooking. Vegetables included onions and garlic, cucumbers andleeks. Among the fruits were watermelons, pomegranates, andgrapes. Fish was very popular and it seems that no larder wascomplete without its assortment of mullet, catfish, and perch.Egyptian caviar was a great delicacy produced from early times.The tombs of Ti (a high-ranking official who worked under threekings of the Fifth Dynasty) and Kagemni (a Sixth Dynasty vizierand judge) show how the ovaries of the gray mullet were extract-ed, salted, and dried for this purpose. In the double tomb of Ni-ankhkhnum and Khnumhotep (low-ranking priests of the suntemple of Nyuserre and 'manicurists of the court'), fish is shownbeing broiled in a cauldron over an open fire.

Most cooking was done outdoors, in a courtyard partly roofedwith matting or palm thatch. Straw, palm leaves, and animal dungwere used for fuel, along with branches of acacia and tamarisk.Geese - which were the favorite among farm birds - were gener-ally roasted over live embers, placed on a low slab of limestonethat served as a hearth, or on a metal brazier. Poultry was an im-portant source of protein, and quantities of duck, pigeon, andquail were eaten. One of the most popular methods of preparingsmaller fowl - and one that is still used in Egypt today - was tosplit the bird across the breastbone and spread it flat for grilling.

Beer was the national drink. It was made from coarse barleybread that was only lightly baked so as not to destroy the yeast.This was broken up, mixed with water and malted barley, and leftto ferment. It was sometimes sweetened with dates and stored inpottery jars. Residues have been found in Predynastic jars and theearliest mention of beer is in the Third Dynasty. Not surprisingly,bread-making and brewing were depicted together in ancientEgyptian tombs, the former being a preliminary step to the latter.A more popular drink among the upper classes was domesticwine, which came from large estates around the country. The ear-liest evidence of grape wine conies from the Predynastic settle-

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ment of Omari, near Helwan, and a wine-press hieroglyph wasused as early as the First Dynasty. Many vintages were known byname. The main wine-growing areas were the Delta, the Fayyum,and the oases of the Western Desert. Representations of viticul-ture show the gathering, treading, and pressing of grapes of differ-ent colors, from which we may infer that the ancient Egyptiansknew white as well as red wine. The benefits of long-term storagewere known, and wines from vintage years seem to have beenprized. Palm-wine, made of the sap of the date palm obtained bymaking an incision in the heart of the tree, is mentioned in thePyramid Texts; fermentation rendered it toxic. Date-wine - madeby steeping a certain variety of date in water, pressing out the liq-uid, and leaving it to ferment - is also mentioned.

The Pyramid Texts indicate that ordinary people had threemeals a day, while the royal household had five. One wealthy no-bleman drew up a list of food items to be inscribed in his tomb. Itincluded "ten different kinds of meat, five kinds of poultry, six-teen kinds of bread and cakes, six kinds of wine, four kinds ofbeer, eleven kinds of fruit, in addition to all sorts of sweets andmany other things." It is interesting to note that there was nostandard offering list tirelessly repeated from generation to gener-ation. They changed with the passage of time to include delicaciesas and when they were introduced from countries across theMediterranean.

Food offerings

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Clothing and Accessories

The ancient Egyptians dressed to suit their climate of almost con-stant sunshine. Most garments were made of linen. Silk and cot-ton were unknown and wool was only rarely used. Women worea sheath, a close-fitting, ankle-length, unadorned dress withbroad shoulder bands. Men wore short, broad, pleated skirts andsandals. Children did not wear clothing. Maidservants anddancers wore only loincloths and girdles, often with blossomsaround the neck. The simple effect of the clothing was enhancedby colorful jewelry - both men and women wore elaborate col-ored necklaces, bead collars of carnelian, turquoise, and lapislazuli. Bracelets of silver and ivory were worn by women, as wellas different types of earrings: hoops, studs, and ear plugs. Girls of-ten wore their hair short or had a pony-tail, sometimes weightedwith a pompon or a disk-shaped ornament.

People were fastidious about cleanliness. Women, especially,took great pains with their toilet. They washed their bodies withparticular attention before meals, using a basin and a vessel with a

Statue of Princess Nofret.Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

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spout. They shaved their limbs with bronze razors with curvedblades and used tweezers and scrapers. A woman's skin wasrubbed with perfumed oils, her lips and cheeks were colored withrouge, and her palms were stained with henna. She applied a char-acteristic band of color around the eye with a paint producedfrom lead ores and known from Predynastic times as a remedy foreye ailments, as well as for adornment. She applied this with theaid of tiny ivory and wooden sticks, using mirrors of highly pol-ished copper fitted with handles.

Special care was taken with the hair, which was washed, anoint-ed with oils, and fashioned into curls and plaits. Even as early asthe First Dynasty, there is evidence that women sometimespadded out their own hair with artificial tight curls and braids tomake it appear thicker. Both human hair and vegetable fiber weremade into wigs when either fashion or age necessitated it. Smallplaited locks of hair were treasured. All small items - includinglocks, hairpins, mirrors, 'tweezer-razors,' or hair-curlers - werekept in decorative containers of ebony, alabaster, and marble,sometimes engraved with miniature high relief. Men, too, dressedtheir hair with oils and fashioned it into different styles. Theywore kilts of varying lengths and tended to be clean-shaven, againusing razors with curved blades. The famous statue of Rahotepand his wife (Egyptian Museum, Cairo) shows the noblemanwith the modest mustache that appears to have been fashionableduring the Old Kingdom.

Wealthy households included numerous servants, attendingmaster and mistress punctiliously from the moment they rose inthe morning. These were free servants, ancient Egyptians of poor-er classes, at liberty to leave service if they so wished. A noblemanhad 'listeners' for his call, 'cup-bearers' to wait his table, and 'fol-lowers' to bear his sandals, matting, and fly-whisk. Servant girlspoured water over the hands of guests before food was broughtin, musicians played, and young dancers performed. The tomb of

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Ptahhotep (one of the highest officials in the land in the reign ofDjedkare) shows the seated nobleman with a pedicurist at his feetand a manicurist working on his hands while musicians entertainhim and his pet greyhound and a monkey take refuge beneath hischair. Most households included dwarfs and hunchbacks whowere employed in the laundry or the kitchen, or put in charge ofhousehold pets.

All rich landowners possessed monkeys, gazelle, ibex, and oth-er animals of the desert, which they caught, tamed, and kept ontheir estates. They had long learned that the dog was a man's bestfriend, as well as his hunting companion. Sheepdogs, greyhounds(often on a leash), and salukis were favorites. Greyhounds andsalukis were allowed to enter the house and even sleep beneaththe master's chair. There are no representations of a noblemanpetting a dog, but they were given names. One dog buried near hismaster in a First Dynasty burial ground had a tombstone in-scribed 'Neb' (Lord), with his picture. Cats seem not to have beenallowed inside houses in the Old Kingdom. They were depictedonly in papyrus groves, raiding birds' nests. The Nile goose wasgiven special treatment, being allowed into the courtyard and gar-den. Domestic fowl included ducks, pigeons, geese, and water-fowl; the domestic chicken had not yet been introduced.

The I deal Family

Among the upper classes a man had one legal wife who was 'mis-tress of the house' and mother of his legal heirs. Although shelived in a special women's quarter of the house with her children,she was free to move around as she pleased. A wealthy landownermight have had concubines, but his wife held a special place andwas treated with the utmost deference. No marriage contracts areknown to exist nor is there any indication of a special ceremony.

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It would appear that the bride, together with her dowry, simplymade her way to the house of her appointed or approved hus-band. His duties toward her are clear: "If you are a successful manestablish your household. Love your wife in the house as is fitting... fill her body, clothe her back ... the recipe for her limbs is oint-ment. Gladden her heart so long as she lives ... she is a fertile fieldfor her lord." These are the words of Ptahhotep, a Fifth Dynastyvizier (not to be confused with his namesake whose tomb is atSaqqara), who was well advanced in years when he asked his kingwhether he could instruct his own son and prepare him for the of-ficial duties that lay ahead of him. The king consented and theaged man, wise from experience and learning, wrote some forty-three paragraphs of random instructions (the so-called 'instruc-tion literature'), which have come down to us in four copies: threeon papyrus and one on a wooden tablet. Half of them covered of-ficial duties and conduct in administrative circles; the other halfconcerned personal character and family relations, which wereregarded as among a man's most valuable possessions.

Ptahhotep stressed the togetherness of a husband and wife, thecloseness of brothers and sisters, and good behavior towardfriends and neighbors. In this context the reliefs take on newmeaning. In the tomb of Mereruka (the son-in-law of the SixthDynasty king Teti) - whose tomb at Saqqara comprised cham-bers for himself, his wife, and his son - are several scenes showingfamily devotion. At the entrance to the tomb Mereruka is depict-ed with his son Meri-Teti. The boy wears his hair with the side-lock of youth and holds a lotus stalk in one hand and a hoopoe inthe other. Behind him are Mereruka's wife and several rows of at-tendants. In one chamber of the tomb is an intimate and delightfulbedroom scene: the nobleman and his wife hold hands as theywatch their bed being prepared by servants. In another chamberMereruka is depicted with his wife on a double couch. She plays aharp while he marks time with his hand. Pictorial and written evi-

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dence abound with loyalty and devotion: a nobleman's affectionfor his wife and children, a son's loyalty to his father, mother,brothers, and sisters. Family outings were encouraged. The fa-mous tomb of Ti at Saqqara shows Ti sailing with his wife anddaughter through the marshes in a papyrus boat. And in the rock-cut private tombs at Giza are statues of tomb owners along withtheir immediate relatives cut out of the living rock. Pair statues ofman and wife, mother and daughter were common.

There is no confirmed disclosure of marriage between twochildren of the same parents in the Old Kingdom. 'Brother' and'sister' were terms of endearment and even after marriage a hus-band called his wife snt (sister), meaning 'loved one.' AncientEgyptian morality is often judged today by the practices foundduring the later periods of history in the New Kingdom, duringthe Persian period, and by the Greeks, who declared that mar-riages between brothers and sisters were normal practice in an-cient Egypt.

The father was the chief authority in a strictly disciplinedhome. The upbringing of boys was left largely in his hands andthat of girls in the hands of their mother. The girls were encour-aged to sing, dance, and play musical instruments. The main pro-fessions open to them were midwifery - which was held in highesteem - spinning, and weaving. The education of boys was con-sidered to be of great importance. The first piece of advice Ptah-hotep gave his son was on modesty:

Be not proud because of your learning. Take councilwith the unlearned as with the learned, for the limitof a craft is not fixed and there is no craftsman whoseworth is perfect. Worthy speech is more hidden than agreenstone being found among slave-women at themill-stone. Precious to a man is the virtue of his son,and good character is a thing remembered.

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The ancient Egyptians were discreet on matters of sexual be-havior, and immorality was strongly condemned. Ptahhotepwarned:

Beware of a woman from abroad [i.e., a stranger]who is not known in her town. Look not upon herwhen she comes and know her not.... If you desire toestablish friendship in a house into which you enter...beware of approaching women. The place where theyare [i.e., the harem] is not seemly, and it is not wise tointrude upon them. A thousand men are undone forthe enjoyment of a brief moment like a dream.

Concubines were placed in a special category and Ptahhotep toldhis son that they should be kindly treated; he also warned him notto have any physical association with boys. As a solution to im-morality, early marriages were recommended: a youth was ad-vised to "take to himself a wife when he is young that she mightgive him a son whom he will see a man. Happy is the man who hasa large household and who is respected on account of his chil-dren."

Tomb inscriptions indicate that youths had great respect andlove for their fathers; no effort was spared by a loyal son to ensureproper burial for his departed father. The case of Sabni, in the timeof Pepi II, is an example. His father was an official in charge of theSouthern Gate at Elephantine who was killed while venturingsouthward on a trading mission. Sabni unhesitatingly set forth onthe same journey in order to recover his father's body and bring itback to his native land for embalming and burial. He proudlyrecords his loyal mission in his tomb.

On the death of the head of a household, the oldest son tookcare of his mother. The oldest living son was always the executorof the deceased's land and entrusted with his funds. He was in-

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structed to guard the property of the family and expressly forbid-den to share the wealth entrusted to him.

Right and Wrong

The ancient Egyptian words 'custom' and 'behavior' refer to themodern ideas of morals and ethics. Today we often make the mis-take of assuming that a sense of moral behavior was not commonin early societies. In fact, anthropological studies have shown thatthe concept of right and wrong in preliterate communities springsfrom a subconscious social feeling, and that it is compulsive andstrong. Whatever occurs with consistency and is found to be plea-sant or useful is passed on from generation to generation until itbecomes a spontaneous duty, a standard of behavior. The earliestsuch reference in was recorded on the Shabaka Stone, from theLate Period,where it is stated: "Justice is given to he who doeswhat is liked; injustice to he who does what is disliked."

Right and wrong were a civil question, not a religious one. Therules governing moral behavior were passed from father to son,and "every man who instructs is like a sire ... he speaks with hischildren, and then they speak with their children,... attain char-acter, ... make maat to flourish." Their 'teachings' were ethical,but not religious in the sense that they were taught by priests.What was regarded as correct behavior was learned by rote withinthe confines of the family. The teachings were copied from gener-ation to generation for literally thousands of years: "Do not bemean toward your friends" and "Do not plunder a neighbor'shouse" were two of the rules of behavior; "Never utter words inheat... control your mouth" and "Guard against the vice ofgreed, a grievous sickness without cure" were others.

Disobedient children were punished. Ptahhotep told his sonhow to take care of his own son in due course: "If he strays, ne-

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gleets your council, disobeys all that is said, his mouth spoutingevil speech, punish him for all this talk!" Kagemni instructed hischildren to "recite it as it is written... and it seemed good to thembeyond anything in the whole land." These became sacred rulesof behavior automatically adhered to for the simple reason that "itwas always done that way"; because it was rnaat. Just as maatgave stability and authority to the state, it provided discipline andrespect in the family.

A sense of right and wrong, and pride in doing good deeds,were inscribed in tombs. Harkhuf, the caravan leader from Ele-phantine who was one of the early explorers of Africa, recorded:"I gave bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, I ferried himwho had no boat." He also added a curse: "As for any man whoshall enter into (this) tomb as his mortuary possession, I will seizehim like a wild fowl; he shall be judged for it by the Great One."Similarly, the steward Meni placed a warning above the doorpostof his tomb: "Even he who does anything against it (my tomb); itis the Great God who shall judge (him)." Since the king - the fo-cus of national unity - had the attributes of his 'father' the sun-god, such texts may refer to fear of judgment by the divine king,or judgment before the sun-god. Either way, it is apparent thatfear of judgment was a deterrent against unacceptable conductand that a person's motive for declaring worthy deeds was "that itmay be well with me in the Great God's presence."

Children

The depiction of the children of ancient Egypt in tombs and tem-ples give us an appealing insight into their lives, which seem tohave been happy. With plenty of fresh air and sunshine, they wentswimming in the canals (the crawl seems to have been a favoritestroke), fishing on the lakes, danced in the streets during festivals,

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and had plenty of fresh food and vegetables to keep them fit. Theboys played tug-of-war, tag, and a game in which a whole groupof boys try to touch a crouching player with the foot while at-tempting to evade his hands. Girls' games included 'swingaround,' in which two young girls in the center hold four partnerswith outstretched arms, and a game of forfeit in which they ex-change copper mirrors.

Children are the stuff of future generations and what they aretaught is an indication of what is regarded as important to society.The texts and model compositions that were given to childrenshow that they were urged to remember the names of ancientsages who taught behavior and morals; they did not copy texts ex-tolling the exploits of heroes who fought wars nor did they copytexts lauding physical strength. In fact, apart from wrestlingscenes depicted on some tomb walls, warlike games or warliketraining were rare. The people danced with sticks in the ritualconflict of a peace-loving society.

Ptahhotep contrasted the good man with the bad, the wise manwith the fool. He balanced desirable behavior - characterized bymoderation, reserve, discretion, and gentleness - against the dan-gers of undesirable behavior - excessive pride, boastfulness, andavarice:

Greater is the appeal of the gentle than that of thestrong. Never utter words in heat. Let your mindbe deep and your speech scanty.

The wise man rises early to establish himself, but thefool is in trouble.

When you sit with a glutton eat when his greed haspassed;

When you drink with a drunkard take when his heartis content.

Report on a thing observed, not heard.

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Peasant Farmers and Laborers

Egypt was an agricultural country and the bulk of its people werepeasant farmers. Their shelters of sun-dried brick or reeds daubedwith clay were not much different from the houses of either theirPredynastic ancestors or many of their descendants in the twenti-eth century: a single room (oblong or square), one door, and nowindows. Furnishings comprised no more than a rough stool, abox or chest, and perhaps a headrest. Reed mats were hung fromthe walls and baskets and earthenware pots were used for storage.The tombs of the nobles contain numerous scenes of the lives ofthe poorer people: fishermen drying fish in the sun or repairingnets and snares, farmers fattening geese or sowing the crops,workers from the vineyard vigorously treading grapes, others inthe bakery grinding flour. The smaller statues of the Old King-dom depict an array of good-natured folk. A naked peasant goesto market with his sandals in his hand and his shoulder slightlybent beneath the weight of the bag slung over it; a baker and hiswife knead dough. The farmers, who probably rose with the sun,wore loincloths, which they frequently cast off during the day.

Both reliefs and inscriptions indicate that the people were hap-py. The men who carry the nobleman around his estate in his car-rying chair sing that it is as light to bear with their master seated init as it is when empty. A musician follows a line of reapers and, ashe plays his flute, one of the reapers simultaneously holds a sickleand claps his hands, singing the 'song of the oxen.' A piper accom-panies the harvest. A shepherd leading sheep through the fieldssings: "The shepherd is in the water among the fish; he talks withthe nar-fish, he passes the time of day with the west-fish." Someof the reliefs are accompanied by texts of conversations betweenworkers:

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That is a very beautiful vessel (you are making).Indeed, it is.I have brought four pots of beer.That's nothing. I loaded my donkeys with 202 sacks

while you were sitting.

The diet of the people consisted mainly of bread, onions, lentils,vegetables, and dried Nile fish, along with sycamore figs anddates. They loved garlic. Herodotus - probably with his usual ex-aggeration - asserts that the workmen employed in building thepyramid of Khufu ate 1,600 silver talents' worth of radishes,onions, and garlic. The lower classes bartered for their needs. Intomb representations a loaf of bread is exchanged for someonions, a carpenter's wife gives a fisherman a small wooden boxfor some of the day's catch, a potter's wife obtains a jar of fragrantointment for two bowls from her husband's kiln.

The foremen of the various projects appear to have been moreheavily built than their slim and muscular workers. The famousstatue of Ka-aper - known as the 'Sheikh al-Balad' (village chief) -shows a heavy, stocky but energetic man striding forward with anacacia staff in his hand. That of Nofir, the 'director of the gra-naries,' also shows a man broad of build. In a relief in the tomb ofPtahhotep is a scene of a foreman - obese and lazy - seated in askiff accepting a drink from an oarsman.

As all life depended on the annual flood, the people respondedto nature. When the level of the water began to rise each year andspread over the parched land, they withdrew from the floodplain.They might, as is evident in later times, have made simple offer-ings of flowers or a goose that the water should not rise so high asto wash away villages or be so low as to cause want. When theflood receded, leaving the land covered with a layer of rich alluvialsoil, they sowed their seed and the sunshine did the rest. It was atotally predictable pattern of life. The farmers watched the land

Piety of the People 147

slowly become a carpet of green from the germinating clover andgrain. The annual miracle of life over death was performed beforetheir eyes. The sprouting of vegetation was a striking manifesta-tion of the forces of rebirth.

The past becomes more understandable through an awarenessof how closely it might resemble the present: today's spring festi-val known as Shamm al-Nasim ('smelling the breezes') is a na-tional holiday shared by Muslims and Christians alike. The entirepopulation takes to the outdoors to picnic on brown beans,spring onions, boiled eggs, and salted fish. Children climb ondonkey-carts and roam the streets to the beating of drums andcastanets. Adults pay homage at the graves of their dead. The ac-tivities probably originate from a long-standing rural tradition.

Piety of the People

Although we have no evidence of the beliefs of the illiterate mass-es - apart from their conviction in a life after death and their ten-dency to make offerings at sacred places - oral traditions knowno barrier, and the myth of Osiris was probably as widespreadamong the masses as the nobility. The legendary ancestor was, af-ter all, a farmer. He was associated with the rebirth of the land andhe fell victim to Set, who was associated with the relentless desert.Set's tearing to pieces of the body of Osiris and scattering its partsup and down the Nile Valley may be interpreted as the concept ofsowing grain, after which - with the necessary incantations (likethose performed by Isis and Nephthys), or rural festivals - thestalks of grain would be reborn. Later, cult centers that wished togive importance to their areas each claimed that a part of Osiris'sbody was buried there. This poignant and probably best knownof ancient Egyptian myths also reflected a social ideal. It ex-pressed wifely devotion (Isis for Osiris), motherhood (care of

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Horus until he reached manhood), and filial devotion, whichfound expression in the tales of Horus avenging his father's death.

Osiris, Isis, and Horus were the ideal family. Allusions to themappear in the mortuary literature and in national and seasonal fes-tivals. The social significance of the myth should not be over-looked. Like Osiris, many of the kings were good and just; theyhad devoted wives and sons who completed their tombs for themor arranged for the continued supply of nourishment for theireternal well-being. The wholesome ideals of Ptahhotep might nothave been widespread among the masses. But there is no reason tosuppose that they did not cherish, if not actually practice, thesame values.

The Royal Family

The king of Upper and Lower Egypt did not live like a lazydespot. His training began early. As a child he underwent basiceducation, learning to read, write, and absorb the 'instruction lit-erature' that he copied. As a youth he might have accompaniedhis father on mining and trading expeditions. As vizier he had su-pervised building operations, controlled the court of law, andbeen in charge of the treasury. A king was well-equipped for hisrole as political and spiritual leader, and he remained activethroughout his term of office. Much of his time was spent travel-ing around the land to perform his ritual duties, attending festi-vals, laying foundation stones, and honoring leaders of cult cen-ters for their active service to the state. He wore the double crownof Upper and Lower Egypt (of which no examples have beenfound, probably because they were sacred symbols not regardedas funerary equipment) and an artificial beard attached to it, ofwhich many representations can be found in the museums of theworld. The emblems he carried were the scepter, crook, and flail,

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which expressed regal authority. Apart from wearing richly en-crusted jeweled collars, the royal family dressed little differentlyfrom landed noble men and women.

Naturally the elaborate court etiquette required the king andhis family to have a host of courtiers, retainers, and servants. Inthe palace there was a strict and complex structure of titles. Eachdepartment had its head, who had his own attendants and theirappointed helpers. There was a 'chief court physician,' a 'directorof music,' a 'chief manicurist of the court,' and even an officialwho called himself 'he who is head of the reversion,' who proba-bly distributed the remains of the five royal meals a day to thepeople. There was also a 'guardian of the royal crown and jewels,'a 'keeper of the royal robes,' and an 'overseer of the cosmetic box'who "performed in the matter of cosmetic art to the satisfactionof his lord." It is from inscriptions of rank and privileges, dutiesand tasks that we are informed of life in the royal palace and of thehonor that serving the king was meant to be. Even the 'sandal-bearer of the king' was proud to record that he did his duties toroyal satisfaction. One retainer boasted in his tomb of the un-precedented privilege of kissing the royal foot rather than the dustbefore it.

The Great Royal Wife was accorded a privileged position be-cause it was she who, through physical contact with her husband(a god), provided the rule for royal succession and legitimacy forrule. It is therefore not surprising that some queens were accord-ed considerable prominence from the beginning of the dynasticperiod. One of the earliest funerary monuments at Naqada is thehuge 'palace facade' monument belonging to Queen Neithhotep,the wife of Aha. The tomb of Queen Meryetneith at Abydos waslarge and rich, and it is suggested that she was Den's consort. Ne-mathap was probably the wife of Khasekhemwy, since she borethe title 'king-bearing mother' and was revered in later times asthe ancestor of the kings of the Third Dynasty.

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Honor of Ancestors

To conduct the funeral of a previous ruler was apparently a re-quirement for succession. Many a king completed the funerarymonument of his father before commencing construction of hisown, inscribing his deed on the walls. It was also his duty to main-tain the cult of ancestors, and this applied to royal wives as well askings. When Khufu learned that thieves had entered the tomb ofhis mother, Hetepheres, he ordered a reburial for her in a new, se-cret tomb at Giza. Unaware that the mummy had already been re-moved from the sarcophagus, the workers lowered it into a shaftto the east of the Great Pyramid, along with her funerary equip-ment. It is thanks to Khufu's devotion that the furniture wassaved - the only royal furniture to have survived intact from theOld Kingdom. It included the supports and uprights of a royalcanopy encased in gold from which mats were hung as curtains toensure privacy, a royal bed that sloped downward toward the footto provide a headrest, two chairs - one of which was portable -and, among the smaller items, an inlaid footboard, vases of gold,copper, and alabaster, gold razors, and a gold manicure set. Thechairs are magnificently carved with figures of the hawk and thelotus, the symbol of the 'ankh (the key of life), and an ibex - allgold-trimmed. The basic design of furniture did not greatlychange in later periods.

Class Mobility

All people could hope to gain promotion in life, whether theywere nobles, minor officials, or humble servants. Wealth andprestige were not restricted to those born into a certain rulingclass. Marriage, inheritance, or promotion could change the statusof an individual. Naturally, this was easier for those who lived and

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worked close to the capital. One of the earliest biographical ac-counts describing a rise in rank is that of Methen, who died in thereign of Senefru and was buried near Zoser's mortuary complex atSaqqara (his tomb has been transported to Berlin and reconstruct-ed in the Egyptian Museum there). The text tells of his gradualrise from 'scribe and overseer of the stores' to 'governor' of anumber of towns and districts in the eastern Delta. Promotioncould be rapid. One of the best-known examples was that ofWeni, a man of humble birth who started his career as a minor of-ficial under King Teti and rose to the position of 'favored courtier'under Pepi I. In ancient Egypt a person who proved fit in per-forming one task was considered equally fit for others. AfterWeni, entrusted by his king with supervising a group of workmento bring a block of stone suitable for the royal sarcophagus, per-formed the task efficiently - transporting it complete with lid,doorway, lintel, and two jambs for the tomb, as well as a libationtable - he was put in charge of a body of troops detailed for an ex-pedition against hostile tribes in the Eastern Desert and the no-madic tribes of Nubia. Weni eventually became one of the highestdignitaries of the Great House. "Never," he inscribed in his tomb,"has the like been done for any servant. I was excellent in theheart of His Majesty beyond any official of his, beyond any nobleof his, beyond any servant of his."

Many persons of obscure origin, or even base servitude, rose tohigh honors and died as viziers or governors of provinces. TheFifth Dynasty official Ti was a vigorous nobleman but not of roy-al blood; his marriage to Princess Neferhotpes gave him a specialposition, and his children ranked with royalty. Nekhebu was anordinary builder who eventually rose to the position of 'royalmaster builder,' supervising a wide range of projects for the GreatHouse. He took his brother as an apprentice and the youth start-ed off by carrying his older brother's palette and measuring rod.Later, when Nekhebu's responsibilities increased, his brother

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managed his property for him so successfully that he could claimthat there were "more things in his house than in the house of anynoble."

Literature and tomb inscriptions stress the ideal of a self-made,self-reliant person. Ptahhotep, the sage who instructed his son toprepare him for the official duties that lay ahead of him, gave ad-vice on behavior to ensure success in official circles, including at-titudes to be taken toward both superiors and subordinates. "If heabove you is one who was formerly of very humble station, haveno knowledge of his former low estate... be respectful towardhim because of what he has achieved; for substance comes not ofitself." Or conversely: "If you have become great after you werelittle, and have gained possessions after you were formerly inwant... be not unmindful of how it was with you before. Be notboastful of your wealth, which has come to you as a gift of thegod. You are not greater than another like you to whom the samehas happened."

Ptahhotep had some shrewd advice on the matter of beinghelpful to one's employer: "your food hangs upon his mood, thebelly of one loved is filled, your back shall be clothed thereby."Table manners, especially at an official dinner given by one ofhigher station, were considered important:

Take when he gives to you what he puts before you,but do not look at what is before him, look at what isbefore you, and shoot him not with many glances.... Turn your face downward until he addresses youand speak only when he addresses you. Laugh whenhe laughs, so shall you be very agreeable to his heartand what you do will be very pleasant to his heart.

While Ptahhotep had much to say on behavior in the presence ofsuperiors ("If you meet one superior to you, fold your arms, bend

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your back. To flout him will not make him agree with you."), heparticularly stresses: "If you meet a poor man, not your equal, donot attack him because he is weak... wretched is he who injures apoor man."

A nobleman's attitude toward his subordinates is particularlyapparent through Ptahhotep's enumeration of the qualities ofleadership: "If you are a man who leads, seek out every gooddeed, that your conduct may be blameless If you are an admin-istrator, be gracious when you hear the speech of a petitioner." Healso taught:

A man is recognized by that which he knows.His heart is the balance for his tongue;His lips are correct when he speaks,

and his eyes in seeing;His ears together hear what is profitable for his son,

who does maat and is free from lying.Established is the man whose standard is maat,

who proceeds according to its way.

VIIWork

The Earliest Industries

Large-scale building construction, shipbuilding, and stone-carv-ing were among the earliest industries in Egypt, along with anumber of agriculture-related activities like papyrus-manufac-ture, spinning, and weaving. All tools were made of copper,which was cast in open molds from as early as 3300 BC. The dis-covery that copper melts when heated may have been made whensome malachite - a green ore ground on cosmetic palettes for eyepaint - dropped on the glowing ashes of a hearth and globules ofcopper ran out. Copper beads and jewelry fittings were madefrom early times. Later, the techniques of melting and smeltingbecame more sophisticated. Fifth and Sixth dynasty tombs haverepresentations of the metalworker's craft, with smelters usingblowpipes around a charcoal fireplace to produce a high tempera-ture. Vessels of copper were worked by hammering, the spoutsand handles being joined by copper rivets. Plain copper wire wasused for the construction and repair of furniture as early as theFirst Dynasty and a variety of implements were used by barbers,carpenters, sculptors, stone masons, and house servants. Axes,adzes, and saws were needed for industrial and agricultural pur-poses and delicate instruments for the medical profession.

Medical Practice

The temples of Heliopolis and Memphis seem to have been cen-

Medical Practice 15 5

ters of learning from early times. Here astronomers studied theconstellations and the courses of the planets and physicians weretrained. Titles such as 'chief of the dental physicians' (Hesi-Ra),'palace eye expert, physician of the belly, one comprehending in-ternal fluids, and guardian of the anus' (Iri), and 'chief physicianof the eyes of the Great House' (Wah-Dwa) show that specialistswere attached to the Great House and were part of the king's largeentourage taking care of his welfare. The ministry of health - ifone might call it such - comprised the 'inspector of doctors' andassistants (non-specialists), who were under an 'overseer of doc-tors,' controlled by the 'eldest of doctors.' Such titles as 'chiefphysician of Upper Egypt' (Ibi) or 'greatest physician of Upperand Lower Egypt' indicate that within the medical professionthere was a liaison with distant provinces.

The medical papyri, of which there are over a score, are clearindications of advances in the medical field. Some of the latertexts that date to the Middle and New kingdoms were copies(sometimes third and fourth hand) of earlier texts; archaic gram-mar and obsolete words point to their antiquity as well as certainreferences to the Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom.The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, believed to be the earliest,dealt with forty-eight carefully arranged surgical cases of woundsand fractures, detailing a dispassionate examination of the patientand prescribing cures. No ailment was ascribed to the activity of ademoniac power, and there was very little magic - although beliefin the potency of spells or exorcisms undoubtedly existed. Theancient Egyptian medical practitioners were not witch doctorswho gave incantations. They were physicians who prescribedhealing remedies and conducted operations. Though some of thecures might be considered rather fanciful - extract of the hair of ablack cat to prevent graying - others became famous for their ef-ficacy.

We know from mummified bodies that dental surgery was

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practiced from early times. Some have teeth extracted, and aFourth Dynasty mummy of a man shows two holes beneath amolar of the lower jaw, apparently drilled for draining an abscess.The discovery in a grave at Giza of a body with several teethwired together suggests that dental treatment was already well ad-vanced in the Old Kingdom. Sesa's tomb at Saqqara, known as the'doctor's tomb,' shows the manipulation of joints. The tomb ofAnkhmahor, known as the 'physician's tomb,' shows an opera-tion on a man's toe and the circumcision of a youth. Circumcisionwas practiced on boys between six and twelve years of age.

By the Sixth Dynasty, there appears to have been a firmly es-tablished medical tradition. When Weshptah, builder and friendof the Fifth Dynasty king Neferirkare, suffered a stroke in theking's presence, the king showed great solicitude for his strickenfriend and ordered his officials to consult medical documents fora remedy to help the vizier regain consciousness. Doctors werewell paid for their services; in one case the reward was "a falsedoor of limestone for that tomb of mine in the necropolis."

Mummification and Priests

Contrary to some older ideas, doctors did not take part in thepreparation of mummies to improve their knowledge of anatomy.Embalmers and physicians belonged to two entirely differentprofessions, and there is no evidence of any connection betweenthem. Early efforts to preserve a lifelike appearance of the de-ceased can be traced to the Second Dynasty, when strips of linencloth were used to preserve the outline of the body and clay wasused to model the features of the face, genitals, and breasts withnipples. Around 2600 BC, bodies had the organs most susceptibleto rapid corruption removed. These included the lungs, liver, in-testines, and stomach (which were extracted through an incision

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in the left side of the body), but not the heart and kidneys. Thebody cavity and the intestines were then washed in natron, a mix-ture of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate found natural-ly at several sites throughout Egypt. The internal organs weresubsequently wrapped in linen and placed either in a box withfour compartments or in four canopic jars placed beside the coffinin the burial chamber. The body cavity itself was rinsed to removethe remaining natron and filled with herbs and resins to retain theshape. Desiccation took up to forty days to complete, after whichlinen strips dipped in resinous material were molded on theshrunken frame and individual ringers and toes carefullywrapped. The earliest known use of natron comes from the re-mains in the canopic jars of Khufu's mother, Queen Hetepheres.By the end of the Fifth Dynasty embalmers encased the body inan elaborate linen and plaster shell modeled to look like the hu-man form and painted in lifelike colors.

There is no indication of where mummification was carriedout. The only extant 'mummification beds' are those of the sacredApis bulls at Memphis, which date to a late period in Egyptianhistory. One thing is certain: the long and somewhat messy pro-cedure is unlikely to have been carried out in, or near, sacredshrines or mortuary temples.

Although priests did not form a distinct class of society untiltoward the end of the Old Kingdom, as employees of the statethey served a function. There were numerous 'pure ones,' ordi-nary members of the community who underwent certain purifi-cation ceremonies in order to serve in relays as servants in the'house of god.' There were others who were bound by rules ofcleanliness and became custodians of sacred order. These per-formed their duties on a full-time basis and their positions even-tually became hereditary. Priests were not required to have anytheological knowledge, they simply learned the correct obser-vance of rituals as laid down by the Great House. A 'lector priest'

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was a government official (literally the 'bearer of the festival roll')and his main qualification was literacy; he could read from thescroll in mortuary services or whenever called upon to do so. The'incense burner,' however, could be a member of the lay public,ever present to provide the necessary aura for worship. The cultsin temples throughout the land were all practiced in the name ofthe king. He was the theoretical leader of rites even when theywere carried out by his representatives. The official existence ofthe priests rested entirely on the delegation of royal power.

Scribes and the Law

Scribes comprised a special class of society. Literacy was an essen-tial qualification for a successful bureaucratic career. A scribe wascalled upon to write petitions for the illiterate and to prepareproperly addressed petitions, written in flowing language, for theupper classes. The profession was one of the most respectable,and although the bulk of the population had no incentive to be lit-erate it was one way to escape the drudgery of labor. In what isknown as the 'satire of the trades,' a poem written by an anony-mous poet hundreds of years after the fall of the Old Kingdom,the scribal profession was described as the best. In both the politi-cal and religious hierarchies there were positions open for book-keepers and clerks, who were looked upon as persons of impor-tance. Records were needed of quantities of materials used, work-ers recruited, and rations consumed for large-scale building pro-jects. There was also the task of drawing up contracts and wills.Although wills largely concerned the maintenance of tombs,which theoretically was the responsibility of a person's heirs, itwas foreseen that some laxity was to be expected with the passageof time, and safeguards were made. Income from private propertywas referred to in the will (literally 'order from his living mouth'),

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in which the owner outlined that it was to be put toward the careof the tomb and the continued supply of food and offerings. Inthe case of royalty, the endowments were extremely large.Khafre's son, Nekure, bequeathed to his heirs a private fortuneincluding fourteen towns and two estates at the royal residence,the entire income of which was to go toward the maintenance ofhis tomb; he made the will with the aid of a scribe, "while he wasalive upon his two feet without ailing in any way."

The fact that no written law has been found in ancient Egyptshould not undermine documentary evidence of legal practice.Written briefs were submitted to a high-ranking official, who fre-quently inscribed in his tomb that he "judged two partners untilthey were satisfied." Among surviving Old Kingdom legal docu-ments is one referring to litigation between an heir and an execu-tor. It indicated that under certain circumstances an appeal mightbe made directly to the central court. There is one remarkable caseof treason in the royal harem which was heard by two provincialjudges in place of the 'chief judge' (the vizier), for an unbiased de-cision. Some of the documents were simple contracts such as the"contract for the sale of a small house."

The most famous legal case was that of the vizier Kheti, whosename lived on until the New Kingdom as "the judge whose casewas more than justice." Kheti was involved in a lawsuit in whichmembers of his own family were party; his judgment was against

Scribal equipment

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his own relative, so he could not be accused of partiality. An ap-peal was made, yet Kheti persisted and his second ruling was thesame as the first.

Papyrus Production and the Bureaucracy

Two rolls of papyrus in a box dating to the reign of the First Dy-nasty king Den are the earliest evidence of its production. Pa-pyrus paper was one of Egypt's most flourishing industries. Thesheets were made by slicing thin sections of the papyrus stem,soaking and compressing them, laying them side by side andcrosswise, and beating and drying them. It was an excellent writ-ing material - pliant yet durable - that was lighter than stone andclay tablets and more plentiful than leather. The sheets weresometimes glued together in strips and wound around woodenrods. Later they were bound together into codices, what wewould recognize as books. Egyptian papyrus remained for cen-turies the main vehicle of Greek and Roman written thought, un-til the eighth century when it was gradually ousted by the use of anew writing material from the east: paper made from old rags.Even then, the new material derived its name from its Egyptianpredecessor.

Thanks to scribes and the invention of papyrus paper, recordsof ancient Egypt have survived in vast number. They point to aparticular skill in the administration of resources based on mea-suring, inspecting, checking, and documenting various activities.The Abu Sir archives reveal that the equipment of temples wascarefully classified, that inspection was carried out to trace anydeterioration or damage, and that exact details of what was need-ed for replacement were recorded. The archives also show thatseals on storerooms were regularly inspected, especially those ondoors to rooms where sacred boats were stored. Duty rosters

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were tabled in the archives, as well as income of the temple anddetails of sacrificial animals for various festivals.

Apart from its use in paper production, the papyrus plantserved other purposes. The stalks were woven and used as mats,the vegetable fibers were transformed into a pliable, tough mater-ial suitable for sandals, and lightweight skiffs used for hunting inthe marshes were made by binding long bundles together. These'papyrus craft' were not boats but rafts. They floated by virtue ofthe lightness of the material of which they were built. In the FifthDynasty tombs at Saqqara are scenes of craftsmen making pa-pyrus boats, possibly for the pilgrimage to Buto.

Art and Architecture

A great deal of what we know about the ancient Egyptian civiliza-tion comes through its monumental architecture, statuary, and re-lief decoration. These creations were not transient but were ex-pected to stand for all eternity. Great strides were taken in thefield of architecture in the Third and Fourth dynasties, many ofthe pyramids showing changes in the original design as the use ofstone was mastered. Royal statuary was another major industry,along with relief decoration. There was strict maintenance ofstandards. Artisans worked as members of a team under the direc-tion of a master craftsman, and a supervisor or overseer saw to theprogress of work.

The powerful and lifelike statues of the kings Khafre andMenkaure show mastery of materials. The finish was achieved bythe use of an adze followed by polishing with an oval stone. Moststatuary, however, was meant to be lifelike, so stone as well aswood were painted. Sculptors frequently gave a striking effect tothe faces by inserting pieces of quartz in the eye sockets with acopper stud for the pupil. A strict canon had long been worked

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out; standing figures were nineteen units high, and the seated fig-ures were fifteen units; the feet were the same length as the heightof the head and neck; the distance between the knees and the solesof the feet was twice was long as the feet. Drawing to scale, theartist could accurately enlarge a statue, or a scene. Continuity instyle was due to the careful maintenance of the codified rules laiddown in the Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom. Stateartisans reached the highest rank. Private statues were also made:scribe statues, for example, were introduced at the end of theFourth Dynasty, showing a man in cross-legged posture, readingor writing on a roll of papyrus on his lap. In the famous tomb ofTi, a Fifth Dynasty court dignitary, is a representation of an atelierwith artisans polishing and carving statues in his likeness.

Reliefs were fashioned with extraordinary delicacy. Unfinishedtombs like that of Ptahhotep at Saqqara provide evidence of themethod and progress of relief decoration, which involved a teamof artists. The wall of the tomb was first rendered smooth. Then achief artist prepared each surface for decoration by separating thedifferent registers with the aid of cords dipped in red paint, subdi-viding these further into rows or squares. Into these sections fig-ures of people, animals, and hieroglyphic characters were drawn,each row representing a single activity.

It seems probable that there was a common stock of themesfrom which the noble tomb owners chose, for similar scenes arerepresented in different tombs - with a reduction or increase inthe number of individuals, a variation in the placing of inscrip-tions, or the adding of such details as might please the artist: a baldman, a spotted cow, a frisky calf. The arrangement was apparentlyguided by the chief artist's preference (within the broad outlinesof the customer's wishes) and by the size of the tomb. All avail-able wall space was filled. After the background was cut away,leaving the figures in low relief, a sculptor would carve the finedetail. These relief-carvings were then painted. The coloring,

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while not entirely true to nature, was not exaggerated. For exam-ple, clothing was usually white (left without paint on the lime-stone wall), red ocher was used for the sunburnt bodies of men,while pink, pale brown, or yellow was used for women. Becausethe chief Old Kingdom burial grounds were in areas of high qual-ity limestone, reliefs were more common than mural decorations(which were painted either directly on the smoothed surface ofthe wall or on a plastered surface). Tempera technique was used:natural powdered pigments mixed with water and bound withacacia gum to adhere to the wall surface.

The freshness and brightness of Egyptian tomb paintings haveoften been commented on. They have retained their color becausethe pigments are natural. Red and yellow were obtained fromochers from the desert, chalk (calcium carbonate) or lime provid-ed white, and black was obtained from carbon in some form (sootor powdered charcoal) or a black manganese found in Sinai. Bluewas obtained from azurite, which is a blue carbonate of copper;another copper ore, malachite, was the source of green. Pink wasmade by mixing red ocher with chalk. Early drawings on potterywere probably made with a reed brush with the fibers teased out.Later, artists and painters used similar reed-stems, and the palettefor mixing the paint was either a ceramic bowl or a conch shell.

Although relief and mural decoration may appear to have beena mechanical art, the extremely high level of technical and artisticskill - and the harmonious final effect - should not be over-looked. The main figure was traditionally represented with headin profile (full-view eye and eyebrow, a half mouth, and a side-view nose) with shoulders shown full-width from the front, butwith profile body, legs, and feet, but minor figures are representedin a variety of informal poses. One might have the impression ofsimilarity of subject matter, and the scenes may appear to be uni-form, but close study shows that no two are exactly alike. Therewas endless modification, especially in representations of figures

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in the subsidiary scenes, where boatmen play games, workersmove energetically over the hull of a ship, a corpulent overseer isgiven a drink, or a lame farmer leads his flock.

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding was one of the most important and oldest industries(see chapter v). By the Fourth Dynasty, it is clear that boat con-struction had developed into a national art. In Khufu's mortuarycomplex at Giza is an intact vessel that was discovered in a rock-hewn pit to the south of the Great Pyramid. It is a magnificentbarge 44 meters long, now reconstructed and in a special museum.Built of cedar from Lebanon, it had been dismantled to fit into thepit, which was too short for it. Careful reassembly produced aflat-bottomed vessel with a massive curving hull rising to elegantprow and stern posts. Poles on the deck proved to be the support-ing palm-shaped columns of a large roofed cabin. Steering oars(each five meters long) were also found, and coils of rope. Theplanks were 'sewn' together by a system of ropes through holes.This was the first royal barge discovered, and scientific examina-tion suggests that it might actually have sailed. Such ships (there isa second in an as yet unexcavated pit near the first) may haveserved the king in his capacity as king of Upper and Lower Egyptduring his lifetime, later to be buried as part of his funerary equip-ment. Alternatively, they could have served a funerary, solar func-tion, being designed to transport his spirit, absorbed by the sun-god, to a life everlasting.

The tomb of Ti contains two shipbuilding scenes, the noble-man presiding over them both. He inspects every stage of thework being carried out. One scene shows the entire shipbuildingprocess, from the early stages of shaping and sawing the woodenplanks to the last stages of completion, with workmen milling

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over the curving hulls, carving, hammering, sawing, and drilling.All the hinges, nails, and bolts were made of copper, as were theworkers' tools.

Stone and Pottery Vessels

Although serving a utilitarian purpose, most of the productsmanufactured in ancient Egypt were fashioned with a fine senseof balance and a desire for beauty. Stone vessels from Predynasticgraves were created in perfect symmetry, at first with flint borersand later by a cranked brace with weights acting as a flywheel forhollowing. The ancient industry of stone-vessel manufacture waslargely superseded by the potters when they began to fashiontheir ware with the aid of a horizontal wheel. Deftly guiding theswirling vessels with their hands, their rate of production wasmuch higher, and they were able to fulfill the demand for storageand eating vessels. Decorative cosmetic containers, decoratedtableware, and fancy vessels were sometimes formed in the shapesof animals and birds.

The skills and methods of the ancient potter can be traced forover five thousand years. Two methods of preparing the clay havebeen recorded. One, as revealed by tomb reliefs, shows the accu-mulated clay being soaked in a pit with water to make it work-able. This was particularly necessary in the case of marls. Another,less common method was to separate the coarser particles, or tomix in a tempering material such as sand or crushed limestone.The clay was then kneaded or trodden to produce an even textureand remove excess air. Conical lumps were delivered to the potter.

In many nobles' tombs at Saqqara, potters can be seen at workfashioning vessels and stacking them up. Several different tech-niques were employed: most vessels were hand-formed entirely;some were hand-formed initially and then finished on a stand;

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and use was also made of the hand-wheel. Pottery was left to dryin the open air to what is usually called the 'leather-hard stage.' Itwas then smoothed by the potter's hand, or with a cloth, afterwhich a coating of a pigment and water, or pigment mixed withclay and water, could be added to the surface before the potterywas fired. These coatings made the surface less permeable, andimproved the appearance of the vessel.

By the Fourth Dynasty, the days of irregular burning in anopen fire at the mercy of the wind had passed; the potter had rowsof closed kilns with a simple updraft to achieve uniform firing.Our knowledge of the kilns derives from a few samples that havesurvived in tomb reliefs, models, and from hieroglyphic signs.The earliest show that they flared to the top, with straight or con-cave sides, and were loaded from the top. The pottery was stackedon openwork platforms that separated them from the fire locatedin a small chamber below. Although pottery was primarily the oc-cupation of men, a potter's wife and other members of his familyhelped out in various ways: collecting fuel for the kilns, carryingthe clay from its sources, and adding finishing touches to a pot be-fore it was placed in the kiln.

Clay was also used for bricks, which were not fired. They weremade of a combination of mud, water, and straw. The mixture wasthen poured into molds and left in the sun to dry. Brick-manufac-ture by this same method can still be seen practiced in many partsof Egypt today.

Textile Manufacture

Spinning and weaving were major industries practiced from Pre-dynastic times, when dressed skins were replaced by woven gar-ments. A skill was developed such that by the beginning of thedynastic period, Egyptians were producing very fine linen. The

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invention of the loom was another early triumph of ingenuity.Flax yielded long threads, and - to judge from the ever-growingdemand for linen-it was as painstakingly cultivated as grain.When the flax was ripe, and its fibers tough, it was suitable formats and ropes. If cut when the stems were green, it could be wo-ven into soft linen: surviving remnants show that the fabric wassometimes of such gossamer fineness as to be almost indistin-guishable from silk. This was particularly the case with royallinen, though coarser textiles were woven on a more widespreadscale. Both spinning (entirely by the spindle), and weaving (onboth upright and horizontal looms) was carried out by women,who also made tapestries, which were intended either for hangingon the walls of nobles' villas or to form the shade of a roof garden.The earliest evidence of textile workshops is an inscription foundon a royal Fifth Dynasty mummy at Abu Sir. It identifies the de-ceased as 'assistant, superintendent of the weaving workshop.'

Viticulture

The first wine-press hieroglyph dates from the First Dynasty, andthere is evidence that even at this early date wine was transportedacross the country in sealed jars. Later representations show thatgrapes were picked by hand, placed in vats and trodden until theliquid ran through holes into a waiting container. The vat wascanopied against the heat, and the chanting workers pressing thegrapes held on to ropes hung from rafters. The residue of skins,seeds, and stalks was placed in canvas bags with staves fastened toeach end. Two men (aided, in several tomb representations, by amonkey) lever these apart to squeeze out any juice remaining.Fermentation probably occurred naturally, due both to themethod of pressing and to the high summer temperature. Whenpartly fermented, the wine was siphoned into tall pottery vessels

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and allowed to mature. There is some evidence that the vesselswere coated on the inside with a resinous substance to prevent theliquid being lost through the porous pottery.

Other Industries

Workers in other industries included carpenters, who producedthe highest quality furniture for the Great House; coppersmiths,who made pipes and bowls as well as tools; and goldsmiths, whofashioned jewelry. All were strictly organized, with the work su-pervised by overseers, themselves under the direction of a 'chiefoverseer.' There was a tendency for children to ply the trades oftheir parents, at first making themselves useful around the work-shops and then working as apprentices.

In making furniture, carpenters used hammers and mallets,saws with teeth slanting toward the handle - indicating that theywere pulled not pushed - and bow-drills for making holes.Leather-production had long been mastered and the curing ofhides produced soft, fine-quality skins. The hides were firststretched taut on a board, then left to soak in oil. In the Old King-dom no other tanning process was used. After the skins were re-moved, and when they started to dry, the leather was hammeredto ensure that the oil was completely absorbed. The leather wasthen dyed in various colors and used to cover stools, chairs, beds,and cushions. Apart from its use in furniture, leather was alsoused to produce sandals, satchels, and sheets of parchment for of-ficial use.

The tomb of Ti records the goldsmith's factory and the differ-ent stages of production of jewelry. Ti himself watches the headgoldsmith weighing the precious metal, which was brought fromthe alluvial sands of the Eastern Desert or from Nubia, whilescribes record it. Workers are depicted casting, soldering, and fit-

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ting together a rich assortment of fine jewelry. Six men direct theirblowpipes to the flames in a clay furnace. Beside them, a work-man pours the molten metal. On the extreme right four men beatgold leaf. Some of the engravers seated on low benches are dwarfs.Turquoise, cut or ground- into tiny pieces, are inland with preci-sion, soldered and fitted into exquisite necklets and other items ofadornment. Glass was produced from silica-sand, lime, and soda;the earliest glass beads and amulets were found in Predynasticgraves.

Wages

Workers were paid wages in the form of bread, beer, clothing, oils,and grain in large amounts. Nobles frequently recorded their re-lationship with their foremen and workers by claiming that"whether craftsmen or quarrymen, I satisfied them." One FourthDynasty nobleman, Memi, was more explicit: in an inscription onthe base of his statue he declared that the sculptor who fashionedhis statue "was satisfied with the reward I gave him." Terms ofemployment are not clear, although some inscriptions imply thatcontracts were made. The lintel above an official's tomb entranceat Giza records that "the necropolis man Pepi is content over thecontract which I made with him." The term 'necropolis man' wasused for unskilled labor, whether quarryman or stoneworker.

"Never did I use force against any man, for I wanted my nameto be good before god and my repute to be good before all men.""Never did I do an evil thing." Such inscriptions were common inthe tombs at Saqqara, and may have reflected the tomb-owner'swish to stress his qualities so that his name would shine before the'great god,' the king. But they do encourage us to view with atleast some reservation Herodotus's description of hordes of op-pressed and overworked slaves, whipped by merciless overseers,

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toiling and dying in the scorching sun in order to raise a monu-mental pyramid for the glorification of the king. There were infact few slaves in the Old Kingdom, since foreign conquest was ata minimum, and no worker revolts are recorded until later peri-ods. Indeed, the marks made on some of the casing stones deliv-ered from the quarries for the great pyramids indicate a spirit ofpride and competition among the workers. They gave themselvesteam names such as Vigorous gang' and 'enduring gang.'

The Farming Masses

The bulk of the population was employed on the land. There areno Old Kingdom titles specifically connected with irrigationworks, nor do we have written regulations regarding water con-trol. This was undoubtedly because there were natural floodbasins that needed the minimum of work, and competition forwater was never an issue, except at the local level, because all set-tlements had direct access to the Nile. Presumably, until faminestruck at the end of the Sixth Dynasty, no need was felt to orga-nize irrigation. The flood came regularly and the farming com-munities had learned, from long experience, how to cope with thediversities of nature and improve the quality of the land.

It was once believed that the fertility of the fields was entirelythe result of the annual deposits of Nile silt from the sources ofthe Blue Nile. But now it is known that a certain amount of care-ful land management was also practiced in ancient times, includ-ing crop rotation, fallowing, and allowing cattle to pasture on thestubble and fertilize the soil. Some rare scenes of field workers be-ing organized into crews suggest that smallholders may havejoined forces with neighboring families for water distribution andharvesting.

With the inundation of the floodplain, farmers made sure that

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their cattle were safely housed on higher, dry land; with otheragricultural activities suspended, they cared for the cattle and pro-vided them with food already laid in storage. They carefully di-rected the water from the main canals to smaller branches travers-ing the fields in straight or curved lines, and controlled it bymeans of embankments. When the water level began to fall thesenatural reservoirs retained a residue of mineral-rich sediment thatwas ready to receive seed without further preparation. Reliefsshow that oxen dragged simple wooden plows to till the soil andthen lines of sowers would cast grain on the surface from baskets.This was usually trodden in by goats. Where the earth dried hard,however, a plow was used. The hoe - one of the most ancient ofagricultural tools - consisted of a broad, pointed blade of woodattached to a handle at an acute angle and held in position in thecenter by a slack rope. The plow was a hoe enlarged by addingtwo long wooden arms on which the plowman could lean to keepthe furrow straight and also to pressure the blade into the soil. Apole was provided with a yoke for attaching to draft animals.

Although the Nile Valley and the Delta were fertile, full ex-ploitation of the land only came with continuous toil. Farmersmanufactured their own tools and household possessions. Fromscenes in nobles' tombs it is apparent that the harvest was the sea-son of most strenuous activity. The ripened wheat was reapedwith the aid of a sickle, tied in bundles, and loaded on to donkeysto be carried to the threshing floor. The wheat was then piled inheaps to be trodden by oxen, goats, or donkeys. The threshedgrain was piled in a heap by means of three-pronged forks andsifted and winnowed with small boards or scoops used in pairs totoss the grain into the wind. Sometimes girls of ordinary families,too young to manage the household, lent a hand in the fields,gathering and winnowing. Finally the grain was placed in sacksand transported to the granary.

Flour for bread, the staple food of rich and poor alike, was a

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taxable commodity, and market scenes show grain in bags beingused for barter. To make flour the grain was first cleaned, thenpowdered in a stone mortar and sifted. The bran was kept for theanimals; the rest was ground by placing it at the upper end of aslightly hollowed, slanting slab of limestone and sliding a crossbarof sandstone across it. The ground flour gradually worked down-ward and was caught in a tray at the lower end. Bread was leav-ened by adding more flour to the residue of dough from the pre-vious day, which has been left to sour. After the mixing andkneading of the dough it was shaped into ovals, triangles, and in-dented squares or placed in molds of various shapes and sizes.One of the most common shapes of bread was a conical white loafmuch used in offerings. Bread dough was also used in the brewingof beer, a favorite drink among the masses. From the newly dis-covered bakery at Giza there is evidence of assembly-line produc-tion: baking pots and lids were manufactured at the site of thebakery where they were fired; and beer, the byproduct of thebread, was also produced there.

Egyptians acquired a taste for honey from early times, and do-mestic bees can be traced to the Old Kingdom. Nyuserre's suntemple at Abu Sir shows a farmer kneeling in front of a row ofhives in one scene, and in another pouring honey from a jar into astorage vessel. Such hives were made of reed or rush bundles coat-ed with mud.

The goods traded among the working classes were by no meansluxury products. A great many scenes show the exchange of foodand drink, especially fruit, vegetables, and fish. Among the tombscenes of the colleagues Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep are twomen measuring and discussing the price of a bale of cloth. Anoth-er salesman offers fish from his basket to a seated man engraving aseal. A third trades a fan for a drink. Perhaps some of these peo-ple, especially those that carry shoulder bags, sacks, and boxes,were itinerant traders.

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Animal Husbandry

Environmental conditions in the Delta and in the marshlands af-forded excellent conditions for cattle-breeding, and animals wereraised with care. Selection of temple herds was made from allparts of the country, which must have improved the breeds, espe-cially of cattle and sheep. Care of animals came naturally to peo-ple who, before they settled down, had been hunters, fishers, andcattle-breeders. Veterinary medicine was practiced and the obvi-ous health of the herds indicates proficient rearing. The care oflivestock was a talent handed from generation to generation,touchingly depicted in many tombs. There are scenes showing ayoung farmhand feeding the animals, milking a cow, and (in thetombs of Ptahhotep and Ti) helping a cow give birth. In the tombof Ti is a scene of a bald-headed farmer leading his animalsthrough a canal by taking a calf on his shoulders to encourage itsmother, and the rest of the herd, to follow. Attempts were made todomesticate wild creatures like the antelope, gazelle, and hyenaalong with tame species. The experiments seem to have been suc-cessful. The ancient Egyptians knew their animals intimately andalthough there are scenes of herders driving rams across a canalwith raised whip, none shows an animal being beaten.

The slaughter of cattle was part of temple ritual and there aremany scenes in Old Kingdom tombs that depict the manner inwhich this was carried out. Several stockmen were involved. Theleft foreleg of the sacrificial animal would first be caught in a slipknot, the other end of the rope being thrown over its back andpulled by a second man. This forced the roped leg off the groundand threw the animal off balance. A man would sit on its neck andpull its head backward, another would hold onto its tail, and athird lift one of its hind legs. As soon as the animal was on theground, the two hind legs and roped foreleg were roped together,the victim left powerless. The butcher then bled the animal to

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death, collecting the blood in a vessel, and with a long-handledknife and a whetstone hung from the corner of his loincloth pro-ceeded with his task.

The animals sacred to the various temples, like the Apis bull ofMemphis, were not necessarily the calf of a sacred animal, andsometimes not even part of the local herd. They were simply fineanimals with particular markings, carefully chosen and rituallyinstalled in the temple.

The Bucolic Afterlife

Belief in the afterlife was, as we have seen, the focal point of theancient Egyptian outlook. It stimulated their thought, moralprinciples, art, architecture, burial traditions, and beliefs. To mostof the population, upper and lower classes alike, there was a con-cept of the afterlife as a rural environment. This was believed to liein the path of the setting sun, where the deceased would be ferriedacross the 'lily lake' and gain admittance to a blessed place of pe-culiar fertility where wheat grew seven cubits high. Plowing,reaping, and watering of crops ensured eternal abundance. Thenoble classes, desiring an extension of their experience on earth,visualized workers toiling for them for eternity; small wooden orfaience funerary statuettes, the 'answerers' or shawabti figures,were placed in their tombs, usually each group of ten under anoverseer. There were figures of farmers who carried agriculturalimplements, artisans with the tools of their trade, and even a sailorto man the model vessel placed with oars near the coffin of a de-ceased nobleman.

VIIILeisure

Entertainment

Leisure was made possible by the economy, exceptional opportu-nities, and favorable climate of ancient Egypt. Many tombs atSaqqara and Giza contain scenes of the deceased seated with fami-ly, friends, or relatives beneath an arbor enjoying the mild northbreeze. The panorama of everyday life indicates how vitally con-scious the people were of the animal and bird life teeming aroundthem and how much they esteemed outdoor life. It seems thatamong the greatest pleasures were venturing into the marshes insearch of aquatic birds, hunting in the undulating plains of thedesert, and fishing in canals and lakes.

The ancient Egyptians had a great sense of rhythm and love ofmusic. During important events (such as the breaking of groundby the 'scorpion king,' depicted on his mace-head), a line ofwomen clapped in unison. A piper or singer often entertainedfishers and farmers while they worked. And, not surprisingly, wefind the wealthy classes enjoying music at all times of day: at theirmorning toilet, at meals, and during leisure hours. Harps weresmall and usually played by a seated musician; flutes were in twosizes. A full orchestra comprised two harps and two flutes. Twoor three musicians, as well as singers and clappers, often accompa-nied lithe young women as they performed dances. One suchscene, in the tomb of Ti, shows both male and female performers,who perform separately, each with accompanying hand-clappers.In the tomb of Mehu at Saqqara female dancers raise their arms in

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a circular motion above their heads while their feet move forward,a gesture probably repeated to the rhythm of the music. A moreenergetic performance is depicted in the tomb of Ankhmahor,where the dancers do a high kick. In the tomb of Kagemni an ac-robatic dance is performed by young girls who are depicted withthe left foot placed flat on the floor, torso curved, head droppingbackward until the hair, plaited into a pigtail with decoration onthe end, hangs down in perfect symmetry. Such scenes, which arecommonplace in ancient Egyptian tombs were not, as once sup-posed, purely for the entertainment of the deceased and their fam-ilies in the afterlife. They were ceremonial dances, probably sug-gesting a ritual of rebirth. Music and religion were closely linked.Hathor, for example, the cow-goddess of love and nourishment,was associated with music and dance; her son Ihy became a god ofmusic and patron of the chorus. Hathor's sacred emblem, thesistrum, was an ancient musical instrument that eventually be-came an architectural feature in temples.

The fact that the ancient Egyptians had no known system ofmusical notation is somewhat surprising, particularly in view ofthe development of an independent system of writing at an earlydate. Perhaps tunes, like the popular stories, were transmittedfrom generation to generation. We do know that early visitors toEgypt from the Greek mainland around the sixth century BC wereparticularly impressed with the harmony of Egyptian melodies.

One of the most appealing tales of the Old Kingdom is the sto-ry of the pygmy brought from the 'land of Yam' to amuse theyoung king Pepi II. Pepi was only six years old when he ascendedthe throne. During the second year of his reign Harkhuf, the no-bleman of Elephantine who made many journeys to the south, re-turned with exotic products and a dancing pygmy as a gift for theking. He sent messengers ahead to inform the Great House, andwith great enthusiasm Pepi sent a letter of thanks to Harkhuf re-questing him to take every precaution that the pygmy should ar-

Outdoor Sport 177

rive in Memphis in good condition. Harkhuf was instructed toput trustworthy persons in charge to ensure the pygmy shouldnot fall overboard, and that when he slept guards should sleep oneither side of the cabin and make an inspection "ten times a night;for," wrote Harkhuf in his tomb - where he recorded the episodeand quoted the king's letter in his biographical text - "my majestydesires to see this pygmy more than all the gifts of Setjru, Irtjet,and Yam."

A legend in the Westcar Papyrus, which relates events in theOld Kingdom, tells of the aged king Senefru's entertainment. Amagician recommended that he row on the palace lake in the com-pany of "all the beauties who are in your palace chamber... theheart of Your Majesty shall be refreshed at the sight of their row-ing as they row up and down. You can see the beautiful fish pondsof your lake, and you can see the beautiful fields around it (and)your heart will be refreshed at this." Senefru forthwith orderedthat twenty oars be made of ebony fitted with gold and silver, andthat twenty women be brought, "the most beautiful in form, withhair well braided, with firm breasts, not yet having opened up togive birth. Let there be brought to me twenty nets, and let thesenets be given to these women when they have taken off theirclothes. Then it was done according to all that His Majesty com-manded, and they rowed up and down. The heart of His Majestywas happy at the sight of their rowing."

Outdoor Sport

Outdoor recreations were popular among all classes of society.King Sahure was depicted in his sun temple hunting gazelle, ante-lope, deer, and other animals, and most nobles' tombs containscenes showing the pursuit of wild game and capture of variousspecies. The working classes chased gazelle, oryx, wild oxen,

i/8 Leisure

hares, and ostrich with equal enthusiasm. Long bow and arrow,lasso, throwing sticks, and bola were the most common huntingweapons. The bow was no more than a meter in length and the ar-rows, carried in leather quivers, came in several varieties; the onepreferred for hunting (which served into the New Kingdom) hadan agate arrowhead cemented to a sturdy stick, usually ebony, andfitted into a hollow reed shaft. It was decorated with two feathersand notched for the bowstring.

Considerable ability must have been required in the handlingof the throwing stick, numerous specimens of which may befound. They varied in shape. Some were semicircular, others end-ed in a knob. The bola consisted of a rope or strap about five me-ters long with a single rounded stone attached to the end. Whenthrown, the cord would twist round the legs or neck of the animaland hinder its movement. A good hunter could bring down an an-imal with a careful throw. The noose of the lasso was thrownround the neck of the running victim, whether gazelle, wild goat,or ostrich.

Hunting scenes were extremely spirited, showing the hunterenthusiastically pursuing game in an obvious display of pleasure.Some scenes indicate how bait was used. In Ptahhotep's tomb themuzzle of a young tethered heifer is being seized in the jaws of alion, which a hunter points out to his two hounds before settingthem loose. Hounds were specially trained for hunting and fol-lowing wounded beasts. Every effort seems to have been made tosave the game animals from being hurt and to capture them alive.Ptahhotep is depicted watching men dragging cages containinglion, a frame with gazelles bound together in groups, and smallercages containing hedgehogs. Sometimes a hunter, perhaps afterkilling its mother, would take a young gazelle back to the village.

The Egyptians were avid fishers. After the waters of the annualflood receded, ponds were left in the open country. These, as wellas the canals and the river, yielded an inexhaustible supply of mul-

Outdoor Sport 179

let, catfish, tilapia, perch, barbel, and other varieties of fish. Theupper classes penetrated deep into the thickets in their firmly con-structed papyrus skiffs, their feet squarely placed on the centralplank. They pursued fish with spears - sometimes two-pronged -but never angled. The common folk on the other hand sometimesspeared fish like their masters but more often angled from smallboats, using as many as five hooks on a single line. Dragnets weredrawn from the shore in small canals, trawl nets were used in larg-er canals and the river, and trap nets were also used. These werewicker baskets with narrow necks, sometimes curving inward;when they were dropped into shallow water, the fish were attract-ed to the bait and swam inside but could not emerge. Hippopota-mus-hunting with spears was popular among all classes. Har-poons were used with great dexterity.

The ancient Egyptians' familiarity with bird life is particularlyapparent in the tomb of Ti, where various marsh species are de-picted in families near their nests, each drawn with characteristicfeatures and easily identifiable (although not drawn to scale).They include quail, partridge, heron, pelican, turtledove, magpie,swallow, wild duck, and goose. Wading in the reedy swamps nearthe river are flamingos, pelicans, and cormorants. In fact, indige-nous and migratory waterfowl were so plentiful that the ancientEgyptians likened a crowd to a bird pond during the inundation.Birds were most often caught in clap nets. Hunting them with athrow-stick was also an extremely popular sport, which neededskill: the hunter, often accompanied by his wife, children, and ser-vants, had to stand firmly in his boat with legs wide apart and,while maintaining his balance, fling the missile at the fowl as theytook to the air. Some of the men with him hold decoy-birds, indi-cating that the boat made its way quietly through the thickets tocreep up on the fowl. Mongooses were trained to catch smallaquatic birds, considered a great delicacy.

It is not surprising, in view of the warm weather and the prox-

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imity of the river, that the ancient Egyptians were swimmers fromearly times. Early Dynastic seals show swimmers in action. It isevident from these and other representations that the crawl wasthe common stroke. Learning to swim may, indeed, have beennecessary training for children among the upper classes, for a bio-graphical inscription of a Middle Kingdom nobleman refers tothe encouragement his king gave him and declares that as a youth"he caused me to take swimming lessons along with the royalchildren."

Confrontation sports like wrestling, boxing, and fencing withsticks were also popular. Ptahhotep's tomb shows wrestlingscenes, in which many elements common in Japanese martial artshave been detected. In many tombs the owner is depicted watch-ing boatmen's games, which may have been either an exhibitioncontest or a race. Light reed boats, often filled with produce, werepunted in the same direction, while two or three men stood ineach boat equipped with long poles with which they tried to pushtheir opponents into the water. They would then either board the'enemy' boat or tip it over.

In the tombs of the Old Kingdom, only children (identified bythe side-lock of youth) are depicted playing games. Moreover,most of the games are played by boys, and (with few exceptions)boys and girls did not play together. A game requiring skill wasplayed by boys with sharp-pointed sticks, which they raised andthrew at a target on the ground between them. A 'tug-of-war' trialof strength was accompanied by such inscriptions as "your arm ismuch stronger than his," "my team is stronger than yours," and"hold fast, comrades." Boys played a high-jump game, leapingover an obstacle formed by two of their comrades sitting oppositeeach other with the soles of the feet and tips of the fingers touch-ing.

A girls' game is depicted in Mereruka's tomb: two players inthe center hold either two or four partners with outstretched

Indoor Games 181

arms; the latter lean outward so that only their heels touch theground. The text reads "turn around four times." Though thereare no reliefs of children playing ball in the Old Kingdom, ballshave been found, even in prehistoric graves. Some were coveredin leather cut into sections and sewn together and filled with finestraw or reeds. Others were made of wood or clay, in one or morecolors. Tops, rattles, and blowpipes, as well as dolls, have alsobeen found. Some dolls seem to have been made by the childrenthemselves from pieces of wood swathed in cloth. They also madetoys fashioned of clay: crude human figures and animals likesheep, dogs, tortoises, and lizards, which can be clearly identified.When children died, these 'treasures' were buried with them.

Indoor Games

The ancient Egyptians were also imaginative in their indoorrecreation. A favorite game was senet, which appears to have beensimilar to checkers, played on a rectangular board divided intothirty squares in three rows with carved black and white pieces. Alarge number were found at the tomb of Ptahshepses at Abu Sir.Although the players are depicted facing each other, there is noindication of the rules of the game. The earliest gaming piece (inthe shape of a house with a sloping roof) was found in the tomb ofthe First Dynasty king Den. Predynastic game pieces made ofclay coated with wax, along with a checker-board table of un-baked clay held up by four thick, short legs and divided into eigh-teen squares, have also been found.

A game that appears to have been popular in the Old Kingdomwas played with a series of discs about ten centimeters in diame-ter, made in wood, horn, ivory, stone, or copper. Each had a holein the center, through which a fifteen-centimeter pointed stickwas inserted. We do not know how the game was played. Perhaps

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the stick was rotated between the palms of the hands to make thediscs spin like a top.

Some of the games of the Old Kingdom did survive its fall. Onewas played on a low table, its surface displaying an engraved orinlaid coiled snake, the head situated at the center of the board andthe body divided into transverse lines forming segments. Thepieces for this game comprised three lions, three lionesses, andfive red-and-white balls; these were kept in an ebony box whenthe game was not being used.

Folk Tales and Myths

Storytelling played an important part in the lives of the ancientEgyptians. The deeds of gods and kings were not written in earlytimes and only found their way through oral tradition into the lit-erature of a later date. This treasury of popular tales was based onan ageless tradition in ancient Egypt. As we have seen, the people,their society, and their institutions were molded by the environ-ment and by nature's changeless cycles. The permanence of thephysical environment meant that the lives of the rural Egyptiansremained stable. While the Great House was striving for politicalcontrol, and noble fathers were teaching proverbs and behavior totheir sons, the life of the peasant farmer was shaped, as in timeslong past, by the rise and fall of the Nile. Each evening when thesun set, farm work was over. Farmers would put aside their hoes,sickles, and winnowing forks, and sit with their friends in the vil-lage or on the rocky outcrop overlooking the valley, and tell tales.

They related all they knew of their ancestors, who, like them-selves, knew how to exploit the waters of the Nile. Narmer, sometold, diverted the great river at Memphis through an artificialchannel and constructed a moat around the city that was fed bythe river. They related tales of the good and kindly king Senefru,

Folk Tales and Myths 183

who helped the poor; of the wicked Khufu who constructed amighty tomb in the shape of the sacred ben-ben, and of Menkaurewho was. good and just and compensated the poor. Popular andmagical tales were closely bound together in a frame narrative,which provided a reason for their telling. Whether or not this wasbased on propaganda by the central government is not important,once they became part of the stockpile of oral tradition. For ex-ample, the Westcar Papyrus relates three stories that mention thenames of kings and princes in the Old Kingdom in chronologicalorder. It preserves the undercurrents of what might have been amost inspired, imaginative, and successful campaign to dissemi-nate sun worship by the Heliopolitan priests. The text reveals thatKhufu, builder of the great pyramid, asked his sons to tell himtales of wonders. The first two magical feats recounted took placein the reigns of the Third Dynasty kings Zoser and Nebka, thethird in Senefru's reign, and the fourth in Khufu's own reign. Thetales end with the prophecy of the imminent birth of three sonsby Reddedet, the wife of a Heliopolitan priest, who were destinedfor the throne. The eldest of these children, conceived by the sun-god Re by immaculate conception, would also be High Priest ofHeliopolis. The purpose of the tale (to show that the kings of theFifth Dynasty were sons of the sun-god) was preceded by appeal-ing stories of wonder and magic. In this form, it was passedthrough the generations, becoming part of the oral tradition, untilfinally set to writing.

The repulsing of Apep, the evil dragon-like creature thatlurked on the horizon, was another popular tale. Each evening, atsunset, it tried to stop the passage of the setting sun through theunderworld. If the sky was clear, it indicated an easy passage; ablood-red sunset showed a desperate battle between the forces ofgood and evil; but the sun was the victor and there was always anew dawn. The Egyptians told tales of the world around them:how the sky was held aloft by mountain peaks or pillars that rose

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above the range that formed the edge of the world; how the sunwas a disc of fire that sailed across the heavens in a boat, or waspushed by the beetle, Kheper; how the sky was a mother-goddess,Nut, like the cow that gave nourishment; and how the earth wasGeb, who sprouted vegetation, reborn each year as their great an-cestor Osiris had been given life after death. They told tales ofOsiris who taught them how to produce grain for their nourish-ment, of Isis his wife who taught them how to weave and grindgrain for bread, and of Horus, their son, who was the king whohad power over the forces of nature.

They told many tales about their river: how Hapi the Nile-goddwelt in a grotto on an island where the Nile gushed out of theeternal ocean that surrounded the earth, and from where he con-trolled its flow to Upper and Lower Egypt. They described Hapias a boatman or fisherman like many of their own, with a narrowbelt holding in a large belly and heavy breasts.

And they told tales of their land: how the vegetation that diedwith the harvest was reborn when the grain sprouted, just as thesun-god 'died' each evening and was reborn the next morning.How Set, the personification of drought, darkness, and evil, se-cretly aspired to the throne of Osiris, the god of fertility and wa-ter. They told how, when Horus was a child and was hidden withhis mother Isis in the marshes of the Delta, he was bitten by Set,who had taken the form of a poisonous snake. Isis, in despair,called to the heavens for help, and the 'boat of millions of years'drawing the sun-god across the heavens heard her. Re sent Thoththe moon-god to speak to Isis and offer help. He informed herthat the boat of the sun-god would stand still, darkness wouldreign, there would be no food, and the people of the earth wouldsuffer, until Horus was cured. They told how the evil Set wasovercome, Horus became healthy, and the sun-god resumed hisjourney across the heavens, casting life-giving rays upon the earthand causing the crops to grow again.

Rural Festivals 185

Myths and legends are a memory of the past carried forward inever-elaborated, sometimes distorted or exaggerated form, ifsome of the tales had long served a politico-religious purpose, thepeople were not necessarily aware of it. Many include elements ofmagic, the supernatural, a trick overcome, a solution to a problemprovided, or a reality explained. The magician Djedi, described inthe Westcar Papyrus as having performed feats of wonder, was"one hundred and ten years," and one who knew "the number ofthe secret chambers of the sanctuary of Thoth," the moon-godwho was the finder of secrets, the solver of problems.

Rural Festivals

Rural festivals were a great source of pleasure to the masses. Theywere closely linked to the working patterns of the people: cele-brations heralding the rebirth of the crop, the reaping of the firstsheaf, the opening of a new canal, the bearing of the crop to thegranary - all were accompanied by hand-clapping, singing, andsometimes more. All festivals were of a religious nature in thesense that it was an appropriate time for pilgrimages to be made tothe graves of the departed to present offerings, or for a longerjourney to be undertaken to the holy site of ancestors to make asacrifice. These were not gestures of piety so much as a self-im-posed duty, a gratification, and a familiar and recognized patternof behavior.

In the Old Kingdom the people were confident (they had notyet known war or foreign occupation), hard-working (a reflec-tion of a stable and organized government), and optimistic (sincethe nature-worship of Osiris had not yet developed into a 'cult ofthe dead,' there was no need for the growth of priestcraft to helpdefend against the awesome powers of the underworld). In theOld Kingdom, people suffered no apprehension of the hereafter.

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When they died and were buried on the west bank of the Nile,along with the necessary provisions for the hereafter, they wereconfident that they would go to the 'godly west,' where theywould live again as on earth. There would be no hunger or want.In this blessed place of peculiar fertility, they would breathe thefresh air along the river banks, fish in the bulrushes, paddle boatsalong the river, and enjoy fowling and hunting for ever and ever inthe'field of reeds.'

Conclusion

There were many reasons that made Egypt a country unique inproviding an unbroken story of human progress longer than canbe traced anywhere else on earth. They are based primarily on thesecurity and sufficiency of the land with predictable seasons andno scarcity of basic resources, as well as on the political organiza-tion of the country. This was based on the establishment of localcults at strategic positions by means of which royal monopolyover raw materials was assured. This paved the way for the emer-gence of a court-centered culture. Builders and artisans with anaptitude for translating a range of ideals into their artistic cre-ations were employed by the state. Hieroglyphic writing was for-malized, art forms codified, mortuary ritual standardized, and anational religion formulated. A festival was planned in which dis-tant communities could actively participate, and a drama per-formed that traced the story of the creation of the physical worldup to the triumph and coronation of the king. In addition, amythological tradition with strong political, social, and religiousramifications was developed. Tradition became so deeply rootedin the first eight centuries of ancient Egyptian history (from 3000to 2145 BC) that despite the fall of the Old Kingdom (and, indeed,other 'great periods'), it continued to influence the political andsocial institutions, religious beliefs and rituals, art and architec-ture for thousands of years.

In the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BC), the second of Egypt'sthree great periods, the title 'repeating of births' (that is, renais-

188 Conclusion

sance) was applied to kingly rule, and the kings maintained theircontrol over the reunited country by reviving the methods prac-ticed in the Old Kingdom: the construction or restoration of tem-ples at cult centers, the performance of national festivals, and themonopoly of trade. Indeed, in a record dating to the reign ofSenusret III we find the king searching the ancient records "to as-certain the form of a god, that he might fashion him as he was for-merly, when they made the statues in their council, in order to es-tablish their monuments on earth."

After the war of liberation from the Hyksos and the creation ofan empire, Egypt entered an age of unparalleled wealth andgrandeur in the New Kingdom (15 50-1070 BC). The priests ofAmun-Re of Thebes became extremely powerful, and there wasgrave discontent among the upper classes. When Akhenaten cameto the throne he emphasized a connection between his worship ofthe living sun, the Aten, and the solar cult of the Pyramid Age. Hebuilt his sun temples on the same lines as the Fifth Dynasty tem-ples at Abu Sir. And the symbol of the Aten, the orb of the sun,was reminiscent of the description of the sun-god in the PyramidTexts: "The arm of the sun beams." The king himself was still re-garded as the 'son of the sun-god' and the traditional title Re-Harakhte, 'Horus of the Horizon,' was not at first discarded.Stress was once again placed on maat, and verses in praise of theAten contained little that had not been sung in earlier verses to thesun-god Re. Akhenaten's revival was short-lived. The priests ofAmun-Re came back to power and for a time basked in a periodof unequaled splendor. But the empire was lost, the country wentinto a period of decline.

During the brief Twenty-sixth Dynasty revival known as theSake Period (664-525 BC), conscientious effort was made to re-capture 'the time of the ancestors,' "for lo, their words abide inwriting; open that thou may read and imitate knowledge." TheSaite rulers recopied ancient texts, and there is even evidence that

Conclusion 189

they excavated a gallery beneath the Step Pyramid at Saqqara tosee how it was built.

The Old Kingdom became a classic standard, a time in whichthe hard core of Egyptian thought was formulated, and a timethat the ancient Egyptians themselves regarded as a Golden Age, amodel throughout their history.

For Further Reading

EDWARDS, I.E.S.: The Pyramids of Egypt. Revised and updated.London: Penguin Books, 1988.

EMERY, W.B.: Archaic Egypt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,1961.

ERMAN, ADOLF: Life in Ancient Egypt. Translated by H.M.Tirard. New York: Dover Publications, 1971.

Faulkner, R.O.: The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1969.

FRANKFORT, HENRI: Kingship and the Gods: A Study of AncientNear Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978.

HAYES, WILLIAM C.: Most Ancient Egypt. Chicago: The Uni-versity of Chicago Press, 1965.

HOFFMAN, MICHAEL A.: Egypt Before the Pharaohs. Londonand New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.

KAMIL, JILL: Sakkara and Memphis: History and Guide. New,completely revised edition. Cairo: Egyptian International Pub-lishing - Longman, 1996.

For Further Reading 191

KEES, HERMANN: Ancient Egypt: A Cultural Topography. Trans-lated by Ian F. D. Morrow Chicago and London: Faber andFaber, 1961.

KEMP, BARRY J.: Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization.London and New York: Routledge, 1989.

MORENZ, SIEGFRIED: Egyptian Religion. Translated by Ann E.Keep. London: Methuen, 1960.

PETRIE, FLINDERS W. M.: The Pyramids and Temples ofGizeh.New and revised edition. London: History and Mysteries ofMan, 1990.

RICE, MICHAEL: Egypt's Making. London and New York:Routledge, 1990.

SPENCER, A.J.: Early Egypt: The Rise of Civilization in the NileValley. London: British Museum Press, 1993.

STEVENSON SMITH, W.: The Art and Architecture of AncientEgypt. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1958.

TRIGGER, BRUCE G.: Early Civilizations: Ancient Egypt inContext. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 1993.

TRIGGER, B.C., BJ. KEMP, D. O'CONNOR, A.B. LLOYD.: An-cient Egypt: A Social History. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 1983.

WEEKS, KENT. Egyptology and the Social Sciences. Cairo: TheAmerican University in Cairo Press, 1979.

Index

Abu Ghurab 104Abu Sir

99,102, 105, 119, 160, 172Abydos 17, 21-22, 27, 28,

40,43Africanus 36Afterlife 128Aha 42,45, 119

tomb of 44akh 35Akhenaten 188ancestor worship 2, 22animals 8, 33, 138ankh 64, 150Anubis 33-34, 52Apep 183Aswan 31, 119Asyut 8, 9Aten 188Atum 89, 112, 114Atum-Re 89, 90

Badari n, 31Badarian culture 13,17,19,23Battlefield Palette 27ben-ben 92

Book of the Dead 111Bubastis 86Buto 16Byblos 26, 121Byblos ship 121Cataract region 120,123,124class-based society 17Coffin Texts 111Coptos 53, 107cult centers 2, 21, 48, 51, 52,

53> 5 5 > 58> 6°, 69, 7°. 86>95,97, 105, 106, 109, 115

cults 50, 51, 52, 58, 83, 85

Dahshur 74, 75Dakhla Oasis 8Den 46,49, 56,63, noDimeh 12Djedi 185Djedkare 106Djer 42, 52, 63Djet 42

Eastern Desert 5, 9Edwin Smith

Surgical Papyrus 155

Index

Egyptian Museum 37, 85,

i% 137Elephantine 53, 106, 124Ennead 112

Fayyum 8,9,11,12,13,14,22fellahin 19Flinders Petrie i

Geb 89, no, 112Gebel al-Arak 21Gerzean culture 22, 23-24,

27,40, 52Giza 79,81,92,99, 119, 129,

131, 156Giza Plateau Mapping

Project 74Great House 3, 41, 48, 55,

59, 65, 69, 70, 74, 76, 96,98, 101,105,106,109,115,123, 127,130, 151, 155

Great Pyramid 74, 79, 84, 1 64Great Royal Wife 99, 149

Hammamiya nHarishef 52Harkhuf 125, 176Hathor 86, 97, 121Heb Sed see Sed festivalsHeliopolis 16,91,92,101,

J54Heliopolis Doctrine 89, 90,

98,114

Helwan 45, 129Hemaka 56Herodotus 6, 36, 57, 83, 146Hetepheres 150, 157Hierakonpolis i, 3, 20hieroglyphic script 28High Dam at Aswan 6, 11Horus 21, 28, 49, 56, 57, 60-

61,89,91,95,97,112,114,148,184

hu 96Hyksos 188

Imhotep 65, 91Isis 90,97, 113, 148, 184

ka 51Ka 28, 63Ka-aper 146Kagemni 134Kanufer (son of Senefru) 75Khaba, pyramid of 71Khafre 80,87

pyramid of 71statue of 161valley temple of 8 5

khamasin 10Khasekhem(wy) 45,61,62,63Khenti-Amentiu 53Kheti 159Khufu 5 7,77,79,8 3,106,15 o,

164,183pyramid of 71

194 Index

valley temple of 84Kom Ombo 8

Lake Qarun 9, 1 1Lebanon 26Lower Egypt 5,11,26,27,36,

Luxor 17

Maadi 16, 25maat 96Manetho 3, 37, 60mastaba 24Mefdet 49Meidum 22Memphis 36, 62, 70, 85, 105,

112, 119, 129, 154Memphite Drama 48, 50, 51,

in, 113Menes 1,3,36-38,110Meni 143Menkaure 86,99, J^3

pyramid of 71statue of 161

Merenre 108, 124Mereruka 139, 180Meresankh III 93Merimda n, 14Meryetneith 149Mesopotamia 21, 26Methen 132, 151Naqada i, 17, 19, 20, 21-22,

27,28,31,32,45,60, 149

Narmer 1,3,28,37,39,45,182natron 32, 157nebty 46, 78Neferirkare 102, 105, 156Neith 52Neithhotep 45, 149Nekhbet 61Nekhebu 105, 151Nekhen i, 3, 17, 20-22, 24,

26-27, *8, 37, 41, 42, 43,53, 60, 63

Nekure 159Nekure son of Khafre 77Nemathap 149nesw-bit 46, 78neter 52Netjereperef (son of Senefru)

75Nile 5,9,27,80,115,117-

18,120,123,170,184flood 10, 30

Nofir 146Nubia 25, 123-26Nut 89, 97Nyuserre 102, 103, 105

Omari 16, 135Orion 94Osiris 22, 89, 90, 94, 95, 97,

IIO, I I I , 112, 147, 148

Palermo Stone48,58,77,110,123

Palestine 25

Index

Palette of Narmer 3 7, 39,53, 57Pe 41Pepi I 106-8, 151Pepi II 108, 115, 126, 176Per-ibsen 60Petti 82Ptah 50, 104, 112, 113, 114Ptah-Shepses 105Ptahhotep 138,139,140,142-

44, 152-53, 180Ptolemy II 37Punt 117, 122pyramid of Meidum 71PyramidTexts 48,49,56-58,

68,83,91,92,94,111,128,

135pyramids of Giza 71

Rahotep 137Ramses II 39, 85Re 62, 89, 92, noRed Sea 17

Sabni 141Sahure 109, 121Saqqara 44, 62, 65, 99, 101,

130, 165seasons nSed festivals 46, 62, 65, 68-

69, 102, 103Seheil Island 126

serdab 33

serekh 38, 42, 52, 60Set 21, 28, 60-61, 97, no,

112, 114, 147, 184Seti I, temple of 39Shabaka Stone 112,142Shamm al-Nasim 147Shepseskhaf 99Sheshat 49Shu 89, noShunet al-Zibib 119sia 96Sinai 26Sohag 10Son of Re 101Sothis 30Sphinx 86-88Step Pyramid of Saqqara

64-67,189

Tasa nTefnut 89TellBasta 86Tell al-Fara'un 26Tell Farkha 27Tell Ibrahim Awad 27, 28Tell al-Kabir 27Tell Samara 27Teti 151Thinis 27Thoth 97, noTi,tombof 134,140,151,162,

164, 168, 173, 175, 179Towns Palette 28

196 Index

Tura 79Turin Papyrus 3,110Two Lands

36,41,44, 56,91,95

Umm al-Qaab 43Unas 3, 119Upper Egypt 5, 6, 8, n, 25,

26, 27, 36, 82,95, J I4Userkhaf 100, 105

Weni 126, 151Wepwawet 33, 67Weshptah 156Westcar Papyrus

57,177,183,185Western Desert 5,8-10

Yam 125

Zoser 64-69, 70, 71, 91, no

WadiDigla 25Wadi Hammamat 117