HY 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Mentuhotep Ii, Maat, Middle Kingdom Of Egypt
30 May 2018
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I.The Development of Civilization in Egypt
A. General observations
1. Geography and the Nile
2. Black Land-Red Land
3. Egypt as center of the cosmos
4. Powerful, centralized state controlled by pharaohs
5. Kingdoms and periods
B. Predynastic Egypt (c.10,000-3100 B.C.E.)
1. Hunters and gatherers
2. Increased population
3. First settlement at Merimde Beni Salama (4750 B.C.E.)
4. Upper Egyptian towns (3200 B.C.E.): Nekhen, Naqada, This,
and Abydos
a. High degrees of social specialization
b. Sophisticated fortifications
c. Elaborate temples
d. Attracted industry and travelers
C. The unification of Egypt: the Archaic Period (3100-2686
B.C.E.)
1. Manetho's dynastic categorization
2. "King Scorpion"
3. Egypt unified by Narmer (legendary King Menes or Min)
4. Administrative capital at Memphis (Lower Egypt)
5. Pharaoh
. Pharaoh as divine
a. Earthly manifestation of Horus (falcon-god)
D. Language and writing
1. Hieroglyphs ("sacred carvings")
2. Champollion and the Rosetta Stone
3. Writing as tool for Egyptian government and administration
4. Hieratic scrip—used for everyday business of government and
commerce
5. Papyrus
E. The Old Kingdom (c. 2686-2160 B.C.E.)
1. Difficulty of interpreting records
2. Centralized power of pharaoh—pharaoh was Egypt
3. Appointed local governors (nomarchs)
4. Extensive bureaucracy
5. Imhotep—the greatest administrative official
. Right-hand man to Djoser (Third Dynasty pharaoh)
a. Learned medicine, astronomy, theology, mathematics,
and architecture
b. "Step-pyramid"
c. Built west of Memphis
d. Based on the mastaba, stacked one on top of the other
e. The symbol of pharaonic power
6. Fourth Dynasty (2613-2494 B.C.E.)
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