Journey to Ancient Egypt

Generally become familiar with how many periods Kemet had and innovations in some of them

UNDERSTAND THE TIMELINE

Kemet / Egypt was at the nexus of three Continents and bears influences from each

A NEXUS SOCIETY

Explore the core terms associated with ancient Kemet and how it came to be called “Aiguptos” in Greek and “Egypt” in English

KEY TERMS

Learn a few ways that Kemet / Egyptian Art was influenced by African cultures & those outside Africa too

ART HISTORY

Understand the Timeline

​

• 12,000 BCE Hunter-gatherers settle the Nile Valley.
• Mummified human remains dated to 3400 BCE

​

Genetics

Ancient remains from 1388 BCE to 426 BCE had Sub-Saharan African, East African, Middle Eastern, and some from Asia Minor / southern European elements | Study done in 2017, published in Nature of 90 mummies. From a single archaeological site.| link

​

Remains used from Abusir El Meleq site

Spanned 1400 year period in Egyptian history

From the New Kingdom

DNA Study Takeaways

Scholars believe that Ancient Egyptians were more related to people from the Near East than they were to Sub-Saharan African people UNTIL later in the region’s history.

​

Why?

Because modern Egyptians have more sub-Saharan African DNA today, suggesting that this influx happened late in Egypt’s past.

​

58% of Present-day Egyptians’ DNA is related to Ancient Egyptians

DNA Study Takeaways

The findings and use of DNA in the study of Egypt’s past is disputed and debated due to questions about sample contamination and other factors.

​

Just take that with a grain of salt. We’re learning and it is all a state of organic development. The Levant was a superhighway of backward / forward migration too...

• People have debated whether Kemet means the Land of the Blacks or “the Black Land”:

​

The "Black Land" (kem meant "black" in ancient Egyptian). The name derived from the color of the rich and fertile black soil which was due to the annually occurring Nile inundation. So Kemet was the cultivated area along the Nile valley.

​

The deserts on either side of the Nile were called Desheret, the "Red Land" (desher meant "red"), after the reddish colour of the desert sand.

​

What’s in a Name...?

The reason why the country is called Egypt in English (and l'Égypte in French and Ägypten in German) is quite complicated.

​

The name of one of the largest ancient Egyptian temples, of the god Ptah, at Mennufer (Memphis, south-west of modern Cairo), was Hikuptah (this meant "The Soul of the God Ptah").

​

The name of the temple began to be used for the city itself and because Memphis was so important even for the whole of the country. It became "Aiguptos" in Greek and this then led to "Egypt" in English.

​

What’s in a Name...?

Ptah means variously:

​

• Ptah the begetter of the first beginning
• Ptah lord of truth
• Ptah lord of eternity
• Ptah who listens to prayers
• Ptah master of ceremonies
• Ptah master of justice
• Ptah the God who made himself to be God
• Ptah the double being
• Ptah the beautiful face

​

What’s in a Name...?

How Ancient Kemetic People Referred to Themselves

The ancient Egyptians called themselves Remtju ni Kemet

How Ancient Kemetic People Referred to Their Neighbors...

There were generally names & styles of depiction for other peoples.

The Ancient Egyptian classification of ancient peoples (from left to right): a Libyan, a Nubian, an Asiatic, and an Egyptian. Drawing by an unknown artist after a mural of the tomb of Seti I;

​

How Ancient Kemetic People Referred to Their Neighbors...

The Egyptian is reddish-brown, while the Nubian is black.

​

Each group is also marked with their own distinctive hairstyles and clothing.

and...in Egyptian art there were only four colors for people:

Tan, reddish-brown, black and white.

​

What many don’t know about Ancient art is that it wasn’t realism driven. It was stylized & symbolically driven. What do I mean...?

Pharaohs were depicted with perfect proportions.

​

The sculptures look realistic on first glance but on closer inspection the stylized elements emerge.

​

We see this in the eyes in particular.

Stylized Art is art meant to depict the powerful as Perfect

Date: 1850 BCE in the Old Kingdom

Notes:

Non-elites were depicted with flaws, like the protruding stomach, etc.

​

Why am I showing this? Because can we call these people “Black” in a modern sense the way we use the term today? You tell me!

​

Seated Scribe Sculpture

The Nile River

​

• The Nile River was like a lifeline for the ancient Egyptians. It provided water, food, and transportation.
• Flows from South (Upper) to North (Lower)
• Egyptians built their homes and farms along the riverbanks, where the soil was rich for farming.

​

• Egypt was ruled by powerful leaders called pharaohs. They were seen as divine kings and queens.
• Pharaohs belonged to different dynasties, which were royal families that ruled one after the other.

​

Pharaohs and Dynasties

​

• 3250 - Invention of writing (debate about whether Mesopotamian cuneiform writing or hieroglyphs are older, by a few hundred years)
• Ivory Tags - push the date back in Ancient Kemet
• Discovered at Tomb U-J at Abydos | link

​

Pharaohs and Dynasties

Pre-Dynastic Period (ca. 4300-3000 B.C.E.)

Early Dynastic Period (ca. 3000 - 2675 B.C.E.)

Old Kingdom (ca. 2675 - 2130 B.C.E)

First Intermediate Period (ca. 2130 - 1980 B.C.E.)

Middle Kingdom (ca. 1980 - 1630 B.C.E.)

Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1630 - 1539/1523 B.C.E)

New Kingdom (ca. 1539 - 1075 B.C.E.)

Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1075 - 656 B.C.E.)

Late Period (ca. 664 - 332 B.C.E.)

Macedonian Period (ca. 332 - 305 B.C.E.)

Ptolemaic Period (ca. 305 - 30 B.C.E.)

Roman & Byzantine Empire (ca. 30 B.C.E. - 642 C.E.)

Big Dynasties Timeline

The Narmer Palette

3200 to 3000 BCE

Characteristics & Features

• Discovered 1897-98
• at the site Nekhen or Hierakonpolis, an important power center in Upper Egypt before the empire was consolidated into one kingdom
• Note: Egyptian art conventions are ALREADY set in stone when this palette is created
• Carved in low relief
• depicts first pharaoh to wear both crowns up Lower (red) and Upper (white) Egypt
• Pharaoh smiting his enemies, who are decapitated

The Narmer Palette

3200 to 3000 BCE

sculpture believed to be of Narmer (Greek name: Menes)

The Narmer Palette

3200 to 3000 BCE

Characteristics & Features

• carved in a style used to grind cosmetics, but too large for personal use
• probably used to grind the cosmetics used to adorn statues of deities or rulers
• Has early ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on it
• Curved horns of the cow goddess Bat
• Important figures are depicted from multiple angles (feet one direction, torso twisted, a single eye on one side of the head -- i.e., this is NOT realism at work
• Proportionality: 18 fists from the ground to the bottom of the hairline was an ancient Golden Ratio in Kemet
• Use in Kemetic art until Alexander the Great 3,000 years later

The Narmer Palette

3200 to 3000 BCE

Pre-Dynastic Period (ca. 4300-3000 B.C.E.)

Early Dynastic Period (ca. 3000 - 2675 B.C.E.)

​

Upper and Lower Egypt united

​

Old Kingdom (ca. 2675 - 2130 B.C.E)

Dynasty 3 (ca. 2675 - 2625 B.C.E.)

Dynasty 4 (ca. 2625 - 2500 B.C.E)

> > > Great Pryamid at Giza built in this dynasty

Dynasty 5 (ca. 2500 - 2350 B.C.E.)

Dynasty 6 (ca. 2350 - 2710 B.C.E)

Dynasties 7-8 (ca. 2170 - 2130 B.C.E.)

​

The Old Kingdom

Pre-Dynastic Period (ca. 4300-3000 B.C.E.)

Early Dynastic Period (ca. 3000 - 2675 B.C.E.)

Old Kingdom (ca. 2675 - 2130 B.C.E)

First Intermediate Period (ca. 2130 - 1980 B.C.E.)

Middle Kingdom (ca. 1980 - 1630 B.C.E.)

Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1630 - 1539/1523 B.C.E)

New Kingdom (ca. 1539 - 1075 B.C.E.)

Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1075 - 656 B.C.E.)

Late Period (ca. 664 - 332 B.C.E.)

Macedonian Period (ca. 332 - 305 B.C.E.)

Ptolemaic Period (ca. 305 - 30 B.C.E.)

Roman & Byzantine Empire (ca. 30 B.C.E. - 642 C.E.)

Big Dynasties Timeline

• One of the most famous aspects of ancient Egypt is the pyramids. These were huge structures built as tombs for pharaohs.
• The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
• Their origins were influenced by African and other architectural developments in Mesopotamia that predate ancient Kemet / Egypt.

For Next Time: Pyramids as Tombs, More on Architecture, the People