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Meeting the Ancient Egyptians
The ancient people who lived in the Nile valley were a melting pot of many ethnic groups, with many different origins. Prior to 5000 BC, the Nile valley did not have any settled people, because the surrounding area was rich in vegetation and was inhabited by a number of nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe which followed large animals such as lions, giraffes, and ostriches as a source of food.
However, due to climatic change in approximately 5000 BC, the area surrounding the Nile valley began to dry out and was no longer able to sustain the large animals.
This climate shift meant that the nomadic tribes all converged on the Nile valley because the river was slowly becoming the only source of water in the region. As a result, the first Egyptian population was a collection of different nomadic tribes, which slowly integrated with each other and created a new society:
♦ In the south of Egypt, the origins of the people were closer to Nubia, resulting in a darker people.
♦ In the north of Egypt, the origins of the people were more in the Near East, creating a paler people.
By 3100 BC and the start of the pharaonic period of Egyptian history, a brand new culture – the Egyptian culture recognised today – had developed from this collection of different people, cultures and languages.
Dating the ancients
One of the most confusing aspects of Egyptian history is applying specific dates to eras, reigns, and even recorded battles and ceremonies. Also, the history of ancient Egypt spans more than 3,000 years, which is a lot to get your head around. Making matters more difficult, the Egyptians themselves did not have a centralised dating system such as the one used today (for example, BC and AD). Instead, they referred to dates in regnal years of the current king. For example year 5 of Ramses II or year 16 of Akhenaten.
This system probably worked well in ancient times, but it doesn’t help modern Egyptologists a great deal – especially when a number of kings are missing from the records or the exact length of some reigns is uncertain. So, for example, dating something from year 4 of Ramses II to year 2 of Merenptah made perfect sense to an Egyptian, but if you don’t know how long Ramses II ruled and you don’t know whether another king came between Ramses II and Merenptah (the king historians believe followed Ramses II), ascertaining true periods is very difficult.
A passion for all things Egyptian
For centuries – millennia, in fact – people have been fascinated by ancient Egyptian culture, including its language, history, politics, religion, burial practices, architecture, and art. Indeed, even the Greeks and Romans (ancient cultures themselves by any historian’s account) were intrigued by the people of the Nile, arranged sight-seeing excursions to the area, and ended up transporting Egyptian treasures back to their homelands.
Modern Egyptology, a discipline that blends rigorous study of ancient history and archaeology with touches of sociology, art history, political science, economics, and more, began in earnest in 1823 when Jean-François Champollion was the first to decipher hieroglyphs, which led historians to begin deconstructing the many myths and misunderstandings of the ancient Egyptians.
Today, Egyptology is bigger than ever. Many universities now offer degrees in Egyptology or Egyptian archaeology. However, the work available for professional Egyptologists is scarce, with limited opportunities to teach in universities or excavate in Egypt. Many museums employ volunteers instead of paid staff, therefore hundreds of applicants often seek the few paid positions. Furthermore, excavating in Egypt is particularly difficult because Egyptian esearchers are favoured over westerners. Many Egyptologists therefore work in other jobs and write books and articles on Egyptology or conduct field work on a part-time basis. Hard work, but someone’s gotta do it.
Manetho to the rescue
Modern Egyptologists weren’t the only ones who thought that the Egyptian dating system was confusing. Manetho, an Egyptian historian and priest from the third century BC, devised the dynastic system of dating that is still used today.
In the dynastic system, a dynasty change was introduced whenever a change occurred in the ruling family, geography, or any other continuity issue in the succession of kings. Manetho divided the kings of Egypt into 31 dynasties, subdivided into three main kingdoms with turbulent ‘intermediate’ periods between them.
Early dynastic period: Dynasty 0–2, around 3150–2686 BC
Old Kingdom: Third to sixth dynasties, around 2686–2181 BC
First intermediate period: Seventh to tenth dynasties, around 2181–2040 BC
Middle Kingdom: 11th to 12th dynasties, around 2040–1782 BC
Second intermediate period: 13th to 17th dynasties, around 1782–1570 BC
The New Kingdom: 18th to 20th dynasties, around 1570–1070 BC
Third intermediate period: 21st to 26th dynasties, around 1080–525 BC
Late period: 27th to 30th dynasties, around 525–332 BC
This dating system has been very useful, and Egyptologists have been able to add chronological dates to the dynasties. However, these dates do not match from publication to publication, and this discrepancy can be very confusing for beginners. For this reason, referring to dynasties rather than dates is often easier.
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