THE ANCIENT NILE

The importance of the Nile in ancient Egypt

The people who first settled along the Nile basin, and hunters and gatherers began to settle in the evolution of ancient Egypt, this period of life for agriculturalists, Egypt, written language, religion and institutions of the first public development has taken place in the world .

Pharaoh of Egypt is one of the early civilizations of Africa as the birthplace of the most beautiful old claims.

And fall of the Nile Audy

One of the unique features of the civilization of ancient Egypt, Nile Valley bond between the Nile and the Egyptian people and its institutions has been. Neil was great productivity of the soil, as it did a year full of mud deposits rich in seasonal Heights - swept from Ethiopia.
Every July, the level of the Nile began to rise, and at the end of August reached its full height of the flood. At the end of October, began to flood back, leaving a fairly uniform deposit of mud flow and lagoons, the natural reservoirs for fish has been. In April, the Nile is at its lowest level. Vegetation began to dry season and reduce the pool of games started to move south. Then in July, Neil would have to rise again and the cycle repeats.
Because of the rise and fall and the river, we can understand why the people of the ancient Egyptians for the first time believed in life after death. Rise and fall flooding means that the "death" of the country each year would be "rebirth" of culture is located. So, rebirth as a natural follow up to see death. Like the sun, the "death" when it was sunk in the western horizon "rebirth" in the East in the morning sky, the people rise and live again.

A Revolution in Food Production

Sometime during the final Palaeolithic period and the Neolithic era, a revolution occurred in ancient Egypt Nile River food production. Meat ceased to be the chief article of diet and was replaced by plants such as wheat and barley grown extensively as crops and not gathered at random in the wild.

The relatively egalitarian tribal structure of the ancient Egyptian Nile River Valley broke down because of the need to manage and control the new agricultural economy and the surplus it generated.

Long-distance trade within ancient Egypt, a high degree of craft specialization, and sustained contacts with southwest Asia encouraged the development of towns and a hierarchical structure, with power residing in a headman who was believed to be able to control the Nile flood. The headman's power rested on his reputation as a "rainmaker king." The towns became trading centres, political centres, and cult centers.

Egyptologists disagree as to when these small, autonomous communities were unified into the separate kingdoms of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, and as to when the two kingdoms were united under one king.

The Unification of the Two Lands

Nevertheless, the most important political event in ancient Egypt Nile River history was the unification of the two lands: the Black Land of the Delta, so-called because of the darkness of its rich soil, and the Red Land of Upper Egypt, the sun-baked land of the desert. The rulers of Lower Egypt wore the red crown and had the bee as their symbol. The leaders of Upper Egypt wore the white crown and took the sedge as their emblem. After the unification of the two kingdoms, the pharaoh wore the double crown symbolizing the unity of the two lands.

The chief god of the Delta was Horus, and that of Upper Egypt was Seth. The unification of the two kingdoms resulted in combining the two myths concerning the gods. Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis and avenged the evil Seth's slaying of his father by killing Seth, thus showing the triumph of good over evil.

Horus took over his father's throne and was regarded as the ancestor of the pharaohs. After unification, each pharaoh took a Horus name that indicated that he was the reincarnation of Horus.

According to tradition, King Menes of Upper Egypt united the two kingdoms and established his capital at Memphis, then known as the "White Walls." Some scholars believe Menes was the Horus King Narmer, whereas others prefer to regard him as a purely legendary figure.

The Emergence of a Centralized Government

With the emergence of a strong, centralized government under a god-king, ancient Egypt's nascent economic and political institutions became subject to royal authority. The central government, either directly or through major officials, became the employer of soldiers, retainers, bureaucrats, and artisans whose goods and services benefited the upper classes and the state gods.

In the course of the Early Dynastic Period, artisans and civil servants working for the central government fashioned the highly sophisticated traditions of art and learning that thereafter constituted the basic pattern of the ancient Egypt Nile River pharaonic civilization.