Although there is evidence of early Sumerian contact with the Egyptians, Egypt's civilization was largely self-generated and its history and cultural patterns differed from Mesopotamia. The early Dynastic Period was Egypt’s era of initial unification and state building under the guidelines of its first three royal dynasties. In the years between 2660 and 2180 B. C. the basic marks of the cultures of Egypt arose. Egypt was one kingdom and it was divided into provinces, or the names of provinces. Ruling over the kingdom was a pharaoh, who was not only a king but was also seen as a god.
Since the discovery, studies of his tomb and remains have revealed much information about his life and times. Using the remains of Tutankhamun and his tomb, archaeologists identified the customs, beliefs and lifestyle of the ancient Egyptians. The tomb provides evidence that Egyptians believed in the afterlife - a life after death. The Egyptians also believed their pharaohs were divine therefore, they believed if they did not serve the Pharaohs well, the Nile would not rise and they would not have a good farming season. The tomb generally is significant and useful as it was one of the only tombs to ever be discovered fully intact.
Geographical Control * The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt c.1800 BC, during the eleventh dynasty, and began their climb to power in the thirteenth dynasty, coming out of the second intermediate period in control of Avaris and the Delta. * By about 1720 BC, they had grown strong enough, at the expense of the Middle Kingdom kings, to gain control of Avaris in the northeastern Delta. (SHOW ON MAP) * This site eventually became the capital of the Hyksos kings, but within 50 years, they had also taken control of the important Egyptian city of Memphis. (SHOW ON MAP) * The Hyksos never really ruled Egypt completely. Though the ruler of Avaris claimed to be King of Upper and Lower Egypt, we know from the discovery of burials from that may have been a result of a massive plague and records dating to the 17th Dynasty king Kamose, show that Cusae, a little further south, was actually the specific boarder point.
The Sumerian king, Urnammu of Ur, reintroduced the Sumerian language and decided to build a famous Ziggurat dedicated to Nanna, believed to be the moon god. (Stokstad and Cothren 2011, p. 36) De Los Santos 2 The time of the Old Kingdom in Egypt was 2575 to 2150. It was a period of wealth and stability, especially among the ruling families. This is reflected in the elaborateness of tomb buildings and complexes that rulers had built for themselves (Stokstad and Cothren 2011, p. 55). world’s most famous pyramids are the three great pyramid tombs at Giza in Egypt.
By the end of his unusually long reign, he was famous throughout the ancient world and considered by many to be the last great pharaoh. His grandfather, Rameses I was chosen as heir to King Horemheb, the last king of the 18th Dynasty who had no sons or heirs, after serving as general, Commander of the Army of the Ruler of Two Lands, High Priest of all the Gods, and Hereditary Prince of the Entire Land. King Horemheb chose Rameses I as his successor because he had no children of his own. Rameses I not only had a son, Seti I, a soldier, but a grandson, also called Rameses as well. Having a strong military background, sons, and grandsons were important and helped King Horemheb make his decision and ensured Rameses I of having heirs to carry on the new dynasty.
However, the king was not always called a pharoah. This didn't start until the 18th dynasty in 1554 B.C. Before this, pharaoh just refered to the king's palace (“History of The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt”). The people believed their king was not just merely a man, but that he was a god in human form (Wilson, 14). For this reason, they allowed him to have absolutecontrol over the land, government, economy, people, laws, etc.
According to Manetho, the inventor of the art of building in stone was Imhotep. That he was in charge of the building of the Step Pyramid is evident from the discovery of a pedestal on a statue of Djoser bearing the inscription: ‘The Chancellor of the Pharaoh of Lower Egypt, the first after the Pharaoh of Upper Egypt, Hereditary Lord, the High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep, the builder, the sculptor’ (Dersin). The Step Pyramid is developed from the mudbrick mastabas of earlier rulers. In the Step Pyramid complex, architecture that had previously been carried out in mudbrick, reeds, and wood was replaced by stone. The wall surrounding the complex is build out of small blocks of linestone in imitation of the mudbrick facade of earlier tombs and walls.
Mesopotamia was broken into thirty-five separate city-states and “The ruler of each city-state claimed to rule with the support of the local guardian deity…” (Hansen and Curtis 36). Egypt was never broken into separate city-states like Mesopotamia. Egypt had one king, a pharaoh, who governed over the entire Egyptian empire. After a time Mesopotamia did come under the single rule of Sargon of Akkad in 2334 B.C.E.. Sargon established Akkadian as the language of Mesopotamia, while Sumerian was reserved for religious texts. Prior to Sargon’s rule the city-states of Mesopotamia had continuous wars as well as trading going on between the city-states.
Ahmose I, likewise a great leader and great statesmen, founded what would become the greatest and most prosperous time in Egypt’s long and tumultuous history. Ahmose I, during his reign, completed the annexation and removal of the Hyksos from the delta area, reinstated Theban rule over the entirety of Egypt and successfully promulgated Egyptian power in its formerly subject, but at that time independent, sovereign states; Nubia and Canaan. He then restructured the bureaucracy in government, reopened quarries, mines and trade routes and began imperial construction projects of a type and calibre that had not been undertaken since the time of the Middle Kingdom. This building program climaxed in the construction of the last pyramid built by native Egyptian rulers. Ahmose's reign laid the substructure underpinning the entire New Kingdom era, under which Egyptian power reached its peak, demonstrating the profound influence of Ahmose I on the establishment and consolidation of
The votive statue of Eannatum has pearl type inlays and a modern bitumin inlay. The statue is Sumerian, which is the earliest civilization known to history and is known as modern day Iraq. It was once a part of Mesopotamia, the region where agriculture and cities first developed. One of the oldest forms of writing was cuneiform and during the Early Dynastic period, both temples and private residencies shared architectural concepts (Amiet). These residencies were housed to kings and priests, and they are the iconographies in the images in art.