Characteristics of ancient Egyptian civilization

1, the oldest civilization, the oldest ancient country

As one of the important symbols of the formation of civilization, it is the emergence of the country. In the history of the world, the Nile Valley and the Two Rivers Valley are the earliest areas to establish a country and enter a civilized society. After about the middle of 4000 BC, Egyptian civilization appeared in the Nile valley, and Sumerian civilization appeared in the south of the two river basins.

Who are the creators of these civilizations? It has been attracting people's attention since the last century. It is generally believed that the ancient Egyptians developed from the long-term integration of Ham tribe in Africa and Sem tribe in Asia. In terms of language, at present, people often think that ancient Egyptians belong to Semitic language family or Afro-Asian language family. According to ethnic characteristics, the ancient Egyptians were neither white nor black.

In fact, the Egyptians in the south are different from those in the north. Generally speaking, the ancient Egyptians were characterized by long heads, oval faces, slender bodies and wavy black hair. Such a basic group in Africa was mixed and changed by bald immigrants from Anatolia and Sam's descendants Palestine in the early years, thus producing historical Egyptians.

Their bodies are smooth, their skulls are big, their bones are strong, and their wrists and ankles are particularly thick. However, women are usually shorter and slimmer. In a word, prehistoric Egyptians can be regarded as one of the Mediterranean peoples. As early as the second half of 4000 BC, Sumerians created Sumerian civilization in the two river basins almost at the same time as ancient Egyptians.

2. Typical absolutism of eastern and western monarchies.

When it comes to autocracy, people often think of the so-called "oriental absolutism" first, and in the concept of "oriental absolutism", the absolutism in ancient Egypt is typical.

In the ancient kingdom era, with the final establishment and consolidation of national unity and the strengthening of kingship, absolutism began to take shape. The so-called absolutism is a form of state system and management. In an authoritarian regime, the monarch has absolute and unrestricted power. The rule of monarch and king is often based on his own will, and is not limited by any laws and norms.

Pharaoh, as the absolute monarch of ancient Egypt, has unlimited legal, administrative and financial powers and implements one-man absolute rule with personal will as the transfer. Pyramid architecture is enough to symbolize the absolute power of autocratic rule. But in the ancient kingdom, we don't have enough evidence to prove that the central government has unified planning and management of water conservancy construction projects.

On the contrary, there is a lot of data to prove that in the late and the first middle period of the ancient kingdom, local governments and state rulers were responsible for the construction of water conservancy irrigation projects. The inscription in Katy, Esyut, once mentioned that he installed a sluice to lead water to the "mountain" and open up cultivated land. Therefore, at least before the 12 dynasty, water conservancy irrigation projects were the business of local governments, and no central government unified the construction of water conservancy irrigation projects.

Therefore, it is obviously a fabrication to describe Egyptian absolutism as "water control absolutism". The absolutism in ancient Egypt was based on the class rule of slave owners, nobles and autocratic monarchs over slaves and free peasants, and it was the result of sharp class relations.

3. Strong religious consciousness and its extensive and profound social influence.

Religion is not only one of the social ideologies of human society, but also one of the ideologies. Religion is a reflection of real life, but it is a reflection of fantasy and an inverted ideology. In the ancient world, people often looked weak in front of nature; Under the rule of monarchs and nobles, the society is seriously divided and the people are at a loss.

Therefore, they hope to get rid of all kinds of difficulties in real life and pursue a better life through religion, that is, offering sacrifices to gods and holding sacrificial ceremonies. The ruling class only took advantage of people's general psychology and regarded religion as a means of slavery and rule.

Religion occupies an important position in the ideological field of the ancient world. Ancient Egypt is a civilized country with the strongest religious consciousness in the ancient world. Religion not only interferes with the political and economic life of the country, but also affects the development of culture and even permeates everyone's real life.

On the one hand, it is the invisible control and influence of the relatively closed natural environment in ancient Egypt on people; On the other hand, what is more important is the long-term autocratic rule of theocracy and kingship.

4. Inherent cultural traditions and eclectic civilizations.

In many people's impression, ancient Egypt is a closed and conservative country, and it is a slow-developing and stagnant civilization. People largely blame it on the role of geographical environment.

Egypt is located in the northeast of Africa, centered on the Nile, with arid deserts in the east and west, and several waterfalls near the Mediterranean and Nile in the south and north. Such a relatively closed environment has almost formed a natural barrier to foreign nationalities.

Therefore, Egypt is rarely invaded by nomadic people and some civilized peoples like the two river basins, and it is convenient for mutual cultural exchanges. But in fact, this geographical natural barrier has not restricted Egypt's contacts with the Near East and the Mediterranean world, as well as the African continent.

Since ancient times, Egyptians have had contacts with Syria and Palestine through the Red Sea Strait and Suez Strait. In the south, you can cross several waterfalls and have close contact with Ethiopians. Especially since the New Kingdom era, Egypt has increasingly participated in foreign military and commercial activities.

In the constant foreign wars of the Egyptians, the Egyptian Empire became the first military power in the history of the Near East, and the geographical environment had less and less restrictions and influences on it. Therefore, the so-called occlusion and conservatism have been weakened by foreign military activities and political and cultural exchanges.

Extended data:

The reasons for the spread of Egyptian civilization abroad

1. Geographical reasons

Egypt is located in the northeast of Africa, with the Nile as the center. It is an arid desert in the east and west, and there are several waterfalls near the Mediterranean and Nile in the north and south. Such a relatively closed environment has almost formed a natural barrier to foreign nationalities.

Therefore, Egypt is rarely invaded by nomadic people and some civilized peoples like the two river basins, and it is convenient for mutual cultural exchanges. But in fact, this geographical natural barrier has not restricted Egypt's contacts with the Near East and the Mediterranean world, as well as the African continent. Since ancient times, Egyptians have had contacts with Syria and Palestine through the Red Sea Strait and Suez Strait. In the south, they can cross several waterfalls and often have close contact with Ethiopians.

Especially since the New Kingdom era, Egypt has increasingly participated in foreign military and commercial activities. In the constant foreign wars of the Egyptians, the Egyptian Empire became the first military power in the history of the Near East, and the geographical environment had less and less restrictions and influences on it. Therefore, the so-called occlusion and conservatism have been weakened by foreign military activities and political and cultural exchanges.

2. Cultural reasons

The hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt began to appear in the second half of 4000 BC, which is one of the oldest characters in the world. It has been in use until the end of the 4th century, and it was popular for about three or four thousand years. Although, in these thousands of years, the grammar and vocabulary of hieroglyphics have changed greatly, especially in the Egyptian language under Roman rule, compared with the Pharaoh period, it is rarely similar, but the tradition of hieroglyphics has remained.

It is particularly noteworthy that the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, through the Sinai inscriptions, finally influenced the invention of the Phoenician alphabet. Hieroglyphics are not very convenient to use at first. So at the end of the ancient kingdom, hieroglyphics evolved into a kind of running script that is easy to write, usually called monk's script. Around 700 BC, a simpler cursive form was invented on the basis of the monk body, that is, the secular body. Although the ancient Egyptians invented three different writing forms, they were all the evolution of hieroglyphics.

Hieroglyphs and their different writing styles have maintained the inherent tradition of ancient Egyptian writing. With the carrier of words, Egyptian civilization spread its wings. It is no longer limited to the influence of the Nile, but began to spread to the Near East, Africa and the Mediterranean coast. Without its own written language, it is difficult for a civilization to survive. There were many emerging civilizations in the ancient Middle East. It was precisely because there were no words or words did not have the ability to survive and adapt that they were robbed and declined rapidly.

The hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt not only have strong vitality, but also have strong adaptability. They constantly changed themselves, thus carrying, spreading and inheriting the victory of Egyptian civilization. So in modern times, although hieroglyphics have been lost, French champollion finally succeeded in interpreting them. This further shows that hieroglyphics are alive.

3. Technical reasons

Around 3000 BC, the ancient Egyptians invented papyrus. Compared with traditional materials, papyrus has many advantages, such as light weight, low price, simple manufacture, durability, folding and convenient transportation. So it was mass-produced and exported to Mediterranean countries as a monopoly product, which was the most popular writing material in the past 4000 years.

In ancient times, Egypt was the only country that produced papyrus. Due to the dry climate in Egypt, documents are not perishable, and some of them can still be found in the desert. Among the papyrus discovered recently in 100, there are documents written in more than ten languages from 2700 to 900 AD, including Greek, Arabic, Egyptian, Coptic, Latin, Aramaic and Hebrew. Egypt is the most complete ancient civilization we know today, thanks to papyrus, which not only inherits the Egyptian civilization itself, but also maintains other civilizations.

Civilization cannot be spread by word of mouth, so paper, as a medium, has become an important medium in the process of civilization spread. Because Egyptian papyrus has the above characteristics, it is easy to play an important role in the spread of Egyptian civilization. Just like papermaking in China's four great inventions, papermaking in Egypt played an irreplaceable role in early civilization, which was also an important condition for the spread of Egyptian civilization abroad.

4. Military reasons

In ancient Egypt, due to geographical isolation, it was inconvenient for Egypt to communicate with the outside world and was rarely invaded by the enemy. However, with the expansion of human civilization, Egypt began to be threatened by foreign enemies. Hyksos established 15 and 16 dynasties in Egypt, and ruled most of Egypt. Egypt will inevitably invade other countries even if its neighboring countries are weak.

In the military confrontation between Egypt and the outside world, the enemy country must of course understand and study the social and cultural situation of Egypt for the needs of war. The war between the two sides also has its own prisoners, and the prisoners will also bring many influences of Egyptian civilization. If Egypt invades other countries, it will be more natural to actively spread its own culture there, destroy the local culture and assimilate the invaded nation. In this case, Egyptian civilization naturally spread outward with military activities.

5. Traffic reasons

Ancient Egyptian culture and ideas spread to countries and islands along the eastern Mediterranean coast through Phoenicians. The influence of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics on world culture is obvious. Without the advanced navigation and shipbuilding technology of Phoenicians, and the courage to explore the unknown world. Then the influence of Egyptian civilization will naturally be greatly reduced, will be confined to a small scope, and will not leave a brand on western civilization.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Ancient Egyptian Civilization