Ancient Egypt

The civilization of ancient Egypt is significant in several ways. Egyptian

influence on other peoples was also significant. Ancient kingdoms of the

Sudan adapted its HIEROGLYPHIC writing system and other cultural

elements. The two last regions and the Bible are the most important

antecedents of the modern western world that owe something to Egypt. The

western alphabet is derived from a Phoenician one possibly modeled on

Egyptian hieroglyphs; Egyptian ideas are found in some parts of the Bible;

and Greek sciences and especially, art were originally influenced by Egypt.

Finally, archaeology and historical writing have made Egypt a subject of great

public interest, stimulating many books, novels, exhibits, and movies. The

image of Egyptian history moves continually closer to reality as new facts are

discovered and new kinds of research-anthropological and

other--supplement more traditional archaeological techniques. Egypt's well

preserved pyramids and cemeteries on the dry desert, and sturdy stone-built

temples, have been studied by archaeologists since the early 19th century, but

river-plain town mounds and all sites in densely settled northern Egypt now

receive more attention than previously. Funerary and temple inscriptions

survived well, but they paint an idealized, oversimplified picture of history and

society. PAPYRUS exists and pottery fragments are rarer but more realistic.

They now are better studied and are supplemented by new types of

archaeological analysis. Environment strongly affected history. In a largely

rainless climate, Egypt's high agricultural productivity depended on a long but

very narrow floodplain; on average 19.2 km (11.9 mi) wide, it reached a

maximum of 248 km (154.1 mi) in the Delta and was formed by the Nile's

annual inundation. Periodic, long-term decreases in its volume might create

social stress and political and military conflict; increases in volume increased

food supplies and favored stability and centralized government. The deserts

to the east and west had valuable stones and minerals and helped protect

Egypt from much external attack or infiltration. Continuity was very strong.

Egypt's religion, its concepts of social order, and its system of strong

monarchical government remained fundamentally the same for over 3,000

years. Environmental stability helped, as did ethnic and linguistic continuity;

unlike other areas of the Near East, Egypt did not periodically have to absorb

large new populations with languages and ideas different from those already

established. Equally important did all Egyptians share a powerful and

tenacious worldview--an orderly cosmos, enfolding gods, humans, and

nature, had been created in complete and perfect form at the beginning of

time; its perfection held off the destructive, chaotic forces that surrounded it.

Adherence to traditional forms of belief, politics, and culture was believed

necessary to maintain perfection and prevent the collapse of the universe.