Ancient Egypt Research Paper

Civilizations since the beginning of recorded history, and even before, have developed their worldview and religion based on their location and geographical surroundings. These influences would be evident in some circumstances and in others would seem to be subtler. A prime example of a people group that was molded by the location of the civilization is Egypt. Egypt is located in Northern Africa and is surrounded by and impacted by the Sahara Desert, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and running through the civilization is the Nile River. These geographical characteristics play a vital role in the development of the politics, religion, and architecture of the ancient Egypt civilization.

Before explaining the developments of these disciplines of

ancient Egypt these geographical characteristics and their general impact on this civilization must be explained. About 95 percent of Egypt’s population was concentrated in less than 5 percent of Egyptian land. This small percentage of land that a mass majority of the population was located on was located alongside the Nile River (Humanities, 15). The Nile River is the single most impactful geographical marker for the ancient Egyptian people, and is also the most fundamental in the consideration of the importance of location’s impact on a people group’s worldview. The Nile river ran on a very consistent schedule that would give the Egyptian people security for the growth of their crops. First, the river would consistently flood which is called inundation. Following this inundation there would be a time for the River to recede, also known as coming forth. Finally, there would be a time of drought that would encourage good growth and work for the crops. (Messner, “Ancient Egypt”). This consistent process of the Nile’s flooding, receding, and the drought to follow created a concept of consistency in the worldview of Egypt; thus, developing a positive worldview that effects every discipline that makes up the Egyptian lifestyle.
Next, the Sahara Desert, Mediterranean Sea, and Red Sea work together to create the final environmental factor in the development of the disciplines and worldview of ancient Egypt. This desert and two seas surround the boarders of Egypt create a barrier that makes the infiltration of Egypt difficult (Messner “Ancient Egypt”). This difficulty for infiltration moves the focus of this people group from the typical idea of outwardly focused, for defense purposes, to a more inward focus on the Egyptian way of life and maintaining the consistency that the Nile has provided. This consistency and harmony that is created from the Nile River and the barriers of the geography creates the concept of Maat. This concept is the natural order or the notion of universal stability and harmony (Messner, “Ancient Egypt”). Maat is the central theme and idea that moves the Egyptian state and heavily impacts and shaped the worldview and disciplines of the civilization of ancient Egypt.
The first discipline that is impacted by the location of ancient Egypt is the politics.

The Pharaoh is the head of the state, source of law, and also a god (Messner, “Ancient Egypt”). The ancient Egyptian people had a secluded and introspective view of their state. This view impacts their politics by causing them to have one major leader, the Pharaoh who is god king. This god king was the child of Re/Ra, the sun god. Once this pharaoh was inaugurated into the office of pharaoh he was now the incarnation of Horus, the sky god. Finally, once this pharaoh dies he become a part of Osiris, the god of death, with the rest of the past pharaohs (Messner, “Ancient Egypt”). This political system is heavily impacted by the importance of Maat and the maintaining of Maat. The Pharaoh and his connection with the gods gave him power that would make all the people obey every word that came out of his mouth. This is out of respect of Maat and the vital importance of keeping Maat (Messner, “Ancient Egypt”). No Egyptian would want to disturb Maat out of fear of the gods being angered and withholding the blessings they have given to the Egyptians. As the impact of location on the discipline of politics has been observed, this same impact can be seen in the discipline of religion in the ancient Egyptian

world.
Egyptian religion is heavily impacted by the stability and consistency from the Nile River, and this stability was attributed to the gods.

These gods were given the credit for giving the Egyptians the Nile, the deserts, food, and water. The Egyptians saw their gods as being nice to them; thus, the Egyptians would build them temples, throw festivals, and sacrifice cattle to these gods out of gratitude (Messner, “Ancient Egypt”). Osiris is the god who judges the dead. This judgement would appear as him weighing the heart of the person with the help of Anubis. Anubis is the jackal headed god of death who does the literal weighing, but Osiris is the judge who decides the results of the weighing. If the heart weighed well then the individual would live forever in paradise, but if the heart weighed badly then they would be eaten by a crocodile jawed monster that would terminate their existence forever (Messner, “Ancient Egypt”). This judgement is tied to Maat because every Egyptian wanted to live in paradise, so the Egyptians would try to live ethically to have a good weighing of their heart. This religion does have a hint of ethical influence, but has no standard of what is ethical. This role of Maat in religion moves toward the final discipline that is impacted by their location which is

architecture.
Architecture to the ancient Egyptians was purpose driven. The Egyptians did not build the famous pyramids for the sake of beauty, even though that was achieved, but for their pharaohs and gods. The pyramid’s primary purpose was to be the god king’s resting place preparatory to the afterlife (Humanities, 20). These pyramids would be built throughout the whole ancient Egyptian’s rule. The first example of the building of the pyramids was in 2680 B.C.E. with the step pyramid of King Djoser, but this form of pyramid was not preferred by later pharaohs and was not developed any further (Humanities, 20). The pyramid style that would be accepted by later pharaohs and be declared a wonder of the ancient world is the Great Pyramid of Giza. This would be the standard for the rest of the pyramids to be built. These pyramids were built out of respect and worship for the pharaohs and gods in hopes that they would maintain Maat. In the Old Kingdom era of ancient Egypt only pharaohs had the right of immortality with the burial in the pyramids, but eventually nobles would also claim the right for their own, but even later all Egyptians would have this same opportunity (Humanities, 18). Architecture proves to be a display of the worship of the gods that comes from the worldview the ancient Egyptians created out of response to their geographical surroundings.
Civilizations throughout the whole world and throughout time have been influenced by their geographical location in some way or another. This influence could be minimal or completely dictate the worldview of the people. As seen in the Egyptian people the geographical location of the state was foundational in creating the worldview that shaped their livelihood. The Egyptians’ political affairs and structure was shaped by the desert and the seas that boarder that state, the Nile creates the religion and the harmony that drives the actions of the people, and finally the Maat that is the very essence of the land they stand on urges the Egyptian people to build a wonder of the ancient world. Geography may seem insignificant in a modern context, but in the context of the ancient Egyptian civilization the geography is the worldview.