The Significance of the Nile River in Ancient Egypt The civilization of Ancient Egypt was an extremely complex civilization, but remained organized throughout its many years due to the Nile River greatly impacting the land, as well as the people who lived there. The geography of Egypt, including the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile River, and the deserts that surrounded them played a large role in the way Ancient Egypt functioned. Each aspect of Ancient Egypt was significantly affected by the Nile River, and would have been very different if it had been a lake rather than a river. This is shown in every part of Ancient Egypt’s culture, from the way their government and economy functioned, to the Egyptians’ religious beliefs. Polity is undeniably …show more content…
If Egypt fought with another country, they would capture prisoners of war as slaves for their country. Slaves were an important part of the Egyptian government because they served as the base of the social structure, and were known for serving pharaohs and royal families. If the Nile River had been a lake, it would decrease the amount of natural borders between Egypt and enemy countries, making it more difficult to capture slaves and fight back during war. Another important component of Ancient Egypt’s government is how early in life Egyptians tended to marry, and how commonly practiced Polygamy was. Polygamy can be described as when one man has multiple wives. Polygamy was favored because it allowed for more children and workers. With the Nile being a lake rather than a river, this would not have been possible, because a lake would not be able to provide for such large families with such an abundance of wives and children. Women were given significantly more privileges in Ancient Egypt than in other countries. While women were expected to take care of the home and children, and cook for their families, they also had the ability to own property and pass it on, …show more content…
This was shown through their agricultural practices, specialization of skills, trading, and social stratification. Trading was a large part of Ancient Egypt’s culture because it allowed them to share both goods and ideas with surrounding countries. The Nile River connects to surrounding bodies of water, such as the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. This was especially convenient to the Egyptians because it allowed for transportation of goods, using the river as a roadway for them to travel. If the Nile River was not a river, but a lake, it would have taken away the Egyptian’s ability to transport goods and ideas easily. A majority of Ancient Egypt’s economic success was due to their excellence in agriculture. Not only did the Egyptians develop agricultural skills and manage their crops well, but the geography of Egypt was also a source of their prosperous farming. With the Nile Delta and the Mediterranean Sea so close to Egypt,, flooding was common in the lower area of the country. This flooding caused alluvium to deposit into the soil, making it rich, and allowing for their crops to flourish. Crops were sold for income, consumed, and traded for other items, and were a large part of what determined someone’s wealth. Also, rent and taxes were paid to the Pharaohs using crops. Without such a surplus of crops, people would not have been able to pay for items needed to live, they would
Conscious of the geographical region, Egyptians settled around the Nile, as the Nile provided substance (agriculture, irrigation, trading routes, etc.). The Egyptians noticed that the Nile would flood regularly, and exploited this natural flooding by building an irrigation system to support their agriculture, as well as their society. “Hymn to the Nile” depicts this prosperous age of agriculture, “Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples.” ("Ancient History Sourcebook: Hymn to the Nile, c. 2100 BCE."). However, the Nile might have contributed to the eventual collapse of ancient Old Kingdom Egyptian civilization. The Nile partially destroyed the society that it had once nurtured. A series of low or high floods over the course of a few years immensely impacted their agriculture, which in turn created epidemics of famine and civil unrest. The Egyptian civilization eventually prospered once more, only centuries later and with new social
The Egyptians had three four-month seasons (Doc B). The seasons were flooding (Akhet), planting (Peret) and harvesting (Shemu). The Nile set the Egyptian calendar and the agricultural cycle for farmers’ work activity and crop growth. Several occupations depended on the Nile River (Doc C). Sailors, boat builders, fishermen and farmers depended on the river transport to market crops and make money. The Egyptians used sailboats, barges and tugs for transportation and trade (Doc C). The Nile was like the superhighway of ancient Egypt. It helped them move crops and goods up and down the river and sell beyond their local market. Nothing could happen without the Nile.
Now, let’s reflect on all the ways of how the Nile shaped Egypt. There was a big variety of different ways, but if that is so, then wouldn’t everything be out of control? Wouldn’t there be no law? Of course not, Egypt is famous for its well-organized ancient government system! It typically consisted of a powerful pharaoh and a hierarchy of advisors, officials, and priests who were all responsible for dealing with the matters and issues of the Egyptian civilization. And guess what, the Nile assisted them as well. The government would organize the agriculture and cultivation of plants and crops that grew along the coast of the Nile. (Document D) Documents A and C give us clues that the pharaoh and his advisors would use the Nile for transportation in order to assist all those in need or to attend ceremonies. The Nile and the government went hand-in-hand, creating a dominant and successful
The Nile River flooded regularly and it left black alluvial soil that was very fertile. It linked Upper and Lower Egypt, Lower Egypt was very wealthy because of the soil and Upper Egypt was not very wealthy because of the harsh weather. “Lower Egypt, because of its proximity to both Mediterranean and near eastern cultures, became more cosmopolitan than the provincial, isolated lands of Upper Egypt” (Matthews 15). The Nile River determined every aspect of the Egyptian civilization, similar to the Mesopotamians they had to adapt to the river to better themselves. Egypt was very isolated because it had desert on both sides, the Sahara desert was very hard for people to make it across because there was no water source, which in return allowed the Egyptian people to focus less on people invading and more on their civilization. Egyptian people learned how to work with the river, the rich soil from flooding allowed them to grow wheat, beans, barley, and cotton. They eventually learned how to use animals for what they needed which helped speed up the
The Nile was a crucial element to the Egyptian way of life because it influenced settlement patterns, religion and economics in many different ways. This river, not only provided the Egyptians with security, but with ambition.
also provided a mode of transportation and communication between Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, and surrounding areas. The Nile River was the greatest route for agricultural trade of crops such as wheat, corn, barley, and etc. The Egyptians were a spiritual people who believed the Nile flood was a gift from the gods and if they abided by a cosmic order they would continue to be rewarded. Moreover, these people were blessed with having natural barriers in addition to the Nile. These barriers included the dessert to the west and east, Cataracts (rapids) to the south of the Nile, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. These strategic barriers made the Egyptians territory secure from invasions, but did not hinder them from trading with neighboring
In Egypt gender roles are prevalent and clearly defined. Women are responsible for the familiar, domestic relationships like Cooking, cleaning, and watching the children, so men interpreted this as women serving them. While men is the one who would work all day and teach their growing up boys their own trade and related to society at large.
... Egyptian women were looked at differently than men; their role was that of the nurturer and the caregiver, the bearer of a family’s future. They were just as important to the society as the men. Ancient Egypt was a very complex world, and just as complex was the role that women played in its society. They were not free, but they also were not enslaved. They were vital, but only in terms of their husbands and their children. Egypt offered women a far more free life than the rest of the ancient world. In the end, women played a secondary role to men putting their desires for achievement aside so their husband could be king.
While the area did have a shortage of natural resources, the seas surrounding its city-states and its other minerals had made a significant impact on Greece. The seas opened many trade routes while the minerals were used in landscape development and bartered for, and other resources were obtained through mingling of other cultures. As for Ancient Egypt, the Nile River and its annual floods had provided the water needed for the soil to remain rich and the crops to
The Status of Women in Ancient Egyptian Society Unlike the position of women in most other ancient civilizations, including that of Greece, the Egyptian woman seems to have enjoyed the same legal and economic rights as the Egyptian man-- at least in theory. This notion is reflected in Egyptian art and historical inscriptions. It is uncertain why these rights existed for the woman in Egypt, but nowhere else in the ancient world. It may well be that such rights were ultimately related to the theoretical role of the king in Egyptian society. If the pharaoh was the personification of Egypt, and he represented the corporate personality of the Egyptian state, then men and women might not have been seen in their familiar relationships, but rather, only in regard to this royal center of society.
The Nile, which was so fundamental to the country's life, was surprisingly unimportant in religion (Baines 7). The Old Kingdom was based fundamentally on nature. The economic dependence was based on the Nile. The Old Kingdom prayed continuously on the floodwaters of the Nile, and even created they’re on gods. The Nile River led the Old Kingdom to view cycles of death, birth and re-birth. The Nile was a symbol of life and afterlife. All tombs and any other special monuments are located on the West Bank of the Nile, because the west symbolizes death. This influenced the way Egypt worshiped and created one of the many cultures to believe in an afterlife. They prepared the dead based on rituals practiced by the Old Kingdom and they built monuments to bury their rulers and royal family. And left items for the dead o use on their journey to the afterlife. There was a God of the Nile called Hapy, who brought fertility, water, and was an essential image to abundance. Another God of the Nile was Osiris, he was the ruler of the Netherworld. Osiris became the god of the afterlife, an important figure in the Old Kingdom. Although the Old Kingdom did not dedicate a lot of their time to the worship the Nile, it is responsible for the religious artifacts that were left behind. The Nile River helped in the invention of papyrus a form of paper, used to record Egyptian writing. Due to the success of cultivating the Nile, Egypt increased in population they developed a form of writing called hieroglyphics. They used papyrus made from the reeds located right near the Nile River to make paper to write their stories on. The river provided food and provided the water for farming. The Nile was a huge part in transportation process for the Old Kingdom and allowed trade between different
Although, the Nile is just a river in Africa, it was practically god-like to the Ancient Egyptians. Second to the pharaoh, the Nile controlled the life of the Egyptians. They depended on the Nile to survive as it gave them a fresh source of water, food, and fertile soil for farming. Beyond the Nile changing everything for one of the greatest civilizations just by being there, there are many interesting unknown facts about how it’s geography, climate, and animals, changed the Egyptians lifestyles. There are even many common myths and stories. One common myth or misconception is that during the time of the Hebrews the Nile River turned into blood, but in reality that did not happen. The Nile River was the most important feature in the Ancient Egyptians lifestyle.
Every year, the Nile river would flood, leaving fertile soil in its wake. Egyptians were able to grow crops because of the fertile soil. Some crops that they grew were wheat, flax and papyrus. This was the only source of water in this desert region. Without this annual
The Nile played an important role in the life of the ancient Egyptians. It makes life in the deserts of Egypt possible. It provided drinking water, a source of irrigation for crops, and most importantly the fertile soil used to grow crops. Without the Nile River it would have been difficult for Egyptian civilizations to survive. The Nile provided the crucial resources needed by a growing civilization. It caused all the ancient Egyptian communities to develop alongside the river. It also created a way of transportation of goods and people. This caused the development of boats and other water traveling methods.
From its earliest days, Egypt depended on the Nile River. The Nile provided not only a water source essential to life, but also floods that brought fertile soil and moisture for farming. The Nile was probably the single most important geographic feature that aided Egypt’s rise in wealth and power. Egyptian ancient records kept showed a downward trend in the level of the Nile floods over a period of several decades. This trend eventually had an impact on Egypt’s overall power, wealth, and sustainability (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2015).