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Early Dynastic Period of Egypt

 

 
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Early Dynastic Period of Egypt
 
 
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The Archaic or Early Dynastic Period of Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
 immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt c. 3150 BC. It is generally taken to include the First
First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Second dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. At that time the capital was Thinis....
 and Second
Second dynasty of Egypt

The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with the First dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. The capital at that time was Thinis....
 Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt
Protodynastic Period of Egypt

The Protodynastic Period of Egypt refers to the period of time at the very end of the Predynastic Period of Egypt. It is equivalent to the archaeological phase known as Naqada III....
 until 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Ancient Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement ? this was the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley ....
. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos
Abydos, Egypt

Abydos , one of the most ancient cities of Upper and Lower Egypt, is about 11 km west of the Nile at latitude 26? 10' N. The Egyptian name of both the eighth Nome of Upper Egypt and its capital city was Abdju, technically, 3bdw as in the hieroglyphs shown to the right, the hill of the symbol or reliquary, in which...
 to Memphis
Memphis, Egypt

Memphis was the ancient capital of the first Nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 2200 BC and later for shorter periods during the New Kingdom, and an administrative centre throughout ancient history....
 where an Egyptian god-king ruled a now unified polity that extended from the Nile Delta
Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the River delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas?from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline?and is a rich agricultural region....
 to the first cataract
Cataracts of the Nile

The cataracts of the Nile River are shallow stretches between Aswan and Khartoum where the water's surface is broken by numerous small boulders and stones lying on the river bed, as well as many small rocky islets....
 at Aswan
Aswan

Aswan , Egyptian language: Swenet , Coptic language: Swan; Greek language: Syene; ) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate....
.






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The Archaic or Early Dynastic Period of Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
 immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt c. 3150 BC. It is generally taken to include the First
First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Second dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. At that time the capital was Thinis....
 and Second
Second dynasty of Egypt

The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with the First dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. The capital at that time was Thinis....
 Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt
Protodynastic Period of Egypt

The Protodynastic Period of Egypt refers to the period of time at the very end of the Predynastic Period of Egypt. It is equivalent to the archaeological phase known as Naqada III....
 until 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Ancient Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement ? this was the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley ....
. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos
Abydos, Egypt

Abydos , one of the most ancient cities of Upper and Lower Egypt, is about 11 km west of the Nile at latitude 26? 10' N. The Egyptian name of both the eighth Nome of Upper Egypt and its capital city was Abdju, technically, 3bdw as in the hieroglyphs shown to the right, the hill of the symbol or reliquary, in which...
 to Memphis
Memphis, Egypt

Memphis was the ancient capital of the first Nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 2200 BC and later for shorter periods during the New Kingdom, and an administrative centre throughout ancient history....
 where an Egyptian god-king ruled a now unified polity that extended from the Nile Delta
Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the River delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas?from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline?and is a rich agricultural region....
 to the first cataract
Cataracts of the Nile

The cataracts of the Nile River are shallow stretches between Aswan and Khartoum where the water's surface is broken by numerous small boulders and stones lying on the river bed, as well as many small rocky islets....
 at Aswan
Aswan

Aswan , Egyptian language: Swenet , Coptic language: Swan; Greek language: Syene; ) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate....
. Abydos remained the center of cult worship in the south. The distinctive hallmarks of ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ian civilization, such as art
Art of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian art refers to the style of painting, sculpture, crafts and architecture developed by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD....
, architecture
Ancient Egyptian architecture

The Nile valley has been the site of one of the most influential civilizations which developed a vast array of diverse structures encompassing ancient Egyptian architecture....
 and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period.

Prior to the unification of Egypt, the land was settled with autonomous villages. With the early dynasties, and for much of Egypt's history thereafter, the country came to be known as the Two Lands. The rulers
Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
 established a national administration and appointed royal governors. The buildings of the central government were typically open-air temples constructed of wood or sandstone
Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
. State formation in Egypt was primarily indigenous in character, and it is likely that a common language, namely Egyptian
Egyptian language

Egyptian is a branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages language family along with the Chadic languages, Berber languages, Semitic languages, Cushitic languages and possibly Omotic languages languages....
, was spoken in Upper and Lower Egypt in variant dialects, which facilitated the unification. The earliest hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs was a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements....
 appear just before this period, though nothing is certain about the spoken language represented by the writing at the time.

According to Manetho
Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic dynasty, ca. 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca ....
, the first king
Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
 was Menes
Menes

Menes is the name of the Egyptian king credited with founding the First dynasty of Egypt, sometime around 3100 BC. Menes was seen as a founding figure for much of the history of Ancient Egypt, and was possibly a mythical founding king similar to Romulus and Remus for Ancient Rome....
. However, the earliest recorded king of the First Dynasty
First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Second dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. At that time the capital was Thinis....
 was Hor-Aha
Hor-Aha

Hor-Aha is considered the second pharaoh of the First dynasty of Egypt of Ancient Egypt in current Egyptology. He lived around the 31st century BC....
, and the first king to claim to have united the two lands was Narmer
Narmer

Narmer was an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh who ruled in the 31st century BC. Thought to be the successor to the Predynastic Egypt King Scorpion and/or Ka , he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First dynasty of Egypt, and therefore the first king of all Egypt....
 (the final king of the Protodynastic Period
Protodynastic Period of Egypt

The Protodynastic Period of Egypt refers to the period of time at the very end of the Predynastic Period of Egypt. It is equivalent to the archaeological phase known as Naqada III....
). His name is known because it is written on a votive palette
Narmer Palette

The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, and containing some of the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphsic inscriptions ever found....
 used for grinding minerals for kohl
Kohl (cosmetics)

Kohl is a mixture of soot and other ingredients used predominantly by Middle Eastern, African and South Asian women, and to a lesser extent men, to darken the eyelids and as mascara for the eyelashes....
, used by ancient Egyptians
Egyptians

Egyptians is the name of the nationality and Mediterranean North African ethnic group native to Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to the Geography of Egypt, dominated by the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the Cataracts of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea and enclosed by desert both to the Easte...
 to outline the eyes. Funeral practices for the peasants would have been the same as in predynastic times, but the rich demanded something more. Thus, the Egyptians began construction of the mastaba
Mastaba

A mastaba was a kind of Ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular with outward sloping sides that marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypt's History of Egypt....
s which became models for the later Old Kingdom constructions such as the Step pyramid
Step pyramid

The construction of step pyramids has been an ancient part of several cultures throughout history. These pyramids typically are large and made of several layers, or steps, of stone....
. Cereal
Cereal

Cereals, or cereal grains, are mostly Poaceae cultivated for their edible brans or fruit seeds . Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore staple foods....
 agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
 and centralization contributed to the success of the state for the next 800 years.

It has also so been interpreted that King Menes and the whole traditional story of an Egypt unified under a single conquering ruler, who led his armies and conquered lower Egypt to establish the first dynasty in the lower Egyptian city of Memphis, is just mythology as are the twin kingdoms story. It seems certain that Egypt became unified as a cultural and economic domain long before its first king ascended to the throne in the lower Egyptian city of Memphis where the dynastic period did originate. Political unification proceeded gradually, perhaps over a period of a century or so as local districts established trading networks and the ability of their governments to organize agriculture labor on a larger scale increased, divine kingship may also have gained spiritual momentum as the cults of gods like Horus, Seth and Neith associated with living representatives became wide spread in the country.

Further needings go to year 1982


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