Ancient Egyptian depiction of women engaged in mechanical rope making, the first graphic evidence of the craft, shown in the two lower rows of the illustration
Technology in Dynastic Egypt
Significant advances in ancient Egypt during the dynastic period include astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. Their geometry was a necessary outgrowth of surveying to preserve the layout and ownership of fertile farmland, which was flooded annually by the Nile River.[1] The 3,4,5 right triangle and other rules of thumb served to represent rectilinear structures, and the post and lintel architecture of Egypt. Egypt also was a center of alchemy research for much of the western world.
Paper, writing and libraries
A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is written and drawn on papyrus
The word paper comes from the Greek term for the ancient Egyptian writing material called papyrus, which was formed from beaten strips of papyrus plants. Papyrus was produced in Egypt as early as 3000 BC and was sold to ancient Greece and Rome. Egyptians were the first to use reed pens and Ink which they used to write on papyrus.[2][3] The first mention of writing on Parchment also comes from the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt.[4] The establishment of the Library of Alexandria limited the supply of papyrus for others. According to the Roman historian Pliny the Elder (Natural History records, xiii.21), as a result of this, parchment was invented under the patronage of Eumenes II of Pergamon to build his rival library at Pergamon. However, this is a myth; parchment had been in use in Anatolia and elsewhere long before the rise of Pergamon.
Egyptian hieroglyphs, a phoneticwriting system, served as the basis for the Phoenician alphabet from which later alphabets, such as Hebrew, Greek, and Latin were derived. With this ability, writing and record-keeping, the Egyptians developed one of the – if not the – first decimal system.[5][6][7] Egyptian writing is also considered the oldest in the world along with Sumerian writing.[8][9][10]
The city of Alexandria retained preeminence for its records and scrolls with its library. This ancient library was damaged by fire when it fell under Roman rule,[11] and was destroyed completely by 642CE.[12][13] With it, a vast supply of antique literature, history, and knowledge was lost.
Structures and construction
Materials and tools
Some of the older materials used in the construction of Egyptian housing included reeds and clay. According to Lucas and Harris, "reeds were plastered with clay in order to keep out of heat and cold more effectually".[14]Windcatchers were also used in Egyptian houses for cooling and ventilation.[15] Tools that were used included "limestone, chiseled stones, wooden mallets, and stone hammers", but also some more sophisticated hand tools.[16] Wide range of lithic tools was used in Predynastic and Dynastic Egypt throughout the whole Egyptian Bronze Age.[17]
Ancient Egyptian metal tool kit is well described and it consisted of metal blades of chisels, adzes, axes, saws and drills, used for the work on various types of wood and stones.[18] Also, the ancient Egyptians were apparently using core drills in stonework at least as long ago as the Fourth Dynasty, probably made of copper or arsenical copper and used in conjunction with a harder abrasive substance.
The earliest alloy used for the production of tools was arsenical bronze/copper, of which e.g. the tools used at Old Kingdom Giza were manufactured.[19] This alloy is harder than the "pure copper", presumed to be used by ancient Egyptians in earlier, now outdated works.[20] In the New Kingdom, the predominant practical alloy was tin bronze.[21]
There has been some dispute among archaeologists over whether the abrasive was quartz sand or a harder mineral such as corundum, emery or diamond, and whether it was loose or embedded in the metal.[22][23][24]Lime mortar was used to plaster the Giza pyramids in addition to various limes incorporated into temples and homes.[25]
Buildings
Many Egyptian temples are not standing today. Some are in ruin from wear and tear, while others have been lost entirely. The Egyptian structures are among the largest constructions ever conceived and built by humans. They constitute one of the most potent and enduring symbols of ancient Egyptian civilization. Temples and tombs built by a pharaoh famous for her projects, Hatshepsut, were massive and included many colossal statues of her. Pharaoh Tutankamun's rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings was full of jewelry and antiques. In some late myths, Ptah was identified as the primordial mound and had called creation into being, he was considered the deity of craftsmen, and in particular, of stone-based crafts. Imhotep, who was included in the Egyptian pantheon, was the first documented engineer.[26]
In Hellenistic Egypt, lighthouse technology was developed, the most famous example being the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Alexandria was a port for the ships that traded the goods manufactured in Egypt or imported into Egypt. A giant cantilevered hoist lifted cargo to and from ships. The lighthouse itself was designed by Sostratus of Cnidus and built in the 3rd century BC (between 285 and 247BC) on the island of Pharos in Alexandria, Egypt, which has since become a peninsula. This lighthouse was renowned in its time and knowledge of it was never lost.
The Nile valley has been the site of one of the most influential civilizations in the world with its architectural monuments, which include the Giza pyramid complex and the Great Sphinx.
Giza Plateau, Cairo. Khafre's pyramid in the background
The most famous pyramids are the Egyptian pyramids—huge structures built of brick or stone, some of which are among the largest constructions by humans. Pyramids functioned as tombs for pharaohs. In Ancient Egypt, a pyramid was referred to as mer, literally "place of ascendance." The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest in Egypt and one of the largest in the world. The base is over 13 acres (53,000m2) in area. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one of the seven to survive into modern times. The ancient Egyptians capped the peaks of their pyramids with gold plated pyramidions and covered their faces with polished white limestone, although many of the stones used for the finishing purpose have fallen or been removed for use on other structures over the millennia.
The Red Pyramid (c.26th century BC), named for the light crimson hue of its exposed granite surfaces, is the third largest of Egyptian pyramids. Menkaure's Pyramid, likely dating to the same era, was constructed of limestone and granite blocks. The Great Pyramid of Giza (c. 2580 BC) contains a huge sarcophagus fashioned of red Aswan granite. The mostly ruined Black Pyramid dating from the reign of Amenemhat III once had a polished granite pyramidion or capstone, now on display in the main hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Other uses in Ancient Egypt[27] include columns, door lintels, sills, jambs, and wall and floor veneer.
The ancient Egyptians had some of the first monumental stone buildings (such as in Saqqara), which are largely built of local limestones. How the Egyptians worked the solid granite is still a matter of debate. Tool marks described by the Egyptologist Anna Serotta indicate the use of flint tools on finer work with harder stones, e.g. when producing the hieroglyphic inscriptions.[28] Archaeologist Patrick Hunt[29] has postulated that the Egyptians used emery shown to have higher hardness on the Mohs scale. Regarding construction, of the various methods possibly used by builders, the lever moved and uplifted obelisks weighing more than 100 tons.
Obelisks were a prominent part of the Ancient Egyptian architecture, placed in pairs at the entrances of various monuments and important buildings such as temples. Earliest known obelisk fragment is that of King Teti from the Old Kingdom, found at Heliopolis.[30] In 1902, Encyclopædia Britannica wrote: "The earliest temple obelisk still in position is that of Senusret I of the XIIth Dynasty at Heliopolis (68feet high)". The word obelisk is of Greek rather than Egyptian origin because Herodotus, the great traveler, was the first writer to describe the objects. Twenty-nine ancient Egyptian obelisks are known to have survived, plus the Unfinished obelisk being built by Hatshepsut to celebrate her sixteenth year as pharaoh. It broke while being carved out of the quarry and was abandoned when another one was begun to replace it. The broken one was found at Aswan and provides some of the only insight into the methods of how they were hewn.
The obelisk symbolized the sky deity Ra and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sun disk. It is hypothesized by New York UniversityEgyptologist Patricia Blackwell Gary and Astronomy senior editor Richard Talcott that the shapes of the ancient Egyptian pyramid and obelisk were derived from natural phenomena associated with the sun (the sun-god Ra being the Egyptians' greatest deity).[31] It was also thought that the deity existed within the structure. The Egyptians also used pillars extensively.
It is unknown whether the ancient Egyptians had kites, but a team led by Maureen Clemmons and Mory Gharib raised a 5,900-pound, 15-foot (4.6m) obelisk into vertical position with a kite, a system of pulleys, and a support frame.[32] Maureen Clemmons developed the idea that the ancient Egyptians used kites for work.[32][33]
Ramps have been reported as being widely used in Ancient Egypt. A ramp is an inclined plane, or a plane surface set at an angle (other than a right angle) against a horizontal surface. The inclined plane permits one to overcome a large resistance by applying a relatively small force through a longer distance than the load is to be raised. In civil engineering the slope (ratio of rise/run) is often referred to as a grade or gradient. An inclined plane is one of the commonly-recognized simple machines. Maureen Clemmons subsequently led a team of researchers demonstrating a kite made of natural material and reinforced with shellac (which according to their research pulled with 97% the efficiency of nylon), in a 9mph wind, would easily pull an average 2-ton pyramid stone up the 1st two courses of a pyramid (in collaboration with Cal Poly, Pomona, on a 53-stone pyramid built in Rosamond, CA).
The ancient Egyptians had knowledge to some extent of sail construction. This is governed by the science of aerodynamics.[34] The earliest Egyptian sails were simply placed to catch the wind and push a vessel.[35] Later Egyptian sails dating to 2400 BC were built with the recognition that ships could sail against the wind using the lift of the sails.[35][36] Queen Hatshepsut oversaw the preparations and funding of an expedition of five ships, each measuring seventy feet long, and with several sails.[dubious–discuss][citation needed]Various others exist, also. Egyptians were the first to build proper ship Hulls by assembling wooden planks.[37] as well as the first Harbor built in Wadi al-Jarf along the red sea coast. [38][39]
Egyptian ship, 1250 BC Egyptian ship on the Red Sea, showing a board truss being used to stiffen the beam of this ship
Egyptian ship with a loose-footed sail, similar to a longship. From the 5th dynasty (around 2700 BC)
Stern-mounted steering oar of an Egyptian riverboat depicted in the Tomb of Menna (c. 1422–1411 BC) Note that the sail is stretched between yards.
Loading Egyptian vessels with the produce of Punt. Shows folded sails, lowered upper yard, yard construction, and heavy deck cargo.
The ancient Egyptians had experience with building a variety of ships.[40][41][42] Some of them survive to this day as Khufu ship.[43] The ships were found in many areas of Egypt as the Abydos boats[44][45][46] and remnants of other ships were found near the pyramids.[45][47][48]
Sneferu's ancient cedar wood ship Praise of the Two Lands is the first reference recorded to a ship being referred to by name.[49]
Although quarter rudders were the norm in Nile navigation, the Egyptians were the first to use also stern-mounted rudders (not of the modern type but center mounted steering oars).
The first warships of Ancient Egypt were constructed during the early Middle Kingdom and perhaps at the end of the Old Kingdom, but the first mention and a detailed description of a large enough and heavily armed ship dates from 16th century BC.
And I ordered to build twelve warships with rams, dedicated to Amun or Sobek, or Maat and Sekhmet, whose image was crowned best bronze noses. Carport and equipped outside rook over the waters, for many paddlers, having covered rowers deck not only from the side, but and top. and they were on board eighteen oars in two rows on the top and sat on two rowers, and the lower – one, a hundred and eight rowers were. And twelve rowers aft worked on three steering oars. And blocked Our Majesty ship inside three partitions (bulkheads) so as not to drown it by ramming the wicked, and the sailors had time to repair the hole. And Our Majesty arranged four towers for archers – two behind, and two on the nose and one above the other small – on the mast with narrow loopholes. they are covered with bronze in the fifth finger (3.2mm), as well as a canopy roof and its rowers. and they have (carried) on the nose three assault heavy crossbow arrows so they lit resin or oil with a salt of Seth (probably nitrate) tore a special blend and punched (?) lead ball with a lot of holes (?), and one of the same at the stern. and long ship seventy five cubits (41m), and the breadth sixteen, and in battle can go three-quarters of iteru per hour (about 6.5 knots)...
When Thutmose III achieved warships displacement up to 360 tons and carried up to ten new heavy and light to seventeen catapults based bronze springs, called "siege crossbow" – more precisely, siege bows. There also appeared giant catamarans, heavy warships, by the time of Ramesses III used until the Ptolemaic dynasty.[50]
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Necho II sent out an expedition of Phoenicians, which reputedly, at some point between 610 and before 594 BC, sailed in three years from the Red Sea around Africa to the mouth of the Nile. Some Egyptologists dispute that an Egyptian pharaoh would authorize such an expedition,[51] except for the reason of trade in the ancient maritime routes.
The belief in Herodotus' account, handed down to him by oral tradition,[52] is primarily because he stated with disbelief that the Phoenicians "as they sailed on a westerly course round the southern end of Libya (Africa), they had the sun on their right – to northward of them" (The Histories 4.42) – in Herodotus' time it was not generally known that Africa was surrounded by an ocean (with the southern part of Africa being thought connected to Asia[53]). So fantastic an assertion is this of a typical example of some seafarers' story and Herodotus therefore may never have mentioned it at all, had it not been based on facts and made with the according insistence.[54]
This early description of Necho's expedition as a whole is contentious, though; it is recommended that one keep an open mind on the subject,[55] but Strabo, Polybius, and Ptolemy doubted the description. Egyptologist A. B. Lloyd suggests that the Greeks at this time understood that anyone going south far enough and then turning west would have the Sun on their right but found it unbelievable that Africa reached so far south. He suggests that "It is extremely unlikely that an Egyptian king would, or could, have acted as Necho is depicted as doing" and that the story might have been triggered by the failure of Sataspes' attempt to circumnavigate Africa under Xerxes the Great.[56] Regardless, it was believed by Herodotus and Pliny.[57]
Much earlier, the Sea Peoples was a confederacy of seafaring raiders who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th Dynasty, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty.[58] The Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah explicitly refers to them by the term "the foreign-countries (or 'peoples'[59]) of the sea"[60][61] in his Great Karnak Inscription.[62] Although some scholars believe that they "invaded" Cyprus and the Levant, this hypothesis is disputed.
Irrigation as the artificial application of water to the soil was used to some extent in ancient Egypt, a hydraulic civilization (which entails hydraulic engineering).[63] In crop production it is mainly used to replace missing rainfall in periods of drought, as opposed to reliance on direct rainfall (referred to as dryland farming or as rainfed farming). Before technology advanced, the people of Egypt relied on the natural flow of the Nile River to tend to the crops. Although the Nile provided sufficient watering for the survival of domesticated animals, crops, and the people of Egypt, there were times where the Nile would flood the area wreaking havoc across the land.[64] There is evidence of the ancient Egyptian pharaohAmenemhet III in the Twelfth Dynasty (about 1800 BC) using the natural lake of the Fayûm as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during the dry seasons, as the lake swelled annually with the flooding of the Nile.[65] Construction of drainage canals reduced the problems of major flooding from entering homes and areas of crops; but because it was a hydraulic civilization, much of the water management was controlled in a systematic way.[66] Egyptians also developed the Nilometer to measure the nile's water level and clarity of each year's flood and help forecast the flood's effect on the fields.[67][68]
The earliest known glass beads from Egypt were made during the New Kingdom around 1500BC and were produced in a variety of colors. They were made by winding molten glass around a metal bar and were highly prized as a trading commodity, especially blue beads, which were believed to have magical powers. The Egyptians made small jars and bottles using the core-formed method. Glass threads were wound around a bag of sand tied to a rod. The glass was continually reheated to fuse the threads together. The glass-covered sand bag was kept in motion until the required shape and thickness was achieved. The rod was allowed to cool, then finally the bag was punctured and the sand poured out and reused. The Egyptians also created the first colored glass rods which they used to create colorful beads and decorations. They also worked with cast glass, which was produced by pouring molten glass into a mold, much like iron and the more modern crucible steel.[69] Recent evidence indicates that glassmaking started in Egypt and was later copied by Mesopotamians.[70]
The Egyptians were a practical people and this is reflected in their astronomy[71] in contrast to Babylonia where the first astronomical texts were written in astrological terms.[72] Even before Upper and Lower Egypt were unified in 3000 BC, observations of the night sky had influenced the development of a religion in which many of its principal deities were heavenly bodies. In Lower Egypt, priests built circular mudbrick walls with which to make a false horizon where they could mark the position of the sun as it rose at dawn, and then with a plumb-bob note the northern or southern turning points (solstices). This allowed them to discover that the sun disc, personified as Ra, took 365 days to travel from his birthplace at the winter solstice and back to it. Meanwhile, in Upper Egypt, a lunar calendar was being developed based on the behavior of the moon and the reappearance of Sirius in its heliacal rising after its annual absence of about 70 days.[73]
After unification, problems with trying to work with two calendars (both depending upon constant observation) led to a merged, simplified civil calendar with twelve 30-day months, three seasons of four months each, plus an extra five days, giving a 365-year day but with no way of accounting for the extra quarter day each year. Day and night were split into 24 units, each personified by a deity. A sundial found on Seti I's cenotaph with instructions for its use shows us that the daylight hours were at one time split into 10 units, with 12 hours for the night and an hour for the morning and evening twilights.[74] However, by Seti I's time day and night were normally divided into 12 hours each, the length of which would vary according to the time of year.
Key to much of this was the motion of the sun god Ra and his annual movement along the horizon at sunrise. Out of Egyptian myths such as those around Ra and the sky goddess Nut came the development of the Egyptian calendar, time keeping, and even concepts of royalty. An astronomical ceiling in the burial chamber of Ramesses VI shows the sun being born from Nut in the morning, traveling along her body during the day and being swallowed at night.
During the Fifth Dynasty six kings built sun temples in honour of Ra. The temple complexes built by Niuserre at Abu Gurab and Userkaf at Abusir have been excavated and have astronomical alignments, and the roofs of some of the buildings could have been used by observers to view the stars, calculate the hours at night and predict the sunrise for religious festivals.[citation needed]
The Dendera Zodiac was on the ceiling of the Greco-Roman temple of Hathor at Dendera
Claims have been made that precession of the equinoxes was known in ancient Egypt prior to the time of Hipparchus.[75] This has been disputed however on the grounds that pre-Hipparchus texts do not mention precession and that "it is only by cunning interpretation of ancient myths and images, which are ostensibly about something else, that precession can be discerned in them, aided by some pretty esoteric numerological speculation involving the 72 years that mark one degree of shift in the zodiacal system and any number of permutations by multiplication, division, and addition."[76]
Note however that the Egyptian observation of a slowly changing stellar alignment over a multi-year period does not necessarily mean that they understood or even cared what was going on. For instance, from the Middle Kingdom onwards they used a table with entries for each month to tell the time of night from the passing of constellations. These went in error after a few centuries because of their calendar and precession, but were copied (with scribal errors) long after they lost their practical usefulness or the possibility of understanding and use of them in the current years, rather than the years in which they were originally used.
Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus (around the 17th century BC), among the earliest medical texts
The Edwin Smith Papyrus is one of the first medical documents still extant, and perhaps the earliest document which attempts to describe and analyze the brain: given this, it might be seen as the very beginnings of neuroscience. The rational and practical nature of the papyrus is illustrated in 48 case histories, which are listed according to each organ.[77] The papyrus begins by addressing injuries to the body along with treatments[78]:29 (including Rhinoplasty[79]), detailing injuries in descending anatomical order[80] like a modern anatomical exposition.[81] as well as diagnosing diseases like cancer.[82] The objective examination process[83] included visual and olfactory clues, palpation and taking of the pulse.[80] Following the examination are the diagnosis and prognosis. Among the treatments are closing wounds with sutures,[84] bandaging, splints, poultices,[80] Immobilization is advised for head and spinal cord injuries, as well as other lower body fractures. The papyrus also describes realistic anatomical, physiological and pathological observations.[83] It contains the first known descriptions of the cranial structures, the meninges, the external surface of the brain, the cerebrospinal fluid, and the intracranial pulsations.[81]:1 The procedures of this papyrus demonstrate an Egyptian level of knowledge of medicines that surpassed that of Hippocrates, who lived 1000 years later,[85]:59 and the documented rationale for diagnosis and treatment of spinal injuries can still be regarded as the state-of-the-art reasoning for modern clinical practice.[86] The influence of brain injuries on parts of the body is recognized, such as paralysis. The relationship between the location of a cranial injury and the side of the body affected is also recorded, while crushing injuries of vertebrae were noted to impair motor and sensory functions.[83] Due to its nature, it is believed the papyrus served as a textbook for the trauma from military battles.[87]:11 The papyrus contained the first known study of Anatomy. It described the heart, its vessels, liver, spleen, kidneys, hypothalamus, uterus and bladder, and showed the blood vessels diverging from the heart.[88]
Ebers Papyrus contains The earliest known writings on the Circulatory system. it acknowledges the connection of the heart to the arteries. The Egyptians thought air came in through the mouth and into the lungs and heart. From the heart, the air travelled to every member through the arteries. Although this concept of the circulatory system is only partially correct, it represents one of the earliest accounts of scientific thought.[89]
The earliest known depiction of cataract surgery is on a statue from the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (2467–2457BCE).[90] According to Francisco J Ascaso et al, a "relief painting from tomb number TT 217 in a worker settlement in Deir el-Medina" shows "the man buried in the tomb, Ipuy... one of the builders of royal tombs in the renowned Valley of the Kings, circa 1279–1213 BC" as he underwent cataract surgery. Although direct evidence for cataract surgery in ancient Egypt is lacking, the indirect evidence, including surgical instruments that could have been used for the procedure, show that it was possible. It is assumed that the couching technique was used.[90][91]
Prosthetic toe from ancient Egypt
The Egyptians were also pioneers of prosthetics, as shown by the wooden toe found on a body from the New Kingdom circa 1000 BC.[92]
However, medical historians believe that ancient Egyptian pharmacology was largely ineffective.[93] According to a paper published by Michael D. Parkins, 72% of 260 medical prescriptions in the Hearst papyrus had no curative elements.[94] According to Michael D. Parkins, sewage pharmacology first began in ancient Egypt and was continued through the Middle Ages,[93] and while the use of animal dung can have curative properties,[95] it is not without its risk. Practices such as applying cow dung to wounds, ear piercing, tattooing, and chronic ear infections were important factors in developing tetanus.[96] Frank J. Snoek wrote that Egyptian medicine used fly specks, lizard blood, swine teeth, and other such remedies which he believes could have been harmful.[97]
Mummification of the dead was not always practiced in Egypt. Once the practice began, an individual was placed at a final resting place through a set of rituals and protocol.
The wheel
Evidence indicates that Egyptians made use of potter's wheels in the manufacturing of pottery from as early as the 4th Dynasty (c. 2613 to 2494 BC).[98]Lathes are known from at least 1300 BC,[99] but Flinders Petrie claimed that they had been used as early as the 4th Dynasty, based on tool marks found on stone bowls from that period.[100]Chariots, however, are only believed to have been introduced by the invasion of the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period (c.1650 BC to c.1550 BC);[101] during the New Kingdom era (c.1550 BC to c.1077 BC), chariotry became central to Egypt's military.
Other developments
The Egyptians developed a variety of furniture. There in the lands of ancient Egypt is the first evidence for stools, beds, and tables (such as from the tombs similar to Tutankhamun's). Recovered Ancient Egyptian furniture includes a third millennium BC bed discovered in the Tarkhan Tomb, a c.2550BC. gilded set from the tomb of Queen Hetepheres I, and a c. 1550BC. stool from Thebes.
Some have suggested that the Egyptians had some form of understanding electricphenomena from observing lightning and interacting with electric fish (such as Malapterurus electricus) or other animals (such as electric eels).[102] The comment about lightning appears to come from a misunderstanding of a text referring to "high poles covered with copper plates" to argue this[103] but Dr. Bolko Stern has written in detail explaining why the copper covered tops of poles (which were lower than the associated pylons) do not relate to electricity or lightning, pointing out that no evidence of anything used to manipulate electricity had been found in Egypt and that this was a magical and not a technical installation.[104]
Recent scholarship suggests that the water wheel originates from Ptolemaic Egypt, where it appeared by the 3rd century BC.[105][106] This is seen as an evolution of the paddle-driven water-lifting wheels that had been known in Egypt a century earlier.[105] According to John Peter Oleson, both the compartmented wheel and the hydraulic noria may have been invented in Egypt by the 4th century BC, with the Sakia being invented there a century later. This is supported by archeological finds at Faiyum, Egypt, where the oldest archeological evidence of a water-wheel has been found, in the form of a Sakia dating back to the 3rd century BC. A papyrus dating to the 2nd century BC also found in Faiyum mentions a water wheel used for irrigation, a 2nd-century BC fresco found at Alexandria depicts a compartmented Sakia, and the writings of Callixenus of Rhodes mention the use of a Sakia in Ptolemaic Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy IV in the late 3rd century BC.[106]
Ancient Greek technology was often inspired by the need to improve weapons and tactics in war. Ancient Roman technology is a set of artifacts and customs which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years.
Under Arab rule, Egypt once again became one of the most prosperous regions around the Mediterranean. The Egyptian city of Cairo was founded by the Fatimid Caliphate and served as its capital city. At the time, Cairo was second only to Baghdad, capital of the rival Abbasid Caliphate. After the fall of Baghdad, however, Cairo overtook it as the largest city in the Mediterranean region until the early modern period.
↑ Erlikh, Ḥagai; Erlikh, Hạggai; Gershoni, I. (2000). The Nile: Histories, Cultures, Myths. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp.80–81. ISBN978-1-55587-672-2. Retrieved 9 January 2020. The Nile occupied an important position in Egyptian culture; it influenced the development of mathematics, geography, and the calendar; Egyptian geometry advanced due to the practice of land measurement "because the overflow of the Nile caused the boundary of each person's land to disappear."
↑ David Diringer, The Book before Printing: Ancient, Medieval and Oriental, Dover Publications, New York 1982, p. 172.
↑ Georges Ifrah, The Universal History of Numbers. Page 162 (cf., "As we have seen, Sumer used a sexagesimal base; whereas the system of Ancient Egypt was strictly decimal.")
↑ Robert E Krebs, Groundbreaking scientific experiments, inventions, and discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Page 127. ISBN0-313-32433-6
↑ Thomas Little Heath, Manual of Greek Mathematics. Page 11.
↑ "The world's earliest known writing systems emerged at more or less the same time, around 3300 bc, in Egypt and Mesopotamia (today's Iraq)."Teeter, Emily (2011). Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. p.99.
↑ A. Lucas and J. Harris, "Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries" (New York: Courier Corporation, 2012), 64.
↑ Kobusiewicz, Michał (2015). The production, use and importance of flint tools in the Archaic Period and the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Archaeopress Egyptology. Oxford: Archaeopress. ISBN978-1-78491-249-9.
↑ Odler, Martin (2016). Old Kingdom copper tools and model tools. Archaeopress Egyptology. Oxford: Archaeopress Publishing. ISBN978-1-78491-442-4.
↑ Davies, W. Vivian, ed. (1987). Catalogue of Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum. 7: Tools and weapons; 1: Axes / by W. V. Davies. London: British Museum. ISBN978-0-7141-0934-3.
↑ A. Lucas and J. Harris, "Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries" (New York: Courier Corporation, 2012).
↑ A primary feature of a properly designed sail is an amount of "draft", caused by curvature of the surface of the sail. When the sail is oriented into the wind, this curvature induces lift, much like the wing of an airplane.
1 2 Encyclopedia Of International Sports Studies. Page 31
↑ Technological Choices: Transformation in Material Cultures. Page 410.
↑ Anzovin, item # 5393, page 385 Reference to a ship with a name appears in an inscription of 2613 BCE that recounts the shipbuilding achievements of the fourth-dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Sneferu. He was recorded as the builder of a cedarwood vessel called "Praise of the Two Lands."
↑ Nelson Harold Hayden, Allen Thomas George and Dr Raymond O. Faulkner. «Tuthmosis III. First Emperor in the History of Mankind. His Regal companions and a Great assistants» Oxford UNV Publishing, 1921 p.127.
↑ For instance, the Egyptologist Alan Lloyd wrote "Given the context of Egyptian thought, economic life, and military interests, it is impossible for one to imagine what stimulus could have motivated Necho in such a scheme and if we cannot provide a reason which is sound within Egyptian terms of reference, then we have good reason to doubt the historicity of the entire episode." Lloyd, Alan B. (1977). "Necho and the Red Sea: Some Considerations". Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 63: 149. doi:10.2307/3856314. JSTOR3856314.
↑ M. J. Cary. The Ancient Explorers. Penguin Books, 1963. Page 114
↑ Die umsegelung Asiens und Europas auf der Vega. Volume 2. By Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. p148
↑ Heinz Gartmann: Sonst stünde die Welt still. Das große Ringen um das Neue. Econ, Düsseldorf 1957
↑ The Cambridge History of the British Empire. CUP Archive, 1963. p56
↑ Lloyd, Alan B (1977). "Necho and the Red Sea: Some Considerations". Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 63: 142–155. doi:10.2307/3856314. JSTOR3856314.
↑ The Geographical system of Herodotus By James Rennel. p348+
↑ Aconvenient table of sea peoples in hieroglyphics, transliteration and English is given in the dissertation of Woodhuizen, 2006, who developed it from works of Kitchen cited there
↑ As noted by Gardiner V.1 p.196, other texts have "foreign-peoples"; both terms can refer to the concept of "foreigners" as well. Zangger in the external link below expresses a commonly held view that "Sea Peoples" does not translate this and other expressions but is an academic innovation. The Woudhuizen dissertation and the Morris paper identify Gaston Maspero as the first to use the term "peuples de la mer" in 1881.
↑ Susan Hampton. "Glassmaking in Antiquity". The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Archived from the original on 5 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
↑ Ronald A Wells, "Archaeoastronomy in Egypt", in Walker, Christopher, Ed Astronomy before the telescope, British Museum Press, 1996 p.28
↑ John Britton and Christopher Walker, Astrology and Astronomy in Mesopotamia, in Walker, Christopher, Ed Astronomy before the telescope, British Museum Press, 1996 p. 42
↑ Tyldesley, Joyce, Pyramids: The Real Story Behind Egypt's Ancient Monuments, Viking, 2003, p. 74
↑ Paul Jordan (2006). "Esoteric Egypt". In Garrett G. Fagan (ed.). Archaeological Fantasies:How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public. Routledge. p.123. ISBN978-0-415-30593-8.
1 2 3 Zimmerman, Leo M.; Veith, Ilza (1993) [First published 1961]. Great Ideas in the History of Surgery. San Francisco: Jeremy Norman Publishing. ISBN978-0-930405-53-3. LCCN93013671.
↑ Porter, R. (1997). The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity from Antiquity to the Present. Harper Collins. pp.49–50. ISBN978-0-00-215173-3.
↑ Mamtani R, Malhotra P, Gupta PS, Jain BK (June 1978). "A comparative study of urban and rural tetanus in adults". Int J Epidemiol. 7 (2): 185–8. doi:10.1093/ije/7.2.185. PMID681065.
↑ Heinrich Karl Brugsch-Bey and Henry Danby Seymour, "A History of Egypt Under the Pharaohs". J. Murray, 1881. Page 422. (cf., [... the symbol of a] 'serpent' is rather a fish, which still serves, in the Coptic language, to designate the electric fish [...])
↑ Bruno Kolbe, Francis ed Legge, Joseph Skellon, tr., "An Introduction to Electricity". Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1908. 429 pages. Page 391. (cf., "[...] high poles covered with copper plates and with gilded tops were erected 'to break the stones coming from on high'. J. Dümichen, Baugeschichte des Dendera-Tempels, Strassburg, 1877")
1 2 Adriana de Miranda (2007). Water architecture in the lands of Syria: the water-wheels. L'Erma di Bretschneider. pp.38–9. ISBN978-88-8265-433-7.
Related Research Articles
Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeast Africa. It was concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River, situated within the contemporary territory of modern-day Egypt. Ancient Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3100BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under pharaoh or king Menes. The history of ancient Egypt unfolded as a series of stable kingdoms interspersed by periods of relative instability known as "Intermediate Periods". The various kingdoms fall into one of three categories: the Old Kingdom of the Early Bronze Age, the Middle Kingdom of the Middle Bronze Age, or the New Kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.
Necho II of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty, which ruled from Sais. Necho undertook a number of construction projects across his kingdom. In his reign, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, Necho II sent out an expedition of Phoenicians, which in three years sailed from the Red Sea around Africa to the Strait of Gibraltar and back to Egypt. His son, Psammetichus II, upon succession may have removed Necho's name from monuments.
Djoser was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, and was the founder of that epoch. He is also known by his Hellenized names Tosorthros and Sesorthos. He was the son of King Khasekhemwy and Queen Nimaathap, but whether he was also the direct successor to their throne is unclear. Most Ramesside king lists identify a king named Nebka as preceding him, but there are difficulties in connecting that name with contemporary Horus names, so some Egyptologists question the received throne sequence. Djoser is known for his step pyramid, which is the earliest colossal stone building in ancient Egypt.
Articles related to Egypt include:
Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period. Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented.
The history of ancient Egypt spans the period from the early prehistoric settlements of the northern Nile valley to the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The pharaonic period, the period in which Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh, is dated from the 32nd century BC, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified, until the country fell under Macedonian rule in 332 BC.
Psamtik II, known by the Graeco-Romans as Psammetichus or Psammeticus, was a king of the Saite-based Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. His prenomen, Nefer-Ib-Re, means "Beautiful [is the] Heart [of] Re." He was the son of Necho II.
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures located in Egypt. Sources cite at least 118 identified "Egyptian" pyramids. Approximately 80 pyramids were built within the Kingdom of Kush, now located in the modern country of Sudan. Of those located in modern Egypt, most were built as tombs for the country's pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.
Tantamani, also known as Tanutamun or Tanwetamani was ruler of the Kingdom of Kush located in Northern Sudan, and the last pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. His prenomen or royal name was Bakare, which means "Glorious is the Soul of Re."
The Giza pyramid complex in Egypt is home to the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx. All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, between c. 2600 – c. 2500 BC. The site also includes several temples, cemeteries, and the remains of a workers' village.
Spanning over three thousand years, ancient Egypt was not one stable civilization but in constant change and upheaval, commonly split into periods by historians. Likewise, ancient Egyptian architecture is not one style, but a set of styles differing over time but with some commonalities.
The ancient Egyptian Mast hieroglyph is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. It is used on a famous label of Pharaoh Den of the First dynasty, but forms part of the location hieroglyph: Emblem of the East.
Sneferu or Soris was an ancient Egyptian monarch and the first pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, during the earlier half of the Old Kingdom period. He introduced major innovations in the design and construction of pyramids, and at least three of his pyramids survive to this day.
Nubia is a region along the Nile river encompassing the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, and the area between the first cataract of the Nile or more strictly, Al Dabbah. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa, the Kerma culture, which lasted from around 2500 BC until its conquest by the New Kingdom of Egypt under Pharaoh Thutmose I around 1500 BC, whose heirs ruled most of Nubia for the next 400 years. Nubia was home to several empires, most prominently the Kingdom of Kush, which conquered Egypt in the eighth century BC during the reign of Piye and ruled the country as its 25th Dynasty.
The following outline is provided as an overview of a topical guide to ancient Egypt:
The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Kushite invasion.
This page list topics related to ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egyptian trade developed with the gradual creation of land and sea trade routes connecting the ancient Egyptian civilization with ancient India, the Fertile Crescent, Arabia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Netjerkare Siptah was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the seventh and last ruler of the Sixth Dynasty. Alternatively some scholars classify him as the first king of the Seventh or Eighth Dynasty. As the last king of the 6th Dynasty, Netjerkare Siptah is considered by some Egyptologists to be the last king of the Old Kingdom period.
References
Leslie C. Kaplan, "Technology of Ancient Egypt. 2004, 24 pages. ISBN0-8239-6785-9
Denys Allen Stocks "Experiments in Egyptian Archaeology: Stoneworking Technology in Ancient Egypt". Routledge, 2003. 336 pages. ISBN0-415-30664-7
Katheryn A. Bard" Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt By Katheryn A. Bard". Routledge, 1999. 968 pages. ISBN0-415-18589-0
R. J. Forbes, "Studies in Ancient Technology". 1966.
Örjan Wikander, "Handbook of Ancient Water Technology". 2000.
Patricia Blackwell Gary; Richard Talcott (June 2006). "Stargazing in Ancient Egypt". Astronomy. 34 (6): 62–7. Bibcode:2006Ast....34f..62G.
Evans, James. The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Pannekoek, A. A History of Astronomy. New York: Dover, 1961.
Parker Richard A. "Egyptian Astronomy, Astrology, and Calendrical Reckoning". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 15: 706–727.
Earl, Bryan (Summer 1995). "Tin Smelting at the Oriental Institute". The Oriental Institute News and Notes. 146.
Gourdin, W.H.; W.D. Kingery (1975). "The Beginnings of Pyrotechnology: Neolithic and Egyptian Lime Plaster". Journal of Field Archaeology. 2 (1–2): 133–150. doi:10.1179/009346975791491277. JSTOR529624.
Lucas, Alfred. 1962. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 4th Edition. London: Edward Arnold Publishers.
Nicholson, Paul T. and Ian Shaw, eds. 2000. Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology. University Press, Cambridge.
Pulak, C. A (1998). "The Uluburun Shipwreck: An Overview". International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 27 (3): 188–224. doi:10.1111/j.1095-9270.1998.tb00803.x.
Scheel, Bernd. 1989. Egyptian Metalworking and Tools. Haverfordwest, Great Britain: Shire Publications Ltd.
Shaw, Ian. Editor. 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Shortland, A.J. (2004). "Evaporites of the Wadi Natrun: Seasonal and Annual Variation and its Implication for Ancient Exploitation". Archaeometry. 46 (4): 497–516. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2004.00170.x.
Davis, Virginia. "Mines and Quarries of Ancient Egypt, an Introduction" Online article
Institutt for Arkeologi, Kunsthistorie og Konservering website, in English at
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
