Page 279 - Encyclopedia Of World History

egypt, ancient 629

tribute taxes, and integrated the provinces into an over- Further Reading
all economic system. It is also possible that the kings Bard, K. A. (1994). From farmers to pharaohs: Mortuary evidence for the
rise of complex society. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press.
were on occasion faced with political challenge from rem-
Kaiser,W. (1990). Zur Entstehung des gesamtägyptischen Staates [On the
nants of some of the old ruling families during this time. formation of the Unified Egyptian State]. Mitteilunges des Deutschen
While the evidence is inconclusive, there is reason to sug- Archäologischen Instituts Kairo [Communications of the German
Institute of Archaeology Cairo], 46, 287–299.
gest that there existed a number of kings that did not Kemp, B. J. (1989). Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a civilization. London:
belong to the ruling family of the first and second dynas- Routledge.
Köhler, E. C. (1995).The state of research on late predynastic Egypt: New
ties, and that hence might have represented political
evidence for the development of the pharaonic state? Göttinger
contenders. Also, the divisions between the first and sec- Miszellen, 147, 79–92.
ond dynasties as well as between the second and third Köhler, E. C. (in press). Australian excavations at Helwan in Egypt. ARX:
World Journal of Prehistoric and Ancient Studies.
dynasties, which have been later introduced by ancient Levy,T. E., & Van den Brink, E. C. M. (2002). Interaction models, Egypt
historiographers, do suggest a degree of dynastic dis- and the Levantine periphery. In E. C. M.Van den Brink & T. E. Levy
(Eds.), Egypt and the Levant (pp. 3–38). London: Leicester University
continuity. Nevertheless, it is important to note that dur-
Press.
ing each dynastic transition, the king of the new dynasty Mortensen, B. (1991). Change in settlement pattern and population in
buried his predecessor and thus, by performing the funer- the beginning of the historical period. Ägypten und Levante [Egypt and
the Levant], 2, 11–37.
ary rituals necessary to transform the deceased king into Trigger, B. G. (2003). Understanding early civilizations. Cambridge, UK:
a cosmic divinity, demonstrated his respect for and Cambridge University Press.
Wenke, R. J. (1991). The evolution of the early Egyptian civilization:
acceptance of his predecessor’s rule.
Issues and evidence. Journal of World Prehistory, 5, 279–329.
Past and current research on the topic have demon- Wilkinson, T. A. (1996). State formation in Egypt. Oxford, UK: Tempus
strated that many of the contributing factors in the for- Reparatum.
mation of the Egyptian state are still poorly understood
and that progress can only be made through more inten-
sive archaeological research and better application of
modern anthropological theories. In contrast to the Egypt, Ancient
other regions in old world archaeology, where early
states started to form at around the same time, for t has long been common practice to speak of Egypt as
example the city states in southern Mesopotamia, Egypt Ia grace bestowed by the Nile’s beneficence. Given the
formed the world’s first nation state on a territorial essential part that this river’s life-giving waters played in
scale that encompassed the lower Nile Valley from the shaping the culture, ethos, and institutions of the coun-
first Nile cataract to the Mediterranean coast. This new try, this is a very appropriate metaphor indeed.
state was thus confronted with, and successfully resolved, Contemporary historians have tended to follow the lead
such significant logistical challenges as political and eco- of the third-century BCE Egyptian priest Manetho in their
nomic administration and communication over relatively subdivision of Egyptian history by dynasty, adding the
long distances that other regions and early states were practice of assigning subsets of the thirty pharaonic dynas-
unable to surpass until much later. In this regard, Egypt’s ties to specific periods.With some minor variations the fol-
achievements and contribution to world history are lowing scheme, taken from one of the standard treatments
unique, as it had no model to follow and instead laid the of Egyptian history, is representative of most: predynastic
essential foundations for territorial statehood for others (5500–3050 BCE), archaic/early dynastic (3050–2663
to pursue. BCE), Old Kingdom (2663–2195 BCE), First Intermediate
(2195–2066 BCE), Middle Kingdom (2066–1650 BCE),
E. Christiana Köhler
Second Intermediate (1650–1550 BCE), New Kingdom
See also State Societies, Emergence of; State,The (1550–1064 BCE), Third Intermediate (1064–656 BCE),