The Middle Kingdom
came to an end in the midst of another period of instability. An incursion into the delta
region by a people known as the Hyksos initiated this second age of chaos. The Hyksos
were part of a larger group of peoples who spoke Semitic languages and originally lived
in the Arabian peninsula. Some of these Semitic-speaking peoples had moved into northern
Mesopotamia as well as Syria and Palestine. The Hyksos infiltrated Egypt in the
seventeenth century B.C.E. and came to dominate much of the country. However, the presence
of the Hyksos was not entirely negative for Egypt. They introduced Egypt to Bronze Age
technology by teaching the Egyptians how to make bronze for use in new agricultural tools
and weapons. More significantly, the Hyksos introduced new aspects of warfare to Egypt,
including the horse-drawn war chariot, a heavier sword, and the compound bow. Eventually,
a new line of pharaohs—the eighteenth dynasty—made use of the new weapons to
throw off Hyksos domination, reunite Egypt, establish the New Kingdom (c. 1567-1085 b.c.e.), and launch the Egyptians along a new
militaristic and imperialistic path. During the period of the New Kingdom, Egypt became
the most powerful state in the Middle East. The Egyptians occupied Palestine and Syria,
but permitted the local native princes to continue to rule under Egyptian control.
Egyptian armies also moved westward into Libya. The achievements of the empire were made
visible in the construction of magnificent new buildings and temples, especially the
temple centers at Kamak and Luxor.
The eighteenth
dynasty was not without its own troubles, however. Amenhotep IV (c. 1364-1347 B.C.E.)
introduced the worship of Aton, god of the sun disk, as the chief god and pursued his
worship with great enthusiasm. Changing his own name to Akhenaten ("It is well with
Aton"), the pharaoh closed the temples of other gods and especially endeavored to
lessen the power of Amon-Re and his priesthood at Thebes. Akhenaten strove to reduce their
influence by replacing Thebes as the capital of Egypt with Akhetaton ("dedicated to
Aton"), a new city located near modern Tell el-Amarna, two hundred miles north of
Thebes.
Akhenaten's attempt
at religious change proved to be a failure. It was too much to ask Egyptians to give up
their traditional ways and beliefs, especially since they saw the destruction of the old
gods as subversive, of the very cosmic order upon which Egypt’s survival and
continuing prosperity depended. Moreover, the priests at Thebes were unalterably opposed
to the changes, which had diminished their influence and power. At the same time, Akhenaten's preoccupation with religion caused him to ignore foreign affairs and led to
the loss of both Syria and Palestine. Akhenaten's changes were soon undone after his death
by those who influenced his successor, the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamon (1347-1338 B.C.E.).
Tutankhamon returned the government to Thebes and restored the old gods. The Aton
experiment had failed to take hold, and the eighteenth dynasty itself came to an end in
1333.
The nineteenth
dynasty managed to restore Egyptian power one more time. Under Rameses II (c. 1279-1213
B.C.E.), the Egyptians regained control of Palestine but were unable to reestablish the
borders of their earlier empire. New invasions in the thirteenth century by the "Sea
Peoples," as Egyptians called them, destroyed Egyptian power in Palestine and drove
the Egyptians back within their old frontiers. The days of Egyptian empire were ended, and
the New Kingdom itself expired with the end of the twentieth dynasty in 1085. For the next
thousand years, despite periodical revivals of strength, Egypt was dominated by Libyans,
Nubians, Persians, and finally Macedonians after the conquest of Alexander the Great
Daily Life in Ancient
Egypt: Family and Marriage
Ancient Egyptians
had a very positive attitude toward daily life on earth and followed the advice of the
wisdom literature, which suggested that people marry young and establish a home and
family. Monogamy was the general rule, although a husband was allowed to keep additional
wives if his first wife was childless. Pharaohs, of course, were entitled to harems. The
queen was acknowledged, however, as the Great Wife with a status higher than that of the
other wives. The husband was master in the house, but wives were very much respected and
in charge of the household and education of the children. From a book of wise sayings
(which the Egyptians called "instructions") came this advice:
If you are a man of
standing, you should found your household and love your wife at home as is fitting. Fill
her belly; clothe her hack. Ointment is the prescription for her body. Make her heart glad
as long as you live. She is a profitable field for her lord. You should not contend with
her at law, and keep her far from gaining control. . . . Let her heart be soothed through
what may accrue to you; it means keeping her long in your house.
Women's property
and inheritance remained in their hands, even in marriage. Although most careers and
public offices were closed to women, some did operate businesses. Peasant women worked
long hours in the fields and at numerous domestic tasks. Upper-class women could function
as priestesses, and some queens even became pharaohs in their own right. The most famous
was Hatshepsut in the New Kingdom.
Seven days to
yesterday I have not seen the sister, and a sickness has invaded me; My body has become
heavy, And I am forgetful of my own self. If the chief physicians come to me, My heart is
not content with their remedies.... What will revive me is to say to me: "Here she
is'." Her name is what will lift me up. . . . My health is her coming in from
outside: When I see her, then I am well.
Marriages could and
did end in divorce, which was allowed, apparently with compensation for the wife.
Adultery, however, was strictly prohibited with stiff punishments, especially for women
who could have their noses cut off or be burned at the stake.
p. 27
Akhenaten's Hymn to Aton
Amenhotep IV, more
commonly known as Akhenaten, created a religious upheaval in Egypt by introducing the
worship of Aton, god of the sun disk, as the sole god. Akhenaten's attitude to Aton is seen
in this hymn. Some authorities have noted a similarity in spirit and wording to the 104th
Psalm of the Old Testament.
Hymn to Aton
Your rays suckle
every meadow.
When you rise, they live, they grow for you.
You make the seasons in order to rear all that you have made,
The winter to cool them,
And the heat that they may taste you.
You have made the distant sky in order to rise therein,
In order to see all that you do make.
While you were alone,
Rising in your form as the living Aton,
Appearing, shining, withdrawing or approaching,
You made millions of forms of yourself alone.
Cities, towns,
fields, road, and river—
Every eye beholds you over against them,
For you are the Aton of the day over the
earth. ...
The world came into being by your hand,
According as you have made them.
When you have risen they live,
When you set they die.
You are lifetime your own self,
For one lives only through you.
Eyes are fixed on beauty until you set.
All work is laid aside when you set in the west.
But when you rise again,
Everything is made
to flourish for the king, . . .
Since you did found the earth
And raise them up for your son,
Who came forth from your body:
the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, . . .
Akh-en-Aton, . . . and the Chief Wife of the King. . .
Nefert-iti, living and youthful forever and ever.
p. 21
The Significance of the Nile River and the
Pharaoh
Two of the most
important sources of life for the ancient Egyptians were the Nile River and the pharaoh.
Egyptians perceived that the Nile River made possible the abundant food that was a
major source of their well-being. This Hymn to the Nile, probably
from the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties in the New Kingdom, expresses the gratitude
Egyptians felt for the Nile.
Hymn to the
Nile
Hail to you, 0 Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! . . .
He that waters the meadows which Re created, in order to keep every kid
alive.
He that makes to
drink the desert and the place distant from water: that is his dew coming down from
heaven. . . . The lord of fishes, he who makes the marsh-birds to go upstream. . . . He
who makes barley and brings emmer into being, that he may make the
temples festive.
If he is sluggish,
then nostrils are stopped up, and everybody is poor. ...
When he rises, then
the land is in jubilation, then every belly is in joy, every backbone takes on laughter,
and every tooth is exposed.
The bringer of good,
rich in provisions, creator of all good, lord of majesty, sweet of fragrance. . . .
He who makes every beloved tree to grow, without lack of them.
The Egyptian king,
or pharaoh, was viewed as a god and the absolute ruler of Egypt. His significance and the
gratitude of the Egyptian people for his existence are evident in this hymn from the reign
of Sesotris II (c. 1880-1840 B.C.E.).
Hymn to the
Pharaoh
He has come unto us
that he may carry away Upper Egypt; the double diadem [crown of Upper and Lower Egypt] has
rested on his head.
He has come unto us
and has united the Two Lands; he has mingled the reed with the bee [symbols of Lower and
Upper Egypt].
He has come unto us
and has brought the Black Land under his sway; he has apportioned to himself the Red Land.
He has come unto us
and has taken the Two Lands under his protection; he has given peace to the Two
River-banks.
He has come unto us
and has made Egypt to live; he has banished its suffering.
He has come unto us
and has made the people to live; he has caused the throat of the subjects to breathe....
He has come unto us
and has done battle for his boundaries; he has delivered them that were robbed.