Book contents
- Frontmatter
- 1 The palaeo-ecology of the African continent: the physical environment of Africa from earliest geological to Later Stone Age times
- 2 Origins and evolution of African Hominidae
- 3 The earliest archaeological traces
- 4 The cultures of the Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age
- 5 The Late Palaeolithic and Epi-Palaeolithic of northern Africa
- 6 The Later Stone Age in sub-Saharan Africa
- 7 The rise of civilization in Egypt
- 8 Beginnings of pastoralism and cultivation in north-west Africa and the Sahara: origins of the Berbers
- 9 The origins of indigenous African agriculture
- 10 Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period in Egypt
- 11 Early food production in sub-Saharan Africa
- 12 Egypt, 1552–664 BC
- Bibliographical essays
- Bibliography
- Index
- Fig. 3.5 The distribution of sites known or believed to be older than 1.5 million years (i.e. Oldowan). (Modified from J. D. Clark 1967.)
- Fig. 3.6 The distribution of sites known or believed to be between 1.5 and 0.7 million years (i.e. Early Acheulian and Developed Oldowan).">
- Fig. 3.7 The location of Earlier Stone Age and Lower Palaeolithic sites thought to be between 0.7 and 0.1 million years old (i.e. Acheulian plus Developed Oldowan/Hope Fountain).
- Fig. 3.16 The ‘Zinjanthropus’ site at FLK, Bed I, Olduvai Gorge. A plan showing the distribution of an old ground–surface which was uncovered by excavation. A dense patch of discarded artifacts and introduced stones (manuports) coincides with a dense patch of broken–up animal bones. (After M. D. Leakey 1971.)
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- Plate Section">
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- References
10 - Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period in Egypt
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- 1 The palaeo-ecology of the African continent: the physical environment of Africa from earliest geological to Later Stone Age times
- 2 Origins and evolution of African Hominidae
- 3 The earliest archaeological traces
- 4 The cultures of the Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age
- 5 The Late Palaeolithic and Epi-Palaeolithic of northern Africa
- 6 The Later Stone Age in sub-Saharan Africa
- 7 The rise of civilization in Egypt
- 8 Beginnings of pastoralism and cultivation in north-west Africa and the Sahara: origins of the Berbers
- 9 The origins of indigenous African agriculture
- 10 Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period in Egypt
- 11 Early food production in sub-Saharan Africa
- 12 Egypt, 1552–664 BC
- Bibliographical essays
- Bibliography
- Index
- Fig. 3.5 The distribution of sites known or believed to be older than 1.5 million years (i.e. Oldowan). (Modified from J. D. Clark 1967.)
- Fig. 3.6 The distribution of sites known or believed to be between 1.5 and 0.7 million years (i.e. Early Acheulian and Developed Oldowan).">
- Fig. 3.7 The location of Earlier Stone Age and Lower Palaeolithic sites thought to be between 0.7 and 0.1 million years old (i.e. Acheulian plus Developed Oldowan/Hope Fountain).
- Fig. 3.16 The ‘Zinjanthropus’ site at FLK, Bed I, Olduvai Gorge. A plan showing the distribution of an old ground–surface which was uncovered by excavation. A dense patch of discarded artifacts and introduced stones (manuports) coincides with a dense patch of broken–up animal bones. (After M. D. Leakey 1971.)
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- Plate Section">
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- Plate Section
- References
Summary
The Old and Middle Kingdoms together represent an important unitary phase in Egypt's political and cultural development. The Early Dynastic Period had seen the creation and consolidation of a type of government and court culture which, with the Third Dynasty, now reached levels of scale and competence marking the beginning of the plateau of achievement for ancient Egypt. After five centuries and following the end of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2181 B.C.) the system appears to have faltered, and there seems to have ensued a century and a half of provincial assertion and civil war, the First Intermediate Period. But the re-establishment of powerful central government which followed, c. 2040 B.C., seems to have been, with certain changes of nuance, the re-establishment of the patterns of the Old Kingdom. There is thus much to be said for treating certain important aspects of the Old and Middle Kingdoms together.
DIVINE KINGSHIP
Divine kingship is the most striking feature of Egypt in these periods. In the form of great religious complexes centred on the pyramid tombs its cult was given monumental expression of a grandeur unsurpassed anywhere in the ancient Near East. Yet despite its all-pervading influence in Egyptian civilization it is not easy to present a coherent account of its doctrines, especially one which avoids mixing material from widely separated periods. One good reason for this is the Egyptian mode of communication, presenting doctrine not in the form of cogently argued treatises intended to persuade, but as series of concisely worded assertions which to us often take on a deeply cryptic appearance.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Africa , pp. 658 - 769Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982
References
- 1
- Cited by