Even though many of the original sites along the Nile have been washed away following centuries of flooding and meandering river courses, enough evidence remains to conclude that Egypt was already unified along the length of the Nile by the dawn of the 3rd Millennium B.C.E. Little is know about the first Pharaohs beyond their names, such as the mysterious Menes, who may also have been the Pharaoh Aha. However, what is known is that the increased use of writing and centralized administration brought a great deal of security and growth to the Nile Valley.
The 1st Dynasty
The city of Memphis became the Capital of Egypt, even though the newly formed royal family is thought to have originated in Upper Egypt to the South. Much of what is know about theses early pharaohs and their top officials comes from their cemeteries. Most of the this period’s officials are buried at Saqqara, which is near the capital. Interestingly, almost all the early pharaoh’s are found to have been buried at Abydos, to the south. Another southern site that has given valuable insight into these early reigns is Hierakonpolis, which has produced such valuable artifacts as the Narmer Palette.
The Concept of Divine Kingship
One of the unique qualities of early Egyptian rulers was the assumption of their status of divinity. It was this ideology that bound the Egyptian people to their king in the belief that he would be in a position to help them in the afterlife. This belief system, as well as the iconography of kingship, persisted from the 1st Dynasty down to Roman times with remarkably little change.
It has been theorized that the presence of a unifying language in the Nile Valley, as well as the geography of the region itself, may have served to give Egyptian monarchs an edge in consolidating a level of absolute power that would evade most of their contemporaries throughout the Near East. This centralized authority gave early Egypt an advantage in that it allowed for the control and management of resources on a vast scale.
Ancient Trade Network
It is believed that the Pharaoh also exercised control over international trade. The earliest Pharaoh’s worked to expand the borders of Egypt in continuing attempts to gain control of trade goods. The 1st Dynasty had interests to the south in Nubia, where the indigenous peoples controlled trade routes that brought exotic goods from the African interior. In an effort to control this trade, the Egyptian’s launched a series of invasions that forced the native Nubians to leave the region.
Egyptian expansion went northward along the Palestinian coast as well, where extensive evidence exists of a long term trading relationship with the city of Gubla/Byblos. There is also evidence of Egyptian buildings in Southern Palestine, including seal impressions from 1st Dynasty officials found on locally made bricks. Perhaps the best evidence for a long distance trade network across the Near East is the presence of lapis lazuli in Egypt, which was imported from Baluchistan in modern day Afghanistan. This stone was highly prized by the Egyptians for its gold-speckled blue color.
It is widely accepted that this trade network also provided cultural connections. This has been evidenced by the appearance in Egypt of such images as the “Master of Beasts” motif which is of noticeable similarity to Sumerian designs. A recent discovery in the Faiyum by a UCLA-Dutch team suggests that cultural exchange may have been occurring as far back as 5,000 B.C.E. The team’s findings of seeds associated with the fertile-crescent substantiates theories that agricultural technology dispersed along long standing networks of communication. These networks remained in use from the Neolithic times and on throughout the Bronze Age.
Sources:
Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003.)
Hoffman, Michael. Egypt Before the Pharaohs, (New York, Barnes and Noble Books, 1993.)
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