Egypt became a unified country five thousand years ago and - until the arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 BC - remained a fiercely independent land with its own very distinctive art, religion and culture. Egypt was the superpower of its day and her kings were treated as demigods throughout the Mediterranean world – but what did they do for us?
It goes without saying they gave us mummies and mummification, and one of the great wonders of the ancient world – the pyramids. On a more practical level they invented the sewn plank boat, a method of boat construction using wooden pegs and fibre rope - no nails. Huge boats were built using this technique, the most famous one belonging to King Khufu, the builder of the great pyramid in 2500 BC. The recent discovery of a Bronze Age boat in Britain reveals that this method of construction had found its way here and could have influenced our own boat builders.
Trying to control the flood water of the Nile, the Egyptians built the first dam, a huge undertaking which unfortunately didn't survive a severe flash flood.
Technology and tool-making are high up on the list of Egyptian inventiveness. To speed up the smelting of bronze they invented the foot bellows and devised the multiple headed drill – a drill that could cut through at least three beads at the same time.
As a spin-off from their bead and jewellery making, the Egyptians came up with faience, an attractive glazing material made from quartzite; they quickly put it to use for pottery and tile making. The Egyptians adored decoration and although they didn't invent glass-making they developed the technique to produce highly colourful glass objects; these were highly prized by the wealthy.
With royalty in mind they gave us the wig, make-up and wonderful clothing, and to keep all this safe they came up with the first lock. To pass the time of day they invented fishing as a hobby and the folding stool to sit on whilst waiting for that bite.
And last but not least the Egyptians liked to keep meticulous records and invented paper from the papyrus plant. It's a wonderful material with long fibres and can also be used for basketry, sandals and rope.
First broadcast: Wednesday 16 Feb 2005 on BBC TWO
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The Ancient Egyptians
Well the Egyptians are the most widely renowned architects of civilisation. They have provided us with architectural wonders and other monuments, an ancient language that was all but lost to posterity and a striking body of exotic and wonderful myths, beliefs and practices. They influenced the emergence of Greek civilisation, challenged Roman expansion, and even after being subjegated as a Roman province retained a distinctive and influential identity throughout the period of their occupation. Of course that civilisation is gone now, but i am sure that nearly every one of us will be able to remember our first encounter with ancient egypt, whether in stories, in film or in a museum visit. For this reason I have no doubt that there will be considerable interest in this week's episode. Please use this thread for any general comments, criticisms, observations or compliments.
Dan Cruikshank Finally Admits
that the Ancient Egyptians didn't beielve their own religion.
In his current series on ancient egypt, Dean Cruikshank has finally limped into Credibility Station with the news that grave Robbers didn't have much faith in Isis! Sweet Isis! - They're Loverly!
Neither did the Pharoahs who built such intricate securoity measures to protect artifacts which wher destined to accompany them to the next world...
Does this really need any explanation?
This is a refreshing trend in the field of archeology, which until very recently has seen every scratch and daub as infallible evidence of total religious devotion.
The truth is that the Ancients were probably no more gullible than us, maybe less so at times, and the grave robbers who first discovered that grave goods stayed exactly where they'd been left are probably some of history's unsung heroes. Minor philosophical figures with a huge underground following.
Re: Dan Cruikshank Finally Admits
I didn't see the programme, but you do hear a lot about ancient peoples not really believing their religion and I can't quite get my head around that. Of course you are always going to get people, even in the most devout cultures of our own and past times, who are prepared to put their personal worldly prospects before some nebulous reward in the future. The wealthy and the educated no doubt despised the lower classes for their superstitious beliefs as they despised most things about their social inferiors. People were probably cynical rebellious iconsistent morally and ethically flexible and they were certainly no less gullible in the ancient world than we are today, but can we really imagine that a whole people played along with a fiction they didn't believe in and for which they receievd no spiritual psychological or soteriological reward, just for the sake of it? I don't think religious belief is much to do with gullibility (but I am probably reading the previous post too literally here). People lose faith in a religion because of powerful persuasions, great undermining events like natural disasters, new more satisfying religions, the rise of science perhaps and even these persuade only portions of the faithful. However, I agree with the the previous post in so far as I think we are very bad at distinguishing between the religious and the secular in ancient worlds. We insist on too neat a division, want to know if it is either or and too often ascribe cult to anything that appears to defy functional explanation. However, if we throw out everything religious that strikes us as being tainted by the secular or the worldly then we swing too far in the opposite direction. I am positive that neither grave robbers nor pharoahs would have believed that Isis would interven directly. My understanding of ancient gods is that they normally punish miscreants and their families for generations after misdemeanors, which is probably not much consolation to the pharoah or much of a disncentive to the possibly desprate and definately potentially rich grave robber. Sorry if this makes no sense...stream of consciousness.