Something that I found interesting in this week’s lectures was the fact that Hyksos could basically, peacefully invade Egypt (according to the lecture, “Second Intermediate Period”). It is mentioned in the lecture that they immigrated from their home land, which makes me wonder if life in their native land had become too difficult, or if their population was just expanding so quickly that they needed more room. One thing that must have worked in their favor was the fact that they didn’t attempt to push their own views, and non-Egyptian culture on the natives, but adapted to a lot of Egyptian styles. Of course, the fact that the Hyksos were on good terms with the Nubians must not have sat too well with the Egyptians, and considering the position the Egyptians could find themselves in, with the Hyksos occupying the north, and the Nubians in the south, it seems like that would have given the Egyptians some concern about these new immigrants in their country. Yet the fact that the Hyksos were allowed to immigrate into Egypt make me wonder if perhaps, the Egyptians weren’t guarding their borders very well, or if they just didn’t have the ability to protect their country against foreigners. Either that or maybe they just weren’t very good at thinking about the long-term consequences of having these people occupy such a large part of their country.

It’s also interesting that the Hyksos could levy taxes against the Thebans living in Upper Egypt. It seems like a pretty brazen move to make a decision like that in a country where you’re not even in charge. It makes me wonder how (and how quickly), the Hyksos were able to establish any kind of domain or control in the land they immigrated to. It also sounds like the Hyksos had a good plan of subtly invading a country, and then, gradually trying to take it over.

This week, I thought I’d comment on the pyramids. After listening to the lecture about them, I came away amazed at what the pyramids represented to the ancient Egyptians. Just in terms of labor, it amazes me how many men it would take (10,000) to build one pyramid. To think that whole cities came into existence around the pyramid, just to house the workers building it. Do we have anything in our modern day world that could compare to it? Another thing that I find amazing is the engineering/physics of building a pyramid. It would be pretty easy with today’s technology to figure out that if you were building something in a horizontal shape, and you wanted the building to be so tall, how far apart you would have to build the walls, and at what angle you’d have to build them at so that they all came together at the same point. But for the ancient Egyptians to figure that out without any of our modern technology, and to be able to get it right…that’s amazing.

It’s also interesting to think about, how the Egyptians considered the pyramids to be literal homes for their spirits to reside in, in the afterlife, and would stock the pyramids with all sorts of goods (food, furniture, servants (or rather, the bodies of dead servants)).

I also think the fact that more than a hundred pyramids are still standing today, thousands and thousands of years after they were built is a real testament to the planning, preparation and construction abilities of the ancient Egyptians. That they could create something with their primitive technology, that would last for so long is a real testament to their skills. And, just as a point of comparison, do you think there’s any structures that we’ve built in our modern time that will still be standing, thousands  and thousands of years in the future?

This topic comes from “Theories of State Formation”.

This week, one idea that struck me as interesting was the idea of a large urban center spreading out and assimilating smaller polities. The first thing this made me think of was some of the boroughs in New York City that used to be their own city before being consolidated with New York City (Brooklyn). I find it interesting that the same process that happens today (large urban center sprouts up, starts to grow, and eventually “swallows” smaller, surrounding cities) was also happening thousands of years ago. And just like today, where the major city is near a strategically important area (in the case of New York or Los Angeles, a major harbor), so the important points in Ancient Egypt started around important areas (the chapter lists (on page 47) the apex of The Nile Delta, near the Mediterranean coast, near the Fayum, etc.)

Mention is also made of the Abydene polity slowly emerging as the dominant polity during the Predynastic period, first in the south, then in the north. This would seem to suggest that this polity was now absorbing and influencing other polities that might have, until that time, functioned as their own separate polity/city. It is also mentioned that, it was the more elite, non-farmer people who lived in the urban center. This also seems to hearken to our modern day, when so many important and influential people (who aren’t farmers) live in major cities (New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C.), and major metropolitan areas.

I guess that this is just one interesting example of how something that we may consider to be a result of our more modern time (or perhaps not) actually had it’s origin in another society, in another time, thousands of years before ours.

A few questions or discussion points that came to my mind while I was watching some of the lecture videos were, 1). What causes a people group to move from being a hunting and gathering society to being an agrarian society? 2). Why did they start out as a hunting and gathering society? As far as the first question goes, my theory is, the people groups eventually realized that planting and harvesting food was a more reliable way to sustain themselves than hunting for their food. Plus, harvesting crops is a lot safer than say, trying to kill a wild boar with a bow and arrow or spear. I’d also bet that population size has something to do with the switch.

Continue reading →

My name is Eric, and I am a COM major. My major interest in college have been history, English, and of course, communication. Outside of college, my main interests are music (my favorite bands/artists are, Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Eagles, Dire Straits, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Stephen Stills, Led Zeppelin, Boston, and The Beach Boys, among various others)  movies and reading. I am taking this class because I need a few more credits at the 300 or 400 level in order to graduate, and I am interested in the history if Ancient Egypt, so this class seemed like a natural one for me to take. In my free time, I enjoy reading, listening to music, playing music, watching movies, and spending time with friends. After I graduate, I hope to (eventually) make a successful career for myself in the music business, preferably as a singer/songwriter/ guitarist. Until then, I will be happy to have a job that pays the bills, and doesn’t drive me crazy.