Egypt Facts: Political History of Ancient Egypt

The Origin of the civilization which grew up on the banks of the Nile is uncertain. The earliest accounts represent the country as divided into twmes, or provinces, and having a regular government. About 2700 l B. c. Menes (me'-neez), the half-mythical founder of the nation, is said to have conquered Lower Egypt and bnilt Memphis, which he made his capital. Succeeding him, down to the conquest of Egypt by the Persians under Camby'ses (527 B. c.), there were twenty-six dynasties of Pharaohs, or kings. The history of this long period of over 2000 years is divided into that of the Old, Middle, and New Empires.

l. The Old Empire (2700-2080 B.c.)

During this epoch the principal interest clusters about the IVth or Pyramid epoch the principal interest clusters about the IVth or Pyramid dynasty, so called becanse its chief monarchs bnilt the three great pyramids at Gizeh (ghe'- zeh). The best- known of these kings was Khu'fu, termed Cheops (ke'-ops) by Herodotus. In time, Egypt broke up into kingdoms, Memphis lost its preeminence, and Thebes became the favorite capital.

2. The Middle Empire (2080 B.c.-1525 B.c.)

When the hundred-gated city, Thebes, rose to sovereign power, a The XIIth dynasty Nile, and under its great kings, the Sesorta'sens and the Amenem'hes, Ethiopia was conquered. To this dynasty belong the famous Lake Mceris and the Labyrinth (p. 39). The brilliant XIIth dynasty was followed by the weak XIIIth. The divided country invited attack, and the Hyksos (" shepherd kings "), a rude, barbarous race that had already conquered Lower Egypt, finally overran the whole region, and ruled it for 400 years. When at last they were driven out, they left to Egypt a strong, centralized government.

3. The New Empire (1525-527 B.c.)

The native kings having been restored to the throne, Egypt became a united people, with Thebes for the capital. Then followed a true national life of 1000 years. The XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties exalted Egypt to the height of its glory. Thothmes I. (tot'-meez) began a system of great Asiatic expeditions, which lasted 500 years. Thothmes III.,1 the Egyptian Alexander the Great, was a magnificent warrior-king. In the sculptures, Nineveh and Babylon pay him tribute ; while his ships, manned by Phoenician sailors, sweep the Mediterranean. The Great Temple of Karnak was largely bnilt by him. Am'unoph III. was also a famous warrior and bnilder. Among his structures there remains the Vocal Memnon, which was said to sing when kissed by the rising sun. Khu-en-A'ten, the heretic king, rejected the The- ban gods for the one-god (Aten) sun-worship of his foreign mother. He founded a new capital (now Tel-el-Amarna ruins), but neither capital nor religion long survived him.

Seti (Mineptah I.) subdued Mesopotamia, and bnilt the Great Hall of Columns at Karnak. At an early age his son, Ram'eses II., was made joint king with him, and they reigned together until Mineptah's death. Bameses II., the Sesostris the Great of the Greek historians, carried his conquering arms far into Africa. The greatest builder of all the Pharaohs, his gigantic enterprises exhansted the nation.

Annual slave-hunting expeditions were made into Ethiopia ; prisoners of war were lashed into service ; and the lives of the unhappy Hebrews were made " bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick" (Exod. i. 14). He founded a library inscribed " The Dispensary of the Soul," and gathered about him many men of genins, making his time a golden age of art and literature.

The Decline of Egypt began with the XXth dynasty, when it was no longer able to retain its vast conquests. The tributary peoples revolted, and the country was subdued in turn by the Ethiopians and the Assyrians. After nearly a century of foreign rule, Psammetichus of the XXVIth dynasty threw off the Assyrian yoke, and restored the Egyptian independence. This monarch, by employing Greek troops, so offended the native warriors that 200,000 of them mutinied, and emigrated to Ethiopia. His successor, Neclto (Pharaoh-Necho of the Scriptures), maintained a powerful fleet. Under his orders the Phoenician ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope.

The internal prosperity of Egypt still continued, as is shown by the magnificent monuments of this period ; but the army was filled with mercenaries, and the last of the Pharaohs fell an easy prey to the fierce-fighting Persians under Cambyses. Egypt, like Babylon, was now reduced to a Persian province governed by a satrap.