ATS 2 - Egypt

Question 1

When was the Early Dynastic period?

Answer 1

3050 - 2686

Dynasties 1-2

_{ATS 2aa}

Question 2

When was the Old Kingdom period?

Answer 2

2686 - 2181

Dynasties 3-6

_{ATS 2ab}

Question 3

When was the First intermediate period?

Answer 3

2181 - 2055

Dynasties 7-10

_{ATS 2ac}

Question 4

When was the Middle Kingdom period?

Answer 4

2055 - 1650

Dynasties 11-13

_{ATS 2ad}

Question 5

When was the Second intermediate period?

Answer 5

1650 - 1550

Dynasties 14-17

_{ATS 2ae}

Question 6

When was the New Kingdom period?

Answer 6

1550 - 1069

Dynasties 18-20

_{ATS 2af}

Question 7

When was the Third intermediate period?

Answer 7

1069 - 664

Dynasties 21-25

_{ATS 2ag}

Question 8

When was the Late period?

Answer 8

664 - 332

Dynasties 26-31

_{ATS 2ah}

Question 9

When was the Ptolemaic Dynasty period?

Answer 9

332 - 30

_{ATS 2ai}

Question 10

What happened to Egypt during the 3ʳᵈ intermediate period & Late Period?

Answer 10

Transition from the Early Egyptian period and Egypt integrating into the classical world.

Transition from the Early Egyptian period and Egypt integrating into the classical world.

_{ATS 2aj}

Answer 11

_{ATS 2ak}

Question 12

What characterised Egypt in the 3ʳᵈ Intermediate & Late Period?

Answer 12

• Periods of foreign rule, and fragmentation
• The increasing ‘interconnectedness’ of the Mediterranean world in the first millennium BCE
• The dynamics of cultural contact

_{ATS 2al}

Question 13

What are the ideologies of kingship and the state?

Answer 13

• Egypt must remain unified, or risk slipping into a state of chaos -­
• The king was divinely ordained, but responsible for looking after Egypt on behalf of the gods (including keeping it unified)

_{ATS 2am}

Question 14

What was characteristic about the Early Dynastic period?

Answer 14

Emergence & consolidation of the Egyptian state

_{ATS 2an}

Question 15

What was characteristic about the Old Kingdom period?

Answer 15

Age of the pyramids

Increasingly complex administration

Divine kingship

_{ATS 2ao}

Question 16

What was characteristic about the Middle Kingdom period?

Answer 16

An age of art & literature.

_{ATS 2ap}

Question 17

What was characteristic about the New Kingdom period?

Answer 17

Monumental Building

Imperialistic Goals

_{ATS 2aq}

Question 18

What were the internal problems at the end of the New Kingdom?

Answer 18

• Widespread corruption

    * Tomb robbery
    * Workers' strikes

• Egypt lost control of gold mines in Nubia
• Rivalry for the throne and several short, destabilising reigns
• Administration of Egypt divided into north and south

_{ATS 2ar}

Question 19

What were the external problems at the end of the New Kingdom?

Answer 19

• ‘Bronze Age collapse’
• Natural disaster(s) and likely famine in the northern Mediterranean
• Mass migration of the ‘Sea Peoples’
• Consecutive long-­term migration of Libyans into Egypt

_{ATS 2as}

Question 20

What was characteristic of the Libyans?

Answer 20

• Nomadic pastoral groups in desert west of Egypt
• Poor archaeological record; reliance on Egyptian accounts
• Protracted infiltration of Egypt during New Kingdom
• Acquired elevated status in Delta over 8me

_{ATS 2at}

Question 21

What was the Tale of Wenamun?

Answer 21

• Tale of an Egyptian diplomat named Wenamun
• Probably set in the reign of Ramesses XI, last king of the New Kingdom
• Wenamun is sent to retrieve wood to build a new barque (boat) for the cult statue of Amun
• Encounters various difficulties along the way
• Text is probably fictional, but indicates nonetheless the political fragmentation in Egypt and Egypt’s diminished status in the Mediterranean

_{ATS 2au}

Question 22

Key points

Dynasty 21 (1069-941 BCE)

Answer 22

Power shared with Priesthood of Amun

Priests weren’t kings but had great influence

21 Kings

_{ATS 2av}

Question 23

Key points

Dynasty 22 (941-736 BCE)

Answer 23

Of Libyan extraction

Reduced the power of the Theban priesthood

Undertook a military campaign in the Near East

Adopted the conventions of Egyptian kingship

For a time, Egypt was again relatively stable

_{ATS 2aw}

Question 24

What were the Royal tombs at Tanis?

Answer 24

• Tombs of Dynasty 21 and 22 kings discovered by Pierre Montet in 1939
• Simple tombs, located inside the grounds of the temple of Amun
• Rich burial goods, including gold and silver coffins and burial masks (and much more)
• Family tombs used for multiple generations (and also including some high officials)
• Burial goods are of traditional Pharaonic style
• Possible ‘Libyan’ elements: family tombs, location inside temple? [or is this more to do with security?]

_{ATS 2ax}

Question 25

What happened during dynasties 22-24?

Answer 25

Eventual fragmentation of the country

Dynasties 22, 23 and 24 hold power in different regions

Minor principalities elsewhere (including at Thebes)

Socio-­political unrest (the country becomes heavily fragmented)

_{ATS 2ay}

Question 26

Where was the Kushite invasion recorded?

Answer 26

Campaign recorded on Piankhy Stela, found at Napata

_{ATS 2az}

Question 27

What happened during the Kushite invasion?

Answer 27

• Kushite king Piankhy/Piye pushed northwards into Egypt
• Claims to want to reinstate the cult of Amun to its former glory
• Piankhy and his successor Shabaka are successful in subjugating Egypt

_{ATS 2ba}

Question 28

What happened during Dynasty 25?

Answer 28

• The Kushite kings ruled all or part of Egypt for c. 100 years
• Rule from Napata, in the Sudan, leaving the Egyptian governors in place in Egypt
• Adopted the trappings of Egyptian kingship and supported Egyptian temples
• Buried in Kush (Nubia/Sudan) in pyramids

_{ATS 2bb}

Question 29

Late Period

What happened during Dynasty 26?

Answer 29

Egyptian rulers, under control of Assyria

Period of relative stability

_{ATS 2bc}

Question 30

What happened during Dynasty 27?

Answer 30

Egypt under Persian control, ruled by a satrap (governor)

_{ATS 2bd}

Question 31

What happened during Dynasty 28-30?

Answer 31

• Egyptian fight-­back
• Short successive Egyptian dynasties in the Delta
• Eventual loss again to Persians

_{ATS 2be}

Question 32

What happened in 332 BCE?

Answer 32

• Alexander the Great invades Egypt
• End of the Late Period
• Beginning of Ptolemaic Period in Egypt

_{ATS 2bf}

Question 33

Who were the Kushites?

Answer 33

• Powerful entity occupied modern day Sudan.
• Through close relations Kushite and Egyptian culture start to merge
• Kushites, however, do not see themselves as Egyptian

_{ATS 2bg}

Question 34

Key points

Kushites & Pyramids

Answer 34

Kushites buried their kings in pyramids

There are more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt

Kushites set their sites further northward and into Mediterranean (proved to be a mistake)

_{ATS 2bh}

Question 35

What happened in 671 BCE?

Answer 35

Assyrians invaded Egypt in 671 BC and take control of Egypt

Kushites withdraw to Nubia

_{ATS 2bi}

Question 36

How did the Assyrians relate to Egypt?

Answer 36

• Assyrians don’t stay but install Kings to rule on their behalf.
• Egypt grows from a vassal state of Assyria to something of an ally

_{ATS 2bj}

Question 37

How did the Babylonians deal with Egypt?

Answer 37

• Egypt was initially invaded by Babylonia but then unite to fight Persia
• Persia eventually invaded and took over Egypt
• Persians rule in their own style, not adopting Egyptian Kingship but instead install a local governor
• Egyptians try to fight back and are able to establish several short lived dynasties but are eventually defeated again by Persia.

_{ATS 2bk}