Quiz 2 Material

Question 1

How would you characterize the style of art and architecture during the FIP? What contributed to the stylistic changes?

Answer 1

Art became more bold, creative, and bizarre. The invention of the potter’s wheel was lower quality due to no state-sponsored artisans

Question 1

Which literary compositions are set in the FIP? What do they tell us about the political and social conditions of this period?

Answer 1

Autobiography of Ankhtifi. Tell us about the strife

Question 2

What factors contributed to the apogee of royal power during the 4th Dynasty?

Answer 2

Centralized gov, state-sponsered building projects, pharaoh’s religious authority, and social hierarchy

Question 3

What evidence suggests a decline in royal power during the 6th Dynasty?

Answer 3

Climate change evidence from the Nile led to economic decline as well as the growing power of local administrators

Question 4

Periods 5 and 6: The cult of which god were the kings of this period devoted to?

Answer 4

Cult of Ra

Question 5

What do we know about the reigns of Mentuhotep II’s successors?

Answer 5

Energetic, long, and mass building

Question 6

What impact did these foreign interactions have on the early Egyptian state?

Answer 6

Expanded trade and royal monopoly over trade may be evidence of the first instance of state taxation on imported goods

Question 7

How did Djoser’s pyramid complex signify a shift in architectural practices?

Answer 7

The first pyramid to be built and signified a new ambition in tomb construction

Question 8

What kinds of building projects were undertaken by the 12th Dynasty kings, and how did these projects contribute to their legacy?

Answer 8

Lots of forts that helped fortify Egypt from her enemies

Question 9

How did the reforms initiated by Amenemhet I help centralize power in the Egyptian state, and what role might these reforms have played in his eventual assassination?

Answer 9

Military campaigns and changing of capital led to the assassination

Question 10

How did royal power manifest in architecture, governance, and international relations?

Answer 10

Monuments in the royal names, more trade with others to find goods for the pyramid, and a government system that retained royal power

Question 11

How did the invention of writing revolutionize state administration during these early dynasties?

Answer 11

Only royals had it to set them apart as a more powerful elite

Question 12

What evidence do we have of early Egyptian relations with neighboring regions like Palestine and Nubia?

Answer 12

Quantities of oils found in tombs that were native to the regions of Palestine and Nubia

Question 13

How did burial practices reflect or influence the political and religious environment?

Answer 13

Reflected how powerful or welathy a person was also influenced funerary cults

Question 14

What is the Pyramid Texts and its significance?

Answer 14

Religious composition on the ideas of solar and celestial afterlife. Significant in burial chambers

Question 15

How did the establishment of the pharaonic state during the 1st and 2nd Dynasties set the tone for the rest of ancient Egyptian history?

Answer 15

set up the economic and political foundations for a centralized state

Question 16

How did the introduction of solar temples in the 5th Dynasty reflect changes in religious belief?

Answer 16

Shift in religion to worship Ra, pharohs were sons of Ra, intoroduction of unified belief system

Question 17

What advances in construction techniques can be observed between the early pyramids of the 3rd Dynasty and the more sophisticated pyramids of the 4th Dynasty?

Answer 17

Simple stacking vs. precision cutting

Question 18

How did they demonstrate their piety towards Ra?

Answer 18

Sun temples and temple staff devoted to him

Question 19

Mentuhotep II is known as the founder of the Middle Kingdom. What do we know about Egypt’s reunification under his leadership and his building projects?

Answer 19

There was prosperity and new temples and chapels.

Question 20

What was the relationship between the Herakleopolitan kings and the Theban rulers during the FIP?

Answer 20

They interacted

Question 21

What do we know about the provincial cult centers like that of Min of Coptos during this period?

Answer 21

They were regional centers of power, influence, and trade

Question 22

What evidence do we have for Egypt’s activities in the Levant and Nubia? What’s their mode of interaction with the Asiatics and the Nubians?

Answer 22

Tombs of warriors and enslaving both populations to work on monuments

Question 23

Pharaonic State: What specific changes in governance and society occurred during this time?

Answer 23

Towns were developed as admin centers and funerary cults for kings were created

Question 24

During the 12th Dynasty, how did Egypt interact with neighboring civilizations and regions?

Answer 24

War, colonization, and trade

Question 25

What archaeological evidence do we have for Hierakonpolis?

Answer 25

artifacts, pottery, inscriptions, and structures

Question 26

What is the significance of the royal cemetery at Abydos, especially Tomb U-j?

Answer 26

This is the first case of a superstructure, cult center, and burial place of kings. Tomb U-j is significant because of its antiquity and insight into predynastic burial practices

Question 27

What other technological or cultural advances facilitated the unification and administration of Egypt?

Answer 27

The invention of writing, agricultural advances, one religion, and one pharaoh

Question 28

What role did Hierakonpolis play in the formation of the early Egyptian state?

Answer 28

Religious significance, role in unification, and economic strength as trade center