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Land And Climate:
Impact On Civilization
The nature of the land and the climate profoundly
influenced the civilization of ancient Egypt. Today a map shows that
most of the country is desert; however, the Delta (the inverted
triangle of cultivation at the mouth of Egypt through which the Nile
fans out to join the Mediterranean), the Nile Valley, and the
farflung oases in the Western Desert are fertile.
In the Paleolithic period (before c.5000 BC) the Delta and Nile Valley were virtually uninhabitable. The annual flood (inundation) of the river Nile would have placed all areas of the Nile Valley under water for three months of each year, and at other times it was covered with thick vegetation that provided habitation for a variety of wild animals. In the north much of the low-lying Delta was covered with papyrus swamps. At this time people lived on the desert spurs and hunted the prolific game. As the climate became drier and the vegetation in the Nile Valley gradually changed, they were able to move down into the valley once the inundation receded. Here during the Neolithic period (c.5000–4000 BC) they began to live together in communities and to cultivate the land, growing grain and learning to domesticate animals. This settled existence gradually replaced their hunting activities. It was during this period that the people’s earliest concepts and religious beliefs and experiences developed. They were always aware of their environment and of the impact of the natural forces upon their daily lives. The power of the sun was regarded as the great creative force and sustainer of all living things, and the sun god Re was one of their most important deities. Every day the people observed the cycle of the sun’s birth, life, and death. Similarly they witnessed the annual miracle of the river floodwaters’ restoring life to the parched land. Osiris, the god of vegetation and king and judge of the underworld, symbolized this annual rebirth of the land, and through his own resurrection was thought to be able to offer eternal life to his worshipers and adherents. From the cyclical processes that they observed around them in the natural world, the Egyptians appear to have believed from the time of their earliest religious awareness that mankind’s own existence had a similar pattern in which birth, life, and death were followed by individual resurrection as the reward for a virtuous life. The landscape provided a sharp contrast between life and death in terms of cultivation and the desert. The Nile flood brought with it the rich black mud that, every year, was deposited on the river banks. The mud fertilized the soil, making the land very productive, and over the centuries the Egyptians labored successfully to produce an abundance of crops. They called their country “Kemet,” meaning the “black land,” in reference to the rich black soil. Here in this narrow strip and in the fertile Delta people grew their food, reared their animals, and established their towns and villages. On either side of this cultivated area, stretching away to the horizon or rising into steep cliffs along the river’s edge, there was the desert. The Egyptians regarded this as a place of fear, terror, and death, where wild animals roamed; they called it “Deshret,” meaning the “red land,” on account of the predominant coloring of the landscape. Our own word desert is derived from this. Because the extent of the cultivation was so limited, the land had to be used to maximum effect for growing crops and accommodating the population. There was no additional space here for the graves of the dead; therefore, from earliest times corpses were buried on the desert edges. This custom profoundly affected the Egyptians’ religious beliefs and practices. The country also divides naturally into distinct northern and southern regions, the Delta and the Nile Valley. Only the Nile, flowing from south to north, truly unites these two areas, and Egypt has always been a country that is politically difficult to control. There was a common need to cooperate over the irrigation schemes that had originally brought isolated village communities together; the river was both a means of transport and communication for them and also a life-giving force that had to be harnessed to provide the means of existence. During the Predynastic Period (before c.3100 BC) when the communities were increasingly drawn together into larger units for mutual protection and support, the Egyptian peoples eventually organized themselves into two kingdoms, the northern Red Land and the southern White Land. Each had its own king, capital city, patron gods, and distinctive features. Even after these kingdoms were unified under one ruler in c.3100 BC, they retained something of their original independence and individuality throughout the next 3,000 years. The political duality of Egypt’s origins was never forgotten, and these areas were often referred to as the Two Lands. Again geographical factors dictated this duality. The Delta faced the Mediterranean and became an early crossroads for peoples, ideas, and influences from Africa, Asia, and Europe. It was here at the apex of the Delta that Memphis, the country’s first capital, was established; thousands of years later the Arabs founded their own capital, which later became Cairo, just to the north of Memphis. This region had obvious advantages for a conqueror who wished to control both the north and the southern hinterland, and most of the major cities of Egypt developed in the Delta region. One important exception was Thebes (modern Luxor), the capital city of the New Kingdom, which was established some 400 miles to the south. Generally, however, the Nile Valley, which was hemmed in by the deserts, was more traditional and less influenced by events elsewhere than other regions were. The Egyptian civilization is unique and distinctive. Over a period of 3,000 years there were few major developments that produced marked differences in the culture. The casual visitor to an Egyptian collection in a museum would observe a continuity of style in the various classes of objects. This, of course, was because the underlying beliefs and concepts remained constant and the distinctive art forms, architecture, decoration, and religious beliefs had developed and become established during the earliest periods without the disruption of foreign conquest and intervention. By the time Egypt directly encountered other civilizations the basic concepts were so firmly entrenched that any foreign impact was minimal. Indeed, foreign ideas, gods, and customs were quickly absorbed into Egypt’s own culture. Again it was geographical factors that gave Egypt natural barriers and initial protection against foreign invasion. The Mediterranean to the north ultimately became a trading route between Egypt and surrounding lands, but in earliest times it was a formidable barrier against invaders. To the west there was the Libyan Desert with its chain of oases. There had always been close contact between the Libyan tribes and the inhabitants of the Nile Valley, and trade flourished between them. It was only in the later periods that Egypt faced a political threat from this direction. Nubia lay to the south; this was the land (occupying approximately the area that today covers southernmost Egypt and northernmost Sudan) that supplied the Egyptians with good building stone and much of their gold. To ensure that access to these commodities remained unhindered, the Egyptians pursued a policy of colonization in this area from earliest times. On the eastern side the Red Sea provided further protection, but above it, to the northeast, there was one relatively easy route across the northern Sinai Peninsula, which provided overland access to the Delta and the Nile Valley. Early infiltrations may have followed this route. Compared with other ancient civilizations of the Near East, however, Egypt did not suffer continuous waves of invasion, and one civilization was not replaced by another. Natural protective barriers, a relatively regular and predictable climate, and a countryside in which patient and diligent husbandry could produce an extraordinarily abundant harvest were all predominant factors in the development of Egypt’s remarkably stable and continuous civilization. .
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Land And Climate
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