Get premium membership and access questions with answers, video lessons as well as revision papers.
1) The political unity of the Kingdom.
At the beginning of the 3rd Millennium BC (3100 BC), the two kingdoms of upper and lower Egypt were united into one single and powerful kingdom under pharaoh Menes of upper Egypt. This marked the beginning of settled rule that covered the first and second dynasties (3000-2700 BC). The entire civilization of Egypt was divided into 26 dynasties. The period 1800-525 BC was marked by the political greatness of the empire. However the kingdom's political power started to diminish after 1100 BC and continued until 525 BC when it was conquered by the Persians.
2) Religion
Ancient Egypt was an extremely religious society. Religion was always at the core of daily affairs. The ancient Egyptians practiced polytheism where over 200 gods were worshiped. Among the most important deities were; the sun god Ra which was also known as Amon or Amon-Re and Osiris, the god of the Nile. The king was an important figure in the society especially in religious matters and ensured that the gods were worshiped. The king was also taken to be the representative of Ra on earth that is, the son of the sun god. The office of the king played a very important role of mediating between the gods and the people. Religion was also important because it governed the lives of the people even after death. In other words, the Egyptians believed in physical life after death, a life that heavily depended on their earthly lives. The dead were mummified with the wealthy leaving rich endowment to provide their mummies with food and other essentials.
3) Socio-Economic Life
Ancient Egypt was a stratified society where different groups of people occupied different statuses. The members of the upper class consisted of; the royal families, the priests and the nobles. The middle class was composed of; scribes, merchants, artisans, and wealthy farmers. The low class was made up peasants and slaves that were heavily despised and were forced to work on government quarries and temple estates. There was a marked difference between the high and low classes. While the nobles led a lavish lifestyle, the poor led a wretched one.
The main economic activity in ancient Egypt was agriculture that was heavily dependent on river Nile. The fertile soils of the Nile led to a highly developed agricultural system where a variety of crops such as; wheat barley, millet, vegetables, fruits, and cotton among others were cultivated. Apart from this, early Egyptians also took part in commercial activities from around 2000 BC in which the rings of copper and gold of set weight were used as the mode of exchange, the old known currency in the history of human civilizations.
At this stage we would like to turn our attention to the educational activities of the ancient Egyptians. We however urge you to keep in mind the factors that we have outlined above as they formed the basis on which education was practised.
marto answered the question on March 19, 2019 at 08:02