- Image via Wikipedia
For this homeschool course we are learning about the time that historians have dubbed as the Old Kingdom of Egypt which spanned the years between 2680 B.C. to approximately 2180 B.C.
During this time the Egyptians built the Great Sphinx and the biggest Pyramids.
In old Egypt people were separated into two classes – upper and lower. The lower classes were peasants,farmers & workers. They were subservient to the Pharaoh (the king) and his nobles. They were the ones who served in the army or built things.
In the upper classes were the Pharaoh, his family, priests, scribes and government officials. Over time, the upper class became a ruling elite that passed its powers down through their families.
Towards the end of the Old Kingdom a civil war erupted and lasted for more than 100years. Powerful families fought to gain power. They divided the country as they fought each other. The Pharaoh’s powers were weak by this time so he was unable to stop the wars. This time is know as the First Intermediate Period .
- Image via Wikipedia
Next came a period of time known as the Middle Kingdom. It started in approximately 2050 B.C. This time is considered Egypt’s Golden Age. The Egyptians achieved peace and stability which lead to prosperity. But by about 1780 B.C. things started to go awry. The pharaohs once again began to lose power to corrupt nobles and priests.
This weakness lead to an invasion by the Hyksos (which means foreigners). The Hyksos brought war inventions like the compound bow and the chariot. An Egyptian priest named Manetho, wrote about the invasion many years later in 200 B.C. and said that the Hyksos murdered women and children, burned temples and basically destroyed everything.
Some historians think that since this account was written so many years later, it was just propaganda used to explain why foreigners were able to take over their kingdom. They wanted to hide the fact that Egypt had weakened so much that the Hyksos, were able to take over easily.
- Image via Wikipedia
Homeschool Course Review Questions:
1. What lead to the collapse of the Old Kingdom?
2. What lead to the collapse of the Middle Kingdom?
3. Do you see a pattern there? What is it?
This Homeschool Course about Early Egyptian Kingdoms will be continued in my next post.
