Egypt: Ancient Egypt and Civilization Essay examples

Submitted By JoCha1
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Civilization essay

Egypt

The beginning of civilization itself was the most amazing event in earth’s history. It was a time where something that kind of looked like an ape started to think, more than any other creature up to that point, and until today. Its pretty incredible to think that these creatures banned together and started to create a unity that differs greatly than those that hunt in packs or sleep together. This was a unity that would grow to become known as civilization. What things constitute a civilization? There are six major components. Urban focus, distinct religious structure, political and military structures, social structure based on economic power, writing, and artistic and intellectual activity. These are the things that make up civilization, and this is what those ape like creatures where inventing and paving. One civilization that demonstrates these components very well is Egypt. Not only where they one of the first, but they had such high unsterdatnding of many important dynamics. So much so that much of their culture and civilization is still around for people to study. First, the most likely candidate to be the most important is an urban focus. Without a city for people to go and sell and buy their goods, it would be very hard for a civilization to prosper. If a farmer had to travel to many other farms to trade and barter for goods, it could take all day if not longer. It is crucial that all of these goods that helped people live a better life( food, clothes, water, ect…), were in one clustered place. This meant that there had to be an area that would be able to house all of these venders and buyers. This would turn into a city. A city also will attract more people to come to live there just by the notion that life will be easier there because you can get whatever you need. This it what developed the growth of the city. In Egypt the cities were close to the Nile because that is where all the farming could be done. Without food there is no civilization. Also the fact that the cities were all close to the Nile meant that trade from city to city would be much easier because you could take boats. Next, a civilization needs to have distinct religious structures. In Egypt they had priests. Also, everyone believed in multiple gods. The priests however, were different from the ones a person might think of today. The ones of ancient Egypt did not care as much for the people of the land as much as pleasing the gods. They did not teach the religion per say and often did not have priesthood be their full time job. They would have held other part times jobs in government or something close to it. The Egyptians believed in multiple gods as stated before. They had a god for just about anything you could think of. The sun god, the god of the underworld, ect… Kind of similar to the Greeks. Another important aspect of civilization is a capable army. Having an army was important because if anyone was jealous of the city you had built or the crops you grew, you needed to be able to defend it properly. Also, if you wanted to expand you would be able to do it a lot easier with an army that without. The Egyptian army consisted of three main components, infantry, chariotry, and navy. The chariotry was the strongest part of the Egyptian army. The chariot would have 2 occupants, one driver and one attacker. The main concern of Egypt was to keep enemies out and nomadic tribes that live in the outskirts of the city and would occasionally try to raid or settle near or in the cities. Next, social structure is very important to a civilization. Not to different than today in America, Egypt was ruled by a select very wealthy few people. Your place in the social society was based on gender, race, and class. Much of this depended on your occupation and most of the time you would be born into a certain class and not leave it. Boys that learned how to read were able to get jobs working for the government and ones that