The Ancient Reign
The Ancient Reign
| The Ancient Reign included five centuries, during which there were four dynasties (from the III to the VI). The capital was moved to Menfi (from which it was called “menfita reign”), a city founded South of the Delta in the previous archaic period. The organization of the state was perfected: the pharaohs were able to escape the excessive dependence from the clergy in Eliopoli (the city in which there was the federal sanctuary of the people in Egypt), giving the charge of visir (the pharaoh’s first assistant) to the most important priest; the state was administered by an always more efficient bureaucracy, the base of which was made by the scribes. The administrative charges, anyway, were not hereditary, so the local governors could not threat the pharaoh’s authority. The second sovereign of the III dynasty was Sesostri, who governed from 2737 to 2717 BC; during his reign, the Egyptian began to be busy in military and commercial expeditions always mor often. The military expansion was towards south, in Nubia, near the valley in the upper part of the Nile, where raids were made, capturing prisoners and livestock. Also some expeditions in Lebanon are known, from where they imported wood for buildings, that was lacking in Egypt, and in the desert in Sinai, from which they took building stones, precious gems and metals (copper and gold). On the whole, the period of the III dynasty coincided with a great prospering of culture and art in the country. In fact, in the monumental mortuary complex that Sesostri ordered to build in Saqqara, the central element – his tomb – was made of a great pyramid in big steps; to build it, the architect Imhotep used stone blocks, instead of the traditional mud bricks. Moreover the evolution in religious faiths regarding death made the Egyptians perfect their technique in the embalming of the corpses. The IV dynasty began with the pharaoh Snofru. During the IV dynasty the Egyptian civilization reached a great development. The same level reached in engineering was reached in almost every area, from sculpture to painting, to navigation, to science. The astronomers in Menfi were the first to create a solar calendar based upon a year of 365 days, while the doctors of the Ancient Reign acquired a great knowledge in anatomy (particularly in the human circulatory system) and in surgery. Even if the V dynasty was able to keep a high level of prosperity increasing commercial trade and the military incursions in the Asiatic territories, the first signs of decline in the royal authority were seen through the growing power of the high state functionaries and the administrator of the big properties. In Saqqara, in the tomb of the last king of the dynasty, Unas (that reigned from 2424 to 2407 BC), some religious texts have been found, that are known as the “texts in the pyramids”, sculptured on the walls of the mortuary chamber, that state the gradual decline of the monarchy. The decline of the royal power continued also during the VI dynasty: Pepi I, that reigne from 2395 to 2360 BC, was victim of a conspiracy plot by his wife. It’s believed that during the last years of Pepi’s II (2350-2260 BC) reign the royal power was actually in the Prime Minister’s hands. Even the royal control on the economy was weakened by the many decrees of tax-exemption made to gain the people’s approval. The districts rapidly acquired autonomy from the central power, because their governors began to stay for long periods in the same place instead of being transferred periodically. |
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