Earthblog

The Ancient Egyptians were the first to introduce systems of government, setting up the authorities required to administer the country’s affairs. Also, the vizier’s position was created to assist the Pharaoh in administering government affairs, and the vizier himself was provided with staff, thereby ushering in the first system of local government.

On the religious front, Ancient Egyptians had already arrived at some concepts ranging from polytheism to monotheism advocated by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton),who was highly regarded for his philosophical thinking. Then came the country’s outstanding achievements in architecture. The first pyramid ever built in Egypt was Zoser’s. However the Giza Pyramids, together with the Sphinx, built during the 4th dynasty, are the most famous of the 97 pyramids built as tombs for Pharaohs.

During the period of the Middle Kingdom, many funerary temples were built. The most famous of these was the Labyrinth Temple or the “Maze Palace” as it was called by the Greeks. It was built in Hawara by King Amenmehat III, who also built castles, fortresses and walls along Egypt’s eastern borders.
The Middle Kingdom period was the heyday of architectural arts, when exquisite inscriptions and fine artworks were engraved on the walls of colossal temples, chief of which were Karnak, Luxor and Abu Simbel.

Humanity is also indebted to Egyptians for inventing writing with the advent of the “Hieroglyphic Alphabet”, composed of 24 letters. In particular, Egyptians excelled in religious writing, the oldest examples of which were “The Text Pyramid” and the “Book of the Dead”, which contained texts written on papyrus and were buried with the dead to protect them from the perils of the “after life”.

Ancient Egyptian wrote music and stories, too. Music was used for educating young people as well as in public and private ceremonies, including funerals.
Costumes in Pharaonic Egypt varied depending on class. In general, clothes were made of soft linen or silk fabrics imported from Ancient Syria (Phoenicia) and differed according to the occasion.

Ornaments were also known to ancient Egyptians, and were derived from natural surroundings such as papyrus, palm-trees, lotus flowers and precious stones. At the same time, women, used Kohl as eye-liner and wore bracelets, necklaces and rings.