Home About us Products Services Contact us Bookmark
:: wikimiki.org ::
Elephantine

Elephantine

Elephantine is an island in the River Nile, located just downstream of the First Cataract at . It measures some 1.2 km from north to south, and is about 400 m across at its widest. It is a part of the modern Egyptian city of Aswan. Known to the Ancient Egyptians as Abu or Yebu, Elephantine stands at the border between Egypt and Nubia. The island was an excellent defensive site for a city and its location made it a natural transshipping point for river trade. According to Egyptian mythology, here was the dwelling place of Chnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, who controlled the waters of the Nile from caves beneath the island: he was worshipped here as part of a triad comprising him, his wife Satis, and their daughter Anuket. There are records of a temple to Chnum here as early as the third dynasty, and most of the southern tip of the island is taken up by the ruins of the later temple to him that was completely rebuilt in the Late Period (30th dynasty). Ongoing excavations at the town by the German Archaeological Institute have uncovered many findings, including a mummified ram of Chnum, that are now on display in the museum located on the island. Artifacts dating back to predynastic times have been found on Elephantine. The oldest ruins still standing on the island are a granite step pyramid from the third dynasty and a small shrine, built for the local sixth-dynasty nomarch Hekayib. A rare calendar, known as the Elephantine Calendar, dating to the reign of Thutmose III, was found in fragments. Also on the island is one of the oldest nilometers in Egypt, last reconstructed in Roman times and still in use as late as the 19th century CE. The 90 steps that lead down to the river are marked with Arabic, Roman, and hieroglyphic numerals, and inscriptions carved deep into the rock during the 17th dynasty can be seen at the water's edge. There used to be temples to Thutmose III and Amenhotep III on the island prior to 1822, when they were destroyed by the Ottoman government, both were relatively intact at that time. The Elephantine papyri are caches of legal documents and letters written in Aramaic, which document the community of Jewish soldiers stationed here during the Persian occupation of Egypt. They maintained their own temple to their Lord, functioning alongside that of Chnum. The Jewish community at Elephantine was probably founded as a military installation in about 650 BCE during Manasseh's reign, to assist Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign. The documents cover the period 495 to 399 BCE. In addition to the archaeological site, the island today houses the Aswan Museum at the southern extreme, a sizable population of Nubians in three villages in the middle, and a large, dominating luxury hotel at the downstream end. Category:Geography of Egypt Category:Islands of Africa Category:Nile

Island

in New York, USA]] An island or isle is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets. Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on an atoll an islet, since an atoll is a type of island. A key or cay is also another name for a relatively small island. Groups of related islands are called archipelagos. There are three main types of islands: continental islands, river islands, and volcanic islands. There are also some artificial islands. The word island derives ultimately from the Old English word igland. It was originally spelled phonetically: iland. The letter "s" was added out of the mistaken belief that it derived from isle (< Old French < Latin insula) + land, where no such etymological relationship existed.

Continental islands

Continental islands are bodies of land that are connected by the continental shelf to a continent. That is, these islands are part of an adjacent continent and are located on the continental shelf of that continent. Examples include Greenland and Sable Island off North America, Barbados and Trinidad off South America, Sicily off Europe, Sumatra and Java off Asia, New Guinea and Tasmania off Australia. A special type of continental island is the microcontinental island, which results when a continent is rifted. The best example is Madagascar off Africa. The Kerguelen Islands and some of the Seychelles are also examples. Another subtype is the barrier island: accumulations of sand on the continental shelf.

River islands

River islands occur in river deltas and in large rivers. They are caused by deposition of sediment at points in the flow where the current loses some of its carrying capacity. In essence, they are river bars, isolated in the stream. While some are ephemeral, and may disappear if the river's water volume or speed changes, others are stable and long-lived.

Volcanic islands

Volcanic islands are built by volcanoes. Mid-ocean examples are not geologically part of any continent. One type of volcanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring. Examples include the Mariana Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the Lesser Antilles and the South Sandwich Islands are the only Atlantic Ocean examples. Another type of volcanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples: Iceland, which is the world's largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen—both are in the Atlantic. The last type of volcanic island are those formed over volcanic hotspots. A hot spot is more or less stationary relative to the moving tectonic plate above it, so a chain of islands results as the plate drifts. Over long periods of time, this type of island is eventually eroded down and "drowned" by isostatic adjustment, becoming a seamount. Plate movement across a hot-spot produces a line of islands oriented in the direction of the plate movement. An example is the Hawaiian Islands, from Hawaii to Kure, which then extends beneath the sea surface in a more northerly direction as the Emperor Seamounts. Another chain with similar orientation is the Tuamotu Archipelago; its older, northerly trend is the Line Islands. The southernmost chain is the Austral Islands, with its northerly trending part the atolls in the nation of Tuvalu. Tristan da Cunha is an example of a hotspot volcano in the Atlantic Ocean. An atoll is an island formed from a coral reef that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic island. The reef rises above the surface of the water and forms a new island. Atolls are typically ring-shaped with a central, shallow lagoon. Examples include the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Bora Bora in the Pacific.

See also


- List of islands
- List of islands by area
- List of islands by population
- Reef
- Desert island
- Tidal island
- List of artificial islands
- List of divided islands
- Skerry

External links


- [http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part8.htm Definition of island] from United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Category:Islands Category:Landforms zh-min-nan:Tó-sū ko:섬 ms:Pulau ja:島 simple:Island th:เกาะ

Cataracts of the Nile

There are six classical Cataracts of the Nile between Aswan and Khartoum, counted upstream. The First Cataract is in modern Egypt; the rest are in Sudan.
- The First Cataract is near Aswan ()
- The Second Cataract was in Nubia, now submerged in Lake Nasser
- The Third Cataract is around Tombos / Hannek
- The Fourth Cataract is in the Manasir Desert and will be flooded by the Merowe Dam from 2006 onwards
- The Fifth Cataract is near the confluence with the Atbara ()
- The Sixth Cataract is where the Nile is cutting through the Sabaluka pluton near Bagrawiyah () These were the main obstacles for boats sailing on the Nile in antiquity. There are many minor cataracts not included in the count. The cataracts are described by Winston Churchill in The River War (1899), where he recounts the exploits of the British trying to return to Sudan between 1896 and 1898, after they were forced to leave in 1885.

See also


- Geography of Egypt
- Geography of Sudan

External links


- http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/geoscience/remsens/Nile/cataracts.html Category:Geography of Egypt Category:Geography of Sudan Category:Nile

Aswan

Aswan (Arabic: محافظة أسوان Aswān ) (, population 200,000) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the governorate of the same name. It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist center. Aswan is one of the driest inhabited places in the world; as of early 2001, the last rain here was 6 years ago. In Nubian settlements they generally do not bother to roof all of the rooms in their houses. This is identified with the ancient city of Syene, which is famous for providing a basis on which Eratosthenes disputed the Flat Earth theory and attempted to determine the circumference of the Earth, using Syene as the originating point and Alexandria as the terminal point of a measured arc to make an accurate estimate of the circumference of the Earth. See also: Aswan Dam, Elephantine, Kitchener's Island, Nag Hammadi Category:Governorates of Egypt Category:Cities in Egypt ja:アスワン

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was a civilization along the Lower Nile extending from as far south as Jebel Barkal, Napata [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05329b.htm], and then northward to the Mediterranean Sea, though varying in size throughout its history between circa 3200 BC and 343 BC, ending with the conquest of Alexander the Great. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of a hydraulic empire.

Geography

Most of Egypt is in North Africa; though the Sinai Peninsula is in Southwest Asia. The country has shorelines on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea; it borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and the Gaza Strip, Palestine and Israel to the east. Ancient Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper and Lower Egypt. Somewhat counter-intuitively, Upper Egypt was in the south and Lower Egypt in the north, named according to the flow of the Nile. The Nile river flows northward from a southerly point to the Mediterranean rather than southward from a northerly point. The Nile river, around which much of the population of the country clusters, has been the lifeline for Egyptian culture since the Stone Age and Naqada cultures. Two kingdoms formed Kemet ("the black land", in Ancient Egyptian Kmt), the name for the dark soil deposited by the Nile floodwaters. The desert was called Deshret ("the red land"), c.f. Herodotus: "Egypt is a land of black soil.... We know that Libya is a redder earth" (Histories, 2:12).

People

Libya]] A recent genetic study links the maternal lineage of a traditional population from Upper Egypt to Eastern Africa . A separate study further narrows the genetic lineage to Northeast Africa () and reveals also that modern day Egyptians "reflect a mixture of European, Middle Eastern, and African." Champollion the Younger, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, claimed in Expressions et Termes Particuliers ("Expression of Particular Terms") that Kmt did not actually refer to the soil but to a negroid population in the sense of "Black Nation." Modern day professional Egyptologists, linguists and historians, however, overwhelmingly agree that the term referred to the soil rather than the people. Herodotus wrote, "the Colchians are Egyptians... on the fact that they are black-skinned (melanchrôs) and wooly-haired (oulothrix)" (Histories Book 2:104). Later authors, including Aristotle and Diodorus Siculus, repeated Herodotus' description of "black-skinned". Melanchros is also used of the sunburnt complexion of Odysseus (Od. 16.176). Although analyzing the hair of ancient Egyptian mummies from the Late Middle Kingdom has revealed evidence of a stable diet , mummies from circa 3200 BC show signs of severe anemia and hemolitic disorders . A few teams of European scientists reported that cocaine, hashish and nicotine have been found in the skin and hair of Egyptian mummies . The results of these studies have been harshly criticized (e.g., ref. ) by mainstream scientists and Egyptologists as flawed and inaccurate.

History

:Main article: History of ancient Egypt The ancient Egyptians themselves traced their origin to a land they called Punt, or "Ta Nteru" ("Land of the Gods"). Once commonly thought to be located on what is today the Somali coast, Punt now is thought to have been in either southern Sudan or Eritrea. The history of ancient Egypt proper starts with Egypt as a unified state, which occurred sometime around 3000 BC. Though archaeological evidence indicates a developed Egyptian society may have existed for a much longer period (see Predynastic Egypt). Along the Nile, in 10th millennium BC, a grain-grinding culture using the earliest type of sickle blades had been replaced by another culture of hunters, fishers, and gathering peoples using stone tools. Evidence also indicates human habitation in the southwestern corner of Egypt, near the Sudan border, before 8000 BC. Climate changes and/or overgrazing around 8000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, eventually forming the Sahara (c.2500 BC), and early tribes naturally migrated to the Nile river where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society (see Nile: History). There is evidence of pastoralism and cultivation of cereals in the East Sahara in the 7th millennium BC. By 6000 BC ancient Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and constructing large buildings. Mortar (masonry) was in use by 4000 BC. The Predynastic Period continues through this time, variously held to begin with the Naqada culture. Some authorities however begin the Predynastic Period earlier, in the Lower Paleolithic (see Predynastic Egypt). Egypt unified as a single state circa 3000 BC. Egyptian chronology involves assigning beginnings and endings to various dynasties beginning around this time. The conventional Egyptian chronology is the accepted developments during the 20th century, but do not include any of the major revision proposals that have also been made in that time. Even within a single work, often archeologists will offer several possible dates or even several whole chronologies as possibilities. Consequently, there may be discrepancies between dates shown here and in articles on particular rulers. Often there are also several possible spellings of the names. Typically, Egyptologists divide the history of pharaonic civilization using a schedule laid out first by Manetho's Aegyptaica.
- List of pharaohs: The pharaohs stretch from before 3000 BC to around 30 BC.
- Dynasties (see also: List of Egyptian dynasties):
  - Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (1st to 2nd Dynasties; until ca. 27th century BC)
  - Old Kingdom (3rd to 6th Dynasties; 27th to 22nd centuries BC)
  - First Intermediate Period (7th to 11th Dynasties)
  - Middle Kingdom of Egypt (11th to 14th Dynasties; 20th to 17th centuries BC)
  - Second Intermediate Period (14th to 17th Dynasties)
    - Hyksos (15th to 16th Dynasties)
  - New Kingdom of Egypt (18th to 20th Dynasties; 16th to 11th centuries BC)
  - Third Intermediate Period (21st to 25th Dynasties; 11th to 7th centuries BC)
  - Late Period of Ancient Egypt (26th to 31st Dynasties; 7th century BC to 332 BC)
    - Achaemenid Dynasty
  - Graeco-Roman Egypt (332 BC to AD 639)
    - Ptolemaic Dynasty
    - Roman Empire

Government

Nomes were the subnational administrative divisions of Upper and Lower Egypt. The pharaoh was the ruler of these two kingdoms and headed the ancient Egyptian state structure. The pharaoh served as monarch, spiritual leader and commander-in-chief of both the army and navy. The pharaoh was supposed to be divine, a connection between men and gods. Below him in the government, were the viziers (one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower Egypt) and various officials. Under him on the religious side were the high priest and various other priests. Generally, the position was handed down from father to eldest son. Sometimes this rule was broken, and occasionally a woman assumed power.

Language

The ancient Egyptians spoke an Afro-Asiatic language related to Chadic, Berber and Semitic languages. Records of the ancient Egyptian language have been dated to about 3200 BC. Scholars group the Egyptian language into six major chronological divisions:
- Archaic Egyptian (before 2600 BC)
- Old Egyptian (2600–2000 BC)
- Middle Egyptian (2000–1300 BC)
- Late Egyptian (1300–700 BC)
- Demotic Egyptian (7th century BC–4th century AD)
- Coptic (3rd–12th century AD)

Writing

For many years, the earliest known hieroglyphic inscription was the Narmer Palette, found during excavations at Hierakonpolis (modern Kawm al-Ahmar) in the 1890s, which has been dated to c.3200 BC. However recent archaeological findings reveal that symbols on Gerzean pottery, c.4000 BC, resemble the traditional hieroglyph forms . Also in 1998 a German archeological team under Gunter Dreyer excavating at Abydos (modern Umm el-Qa'ab) uncovered tomb U-j, which belonged to a Predynastic ruler, and they recovered three hundred clay labels inscribed with proto-hieroglyphics dating to the Naqada IIIA period, circa 33rd century BC , . Egyptologists refer to Egyptian writing as hieroglyphs, today standing as the world's earliest known writing system. The hieroglyphic script was partly syllabic, partly ideographic. Hieratic is a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs and was first used during the First Dynasty (c. 2925 BC – c. 2775 BC). The term Demotic, in the context of Egypt, came to refer to both the script and the language that followed the Late Ancient Egyptian stage, i.e. from the Nubian 25th dynasty until its marginalization by the Greek Koine in the early centuries AD. After the conquest of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the Coptic language survived into the Middle Ages as the liturgical language of the Christian minority. Beginning from around 2700 BC, Egyptians used pictograms to represent vocal sounds -- both vowel and consonant vocalizations (see Hieroglyph: Script). By 2000 BC, 26 pictograms were being used to represent 24 (known) main vocal sounds. The world's oldest known alphabet (c. 1800 BC) is only an abjad system and was derived from these uniliteral signs as well as other Egyptian hieroglyphs. The hieroplyphic script finally fell out of use around the 4th century and began to be rediscovered after the 15th century (see Hieroglyphica).

Literature


- c. 2500 BC: Westcar Papyrus
- c. 1800 BC: Story of Sinuhe
- c. 1800 BC: Ipuwer papyrus
- c. 1800 BC: Papyrus Harris I
- c. 1000 BC: Story of Wenamun

Culture

The Egyptian religions, embodied in Egyptian mythology, were the succession of beliefs held by the people of Egypt, until the coming of Christianity and Islam. These were conducted by Egyptian priests or magicians, but the use of magic and spells is questioned. The religious nature of ancient Egyptian civilization influenced its contribution to the arts of the ancient world. Many of the great works of ancient Egypt depict gods, goddesses, and pharaohs, who were also considered divine. Ancient Egyptian art in general is characterized by the idea of order. Evidence of mummies and pyramids outside ancient Egypt indicate reflections of ancient Egyptian belief values on other prehistoric cultures, transmitted in one way over the Silk Road. Some scholars have speculated that Egypt's art pieces are sexually symbolic.

Ancient achievements

symbolic See Predynastic Egypt for inventions and other significant achievements in the Sahara region before the Protodynastic Period. The art and science of engineering was present in Egypt, such as accurately determining the position of points and the distances between them (known as surveying). These skills were used to outline pyramid bases. The Egyptian pyramids took the geometric shape formed from a polygonal base and a point, called the apex, by triangular faces. Hydraulic Cement was first invented by the Egyptians. The Al Fayyum Irrigation (water works) was one of the main agricultural breadbaskets of the ancient world. There is evidence of ancient Egyptian pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty using the natural lake of the Fayyum as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during the dry seasons. From the time of the First dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in Sinai Peninsula. The earliest evidence (circa 1600 BC) of traditional empiricism is credited to Egypt, as evidenced by the Edwin Smith and Ebers papyri. The roots of the Scientific method may be traced back to the ancient Egyptians. The ancient Egyptians are also credited with devising the world's earliest known alphabet, decimal system and complex mathematical formularizations, in the form of the Moscow and Rhind Mathematical Papyri. An awareness of the golden ratio seems to be reflected in many constructions, such as the Egyptian pyramids.

Timeline

(All dates are approximate.)

Predynastic

See main article and timeline: Predynastic Egypt.
- 3500 BC: Senet, world's oldest (confirmed) board game
- 3500 BC: Faience, world's earliest known earthenware

Dynastic


- 3300 BC: Bronze works (see Bronze Age)
- 3200 BC: Egyptian hieroglyphs fully developed (see First dynasty of Egypt)
- 3200 BC: Narmer Palette, world's earliest known historical document
- 3100 BC: Decimal system, , world's earliest (confirmed) use
- 3100 BC: Wine cellars, world's earliest known
- 3100 BC: Mining, Sinai Peninsula
- 3050 BC: Shipbuilding in Abydos,
- 3000 BC: Exports from Nile to Israel: wine (see Narmer)
- 3000 BC: Copper plumbing (see Copper: History)
- 3000 BC: Papyrus, world's earliest known paper
- 3000 BC: Medical Institutions
- 2900 BC: possible steel: carbon-containing iron,
- 2700 BC: Surgery, world's earliest known
- 2700 BC: precision Surveying
- 2700 BC: Uniliteral signs, forming basis of world's earliest known alphabet
- 2600 BC: Sphinx, still today the world's largest single-stone statue
- 2600s–2500 BC: Shipping expeditions: King Sneferu and Pharaoh Sahure. See also , .
- 2600 BC: Barge transportation, stone blocks (see Egyptian pyramids: Construction)
- 2600 BC: Pyramid of Djoser, world's earliest known large-scale stone building
- 2600 BC: Menkaure's Pyramid & Red Pyramid, world's earliest known works of carved granite
- 2600 BC: Red Pyramid, world's earliest known "true" smooth-sided pyramid; solid granite work granite]
- 2580 BC: Great Pyramid of Giza, the world's tallest structure until AD 1300
- 2500 BC: Beekeeping,
- 2400 BC: Astronomical Calendar, used even in the Middle Ages for its mathematical regularity
- 2200 BC: Beer,
- 1860 BC: possible Nile-Red Sea Canal (Twelfth dynasty of Egypt)
- 1800 BC: Alphabet, world's oldest known
- 1800 BC: Berlin Mathematical Papyrus, , 2nd order algebraic equations
- 1800 BC: Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, generalized formula for volume of frustum
- 1650 BC: Rhind Mathematical Papyrus: geometry, cotangent analogue, algebraic equations, arithmetic series, geometric series
- 1600 BC: Edwin Smith papyrus, medical tradition traces as far back as c. 3000 BC
- 1550 BC: Ebers Medical Papyrus, traditional empiricism; world's earliest known documented tumors (see History of medicine)
- 1500 BC: Glass-making, world's earliest known
- 1258 BC: Peace treaty, world's earliest known (see Ramesses II, )
- 1160 BC: Turin papyrus, world's earliest known geologic and topographic map
- 5th–4th century BC (or perhaps earlier): battle games petteia and seega; possible precursors to Chess (see Origins of chess)

Other


  - c.2500 BC: Westcar Papyrus
  - c.1800 BC: Ipuwer papyrus
  - c.1800 BC: Papyrus Harris I
  - c.1400 BC: Tulli Papyrus
  - c.1300 BC: Brugsch Papyrus
  - Unknown date: Rollin Papyrus

Open problems

There is a question as to the sophistication of ancient Egyptian technology, and there are several open problems concerning real and alleged ancient Egyptian achievements. Certain artifacts and records do not fit with conventional technological development systems. It is not known why there is no neat progression to an Egyptian Iron Age nor why the historical record shows the Egyptians taking so long to begin using iron. It is unknown how the Egyptians shaped and worked granite. The exact date the Egyptians started producing glass is debated. Some question whether the Egyptians were capable of long distance navigation in their boats and when they became knowledgeable sailors. It is contentiously disputed as to whether or not the Egyptians had some understanding of electricity and if the Egyptians used engines or batteries. The relief at Dendera is interpreted in various ways by scholars. The topic of the Saqqara Bird is controversial, as is the extent of the Egyptians' understanding of aerodynamics. It is unknown for certain if the Egyptians had kites or gliders. Beekeeping is known to have been particularly well developed in Egypt, as accounts are given by several Roman writers — Virgil, Gaius Julius Hyginus, Varro and Columella. It is unknown whether Egyptian beekeeping developed independently or as an import from Southern Asia.

See also


- List of Ancient Egyptians
- Egyptology
- Unsolved problems in Egyptology
- History of Egypt
- List of Ancient Egyptian sites
- Egyptian Museum
- Race of the Ancient Egyptians
- Egypt in the European imagination

Further reading


- John Baines & Jaromir Malek, The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt, revised edition, Facts on File, 2000. ISBN 0816040362
- Barry Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization, Routledge, 1991. ISBN 0415063469
- Bill Manley (ed.), The Seventy Great Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0500051232
- Ian Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0192804588

External links


- [http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/ Ancient Egypt] - maintained by the British Museum, this site provides a useful introduction to Ancient Egypt for older children and young adolescents
- [http://archaeology.about.com/od/ancientegypt/ Ancient Egypt and Egyptians] articles and resources from About Archaeology
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/ BBC History: Egyptians] - provides a reliable general overview and further links
- [http://www.ancientneareast.net/egypt.html Ancientneareast.net: Ancient Egypt] - provides a comprehensive listing of resources relating to the archaeology of Ancient Egypt
- [http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/ Egyptology Resources] - maintained by Dr Nigel Strudwick, offers one reliable guide to online documentation of Ancient Egypt
- [http://www.kv5.com/ The Theban Mapping Project] - although focusing on the Theban region (modern Luxor), this site holds much of general interest relating to Ancient Egypt

Notes

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # Category:Ancient Egypt ja:古代エジプト ms:Mesir purba



Satis

In Egyptian mythology, Satis (also spelt Satjit, Sates, and Sati) was the deification of the floods of the Nile River, and originated in the region around Aswan, the southern edge of Egypt. Her name means ejaculation (i.e. that which is ejected out), as many Egyptians believed that the annual flooding of the Nile was due to the masturbation of Atum. One of her titles was She Who Runs Like an Arrow, which is thought to refer to the river current, and her symbols became the arrow and the running river. Satis was pictured as a woman wearing the conical crown of Upper Egypt with antelope horns, or as an antelope, a fast moving creature living near the southern end of Egypt. She is als usually depicted as holding an ankh, due to her association with the life giving flooding of the nile. Consequently, it is true that Satis acted as a fertility goddess, thus granting the wishes of those who sought love. Satis is also described as offering jars of purifying water. She became regarded as the consort of Chnum, the deification of the source of the Nile, with whom she was worshipped at Elephantine (the 1st nome of Egypt), indeed the centre of her cult was nearby, at Sahal, another island of the Nile. Since she was most dominant at the southern end of Egypt, she became regarded as the guard of Egypt's border with Nubia. Satis's child was Anuket, goddess of the nile itself, who formed the third part of the Elephantine Trinity of gods. After Chnum became considered a form of Ra, Satis became known as the Eye of Ra. Category:Egyptian goddesses

Anuket

In Egyptian mythology, Anuket (also spelt Anqet, and in Greek, Anukis) was originally the goddess of the Nile River, in areas such as Elephantine Island, at the start of the Nile's journey through Egypt, and in nearby regions of Nubia. Since the flooding of the Nile is what nourishes the fields, she gained her name, which means embracer, in the sense of the nile embracing the fields. Her titles were similarly appropriate to this, including nourisher of the fields, giver of life, and she who shoots forth (in reference to the flooding). Since the god Chnum, and goddess Satis, were thought to be the gods of the source of the Nile, Anuket was viewed as their daughter. Being the deification of the Nile also lead to two tributaries of the Nile, in the region, being considered her arms. It also lead to her being associated with fast moving things, representing the river's flow, such as arrows, and the gazelle, which happens also to be an animal with a large presence at the Nile in this region. Thus in art, she was often depicted as a gazelle, or with a gazelle's head, sometimes having a headdress of feathers (thought by most Egyptologists to be a detail deriving from Nubia). Ceremonially, when the Nile started its annual flood, the Festival of Anuket began, with people throwing coins, gold, jewelry, and precious gifts, into the river, in thanks for the life-giving water. The taboo, that was held in several parts of Egypt, on not eating fish, which were considered sacred, was lifted during this time. Later, by the time of the Ptolomeic era, because of the association of the flooding of the nile with the fertility of the fields, and because her name was The Embracer, she became also a goddess of lust. In this form, she gained association with cowrie shells, which resemble the vagina. Category:Egyptian goddesses

Third dynasty of Egypt

Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Third Dynasty. The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Old Kingdom.
Third Dynasty
Name Comments Dates
Sanakhte - 2686 – 2668 BC
Djoser Commissioned the Step Pyramid designed by Imhotep 2668 – 2649 BC
Sekhemkhet - 2649 – 2643 BC
Khaba - 2643 – 2637 BC
Huni - 2637 – 2613 BC
While Manetho names one Necherophes, and the Turin King List names Nebka, as the first pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt, some contemporary Egyptologists believe Djoser was the first king of this dynasty, pointing out that the order in which some predecessors of Khufu are mentioned in the Papyrus Westcar suggests that Nebka should be placed between Djoser and Huni, and not before Djoser. That the Turin King List has noted Djoser's name in red may also be significant. In any case, Djoser is the best known king of this dynasty, for commissioning his vizier Imhotep to build the earliest surviving pyramids, the Step Pyramid. Some authorities believe that Imhotep lived into the reign of the Pharaoh Huni. Little is known for certain of Sekhemkhet. However, it is believed that Khaba possibly built the Layer Pyramid at Zawyet el'Aryan. Huni, the last king of this dynasty, like Djoser had a renowned vizier, named Khagemni. In the Ramassid period, a text named the Instructions was ascribed to Kagemni. #03rd dynasty of Egypt

Sixth dynasty of Egypt

Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Sixth Dynasty. The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Old Kingdom.
Sixth Dynasty
Name Comments Dates
Teti - 2345 BC – 2333 BC
Userkare - 2333 BC – 2332 BC
Pepi I Meryre - 2332 BC – 2283 BC
Merenre Nemtyemsaf I - 2283 BC – 2278 BC
Pepi II Neferkare - 2278 BC – 2184 BC
Merenre Nemtyemsaf II - 2184 BC
Nitiqret - 2184 BC – 2183 BC
The Sixth Dynasty of Egypt is considered by many authorities as the last dynasty of the Old Kingdom of anient Egypt, although The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (ed. Ian Shaw, 2000) includes the Seventh and Eighth Dynasties as part of the Old Kingdom. Manetho writes that these kings ruled from Memphis, or Egyptian Mennefer, taken from the name of the pyramid of Unas which was built nearby; archeologists concur with Manetho on this. This dynasty was founded by Teti, who had married Iput, commonly believed to be the daughter of King Unas of the Fifth Dynasty. Other notable members of this dynasty include Pepy II, who is credited with a reign of 94 years, the longest in the history of ancient Egypt; and the last ruler Nitiqret (also known by the Greek name Nitocris), who is believed by some authorities to have not only been the first female ruler of Egypt, but the first in the world. During this dynasty, expeditions were sent to Wadi Maghara in the Sinai to mine for turquoise and copper, as well as to the mines at Hatnub and Wadi Hammamut. Pharaoh Djedkara sent trade expeditions south to Punt and north to Byblos, and Pepy I not only sent expeditions to these locales, but also as far as Ebla. With a growing number of biographical inscriptions in non-royal tombs, our knowledge of the contemporary history broadens from the monolithically formal facade of earlier rulers. For example, we hear of an unsuccessful plot against Pepy I. We also read a letter written by the young king Pepy II, excited that one of his expeditions will return with a dancing pygmy from the land of Yam, located to the south of Nubia. These non-royal tomb inscriptions are but one example of the growing power of the nobility, which further weakened the absolute rule of the king. As a result, it is believed that on the death of the long-lived Pepy II his vassals were entrenched enough to resist the authority of his successors, leading to the rapid end of the Old Kingdom. #06th dynasty of Egypt

Thutmose III

Menkheperre Thutmose III (also written as Tuthmosis III; called Manahpi(r)ya in the Amarna letters) (d. 1426 BC), was the sixth Pharaoh of Egypt in the Eighteenth Dynasty. He ruled from 1479 BC to 1425 BC, according to the Middle Chronology of Ancient Egypt. Thutmose III was the son of Pharaoh Thutmose II and Isis, a minor wife. When Thutmose II died in 1479 BC, Thutmose III became ruler. However, he shared power from the beginning of his reign with Hatshepsut, his father's wife, who acted as regent and eventually as the dominant co-ruler. For approximately 22 Years Thutmose III had little power over the empire. He married Hatshepsut's youngest daughter, Meritre, with whom he had a son named Amenhotep II. With the death of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III ruled by himself until his death in 1425 BC (some sources list his death ranging from 1430 BC to 1425 BC). Upon his accession to the throne, Thutmose took the praenomen Menkeperre, which is represented in the Amarna letters as Manahpi(r)ya. His praenomen and nomen in Egyptian hieroglyphs can be seen to the right. These are technically transliterated as mn-ḫpr-r‘ dḥwty-ms, which is usually realised to Menkheperre Djehutymes, meaning "Establisher of the form of Ra, Thoth bore him". Due to the influence of Greek transcriptions, Djehutymes is rendered as Thutmose, Thutmoses, or Thutmosis.

Thutmose's military campaigns

Widely considered a military genius by historians, he was an active expansionist ruler, sometimes referred to as the Napoleon of Egypt, because he was recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule, conquering much of the Near East, from the Euphrates to Nubia. He was the first Pharaoh to cross the Euphrates, during his campaign against the Hanilgalbat. Thutmose III made a total of 17 known military campaigns. He defeated a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Kadesh in the Battle of Megiddo. After victory in battle, he conquered Megiddo after a siege of 7 or 8 Months (see Siege of Megiddo). Thutmose III is consistently regarded as one of Egypt's greatest Warrior Pharaohs and he made his country into an internationally respected World Superpower in the Ancient World. He was also a prolific builder of Temples throughout Egypt.

Controversy about relationship with Hatshepsut

After the death of her husband Thutmose II, Hatshepsut usurped the throne from Thutmose III and held it until her death. Although Thutmose III was a co-regent during this time, historians have speculated that Thutmose III never forgave his step-mother for denying him access to the throne for the first 2 decades of his reign.
Hatshepsut from the Red Chapel at Karnak.]]
After her death, many of Hatshepsut's monuments and depictions were subsequently defaced or destroyed, including those in her famous mortuary temple complex at Deir el-Bahri. These have traditionally been held to be evidence of acts of damnatio memoriae (condemning a person by erasing him or her from recorded existence) by Thutmose III. However, recent research by scholars such as that of Charles Nims and Peter Dorman have examined these erasures and found that those acts which could be dated occurred after the forty-second year of Thutmose's reign. This casts serious doubt upon the popular theory that Thutmose III ordered their destruction in a fit of vengeful rage shortly after his accession. Rather, it is more widely accepted today that Thutmose III may have simply decided to erase the memory of Hatshepsut's from Egypt's historical records because under his country's deeply conservative and hierarchical political system, only men were supposed to rule the state while women were expected to remain loyal to their husbands and nourish their households. Indeed, prior to Hatshepsut's reign only two other female Egyptian Pharaohs were known to exist: Nitocris and Sobekneferu. Unlike Hatshepsut however, both these queens only enjoyed a very brief reign.

See also


- History of Ancient Egypt
- Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree

Death and burial

Thutmose III's tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV34) is the first one in which Egyptologists find the complete Amduat, an important New Kingdom funerary text. A statement in a tomb biography of a state official named Amenemheb proves that Thutmose III died after a reign of precisely 53 Years 10 Months and 26 Days, or nearly 54 Years.

Further reading


- Redford, Donald B., The Wars in Syria and Palestine of Thutmose III, [Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 16], Leiden: Brill, 2003. ISBN 9004129898

External links

[http://www.egyptologyonline.com/tuthmosis_iii.htm Tuthomosis III (Egyptology Online)] Category:1425 BC deaths Category:Pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt ja:トトメス3世

Nilometer

:::::Now the Nile, when it overflows, floods not only the Delta, but also the tracts of country on both sides of the stream which are thought to belong to Libya and Arabia, in some places reaching to the extent of two days' journey from its banks. – Herodotus Nilometer is the name given to one of several devices that are different in design but that all serve the same function: measuring water levels in the River Nile and thus allowing the keeping of comparative historic records. Every summer, torrential rains in the highlands of Ethiopia cause a drastic increase in the volume of water flowing into the Nile from its tributaries. Between June and September, the reaches of the Nile running through Egypt would burst their banks and cover the adjacent flood plain. When the waters receded, around September or October, they left behind a rich alluvial deposit of exceptionally fertile black silt over the croplands. The inundation – akhet in the Egyptian language – was one of the three seasons into which the Ancient Egyptians divided their years. Ancient Egypt, 1840s lithograph]] It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the annual flood to Egyptian civilization. A moderate inundation was a vital part of the agricultural cycle; however, a lighter monsoon than normal would cause famine, and too much flood water would be equally disastrous, washing away much of the infrastructure built on the flood plain. Records from Pharaonic times indicate that on average, one year of out every five saw an inundation that was either over-abundant or fell short of expectations. The ability to predict the volume of the coming inundation was part of the mystique of the Ancient Egyptian priesthood. The same skill also played a political and administrative role, since the quality of the year's flood was used to determine the levels of tax to be paid, in kind, by the peasantry to their rulers. This is where the nilometer came into play, with priests monitoring the day-to-day level of the river and announcing the awaited arrival of the summer flood. The simplest nilometer design is a vertical column submerged in the waters of the river, with marked intervals indicating the depth of the water. One that follows this simple design, albeit housed in an elaborate and ornate stone structure, can still be seen on the island of Rodah in central Cairo. While this nilometer dates only as far back as 861 AD, when the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil ordered its construction, it was built on a site occupied by an earlier specimen. al-Mutawakkil The second nilometer design comprises a flight of stairs leading down into the water, with depth markings along the walls. The best known example of this kind can be seen on the island of Elephantine in Aswan. This location was also particularly important, since for much of Egyptian history Elephantine marked Egypt's southern border and was therefore the first place where the onset of the annual flood was detected. The most elaborate design involved a channel or culvert that led from the riverbank – often running for a considerable distance – and then fed a well, tank, or cistern. These nilometer wells were most frequently located within the confines of temples, where only the priests and rulers were allowed access. A particularly fine example, with a deep, cylindrical well and a culvert opening in the surrounding wall, can be seen at the Temple of Kom Ombo to the north of Aswan. While nilometers originated in Pharaonic times, they continued to be used by the later civilizations that held sway in Egypt. In the 20th century, the Nile's annual inundation was first greatly checked, and then eliminated entirely, with the construction of the Aswan dams. While the Aswan High Dam's impact on Egypt and its agriculture has been controversial for other, more complex reasons, it has also had the additional effect of rendering the nilometer obsolete. Category:Nile

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. For several centuries, the Romans controlled the whole of Western Europe, as well as the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and some of the area surrounding the Black Sea. Black Sea]]

History

Monarchy

Black Sea The city of Rome grew from settlements on and around the Palatine Hill, approximately eighteen miles from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the river Tiber. At this location the Tiber has an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic and trade. In Roman legend, Rome was founded on 21 April 753 BC, by Romulus who, along with his brother Remus was suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over where their new city should be located. Romulus, whose name is said to have inspired Rome's name, was the first of seven Kings of Rome, the last of whom, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed in 510 BC or 509 BC when the Roman Republic was established. The mythical or semi-mythical kings are (in chronological order): Romulus, Numa Pompilius (Good King Numa), Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius, and Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud).

Republic

Tarquinius Superbus The Roman Republic was established around 509 BC, according to later writers such as Titus Livius (Livy), when the king was driven out, and a system based on annually elected magistrates was established in the monarchy's place. The most important were the two consuls, who between them exercised executive authority, but had to contend with the Senate, which grew in size and power with the establishment of the Republic. The magistracies were originally restricted to patricians but were later opened to plebeians. The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, mostly related Italic tribes (of Indo-European stock) such as the Samnites and Sabines, but also the Etruscans. The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italy came when Tarentum, a major Greek colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 282 BC. The Romans secured their conquests by founding Roman colonies in strategic places. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, Rome clashed with Carthage in the first two Punic wars. These wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests, of Sicily and Iberia, and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power. After defeating Macedon and the Seleucids in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the undisputed masters of the Mediterranean. Internal strife now became the greatest threat to the Republic. The Senate, jealous of its own power, repeatedly blocked important land reforms. An unintended consequence of Gaius Marius's military reforms was that soldiers often had more loyalty to their commander than to the city, and a powerful general, such as Marius or his rival Lucius Cornelius Sulla, could hold the city and Senate to ransom. In the mid-1st century BC three men, Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, and Marcus Licinius Crassus, formed a secret pact (the First Triumvirate) to control the Republic. After the conquest of Gaul a stand-off between Caesar and the Senate led to civil war, with Pompey leading the Senate's forces. Caesar emerged victorious and was made dictator for life. After Caesar's assassination a Second Triumvirate, consisting of Caesar's designated heir Octavian and his former supporters Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, took power, but its members soon descended into a struggle for dominance. Lepidus was exiled to Circeii after attempting to coerce the highest position in the government through empty threats against Rome. When Octavian defeated Antony and queen Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC he became the undisputed master of Rome. He assumed almost absolute power while retaining the pretence of Republican form of government. His designated successor, Tiberius, took power without bloodshed.

Empire

Tiberius, in AD 14, and in AD 117.]] After the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, the Empire was ruled by his relatives, the Julio-Claudian dynasty until the death of Nero in 69. The territorial expansion of the state continued and the empire remained secure despite some incompetent emperors. Their rule was followed by the Flavian dynasty. During the reign of the Five Good Emperors (AD 96-180) the Empire reached its zenith in terms of territory, economy and culture. The state was secure from both internal and external threats and the Pax Romana created prosperity. With the conquest of Dacia during the reign of Trajan the Empire saw the peak of its territorial expansion, at which point it covered 2.5 million square miles. The period between 180 and 235 was dominated by the rule of the Severan dynasty. The period saw some of the most incompetent rulers in the history of the Empire, Elagabalus being one of the most notorious ones. This and the increasing influence of the army to imperial succession were among the main reasons for a long period known as the Crisis of the 3rd Century. The crisis was ended by the competent rule of Diocletian, who in 293 divided the Empire into four parts ruled by two co-emperors, both aided by a junior emperor. This period is known as the Tetrarchy, and was the basis of the later East-West division of the Empire. The various co-rulers of the Empire competed and fought for supremacy for more than half a century. In 330 emperor Constantine I moved the capital to Byzantium. The empire was permanently divided into Eastern (Byzantine) and Western Empire in 364. The Western Empire was constantly harassed by barbarian invasions. In 410 the city of Rome itself was sacked. In 476 the Germanic chief Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor in the West, Romulus Augustus, to abdicate. Having lasted for approximately 1200 years the rule of Rome in the West came to an end. The Empire survived in the East as the Byzantine Empire.

Causes for the downfall of the Empire

:Main article: Decline of the Roman Empire The study of the Decline of the Roman Empire is a classic field of study in History. There are numerous theories as to the main cause for the decline, many of which are not mutually exclusive.
- According to a classic theory presented by Edward Gibbon in his book "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1788), Rome succumbed to barbarian invasions because of a loss of civic virtue among its citizens.
- Henri Pirenne published the "Pirenne Thesis" in the 1920s which holds that the Empire continued, in some form, up until the the Arab conquests, which disrupted trade routes, and thereby the European economy.
- A theory pioneered by Peter Brown maintains that the Empire never "fell", but transformed in a gradual process into medieval Europe.
- Historians such as Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke argue that the Empire itself was a rotten system from its inception. The Romans had no budgetary system and relied on booty from conquered territories or on a pattern of taxation that bankrupted small-scale farmers. Financial needs continued to increase, but the means of meeting them steadily eroded.
- The historian Vegetius theorised and has recently been supported by Arther Ferrill that the Empire declined and as a result fell, due to a combination of increasing 'barbarization', as well as a surge in decadence and the following lethargy.
- Peter Turchin in War and Peace and War : The Life Cycles of Imperial Nations (2005) contends that empires, including Rome, fell because of inequalities within society resulting a lack of internal cooperation.

Legacy

Rome produced great generals, lawyers, and engineers, but no mathematicians or scientists and few artists of note. The legacy of Rome is primarily in the areas of language, law, warfare, and engineering.

Successor states

After the fall of the city of Rome and the Western Empire the state continued its existence as the Byzantine Empire, which is conventionally treated as a separate entity in history books. In addition, the Holy Roman Empire and Russia have claimed the "Roman" legacy after the fall of Constantinople (See Third Rome).

Military legacy

Before Rome, armies generally fought on the field of battle nature provided. The Romans built roads for troop movement, dug trenches, built seige engines, and introduced many other improvements in the art of war. It made them invincible, for a time. Generals today still study the Roman methods of waging war.

Linguistic legacy

One of the most enduring legacies of Rome is linguistic: Romance languages that evolved from Latin spoken in the Roman Empire are now spoken widely in Europe and Latin America, such as Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Moldovan amongst others. Although English is a Germanic language, many English words derive from Latin roots, either directly from Roman occupation or through intermediary successor languages such as French. Latin remains the official language of the Vatican City and is studied and understood by scholars around the world. However, fluent speech in Latin is very rare in present day. This is mainly due to the differences between Latin's reliance upon inflection of words and modern Romance languages' reliance upon syntax, in addition to lack of use.

Cultural legacy

The art of Rome borrows heavily from Greece -- the Romans themselves looked to the Greeks as their artistic superiors, and stole or copied more than they created. Virgil's Aneid, by common consent the greatest Roman literary work, borrowed or plagarized from Greek epics. Thus most of our cultural legacy from Rome is Greek culture passed on. The only generally recognized original Roman contribution to our culture is comic theater, which has given us not only A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum but also the Three Stooges. Another Roman artform will be revived only if our extreme sports eventually go so far as to include battles to the death.

Legal legacy

The Roman law formed the basis of most of the legal systems of Europe and her colonies for hundreds of years and has been the direct inspiration for the Senate of the United States and other modern nations. In the Byzantine Empire, the codes of Justinian preserved the codes of Roman law and formed the basis of legal practice in Greece even after the fall of the Byzantine empire. In the West, Justinian’s codes were forgotten, but rediscovered in the 11th century. From that time, scholars began to study the ancient Roman legal texts, especially in Bologna. Many provisions of Roman law were better suited to regulate complex economic transactions than the customary rules of that time. Therefore Roman law began to be re-introduced into legal practice. By the middle of the 16th century, the Roman law dominated the legal practice in most European countries. The practical application of Roman law came to an end when national codifications were made. In the course of the 19th century, many European states either adopted the French civil code model or drafted their own codes. In some parts of Germany, Roman law continued to be applied until late 19th century.

Religion

19th century] Main articles: Roman mythology, Roman religion

Early Roman Religion

Archaic Roman "mythology", at least concerning the gods, was made up not of narratives, but rather of interlocking and complex interrelations between and among gods and humans. Gods were not personified, unlike in Ancient Greece. Romans also believed that every person, place or thing had their own genius (such as "Lares Familiares" - the family guardian spirits). Therefore the early Roman cult could be described as polydaemonism instead of polytheism. The Romans distinguished two classes of gods, the di indigetes and the de novensides or novensiles. The indigetes were the original gods of the Roman state (see List of Di Indigetes). The novensides were later divinities whose cults were introduced to the city in the historical period, usually in response to a specific crisis or need. At the head of the earliest pantheon were the triad Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. Their priests, or flamens, were senior to others. Later this triad was supplanted by the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. During the Roman republic there was a strict system of priestly offices, of which the Pontifex maximus was the most important. Flamens took care of the cults of various gods, while augurs were trusted with taking the auspices. The rex sacrorum, or "sacrificial king" took on the religious responsibilities of the deposed kings.

Late republic and the empire

As contact with the Greeks increased, the old Roman gods became associated with Greek gods. Therefore Jupiter was perceived to be the same deity as Zeus. Mars was associated with Ares and Neptune with Poseidon. The Roman gods also assumed the attributes and myth of these Greek gods. The transference of the anthropomorphic qualities to Roman Gods, and the prevalence of Greek philosophy among well-educated Romans, brought about an increasing neglect of the old rites, and in the 1st century BC the religious importance of the old priestly offices declined rapidly, though their civic importance and political influence remained. Roman religion in the empire tended more and more to center on the imperial house, and several emperors were deified after their deaths.

Spread of Eastern Religions

Under the empire, numerous foreign cults grew popular, such as the worship of the Egyptian Isis and the Persian Mithras. Also, starting from the second century, Christianity began to spread in the Empire. Despite persecutions, Christianity steadily gained converts. It became an officially supported religion in the Roman state under Constantine I. All cults except Christianity were prohibited in AD 391 by an edict of Emperor Theodosius I.

Society

Classes

The free citizens of Rome were divided into two classes: patricians and plebeians. The patricians were the dominant social class, the plebeians much more numerous. Originally, only patricians could be elected to office. Intermarrying between the classes was forbidden and the patrician title could only be inherited, not earned. During the Roman Republic, a series of struggles led to increased rights for the plebeians, who were represented by tribunes. Tribunes had veto power over acts of the Senate. However, since voting was by tribes rather than by individuals, the vote of a plebeian never counted as much as the vote of a patrician. The patrician tribes voted first, and if they were united could attain a majority vote (by tribe) in which case the plebeian vote was not counted. Late in the Republic, the distinction between patricians and plebeians became less important, due to the rise of citizens whose power depended on wealth rather than family. Crassus, at one time the richest man in Rome, became council in spite of his plebeian birth. A new ruling class, the optimates, were those families, patrician or plebeian, who had produced a consul. The conservatives, led by Cicero, decried the power of the "upstarts" and spoke with contempt of anyone not born into the patrician class. A particular target of their wrath was Pompey, who dispite his great wealth, popularity, and military victories, was mocked for his crude manners and outlandish accent. During the empire, the class division fell into disuse and was largely forgotten. In the early Republic, citizens were also divided into classes according to the armament they could afford to buy for themselves for military service. The richest class was the equestrians or knights, who could afford a war horse. There were both patrician and plebeian equestrians. Later in the Republic, fixed amounts of wealth replaced military equipment as the basis of classification. Higher classes had more political power and prestige than lower classes. This system also lost its meaning after the abolition of the Republic. In the Late Republic, and under the Principate and emperors, Roman society was stratified according to wealth. The highest class was the Senatorial class, membership of which was maintained by the Censors and had a minimum property qualification of 1'000'000 Sesterces. It is worth noting that membership of the Senatorial class did not entail membership of the Senate. Members of the Senatorial class were prohibited from engaging directly in business and trade. They were permitted to receive an income from the possession of large agricultural estates. With a few exceptions, all political posts were filled with men from the Senatorial class. The second tier were the Equites. A through back to a military class of the Early Republic, membership of the Equites later required a property qualification of 400'000 Sesterces. Equites were allowed to engage in commerce and were often extremely wealthy. Petronius satirizes the wealth of the Equites class in the Satyricon. He descibes in details a sumptuous dinner party hosted by the disagreeable Knight Trimalchio. Certain political positions were filled by Equites: most notably under Principes, the head of the Praetorian Guard.

Family

The basic units of Roman society were households and families. Household included the head of the household (paterfamilias), his wife, children, and other relatives. In the upper classes slaves and servants were also part of the household. Romans certainly did not see the family as those of the suburban West do today - their family was more far reaching in definition. The head of the household had great power over those living with him: could force marriage and divorce, sell his children into slavery and possibly even had the right to kill family members (this has been recently disputed in academic circles). This particular manifestation of familial power was called "patria potestas", literally "fathers power". One interesting point of note is that wives did not always count as family, as they could choose to continue recognising their father's family as their true family, and not necessarily adopt their husband's family. Groups of related households formed a family (gens). Families were based on blood ties (or adoption), but were also political and economic alliances. Especially during the Roman Republic some powerful families, or Gentes Maiores came to dominate political life. Ancient Roman marriage was often regarded more as a financial and political alliance than as a romantic association, especially in the upper classes. Fathers usually began seeking husbands for their daughters when they reached an age between twelve and fourteen. The husband was almost always older than the bride. While upper class girls married very young, there is evidence that lower class women often married in their late teens or early twenties.

Economy

Ancient Roman marriage, a standardized silver coin (See also Roman currency).]] The early economy was largely dependent on slave labour, and slaves constituted around 20 percent of the population. A slave’s price was dependent on their skills, and a slave trained in medicine was equivalent to 50 agricultural slaves. In the later period, hired labour became more economical than slave ownership.

Finance

Although barter was common (and often used in tax collection) the monetary system was highly developed, with brass, bronze, and precious metal coins in circulation throughout the empire and beyond (some have been discovered in India). Before the 3rd Century BC, copper was traded by weight (in unmarked lumps) across Central Italy. The original copper coins (As) had a face value of a Roman pound of copper, but weighed less (according to Mommsen early coins weighed at most 312 g, but late second century BC As contained only 19 g of copper). Hence, Roman money's utility as a unit of exchange consistently exceeded its intrinsic value as metal; after Nero began debasing the silver Denarii, Mommsen estimated its legal value at one third greater than intrinsic (it was an offence to refuse payment in Denarii).

Trade

Horses were too expensive, and other pack animals too slow, for mass trade on the roman roads, which connected military posts (rather than markets) and were rarely designed for wheels. Therefore, there was little transport of commodities between Roman regions, until the rise of Roman maritime trade in the second century BC. During that period a trading vessel took less than a month to complete a trip from Gades to Alexandria via Ostia, spanning the entire length of the Mediterranean. The agricultural free trade changed the Italian landscape, and by the first century BC vast grape and olive estates had supplanted the yeoman farmers who were unable to match the imported grain price. The volume of trade was so great that a single mound of cargo pottery vessel fragments is over forty metres high and a kilometre around.

Culture

Literature

Roman literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics telling the early military history of Rome. As the republic expanded, authors began to produce poetry, comedy, history and tragedy.

Epic Poetry

Virgil represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry. His Aeneid was produced at the request of Maecenas and tells the story of flight of Aeneas from Troy and his settlement of the city that would become Rome. Lucretius, in his On the Nature of Things, attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. Some of his science seems remarkably modern, other ideas, especially his theory of light, are no longer accepted. Later Ovid produced his Metamorphoses, written in hexameter verse, the meter of epic, attempting a complete mythology from the creation of the earth to his own time. He unifies his subject matter through the theme of metamorphosis. It was noted in classical times that Ovid's work lacked the gravitas possessed by traditional epic poetry.

Shorter Poems

Catullus and his set of neoteric poets produced poetry following the Alexandrian model, which experimented with poetic forms challenging tradition. He was also the first Roman poet to produce love poetry, seemingly autobiographical, which depicts an affair with a woman called Lesbia. Under the Emperor Augustus, Horace continued the tradition of shorter poems, with his Odes and Epodes. Martial, writing under the Emperor Domitian, was a famed author of epigrams, poems which were often abusive and censured piblic figures.

Drama

The genre of satire was traditionally regarded as a Roman innovation and satiric plays were written by, among others, Juvenal. Some of the most popular plays of the early Republic were comedies, especially those of Terence, a freed Roman slave captured during the First Punic War.

Letters

A great deal of the literary work produced by Roman authors in the early Republic was political or satirical in nature. The rhetorical works of Cicero, in particular, were popular.

Visual arts

Most of the first styles of Roman painting came from the Etruscan influences. The Etruscan practice of painting for political reasons continued in Rome. In the 3rd century BC as the Romans contact with Greece continued Greek art was taken as booty from wars. The Greek art became popular with the Ro