The First Dynasty of Egypt: The Birth of a Civilization

this video is brought to you by blinkist the first hundred people to go to blinkist.com forward slash biographics will get one week to try it out for free you'll also get 25 off the cost of full membership if you want it more on them they say that all great journeys begin with a single step likewise all mighty empires must start somewhere when one king's might and cunning match his ambitions egypt is undoubtedly one of the most famous civilizations of the ancient world it has given us wonders like the pyramids of giza that still stand today over 4 000 years later while other structures from that time nothing but crumbled ruins and dust in the wind we have actually already covered the fourth dynasty here on biographics the dynasty that was responsible for many of the landmarks that we associate with ancient egypt but then we thought why not go back even further that is why today we are starting at the very beginning as we take a look at the first dynasty of egypt right off the bat let's start with our standard ancient history disclaimer and mention that our knowledge of this time period is sparse at best with giant gaps in the middle in the case of some pharaohs of the first dynasty we're not even sure that they actually existed while others might have been individual rulers or they might have been the same person under different names some of the main sources used by scholars to trace the history of ancient egypt to back to its roots include a steel called the palermo stone a papyrus called the turin kinglist a giant temple wall inscription known as the aberdos king list and the writings of monito a priest and historian who lived over 2500 years later none of the sources are complete and none of them are entirely reliable and at some points they clearly contradict each other therefore the timeline of the first dynasty is filled with a lot of educated guesses rather than cold hard truths but we will bring it to you as best we can in prehistoric times egypt was divided into two halves upper and lower egypt although upper egypt was in the south while lower egypt was up north this was due to the strange direction of the nile one of the few rivers in the world that flows north it coursed from the highlands in the south and traveled north forming the nile delta in lower egypt where it drained into the mediterranean sea each region had its own king and unsurprisingly they often fought with each other eventually this led to the unification of the two lands into a single egypt sometime around 3100 bc thus launching a new era known as the early dynastic period which lasted until the beginning of the old kingdom about 400 years later however the identity of the person responsible for this unification is a matter of debate we have two names narma and manny's there are various ancient sources that credit each of them with being the triumphant conqueror and first pharaoh of a united egypt for a while the general belief among scholars was that manys was the pharaoh while nama was the name of the last king of the previous period however continued research and new discoveries uncovered additional mentions for nama as the unifier but not for many no contemporary ones at least it seemed that the sources who mentioned many's all came thousands of years later it was probably 19th century egyptologist sir flinders petri who first suggested that nama amenis might be in fact the very same person this would not have been unusual since pharaoh's had multiple names and although this has become the most accepted viewpoint nowadays among scholars it's still not a certainty the best evidence in favor of nama as the first pharaoh is a cosmetic artifact made out of siltstone known as the palette of narmer believed to have been made during his lifetime or soon after the palette identifies narma by name and shows him wearing the white crown of upper egypt or head jets on one side and the red crown of lower egypt or deshred on the other the double crown would go on to become a symbol of the unification of the two lands as the pharaohs who came later wore a combined version of the two called a patient we're going to go with the most common stance that nama and many's are the same person and that he was the first pharaoh of egypt his tomb was discovered over a hundred years ago at the necropolis of um el-kwab near the sacred city of abidos as the site of many ancient temples and the resting place of the first pharaohs abbado served a role similar to the valley of the kings but the later dynasties and was one of the most significant cities from the early history of egypt the other ones were memphis which continued to play an important role for thousands of years and thinness which supposedly served as the first capital of egypt we say supposedly because we only know of thinness from ancient sources its ruins have yet to be discovered the tomb of narma is quite modest compared to what we usually expect when we think of pharaohs the giant pyramids of the fourth dynasty were still a very long way away the first pharaoh of egypt was buried in a simple tomb that consisted only of two pits dug into the ground and lined with mud brick walls they were covered with a rectangular flat-roofed brick structure called a moustaba we're not sure for how long narma ruled egypt but most sources indicate that it was a lengthy reign according to meniso who always referred to him as many's he had a very long reign of 62 years and was killed by an attacking hippopotamus we also might know the name of his queen consort naith hotep her name which means nath is satisfied would indicate that she came from lower egypt since the goddess nath was primarily worshipped there as nama was from upper egypt it is highly plausible that they married as another symbolic unification of the two lands when she died hotep was buried in her own mastaba which was actually a lot nicer and bigger than nama's tomb because of this the egyptologists who first discovered it over 100 years ago initially thought that it belonged to a pharaoh in fact there are still some scholars today who believe that nath hotep might have had a short stint as regent after her husband died until her son came of age which if true would make her the first woman to rule over egypt either way the next pharaoh was hor aha presumably he was the son of narma and niece hotep as an inscription with his name was found in his mother's tomb but we do not know this for sure in fact some ancient sources such as the palermo stone name him as the first pharaoh which is why certain scholars believe that he was actually manny's the one who unified upper and lower egypt in this case nath hoteb would have been his wife and mother to his successor de ger who we'll talk about in a bit this is a plausible scenario but there is some contradicting evidence as egyptologists have uncovered multiple inscriptions that mention horaha's queen consort as a woman named benarib again we have very little information about what happened during this ancient reign one minor inscription mentions that the pharaoh smited the nubians in one regnal year so presumably he led a successful military expedition against his neighbors he also turned memphis into one of the most prominent cities of his empire with some even believing that he may have founded it his tomb is located at um near that of nama which is a further indication that the two were father and son it appears that hor aha was the first pharaoh to practice retainer sacrifices meaning that his servants were slain and entombed alongside him so they could serve him in the afterlife as well now we'll continue with the ancient egyptians in just a moment but first a quick break to today's video sponsor blinkist how many times have you seen a book and thought that's really interesting i wonder if i could read it in 14 minutes if you're like me happens all the time i mean reading is great but i do have other stuff to do i can't 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this one divided into 13 blinks definitely worth checking out and so if you're interested in learning big ideas in small packages head to blinkist.com forward slash biographics but the first 100 people will get to try out blinkist for free you'll also get 25 off if you want the full membership again seven day trial cancel at any time blinkers.com forward slash biographics and let's get back to egypt who presumably was his son according to the palermo stone his mother was named ken thap one of hor aha's royal wives but not his queen consort de ger's own queen console was probably named nakatnayth based on an inscription found inside the tomb at um el cuabe du jour had a very long reign as pharaoh and ether claimed it was 57 years which might be a stretch but not by a lot other ancient sources mentioned specific regnal years of deja and assuming they're correct the reconstructed timeline of the first dynasty suggests that he reigned for around 41 years frustratingly we don't know what he did during all that time egypt was far from the dominant power in the region yet its strength was steadily rising and deja continued along the same economic religious and social policies as the previous pharaohs just like with his predecessor there is an inscription of de jure smiting someone in this case it was the said jet someone we are unfamiliar with but presumably represented a nearby ancient people that were conquered and absorbed by the egyptians in their early history there are more examples of human sacrifice from deja's time most likely done as part of the funerary ritual for the pharaoh if the rulers of the later dynasties considered the size and grandeur of their pyramid to be a sign of their own majesty then for the pharaohs of the first dynasty it must have been the number of servants sacrificed in their home in de jair's case over 300 people were buried with the pharaoh in his tomb near aberdos to serve him in the afterlife this was a practice reserved mainly for the early dynasties the later ones all used shabti's tiny figurines that symbolized the pharaoh's retinue instead of actual humans deja was succeeded by dejete who is an even bigger mystery to us than his father assuming that they were related part of that is due to his relatively short reign which was around 10 years even though monito again ascribed him to a much lengthier reign of 23 years the reason scholars feel confident that deje did not rule that long is because an inscription on an ivory artifact mentioned that he only participated in one sakhar festival which was held every six to ten years the other reason we don't know much about the jet is because of a very poor historical record even by the standards of the first dynasty the part of the palermo stone that includes his reign is just missing scholars presumed that he continued along the same lines as his predecessors as governing over a thriving egypt that was steadily increasing in power his tomb is also located in um el cuab and he was buried with 174 servants for the afterlife much more interesting is the woman believed to have been his queen consort named manith she might have been the first female pharaoh in history it is almost certain that she served as region for her son den after gidet died but it is also possible that she ruled in her own name for a while this is based on a cylinder seal found in dens 2 which includes one of the earliest king lists in egypt it names all of the pharaohs up to that point in chronological order nama horaha to jai dejet den but it also names monith further evidence is provided by mernith's tomb it was quite large it was positioned next to the tombs of dejet and den and it included around 40 servants for the afterlife in other words it looked like the tomb of a pharaoh not just a queen consort even if this did happen aneath did not appear to rule for long because her son den soon became the new pharaoh since we're unfamiliar with their customs we don't know if mernith willingly gave up power for her son or whether she was somehow forced to do it or if she died but we do know a lot more about den than any of the other pharaohs of the first dynasty this is because he had a long reign spanning at least three decades and because he is well attested to in the historical record it seems that den was a very competent ruler probably even the best of the first dynasty and he introduced new policies that affected all areas of egyptian life including religion art administration economy and architecture he was the first pharaoh depicted wearing the pashend the double crown that became one of the most powerful symbols behind the union of upper and lower egypt he was the first to receive a throne name which was empty in his case and the first shown carrying the nakaka the flail which symbolizes the pharaoh's authority alongside the crook his tomb of el-quab also stood out from the others for starters it was the largest and most opulent one of all but it was also built differently compared to the others it had a stairwell leading down to the tomb entrance and a massive burial chamber and was also constructed using a granite floor and other stone elements instead of just mud bricks lastly den took 136 servants with him in the afterlife whose burial sites were located all around his tomb following the reign of den it appears that the first dynasty went on a steady decline that eventually led to its collapse he was succeeded by anna jib who is poorly attested in the historical record he may have been dead some but we have no evidence that points to this conclusively modern scholars are also fairly certain that anejib had a short reign no longer than 10 years even though the turin kinglist credits him with a highly improbable reign of 74 years egyptologists also believed that anejib took the throne when he was already pretty old which would make sense if den was his father given that he held the throne for anywhere from 30 to 50 years we know a very few events from the timeline of aneed some cylinder seal impressions mentioned the construction of a new fortress and a royal residence it also seems that the pharaoh had problems with revolts in lower egypt which continued into the reign of a successor arguably the most notable thing about a nedjib was how bad and poorly constructed his tomb was up until this point the royal tomb seemed to get steadily bigger and better as the egyptians continuously improved their royal funerary traditions at aberdos this culminated with den who had the nicest tomb of the first dynasty but then went sharply in the opposite direction with a nedjib who had the worst one the starters it was the smallest even smaller than that of nama it measured 16.4 by 9 meters and only consisted of two chambers and a stairway granite was completely absent this time and the burial chamber was made entirely out of wooden planks set directly in the sand 64 burial sites were located nearby by an egypt's servants the tomb was done in a rush without much concern but the question is why was the lack of care somehow indicative of how the egyptians felt about the pharaoh and his reign was it a sign of how his successor felt about him or was it simply done according to the orders of an egypt himself who simply wasn't that interested in having a fancy royal tomb we don't know the answer but speaking of his success a nedjib was followed by simerica to probably rule egypt for around eight and a half years some ancient sources credit him with a longer reign but the palermo stone actually has an entry for each of his regular years and his ninth one is listed as the year of his death sumarket is the only fear of the first dynasty in the situation so is the only one whose reign we can establish with a modicum of certainty unfortunately even though scholars can see entries for each regnal year the palermo stone is too damaged to actually read what the entries say so we know little about smoking's reign we know that it was troubled by revolts like that of his predecessor but that's about it egyptologists have made a lot of hullabaloo about sumercat's relationship with an edgy which may have been hostile initially they speculated that suburket may have usurped the throne from his predecessor because they found in his tomb artifacts originally made for nedjib which had his name scratched out and replaced with sumerket furthermore samarket was left off the sakara king list made during the 20th dynasty indicating that his descendants may have wanted to forget him this idea does not have a lot of support anymore mainly because it seemed that his immediate successes recognized some marquette as the rightful pharaoh and because other rulers also took vessels belonging to their predecessors and replaced the names with their own summer kit's tomb at um was considerably nicer than the one belonging to a nedjib it was much larger about 29 by 31 meters and the burial chamber was lined with bricks 67 additional tombs surrounded her for his raw retinue the tomb had been so saturated with aromatic oils that even when it was excavated by flinders petri almost five thousand years later the fragrance still permeated throughout the chamber the last pharaoh of the first dynasty was quoi sources show that he had a long reign anetho said 26 years but this is a rare instance when modern scholars think that he actually went too low that is because they found inscriptions which said the quoi took part in two said festivals going by tradition the first one is celebrated after 30 years on the throne and all subsequent ones are done in three year increments therefore two set festivals would suggest a reign of at least 33 years but no more than 36. despite his length we know very little about what happened back then and we're not sure of the events which led to the downfall of the first dynasty what scholars believe is the most plausible scenario involves some sort of strife and disagreements following quaar's death and involving his heir maybe this was due to all the revolts that occurred during his predecessor's reigns as we do not know how those were ultimately resolved there is some small evidence that suggests the existence of two more mysterious figures who may have served as pharaohs briefly during the first dynasty one of them is called sneferka the other is identified only as horus bird they're not present on any king's list nor do they have tombs at abdos scholars just found their names inscribed on a few labels this indicates that the ancient egyptians never recognized them as true pharaohs and this could be because they fought each other in a war of succession and caused the turmoil that ended the first dynasty this conflict if it ever existed was somehow resolved by a third person named hotep sekhemwe who started the second dynasty like with most things from that time period his relationship with the pharaohs who came before him is unknown but it did not appear to be hostile we say this because it seems that it was hot except kemwee who completed the tomb of koa as his name was found inscribed inside the chamber there were only 26 additional burials for servants this time a sign that this practice of human sacrifices would already falling out of favor with the egyptians we should mention at this point that the division of ancient egypt into 32 dynasties was done retroactively much later it was not something contemporary to them it was that dan menetha again who first mentioned the divisions and just a reminder he lived during the 3rd century bc which was over 2500 years after the first dynasty in some cases the division was pretty clear when one bloodline ended and another began but in other cases the separation between dynasty seemed a bit more arbitrary it is entirely possible that the egyptians who lived during the second dynasty did not consider themselves to be a part of a different era and the pharaohs did not see themselves as starting a new line of succession that being said we're going to stick with the traditional division since it is also used by modern scholars more for convenience if not for accuracy therefore we must bring the first dynasty of egypt to an end it was an obscure lineage one filled with unknowns and uncertainties that are unlikely to ever find an answer even so it represented a landmark moment in history which saw the birth of one of the greatest and most enduring civilizations of the ancient world so i really hope you enjoyed this video thank you again to blinkist for sponsoring it there's a link to them below also please do hit that like button if you enjoyed this video don't forget to subscribe and thank you for watching

Channel: Biographics

Views: 273,080

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: ReiWeoAiCaU

Length: 19min 59sec (1199 seconds)

Published: Wed May 26 2021