The Middle Kingdom

Middle Kingdom

The Middle Kingdom lasted from about 2030 to 1640 B.C. It was a time when the ruler was Nebhepetre Mentuhotep. He was the 11th Dynasty King from Thebes that finally united the Egyptian Empire into one. Under his rule, and that of other strong kings who followed, Egypt’s power and wealth were restored (http://www.egyptattraction.com/egypt-kingdom.html). His name translates into Montu, who was the God of Thebes (http://members.aol.com/robinsash/egypt/middle_kingdom.htm). One of the great buildings of this time was the Mortuary complex to Mentuhotep. It was modeled after his great ancestors
(http://www.met museum.org/TOAH/HD/mking/hd_mking.htm).

The Middle Kingdom was not so great though. It didn’t have the pizzazz that the earlier Old Kingdom had or the later New Kingdom had. It was kind of boring. The kings of that time didn’t build huge pyramids or have a great military or any of those things. Though, the pyramids that they did build could be just as big as the ones in the 5th and 6th Dynasties. But, in the Middle Kingdom the pyramids had trap doors and secret passage ways and other cool things. The only bad thing about their pyramids was that they were now being built out of bricks made out of mud, which eventually broke down (http://friesian.com/notes/midking/htm).

100 years after the decline of the Old Kingdom, Egypt had broken itself up into dozens of different states (The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt). But, the two kings Intef and Mentuhotpe brought Egypt back together in Luxor. That was when they established the 11th Dynasty, which was also the beginning of the Middle Kingdom (A History of Ancient Egypt).

Under the reign of the two kings, trade, irrigation projects, and the writing of texts began to come back. Though, the king’s power never actually came back. When they had gotten well into the Middle Kingdom, Egypt finally established one king. That was Sesostris III (http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/MIDDLE.HTM).

By 1640 B.C., Egypt was again facing serious problems where weaker kings proved unable to cope. Immigrants started to become a powerful political force and even had more advanced weapons than the Egyptians, including horse drawn chariots (http://www.egyptattraction.com/egypt-kingdom.html). The Hyksos Kings were able to seize control of the Delta and for nearly a century they ruled a large section of Egypt.

The Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom

In the Old Kingdom, there were 6 dynasties. In the 1st Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, there were two parts to Egypt. The first half was the North which was known as the upper kingdom and then the second half was the South which known as the lower kingdom. Then King Menes came, also known as Narmer, who united the two kingdoms and built a government for Egypt (http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/EGYPT/ODL.htm).
In the 2nd Dynasty, people had been having disputes over who was to become the next king. As time went on, the situation worsened into a rivalry. But, towards the end of the Dynasty, there had evidently been more chaos. So much more, that there could have possibly been a civil war.
The 3rd Dynasty was on that had become a landmark for human history. It was an extremely prosperous time for Egypt. And at that time the Pyramid was being built. The writing on the tombs and buildings in Egypt tell of truly beautiful it was there (The Great Sphinx). They also tell of how wealthy and successful it was at that time. Egypt was also established as a nation under a strong central government (http://www.egyptattraction.com/egypt-kingdom.html).
In the 4th Dynasty, the Pyramids of Giza had been built. They were able to accomplish this task because Egypt had not been threatened of being invade for a long period of time. So during that period of time their main concern was to build beautiful art. The 4th Dynasty had come from Memphis, Egypt.
The 5th Dynasty came from Elephantine. The first kings of this new dynasty were all sons a woman named Khentkaues, who had been a member of the previous royal family. In this dynasty, the pyramids were quite as large as the ones in the 4th dynasty. From the 5th Dynasty there are Papyri that survived through the years, which tells us about how well they recorded things back then (http://www.eyelid.co.uk/dynasty1.html). In the 6th Dynasty, Egyptians made many writings. They wrote about expeditions to the south, the reign of Pepi I, and of trade. But, on of the most interesting pieces of writing that we found is a letter that had been written by Peppy II. The last major monument of the Old Kingdom is the one in Southern Saqqara dedicated to Pepi I (http://www.eyelid.co.uk/dynasty1.html).

Khufu

Khufu

Khufu was the 4th Dynasty Pharaoh of Egypt. He was well known for the pyramids that he had built, but most well known for being the first Pharaoh to build a pyramid in Giza, known as the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is also one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Khufu was known as the “Father of Pyramid Building” (http://www.guardians.net/egypt/khufu.htm). Khufu was the son of another great pyramid builder, King Kneferu. His mother’s name was Queen Hetepheres. Khufu’s full name was Khnum-Khufwy, which means ‘(the god) Khnum protect me’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/khufu.shtml).

Khufu was believed to have three wives. He came to the throne probably during his twenties and immediately began to work on his pyramid. Only a very small ivory statue of 9 cm has been found depicting this historic ruler. It was not found in Giza near the pyramid, but was found to the south at the Temple of Osiris at Abydos, the ancient necropolis (http://www.guardians.net/egypt/khufu.htm). See picture below.


Khufu was known to be a cruel and ruthless ruler. http://www.guardians.net/egypt/khufu.htm. The Greek historian Herodotus describes Khufu as a cruel and wicked leader who prostituted his daughter when he ran short of money. However, the Westcar Papyrus describes Khufu as a traditional oriental monarch: good-natured, amiable to his inferiors and interested in the nature of human existence and magic.http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/khufu.shtml.

Khufu was remembered for being a hard tyrant, a quality which was a prerequisite for building the gigantic pyramid. He was preceded by Snefu, his father, and succeeded by Redjedef, his son. (http://lexicorient.com/e.o/khufu.htm).

Of course, whether or not he was a cruel ruler, he did command a tremendous ability to organize and mobilize workers. There was an extremely large amount of manpower necessary to build the Great pyramid and its surrounding complex and tombs. Certainly Khufu would have had the benefit of witnessing the previous pyramid projects of his father, Sneferu. http://www.guardians.net/egypt/khufu.htm. The Great Pyramid stands witness to the ability of Khufu to lead and coordinate his people. The entire project took about 23 years to complete, during which time 2,300,000 building blocks, weighing an average of 2.5 tons each, were moved. His nephew Hemiunu was appointed head of construction for the Great Pyramid. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/khufu.shtml. It is now believed the pyramids were built using conscripted labor rather than slaves. The idea that Khufu used slaves to build the pyramid comes from Greek historian Herodotus. He also describes Khufu Despite not being remembered as fondly as his father, the funerary cult of Khufu was still followed in the 26th Dynasty, and he became increasingly popular during the Roman period. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/khufu.shtml.

The pyramid has an original height of over 480 feet tall, and it stands as one of the world’s greatest, unexplained accomplishments. To this day, the actual movement and placement of the stones is considered a mystery. http://www.mybrotha.com/khufu.asp.

Code of Hammurabi

Of all the ancient Middle Eastern law codes, the one that is most well known is the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi was the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon. He was known to be the greatest ruler of ancient Babylonia but he was mainly known for his code of laws. In 1800 B.C. Hammurabi, the Amorite king, took the throne and became the new king of the Babylonian dynasty. Immediately after becoming king, Hammurabi expanded his empire which now included Assyria and northern Syria (source).

Hammurabi was known to be an outstanding military leader and lawgiver. In his first year of kingship, Hammurabi kept his promise to the Babylonian god, Marduk, and established a system of laws that went over almost every aspect of ancient life (source).

Some of the laws that Hammurabi wrote were based on the principle “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. (source). This means that if someone injures another person, that person shall be punished in the same way that he injured that person. For instance “if someone put out another’s eye, their eye would be put out in return”. (source). If anyone breaks a freeman’s bone, then his bone too, shall be broken. Today, his code may have seemed very brutal and cruel, but back then it was early attempt to create law (source).

Hammurabi required that people should be responsible for their own actions. The Code of Hammurabi consists of 282 laws, unfortunately, 34 of these codes have been lost. Hammurabi’s code was not meant to have laws against everything, but to provide rules and standards for every day life (source).

The code of Hammurabi is made up of legal decisions that he collected at the end of his reign and wrote them on a diorite stela that was set up in Babylon's temple of the god of justice, Marduk. The code is carved on an eight-foot high slab of black stone, which now sits in the Louvre Museum in France (source).

Those 282 case laws were arranged under the headings of personal property, real estate, economic provisions, family laws, criminal laws, and with civil laws. The penalties for someone depended on what they had done (source). The code basically protected the weak, but provided for retaliation and for cruel punishments.