The formation of a unified state in the Nile Valley facts. How was a unified state formed in Ancient Egypt? Predynastic era. Children draw conclusions

Mon, 04/25/2016 - 17:52 | Mikova Natalia...

Municipal autonomous educational institution

"Cherdyn secondary school named after A.I. Spirin"

Lesson project on the topic:

"State formation in the Nile Valley"

history teacher, 1st qualification category

Cherdyn, 2016

The lesson project “Formation of the State in the Nile Valley” is a multi-variant development of a lesson on the history of the Ancient World for 5th grade students that meets the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard LLC

Textbook:“History of the Ancient World” (authors: T.P. Andreevskaya, M.V. Belkin, E.V. Vanina, M.: IC “Ventana-Graf” 2014

Learning Tools: multimedia equipment, interactive whiteboard, handouts, map of Ancient Egypt.

Lesson type: a lesson in “discovering” new knowledge.

Lesson objectives: achieving the following results:

Personal– formation of value guidelines and meanings of educational activities based on the development of cognitive interest in the subject of history.

Metasubject– possession of the skills to work with educational information (analyze and summarize facts, formulate and justify conclusions, etc.), show readiness to cooperate with other students, group and collective work.

Subject – search for the necessary information in various sources (text, graphic, visual) - to choose from; compare data from different sources, identify similarities and differences; talk orally about historical events; characterize the natural conditions and lifestyle of the Egyptians; reveal the meaning of historical concepts.

Tasks:

1. Personal:

- with the help of a video fragment and appeal to personal experience, develop the cognitive interests of schoolchildren and motivate them to educational activities and study the subject of history.

2. Subject:

Study and characterize, based on the text of a written source, map, illustrations, the natural conditions of Ancient Egypt, the way of life of the Egyptians;

Based on information search (in the textbook), determine the meaning of new concepts and names (threshold, delta, Kemet, papyrus, dam, irrigation, nomes)

Working in groups, ability to participate in productive group communication.

Based on the information received during the lesson, be able to summarize the material and formulate conclusions.

3.Teaching methods: problematic, heuristic

Forms of organization of students’ cognitive activity: collective, in groups, individual.

Lesson progress

Application

Handout:

Map of Ancient Egypt (without symbols), link http://megabook.ru/media/Ancient%20Egypt%20 (interactive%20map)

Illustrations are in a separate file.

Technical specifications for working with illustrations in the textbook

1. Look carefully at the illustrations (pages 28 (except for the map), 29, 30).
2. When working with illustrations, use Memo No. 6, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Write a detailed description of the illustrations in your notebook, using all the information received.

Terms of reference for working with written historical sources

1. When working with a historical source, use Memo No. 2, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
2. Based on the information received from the source, write a description of Egypt in your notebook or draw up a diagram of the location of Ancient Egypt with symbols and describe it orally.

Diodorus Siculus. Historical library

Diodorus (lived in I. BC) - Greek historian, was born in the city of Agyria on the island of Sicily (that’s why he is called “Sicilian”), for thirty years he worked on the work “Historical Library” in forty books (extant to us 14).

30. Egypt extended mainly (from the north) to the south... From the west it is protected by the Libyan desert, full of wild animals... Of the parts of the country facing the east, they are protected by a river, others are surrounded by desert and swampy places called abysses.

31. ...The fourth side is entirely washed by the Egyptian (Mediterranean) Sea, which has almost no piers...

...So, Egypt is strengthened on all sides by nature itself...

32. ...Having entered Egypt, the Nile ... does not flow in a straight direction, but forms all sorts of twists ... for on each side of the river there are mountains stretching along the shore for a long distance ... The Nile, dividing in the lower part of Egypt into many parts, forms the so-called outline of the Delta. Its sides form the outermost branches of the river, while the base is the sea, which receives the flow of the river. The Nile flows into the sea with seven mouths...

36. To those who see the floods of the Nile, it seems amazing...For while all other rivers begin to decrease during the summer solstice, only this one... day after day increases so much that in the end it floods almost all of Egypt. And since the country is flat and towns and villages lie on artificial embankments, this view is reminiscent of the Cyclades islands.

Questions for the document:

• Which state does Diodorus Siculus describe in his memoirs?
• Where is this state located?
• How is it protected from the west?
• How is the eastern part of the country protected?
• What sea is the northern part of the country washed by?
• What river is the document talking about?
• Where does the river originate?
• Where does it flow?
• What happens to the river when the summer solstice begins?

Self-test according to the standard and evaluation criteria.

1) In order to get a good harvest, the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt had to unite to carry out irrigation (build irrigation systems, drain swamps).

2) 40 nomes (nome is a community of people living in a certain territory with an administrative center and ruler)

3) Northern (Lower) Egypt, Southern (Upper) Egypt.

4) King Mina (Menes) in 3100 BC. (conquered Northern Egypt). Memphis.

Text for initial pinning

Ancient Egypt, one of the oldest states in the world, was located in the northeasternAfrica on the river bank Nile. The widest part of the river, where it was divided into "branches" was called -delta. The main occupation of the ancient Egyptians wasagriculture, that's what they didfishing, trade (craft), mined gold, copper, stones (granite). To get a good harvest, they strengthened the banks - builtdams, as well as irrigationsystems. Gradually in the valleyNila formed 40 _communities of people -nomov, who in a long struggle united in2 kingdoms Nizhny (North) And Upper (South)-Egypt. Tsar Southern Egypt in 3100 BC united the whole country. Mina founded a new capital -Memphis.

Technical specifications for working with the map

1. Carefully look at the map (p. 28) and symbols.
2. When working with the map, use Memo No. 5, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Compose a detailed description of Ancient Egypt in your notebook, using as many symbols as possible.

Terms of reference for working with illustrations

1. Look carefully at the illustrations.
2. When working with illustrations, use Memo No. 6, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Write a detailed description of the illustrations in your notebook, using all the information received.

Technical specifications for working with the map

1. Carefully look at the map (p. 28) and symbols.
2. When working with the map, use Memo No. 5, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Compose a detailed description of Ancient Egypt in your notebook, using as many symbols as possible.

Terms of reference for working with illustrations

1. Look carefully at the illustrations.
2. When working with illustrations, use Memo No. 6, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Write a detailed description of the illustrations in your notebook, using all the information received.

Technical specifications for working with the map

1. Carefully look at the map (p. 28) and symbols.
2. When working with the map, use Memo No. 5, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Compose a detailed description of Ancient Egypt in your notebook, using as many symbols as possible.

Technical specifications for working with the map

1. Carefully look at the map (p. 28) and symbols.
2. When working with the map, use Memo No. 5, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Compose a detailed description of Ancient Egypt in your notebook, using as many symbols as possible.

Terms of reference for working with illustrations

1. Look carefully at the illustrations.
2. When working with illustrations, use Memo No. 6, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Write a detailed description of the illustrations in your notebook, using all the information received.

Technical specifications for working with the map

1. Carefully look at the map (p. 28) and symbols.
2. When working with the map, use Memo No. 5, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Compose a detailed description of Ancient Egypt in your notebook, using as many symbols as possible.

Terms of reference for working with illustrations

1. Look carefully at the illustrations.
2. When working with illustrations, use Memo No. 6, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Write a detailed description of the illustrations in your notebook, using all the information received.

Terms of reference for working with illustrations

1. Look carefully at the illustrations.
2. When working with illustrations, use Memo No. 6, which is located on the flyleaf of the textbook.
3. Write a detailed description of the illustrations in your notebook, using all the information received.

HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD:
East, Greece, Rome/
I.A.Ladynin and others.
M.: Eksmo, 2004

Chapter

EAST

Chapter II.

Ancient Egypt until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

3. The emergence of early states
in the Nile Valley (second half of the 4th millennium BC)

A powerful leap in the development of ancient Egyptian society occurred with the beginning of the II predynastic period (c. XXXVI-XXXI centuries BC, the time of the archaeological cultures of Gerze/Nagada II and Semain/Nagada III). Settlements became larger, turning into early cities; burials began to differ in wealth, which indicates the emergence of a property elite. Writing is born.

Many finds of this period have analogies in the cultures of Asia, which led a number of scientists to think about the conquest of Egypt by a people invading from the East, who allegedly created the Egyptian state (the so-called “dynastic race”). In reality, these analogies are the result of intensive trade contacts between Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean (and through it with more distant countries; this is how Central Asian lapis lazuli got to Egypt). Apparently, by the beginning of this period, Egyptian society had reached the level of early statehood - the stage of identifying the state apparatus.

The first states of Egypt were small in size and arose from associations of communities that supported economic cooperation and gravitated towards a common center of cult and power, which also served as a place for storing common supplies, a center for crafts and trade (these were the largest settlements of the second half of the 4th millennium BC n. e.). The emergence of state power was stimulated by the need for the development and consolidation of irrigation systems, and it arose primarily in the course of joint activities of communities to create them. Subsequently, Upper Egypt was divided into 22, and Lower Egypt - into 20 small districts-nomes (as ancient authors called the regions of Egypt; their rulers, who often transferred their powers by inheritance, are designated in science by the Greek term “nomarch”), with their own cults and traditions of the local authorities. These nomes go back to the most ancient states of the 2nd predynastic period (towards the end of it the first images of the sacred emblems of nomes, known even later, are found).

For a long time it was believed that as a result of wars between nomes, two large states were formed - Upper Egyptian, with the capital in Hierakonpolis (Greek; Egyptian name - Nekhen; in science, Egyptian cities are often mentioned under their ancient Greek names), and Lower Egyptian, with the capital in The city of Buto (Egyptian Pe-Dep; the Egyptians themselves later considered Buto and Hierakonpolis to be their most ancient cult centers). Then, by the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. Upper Egyptian kings conquered the Nile Delta and unified the country. New archaeological evidence has shown that the course of events was more complex. Apparently, by the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e. in Upper Egypt there were several relatively large (consisting of more than one nome each) states; by the 32nd century. BC e. pulled together into two kingdoms with centers in Hierakonpolis (southern Upper Egypt) and Thinis (its north-central part). At the same time, the kingdom of Hierakonpolis tried to subjugate the regions of Nubia bordering it from the south, and the kingdom of Tinis tried to subjugate the states of Lower Egypt (the center of one of them could indeed be the city of Buto). OK. XXXI century BC e. King Narmer of Thinis subjugated the kingdom of Hierakonpolis, after which he conquered the Nile Delta.

The victories of the Upper Egyptian kings and important rituals with their participation were immortalized on the monuments of Narmer, as well as his predecessors. There are clearly more military scenes, and the names of the kings often compare them with some ferocious animal; therefore, there is no doubt that the kings of the late II predynastic period in Egypt were military rulers who no longer experienced any restrictions on their power from the bodies of communal self-government. As you can see, the initial stage of state formation, when such bodies still played an important role, in Egypt back in the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. was replaced by the sole power of hereditary military leaders (obviously, the inter-nome wars in the Nile Valley, due to the narrowness of its borders, were particularly intense and fierce, which strengthened the role of such military leaders). By the end of the 4th millennium BC. e. the power of the kings acquires a sacred character: they are compared with the god Horus (this is expressed in special names, which are written in combination with the image of a falcon embodying this god) and are depicted in special, also revered white and red crowns (later they were combined, symbolizing a single power over Upper and Lower Egypt).

Hymn to the god Hapi

Praying for prosperity for both banks, Prosper, prosper, Hapi, Prosper, reviving people and livestock with the gifts of the fields. Prosper, prosper, Hapi, prosper, prosper, you beautiful with gifts.

North Africa, with its insignificant amount of precipitation, is almost uninhabitable, but this is where it arose - the Egyptian one. The basis of this civilization was the Nile, carrying its waters from the Ethiopian Highlands and Central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea. Thanks to the great river of ancient Egypt back in the 3rd millennium BC. e. became a prosperous state in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained so until the Roman conquest in 30 BC. e.

More than ten thousand years ago, the climate of North Africa was less arid. Nomadic tribes of hunters and gatherers inhabited areas that are now swallowed up by desert. The valley and delta of the Nile River with its swampy, flooded lands were considered a treacherous place.

Centuries passed, the climate of the Sahara Desert became drier and by the 2nd millennium BC. e. was almost no different from the weather conditions of the 21st century. n. e. With increasing drought and the onset of desert, people settled around water sources, making more intensive use of natural resources in the oases and near the Nile. Here their transition to agriculture took place in the 7th-5th millennia BC. e.

Gradually, with the expansion of arable land, the population of the valley and the Nile Delta grew. By the 4th millennium BC. e. with different types of economy and rates of development. They developed in dissimilar historical and climatic zones: the Merimdian in the delta region and the Badariy in Upper Egypt. The Merimda culture developed faster, contacts with other countries were closer, and it was in the Nile Delta that the first cities appeared. In subsequent centuries, numerous cities with a district (nome, as the ancient Greeks called it) and their own rulers (nomarchs) arose along the entire course of the great river. And only around 3000 BC. e. In the Nile basin, a single centralized state was formed, which included the entire Nile Valley - from the delta in the north to the first rapids in the south.

The political unity of the country was favored by Egypt's attachment to the Nile Valley. This valley, the unchanging core of the state, changed little in its size. Its growth depended not so much on the military successes of Egyptian weapons, but on progress in the conquest of the river itself: the ancestral lands of Egypt gradually included the Nile Valley to the second, and then the third and fourth cataracts in the south. The country also grew due to the development of desert areas to the west and east of the river bed. But, one way or another, the increments of territory were insignificant. A narrow strip of land along the banks of a great river, sandwiched by deserts, is the “ridge” of the Egyptian Empire. The framework determined by nature itself became the basis for the stability of a great power for three millennia. They determined all the features of this majestic civilization, which can rightfully be called the civilization of the river.

Nile Valley

The warm climate of this state and the fertile soil of the Nile Valley predetermined. But the Nile is a wayward river. A feature of the Nile's water regime is its regular floods. Floods are caused by melting snow in the Abyssinian Mountains, where the sources of the Blue Nile are located, and tropical rainfall in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, where the White Nile originates.

This is how the ancients described the Nile flood. Within four days, the bed of the “Green Nile” swells, filling with mud and mud, and then for another 15 days the “Red Nile” flows, full of fertile silt. By the beginning of August, the entire earth is flooded with water, and only cities and towns, like islands, rise from a huge, boundless swamp.

The peculiarities of the culture and worldview of the Egyptians owe much to the Nile. Their picture of the world, unlike most other peoples, was oriented not to the north, but to the south, to the sources of the river. The calendar was determined by the Nile and the stars. The New Year began in mid-July, when the waters rose before the flood. The river also dictated the three seasons. Each of them consisted of four months: spill (July - October); revival (November - February) - water drained from the fields and they began to cultivate them; hot time (March - June) is the period of harvest and the lowest water level. Flood of the Nile - Hapi became the god of abundance. The pharaohs and local nobility compared themselves with Hapi in their wealth and power. He was depicted as a fat man bringing gifts from the Earth to the gods. No temples were erected to him, and only once a year, at the beginning of the flood, where the ancient border of the state lay in the south and where the river came close to the mountains, they held the Hapi holiday, brought gifts to God and sang him in hymns.

The flood was a source of life, but without artificial structures the Nile Valley would have remained a marshy swamp in the middle of the sands. Developing the river, that is, digging irrigation canals and channels, making embankments, maintaining irrigation structures, began with the advent of agriculture with the help of simple tools - hoes and baskets for carrying earth.

Crossed by irrigation structures, Egypt already in the predynastic period, in the 4th millennium BC. e., became a country of exceptional fertility. The word “region” (“nom”) in the letter corresponded to a sign depicting the Earth divided by an irrigation network into quadrangles.

But only large groups of people could pacify the river; individual communities could not do this. The conquest of the Nile became the root cause of the emergence of the state in the valley.

Ancient Egypt is one of the earliest cultures in world history. This civilization originated in Northeast Africa. Researchers believe that the word “Egypt” comes from the ancient Greek “Aigyuptos,” which translated meant “riddle, secret.” Historians believe that the ancient Egyptian state arose from the city of Het-ka-Ptah, which the Greeks later gave the name “Memphis”. The inhabitants of ancient Egypt themselves called their country by the color of the soil - “Ta Kemet”. Translated, this phrase meant “Black Earth”.

How did settlements appear in the Nile Valley?

People lived here long before a single state was formed in Ancient Egypt. It is believed that the first settlements here date back to the Paleolithic era. Researchers have discovered here the remains of camps of primitive hunters. Swarms of predators, acacias growing along the banks of the Nile, insects - this is how the inhospitable ancient savannah greeted the first people. It is believed that they were forced to migrate to the Nile Valley due to deteriorating natural conditions.

What was the Nile Valley like long before there was a unified state in Ancient Egypt?

The climate of Egypt at that time was not as dry as it is now. The melting of glaciers that covered part of the European territory ended quite recently. There were constant rains and humid winds blowing over the Nile Valley. In the place where there is now a vast desert, there used to be savannas.

The territory of modern Sahara was once inhabited by primitive hunters of the Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods. It was after them that the now famous first drawings of buffaloes, elephants, and antelopes remained. These animals are not desert dwellers. Another proof that the Nile Valley was once a savannah is the wadi. Wadis are dry river beds that once flowed into the Nile.

The onset of drought and the migration of tribes

By the beginning of the 5th millennium BC. e. the climate becomes drier. The humid winds subside. Slowly the savanna begins to turn into a desert. At this time, hunting tribes turned into shepherd tribes, and more and more of their settlements approached the banks of the Nile.

In the 5th millennium BC. e. representatives of the Neolithic era had not yet learned to smelt copper. They used stone tools for hunting. Despite the fact that hunting and fishing are still the primary sources of food, primitive agriculture and cattle breeding appeared at this time. At the end of the 5th - beginning of the 4th millennium BC. e. The Copper Age begins - the Eneolithic era. At this time, the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley began to develop copper products that they used in everyday life - beads, piercings. Irrigation canals are starting to be built. However, hunting and fishing do not lose their role in the life of primitive people.

Nomes - prototypes of states

The next era before the formation of a single state in Ancient Egypt is usually called the first predynastic period. It dates back to the first half of the 4th millennium BC. e. At this time, agriculture was already beginning to play a major role. Settlements increase in size, begin to unite and are surrounded by walls. Copper is now used not only for making household items and jewelry, but also for tools. During this era, objects made of gold first appeared.

By the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. The ancient Egyptians finally came to a settled way of life. Now the main role in ensuring the livelihoods of villages is played by agriculture and cattle breeding. is replaced by the neighbor's, and economic inequality arises. A still small layer of slaves appears - prisoners captured in the process of constant skirmishes between settlements. Before the unification of Ancient Egypt into a single state, settlements were united into nomes - closed centralized areas.

Why did the communities unite?

These territorial entities were created on the basis of associations of tribes, which jointly created irrigation systems, entering into a fight against the unmerciful forces of nature. Each nome, in fact, was a city surrounded by walls, which had its own temple and already had its own government apparatus. Before a single state was formed in Ancient Egypt, there were already about forty nomes in the Nile Valley.

Since the creation of irrigation systems required considerable effort, the need to unite the nomes became increasingly acute. Thus, two states appeared on the territory of the Nile Valley - Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt. These times are evidenced by drawings on slate tablets. They depict scenes of wars, tied up prisoners, and the theft of herds of cattle. Further warfare between the two factions ultimately resulted in victory for Upper Egypt. Thus ended the pre-dynastic period and began the formation of a unified state in Ancient Egypt. The date that ends this era in history is the 33rd century. BC e.

What is known about the leaders of Lower and Upper Egypt?

There is practically no information left about those rulers under whose leadership this unification took place. Almost the only information is a few dozen ancient Egyptian names. It is also known that the rulers of Upper Egypt wore a white headdress, and the distinctive sign of the leaders of the Lower Egyptian nomes was a red crown. After a unified state was formed in Ancient Egypt, the red and white crown remained a symbol of power until the very end of antiquity in the Nile Valley.

The merger of states was a long and bloody process. However, some researchers are convinced that some nomes united among themselves peacefully. It is believed that one of the northern nomes became the center of the new state. The ancient capital of a unified state in Egypt is a nome centered in the city of Buto. The people who lived in the resulting ancient Egyptian state spoke the Egyptian language, which is now dead.

The late language of the Egyptians - Coptic - reached, along with Arabic, the Middle Ages. Judging by the remaining drawings, the Egyptians were a dark-haired people of average height. They were slender, broad-shouldered people with straight hair. Images of women were painted yellow, men - a brick shade.

It is unknown whether Sumer or Egypt was the cradle of the world's most ancient civilization. It is possible that the civilization that arose in northeast Africa, on the banks of the great Nile, was more ancient. In any case, there is no doubt that a centralized state arose here for the first time in world history.

The boundaries of ancient Egypt proper were sharply delineated by nature itself; its southern limit was the impassable first Nile rapids, located near modern Aswan, 1300 km from the Mediterranean coast; From the west, the sandy ledges of the Libyan Plateau crowded towards the river, and from the east, lifeless rocky mountain spurs approached. Below the first rapids, the Nile carried its waters due north along a narrow long valley (Upper Egypt), the width of which ranged from 1 to 20 km; only two hundred kilometers from the mouth, where the river in ancient times branched into several branches, the valley expanded, forming the famous Nile Delta (Lower Egypt).

Two thousand kilometers south of the first Nile rapids, near the current capital of Sudan, Khartoum, two rivers join - the White and Blue Nile. The swift Blue Nile originates from the high-mountainous Ethiopian Lake Tana, and the calm, full-flowing White Nile flows towards it through the chain of great lakes and the swampy plains of Central Africa. In the spring, when snow melts intensively in the mountains of Ethiopia, and the rainy season is in full swing in Tropical Africa, the rivers feeding the Nile simultaneously absorb enormous amounts of excess water, carrying tiny particles of eroded rocks and organic remains of lush tropical vegetation. In mid-July, the flood reaches the southern borders of Egypt. A flow of water ten times greater than the usual norm, breaking through the neck of the first Nile rapids, gradually floods the whole of Egypt. The flood reaches its highest point in August-September, when the water level in the south of the country rises by 14 m, and in the north by 8-10 m above normal. In mid-November, a rapid decline in water begins, and the river enters its banks again. During these four months, organic and mineral particles brought by the Nile settle in a thin layer on the space flooded during the flood period.

This sediment gradually created the Egyptian soil. All the soil in the country is of alluvial origin, the result of thousands of years of activity by the river during its annual floods. Both the narrow stone bed of the Upper Egyptian valley and Lower Egypt, which was once a sea bay, are completely covered with a deep layer of river sediments - soft porous Nile silt. It is this very fertile, easy-to-cultivate soil that is the main wealth of the country, the source of its stable high yields.

Moistened soil, ready for sowing, in the Nile Valley is black. Kemet, which means Black, was what its ancient inhabitants called their country.

“The Egyptian soil is black and loose, precisely because it consists of silt carried by the Nile from Ethiopia” (Herodotus “Muses”, Book Two “Euterpe”, 12).

Over the course of thousands of years, the Nile created with its sediments higher banks compared to the level of the valley itself, so there was a natural slope from the shore to the edges of the valley, and the water after the flood did not subside immediately and spread along it by gravity. To curb the river and make the flow of water manageable during the flood period, people strengthened the banks, erected coastal dams, built transverse dams from the banks of the river to the foothills in order to retain water in the fields until the soil was sufficiently saturated with moisture, and those in the water in a suspended state, the silt will not settle on the fields. It also took a lot of effort to dig drainage canals through which the remaining water in the fields was discharged into the Nile before sowing.

So in the first half of the 4th millennium BC. In ancient Egypt, a basin irrigation system was created, which became the basis of the country's irrigation economy for many millennia, until the first half of our century. The ancient irrigation system was closely connected with the water regime of the Nile and ensured the cultivation of one crop per year, which under these conditions ripened in winter (sowing began only in November, after the flood) and was harvested in early spring.

Thus, in the conditions of creating irrigation systems, a unique community of people arises within the framework of a local irrigation economy, which has both the features of a neighboring land community and the features of a primary state formation. By tradition, we call such public organizations by the Greek term nom.

Each independent nome had a territory, which was limited by the local irrigation system, and represented a single economic whole, having its own administrative center - a walled city, the residence of the ruler of the nome and his entourage; there was also a temple of the local deity.

By the time the unified Egyptian state was formed, there were about forty such nomes. In the conditions of the narrow Upper Egyptian valley, each nome located on the left or right bank of the Nile was in contact with its southern and northern neighbors; the nomes of Lower Egypt were often still isolated from each other by swamps.

The sources that have reached us do not make it possible to sufficiently trace the history of the nomes until the emergence of a united Egypt, into which they became part of as local administrative and economic units (while retaining their originality and tendency to isolation over the centuries).

From those distant times, flat slate tablets covered with symbolic relief images of internecine wars have been preserved. We see bloody battles on land and river, processions of prisoners tied with ropes, the theft of numerous herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. In this long, stubborn struggle, the strong nomes conquered their weaker neighbors. As a result of this struggle, large associations of nomes appeared in both Upper and Lower Egypt, headed by the ruler of the strongest victorious nome. Of course, the peaceful annexation of individual nomes to their stronger neighbors is not excluded.

In the end, somewhere in the second half of the 4th millennium BC. The nomes of the South and North of the country united into the Upper Egyptian and Lower Egyptian kingdoms. One of the southernmost nomes of Upper (Southern) Egypt, with its center in the city of Hierakonpolis, united the Upper Egyptian nomes. One of the nomes of the western Delta, with its center in the city of Buto, becomes the unifier of the North. The kings of the Upper Egyptian kingdom wore a white headdress, the kings of the Lower Egyptian kingdom wore a red crown. With the creation of a unified Egypt, the double red and white crown of these kingdoms became a symbol of royal power until the end of ancient Egyptian history.

The history of these kingdoms is practically unknown; only a few dozen names, mostly Upper Egyptian, have reached us. We know little about the centuries-long fierce struggle of these kingdoms for hegemony in Egypt, which was won by the united and economically strong Upper Egypt. It is believed that this happened at the end of the 4th millennium BC, but the oldest Egyptian chronology is still very unreliable.

With the efforts of individual nomes, and even larger associations, it was extremely difficult to maintain at the proper level the entire irrigation economy of the country, which consisted of small, unconnected or weakly connected irrigation systems. The merger of several nomes, and then all of Egypt into a single whole (achieved as a result of long, bloody wars) made it possible to improve irrigation systems, constantly and in an organized manner to repair them, expand canals and strengthen dams, jointly fight for the development of the swampy Delta and, in general, rationally use water Nila. Absolutely necessary for the further development of Egypt, these measures could only be carried out through the joint efforts of the entire country after the creation of a single centralized administrative department.

By the end of the 4th millennium BC. The long predynastic period of Egyptian history ended, which lasted from the time of the appearance of the first agricultural crops near the Nile Valley until the country achieved state unity. It was during the predynastic period that the foundation of the state was laid, the economic basis of which was the irrigation system of agriculture throughout the valley. The emergence of Egyptian writing also dates back to the end of the predynastic period. From this time the history of dynastic Egypt begins.

Manetho considers the unifier of Egypt (about 3000 BC) to be a king named Menes (Mina), the founder of the First Dynasty. He can probably be identified with the king who in the ancient Egyptian chronicles bore the throne name Hor-Aha (“Horus the Fighter”). However, he was not the first Upper Egyptian ruler to claim power over all of Egypt. The so-called palette of Narmer, one of the predynastic rulers of Upper Egypt, found during excavations at Hierakonpolis, tells in symbolic form about the victory of this king over the inhabitants of Lower Egypt. Narmer is represented on this relief tablet at the time of his triumph, crowned with the united crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Apparently, some of Narmer’s predecessors also laid claim to dominance over all of Egypt. Less was topped by the list of Egyptian kings that has come down to us thanks to the work of Manetho, probably because it was with him that a strong chronicle tradition began in Egypt. But even under Menes, as well as under his predecessors and followers, the achieved unity of the country was not yet final. The conquered Lower Egypt did not want to admit its defeat for a long time, and bloody military clashes took place there throughout almost the entire Early Kingdom.

However, the opinion about the creation of a single centralized state in Egypt under Pharaoh Menes has been criticized in modern scientific literature. The unification of the state cannot be considered a one-time act of this pharaoh. It was the result of the actions of a number of rulers over many years, as mentioned above, it was a painful, bloody, violent process.

Similar processes took place in the ancient Mesopotamia and other states of the Ancient East, as well as in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Periodization of the history of dynastic Egypt from the semi-legendary king Menes to Alexander the Great, approximately from the 20th century. BC until the end of the 4th century. BC, is closely connected with the Manetho tradition. Manetho, a priest who lived in Egypt shortly after the campaigns of Alexander the Great, wrote a two-volume History of Egypt in Greek. Unfortunately, only excerpts from his work have survived, the earliest of which are found in the works of historians of the 1st century. h.e. But what has come down to us, often in a distorted form, is extremely important, since these are excerpts from the book of a man who described the great history of his country, based on the original Egyptian documents that were well accessible to him and already irretrievably lost.

Manetho divides the entire history of dynastic Egypt into three large periods - the Ancient, Middle and New Kingdoms; each of the named kingdoms is divided into dynasties, ten for each kingdom - a total of thirty dynasties. And if Manetho’s division of Egyptian history into three large periods actually reflects certain qualitative stages in the development of the country, then such a uniform distribution of dynasties across kingdoms seems arbitrary, and these dynasties themselves, as can be seen, are very conditional formations. Basically, the Manetho dynasty includes representatives of one reigning house, but often, apparently, can accommodate several unrelated ruling houses, and on one occasion two royal brothers are assigned to two different dynasties. Despite this, science still adheres to the Manetho dynastic tradition for convenience. Adjustments have been made to the stage-by-stage periodization of the history of ancient Egypt; the first two Manetho dynasties are classified as the Early Kingdom, and the last, starting with the XXI dynasty, are classified as the Later Kingdom.