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Hello and welcome to Ancient History Encyclopedia.
My name is Kelly and today we're going to be looking
at the expansive history of the Egyptian civilization
and some of its unique characteristics, which made it so different
from other ancient empires.
The Egyptian civilization began in c. 6000 BCE,
when the Nile River Valley was inhabited,
and only fell after the Persians, in 525 BCE,
and Alexander the Great in c. 332 BCE, conquered the region.
The history of Ancient Egypt is expansive and very unique.
Most interestingly is how the Ancient Egyptian Empire,
or New Kingdom, c.1570 - 1069 BCE,
behaved very differently than other ancient empires.
And today we'll be asking the question:
why is it believed that the Egyptians appeared
to have a complete lack of interest for conquest?
The ancient world was full of empires, rising, expanding, and falling.
And the expansion often resulted
in the transmission of cultural values between groups.
The first multinational empire was the Akkadian empire,
founded by Sargon the Great in 2334 BCE.
This saw the conquest of Mesopotamia,
with Sargon imposing his ideals onto his conquered territory,
and squashing any revolts of the people who disagreed with his policies.
Sargon created monuments and inscriptions which conveyed impressions of power,
and taking the name Sargon, which meant "legitimate ruler",
was its own form of propaganda.
The system of conquering regions
and imposing one's own rules and cultures on others
was followed multiple times after Sargon of Akkad.
One example is Hammurabi, who expanded Babylonian rule
all throughout Mesopotamia between 1792 and 1750 BCE.
Unlike Sargon, he didn't have to reassert his power
over people or regions that he conquered.
This may be attributed to his law code,
which was written in order to clarify issues
for the people of Babylonian society.
Hammurabi's united empire was relatively peaceful,
after he had conquered the areas.
And during his reign,
he was interested in improving the areas that he'd conquered.
The Hittites in the late 18th century BCE overturned Babylonian rule,
the empire Hammurabi had created,
and at its height in the 14th century BCE
covered much of the Mesopotamian region,
until the Assyrians overthrew them.
The Assyrians defeated the Hittites in around 1245 BCE,
which began the decline of the Hittite civilization.
The Assyrians were a military elite and conquered many regions,
administering cruel punishments to those who opposed them.
When they conquered a region, they often deported the population,
cutting them off from their homeland
and establishing them wherever the Assyrians sent them.
The Assyrians imposed their values and gods regularly on all
until the empire fell in 612 BCE,
when they were conquered by Babylonians and Medes.
The Persians followed the same model of empire
being between 550 and 330 BCE,
which was the Achaemenid empire.
Darius, one of the kings of the Achaemenid empire,
established a common currency,
and applied the same administrative system as Assyria,
but on a larger scale.
When Babylon rebelled against Darius's son, Xerxes,
he sacked the city, destroyed the temple,
and melted down their solid gold statue of Marduk,
ending Babylonian greatness.
An even more ruthless example of an empire of conquest
would be that of the Romans, who,
between 149 and 146 BCE
were fighting the Third Punic War against the city of Carthage.
The Romans defeated Carthage,
sacked the city and razed it to the ground,
and this wasn't the first time they'd followed this policy.
More often, though, Rome embraced the cultures of those they conquered,
and would incorporate facets that they liked into their own.
Looking to India, king Ashoka ruled efficiently,
yet cruelly, in around 261 BCE.
Ashoka led a campaign against a feudal state named Kalinga.
And it is now known
as one of the bloodiest and most brutal in history.
After the war, Ashoka issued an edict expressing his regret
over the suffering inflicted at Kalinga, renounced the war,
and converted to Buddhism.
After his conversion, Ashoka ruled peacefully and focused more
on building his empire with public works rather than expanding it.
All of these different civilizations believed they had the superior culture
and relationship with the gods over the people they conquered.
And although the Egyptians believed the same thing about themselves,
they expressed no desire to extend themselves much beyond their borders.
The period of the Egyptian empire, or New Kingdom,
expands from c. 1570 - 1069 BCE,
and it's just a small facet in the long history of the Egyptian civilization.
The Egyptians were very proud and held a high view of themselves,
just as other empires did of themselves,
and believed Egypt the most perfect place
with the highest culture and the best relationship with the gods.
However, they expressed no interest in imposing their culture on others,
and believed that if you weren't born Egyptian
you were just out of luck.
The only expansion Egypt engaged in
was of the regions directly surrounding them,
giving them a buffer against any groups looking to invade.
These included Nubia, or Kush, to the south,
Libya next door, the Levant, and Syria,
which prevented any groups looking to invade,
such as that of the Hyksos in c. 1700 BCE, from succeeding.
The Egyptian economic system consisted of the government
collecting grain and food and redistributing it to the population,
along with laws guarding against the wealthy and strong citizens
taking advantage of the poor or weaker ones.
They had outstanding architecture and technology,
the best ships and the greatest standing army to that day,
however they did not expand or invade any more than they needed
to ensure their safety.
The Egyptians and their relationship with other cultures
was purely trade-oriented.
And unlike most other trade relationships,
the cross-cultural transmission was only one-sided.
Egypt had extensive trade networks with places such as the Levant,
Punt or modern-day Somalia, Eastern Anatolia, and Crete.
And Egyptian culture in these areas was admired and adopted.
But Egypt did not take on any facets of the cultures they were trading with.
The Egyptian culture,
including their fascinating religious believes and rituals,
went greatly unaltered between the Old Kingdom and the New period,
and overall resisted change,
even though they got the composite bow and the chariot from the Hyksos,
and iron technology from the Hittites,
which were paramount to the height of power
that was attained in the New Kingdom.
With all this, why do you think they were still
so uninterested in conquest?
The Egyptian culture remained completely intact
between c. 6000 BCE
up until the Persians arrived in the region, in 525 BCE.
And even then, they stayed relatively intact
until Alexander the Great showed up in around 332 BCE.
This is very unique in comparison to all the empires
that rose and fell during Egypt's expansive history.
The Egyptians may not have been interested in conquest,
because they simply did not believe that their cultures were worth it.
They kept their expansions purely pragmatic:
for economic gain and for protection.
And lived happily with the belief
that they lived in the greatest area in the world,
and that if you weren't born Egyptian, well, sucks to be you!
So, do you think why we are still so interested in the ancient Egyptians?
Because they changed so little?
Have a think about your own government system.
Do you think it's like the Egyptians',
or are you leaning more towards a Roman /Hammurabi/Ashoka type of government?
Let us know down in the comments below.
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-- Subtitles by Rosa Baranda --