Introduction opposing viewpoints of ancient egypt Egypt has been a subject of fascination fascination for many throughout history and researchers have studied artifacts artifacts for many years to learn what they can about their customs and ways of life While ancient Egypt is currently a popular topic in movies and books interest in ancient Egyptian history goes back as far as the first century BC However with this early fascination also came two different views of the Egyptians way of life One view was from foreign visitors some of whom traveled to Egypt and later wrote about it Among them were the Greek historians historians Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus the Greek biographer Plutarch and various Roman and European writers Suffering Under Foreign Rule Due to differences in cultures and visitors not speaking the Egyptian language language they did not understand many of Egypt’s customs and traditions The result was a vision of Egypt as a land of mystery Herodotus enjoyed his stay in the country and was also impressed by the giant pyramids and other architectural architectural wonders The land had more monuments which are difficult to describe than anywhere else in the world he stated However Herodotus was also quick to point out that in keeping with the odd climate which prevails there and the fact that their river behaves differently than any other river almost all Egyptian customs and practices are the opposite of those of everywhere else For instance women go out to the town square and retail goods while men stay at home and do the weaving and whereas everyone else weaves by pushing the weft upwards the Egyptians push it downwards Or again men carry loads on their heads while women do so on their shoulders animals and humans live together in Egypt Other people live off barley 8 ancient egypt the land of pyramids and pharaohs
nations They began to view Egypt not as the great power it was but as weak In Plutarch’s essay about Egypt Isis and Osiris he suggested that this was partly the fault of one of the ancient pharaohs pharaohs The pharaohs had in his eyes planted among them an everlasting superstition a ground for unceasing quarreling among themselves As a result of this they became involved in war and inflicted much harm upon each other And later they were brought to order through the intervention of the Romans 2 and ordinary wheat but Egyptians regard it as demeaning to make those grains one’s staple diet In addition they are exceedingly religious more so than any other people in the world 1 While Herodotus was critical of Egypt and took note of the cultural differences differences he also noticed that they had been under foreign rule for too long and suffering for it Many years before his trip to Egypt the Assyrians a warlike people who inhabited Mesopotamia what is now Iraq had invaded and conquered the country During Herodotus’s time that land was controlled by the Persians from Iran who had invaded in 525 BC Later in the fourth century BC the Macedonian Greek conqueror Alexander Alexander the Great took charge of Egypt After his death one of his generals Ptolemy declared declared himself pharaoh and established a Greek dynasty that ruled the country for three centuries Later Rome absorbed Egypt after defeating defeating the last of the Ptolemies Cleopatra VII in 31 BC Later still following Rome’s fall other foreigners including Arabs and Turks ruled Egypt well into modern times This frequent change of foreign rulers and centuries of defeat created a poor reputation reputation of Egypt among other Herodotus who is depicted in this bust was fascinated by ancient Egypt However he was also critical of their way of life in his book Histories opposing viewpoints of ancient egypt 9
Removing the Mystery Recent research takes into account the huge ruins dotting the country’s landscape that have fascinated many around the world Modern researchers such as archaeologists historians and other scholars do not dismiss these artifacts as too ancient and mysterious to understand Instead they closely examine examine them and attempt to understand their meaning and who their builders really were From this viewpoint the years Egypt suffered under foreign rule has nothing to do with their qualities as a people Nor does it detract from the greatness and important legacy of the civilization their ancestors had created long before the Assyrians Persians Greeks Romans or Turks ruled Researchers try to not to become distracted distracted by the biased distorted viewpoints viewpoints that occur in the literature from the past Rather archaeologists and historians historians uncover and analyze what they can because archaeological remains such as tombs grave items personal articles and other artifacts as well as ruined buildings contain a wealth of information information about the people who created them Inscriptions that have been found in archaeological sites describe prayers wars battles and more and they tell the stories of ancient Egypt The ancient Egyptians may have lived thousands of Although the ruins in Egypt are thousands of years old they still fascinate many around the world and still have many mysteries left to uncover 10 ancient egypt the land of pyramids and pharaohs
years ago but these stories and personal artifacts along with the buildings they created still have the power to capture the imagination The historical artifacts and inscriptions inscriptions that have been found in the pyramids and the pyramids them selves allow researchers to portray ancient ancient Egypt in a fairer more complete and accurate way than other literature of the time While the artifacts and pyramids they created are fascinating on their own the information gathered from these finds indicates that ancient Egyptians were not living unnaturally as older literature may have portrayed Instead research has shown a culture that was full of proud resourceful hard working and accomplished people who created the world’s powerful first nation-state nation-state The Egyptians created enormous enormous pyramids and temples along the Nile which is one of the world’s longest rivers Thousands of years later these pyramids still have mysteries and artifacts artifacts left to find and these objects are the center of much curiosity While the Egyptians did create a great empire that fascinates to this day the fact remains that for many years they were under foreign rule This partially caused the great pyramids to fall to ruin The interesting stories of the Egyptians Egyptians that have inspired many books and movies were dormant for many years waiting to be told Once archaeologists began digging their stories and culture were able to be revealed and ancient artifacts artifacts shown to the world on tours such as the National Geographic Exhibitions According to the late historian Lionel Casson archaeologists stripped much of the mystery from ancient Egypt Its people and culture now stand revealed in their proper light as one of the great civilizations the world has known 3 opposing viewpoints of ancient egypt 11
