Editing Old Kingdom of Egypt (section)

==History==

===Rise of the Old Kingdom===
{{Main|Third Dynasty of Egypt}}

The first King of the Old Kingdom was [[Djoser]] (sometime between 2691 and 2625 BC) of the [[Third Dynasty of Egypt|Third Dynasty]], who ordered the construction of a pyramid (the [[Pyramid of Djoser|Step Pyramid]]) in Memphis' necropolis, [[Saqqara]]. An important person during the reign of Djoser was his [[Vizier (Ancient Egypt)|vizier]], [[Imhotep]].

It was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyptian states became known as [[Nome (Egypt)|nomes]], under the rule of the king. The former rulers were forced to assume the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection. [[Egyptians]] in this era believed the king to be the incarnation of [[Horus]], linking the human and spiritual worlds. Egyptian views on the nature of time during this period held that the universe worked in cycles, and the Pharaoh on earth worked to ensure the stability of those cycles. They also perceived themselves as specially selected people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/history/herlin/textsup.htm|title=Ancient African Civilizations to ca. 1500: Pharaonic Egypt to Ca. 800 BC|last=Herlin|first=Susan J.|year=2003|page=27|access-date=23 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030823031522/http://www.louisville.edu/a-s/history/herlin/textsup.htm|archive-date=August 23, 2003}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Saqqara BW 5.jpg|The [[Pyramid of Djoser]] at [[Saqqara]].
File:Templo de Zoser en Saqqara.jpg|The Temple of Djoser at [[Saqqara]]
File:Head of a King, ca. 2650-2600 B.C.E..jpg|The head of a King, likely [[Huni]] {{Circa|2650}}–2600 BC, [[Brooklyn Museum]]. The earliest representations of Egyptian Kings are on a small scale. From the Third Dynasty, statues were made showing the ruler life-size. This head wearing the crown of Upper Egypt is larger than human scale.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bothmer|first1=Bernard |title=Brief Guide to the Department of Egyptian and Classical Art|date=1974|publisher=Brooklyn Museum|location=Brooklyn, NY|page=22}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Height of the Old Kingdom===
{{Main|Fourth Dynasty of Egypt}}

[[File:Cairo, Gizeh, Sphinx and Pyramid of Khufu, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg|thumb|The [[Great Sphinx of Giza]] in front of the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]]]
The Old Kingdom and its royal power reached a zenith under the [[Fourth Dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]] (2613–2494 BC). King Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, held territory from [[ancient Libya]] in the west to the [[Sinai Peninsula]] in the east, to [[Nubia]] in the south. An Egyptian settlement was founded at [[Buhen]] in Nubia which endured for 200 years.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url= https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Egypt/The-Old-Kingdom-c-2575-c-2130-bce-and-the-First-Intermediate-period-c-2130-1938-bce#ref134440 | title= The Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2130 BCE) and the First Intermediate period (c. 2130–1938 BCE)
|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref> After Djoser, Sneferu was the next great pyramid builder. He commissioned the building of three pyramids. The first is called the [[Meidum Pyramid]], named for its location in [[Egypt]]. Sneferu abandoned it after the outside casing fell off of the pyramid. The Meidum pyramid was the first to have an above-ground burial chamber.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.penfield.edu/webpages/jgiotto/onlinetextbook.cfm?subpage=1525828|title=Ancient Egypt – the Archaic Period and Old Kingdom|website=Penfield High School|language=en|access-date=2017-12-04}}</ref>

Using more stones than any other Pharaoh, he commissioned the three pyramids: a now collapsed pyramid in [[Meidum]], the [[Bent Pyramid]] at [[Dahshur]], and the [[Red Pyramid]], at North Dahshur. However, the full development of the pyramid style of building was reached not at Saqqara, but during the building of the Great Pyramids at Giza.<ref>Carl Roebuck (1984), ''The World of Ancient Times'', p. 57.</ref>

Sneferu was succeeded by his son, [[Khufu]] (2589–2566 BC), who commissioned the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]. After Khufu's death, his sons [[Djedefre]] (2566–2558 BC) and [[Khafre]] (2558–2532 BC) may have quarrelled. The latter commissioned the second pyramid and (in traditional thinking) the [[Great Sphinx of Giza]]. Recent re-examination of evidence has led Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev to propose that the Sphinx was commissioned by [[Djedefre]] as a monument to his father Khufu.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/1478998/I-have-solved-riddle-of-the-Sphinx-says-Frenchman.html |title=I have solved riddle of the Sphinx, says Frenchman |work=The Telegraph |first=Nic |last=Fleming |date=14 December 2004 |access-date=21 May 2022}}</ref><!-- Not enough detail at this page to verify: <ref>[http://documentarystorm.com/riddle-of-the-sphinx/ link 2]</ref> -->Alternatively, the Sphinx has been proposed to be the work of Khafre and Khufu himself.

There were military expeditions into [[Canaan]] and [[Nubia]], with Egyptian influence reaching up the Nile into what is today [[Sudan]].<ref>p.5, ''The Collins Encyclopedia of Military History'' (4th edition, 1993), Dupuy & Dupuy.</ref> The later kings of the Fourth Dynasty were [[Menkaure]] (2532–2504 BC), who commissioned the smallest of the three great pyramids in Giza; [[Shepseskaf]] (2504–2498 BC); and, perhaps, [[Djedefptah]] (2498–2496 BC).

[[File:Kairo Museum Statuette Cheops 03 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Khufu]], the builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza]]

===Fifth Dynasty===
{{Main|Fifth Dynasty of Egypt}}
The [[Fifth Dynasty of Egypt|Fifth Dynasty]] (2494–2345 BC) began with [[Userkaf]] (2494–2487 BC) and was marked by the growing importance of the cult of sun god [[Ra]]. Consequently, fewer efforts were devoted to the construction of pyramid complexes than during the Fourth Dynasty and more to the construction of [[Egyptian sun temple|sun temples]] in [[Abusir]]. Userkaf was succeeded by his son [[Sahure]] (2487–2475 BC), who commanded an expedition to [[Kingdom of Punt|Punt]]. Sahure was in turn succeeded by [[Neferirkare Kakai]] (2475–2455 BC), who was Sahure's son. Neferirkare introduced the [[Prenomen (Ancient Egypt)|prenomen]] in the royal titulary. He was followed by two short-lived kings, his son [[Neferefre]] (2455–2453&nbsp;BC) and [[Shepseskare]], the latter of uncertain parentage.<ref>Miroslav Verner: ''Archaeological Remarks on the 4th and 5th Dynasty Chronology'', Archiv Orientální, Volume 69: 2001</ref> Shepseskare may have been deposed by Neferefre's brother [[Nyuserre Ini]] (2445–2421 BC), a long-lived pharaoh who commissioned extensively in Abusir and restarted royal activity in Giza.

The last pharaohs of the dynasty were [[Menkauhor Kaiu]] (2421–2414 BC), [[Djedkare Isesi]] (2414–2375 BC), and [[Unas]] (2375–2345), the earliest ruler to have the [[Pyramid Texts]] inscribed in his pyramid.

Egypt's expanding interests in trade goods such as [[ebony]], incense such as [[myrrh]] and [[frankincense]], gold, copper, and other useful metals inspired the ancient Egyptians to build suitable ships for navigation of the open sea. They traded with Lebanon for [[Cedrus libani|cedar]] and travelled the length of the [[Red Sea]] to the [[Kingdom of Punt]]- modern-day [[Eritrea]]—for ebony, ivory, and aromatic resins.<ref>{{Citation |title= Adulis and the transshipment of baboons during classical antiquity | publisher= elifsciences | year= 2023 |
doi = 10.7554/eLife.87513 |
last= Franziska Grathwol, Christian Roos, Dietmar Zinner, Benjamin Hume, Stéphanie M Porcier, Didier Berthet, Jacques Cuisin, Stefan Merker, Claudio Ottoni, Wim Van Neer | journal= eLife | volume= 12 | pmid= 37767965 | doi-access= free | pmc= 10597581 }}</ref>
Shipbuilders of that era did not use pegs ([[treenail]]s) or metal fasteners, but relied on the rope to keep their ships assembled. Planks and the superstructure were tightly tied and bound together.
This period also witnessed direct trade between Egypt and its Aegean neighbors and Anatolia.<ref>{{Cite book |title= A History of Ancient Egypt |last= Grimal|first= Nicolas|publisher= Wiley-Blackwell (July 19, 1994) |year= 1994 |pages=76}}</ref>

The rulers of the dynasty sent expeditions to the stone quarries and gold mines of Nubia and the mines of Sinai.<ref>{{Cite book |title= A History of Ancient Egypt |last= Grimal|first= Nicolas|publisher= Wiley-Blackwell (July 19, 1994) |year= 1994 |pages=76, 79}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Verner|first=Miroslav|chapter=Old Kingdom: An Overview|editor-last=Redford|location=Oxford|editor-first=Donald B.|editor-link=Donald B. Redford|date=2001b|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-510234-5|pages=585–591}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Shaw|first=Ian|editor1-last=Hawass|editor1-first=Zahi|editor2-first=Lyla|editor2-last=Pinch Brock|title=Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century: Archaeology|chapter=New fieldwork at Gebel el-Asr: "Chephren's diorite quarries"|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|location=Cairo, New York|year=2003|isbn=978-977-424-715-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Klemm|first1=Rosemarie|first2=Dietrich|last2=Klemm|title=Gold and gold mining in ancient Egypt and Nubia : geoarchaeology of the ancient gold mining sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese eastern deserts|location=Berlin; New-York|publisher=Springer|year=2013|series=Natural science in archaeology|isbn=978-1-283-93479-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ky8bVJ_fYEAC&pg=PA604}}</ref> there are references and depictions of military campaigns in Nubia and Asia.<ref>{{cite book|last=Verner|first=Miroslav|chapter=Old Kingdom: An Overview|editor-last=Redford|editor-first=Donald B.|editor-link=Donald B. Redford|date=2001b|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-510234-5|location=Oxford|pages=588}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341398058 |title=Siege Scenes of the Old Kingdom |access-date=2022-02-04 |archive-date=2022-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204144143/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341398058_Siege_Scenes_of_the_Old_Kingdom |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Darrell |year=2008 |title=The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I&nbsp;– Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC|publisher=Stacey International |isbn= 978-1-905299-37-9|pages=84}}</ref>

===Decline into the First Intermediate Period===
{{Main|Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|First Intermediate Period}}

The sixth dynasty peaked during the reigns of Pepi I and Merenre I with flourishing trade, several mining and quarrying expeditions and major military campaigns.
Militarily, aggressive expansion into Nubia marked Pepi I's reign.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hayes|first=William|year=1978|title=The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications/The_Scepter_of_Egypt_Vol_1_From_the_Earliest_Times_to_the_End_of_the_Middle_Kingdom|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|location=New York| pages=122|oclc=7427345}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=William Stevenson|year=1971|chapter=The Old Kingdom of Egypt and the Beginning of the First Intermediate Period|editor1-first=I. E. S.|editor1-last=Edwards|editor2-first=C. J.|editor2-last=Gadd|editor3-first=N. G. L.|editor3-last=Hammond|location=London, New york|pages=191–194|title=The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 1, Part 2. Early History of the Middle East|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521077910|edition=3rd|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slR7SFScEnwC&q=Phiops&pg=PA167|oclc=33234410}}</ref> At least five military expeditions were sent into Canaan.<ref name="Grimal 1994">{{Cite book |title= A History of Ancient Egypt |last= Grimal|first= Nicolas|publisher= Wiley-Blackwell |date=19 July 1994 |page=85}}</ref>

There is evidence that Merenre was not only active in Nubia like Pepi I but also sent officials to maintain Egyptian rule over Nubia from the northern border to the area south of the third cataract.<ref name="Grimal 1994"/>

During the [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth Dynasty]] (2345–2181 BC) the power of the pharaoh gradually weakened in favor of powerful [[nomarch]]s (regional governors). These no longer belonged to the royal family and their charge became hereditary, thus creating local dynasties largely independent from the central authority of the Pharaoh. However, Nile flood control was still the subject of very large works, including especially the canal to [[Lake Moeris]] around 2300 BC, which was likely also the source of water to the [[Giza pyramid complex]] centuries earlier.

Internal disorders set in during the incredibly long reign of [[Pepi II]] (2278–2184 BC) towards the end of the dynasty. His death, certainly well past that of his intended heirs, might have created succession struggles.  The country slipped into civil wars mere decades after the close of Pepi II's reign.

The final blow was the [[22nd century BC drought]] in the region that resulted in a drastic drop in precipitation. For at least some years between 2200 and 2150 BC, this prevented the normal flooding of the [[Nile]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jean-Daniel Stanley|year=2003 |title=Nile flow failure at the end of the Old Kingdom, Egypt: Strontium isotopic and petrologic evidence |journal=[[Geoarchaeology (journal)|Geoarchaeology]] |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=395–402 |doi=10.1002/gea.10065 |s2cid=53571037 |display-authors=etal|url=https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/24322095/POST-PEER-REVIEW-PUBLISHERS.PDF }}</ref>

Whatever its cause, the collapse of the Old Kingdom was followed by decades of famine and strife. An important inscription on the tomb of [[Ankhtifi]], a [[nomarch]] during the early [[First Intermediate Period]], describes the pitiful state of the country when famine stalked the land.