Origins of Great Ancient Civilizations | Egypt in the Pyramid Age (Lecture 5)

Lecture 5: In about 3100 B.C. Narmer (Menes), king of Upper Egypt, conquered the lower kingdom; henceforth, sacral kings, later known as pharaohs, ruled over Egypt. Narmer and his successors ruled from a great court at Memphis, where regional lords, or nomarchs, sought royal patronage and acted as the king’s agents in nomes and villages. The first pharaohs mobilized labor and resources to construct palaces, sanctuaries, and funerary complexes around the mastaba, or royal mortuary. Royal demands and patronage drove the Egyptians to leap from Neolithic villages to urban civilization in the early Archaic Period (c. 3100–2700 B.C.). Scribes adapted pictograms into hieroglyphic writing to facilitate royal recordkeeping.

The pharaohs of Dynasties III and IV, during the Old Kingdom (c. 2700–2181 B.C.), presided over a mature civilization. Without need of officials or soldiers, the god-kings at Memphis mobilized national resources to build pyramids. The pyramid epitomized the power of the pharaoh, but the nomarchs gained power by furnishing the labor and materiel for pyramid construction. The later pharaohs of Dynasties V and VI had to contend with regional aristocrats who controlled leading sanctuaries. Royal pyramids declined in quality and size as nomarchs withdrew from Memphis and established their own courts and funerary complexes in their native nomes. With the death of Pepi II in about 2185 B.C., the pharaohs of Memphis lost control over the Nile valley for the next 150 years.

Further Reading:
Dieter Arnold, Building in Egypt: Pharaonic Stone Masonry.
W. B. Emery, Archaic Egypt.

Lecture 6: https://www.bitchute.com/video/ykpqzdQWzgX5/