NE STUD 18 Lecture 2: Geography of Ancient Egypt, Worldview and Principles of Egyptian Art
3 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Near eastern studies 18 introduction to ancient egypt. Geography of ancient egypt: nilometer, ancient record of the nile flood level, the rhythm of the nile flood cycle was central to egyptian civilisations - dictated calendars. We follow the julian calendar, but for religious, we follow another. Ancient calendars: based on the lunar cycle. In ancient egypt, festivals celebrated based on observing the cycle of the moon (religious = lunar based) Three season of four months each: took their names from the three great agricultural cycles dictated by the nile river, akhet (inundation, peret (winter) Emergence main growing period for crops (mid. When the land emerged (mid-march to mid- Wadi abbad: red sea - dangerous, difficult to navigate, lethal water creatures, western desert - arid, flat, sandy. 5 oases - important links in trade routes (siwa, bahriya, farafra, al- Dakhla, el-kharga, most important = al-dakhla and el-kharga: south = nubia. Rich in natural resources (gold, hard stones)
