9.27 Old Kingdom

The “Old Kingdom” started with the third Dynasty (2,686 BC) and went on to the end of the sixth Dynasty (2,181 BC), during which time very powerful monarchs ruled Egypt. A characteristic of the time was that the status quo between powerful foreign states/countries was respected unless there were any signs of weakness or if a vassal state was threatened, when a campaign might be initiated. So Egyptian kings exchanged pleasantries, often as messages on clay tablets, together with gifts, with the leaders of other countries, in particular those in Babylonia and Syria. Other minor states would pay tribute (often of great value) to one or more larger powers for “protection”.

The emphasis of the Egyptian Kings in the Old Kingdom was on the efficient cultivation of the entire country to ensure a plentiful supply of food, and the development of town planning to accommodate the increasing number of people relocating along the Nile valley. Originally the King ruled with a small group mainly made up of relatives and other members of the King’s household, who held key government positions. Wealth was concentrated in the Capital and the King, with little being distributed to provincial towns or rural areas. By 2,500 BC there was a form of complex bureaucracy that is not yet completely understood, but was supposedly by merit. The elite administration was appointed by the King and appropriated much of the wealth in his name. As a general rule these posts passed down from father to son. At this time there was no concept of money so the collection, storage and redistribution of produce and goods were carried out by the administration.

Art in Egypt at this time was always functional, related to political, religious or funerary purposes. Initially it was all concerned with revered ancestors and their king.  Art was also very stereotypical and formal, with little scope for originality. The king was always shown as warlike and wise, even when he was not, and “the enemy” often had a standard appearance. The Egyptians may have experimented with perspective as they thought certain features should be viewed from a particular aspect. Faces were shown as a mixture of profile and frontal – eyes frontal, nose profile – giving a rather odd first impression.

Gold was extremely important to Egyptian rulers as it reflected their wealth and power, hence its copious use in ritual decoration and jewellery. It was relatively abundant as they had access to gold mines within their own borders initially, and later, when these ran out, in Nubia. One of the main reasons that they continually extended their control of Nubia, south of Aswan, was to access the gold mines. Nubia also supplied much of the hard stone for buildings and monuments. Stone was transported on barges during the inundation, including granite and basalt for special structures. Egypt needed few very basic imports, although timber was in short supply and was predominantly imported from Lebanon via Byblos. Egypt imported a considerable amount of other commodities, such as copper from Nubia, lead, tin, copper, malachite and turquoise from Sinai, copper and emeralds from the Red Sea region, together with lapis lazuli, obsidian, turquoise and copper from Anatolia, Abyssinia and Afghanistan.

The population in the middle of the 3^rd Millennium BC was 1 to 1.5 million people, and most people were linked to agriculture. They were tied to the land but not as slaves – this status was reserved mainly for foreign captives at this time. One consequence of the Nile flooding was that the fields had to be redefined each year after the inundation. The skills built up in this endeavour led to the development of advanced surveying technology, and they had surveyed the whole kingdom by the Middle Kingdom period. This technology was subsequently used for their large building complexes. They developed some very ingenious technology and ways of operating but generally it was pragmatic with little theoretical analysis.