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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

Making Pottery In Ancient Egypt - A wall-painting in a pyramid.

A. The Early Egyptians

We have already dropped a hint that the man who first grew corn regularly, took a great step towards civilisation. Let us discuss this

a little further. When a man found a patch of fertile soil he would want to settle there. Unlike the wandering shepherds or hunters, he

would think it worth his while to build a solid house, and his wife would do her best to make it comfortable. He would plant little

trees round it. He might never see them tall and thick himself, but he liked to think his children would live on at the farm and the

trees would give them shade and shelter. If he had neighbours in his happy valley, he would come to some agreement with them

about boundaries, lost cattle or the water supply, and so there would develop a greater respect and desire for law and order. A little

temple might be built to the Sun-God or the Earth-Goddess, and at certain times of the year they would meet for a festival. Before

long there might be a hundred families in the valley, who felt vaguely that they belonged to a community.

Some of the men would become noted for being very handy with tools, and the other farmers would frequently ask them to put up a

barn or mend a plough. One or two of these men would give up farming altogether and become carpenter, mason, metal-worker or

weaver, their daily practice giving them increasing skill and speed. And so a class of craftsmen would arise who would pass a

lifetime's experience on to their sons or the sons of other farmers who came as apprentices, because there were already enough

brothers on the farm.

The most conveniently situated of such villages would grow into towns where craftsmen settled because there would be more regular

work for them to do in such a central community. Farmers and their wives would come there to exchange their surplus produce for

new tools, clothes or home requirements. In town or country some families, either through unusual prosperity or bold leadership in a

time of danger, would win great respect, and if their descendants could cause that respect to be maintained indefinitely, and were

very proud of their descent, we should have the beginnings of "nobility." As religion grew more complicated, priests would become

an important class. Finally some very clever and daring noble would persuade or force the other nobles to recognise him as their

leader, and he would be hailed as the first king of the land.

From what we said at first, we should expect all these processes to take place first in those parts of the ancient world where there

were great stretches of fertile soil. And this is just what happened. For the first civilisations arose in Egypt in the valley of the Nile,

and in Mesopotamia (or Iraq) along the lower course of the Tigris and Euphrates.

Look at Egypt on the map and see how little of that country matters except the long valley of the Nile. It is only the last stretch of the

Nile that you see on this map, although even this is about seven hundred miles long. For most of this distance (except for the large

delta, once a gulf, that silted up) the river flows along a narrow valley which varies from five to thirty miles across. The valley ends

abruptly in steep cliffs on either side, and from the top of those cliffs stretches the barren, uninhabited desert, one hundred to two

hundred miles of it eastwards to the Red Sea while westwards are the limitless wastes of the Sahara. Egypt, then, is really a long,

narrow, sunken oasis, with the Nile for its well, where, since the dawn of History, corn, beans, date-palms and other fruit trees have

flourished.

So hot is Egypt, and so little rain ever falls (they say London gets in a year as much as Egypt in a century), that the valley too would

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

be a desert if the Nile did not overflow its banks every autumn in a mighty flood, and leave behind it, when it flows in its channel

again, a covering of fertile mud which is at once ploughed and sown. When this rich soil dries up again, it is irrigated with water

caught in dykes and pools during the flood, and when these too dry up, the water has to be baled up on a rough-and-ready sort of

crane, from the river itself. The flood is due to the very heavy summer rainfall in the Abyssinian mountains where the Blue Nile and

other eastern tributaries rise.

Date Palm

So the first thing we learn in History is that the Egyptians grew numerous in this fertile valley, and learned to combine together to

control the water. They studied the sun, moon, and stars in order to know more accurately when the river would rise and fall, and

simple geometry would be necessary to survey the fields.

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

Irrigation On The Nile

Very early on they learned to write, an art which proves that they were intelligent, and in turn enabled them to be more intelligent

still. As in all the earliest forms of writing, they began with little pictures which told a story. Then they took a big step forward. You

know when you play charades, you take a long word and split it up into short words which have really nothing to do with the long

word, but which are accidentally contained in it. The Egyptians did the same. Supposing they wanted to write "before." They might

draw a little picture of a bee and put next to it the figure four. In time the pictures were greatly simplified, for speed and convenience,

so that for instance these signs,

which could be drawn with quick strokes of the brush.

For most of their writing the Egyptians used paper, which they made by taking the inner rind of a tall, thick reed that was common in

the marshes. They fastened strips of this together, then gummed another layer right across this at right angles. On this they wrote with

a brush that was simply a stick frayed out at the end. They used black ink usually, with red for special headings, as we do.

So Egyptian scribes wrote down particulars of crops and cattle, of cargoes that came up the river, of the building of huge temples and

tombs. Priests wrote prayers and magic spells. And one of the earliest uses to which writing was put was to make careful records of

the kings and queens of Egypt.

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

Papyrus Reeds

These rulers are divided into dynasties, a dynasty being a series of rulers descended from the same ancestors, and so having some

family relationship to each other. These records tell us that at first there were two kings of Egypt, one ruling the Delta, the other the

upper valley, but that about 3500 B.C. the king of the upper river conquered the other and the two kingdoms were henceforth united,

the capital being Memphis, about twenty-five miles south of modern Cairo and on the other side of the river. About 3000 B.C. a

powerful line of monarchs began to rule (Fourth and Fifth Dynasties), who built those mighty tombs for themselves which we call the

Pyramids of Gizeh, a few miles south-west of Cairo. You can begin to have some idea of the power that these kings controlled when

you learn that each side of the largest pyramid is two hundred and fifty yards long, that it is a hundred and sixty yards high, and that

it is composed of two million three hundred thousand blocks of granite, each weighing on an average two and a half tons, yet

accurately placed to the fraction of an inch.

The head of the Sphinx is really a statue of one of these monarchs, for the Egyptian kings were fond of erecting colossal images of

themselves.

After about 2500 B.C. the kings were not so mighty, and local nobles and princes ruled their provinces pretty much as they pleased,

so that the next three hundred years are sometimes called the Feudal Age of Egypt. Then about 2200 B.C. came another strong line of

monarchs (Twelfth Dynasty), who brought the nobles to heel again, and whose reigns were long, peaceful and prosperous. They

improved the control of the Nile waters by building great embankments, draining marshes and making careful observations and

surveys of the river.

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

Map - Egypt

They encouraged commerce with distant regions. A canal was dug from the most southerly point of the delta to the Red Sea. Gold

came from Nubia, cedar wood from the forests of Lebanon in Syria, strangely decorated pottery and richly dyed stuffs from Crete,

and valuable spices and plants from "the land of Punt" at the southern end of the Red Sea.

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

The Big Round Up Of Cattle On An Egyptian Estate

A Boat On The Nile

To this age of sea-faring belongs one of the favourite fairy tales of the Egyptians. An Egyptian noble was sailing "to the mines of

Pharaoh" in a large ship with a crew of a hundred and fifty bold sailors. A great storm arose, the ship was wrecked and only the

nobleman survived, being washed on to an island, a pleasant place with all sorts of fruits growing and strange birds flitting by. The

castaway lit a fire and had just eaten some fruit, when suddenly there was a roar like thunder, and the island shook. He looked around

him and saw a huge golden serpent with a beard three feet long approaching him. But the monster was quite friendly, carried him

gently to his lair and asked, "What has brought thee, little one, what has brought thee to this isle of the sea?" When the monster heard

the tale of the shipwreck he said, "Fear not, little one, and let not thy face be sad. You shall dwell four months in this isle with me and

my brethren and my children, for there are seventy-five of us in all.

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

A Queen Of Ur

Then a ship of thine own land shall come and you shall go home and embrace thy wife and children." When the four months had

passed, an Egyptian ship did arrive at the island. Whereupon the monster, who claimed to be Prince of the land of Punt, bade his

guest a friendly farewell, loading him with gifts of perfume, scented woods, ivory and baboons.

About 1800 B.C. the peace of Egypt was rudely interrupted. So far we have not heard of invaders in Egypt. On all sides there was sea

or desert to protect the land, and it was because of this that Egypt had enjoyed so long and so prosperous a history. Now on the other

side of the Red Sea from Egypt lies the vast peninsula of Arabia. It was probably not so dry in those far-off days as it is to-day, and

its grasslands supported many tribes of fighting shepherds. Many a time in History has the fierce onset of these Arabian tribes shaken

empires. And they play their part in the earliest chapters. For a host of these Semites, as they are called, found their way across the

Sinai peninsula and conquered Egypt. Their war-chariots terrified the Egyptians, who had never seen horses before. For the first time

foreign kings sat on the ancient throne of Egypt. The records tell us little about the "Hyksos," or Shepherd Kings, for the Egyptians

were very much ashamed and angry at their downfall. So let us leave the Egyptians for a while, with their hearts full of bitterness,

and travel further east still, to learn something of another civilisation which had also grown up in a great river-valley.

B. The Early Babylonians

About a thousand miles east of the Nile delta lies another vast river mouth, where the united Tigris and Euphrates run into the head of

the Persian Gulf. To reach it from Egypt you would have to make a very uncomfortable journey, whether you crossed the great

Syrian desert or sailed round the immense peninsula of Arabia, i.e. down the Red Sea, along the Gulf of Aden and up the Persian

Gulf, the hottest seas in the world. When our story begins, that is, about 3500 B.C. (as in the case of Egypt), the two rivers ran

separately into the sea, although, then as now, there were minor channels connecting them.

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

Irrigation On The Euphrates - A leather tank automatically dips in the river, rises and empties itself in the channel running between

the date palms. It is attached to a water-wheel.

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

Map - The Ancient World (In The Near East)

The district between the river mouths was called Sumer. And in the last stretch of the Euphrates valley we find well-organised cities

which already seem to have a long history behind them even in 3500 B.C.!

The Ziggurat Of Ur, As It May Have Been

Judging from their sculptures, the Sumerians were a short, thick-set race. Their round heads and faces were shaven, and they wore a

sort of thick woolen or sheepskin kilt and, in cold weather, a cloak. By careful drainage and irrigation they had turned the swamps of

the river mouth into rich farm land, centering round well-built cities, each ruled by a king who was also the high priest. The cities

were keen rivals, and there was endless war between them. In each town the most prominent feature was a tall temple-tower, close to

but separate from the temple itself. These temple towers ("ziggurats" they called them) resembled the newer modern type of "sky-

scraper," being a series of cubes of decreasing size piled on top of one another. A number of flights of stairs (or rather ramps) led up

the outside of the tower to an altar near the top where the most solemn ceremonies took place. There is, no doubt, an echo of the

building of some colossal ziggurat in the Bible story of the tower of Babel. The temple itself comprised a whole collection of

buildings, apart from the actual place of worship.

The Ziggurat Of Ur

Remains of the first storey, showing one front and two side ramps. As clay was the only building material easily available, the cities

of the Euphrates were built of soft, sun-baked brick.

There was usually a large courtyard in front which acted as a public meeting-place, market and exchange. There would be the living-

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Chapter Two - The Egyptians, The Babylonians, The Cretans, The Hittites

quarters of the priests, cells for pilgrims, places to store the produce from the large farms which every temple owned, and strong

rooms for the deposit of gold and other valuables, for the priests acted as bankers. The city school was at the temple, too, the priests

teaching boys and girls. Their system of writing was quite different from that of the Egyptians, though it began in the same way with

picture signs.

They took tablets of damp clay and pressed the end of a simple wooden tool into it so as to make narrow, wedge-shaped marks Many

thousands of such tablets have been discovered, and every big museum has some. When you see them, you will be struck by the

smallness and neatness of the characters that run so evenly between the parallel lines ruled across.

The Ziggurat of Ur, Another Restoration - From a drawing by F.G. Newton.

Important documents were specially baked to harden them, and had a wrapper of clay put over them which acted as an envelope or

was sometimes made into a second copy of the document. This could be stamped with a special seal design by running an embossed

little cylinder over it while it was still wet. As in the case of Egyptian writing, the early picture signs were simplified for

convenience. Take, for instance, the sign for "sun" or "day." It was not convenient to draw a circle (the usual picture symbol

everywhere for day) with the tool. So they made it in four strokes like this:

But then they got tired of altering the angle of the tool, and they changed all the signs so as to make as few changes of angle as

possible.

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