![[Tomb_100_Hierakompolis,_Naqada_II_culture_(c._3500-3200_BCE).jpg]] *Ancient Hierakonpolis tomb painting in plaster - possibly the earliest example of an Egyptian tomb mural.* The Nile River that reaches the Mediterranean in northeastern Africa was much more dependable than the Euphrates. Annual floods brought both moisture and rich silt soil to a narrow band along the river's banks. The regularity of the flood between July and October reduced the need for extensive irrigation. Egypt's farmers grew wheat, lentils, chickpeas, and flax (for linen). An kin-based elite emerged in early communities like Hierakonpolis, in upper Egypt. As in Uruk, families responsible for storing grain accumulated social power, although they lessened the sting of the inequality by brewing beer and baking bread for the people. By 5,800 years ago, Hierakonpolis had become Egypt's first city, with a local elite that gained control over trade routes to the Red Sea (for shells and obsidian) and the deserts (for gold and copper); and later more widely for luxury goods like cedar and lapis. The city's population reached about 10,000 by 5,500 years ago and local surpluses supported artisans who specialized in producing pottery, stone tools, and jewelry. Because the Nile flood was considered a heavenly gift, a priestly elite and chieftains were seen as divine intermediaries, setting the stage for the semi-divine Pharaohs of the Dynastic period that began 5,150 years ago.  The most famous and recognizable remnants of ancient Egypt, of course, are the pyramids. The first of these (above) was a step pyramid built about 4,670 years ago as part of a necropolis (burial complex) for a Pharaoh named Djoser, by an architect who was also the ruler's chancellor, remembered as Imhotep. It is thought to be the oldest surviving stone building in the world. About a hundred years later, the largest of the pyramids of Giza was built around 4,580 to 4,560 years ago. The pyramid of Khufu, rising 481 feet above the plain, is the largest stone building in the world. Construction was a huge task that required a great degree of coordination. Although the core of the pyramid was built of local limestone quarried on the Giza plateau, the white casing limestone that covered the exterior came from about ten miles away, across the Nile River, south of modern Cairo. And the granite used in the King's Chamber and sarcophagus was quarried about 500 miles away, at Aswan in southern Egypt. The ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that it took the Egyptians twenty years to complete the Great Pyramid; and this estimate has been accepted by most modern historians. The pyramid contains about 2.3 million stone blocks averaging 5,000 pounds each. Some of the granite elements weigh 50 tons. To complete the pyramid in twenty years, more than twenty thousand workers, working ten hours a day, would need to set a block every couple of minutes. Herodotus claimed there were 100,000 workers, but his estimate was probably either exaggerated or included logistical and support workers. Since the entire population of Egypt at the time was about 1.5 million, this was a substantial mobilization of a large percentage of the able-bodied adult men. Some form of social organization is implied by the achievement. ![[All_Gizah_Pyramids 1.jpg]] ----- Next: [[3.6 - Green Sahara]] Back: [[3.4 - Uruk]]