Many Egyptologists, archaeologists, and others consider Egypt to be the first state in history. Archaeologists usually define states as being associated with urbanism, a governmental monopoly on the coercive use of force, elaborate public buildings and monumental architecture, and frequently, writing.
By 3200 BCE, Egypt was two separate kingdoms: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The terms "upper" and "lower" don’t refer to how you see Egypt on modern maps, but are in reference to the Nile River. The Nile flows from south to north. Thus Upper Egypt is the area to the south (up river), while Lower Egypt is the northern area around the river’s delta. Each of these two kingdoms had their own symbol of royal power: the White Crown of Upper Egypt (a high conical hat of graceful shape) and the Red Crown of Lower Egypt (a flat-topped cap with a tall projection in the back and a long feather curling forward).
About 3150 BCE, King Narmer from Upper Egypt (remember that’s in the south) conquered Lower Egypt and unified the two kingdoms. The symbol for the unified Upper and Lower Egypt was the Great Double Crown which combined the Red and White Crowns. Narmer became the first king of Egypt’s first dynasty.
Narmer is shown below wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt.
With the unification of Egypt, artistic conventions appear in which the king was portrayed as the symbol of Egypt. Hierarchical proportions were used to distinguish kings from commoners: kings were always shown to be larger than commoners. On the temple walls, for example, the king was shown about four or five times the size of the commoners. The kings were portrayed as being only slightly smaller than the images of the gods.
The role of the king in ancient Egypt was to make the right offerings to the gods. Thus the gods would be pleased and the divine order would remain. Divine order meant that the country would prosper.
A quick note about the term pharaoh: it actually refers to Great House, the place where the king lived. In wasn’t until the 18th dynasty that pharaoh was used in referring to the king himself (or in a couple of instances, herself). Today, however, most people use the term pharaoh in referring to the Egyptian kings, including those of earlier dynasties. Thus King Narmer is described as a pharaoh even though that term would not have been applied to him at the time.
Many feel that Egypt was the first nation in history with a powerful centralized government. This centralized government made possible the construction of public monuments, such as the pyramids. With the centralized government, the annual flooding of the Nile River could be turned to public advantage. Large groups of people could be organized to carry out irrigation projects and to expand the agricultural wealth of a unified Egypt.
Most of Egypt’s population at this time—probably about 90% --was directly involved with farming. The only exceptions were the royalty, nobility, craftsmen, and scribes. Full-time farmers would work the land of wealthy landowners. They were paid in food, clothes, and shelter. In some instances, independent farmers would rent land from the landowners, paying them with a percentage of the crop yield as payment.
Egypt’s wealth was in its agricultural abundance. The ancient Egyptians cultivated three kinds of wheat and several kinds of barley. Flax was their main source of textile fiber. Each year the Nile River would flood, bringing with it nutrient rich soils. During the floods, the kings of Egypt could call up a large labor pool to work on pyramids, temples, irrigation projects, and other public works.
One of the important features of a state is writing. In Egypt, the first evidence of writing is found in an object known as the Narmer palette. The palette is a piece of slate about two feet high. On this particular palette, which is dated to the time of Egyptian unification, are the first real Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Narmer palette tells the story of Narmer’s conquest of Lower Egypt and the unification of the two Egypts.
The two sides of the Narmer palette are shown below.
Narmer’s unification of Egypt set the stage for three thousand years of Egyptian civilization which would influence the development of other states in many other parts of the world.
This diary was originally posted on Street Prophets