Contribution Ancient Egyptian Civilization Modern World

¶ … ancient Egyptian civilization modern world. The contribution of ancient Egyptian civilization to the modern world: Architecture, medicine, and agriculture 'The grandeur that was Greece, the glory that was Rome.' The legacy of Greece and Rome to modern civilization has been well-documented, but the contributions of the ancient Egyptians have often been forgotten. Perhaps it is because their hieroglyphic language is less accessible than that of Greek and Latin or the government and structure of the civilization seems more foreign and autocratic.

Regardless, it is important to remember the major influences Egypt had upon Greece, Rome, and other civilizations which shaped the modern world. Perhaps the most enduring symbol of ancient Egyptian civilization is the pyramids. "The original pyramids serve as a testament to the mathematical skill of the Egyptians, a skill that stimulated Greek mathematicians, including Pythagoras, to perfect their work" (Tyldesley, "Ancient Egypt").

Although Hollywood has often depicted slaves constructing the pyramids, the reality was likely far more prosaic: "a workforce of up to 5,000 permanent employees, supplemented by as many as 20,000 temporary workers" of free laborers helped construct the structures along with some slaves (Tyldesley, "Ancient Egypt").

This was a bureaucratic as well as a mathematical and architectural feat, as these workers had to be fed, quartered, and paid for and "administrators also had to coordinate the supplies of stone, rope, fuel and wood that were needed to support the building work" (Tyldesley, "Ancient Egypt"). The Egyptians were likewise renowned for their medical achievements in the ancient world, and having an Egyptian physician was considered a point of status in Roman society.

The medical knowledge of the Egyptians is demonstrated in their elaborate preservation and mummification system, although they were likewise famed as healers of the living. The emphasis on mummification was an instruction in anatomy for many Egyptians and "unlike those of other ancient societies, the Egyptians were experienced in dissecting corpses because, believing that their souls needed an earthly body, they preserved their dead as mummies" Tyldesley, "Ancient Egypt"). An extant papyrus "actually gives names to organs such as the spleen, the heart, the anus, the lungs etc.

so they must have known that these exist. One papyrus, the Edwin Smith Papyrus, has a detailed description of the brain in it so this organ was also well researched by the standards of the time" ("Ancient Egyptian medicine," History Learning Site). The attitude towards the body and healing in ancient Egypt manifested a profound shift than what had occurred in ages past. "In Ancient Egypt, the treatment of illnesses was no longer carried out only by magicians and medicine men.

We have evidence that people existed who were referred to physicians and doctors" as professionals ("Ancient Egyptian medicine," History Learning Site). The Pharaoh himself had a private physician. Another major difference between ancient Egyptian civilization and earlier societies was that it was an agricultural society, effectively bound to the land. The flooding of the Nile and the fertility of the soil governed the Egyptians' rhythms of life. They were a stationary people dependent upon raising animals for food and growing grain.

Many of the implements they used to sow and reap.