Rise and Fall of Egypt's Old Kingdom Old Kingdom Egypt

The Rise and Fall of Egypt's Old Kingdom

When most people think of Ancient Egypt, the first image that comes to mind is the Great Pyramids. These enormous structures are symbolic of the mystery and beauty of Ancient Egyptian culture, and they are a reminder of the rise and fall of even the most powerful societies. The culture that created the pyramids, the Old Kingdom of Egypt, was able to reach the height of civilization before internal flaws and environmental disaster led to its eventual collapse. But the same interdependence that allowed Egypt to organize a unified culture was also the very thing that became its vulnerability.

The Old Kingdom refers to the reigns of the 3rd dynasty through the 6th dynasty, roughly from 2575-2150 BC (Daniels et al. 2006). While certain hallmarks of advanced civilization were present in the 1st and 2nd dynasty, the 3rd dynasty reign of King Djoser saw significant advancements in technology, art, social organization, and cultural identity within Egypt. Perhaps more important to Egyptian history than King Djoser himself was the king's chief architect, Imhotep. Under Imhotep's supervision, rapid advancements were made in building technology, culminating in the construction of the Step Pyramid of Djoser. As a result of Imhotep's agenda, architecture in Egypt was forever changed from one primarily based on wood and mud to one centered on grand and permanent stone construction (Hornung 1999).

This shift towards permanent architecture prompted rapid societal changes as well. The most significant was the solidification of political power in the figure of the king. While the earlier dynasties held monarchical power, there was no real seat of authority. The "capital" of the kingdom shifted with each king. Djoser's construction of permanent royal buildings -- a stone palace, the Step Pyramid -- created a strong, long-lasting visual legacy of authority that would be adopted by all of the kings and pharaohs who followed him. Ian Shaw (2003) points out that the "immediate and profound effect on Egyptian economy and society"...

Beginning with Djoser and proceeding through the leaders that followed, the kings of the Old Kingdom made a concerted effort to align themselves with the divine and to identify themselves with the gods. Shaw (2003) explains the identity in this way: "The king enjoyed a special position as a mediator between the gods and the people, an interface between divine and human, responsible to both…The king had been chosen and approve by the gods and after his death he retired into their company." It was this identity more than anything else that spurred the creation of the Great Pyramids in the 4th dynasty. To promote their association with the supernatural and solidify their absolute power, the kings spent a good part of their reign preparing their funerary buildings. Great care was taken, especially in the case of the Great Pyramids, to align the complex to correspond with the Sun deity (Ibid). The ever-increasing legacy of impressive stone complexes designed to reinforce the idea of the ruler as an eternal, supernatural being strengthened the power of the monarchy with every passing king, and led to a strong, centralized government by the height of the Old Kingdom.
One consequence of both the technological stoneworking advances and the relationship between religion and the monarchy was the flourishing of Egyptian art during this period -- most notably, the sculptures and reliefs depicting the monarch's identity as a god (Hornung 2003). Egypt quickly became one of the most sophisticated artistic cultures in the world, and the flourishing community of craftsmen and artists helped promote a vibrant social culture within the Old Kingdom. The distribution throughout the kingdom of consistent visual reminders of the king, the gods, and the power of the government helped to reinforce the power of the monarchy, unify the individual identifications…