Lower Egypt
30 36 'N 31 06' E / 30.6, 31.1
 Article Series Egyptian Sites | |
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| Prefectures / cities Monuments / Temples | |
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| Lower Egypt / Middle Egypt Upper Egypt / Nubia | |
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The Egypt is essentially defined in relation to the Nile. Lower Egypt is "low" relative to the direction of flow of the river (the south, above, to the north, below) and therefore its altitude. Its relief is also shallow.
This is the most northern part of Egypt , from the Mediterranean , the Nile Delta , to the region of Fayoum with Cairo.
Summary |
Geography
Cities of Lower Egypt:
- Alexandria ,
- Cairo (the capital of Egypt Contemporary)
- Port Said ,
- Suez.
History
Lower Egypt at the beginning of the country's history as an independent kingdom which attracted the envy of its southern neighbor, for the richness of its lands and opportunities in the Mediterranean and the neighboring countries.
Predynastic times
In a first time predynastic civilization developed there that is termed "Badarian" the name of the site where the first traces were discovered in the nineteenth century. Recent excavations in the region have revealed particular Buto , locality of delta that the ancient culture that developed was less technologically developed than its southern rival, it is indeed found significant differences in ceramic production rest periods for all the best means of dating archaeological strata on the one hand but also a good method for comparing different cultures protohistoric. Ceramics due to its exceptional durability and allows to reconstruct the historical puzzle that no traces can confirm otherwise, and also demonstrates the different contacts Predynastic culture of Lower Egypt had with his neighbors.
The Old Kingdom
This culture rivaled that of Naqada in Upper Egypt will disappear during the early dynasties following reunification. In fact legend has it that King Menes managed to gather under his reign the two kingdoms into one but will keep throughout its history the record of this particular duality in the qualifiers received now or Two Lands Double Kingdom. He then founded the city of Memphis to be qualified to Balance the Two Lands, and will be the translation of this desire for unification of the two kingdoms. The Pharaohs will receive the Double Crown consists of the crown of Lower Egypt which fits that of Upper Egypt to form a new one, the Pschent.
The crown of Lower Egypt Buto was kept under the protection of the goddess Wadjet , so that we represent as a cobra wearing the red crown: the decheret.
Lower Egypt is in the Old Kingdom, the seat of royal power and religious. Great cities developed there as Memphis , Heliopolis , Bubastis. Others are already legendary. We saw an example of Buto but we can also cite Mendes , Busiris , Sais , which already at that time were important religious centers. The Pharaohs of that period and establish their capital dynastic necropolis in the region and Abu Rawash to Meydum dozens of funerary complexes develop on the western shore.
With the first interim period the region seems to remain under the control of power remained in place in Memphis, even if the number of sovereign during the nearly two hundred years of transition somewhat betrays the image of a stable and prosperous kingdom. Indeed at that time nomarchs or governors Nomes took more and more independence vis--vis the royal power, especially in Upper Egypt, a region more distant from the seat of royal life. In Lower Egypt anarchy then seems to be gaining ground, the texts of this period we leave poignant testimony to this troubled period during which most of the royal cemeteries were ransacked.
The Middle Kingdom
It is from Thebes that reunification in the Middle Kingdom is realized and for a time which covers the XIth Dynasty , Lower Egypt seems somewhat neglected in favor of the south. At the next dynasty that trend reversed and Amenemhat and Sesostris returning north and founded their capital, not far from Lower Egypt, the Fayum they then develop into a true oasis in the legend deriving some of the water River to the depression that occupied the center.
Cities of the Delta also receive special attention from them and the great military expeditions open or reopen trade routes linking Africa, so the Middle East. Lower Egypt is at the heart of these lines of communication and transit of goods and valuables from distant countries such as Punt or Crete.
In some cons, formerly nomadic people began to settle in the Delta, it took root and gradually formed real cities. Avaris gradually became the seat of a powerful principality that has to wait the collapse of the monarchy to take his place and extend its influence. The headquarters of Memphis will then sign the change that opens the second interim period and will be the starting point of the policy more conquering the period that follows.
The New Kingdom
Indeed, it is again from a dynasty of Thebes local rulers began the reconquest. Ahmose was the first Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty and opened the most glorious period in the country. Memphis is back in the hands of the Hyksos , then falls after Avaris seat and the new Pharaoh's enemies continue to Palestine again putting the seat in front of their last bastion of resistance Fortress Charouhen.
His successors continued this momentum and focus and efforts on securing the country by building a chain of forts along the eastern border of the Delta, which now takes the name of Horus Road.
Thutmose III installs a palace and a fortress in the ancient capital of the Hyksos and his example will be followed later by Ramses II, who founded his capital Pi-Ramses. New Kingdom rulers will gradually expand trade and shrines of Lower Egypt restaurant that had been destroyed or abandoned.
Third Intermediate Period Late Period &
With the collapse of the empire of Ramses the country was divided again into two separate entities, reviving the old antagonism between the Lower and Upper Egypt.
Tanis becomes the new capital and the royal power will be permanently based in the Delta in the following periods except the period of the XXV Dynasty and Nubian pharaohs.
Despite the efforts of the rulers of the Late Period , the country could not withstand the Persian and Assyrian invasions and then during the "liberation" brought by Alexander the Great , the choice was made to establish the capital on the shores of the Mediterranean in order to open the country to the new world, so now governs by other influences, other stories.
Archaeological sites:
- Canopus ,
- Giza ,
- Heliopolis ,
- Memphis ,
- Saqqara ,
- Abu Sir ,
- Abu Rawash ,
- Daschour ,
- Sais ,
- Tanis ,
- Mendes ,
- Bubastis / Tell Basta ,
Other areas of Egypt
Regions of Egypt, from north to south, up the Nile:
- Lower Egypt (and delta )
- Middle Egypt ,
- Upper Egypt ,
- Nubia.
Related articles
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