Ancient Egypt: Archaic Period and Old Kingdom 2 Quiz

Answer: Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt

For centuries before the Archaic Age began - as early as the Paleolithic Age - small groups of ancient Egyptians lived near the Nile. By approximately 5000 BC these groups learned to domesticate plants and animals; it was, however, difficult for the small communities to deal with the annual flooding of the Nile.

They began to unite into larger groups and eventually formed political entities called nomes; each nome had a leader called a nomarch. Over time the nomes joined to form the Kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, with the nomarchs of the most important nomes becoming the leader of each. Sometime around 3100 BC, Narmer (Menes), the ruler of Upper Egypt, united the two Kingdoms, and began a period in Egyptian history called the Archaic Age.

Answer: Memphis

I know! In World History the teacher told you that Memphis was the first capital of ancient Egypt, and it was - well, kind of. Narmer was the nomarch of Upper Egypt, and, according to ancient historians, he ruled from the capital city of Thinis. So, technically, if Narmer continued to rule from Thinis after the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, it was the first capital of unified Egypt as well.

In his wisdom, however, Narmer moved the capital to Memphis as a symbol of the unification since it was located on the boundary where Upper and Lower Egypt met. Thinis apparently continued to be a thriving city and religious center, and some of the first kings appeared to have continued to use it as a political center; today, however, no archaeological evidence of the city has been found. Memphis was considered by the ancient historians to be the first stable capital of unified Egypt, and remained its capital during the Old Kingdom.

After the capital was moved to Thebes, Memphis remained a thriving city for centuries, but was abandoned by the 7th century AD.

Answer: False

Many periods of Egyptian history have more than one name, and the Archaic Period is also called the Early Dynastic Period! Your World History teacher should have taught you that Narmer, also known as Menes, was the first king of the first dynasty to rule Egypt! So - dynastic rule BEGAN during the Archaic Age.

In fact, both the First and Second Dynasties ruled Egypt during the Archaic Age from approximately 3150-2686 BC. There are ten known rulers of the First Dynasty, including Narmer, although very little is known about them; the Second Dynasty, considered to be one of the most obscure, contained 8 or 9 rulers, depending on which ancient historian's list is being examined.

Answer: Age of Pyramids

Really the continuum of life in ancient Egypt remained the same between the Second and Third Dynasties, so what was the major event that brought an end to the Archaic Period and the beginning of the age called the Old Kingdom? Pyramid building! The use of mastabas for burial places did not guarantee the safety of the deceased from tomb robbing as hoped, although their use continued during the Old Kingdom.

The fact of the matter is that mastabas pretty much brought too much attention to the burial site - so were pyramids any better? The wealthiest Egyptians, like the king, hoped to find a better way to insure life after death. Were pyramids the answer to the problem? Now it must be stated that there has never been a body actually found in a pyramid. Could that be due to the work of ancient grave robbers? People have been debating for centuries the reason for building the monumental structures. Maybe it was done simply to show the power of the king!

Answer: Theocracy

While the first inclination here could be monarchy - and, yes, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh was a king - that is not a choice on the list! Pharaoh was indeed considered to be the gods' representative on earth, however, one must remember that pharaoh was also believed to have been an offspring of the sun god Ra, so he was a god. Pharaoh was divine and was worshiped as a god, so theocracy, a form of government that is ruled by a deity, is the correct choice.

It was believed that when a person became pharaoh, the spirit of Horus, the sky god, would enter him and be his guide.

He had absolute power to rule Egypt as he saw fit, and his word was law. When pharaoh died, he became associated with the god Osiris, Lord of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead.

Answer: Red Sea

While the ancient Egyptians typically had no difficulty in feeding themselves or finding materials used to construct their monument buildings, there was a certain shortage of consumer luxury goods that would be in demand. By the time of the Fourth Dynasty it appears that they were beginning to trade for gold in Punt, and by the Fifth Dynasty Pharaoh Sahure led an expedition there. So where was Punt located? Most believe that it was located somewhere on the Horn of Africa, perhaps the ancient city of Opone, that was known to have trading relations with ancient Egypt.

There is an area of modern Somalia that is called Puntland today, and refers to the area the ancient Egyptians called the Land of Punt. Even if Punt was located on the Arabian Peninsula, as some have suggested, the ancients would have had to sail their boats through the Red Sea to get there!

Answer: Frontalism

During the Archaic Period and Old Kingdom art was created for a purpose - and that purpose was connected to both political and religious beliefs. Composite composition relates to the effort that was made to insure that viewers of the art knew exactly what they were viewing.

The rule of the hierarchy scale was that the largest figure in the art was the most important; this means that pharaoh was always the largest figure, and that women were typically portrayed as being smaller than men. In ancient Egyptian art the head is drawn in profile and the body is seen from the front.

This principle is called frontalism. During the thousands of years of Egyptian history, the principles by which art was created that developed during the Archaic Period and the Old Kingdom were little altered, and there were several rules that artists were expected to follow.

Answer: Step

The oldest style of pyramid built by the ancient Egyptians was the step pyramid. Constructed by the architect Imhotep for Pharaoh Djoser (Zoser) during Egypt's Third Dynasty, a step pyramid looks like a stairway to heaven. It appears that the original intention was to build a mastaba, however, six more progressively smaller platforms were put on the base of the structure. Also called the Pyramid of Djoser, the step pyramid is the oldest monumental building in Egypt made of stone. Even though the burial chamber was sealed with a 3.5 ton stone, ancient grave robbers were able to carry off its contents.

The step pyramid is located at Saqqara, which served as a necropolis for Memphis. Although the Bent and Red pyramids can be found at Dahshur in Egypt today, an inverted pyramid is a device used by writers.

Answer: False

One of the past inaccuracies believed about the pyramids is that they were built by slaves. This might have been due to the Biblical account in the book of Exodus that tells how the Hebrews were enslaved by Ramses II. While they may have been forced to work on some of his many building projects, these events did not occur during the Old Kingdom, nor is there really any evidence in Egypt to provide credence to the story. During the Old Kingdom, the Egyptian people were expected to provide a service to the king.

Historians today believe that the majority of the workers on the pyramids were Egyptian farmers who were unemployed during flood season. These people appear to have been willing laborers, happy to work for the glory of their king, as well as food rations.

In fact, judging from the number of animal bones found at Giza, the site of pyramid building during the Fourth Dynasty, it has been estimated that workers there were fed 4,000 pounds of meat a day. Graves presumably belonging to pyramid workers also indicate that they received medical attention in the event of injury, and were generally more healthy in comparison to peasant graves found in other parts of Egypt.

Answer: Drought

The continual activity of pyramid building during the Old Kingdom was extremely expensive. As pharaoh began to run out of resources, he turned to nobles for financial assistance; the nobles were given land tracts in exchange. Soon the nobles began to rule small areas of the land, and with the decline in power of a central authority, Egypt experienced a period of civil unrest.

In the midst of this, several years of a severe drought meant that the Nile did not flood annually as it had done in previous years, causing the crop yield to severely decrease.

The subsequent famine led ancient Egyptians to a time in their history called the First Intermediate Period. At this time ancient Egypt was once again divided into two separate kingdoms.