Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13.3. Pyramids
The rich-watered banks of the Nile rewarded the inhabitants of Egypt by making them
a people of plenty. Abundance gave rise to a literate and leisure class, allowing for division
of labor and task specialization. Specialization, in turn, helped to foster dazzling achieve-
ments in art, architecture, and technology. The culture flourished.
To travel the Nile by boat is high on the list of wise travelers' coveted destinations.
And to go ashore at various important stopping points to experience the massive architec-
ture of ancient Egypt is unforgettable. [155]
WHEN DID ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CULTURE BEGIN?
When Herodotus viewed the Pyramids in the 460s BCE, Egypt was even then unima-
ginably ancient. Its unrecorded history reaches back to 7000 BCE, and the Egypt of the
pharaohs begins sometime around 3000 BCE. Measured against Egypt's history, Homer is
a latecomer. He recited his epics sometime around 800 BCE, and his tales describe events
in the Age of Heroes, sometime around 1200 BCE.
While Europeans on the northern shores of the Mediterranean hunted and gathered,
wore animal skins, and lived in caves, Egyptians perfected an astonishing civilization. The
wealthy lived in elaborate villas, sat upon four-legged chairs (an Egyptian invention), and
wore finely spun linen. Egyptians doctors practiced surgical interventions and prescribed
drugs, herbs, and salves. Cadavers were preserved for a seemingly infinite number of years.
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