Ancient Egypt has been one of the most impressive cultures, in each of its stages. Cultural manifestations in the Ancient Kingdom of Egypt have not been the exception.
Literature in the Old Kingdom
The oldest preserved literary texts are of three classes:religious poetry, moral exhortations and biography, among all of which stand out:
I. The Pyramid Texts . Parts of a funerary ritual incised in the underground chambers of the pyramid of Unas and of the kings of the VI Dynasty.
II. Funeral inscriptions . They are of enormous importance to know concepts of Egyptian life. One of the oldest epigraphic collections known is also one of the most explicit and complete collections on the foundations of private property. The already mentioned tomb of the official Metjen contains several inscriptions that expose with great precision the different categories of the land. Another example would be the contracts that the mayor and director of the prophets of Assiut. Hapidjef, had his tomb engraved already at the time of Sesostris I. The oldest fiscal documents are documented in the temples and tombs, such as the mentions of the censuses and inventories of the heritage that would be found in the tomb of Uní.
III. The Wisdoms or Instructions :They are texts of teachings from parents to children. Those of Ptahhotep, vizier of King Isesi, are known. It is the oldest example of Instruction which is preserved in its entirety, in the Papyrus Prisse (in the National Library of Paris).
There is a great parallelism in these Instructions with the Book of Proverbs of the Hebrew Old Testament. The characteristic elements were:a motivation to listen, the body of the Instruction , or advice and a generalized conclusion, moralizing or sentence.
IV. It is also known of tales such as the one about Cheops and the magician known in versions of the Eighteenth Dynasty. that must exist since the Old Kingdom.
V. There was also a religious theater that recounted above all the adventures of Horus, accompanied by flutes and polyphonic music following a prosodic rhythm.
The biography begins in the Old Kingdom. They appear as a profession of faith of the deceased. A beautiful example is the aforementioned biography of Uní and that of Herkhuf, later than the previous one, engraved or painted on the tombs.
The Literature of the First Intermediate Period stands out for its importance, with doctrinal, sapiential or didactic books such as the Teachings for King Merikara and also controversial works such as the Admonishments of an Egyptian Sage , the Dispute between the man tired of life and his soul , the Harper's Song , the Ipuwer Notices , the Tale of Neferkara and General Sisene , which presents the pharaoh in humiliating situations (Dynasties VII to VIII), the Peasant's Complaints , the Tale of the eloquent peasant or the Peasant's Lamentations They belong to the same style.
All these works reflect, according to almost all researchers, a social change and the disorganization of the administrative system of the moment as well as pessimism and suffering due to the fragility of the human being that reflect a form of political instability.
Science in the Old Kingdom
In the Egyptian science of these moments, three disciplines stood out above all:Astronomy. Mathematics and Medicine:
Astronomy was the science that should have been known first. Mathematics developed at the same time as Astronomy, and as for Medicine, the writing of the first treatises on Anatomy and Medicine dated back to the First Dynasty, although the preserved manuscripts are later.
Law in the Old Kingdom
In this country, the Law emanated directly from the king. It was a right of situation, but there were also some first legal norms, emanating directly from the god Thot , as well as some legal norms.
Artistic Manifestations in the Old Kingdom
The artistic manifestations, by which they are better known than by the few written sources. the ways of life, uses and customs, desires and beliefs of the Egyptian people, had a great boom with the Third Dynasty and the following:The decisive step was taken in the reign of Pharaoh Djoser , with the appearance of the monumental conception of architecture. The constructions will now be of great proportions and the first stone sculptures appear.
The main architectural samples of this period were:
- The Step Pyramid of Djoser , in a group with a perimeter of two kilometers:The Saqqara complex, near Memphis.
- The mastabas of the subjects , built near the tombs of the kings that abound in Saqqara.
Dynasty IV
During the IV Dynasty, the evolution of the pyramid towards its classical form was completed, as shown by the excellent examples of Snefru and those of Cheops, Khafre and Mycerinus, whose age is the classical of the Old Kingdom. The monumental funerary ensembles are completed by the burials of the queens and subjects, near the royal tombs.
Dynasty V
With the 5th Dynasty, the royal pyramids will be smaller and the adjacent buildings were decorated with relief inscriptions from the time of Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty. These inscriptions are called Pyramid Texts . The main groups are those of Saqqara. Abusir and Heliopolis. The unofficial writing, on wood and stone, had a great plastic quality, perhaps the best in the history of Egypt.
Among the artistic achievements of this period, the solar temples of Abusir, the statues of the Cairo Museum (such as the Village Mayor ), the seated scribes in the Louvre, Cairo and New York, and the statues of Rahotep and Nofret in the Cairo Museum, among many others.
Dynasty VI
With the 6th Dynasty there was a gradual increase in the size of private mastabas such as those of Ti, keeper of the 5th Dynasty monuments, and Mereruka, governor of Memphis during the 6th Dynasty. In contrast, the royal pyramids decreased in size. These constructions show, above all, the decentralization of government and the rise of feudal power, since private works sometimes approach royal constructions in splendor, decorative richness and size.
The reliefs of the great chapels of the mastabas of these two particular characters mentioned, in Saqqara, offer a broad vision of the busy and organized Egyptian State of the time and its relations with the outside (Nubia, Sudan, Sinai and Palestine).