Population - Ancient History: Egypt

Most of Egypt’s Pharaohs, and some of the upper class elites and local rulers, were buried in grand tombs and pyramids; complete with priceless jewelry and valuable artifacts. It would, however, have been impractical for the entire population to have been buried so extravagantly. Instead, most Egyptian people were buried in small graves, with one or two ordinary household artefacts.

Most archaeologists estimate the population of ancient Egypt during the height of the Old Kingdom (during the fourth and fifth dynasties) to have been around two million.

Contrary to popular belief, the Nile actually flows from south to north rather than from north to south. It is one of the only rivers in the world to do this. This is because the water begins in the "Upper" region, in the higher lands, and distributes out into the ocean at "Lower Egypt" through tributaries and deltas.

The Nile River bisected Egypt and provided a lifeline in the arid conditions of Northeast Africa. The river's annual flood created black silt which Egyptians depended on to grow crops. Irrigation programs arose up and down the river to water large tracts of agricultural lands. The river was also used as source of food, and papyrus and for transportation. However, the river was not used as a mass evacuation route.

Evidence suggests that theoretically anyone could attain a high office, which dispels the notion that the Old Kingdom was a total dictatorship. Researchers have also uncovered evidence of markets where people could sell produce and crafts. The notion of an Old Kingdom in which people slaved away building pyramids with no independent local life is fading.

All of these statements about life-expectancy in ancient Egypt are accurate. At birth, life expectancy was around twenty, but those that survived infancy could expect to live into at least their thirties. It was even common for Pharaohs and noblemen to survive well into old age. Women had a much lower life-expectancy than men, however, primarily due to the inherent dangers of childbirth and the infant mortality rate was roughly fifty percent — meaning half of all children did not survive.

The Middle Kingdom gave rise to more democratic practices in Egyptian politics and society. More interest was taken in the more downtrodden members of society, public works projects were undertaken to benefit the greater good, ordinary people had access to mummification services and civil servants acquired posts formerly held by royals. However, these royals continued to have a strong grip on Egyptian politics.

The population of Egypt during the height of the New Kingdom was approximately five million. Some scholars have put the figure as low as three million, whilst others have put the figure as high as eight million. Estimating population statistics is notoriously difficult for historians of antiquity who have to rely on incomplete archaeological records and biased ancient sources.

The number of Egyptians living in urban centers rose significantly during the New Kingdom which contributed significantly to the eventual decline of the New Kingdom’s power. The percentage of Egyptians living in cities, however, probably never exceeded five percent, as the vast majority of the population was still required to farm the fields.

El-Amarna (often called Akhetaten) was founded by Akhenaten as the capital of his newly reformed Egypt. It was only briefly inhabited, during the life of Akhenaten, before being abandoned upon his death. Egyptian religion and society was quite different under Akhenaten’s reign and, as a result, Egyptologists are reluctant to base their conclusions about Egyptian society on evidence drawn solely from El-Amarna.

The Battle of Megiddo was fought during the fifteenth century BCE between the forces of Egypt, led by Thutmose III, and an alliance of Canaanite and Asiatic city-states (including the influential Mittani). It ended in victory for the Egyptian forces and was an important battle in the territorial expansion of Thutmose III’s reign.

The Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, engaged in a radical transformation of Egyptian religion by essentially abandoning the polytheistic pantheon and instituting the worship of Aten, the sun disk (which was originally conceptualized as an aspect of the god Ra). In the fifth year of his reign (1346 BCE), he changed his name to Akhenaten in honor of the Aten, and in the same year he founded the city of Amarna from scratch to serve both as his capitol and the center of solar worship. Avaris is the city in Lower Egypt that was developed by the Hyksos as their capitol. Heliopolis, Abydos and Thebes were longstanding and previously-settled Egyptian cities, although since Heliopolis had long since been established as a center for the worship of the sun god Ra, Akhenaten did construct a temple for Aten in that city.

The bulk of the Amarna letters are written in the East Semitic language Akkadian, which originated as the language of the Babylonians in Mesopotamia but became the lingua franca and diplomatic language throughout the whole of the Fertile Crescent. This very fact, as well as the content of the letters themselves, are highly significant because they indicate that the administrative and diplomatic Egyptian elite were not only multi-lingual but also deeply engaged in diplomacy and international affairs in order to project and maintain the power of the Egyptian state beyond its borders. The script used by the Akkadian language (and the Amarna letters) was the logographic cuneiform system developed in Mesopotamia. Nevertheless, scholars also find immense significance in the Amarna letters because of their early evidence of Canaanite proper names and other linguistic features, albeit in the cuneiform script. This is because the splitting of proto-Canaanite into its descendant languages (including Hebrew and Phoenician), as well as the earliest evidence of writing in those languages (in direct correlation to the invention of the alphabet) did not occur for another three or four centuries after the Amarna letters were written.

The New Kingdom was most characterized by wartime. This kingdom was ruled by "warrior pharaohs", mainly because the Egyptian borders in the desert regions did not offer protection from invasion any longer, as seen by the devastating earlier invasions by the Hyksos. In the New Kingdom, pharaohs greatly built up their armies and began to seek out conquering surrounding areas outside of Egypt, leading to much warring and conflict.

When King Tuthmosis I died, the crown passed to son Tuthmosis II, who actually married Hatshepsut, his half sister. Thus, Hatshepsut was also the daughter of Tuthmosis I. As Tuthmosis II was a weak king, Hatshepsut declared herself pharaoh and led a peaceful, prosperous reign for many years until her death.

King Akhenaten was known as the first "individual king." He tried to instill monotheism as the dominant theme in Egypt. He felt that the sun-disc god was the most important god and should be the one to be worshipped. However, monotheism did not really take hold as most of Egypt did not feel comfortable with these very different beliefs.

King Tutankhamen was known as the Boy King. He was the son of Akhenaten, and he died when he was only 19 years of age. "King Tut", as he is called, basically got rid of his father's ideals of monotheism and re-instilled the polytheism of many gods and goddesses.

During the wartimes of the New Kingdom, the capital of Egypt was moved from Memphis to Thebes. This was because Memphis no longer offered much protection as Lower Egypt was under constant attack. In contrast, Upper Egypt offered more safety, so the capital was moved to a prominent city in this region, Thebes.

The average lifespan of an ancient Egyptian individual was around twenty, although this, of course, varied dramatically at different times in Egyptian history. A large number of people, however, died when they were infants and if a person survived until their fifth birthday, they might more reasonably expect to live to thirty or forty on average. The biggest killer of the ancient Egyptians was famine and disease. Diseases like smallpox and tuberculosis routinely devastated the Egyptian population and could even precipitate famine through depressed manpower.