Sinceit’sunificationtoitsconquestbyAlexandertheGreat,ancientEgyptwasthe Mediterranean world preeminent civilization for almost 30 centuries. From the colossal pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military triumphs of the New Kingdom, Egypt’s loftiness has since quite a while ago enchanted archeologists and students of history and made a dynamic field of study all its own: Egyptology. The fundamental wellsprings of data about ancient Egypt are the numerous landmarks, articles and antiques that have been recouped from archeological sites, secured with symbolic representations that have just as of late been deciphered.
It is easily said that the contributions of Egypt to the world civilization are noteworthy. From great inventions such as writing to less grand, yet still very popular creations such as eye makeup, one thing we do know is that the Egyptian civilization provided many contributions to the new world. One of the main contributions the Egyptians left behind is the art of writing. At first, they were not acquainted with the alphabet but they still found ways through drawings to express their thoughts. This is how the form of expression often referred to as hieroglyph or sacred writing began.
It wasn’t until a bit later that the Egyptians turned their approximately 2000-700 pictographic signs into “alphabets”. At last they created 24 alphabets and engraved them on stone. This stone is known as the Rosetta stone. It was written in three different scripts so that the rulers, priests and government officials could easily read it. It was many years later discovered in 1799 in a small village of Delta called Rosetta by French soldiers. Since the deciphering of this stone Egyptian civilization has been held responsible for the creation of the alphabet and therefore the beginning of writing.
But where did they write on? How did we evolve from writing on stones to paper? We owe this transition to the Egyptians as well. On the Nile Banks there was a plant that grew plentiful, the Papyrus plant. Someone had the brilliant idea of joining together this plant and making a roll to write on. The modern name paper is perhaps taken from the term papyrus. But what would they write with? They took juice of plants and prepared ‘ink’ by mixing gum and water with it. They honed the edge of the stem of a plant and arranged ‘reed pen’. By plunging the pen inside the ‘ink pot’ they wrote on Papyrus.
Finally, bits of Papyrus were moved and saved inside the earthen pots. Writing was for sure an honorable creation of the Egyptians. Now days we know lots about medicine. Thanks to great medical contributors such as Alexander Fleming and Hippocrates we have gotten to acquire the knowledge that today we have. However the Egyptians must be added to the list as possibly being the “fathers of medical science”. Of all their writings two medical books have been acquired from the Egyptians: the Edwin Smith papyrus and the Ebers papyrus. The Edwin Smith papyrus is the oldest known surgical treatise on trauma.
The document describes 48 cases of injuries, dislocations, tumors, and wounds. Due to the cases mentioned it is speculated that this document may have been a manual of military surgery. Magic was a commonly used form of treatment back in those days. What distinguishes this papyrus from others is that it does not use magic as form of treatment; all the cures and surgical procedures are presented in a scientific and rational approach. The Ebers papyrus takes a different approach yet it is still considered one of the most important documents of medicine. The scroll contains herbal remedies and magical formulas.
Additional to that one of the most interesting parts of this papyrus is the section they have on mental disorders such as those that we refer to as depression and dementia now. Speaking of medical discoveries and contributions the Egyptians could preserve bodies using chemicals; a practice that is very popular in modern day times. Egyptians were very skilled architects and sculptures. Pyramid is the excellent sample of it. The tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh is known as Pyramid. The populace of Egypt accepted that after death, the spirit returns back to the body. So they saved the dead body of the Pharaoh by applying chemicals to it.
This saved assortment of the Pharaoh was known as ‘Mummy’. It was secured with fabric and kept inside a casket. That casket was again kept inside a stone box named as Sarcophagus which contained little openings. The Egyptians accepted that the spirit can again go into that body through these openings. That box was set inside a room amidst the Pyramid. In the dividers of that room the life history of the Pharaoh was composed. The wife of the Pharaoh, his hirelings and slaves were executed and kept inside the room with nourishment, water, fabric and gems.
It was accepted that the spirit could perceive these things and again return back to the dead collection of the Pharaoh. By covering this room, the tomb of Pharaoh or Pyramid was fabricated by stone, blocks and limestone. Among the Pyramids of Egypt, the Pyramid constructed by Pharaoh Josher at Sakara is the most established. The celebrated and biggest Pyramid of Khufu was built at Gizeh. This is viewed as one of the Seven Miracles of the World. This 481 feet Pyramid is assembled more than 13 sections of land of area. 2,300,000 bits of stones were utilized as a part of it. The heaviness of every bit of stone is 2. 5 tons. Almost twenty years were spent for building this Pyramid.
Truth be told, Pyramid deifies the Egyptians in the records of world history. Yet another contribution the Egyptians left behind was that of religion. Religion assumed an indispensable part in the life of the Egyptians. From the earliest starting point they believed in Polytheism. They worshipped around 2200 divine beings and goddesses. They connected holiness in animals and adored them. Pharaoh Akhnaton brought a progressive change in the field of religion. He presented “Monotheism” in Egypt. He announced that there was a standout God and he is “Aton” or ‘Sun-god’. The ministers of Egypt had portrayed “Ra” or ‘Amon-Ra’ as a horrendous god.
Nonetheless, Akhnoton proclaimed “Aton” as omniscient, kind, father-like and an incarnation of leniency. He further told that Aton had made the world delightful and had made humanity. He precluded the love of ‘Amon- Ra’ in Karnak and Luxor and presented the offers like organic products in vegetables of creature penance. That is the reason the ministers considered him as their foe. The ancient Egyptians additionally had faith in life after death. That is the reason they assembled Pyramid. Osiris was sending a man to paradise or heck after judgment. The Egyptians additionally had faith in deeds.
The consequence of great deeds drove an individual to paradise and terrible deeds, to hell. Though eye makeup may not be one of the most important discoveries made it does give Egyptians longevity. Eye makeup was used not only to represent high class and status in the community, they believed that by applying thick coats of makeup could cure various eye diseases, and keep them protected from the evil eye. These are not even half of all the contributions the Egyptians left us with.
They also developed systems of administration, excelled in craftsmanship, were the first to use boats for trade and com merce, excelled in agriculture, developed a postal system, were great philosophers and many more astonishing contributions that are yet today used and were a big influence on modern day civilization.
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