The unification of Egypt under one king, or pharaoh, around 2925 BCE, ushered in what is called the Early Dynastic (or Archaic) period. Lasting until around 2650 BCE and covering the reigns of 12 kings, the Early Dynastic period was a time that saw many changes. The pharaohs set up huge bureaucratic systems to help administer the vast kingdom. Officials supervised the work of collecting the harvests from the farmers and distributing food to nonproductive citizens such as courtiers, priests, and civil servants. This collection and distribution process entailed keeping detailed records, so the system of writing developed rapidly at this time, together with systems of counting and measurement.
An army of scribes was kept at work busily recording state business on rolls of papyrus paper, and a rapid system of writing with pen and ink was soon in use. The advantage of writing was not only that it permitted permanent records to be kept, but that instructions and reports could be committed to papyrus rolls and sent far off by messenger.
The all-powerful kings lived in state in the capital city, Memphis. The pharaoh was considered to be a god, so his passage at death into the afterlife was supremely important. Every king commissioned his own tomb and carefully supervised the building of it. These tombs were built of sun-dried mud bricks and were designed to contain, besides the coffin of the king himself, many goods and valuable items. Sometimes, the king’s wives and retainers were sacrificed at the time of his death and entombed with him. During the first dynasty, the king was buried at Abydos; during the second, he was buried at Saqqara. Around the royal burial sites were smaller tombs for members of the court.
World History
