Agriculture was the center of ancient Egyptian life. the majority of the people were farmers and the growing season lasted eight to nine months. Although they had pastoral farming of cattle, sheep and goats, wheat fruit and vegetables were the principal crops. They worked hard in order to feed themselves and pay their taxes. From July to November they would have the annual flooding of the Nile that made farming impossible, but wen the waters receded, a thick layer of fertile silt over the farmlands insured thick grasses for their grazing animals and rich soil for their crops.The Egyptian country consisted of the two narrow strips of land lining either bank of the river Nile, and just beyond the farmlands lay enormous deserts. The Nile was the center of their culture, with its cycle of growth, death and rebirth to new growth becoming their cycle of everyday life that made up their religion and understanding of an afterlife. The river was not just there for their food, it insured a line of communication and transportation among the provinces of the kingdom. To the pharaohs the Nile was an advantage to them because it was a means to transport their armies and thus maintaining a strong, unified nation. Egypt had a centralized government controlled by a line of hereditary rulers by 3100 BC. These were like kings, but called pharaohs, and they kept a royal court of advisers and nobility and controlled the governors of the provinces of the kingdom. They also commanded the Egyptian army and even priests and priestesses who officiated at the complex religious ceremonies and played as servants to the gods served the pharaoh. The pharaohs started being considered as a representative of the gods on earth and also as gods themselves.
The River Nile.
The River Nile flooding.
Hieroglyphs of a pharaoh.
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