Everything about Culture Of Egypt totally explained
The
Culture of Egypt has five thousand years of recorded history.
Ancient Egypt was among the earliest
civilizations. For millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of
Europe, the
Middle East and
Africa. After the Pharaonic era, Egypt itself came under the influence of
Hellenism, for a time
Christianity, and later,
Arab and
Islamic culture. Today, many aspects of Egypt's ancient culture exist in interaction with newer elements, including the influence of modern
Western culture.
Language
Ancient Egyptian language, which formed
a separate branch among the family of
Afro-Asiatic languages, was among the first written languages, and is known from
hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved on monuments and sheets of
papyrus. The
Coptic language, the only extant descendant of Egyptian, is today the
liturgical language of the
Coptic Orthodox Church.
The "Koiné" dialect of the
Greek language was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the philosophy and science of that culture, and was later studied by Arabic scholars.
Arabic came to Egypt in the
seventh century and
Egyptian Arabic has since become the modern speech of the country. Of the many
varieties of Arabic, it's the most widely spoken
second dialect, probably due to the influence of Egyptian cinema throughout the Arabic-speaking world.
In the Upper Nile Valley, around
Kom Ombo and
Aswan, there are about 300,000 speakers of
Nubian languages, mainly
Nobiin, but also Kenuzi-Dongola. The
Berber languages are represented by
Siwi, spoken by about 5,000 around the
Siwa Oasis. There are over a million speakers of the
Domari language (an
Indo-Aryan language related to
Romany), mostly living north of
Cairo, and there are about 60,000
Greek speakers in
Alexandria. Approximately 77,000 speakers of Bedawi (a
Beja language) live in the Eastern Desert.
Literature
Ancient Egyptian literature dates back to the
Old Kingdom, in the third millennium BC. Religious literature is best known for its
hymns to various gods and its mortuary texts. The oldest extant Egyptian literature are the
Pyramid Texts: the mythology and rituals carved around the tombs of rulers. The later, secular literature of ancient Egypt includes the 'wisdom texts', forms of philosophical instruction. The
Instruction of Ptahhotep, for example, is a collation of moral proverbs by an Egyptian administrator. The authors of the literature of the Old and
Middle Kingdoms (through to the middle of the second millennium BC) seem to have been drawn from an elite administrative class, and were celebrated and revered into the
New Kingdom (to the end of the second millennium). In time, the Pyramid Texts became
Coffin Texts (perhaps after the end of the Old Kingdom), and finally the mortuary literature produced its masterpiece, the
Book of the Dead, during the New Kingdom.
The
Middle Kingdom was the golden age of Egyptian literature. Some notable texts include the Tale of Neferty, the Instructions of
Amenemhat I, the
Tale of Sinuhe, the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor and the Story of the Eloquent Peasant.
Instructions became a popular literary genre of the
New Kingdom, taking the form of advice on proper behavior. The
Story of Wenamun and the Instructions of Ani are well-known examples from this period.
During the
Greco-Roman period (
332 BC − AD
639), Egyptian literature was translated into other languages, and Greco-Roman literature fused with native art into a new style of writing. From this period comes the
Rosetta Stone, which became the key to unlocking the mysteries of Egyptian writing to modern scholarship. The great city of
Alexandria boasted its famous
Library of almost half a million handwritten books during the third century BC. Alexandria's centre of learning also produced the Greek translation of the
Hebrew Bible, the
Septuagint.
During the first few centuries of the Christian era, Egypt was the ultimate source of a great deal of ascetic literature in the
Coptic language. Egyptian monasteries translated many
Greek and
Syriac works, which are now only extant in Coptic. Under
Islam, Egypt continued to be a great source of literary endeavour, now in the
Arabic language. In
970,
al-Azhar University was founded in
Cairo, which to this day remains the most important centre of
Sunni Islamic learning. In
12th century Egypt, the Jewish Talmudic scholar
Maimonides produced his most important work.
In contemporary times, Egyptian novelists and poets were among the first to experiment with modern styles of Arabic literature, and the forms they developed have been widely imitated. The first modern Egyptian novel
Zaynab by
Muhammad Husayn Haykal was published in
1913 in the
Egyptian vernacular. Egyptian novelist
Naguib Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language writer to win the
Nobel Prize in Literature. Many Egyptian books and films are available throughout the
Middle East. Other prominent Egyptian writers include
Nawal El Saadawi, well known for her
feminist works and
activism, and
Alifa Rifaat who also writes about women and tradition. Vernacular poetry is perhaps the most popular literary genre amongst
Egyptians, represented most significantly by
Bayram el-Tunsi,
Ahmed Fouad Negm (Fagumi),
Salah Jaheen and
Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.
See also: List of writers from Egypt
Religion
Ancient Egyptian religion was a polytheistic system that saw the world as in conflict between forces of order and chaos. The
Pharaoh, representative of order on Earth, was seen as divine and descended of the falcon god
Horus. There was a strong cult of resurrection in the next life centered around the god
Osiris.
Coptic Christianity became popular in the Roman and Byzantine periods, and Egypt was indeed one of the strongest early Christian communities. Today, Christians constitute about 10% of the population.
Islam in Egypt came to the country with the successors of the
Prophet Muhammad, and is today the dominant faith with 90% of the population adherents, almost completely of the
Sunni denomination.
Visual art
Egyptian art in antiquity
The Egyptians were one of the first major civilizations to codify design elements in
art. The
wall paintings done in the service of the
Pharaohs followed a rigid code of visual rules and meanings. Early Egyptian art is characterized by absence of
linear perspective, which results in a seemingly flat space. These artists tended to create images based on what they knew, and not as much on what they see. Objects in these artworks generally don't decrease in size as they increase in distance and there's little shading to indicate
depth. Sometimes, distance is indicated through the use of
tiered space, where more distant objects are drawn higher above the nearby objects, but in the same scale and with no overlapping of forms. People and objects are almost always drawn in profile.
Early Egyptian artists did have a system for maintaining dimensions within artwork. They used a grid system that allowed them to create a smaller version of the artwork, and then scale up the design based upon proportional representation in a larger grid.
See also: African art (Egypt)
Egyptian art in modern times
Modern and
contemporary Egyptian art can be as diverse as any works in the world art scene. Some well-known names include
Mahmoud Mokhtar, Abdel-Hadi el Gazzar,
Farouk Hosny,
Gazbia Sirry and many others. Many artists in Egypt have taken on modern media such as digital art and this has been the theme of many exhibitions in Cairo, in recent times. There has also been a tendency to use the world wide web as an alternative outlet for artists and there's a strong Art-focused internet community on egroups that has found origin in Egypt
*
.
Science
Egypt's cultural contributions have included great works of
science, art, and
mathematics, dating from
antiquity to modern times.
Ancient Egypt
Mathematics
The ancient
Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to implement Mathematical numbers. The traditional view of
Ancient Egypt's 'additive' scholars reports that Egyptians confined themselves to applications of practical arithmetic with many problems addressing how a number of loaves can be divided equally between a number of men.
Medicine
Technology
Imhotep
Considered to be the first engineer, architect and physician in history known by name,
Imhotep designed the
Pyramid of Djoser (the
Step Pyramid) at
Saqqara in
Egypt around
2630-
2611 BC, and may have been responsible for the first known use of
columns in
architecture. The Egyptian historian
Manetho credited him with inventing stone-dressed building during Djoser's reign, though he wasn't the first to actually build with stone. Imhotep is also believed to have founded
Egyptian medicine, being the author of the world's earliest known medical document, the
Edwin Smith Papyrus.
Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt
The
Royal Library of Alexandria was once the largest in the world. It is usually assumed to have been founded at the beginning of the
3rd century BC during the reign of
Ptolemy II of Egypt after his father had set up the
Temple of the Muses or
Museum. The initial organization is attributed to
Demetrius Phalereus. The Library is estimated to have stored at its peak 400,000 to 700,000
scrolls.
One of the reasons so little is known about the Library is that it was lost centuries after its creation. All that's left of many of the volumes are tantalizing titles that hint at all the history lost due to the building's destruction. Few events in ancient history are as controversial as the destruction of the Library, as the historical record is both contradictory and incomplete. Its destruction has been attributed by some authors to, among others, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Catholic zealots during the purge of the Arian heresy, Not surprisingly, the Great Library became a symbol of knowledge itself, and its destruction was attributed to those who were portrayed as ignorant
barbarians, often for purely political reasons.
A
new library was inaugurated in
2003 near the site of the old library.
The
Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, designed by
Sostratus of Cnidus and built during the reign of
Ptolemy I Soter served as the city's landmark, and later, lighthouse.
Mathematics and technology
Alexandria, being the center of the Hellenistic world, produced a number of great mathematicians, astronomers and scientists such as
Ctesibius,
Pappus and
Diophantus. It also attracted scholars from all over the Mediterranean such as
Eratosthenes of
Cyrene.
Ptolemy
Ptolemy is one of the most famous astronomers and geographers from Egypt, famous for his work in
Alexandria. Born Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαίος; c.
85 – c.
165) in
Upper Egypt, he was a
geographer,
astronomer, and
astrologer.
Ptolemy was the author of two important scientific treatises. One is the astronomical treatise that's now known as the
Almagest (in Greek
Η μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Great Treatise"). In this work, one of the most influential books of antiquity, Ptolemy compiled the astronomical knowledge of the ancient Greek and
Babylonian world. Ptolemy's other main work is his
Geography. This too is a compilation, of what was known about the world's
geography in the Roman Empire in his time.
In his
Optics, a work which survives only in an Arabic translation, he writes about properties of
light, including
reflection,
refraction and
colour. His other works include
Planetary Hypothesis,
Planisphaerium and
Analemma. Ptolemy's treatise on astrology, the
Tetrabiblos, was the most popular
astrological work of antiquity and also enjoyed great influence in the
Islamic world and the
medieval Latin West.
Ptolemy also wrote an influential work Harmonics on music theory. After criticizing the approaches of his predecessors, Ptolemy argued for basing musical intervals on mathematical ratios (in contrast to the followers of Aristoxenus) backed up by empirical observation (in contrast to the overly-theoretical approach of the Pythagoreans). He presented his own divisions of the tetrachord and the octave, which he derived with the help of a monochord. Ptolemy's astronomical interests also appeared in a discussion of the music of the spheres.
Tributes to Ptolemy include Ptolemaeus crater on the Moon and Ptolemaeus crater on Mars.
Medieval Egypt
Abu Kamil Shuja ibn Aslam
Ibn Yunus
Modern Egypt
Ahmed Zewail
Ahmed Zewail (
Arabic: أحمد زويل) (born
February 26,
1946) is an
Egyptian
chemist, and the winner of the
1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on
femtochemistry. Born in
Damanhur (60 km south-east of
Alexandria) and raised in
Disuq, he moved to the
US to complete his PhD at the
University of Pennsylvania. He was awarded a faculty appointment at
Caltech in 1976, where he's remained since.
Zewail's key work has been as the pioneer of
femtochemistry. He developed a method using a rapid
laser technique (consisting of
ultrashort laser flashes), which allows the description of reactions at the
atomic level. It can be viewed as a highly sophisticated form of
flash photography.
In
1999, Zewail became the third Egyptian to receive the
Nobel Prize, following
Anwar Sadat (
1978 in Peace) and
Naguib Mahfouz (
1988 in Literature). In
1999 he received Egypt's highest state honour, the
Grand Collar of the Nile.
Egyptology
In modern times,
archaeology and the study of Egypt's ancient heritage as the field of
Egyptology has itself become a major scientific pursuit in the country itself. The field began in
Arab Egypt during the
Middle Ages, but was later led by Europeans and Westerners in modern times. The study of Egyptology, however, has in recent decades been taken up by Egyptian archæologists such as
Zahi Hawass and the
Supreme Council of Antiquities he leads.
The discovery of the
Rosetta Stone, a tablet written in ancient Greek, Egyptian
Demotic script, and Egyptian hieroglyphs, has partially been credited for the recent stir in the study of Ancient Egypt.
Greek, a well known language, gave linguists the ability to decipher the mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphic language. The ability to decipher hieroglyphics facilitated the translation of hundreds of the texts and inscriptions that were previously indecipherable, giving insight into Egyptian culture that would have otherwise been lost to the ages. The stone was discovered on July 15, 1799 in the port town of Rosetta, Egypt,and has been held in the
British Museum since 1802.
Sports
The most played most-watched sport in Egypt is
Football (Soccer). Egyptian Soccer clubs especially
El Ahly and
El Zamalek are known throughout the
Middle East and
Africa and enjoy the reputation of long-time champions of the sport regionally. They enjoy popularity even among non-Egyptians.
Among the most-watched sports in Egypt are
basketball,
handball,
squash and
tennis. The Egyptian Squash team is always known for its fierce competition in world-wide championship in the 1930s and today. Handball has become another growingly popular sport among Egyptians as well. Since the early 1990s, the Egyptian Handball Team has become a growing international force in the sport, winning regional and continental tournaments as well as reaching up to fourth place internationally in
2001.
Local sports clubs receive financial support from the local governments, and many sporting clubs are financially and administratively supported by the government.
Cinema
Egyptian cinema is a flourishing film industry with a long history. As a result, the Egyptian capital has been dubbed the "Hollywood of the Middle East", where the world-renowed
Cairo International Film Festival is held every year.
Music and dance
Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous Egyptian, Arabic, African and Western influences.
As early as
4000 BC, ancient Egyptians were playing
harps and
flutes, as well as two indigenous instruments: the
ney and the
oud. However, there's little notation of Egyptian music before the
7th century AD, when Egypt became part of the
Muslim world.
Percussion and
vocal music became important at this time, and has remained an important part of Egyptian music today.
Contemporary
Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of luminaries such as Abdu-l Hamuli, Almaz and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by
Khedive Ismail and who influenced the later work of
Sayed Darwish,
Umm Kulthum,
Mohammed Abdel Wahab,
Abdel Halim Hafez and other Egyptian music giants.
From the
1970s onwards, Egyptian
pop music has become increasingly important in Egyptian culture, particularly among the large youth population of Egypt. Egyptian
folk music is also popular, played during weddings and other festivities. In the last quarter of the
20th century, Egyptian music was a way to communicate
social and
class issues. The most popular Egyptian pop singer is
Amr Diab.
Belly dance, or
Raqs Sharqi in Arabic, may have originated in Egypt, and today the country is considered the international center of the art.
The Egyptian Center for Culture & Art (ECCA) Makan
ECCA records and promotes traditional
Egyptian music styles that are increasingly in danger of being relegated to the status of an exotic and de-contextualised tourist curiosity, or placed on the shelves of academic archives far from the daily lives of their dwindling practitioners. ECCA encourages efforts to return Egyptian music to the critical role it has played in the daily life and imagination of the Egyptian people, and to share this rich resource with the world community. A number of strategies and activities that support these aims include the systematic recording, documenting and archiving of current practice so as to make it available to scholars, musicians and to an increasingly broad-based audience.
Cuisine
Egyptian cuisine consists of local culinary traditions such as
Ful medames,
Kushari and
Molokhia. It also shares similarities with food found throughout the eastern Mediterranean like
kebab and
falafel.
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