FC: The Daily Scroll | Xavier High School 2011 | By: Collin Scanley, Matthew Regan, Mark Polanco, and Christopher Sanquiche
1: Napoleon and the Rosetta stone During Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition in Egypt in an attempt to aid his forces in the war with the British, one of his soldiers stumbled upon something that would change how we view Ancient Egypt. Soldiers were ordered to clear a space near fort Julien to extend the fort. This place was called Rosetta. While destroying a wall one soldier stumbled upon a black stone with carvings on it. But these were no ordinary carvings; it was carved in three different scripts! The stone was immediately transported to Cairo to be studied by Napoleon’s scholars. They pointed out that it was written in hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek. Greek was easily translated, as most of the scholars already knew Greek. They discovered that the stone was commemorating the new rule of Ptolemy V. Since Egypt was ruled by Greeks at the time it would make sense to have the stone written in Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphics. They believed that this stone held the key to deciphering the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and they were right. If it weren’t for that simple soldier in Napoleon’s army we may never have learned how to decipher hieroglyphics. Ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphics would be just carvings to us. It was the key to understanding Ancient Egypt to our fullest extent.
2: Rosetta Stone Ptolemy V Epiphanes come to the throne in the year of 196 B.C.E., succeeding his father, Ptolemy IV Philopater. During the beginning of Ptolemy V’s rule the were many rebellions all over Egypt. The king made attempts to calm these rebels.He gave the temples a revenue of money and grain. He lightened taxes on some people and remitted them on others so that all people could be prosperous during his rule. He even freed people who had been in prison and those under long accusations. He also told the priests to pay no more taxes than what they had paid during his father’s reign and he relieved them of their yearly journey to Alexandria. He remitted the tax of byssus cloth of temples to the crown by 2/3’s. then he attacked those who threatened the safety of Egypt. He arrived at Lycopolis in the Busirite nome and began attacking it’s fortified walls. When the Nile was close toflooding he built damns and canals. Once the flood came the water was stopped by the damns and canals built by Ptolemy V. after time he took the city by storm and killed them all. These efforts and many more were used as tactics to get the civilians to calm down and to avoid an all out war. However in doing this Ptolemy V brought some prosperity to Egypt in the end.
3: Pharaoh’s Obituary Tutankhaten or better known as Tutankhamun passed away yesterday. Tutankhamun changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun due to pressure from traditionalists, reflecting the growing acceptance of the old god Amun and decline in support of Aten. He was born in 1343 BCE in the city of Amarna. Tutankhamun reigned as pharaoh from 1334 BCE to 1325 BCE. It was a very short reign that started young; he was nine when he became pharaoh and eighteen when he died. He left behind his wife/ half-sister Ankhesenpaaten. Since he died so young his tomb is not done yet, it might be another seventy days till he can finally lay to rest there. Tutankhamun was always found swimming, hunting, or studying when he was younger despite needing a walking cane from a young age. When he first started off as pharaoh he tried to maintain his dads monotheistic religion around Aton but in a few years started bring back gods that were forbidden my his dad. He has left no male heir to the throne so Ay, who is a high ranking official in court will take the spot as pharaoh. It is very sad his life was cut short and he could not live up to his full potential as a pharaoh.
4: Editorial of Egypt There have been cases of rebellion or revolt within the Egyptian community from farmers, craftsmen, and even merchants. The revolt was spurred on by high taxes raised by the Pharaoh himself. These independent workers feel that this was unnecessary and they wish for change. The farmers believe that after working so hard for a long time that they only sufficient amount of stockpile to live off on, but no surplus. They want to be treated better for their hard work for the Pharaoh. They are willing to stop production of their food supply that is to be given to the Pharaoh. They can not do this though or else they would be punished severely. That is the reasons the farmers revolt against their ruler. The Craftsmen find their jobs to be unworthy because they want to exceed their social status but can not. They want to rebel because of their Pharaoh insufficiency to acknowledge the craftsmen in order to promote them a higher rank. They are less inclined to work for the Pharaoh and this will affect the Pharaohs popularity status to be well known because the craftsmen help in working on the public works the Pharaoh sent out. The merchants feel the tax on their items to be a hindrance to their survival people don’t buy their items merchants don’t have what they need to survive.
5: The Ancient Egyptians kept track of time through what they made as the sun dial. They use the sun to determine what time of day it is for them to keep track of when they should go out and do their works. They also had a calendar for the different days for all four seasons to know when to plant their food and when to harvest it again. They used the luni-solar calendar to determine these days. Their problems started off with the fact that they had an uneven amount of days to fulfill the Earths cycle. The Ancient Egyptians then proceeded to make five extra days as holy days. This was the beginning of new civilizations keeping track of time and date for agricultural reasons
6: Egyptian Travel In the Known world there are about 80 pyramids from ancient Egypt, but the best preserved are the magnificent pyramids of Giza. This is a true once in a life time opportunity to come visit the final resting place of great pharaohs such as, Khufu, Khafra, Menkaure who has the largest pyramid. If you are a religious person you practice your religion, well the ancient Egyptians had their own place of worship which were the temples. The temples of Karnax and Luxor are perhaps one of the most famous ones known to man, for example the temple of Luxor is covered with marvelous scenes of the pharaohs in battle, and goddesses performing rituals. The temple was also a place for worship some temples were even made for specific Gods.
7: The temple of Abu Simbel is consisted of two major temples located near the border of Egypt and Sudan. It was constructed for Ramesses II during the 13 century B.C.E. The temple was carved out from the side of a mountain as a lasting monument honoring his victory at the Battle of Kadesh, some people even say that Ramesses II constructed it to terrify his Nubian neighbors. The temple of Dendera is one of the best preserved complexes in Egypt which makes it such an amazing travel destination. The temple of Dendera is a temple of shrines and chapels from the beginning of ancient Egypt.
9: Mummification Mummification is a very complicated and long process. They remove all the moisture from the body and usually takes seventy days. This leaves the body in a dry form that doesn’t decay easily. Most of the earliest mummifications were most likely accidentally. The best preserved bodies are those of pharaohs. The first step of mummification is to remove all the internal parts that decay rapidly. They removed the brain by putting hooked tools up the nostril and pulling parts of the tissue out, this is very difficult procedure that could easily disfigure the face if done wrong. Next all the moisture is removed from the body putting natron all over the body and on the inside of the body. After that step the body was finally wrapped in linen.
10: Pharaohs and Nobel people of ancient Egypt were usually the only people mummified. The process of mummification was too expensive for normal people. But for religious reasons some animals were mummified such as baboons, cats, birds, crocodiles, and bulls. Pharaohs were mummified so they could continue to live in the afterlife for all eternity. Mummification can keep them looking the same for three thousand years. the normal people of ancient Egypt couldn’t afford so the only mummified people are pharaohs or noble men of Egypt. To be mummified in ancient Egypt was a symbol of power and wealth, most importantly to them it was a ticket into the afterlife for all eternity.