What Happened?

The story of the rise and fall of Egyptian civilization is one of many ups and downs. Egyptian scholars have suggested “that the ups and downs of Egyptian civilization can be traced to successful or unsuccessful adaptations to fluctuating ecological conditions along the Nile and the management of agricultural and labor surpluses in face of those conditions” (from First Cities by A. P. Andrews). Clearly one of those ecological conditions was one the Egyptians had little control over despite their faith in their religious rituals, the weather.

Egyptian life revolved around the rise and fall of the Nile’s waters and the growing and harvesting of crops. The Egyptian year began in the middle of July when the water from summer rains in the African tropics flowed over and inundated the flood plains of the Nile. This time of the year was called the time of Innundation. The next season, from September to January, was the time of Emergence as the land reappeared from under the flood water and it was tilled and planted. The third season was the Drought. It started in February and was the time the crops were harvested and the state collected surplus grain (taxes). This surplus fed the pharaoh, his household, the households of all the government officials, and anyone else in favor with the king. It also fed the army and the monument builders. When the annual flood did not come, neither did the surpluses.

Generally the cyclical pattern of the Egyptian seasons was dependable and predictable, a phenomenon the ancient Egyptians believed was due to the activity of their gods. The Egyptians called this godly power maat , a term that roughly encompasses our concepts of justice, truth, and order (cosmic and social). When the power of maat failed, as it did at several times in early Egyptian history, social order broke down and the prestige of the pharaoh, who was charged with the administration of maat, was undermined. But the fault was not always due to the pharaoh’s incompetence. It has been suggested that one of the reasons for maat ‘s failure might have been the phenomenon we know today as El Niño. Scientists believe that there have been major El Niño events for at least the last 5000 years and recent El Niño’s have been linked to a decrease in the flow of the Nile. When an El Niño event ends there are usually very heavy rains and floods. More likely, however, the drop in global temperature which started around 3000 BC was to blame.

Soon after 3000 BC actual records of the time show that the level of annual floods of the Nile dropped, and after 2200 they came at roughly 200-year interval. There were some sequences of years when the level was so low as to cause starvation in Upper Egypt. The worst of all these times may have been 1200 BC, when it is suspected that widespread aridity provoked migrations of peoples throughout the Near East.
H. H. Lamb

But there may be more to it than that….

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