What elements did the Nile contribute to Egyptian civilization?

Instructions answer these questions:
“The Significance of the Nile River and the Pharaoh” – How does the ‘Hymn to the Nile’ reflect the significance of the river in
Egyptian society? What elements did the Nile contribute to Egyptian civilization? In what ways did the position and the role of the Pharaoh
relate to the Nile? What elements of stability and conservatism are apparent in the two poems?

Readings
“The Egyptian Nile,” wrote one Arab traveler, “surpasses all the rivers of the world in sweetness of taste, in length of course and usefulness. No other river in the world can show such a continuous series of towns and villages along its banks.” The Nile River was crucial to the development of Egyptian civilization (see Historical Voices, “The Significance of the Nile River and the Pharaoh”). Egypt, like Mesopotamia, was a river valley civilization.
Historical Voices
The Significance of the Nile River and the Pharaoh
Two of the most important sources of life for the ancient Egyptians were the Nile River and the pharaoh. Egyptians perceived that the Nile made possible the abundant food that was a major source of their well-being. This Hymn to the Nile, probably from the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties in the New Kingdom, expresses the gratitude Egyptians felt for the Nile.
Hymn to the Nile
Hail to you, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! …He that waters the meadows which Re created, in order to keep every kid alive.He that makes to drink the desert and the place distant from water: that is his dew coming down from heaven….The lord of fishes, he who makes the marsh-birds to go upstream….He who makes barley and brings emmer [wheat] into being, that he may make the temples festive.If he is sluggish, then nostrils are stopped up, and everybody is poor….When he rises, then the land is in jubilation, then every belly is in joy, every backbone takes on laughter, and every tooth is exposed.The bringer of good, rich in provisions, creator of all good, lord of majesty, sweet of fragrance….He who makes every beloved tree to grow, without lack of them.
The Egyptian king, or pharaoh, was viewed as a god and the absolute ruler of Egypt. His significance and the gratitude of the Egyptian people for his existence are evident in this hymn from the reign of Sesotris III (ca. 1880–1840 b.c.e.).
Hymn to the Pharaoh
He has come to us, he has taken the land of the well, the double crown [crown of Upper and Lower Egypt] is placed on his head.He has come, he has united the two lands, he has joined the kingdom of the upper land with the lower.He has come, he has ruled Egypt, he has placed the desert in his power.He has come, he has protected the two lands, he has given peace in the two regions.He has come, he has made Egypt to live, he has destroyed its afflictions.He has come, he has made the aged to live, he has opened the breath of the people. He has come, he has trampled on the nations, he has smitten the [enemies], who knew not his terror.He has come, he has protected his frontier, he has rescued the robbed. The Nile is a unique river, beginning in the heart of Africa and coursing northward for thousands of miles. The longest river in the world, the Nile was responsible for creating an area several miles wide on both banks of the river that was fertile and capable of producing abundant harvests. The “miracle” of the Nile was its annual flooding. The river rose in the summer from rains in Central Africa, crested in Egypt in September and October, and left a deposit of silt that enriched the soil. The Egyptians called this fertile land the “Black Land” because it was dark in color from the silt and the crops that grew on it so densely. Beyond these narrow strips of fertile fields lay the deserts (the “Red Land”). Around 100 miles before it empties into the Mediterranean, the river splits into two major branches, forming the Delta, a triangular-shaped territory called Lower Egypt to distinguish it from Upper Egypt, the land upstream to the south (see Map 1.4). Egypt’s important cities developed at the apex of the Delta.
Map 1.4Ancient Egypt
Egyptian civilization centered on the life-giving water and flood silts of the Nile River, with most of the population living in Lower Egypt, where the river splits to form the Nile Delta. Most of the pyramids, built during the Old Kingdom, are clustered south and west of Cairo.
Q
How did the lands to the east and west of the river help protect Egypt from invasion?
Unlike with Mesopotamia’s rivers, the flooding of the Nile was gradual and usually predictable, and the river itself was seen as life enhancing, not life threatening. Although a system of organized irrigation was still necessary, the small villages along the Nile could create such systems without the massive state intervention that was required in Mesopotamia. Egyptian civilization consequently tended to remain more rural, with many small population centers congregated along a narrow band on both sides of the Nile.
The surpluses of food that Egyptian farmers grew in the fertile Nile Valley made Egypt prosperous. But the Nile also served as a unifying factor in Egyptian history. In ancient times, the Nile was the fastest way to travel through the land, making both transportation and communication easier. Winds from the north pushed sailboats south, and the current of the Nile carried them north.
Unlike Mesopotamia, which was subject to constant invasion, Egypt had natural barriers that gave it some protection from invasion. These barriers included deserts to the west and east; cataracts (rapids) on the southern part of the Nile, which made defense relatively easy; and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. These barriers, however, were only effective when they were combined with Egyptian fortifications at strategic locations. Nor did barriers prevent the development of trade.
The regularity of the Nile floods and the relative isolation of the Egyptians created a sense of security and a feeling of changelessness. To the ancient Egyptians, when the Nile flooded each year, “the fields laugh and people’s faces light up.” Unlike people in Mesopotamia, Egyptians faced life with a spirit of confidence in the stability of things. Ancient Egyptian civilization was characterized by a remarkable degree of continuity for thousands of years.

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