There was government-sponsored “encouragement” to make a success of these farm communities. Such incentives would include exemption from taxation and exclusion from compulsory work requirements.

With the success of these models of economic and spiritual cores, during the years of the Twelfth Dynasty, the government initiated expansion projects that cultivated over 21,000 acres near the city of Faiyum. Since the New Kingdom, the border lands, which the irrigation water did not directly reach, were given free of charge to temples, officials, and warriors to reclaim and plant.

As Egyptian civilization advanced, so did its needs for extra land to continue the agricultural prosperity. Ramesses' reign saw the beginning of special attention to the Delta region. While the Delta was mostly a grazing range, the government efforts were positive and increased the cultivable lands from 8,000 to 13,000 square kilometers. In the Ptolemaic era, Egypt continued the agricultural expansion adding over 310,000 acres near Faiyum, Egypt’s agricultural belt. With totals of about 7 million acres, the Egyptian model of agricultural cores was considered very acceptable.

During the Roman period, Egypt became a province of Rome. Roman civilization brought prosperity to the areas of Germania and Northern Europe but actually had the reverse effect on Egypt’s agricultural economy. Canals and streams were neglected, resulting in the shrinking of cultivated land to about half its area in the Ptolemaic era. This shrinkage continued from the 7 million down to 1.5 million acres during the reign of Al-Muezz Lideen Allah.

At its height, Egypt’s prosperity was bolstered with the introduction of winter wheat, making food shortages non-existent. Flax, broad beans, lentils and onions were the staple crops, while the prosperity of the plantations brought an abundance of grapes and fruits, such as dates, figs, rhamnus, sycamore, pomegranates, as well as acacia and date palm trees. Beer and bread from barley met the needs of their people, which allowed for the exportation of grains during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.

Since the seventh century AD, Egypt became the main source for feeding the peoples of the Mediterranean region, which made it a target for invaders. This situation lasted after the Arab conquest. However, Arabs introduced new crops, such as rice and sugarcane, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD. This ancient system shows the impact of a government-sponsored economy on the evolution of a civilization.

Irrigation

Since prehistoric times, agriculture in Egypt depended on waters from the Nile River and its steady annual flooding of the Egyptian lands, providing it with water and silt. Thus, the land was irrigated annually in a regular way known as "beds" irrigation, which is a system dividing the agricultural land into beds by mud barriers. The water flows into the beds through canals. Each canal carries water to about eight beds, one after the other. In this way, the lands nearer to the river banks have a bigger share of water than the lands farther away. Eventually, Egyptians advanced to artificial irrigation. It aims at keeping the extra unneeded water left after the flood in the beds near the river banks to use it for watering the farther beds, which the flood water does not reach. This was accomplished through digging a series of canals and bridges. Artificial irrigation was considered an Egyptian achievement that required the people's and government's cooperation and persistence.

Since the stabilization of the central government, Egyptians annually recorded the Nile water level and registered it in official records. The oldest record for the flood levels is found on the Palermo stone from the Fifth Dynasty, on which 63 Nile water levels were recorded. This measurement of water levels continued to be used and developed until 715 AD when the Arabs built the nilometer, or the Roda measure, named for the island it was used on. This measurement was in use until the early twentieth century. Monitoring the Nile water level had a great effect on estimating the taxes and the area of land that could be irrigated in the year. After each flood, the regions were responsible for managing the canals, while measuring the land and recording the water levels were carried out on the national level.

In the Ptolemaic period, Greek temple records presented each region as an economic unit, and referred to the name of the canal which irrigates the region, the cultivated region which is located on the river's banks and is directly irrigated with its water, and the lands located on the region's border that could be reclaimed. The beds irrigation system allowed cultivating one winter crop; while in summer, the only lands that could be cultivated were the high lands away from the flood. Thus, when the Egyptians invented tools to lift water, such as the shaduf, they were able to cultivate two crops per year, which was considered a great advance in the field of irrigation. The shaduf was invented in the Amarna period and is a simple tool which needs two to four men to operate. The shaduf consists of a long, suspended pole weighted at one end and a bucket tied at the other end. It can lift about 100 cubic meters (100,000 liters) in 12 hours, which is enough for irrigating a little over a third of an acre.

In the Ptolemaic era, the waterwheel was invented to lift water. It is a huge wheel with pottery jars fixed around its circumference. The waterwheel plunges into water then turns to lift four to six cubic meters of water. The waterwheel can lift 285 cubic meters (285,000 liters) of water in 12 hours.

Herding

Animals provided the ancient Egyptians with food and milk, hides, and dung for cooking fires. Animals also helped with farming and transportation. Breeding animals were common in the earliest Neolithic settlements in Faiyum and on the western edge of the Delta. The Egyptians probably acquired some of their livestock from Asia Minor and parts of North Africa. The ancient Egyptians raised cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys, geese and other poultry, and dogs. They also tried to domesticate the oryx during the Old Kingdom. The horse was introduced in the New Kingdom.

Like the land, herds belonged to large estate owners who employed professional shepherds to tend the animals. The shepherds specialized in one type of animal, such as cattle, sheep, goats, or pigs. They had overseers and assistants such as "bucket carriers" and "fodder men." Herdsmen are depicted in tombs as being very lean and usually unshaven but with little hair on their heads. Being continuously on the move with their herd, they had little time for food and comforts. They are shown with their kilts tucked up and carrying over their shoulders a stick with matting hanging from it, which was used to protect them from the wind and sun. Common scenes show them milking, feeding young animals, helping with births, and bringing the animals to the estate owner for the census.

Cattle were the most profitable livestock animals as beef was the most prestigious meat. There were more cows than bulls in the herds. Green expanses of cultivated lucerne (alfalfa), clover, and chickling vetch provided fodder for domesticated animals. Herds would also clear the straw and chaff left after harvests. Cattle were driven out to the pastures or fields during the day and tied to stones with thick date-palm-fiber ropes to make sure they didn't trample too much of the grass. At night, they were herded to palisaded pens to protect them from wild beasts and thieves. In the winter they were housed in a structure similar to a barn.

Sheep with spiral horns were seen as the incarnation of the god Khnum and later Amun. Priests were forbidden to eat mutton or wear wool, especially during the Late Period, and sheep's milk and meat were not left as offerings to the dead. Texts indicate that goats were more numerous than sheep up to Ptolemaic times. Goats were more accessible as meat sources for poorer households because they were more adaptable to scrub grazing and easier to milk than cows. Pigs were used infrequently as food, except during the Eighteenth Dynasty when large herds were kept. Ducks and geese were kept in feeding pens or were allowed to peck around courtyards for food. Domestic chickens may have been bred as early as the New Kingdom.

Comments

Add New Search

3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."