Old Kingdom

From ArchaeoWiki

The Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt is the name conventionally applied to the extended period in the third millennium BCE when the unified Nile Valley culture and state maintained its first continuous apogee of civilised development. The Old Kingdom is therefore widely recognised as the first of the three so-called "Kingdom" periods in ancient Egyptian history and culture. On account of the rapid growth in pyramidal funerary monuments for the royal elite during this period, the Old Kingdom is also frequently referred to as "the Age of the Pyramids".

Preceded by the Early Dynastic Period, the Old Kingdom is commonly regarded as spanning at least that period of time when Egypt was governed by the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty. A significant number of historians would also include the Memphite Seventh and Eighth Dynasties in recognition of the continuity of centralised administration at Memphis, which city formed the royal capital for most of the Old Kingdom period. The Old Kingdom was followed by a period of political disunity and relative cultural decline, normally designated as the First Intermediate Period.

Bibliography

• Fischer, Henry G. [2000], Egyptian Women of the Old Kingdom and of the Heracleopolitan Period second edition, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. ISBN 0870999672 pdf

• Kloth, N. [1998], "Beobachtungen zu den biographischen Inschriften des Alten Reiches", SAK 25 (1998), pp.189-205.

• Mumford, Gregory [2006], "Tell Ras Budran (Site 345): Defining Egypt's Eastern Frontier and Mining Operations in South Sinai during the Late Old Kingdom (Early EB IV / MBI)", BASOR 342 (2006), pp.13-67.

• Ryholt, Kim [2000], "The Late Old Kingdom in the Turin King-list and the Identity of Nitocris", ZÄS 127 (2000), pp.87-100.

• Strudwick, Nigel C. [2005], Texts from the Pyramid Age, [Writings from the Ancient World 16], Atlanta: SBL, 2005. ISBN 9789004130487