2. Ancient Egyptian civilization
According to the mainstream historical circles in the world, the ancient Egyptian civilization has a history of more than 3,000 years, dating from 5,000 BC --- 641 AD. The ancient Egyptian civilization is one of the four birthplaces of human civilization.
In 1805, Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, army soldiers discovered the Rosetta Stone during the construction of the fortifications, and westerners' investigation and excavation of ancient Egyptian civilization began. The Chinese dialectician Champollion deciphered the ancient Egyptian script and created a new discipline--- ancient Egyptology.
Table 27
List of scientific and technological achievements of ancient Egyptian civilization
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serial number
Scientific and technological achievements
content
1
hieroglyph
The Ancient Egyptian Script, created in 3500 BC, is a type of hieroglyph called the Holy Book Body. The development of ancient Egyptian writing can be divided into four stages: (1) hieroglyphs. (2) Sacrificial script. (3) Secular script. (4) Coptic script.
2
Writing medium
Papyrus was a writing material used by the ancient Egyptians, made from the stems of papyrus that were abundant in the Nile Delta at that time. Papyrus was exported to mediterranean regions such as ancient Greece, and even to distant interior Europe and West Asia. Papyrus can not rot for thousands of years in a dry environment, papyrus lasted for 3,000 years and was used until about the 8th century AD. The process of making papyrus is similar to that of bamboo jane.
3
literature
(1) Myths and legends: The story of the two major gods led by the sun god Ra and the god Osiris.
(2) Short stories: Short stories have many themes, including all aspects of social life.
(3) Poetry: secular poetry and religious poetry.
(4) War Chronicle Works: Works that record the history of ancient Egyptian wars.
(5) Proverbs literature or teaching literature: literary works involving ethics, morality, and social customs.
4
Metal and pottery smelting
(1) Copper and gold and silver smelting technology: The ancient Egyptians mastered the smelting method of copper, and could use copper to make knives, drills, axes and other tools. The ancient Egyptians also initially mastered the processing and production methods of gold and silver.
(2) Pottery technology: Ancient Egyptians have been able to fire pottery with good texture.
5
astronomy
The ancient Egyptians developed fairly precise calendars--- solar calendars. The ancient Egyptians drew astrological charts very early on and were aware of many constellations and Pleiades. The ancient Egyptians also divided the zodiac stars and constellations into 36 groups, adding the tenth star to the calendar, which is 10 days, which is similar to the concept of the tenth of the Chinese lunar calendar. In addition, the Egyptians invented the gui table, the sundial (that is, timed by the reflection of the sun), and astronomical instruments for observing the stars.
6
medicine
The ancient Egyptians were particularly well developed in surgery, and there is a surgical content in the oldest medical document, the Smith Medical Papyrus. Thebes's Ebers Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian medical encyclopedia that contains more than 900 prescriptions for various diseases and various medical devices. In addition, the anatomy of ancient Egypt was also very developed.
7
mathematics
The ancient Egyptians created their own counting system and number symbols, they adopted decimal, but there was no position system. The knowledge of the ancient Egyptians in mathematics included three categories: arithmetic, algebra, and geometry. Arithmetic is mainly additive, and multiplication and division are also solved by the steps of the superposition method. Algebra can already solve a first-time equation. The geometric aspect already calculates the area of rectangles, triangles, trapezoids, and circles with a circumference of 3.16, as well as methods of finding answers to the area of the angular cone and hemisphere.
8
building
The ancient Egyptian pyramids are the square cone-shaped imperial tombs of Egypt's ancient slave society, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The pyramids of ancient Egypt were numerous and widely distributed. The area around the ancient city of Memphis, the west of the Nile, southwest of Cairo, is the most concentrated. The entire project lasted more than 30 years. Architectural marvels of ancient Egypt also include the Faros Lighthouse in Alexandria, the Karnak Temple, and the Luxor Temple.
9
art
The ancient Egyptians built a "Sphinx" near the Great Pyramid. To this day, no one knows the reason for the construction of this huge stone sculpture composed of a "lion body" and a "human face", which represents the wisdom and bravery of the pharaoh. Some believe that the "Sphinx" may have been the patron saint of the pyramids, while others believe it is a symbol of the great civilization of ancient Egypt. Other works of art left over from ancient Egypt include carvings and paintings.
The ancient Egyptians were yellow people, and judging from the excavated cultural relics, their appearance, writing, calendar and medicine were very similar to the Chinese civilization, and the ancient Egyptian civilization may be a branch of the Chinese civilization scattered in the Egyptian region Chinese established.
The medium of writing in the ancient Egyptian civilization was papyrus, which was at least one grade lower than Chinese papermaking. The performance of papyrus is far from comparable to the paper invented by China around 500 BC. Sedge has not been chemically treated, has not changed its fiber shape, when writing, the ink only stays on the surface of the papyrus, will not penetrate into the inside of the papyrus, in such a paper written out of the words, the handwriting is easy to volatilize, air dry, after a short time, the handwriting will blur or even disappear. The smoothness of papyrus paper is also not smooth enough to be easy to write. Papyrus is not easy to handle and put away, and it is easy to break and damage. Because it has not been dehydrated, papyrus is easily perishable and spoiled, and the shelf life is very short.
The ancient Egyptian civilization that used papyrus as a medium of writing was generally no higher than before the invention of Chinese papermaking (the late Spring and Autumn period or the early warring states period, that is, around 500 BC).
The small number of papyrus documents unearthed by the ancient Egyptian civilization shows that the ancient Egyptian civilization could not have been a highly developed civilization.
Copper, iron ore, rare ore and coal resources in Egypt are almost non-existent, and western historians say that the ancient Egyptians went to Central Asia to mine ore is untenable, and the ancient transportation conditions were not available. Although the bronze and iron artifacts unearthed in the Egyptian region are claimed to have a very early history, their number is very small, indicating that the bronze and iron technology of the ancient Egyptian civilization was not developed.
Europeans have been importing ceramics from China, and europeans have not mastered ceramic technology until the Industrial Revolution. The distance from Europe to Egypt is much closer than the distance from Europe to China, which shows that the ancient Egyptian civilization did not have ceramic technology, otherwise Westerners would not be willing to import ceramics from China. Without ceramic technology, the ancient Egyptian civilization was even less likely to master bronze and iron.
The level of mathematics and astronomical almanac of the ancient Egyptian civilization was very low, and it was possible to master only simple arithmetic knowledge and crude astronomical calendar knowledge, and mature and systematic mathematics and astronomical calendar law were produced after the invention of Chinese papermaking.
It is said that the earliest ancient Egyptian pyramids were built more than 2600 BC, and during that period, it was impossible for humans to complete such a regular construction of the pyramids of ancient Egypt. Building such a large-scale building will definitely require design drawings, and it is impossible to complete such a job on papyrus paper. Western historians boast of the sheer scale and superb architectural skills of the pyramids of ancient Egypt, which in fact were impossible in the absence of paper.
No matter what building materials, after more than 4600 years of wind and rain and sun, they will definitely become unrecognizable, or even become a pile of dirt. Modern building materials will not be worse than the quality of building materials 4600 years ago, and the service life of modern buildings is generally 70 years, and after 70 years, they will be demolished and rebuilt.
In recent years, Chinese and foreign scholars have used modern technical means to continuously put forward strong evidence and question the age of the ancient Egyptian pyramids. Whether it is stone or other building materials, it is impossible to keep 4,000 --- 5,000 years unchanged, 4,000-5,000 years of wind and sun, even the strongest building will collapse. Modern buildings use reinforced concrete as a building material, and they are stronger than ancient buildings, and the life of these modern buildings is only about 100 years. Some people compare the photos of the pyramid 100 years ago with the photos of the current pyramid and found that in this 100-year period, the surface of the pyramid has been severely weathered, and according to this rate of weathering, it is estimated that the pyramid could not have been built for 4000-5000 years. Scientists also used modern technical means to test the building materials of the pyramids and found that the building materials for building the pyramids were modern building materials, and their real construction dates should be between the 12th --- 16th centuries AD.
If the ancient Egyptian civilization was a highly developed civilization, it could not be eliminated by the backward and weak civilizations around it. After the disappearance of the ancient Egyptian civilization, the region did not later evolve a highly developed civilization. There have been no original scientific and technological inventions that have a major impact on mankind in this region, indicating that this region is only an imported civilization, not an original civilization.