As one of the four ancient civilizations, ancient Egypt once rode the dust in the development of civilization. There are many legends left by ancient Egypt, mummies are one, and the other is the pyramids of ancient Egypt.
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt left behind large and small pyramids, the most famous of which is the "Pyramid of Khufu", and so far, there are still too many mysteries in the pyramids that have not been revealed.
The reason why the pyramids are famous all over the world is that their huge amount of work has always been an elusive point. You must know that in order to build the Pyramid of Khufu, Pharaoh mobilized the slaves of ancient Egypt to build it for more than 20 years, and it took more than 2.3 million huge stones to complete the construction.
Purely in terms of engineering quantity, it is comparable to the Great Wall of China, but at the functional level, it cannot be compared with the Great Wall of China.
But the problem is that the Pyramid of Khufu is more than 2,000 years earlier than the Great Wall built by Qin Shi Huang. So the problem is, when Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, he could do his best to barely complete it, which shows that such a huge project can be called a "devastating" project for a country.
However, more than 2,000 years ago, Egypt actually did this, and pyramids of various sizes were built one after another. So the question is, why was ancient Egypt able to have enough national strength to support it?
It is often said that unity is strength, and the reason why ancient Egypt was strong was largely because it established an absolute monarchy and a unified dynasty early.
How much energy can a unified dynasty burst out, please refer to Genghis Khan, after unifying Mongolia, the Mongolian iron hoof almost became a nightmare for the world.
And the reason why ancient Egypt was able to establish a unified country and burst out with such great energy was actually related to a "seemingly inconspicuous" thing.
Then this "inconspicuous" thing is the ancient Egyptian text.
Language and writing are the biggest differences between human beings and animals, and writing is a powerful guarantee for the development and prosperity of a civilization. If there is a self-proof text in the Xia Dynasty, then why bother until now, the existence of the Xia Dynasty has been undecided.
Therefore, with writing, knowledge can be precipitated, and with writing, it is conducive to the smooth flow of government decrees, and it is also of great benefit to the governance of the country.
Otherwise, the chaos of three people becoming tigers will emerge in endlessly, and there will be an embarrassing situation where rumors are flying all over the sky. Under such circumstances, it is difficult to achieve the passage of government decrees.
Therefore, Egyptian hieroglyphs played a key role in the rise of the ancient Egyptian regime.
It is not enough for words to appear, words need carriers to disseminate. Tortoise shells from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, clay tablets from the ancient Babylonian period, and calligraphy tablets from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
In the distant past, it was hard to believe that an official would have to pull a box of clay tablets to pass the orders of the monarch, which may seem like a joke now, but at the time, it was a relatively advanced situation.
I don't think many people who read this don't understand what the Egyptian papyrus is about. You must know that the Chinese oracle bone inscription appeared in 1500 BC, and the ancient Babylonian culture in the Lianghe River Valley did not inscribe on clay tablets until about 3000 BC, and until the cuneiform script disappeared, they did not throw away the tradition of clay tablet inscriptions.
Fortunately, the Chinese civilization has made significant progress in its development, and it only took more than 1,000 years to upgrade to bamboo slips. But when we look at Egypt on the other hand, it's a little bit pediatric.
Ancient Egypt invented hieroglyphics in 3500 B.C., and papyrus around 3000 B.C., more than 1,500 years before the appearance of oracle bone inscriptions.
In contrast, it can be seen that Egyptian officials around 3000 B.C. did not use carts to pull a cart of clay tablets or tortoiseshells to convey information.
Papyrus, as the name suggests, is a type of paper made of papyrus, and there is also a saying in ancient Egyptian for "the treasure of the pharaohs", which shows that the status of papyrus at that time was quite high.
Sedges are not uncommon and can be found all over the world, but only by the Nile River in Egypt can there be sedges that can grow to more than 3 meters tall and are used to make papyrus.
The ancient Egyptians made papyrus from sedge and recorded information on it. The reason why papyrus is called the treasure of the pharaohs is because of the contribution of the pharaohs in promoting the development of papyrus technology.
The premise of social development is not only a comfortable and suitable environment, but also the ability to achieve unity of government decrees and fast, accurate and timely information transmission.
The pharaohs relied on a book of the dead, which led to the development of papyrus craftsmanship. You know, the Book of the Dead was originally only the prerogative of the pharaohs, and the people of ancient Egypt dreamed of putting the Book of the Dead in their coffins.
You must know that the content of the "Book of the Dead" was monopolized by the rulers at that time, and the contents of the "Book of the Dead" would be carved into the pyramids of the pharaohs, and the ordinary people did not even think about it.
Later, the pharaohs let go of the privileges of the Book of the Dead, so the Book of the Dead became a bestseller in ancient Egypt, which in turn stimulated the craft and development of papyrus.
Originally, the pharaohs also needed the help of the nobles to govern the country, but with the popularity of the Book of the Dead, a large number of literate people appeared among the people, which allowed the pharaoh to get rid of the constraints of the nobles and select obedient people from the people to be officials, thus forming an absolute monarchy step by step.
Then, when the hand of the monarch can grasp the grassroots officials, and the decrees can be passed down quickly through papyrus, then the development of ancient Egypt will also make great strides.
Who would have thought that a piece of paper could have such a great knowledge.