The Story of Africa For Kids: Chapter 4
How did the Ancient Egyptian civilization fall or decline?
Sadly, the period described as Egypt’s first Golden Age ended around 4163 BC when Egypt began to experience a fall in its civilization. Things became complicated around 3184 BC when King Amenemhet IV died without leaving a successor to rule after him. The tradition was that power was passed on through the Pharaoh’s daughter. However, traditionally, the Pharaoh’s daughter was not allowed to use her power to rule. Instead, she was expected to hand over her royal privilege to her husband, who would then become Pharaoh. As a result of this bad tradition, pharaohs tried to protect their lineage or bloodline by making their oldest daughters marry their oldest sons so that the king’s sons were also their sons-in-law. This was done to ensure that the king’s sons would become Pharaoh.
Amenemhet the IV followed this tradition by marrying his sister, Soberneferu. Unfortunately, he died before he could have any children. Soberneferu was then expected to marry another man from her noble family, but she rebelled against the tradition by marrying a commoner who was not of a noble family or from Thebes in Upper Egypt, where the royal family was from. She chose to marry a commoner who was from lower Egypt.
It is likely that after her brother/husbands’ death, Sobekneferu decided that she had a right to use the power that was given to her by birth. She did not want to pass her power to another male member of her Theban family. So, she married a commoner and reigned as Pharaoh. Sobeneferu is thought to be the last ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt, and she ruled for about four years, from 1806 to 1802 BC. She died without having any children. She did not leave an heir or ruler to succeed her. Sobeneferu is the first recorded female Pharaoh.
What happened after Pharaoh Sobeneferu died?
The commoner that Sobeneferu married and his family members who were from lower Egypt tried to take over the throne after her death. This caused a civil war because the Theban nobility refused to be ruled by a commoner from Lower Egypt. This war lasted about 100 years, during which Egypt was divided into two dynasties. One dynasty was run by Theban nobility in Thebes and another by monarchs from Lower Egypt in Memphis. This made Egypt weak enough to be attacked by invaders who were known as Hyksos. The Hyksos first conquered Lower Egypt and then moved in on Thebes. They then held the whole of Egypt captive for about 150 years.
The reign of the Hyksos forced members of the Theban nobility to move southwards into Nubia, which was a neighbouring country. This move allowed them to organize an underground liberation movement that fought the Hyksos. First, the Egyptian nobilities from Thebes managed to retake Thebes, from which they then got rid of the Hyksos. This victory was the beginning of what is known as the New Kingdom. The pharaohs then transformed Egypt into the height of its glory.
Egypt was the major power in the world around that time. It engaged in trade with all the major commercial and trading centres. It imported, that is brought in, timber from Syria and built large vessels with which sailors could travel to East Africa. Egypt also engaged in trade with Punt, from where it imported ivory, ebony, spices and gold. Thebes became expanded with magnificent mansions built by the nobility or the wealthy people of Egypt.
Who was Piankhi?
Finally, in 761BC, Egypt was taken over by an Ethiopian King named Piankhi. Between the period which marks the beginning of Piankhi’s rule and 525 BC, the country was ruled by various pharaohs and suffered attacks by different groups, including Assyrians.
Egypt continued to face attacks from Persia until it was captured. Egypt then
remained under Persian control till 332 BC when Alexander the Macedonian, a Greek, conquered it and left the Ptolemies to rule it. The Greeks built the famous city of Alexandria as a tribute to Alexander. They ruled Egypt until 30 BC when Egypt came fully under the Roman Empire.
