Minecraft Maps / Land Structure

Magical Hwt-ka-ptah[Egypt] (11500 BC- ancient Civilzations on Display) S01E05

Updated on Feb 12th, 2017, 2/12/17 10:52 am | 17 logs
Published Sep 4th, 2015, 9/4/15 1:26 pm
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bjbrown84's Avatar bjbrown84
Level 53 : Grandmaster Architect
359
Hello Everybody!

Welcome to Season 1 Episode 5 of 11500 BC.
Today I like to introduce you the an empire of (you all know just to good) Hwt ka ptah or today know as Egypt.

-Thanks a lot for watching and Enjoy!-


Summary:
Over the course of the next 2-5 month I will rebuild the ancient country of Egypt partially but probably more then anybody ever before.
I will start just south of the second Cataract of river Nile and work myself through about 30 projects with different degree finshing them up. As the 11500 BC is not 1:1 and not at about 2500 BC (when the last major climate change favour the development in egypt).
I will relocate several projects just a bit( some hundread kilometers xD), but still fitting them in overall view of egypt as ancient country which is almost authentic.
Through developing different builds I will add also pieces of history for you to read and explore further.


Project Status:
04.09. start to adjust the nil for project start at lower egypt
06.09 start reconctructing the temple of Philae
08.09. finished up basic structure of temple of Isis@Philae.
10.09. finished the temple of ad-dakka
11.09. started 1:1 reconstruction on abu simbel
12.09. and finish temple of Hathor for Ramses II. Queen Nefertari
20.09. finished Horus Temple of Edfu
21.09. tombs of Qubbet el-hawa
30.09. temple of Khnum at esna
01.10. dummy pyramide at Naqada.
31.10. the valley of kings [EN] [DE]
05.11. mentuhotep ii temple & tomb
07.11. thutmosis III temple @Deir el Bahari
10.11. hatshepsut mortuary temple @Deir el Bahari
14.11. Ahmose I. Pyramid & temple complex @ Abydos
28.11. Bent Pyramid complex @ Dahshur
29.11. Red Pyramid @ Dahshur
01.12. Amenemhat_III & Senusret_III Pyramid complex @ Dahshur
08.12. Djoser Pyramid complex @ Saqqara
Project Overview:
(to do list)
Edfu, Thebes, Naqata, Temple of Hathor(Dendera), Beni Hasan, Amarna (Akhetaten), Hawarra, Kahun, Memphis, Pharos of Alexandira, Library of Alexandria, Siwa Oasis, Dakhla Oasis, Saqqara, Abusir, Faiyum, Giza and many more

Prehistoric Egypt
The great achievement of the prehistoric period
was control of the land (see Introduction). Settling at first on stony outcrops
above the alluvial plain, or on the higher ground along the edge of the desert,
the early Egyptians.



Akhet - Flood

Peret - , harvest

Shemou - preperation before next flood

Using the dike-building and canal-digging techniques which they had perfected over the centuries, the Egyptians little by

little developed the system of irrigation by basins (hods), thus securing not only their survival in a climate increasingly desert-like, but even the possibility of expansion.
The system was simple in principle, complex in operation, and demanded synchronization. It made use of two natural higher
ridges created by the Nile along its banks in the course of thousands of yearly floods. These natural defences, gradually reinforced by the shoredwellers to protect themselves from too sudden a flood, were supplemented by retaining
embankments, veritable artificial dams, which undoubtedly owed their origin to those built by the earliest inhabitants to protect their settlements during the river's rise. At the same time embankments were constructed parallel to the river and the result was to divide Egypt into a series of basins which gave their name to the system. The soil in these basins was levelled, so that when the river rose the entire basin would be submerged when the flood arrived;
drains were cut in the embankments parallel to the river to let the basins fill up. After standing for a time, in order to saturate the fields, the water was returned to the Nile.
In addition, a system of canals using the valley's natural slope led water taken upstream towards areas that were lower because located downstream to irrigate lands that even a high flood could not have reached. The advantages of the system which the Egyptians gradually learned by experience were to ensure an even distribution of the water and mud over all the cultivable land; to irrigate those parts of the valley that would otherwise have remained sterile; lastly and above all, to control the river and its flooding. By filling the basins and deflecting upstream water through canals to areas downstream the current was slowed down, which presented the disastrous consequences of a sudden release of millions of cubic metres of water which uprooted everything in its passage. In turn, the slowing of the current running over the fields increased the precipitation of mud, with which the water was loaded. It is no exaggeration to say that this unique system of irrigation is at the very root of the development of Egyptian civilization.
It explains how human ingenuity slowly managed to overcome great difficulties and succeeded in changing the valley's natural ecology. The new ecology resulting from humanintervention entailed a considerable amount of work. After each flood it was
necessary to repair the embankments, strengthen the cross-dams and clear the canals. It was a continual collective task, which in primitive times was probably carried out at the level of the village. In the historic period it was conducted and supervised by the central government. If the latter failed to ensure in due time the detailed maintenance of the entire system, the next
flood might carry it all away, returning the valley to its original state. In Egypt, the political order conditioned to a very large extent the natural order.
The position of Pharao and Governance in Ancient Egypt (Part I)
The great achievement of the prehistoric period was control of the land (see Introduction). Settling at first on stony outcrops above the alluvial plain, or on the higher ground along the edge of the desert, the early Egyptians managed to clear the ground in their immediate neighbourhood for cultivation, drain the swamps and build dykes against the incursions of flood water. Gradually the benefit of using canals for irrigation was learned. Such work required organized effort on a large scale and this led to the growth of a local political structure within each district. This took the form of a new dogma by which the Egyptian king was regarded as other than human, as a god, in fact, reigning over humans. The dogma of the divinity of the Pharaoh may have been a concept worked out during the early dynasties to consolidate a single rule over the two lands. From the third dynasty onwards one would be justified in saying that the head of the state was not an Upper Egyptian nor a Lower Egyptian, but a god. In the full theory of kingship, the Pharaoh was the state and was responsible for every activity carried out in the country (see Chapter 3). Moreover, he was high priest of all the gods and served them in every temple every day. Obviously it was not possible for him to do, in practice, all that he was supposed to do. It was necessary for him to have deputies to carry out his divine word:
cabinet ministers, officials in the provinces, generals in the army and priests in the temples. True, his theoretical power was absolute. Yet, in effect, he was not free to carry out his will. He was the embodiment of beliefs and practices which had long been in existence and which were progressively elaborated with the passage of years. The lives of the kings were actually so codified that they could not even take a walk or a bath except according to a pattern laid down for them, regulated by ceremonies and obligations.
Yet beneath their elaborate crowns the Pharaohs naturally had human hearts and human minds reacting to love and hate, ambition and mistrust, anger and desire. Art and literature set up an ideal standard to depict a stylized god king of Egypt from the beginning of the history of ancient Egypt to the end, and it is remarkable that we nevertheless come to know individual kings as distinct personalities in their own right.
Egyptian Divine believes
These spirits, they believed, made their earthly abode in animals or plants, or in any object remarkable for its size or form. Subsequently, however, they no longer considered the animals or objects themselves as gods, for they progressively came to believe rather that these were the visible manifestation or seat of an abstract divine force. The animal or object selected as the manifestation of a god could be either a friendly and useful beast such as the cow, the ram, the dog or the cat, or a savage and awe-inspiring creature such as the hippopotamus, the crocodile or the cobra. In each case the Egyptian would pay homage and make sacrifices to one single specimen on earth. He worshipped the cow, yet he slaughtered it to supply himself with meat. He also worshipped the crocodile yet he would kill it to defend himself. These were local gods and each in his own district was the supreme god and the undisputed master of the territory, with one exception. The local god of a town in which the chief of a group rose to power took precedence. If the chief ascended the throne and succeeded in uniting the southern and the northern kingdoms, this local god would be promoted to be the state god of the whole land. Moreover, the first Egyptians saw divine forces present in the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky and the Nile floods. They must have feared these phenomena and felt their influence, for they worshipped them and made powerful gods out of them, namely, the cosmic gods such as Re the sun, Nut the sky, Nun the ocean, Shu the atmosphere, Geb the earth and Hapi the flood.7 They were represented in human or in animal form and their worship was not confined to any specific locality. Goddesses, too, played a decisive role in religion and enjoyed widespread reverence. The number, however, could not have exceeded a dozen though some, such as Hathor, Isis, Neith and Bastet, played important roles throughout the whole country. Hathor was usually connected with Horus, Isis with Osiris, Neith was the protective goddess of the prehistoric capital of the Delta, and Bastet (the Catgoddess) enjoyed great popularity after the second dynasty in the eighteenth nome of Lower Egypt. Among no other peoples, ancient or modern, has the idea of a life beyond the grave played such a prominent part and so influenced the lives of the believers as among the ancient Egyptians.8 The belief in the hereafter was no doubt both favoured and influenced by the natural conditions of Egypt where the dryness of the soil and the hot climate resulted in a remarkable preservation of dead bodies. This must have greatly stimulated the conviction in a continuation of life after death. During the course of history, the Egyptian came to believe that their bodies comprised different immortal elements. These were the Ba, represented in the form of a human-headed bird, having the same features as the deceased and possessing human arms. This Ba took over at the death of the individual, and the prayers and food offered by the priest presiding over the funerary ceremonies aided in transforming the dead man into a Ba or soul. The second element was known as the Ka which was a guardian spirit which inhabited each person when he was born. When the god Khnum, the Ram-god of Aswan, the creator of humans, moulded them from the slime, he created two models for each individual, one for his body and the second for his Ka. The Ka exactly resembled the man and remained with him throughout his life, yet it passed before him to the afterworld. It was for the service of the Ka that the Egyptians provided their tombs with that abundance of what we call funerary furniture (a complete duplicate of all the owner possessed in his earthly house). Though the Ka was believed to spend most of the time inside the tomb, he could also leave it. Thus the necropolis was the city of Kas, just as the town was the place of the living. The third important element was the lb, the heart. This was considered the centre of the emotions and the conscience of the individual. It was the guide of his deeds during his life on earth. The fourth element was the Akh which the Egyptians believed to be a divine or supernatural power only attained after death. They believed that the shining stars in the sky were the Akhs of the deceased. Finally, there was the body itself, the Khat or outer shell, which perished but which could be embalmed to enable it to endure in a suitable form to share with the Ka and the Ba eternal life in the hereafter. Apart from these ideas of a future life in the tomb and the necropolis, the Egyptians gradually developed a number of other conceptions regarding the hereafter and the destiny which awaited the Ba. Two of these, the Solar and the Osirian theories, became widespread. The deceased Pharaoh, since he was himself divine, was at first believed to reside with the gods and he was identified with both the Sun-god (Horus or Re) and with Osiris. In time, however, the concept was adopted by influential noblemen in the Middle Kingdom, and later on by all Egyptians, regardless of social rank.
Fields and marshes - Egyptian Food
The establishment of the Pharaonic state around the year —3000 and
the little-known period that followed undoubtedly corresponded with great
economic development. W e can see some evidence of this in the royal
and private tombs of the Thinite era: the buildings become larger and
the many objects d'art suggest increased luxury and the consummate skill
of the craftsmen. There is no means of knowing whether the need to
co-ordinate irrigation was the principal cause of the formation of a unified
state or whether the unification of the country under the Thinite kings,
together with the development of writing, made it possible to co-ordinate
the regional economies by rationalizing basic construction work and
ensuring the organized distribution of food resources. T h e fact remains
that, until the nineteenth century of our era, Egypt's prosperity and vitality
were to be tied to the cultivation of cereals (wheat, barley). A system of
flood basins, which controlled and distributed the flood water and silt
inside earth embankments, endured until the modern triumph of yearround
irrigation: there is evidence that it existed as early as the Middle
Kingdom and we may assume that it had taken shape even earlier.1
Obviously, this system only permitted one crop a year; on the other hand,
the shortness of the agricultural cycle made plenty of manpower available
for the major operations on the construction of the religious and royal
buildings. T h e Ancients also practised year-round irrigation by raising
water from the canals or from pits dug d o w n to the water table, but for
a long time human legs and human shoulders bearing yokes were the only
'machines' for raising water known, and watering by means of ditches
was used only for vegetables, fruit trees and vineyards. (It is possible,
however, that the invention of the shaduf àur'mg the N e w Kingdom made
two crops of grain a year possible in places.)Lacking the knowledge of
how to store water, they did not yet know how to mitigate the consequences
of unusually low floods, which were the cause of infertility in
many basins, and unusually high floods, which devastated land and homes.
However, the development of granaries and river transport enabled them to
ensure food supplies from one province to another or from one year to the
next. Average yields were good: the surpluses fed the large numbers of
government officials and the workers in medium-sized places of employment
(shipyards and weapon factories, spinning mills attached to certain
temples, etc.). Through their control over food resources, which varied
according to the period, the temple authorities and high officials exercised
powers of patronage.

Bread and beer made from grain were the staple diets, but the ancient
Egyptians' food was astonishingly varied. One is struck by the number of
types of cakes and bread listed in the texts. As today, gardens provided
broad beans, chick peas and other pulses, onions, leeks, lettuces and
cucumbers. Orchards furnished dates, figs, sycamore nuts and eatinggrapes.
Skilful cultivation of the vine, practised mainly in the Delta and
in the oases, produced a great variety of wines. Bee-keeping provided
honey. Oil was extracted from sesame and nabk, the olive tree introduced
during the N e w Kingdom remaining rare and not very successful.
Pharaonic Egypt did not transform the entire valley into productive land
and gardens. It exploited also the vast marshes and lakes along the northern
edges of the Delta and the shores of Lake Moeris, and the low-lying
land on the edge of the desert and in the meanders of the Nile. In these
pehu, abundant and varied wildfowl were hunted or trapped. There was
fishing with seine-net, eel-pot, line or basket for the Nile offered a wide
variety of fish and, in spite of the prohibition of their consumption in
certain provinces or by certain categories, they had a definite place in
the people's diet, which was also supplemented by the gathering of the
roots of the edible cyperus (earth almond), papyrus hearts and, after the
Persian era, the seeds of the Indian lotus. Finally, the marshland gave
pasturage for cows and oxen.

Although the climate was not particularly favourable to cattle-raising
because it was so wet, and herds depleted by these conditions had regularly
to be supplemented from Nubia and Asia, it was of considerable importance
in the country's life and religious conceptions. The tables of the gods and
the great had to be well furnished with beef. The cutting-up of the
carcass was a fine art, the animal fats being widely used to make perfumed
unguents. W e know that the Old Kingdom Egyptians tried to raise a
number of species - oryx, antelope, gazelle, etc., and even cranes and
hyenas - but this proved labour-consuming and the results disappointing,
and it was abandoned, the desert ruminants later becoming, in proverbs
and in rites of sorcery, the symbol of untameable creatures.3 In contrast,
they were very successful in raising poultry, notably the Nile goose. T h e
meat of goats, so harmful to the valley's few trees, and sheep raised
on fallow land and the fringes of the desert, as well as pigs (in spite of
some prohibitions), acquired a considerable place in the people's diet. Well
into historic times, w e see a change take place in the type of sheep reared:
an earlier type of ram with horizontal, twisted horns, which was the incarnation
of K h n u m , Bes, Hershef and other ancient gods, was gradually
replaced round about —2000 by the ram with curved horns, dedicated
to the god A m o n . There is debate over whether it is of African or Asian
origin. T w o African species domesticated by the Egyptians were particularly
successful and are closely linked, in our minds, with the
Pharaonic past: the ass, used as early as the archaic period, not for riding
but as a beast of burden (and paradoxically dedicated to the evil god
Seth), and the domestic cat, which does not appear until the end of the
Old and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom (and which was worshipped
as a more peaceable form of the dangerous goddesses).
Egyptian Officials - Egyptian Governance (Part II)

A study of the title lists of high and low officials and the few legislative
and administrative texts that have come down to us gives a more or less
accurate notion of government organization: the government of the nomes,
the hierarchy of the priesthood and distribution of the religious obligations
of the priests, royal or priestly administration of the arable land, flocks,
mines, granaries, treasuries, river transport, justice, and so on. Scholarly
if not strict organization charts - which obviously varied depending on the
period - give evidence of sophisticated management skills and remarkable
techniques of secretarial work and accountancy (headings, brackets, crosstabulation,
etc.). This paperwork was none the less effective. Egypt
probably owed its power abroad more to its advanced organization than
to its aggressiveness, and its monuments, which have withstood time,
certainly owe their existence to the scribes' skill in manipulating labour and
heavy materials on a grand scale.
At the top of the system sat the tjaty or 'vizier', to use a traditional
Egyptological term. This prime minister, responsible for public order, was
likened to the god Thoth, 'the heart and tongue of the Sun Ra'; he was
before all else the supreme legal authority in the land after Pharaoh and
the Minister of Justice. Some viziers serving during several consecutive
reigns must have dominated the country's political life. None the less, the
tjaty (of w h o m there were two in the N e w Kingdom) was not the king's
sole counsellor, nor even necessarily the principal one. M a n y dignitaries
boast of having been consulted by their sovereign behind closed doors
or having been selected for special missions and, in the imperial era, the
governor of Nubia, an honorary 'royal son', was answerable directly to
Pharaoh and was almost sovereign in his own territory. In fact, it does not
seem that the hierarchy of government gave an exact image of ministers'
political power. S o m e personalities, Amenhotep, the scribe of recruits and
the son of Hapi, an architect gradually elevated to the ranks of the gods
for his wisdom, or Khamois, the high priest of Ptah and one of Ramses II's
many sons,17 were no doubt as influential as the viziers of their time.
The fundamental despotism of the Pharaonic monarchy resulted in the
residency being responsible for resolving major political conflicts: the
'unpersoning' of various high officials, not only Senmut and the other
intimates of Hatshepsut, but individuals having served less controversial
sovereigns (two royal princes and Usersatet, viceroy of Nubia under
Amenhotep II), is the mute witness of government crises.


to learn more about what the 11500 BC Project is about, you can have a look here.
Website - more pictures & details about the history of Carthage + project
Visit us on 11500bc.de to get more historic background , links to interesting dokumentations and more (currently only avaiable in german, work on the english webpage started slowly and progress at least when not building)


Schematics/Download:
you can pm me if you want one
Server + Dynmap:

more details to 11500 BC server you can find here and Dynmap as well

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Hope you enjoyed?!

Thanks a lot again for all the support.
If you like ancient history and want see or learn more about it favor, diamond , subscribe or pm me.
I am happy for every comment, so feel free,
if you wish that I feature an ancient culture which did not earn the spotlight so far just let me know.
Progress45% complete
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17 Update Logs

Update #17 : by bjbrown84 02/12/2017 10:52:51 amFeb 12th, 2017

- add some Egyptian rural houses
LOAD MORE LOGS

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1
12/09/2015 10:45 am
Level 40 : Master Cowboy
TwizZted_uP
TwizZted_uP's Avatar
Can't wait for Alexandria library
1
12/08/2015 12:11 pm
Level 32 : Artisan Toast
XboxBabe
XboxBabe's Avatar
Simply magnificent, I was transported back in time. Thank you! :)
1
12/08/2015 1:34 pm
Level 53 : Grandmaster Architect
bjbrown84
bjbrown84's Avatar
Welcome :)
1
11/18/2015 8:48 am
Level 52 : Grandmaster Architect
Seth1989
Seth1989's Avatar
no, THIS is rly nice!
1
11/10/2015 4:38 pm
Level 1 : New Miner
zaizanahr
zaizanahr's Avatar
A faithful and much needed recreation of a world most of us have forgotten. Nice job!
1
11/11/2015 1:09 am
Level 53 : Grandmaster Architect
bjbrown84
bjbrown84's Avatar
Thank you very much!
1
11/08/2015 12:16 pm
Level 37 : Artisan Architect
MagisterCraft
MagisterCraft's Avatar
In response to your update log 10. I have found often it is frustrating when archeologists cannot agree upon certain aspects of a site or structure. I am finding more and more that I have to take a leap of faith based on historical context and research to fill the archeological gaps. Great work!
1
11/09/2015 3:00 am
Level 53 : Grandmaster Architect
bjbrown84
bjbrown84's Avatar
One good solutions is to go with the people who actually working on site just for this specific project its hard to get a time slot as its one of the major sites and I am not the only one having a request. 
I already come up with a temporary solution and closing end of this great site beside my difficulties with statues it should be a very solid repesentation (hope the gods of 11500bc forgive me that for the sake of 1:1 rebuild I had to cover the golf of suez partly with sand xD)
1
11/06/2015 3:25 am
Level 34 : Artisan Network
TerpeMacIn
TerpeMacIn's Avatar
WOW
1
11/05/2015 4:52 pm
Level 1 : New Crafter
King Diamondz
King Diamondz's Avatar
Incredible
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