Once upon a time, Herodotus, the Greek historian, wrote, “Egypt’s the gift of the Nile.” The British historian Arnold J. Toynbee comments on these words, saying, “Herodotus, the Greek historian who lived in the fifth century B.C., emphasized that Egypt’s the gift of the Nile. He was then think of the Nile’s flowing with alluvium which has been renewing it with an annual increase until Aswan Dam was built in 1902,” after which speaks about the country’s people who made up the civilization, saying, “Correctly put, we should speak about Egypt as the gift which the Egyptians bequeathed during the times that preceded captivity and the early time of captivity unto generations to come.”
Toynbee believes that the Nile is God’s gift to Egypt which was put in good hands that made achievements and civilizations. He asserts that, “the gift of the Nile is no more than granting some raw materials which turned the swamp to a paradise. As for the evolution of desert lands to the fertile land of Egypt, this was achieved because of the Egyptians’ social activities, diligence, skills, and managerial skills.” This was clarified by the genius historian, Dr. Jamal Hamdan who asserted that, “Egypt is the gift of the Nile naturally, and the Egyptians civilly.” Likewise, historian Mohamed Shafiq Ghorbal pointed out that Egypt is the gift of the Egyptians.
In the previous article, we spoke about Egypt, the land of abundance. Today, I would like to tackle the relation of the Egyptians to their country which is part and parcel of their civilization. They are the makers of the civilization which the world has been tracing.
The Route to Civilization
Historian Will Durant writes that civilization, “starts when turbulence ends, for if man feels secure, he will be aspiring and creative, after which natural motives will spur him to understand life and spread prosperity.” Likewise, he emphasized the importance of the role of geographical factors in establishing civilization: for they augment it. Yet, the crucial factor is an economic one materializing in man’s adopting agriculture.
He maintains that, “agriculture is the first image of culture, for man finds no reason for civilization, unless he settles down in a place where he cultivates his land and stores his food for a rainy day. In this narrow, secure circle-gratified food and drink resources-man can build houses, temples, and schools, and invent the tools that help him produce…”
Egyptians were the first to realize these truths. Thus, they started evolving from a primitive society that depends on hunting to an agricultural, stable one, only to become the discoverers of agriculture in Africa. This took place when the world was still lost in the dark. Dr. William Soliman Qilada writes that, “what our ancestors did thousands of years ago was an act of heroism… Those heroic pioneers settled in the valley swamps which nobody else had explored, succumbed the fury of Nature and changed the swamps into fields. In so doing, they resorted to the best human skill, namely, vigilant creativity. This is the achievement of the creative minority in the advent of civilization.”
Toynbee speaks of the Egyptian achievement, saying, “As for managing water in the northern Nile from the First Cataract, it has always been preserved, which enabled Egyptians to turn the swamp from a rough land to fertile fields.”
According to history, when Egyptians faced this primitive environment which required hard labor, he never retracted from settling down. Nor did he remain passive before difficulties or await anybody to bring them comfortable solutions that make their dreams come true. Rather, they endured hardships until they were able to attain the desired changes, whereby, “they changed the natural plain to civilized region through diligence and creativity.” Durant emphasizes that, “inhabitants of the Nile Valley have started irrigating the land, cutting down woods, drying up swamps, and overcoming crocodiles and hippopotamuses to build a civilization slowly and surely.”
Thus, Egypt offered a civilized precedence in agriculture through her children from which sprung the rest of the accomplishments. Then, they presented the solar calendar, sciences, and orthography which made a revolution in the world, as well as the Egyptian architecture which excelled its Greek and Roman counterparts. Yet, the best of Egyptian achievement is, according to Durant, in medicine. History has never known a physician so adept as Imhotep who is counted the father of medicine. He was deified by Egyptians. Apart from being a physician, Imhotep was an architect. It is said that he was the one who designed Saqqara Pyramid that has testified to his ingenuity. Likewise, he is the one of the best architects of history who designed things that have astonished the world. King Zoser made him his chief consultant. Scientists acknowledge that it is Egypt and her people who inspired the world’s civil revolutions, and that Egypt led the world in many fields.
Endless Love
Striving to build a civilization has been the link between Egypt and ancient Egyptians, after which the country was politically united in one region to be the most ancient state in human history. Toynbee says, “Upper and Lower Egypt were politically united at the dawn of the Pharaonic civilization.” Despite the cruelty of war, “Egypt won, through it, a political unity and, therefore, peace and order within. Such gifts endured for more than three thousand years of Egyptian Pharaonic history. This was a form of unprecedented human cooperation.” Thus, Egyptians have always been linked to Egypt to whom they expressed their deep love in their art, literature, and beliefs. They have likened Egypt to a “heart for she is warm, cool, and resides in the southern part of earth, in like manner the heart resides in the left side of the human body.”
No wonder then that Egypt is said to be the heart of the world. History started with Egyptians. Their creativity has always endured in history and Beautiful Egypt.
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
