Maat and the unity of Ancient Egypt

Maat is the Egyptian Goddess shown in the picture below, however, Maat was more than just a Goddess she was the personification of justice and cosmic order. To the Ancient Egyptians Maat represented a balance which must be maintained at all levels of life; from the personal through to nature and the nation state. So important was this concept of Maat (balance) that the foundation of Egyptian religion was a contract between the Gods and Pharaoh – in exchange for protection the Pharaoh would ensure that Maat was maintained throughout Egypt.

Comprehending the importance of Maat helps us understand the development of the Egyptian state, and an interesting question facing Egyptologists is whether Maat helped drive the cycles in Egyptian history or was born out of it? Roughly speaking the epochs in Egyptian history formed a pattern of 500 years of stability followed by a century instability these would become known as the Old, Middle and New Kingdom and the First, Second and Third Intermediate period respectively.

In addition to the importance of Maat, the unity of Egypt was another guiding principle to the Ancient Egyptian psyche. Historically Egypt was a union of two lands; Lower and Upper Egypt and the ‘Pharaonic Period’ of Egyptian history lasted roughly three thousand years, beginning with the unification of the country under one king in around 3050 BC and ending with the arrival of Alexander the Great in 332 BC.

The king who united Egypt in 3050 BC was Narmer and the dynasty which he started helped establish the basics of what would make Egypt the first nation state and one of the most civilisations in the ancient world. As well as cementing the nation’s bureaucracy this early dynasties founded the belief in the divinity of the Egyptian Kings, a faith which would be perpetuated all the way through Egyptian history right down to the last Pharaoh Cleopatra. The Old Kingdom was responsible for Egypt’s crowning achievement – the Great Pyramids, and it was through national projects and the organisation that they required that helped maintain the Pharaoh’s grip over Egypt.

However, over time local leaders would amass resources and eventually became a source of competition for the Pharaohs. This led to the collapse of the Old Kingdom and for the next 100 years the leaders of the local regions battled for total control. This cycle would be repeated until Egypt finally gave in to protracted decline under Greeks and then as a Roman province. As such it is easy to see why the concept of Maat and the sacred position which the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt held was so important to the Ancient Egyptians. When unified and working together Egyptian civilisation achieved great heights however, the balance was fragile and as the intermediate periods show it didn’t take much for great dynasties to fall and chaos to reign.