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Crime and Punishment

During the time of Pharaohs, Egypt punished criminals by means of torture. Below are examples in hieroglyphics that represent these torturing methods.

Ancient Pharoahs

In Egypt's previous history, their political system revolved around a single person, the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was believed to be a god and was granted complete control over his people. Any country who to the Pharaoh in a battle was forced to recognize the Egyptian Pharaoh as their ruler ruler and offer him the finest and most valuable goods from their land.

President Morsi's Uproar

Egypt's current president, Mohammed Morsi, is Egypt's first democratic president. He is also the fifth person to be elected as Egypt's president. However, many people are unhappy with his position in office. The cartoon above depicts the rule of Morsi. Many Egyptians and other countries are suggesting Morsi is demanding more than he is willing to do for his people.

Egyptian Political Parties

In the image above, there is a chart which labels all the following parties in Egypt's government. 

Electing Presidents

Egypt is based off a republicanism with a semi-presidential system. Egypt no longer is ruled by Pharaohs but by president.The image above depicts how the process of electing their presidents work. Egypt has had five presidents of whom is currently Mohammed Morsi.

Mohammad Morsi's Speech

Americans are also unhappy with President Morsi. Our country has loaned him millions while he wants to advocate the freedom of speech of his people.

Master Mimz Back Down Mubarak

Riots in Egypt

Religion & Myth

Mummification

Canopic Jars

During the mummification process, human organs were removed from the body and put into jars.  The jars were buried in the ground with the body as symbol to protect the persons internal organs.  Egyptians took out a persons liver, stomach, intestine, and lungs to slow down the bodies decomposing process.  Each organ had their own separate jar and a specific head to a god head on the top of it.  Although many organs were taken out of the body, the heart was one of the few organs kept.

Ancient Egyptian Art

The ancient Egyptians excelled in various forms of arts, which include pottery-making, paintings, and sculptures. Egyptian artists typically had no restrictions on where they created these forms of art. As a result researchers have discovered various ancient paintings on temple walls, pyramids, tombs, scrolls, and pottery. These forms of art gave great insight into the culture of this society. The paintings depict stories of their vibrant culture and life. Through these works of art ancient Egyptian dress, cuisine, and occupations were identified. In addition, art allowed us to see their religious beliefs as well as some myths. It is important to note that one of the most impressive forms of art developed by Egyptians was their system of  hieroglyphs. This system soon became their writing system, in which pictures and symbols represent various sounds and words. This system itself is made up of more than 700 symbols.

What Is next Morsi?

After a long week of political maneuvering in Egypt, President Morsi conceded that he overstepped his authority in making a decree limiting the powers of judges in Egypt.  He was faced with widespread protests in the streets and criticism by other democratic governments, including the U.S.  Today, the New York Times is reporting that Morsi is pushing for plans to have a referendum on the new national constitution by December 15 and asking for a national dialogue.

However, his actions do not seem to be as democratic as this might sound.  He is perceived by Egyptians to be furthering the agenda of his party and his Islamist allies, rather than listening to the more secular population.  People are taking to the streets to voice their positions.  Egypt continues to be at the very center if developing a new democracy.  The world is watching.

Major Cults of Egypt

The cults of Ra and Osiris were the

most important forms of Egyptian worship.

Osiris's myth displayed the ideals of family devotion and how important it is to community.  Along with family devotion, Osiris was connected with the Nile River, the grain of the Earth, the moon, and sun.  Osiris was the protector of all people, whether they were poor or rich and was known as king and judge of the dead.  When murdered by his brother, Set, he became a symbol of eternal persistence of life.  

Ra's cult was one of the most important in Ancient Egypt.  He was thought of as a living power whose everyday sequence of birth, journey, and death was an essential theme of life.  The pyramid was Ra's main emblem and became the main design of monumental tombs for Egyptian Pharaohs.  Ancient rumors have linked him to be a direct ancestor of past kings.  Some hymns have even called him a dead king.

Egyptian Religion Now

94% of Egypt's religion now is Muslim and about 6% is Coptic Christian.  Muslim is a religion who submits themselves to god.  They believe that Muhammad is the "seal of the prophets" and believe that gods is one and the same throughout time.  Muslims recognize sages such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, but reject the belief that Jesus is the son of God.  They believe in a hell and heaven, general resurrection, eternal life of a soul, and guardian angels.  Many Coptic Christian's believe in Pharaonism, which says that the coptic religion is mainly derived from pre-Christian and Pharaonic culture.

Social Hierarchy in Ancient Egypt

1. Pharaoh  
2. Vizier
3. Nobles and Scribes
4. Government Workers
5. Farmers 
6. Peasants and Slaves 

• In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh was the overall ruler of the people and land. Besides having control over all aspects of government and commerce, he was also a religious leader. In the eyes of the people the pharaoh was a living god. It is important to note that not only were the pyramids built to grant pharaohs a safe passage into the afterlife, but also to insure them of their wealth. 

• A vizier was the right hand man of the pharaoh. They were the second most powerful official in ancient Egypt and selected from the ranks of nobles and scribes. A vizier was responsible for overseeing many government projects such as state archive reports, construction projects, and the state judiciary system.

• Peasants made up the majority of the Egyptian population. Peasants typically worked on farms or served in the homes of the higher class. Some peasants even worked on the pyramids, even though pyramid building was typically left for the slaves. In regards to Ancient Egyptian slaves, most were prisoners of war. 

Morsi vs Egypt part 2

Disruption in Egypt is front page news again today.  In response to President Morsi's decree days ago disbanding Egyptian courts (which was included in my blog yesterday), Egyptian judges have called a strike, the New York Times reports.  President Morsi had issued an edict exempting his decrees from judicial review.  Morsi believes that the judges are not impartial and that the judges will allow a time limit to complete a new constitution lapse, leaving the country without a fundamental law.  The judges believe that Morsi is grabbing power and the absence of both a constitutional parliament and a judiciary will result in a huge step backward to another dictatorship.  Egyptians just overthrew a dictator in President Mubarak in the spring of 2011 and many Egyptians fear that Morsi is not in fair of the democracy they want.

     Morsi was recently instrumental in helping build the truce between Israel and Gaza.  He was praised around the world for his actions.  However, now his friends a denouncing his actions in limiting the power of the judges, further complicating the matter is the fact that most of the judges had been appointed by his predecessor, President Mubarak, leaving their motives open to question as well. 

     In the meantime, Egyptians have taken to the streets again, protesting Morsi's decrees and seeking democracy.  Once again, we are witnessing in Egypt the pain of moving toward democracy.