THE INTELLECTUAL ADVENTURE OF ANCIENT MAN

Henri Frankfort, (born Feb. 24, 1897, Amsterdam, Neth.—died July 16, 1954, London, Eng.), American archaeologist who completed a well-documented reconstruction of ancient Mesopotamian culture, established the relation between Egypt and Mesopotamia, and discovered much new information on both civilizations.....

.....We come now to the cause of the  great transition in the Egyptian ethos. We  come to the second political revolution, the Second Intermediate Period, lying between the Middle Kingdom and the Empire, between the eighteenth and sixteenth centuries B.C. Again the central government broke down; again there was competition for the rule by a number of small princelings. Probably a weakening of personal force and  character in the central government unleashed the self-seeking individualism of local princes. But the great difference this time was the forceful and conquering incursion of foreigners.

Asiatic princes, whom we call the Hyksos, established themselves in armed camps within Egypt and dominated the land with a firmness which was repressive to the still flowering Egyptian spirit. For the first time Egypt as a whole suffered a setback in that philosophy which said: We are the center and summit of  the  world; we are free to permit expansion of spirit to  the individuals of our community. Now, for the first time, that community was aware of a serious threat from the outside world. Now, for the first time, that community had to draw together into a unity in  order to meet and avert that threat. Egypt did unite and throw out the "vagabonds," who had dared to rule the land "in ignorance of Re."37 But the threat was not met by driving them out of Egypt; it was necessary to pursue them into Asia and to keep on pounding them so that they might never again threaten the land of the Nile.

There was built up a psychosis for security, a neuropathic awareness of danger similar to that which has characterized Europe in modern times. That common  sentiment for security welded the Egyptians into a self-conscious nation. It has been pointed out that only in this period of liberation do the Egyptians speak of their troops as "our army," instead of crediting the forces to the king.38 There was a patriotic fervor which put the country's interests before the interests of the individual. Such a unified spirit was born of the  sense of common peril.

The common desire for security need not have survived after the Egyptian Empire extended the military frontier of Egypt well into Asia and thus removed the peril from the immediate frontier. That should have given the external security which would relieve the need for communal solidarity. However, it was a restless age, and there were perils on the distant horizon which could be invoked to hold the  community together, since unity was to the advantage of certain central powers. When the threat of the Hyksos had subsided, the threat of  the Hittites appeared and endangered the Asiatic Empire of Egypt. Thereafter came the Sea Peoples, the Libyans, and the Assyrians. A fear psychosis, once engendered, remained present. And there were forces in Egypt which kept alive this fear psychosis in order to maintain the unified purpose of Egypt.....