The Keys To Ancient Egypt's Development?

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by Motion

For it's time period ancient Egypt produce a very sophisticated civilization and culture that still impresses people today. What do you think was the key to it's development in comparison to other people of that time? What made the ancient Egyptians tick?

My take is that just a few "Elon Musks" or, better yet, Albert Einsteins.....properly put into play, can create a civilization.

Think about it. Many tribes may have had such people in their midst...but perhaps the King or chief didn't recognize them or perhaps they didn't have the resources in the local area (that is where the Nile Delta comes in).

It's a little like the magic BANG that created life. Certain forces come together and if it were not for just a few individuals being blessed with certain brain wiring things could have been much different.

This is true with much of history.

Without a select few people - Von Braun, for example.....the USA would not have went to the moon in the 1960's.

I once read that there were less than a dozen people on the earth capable of writing a computer operating system (kernel). Look what those people did for humankind.

It gives you a new respect for society having the ability to recognize and make genius fruitful.

[censusdata]

I think Egypt's success could be rooted in the (likely fictional) Bible story about people go there for food during droughts. Having food when other places had famine attracted the hardest working and smartest people from that part of the world. That great farm land led to food surpluses that allow for economic specialization and urbanization.

[Potential_Landlord]

I would also add trade with India via sea (Red Sea, then across Indian Ocean). Trade with India was always the bane of any civilization between Europe and India. This also made Egypt by far the richest province of the Roman Empire. Egypt delivered ~2/3 of all Roman taxes while being just a small fraction or the empire's landmass.