Cultural Aspects of Egypt Art Musicdress Food Customs and Traditions

Design of human being activeness and symbolism associated with Arab republic of egypt and its people

The culture of Egypt has thousands of years of recorded history. Ancient Arab republic of egypt was among the primeval civilizations in the globe. For millennia, Arab republic of egypt developed strikingly unique, complex and stable cultures that influenced other cultures of Europe, Africa and the Eye Due east.^[1]

Languages [edit]

Arabic is currently Egypt's official language. It came to Egypt in the seventh century,^[two] and it is the formal and official linguistic communication of the country which is used by the authorities and newspapers. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Standard arabic dialect or Masri is the official spoken language of the people. Of the many varieties of Standard arabic, the Egyptian dialect is the almost widely spoken and the most understood, due to the great influence of Egyptian cinema and the Egyptian media throughout the Arabic-speaking world. Today many foreign students tend to learn it throughout Egyptian songs and movies, and the dialect is usually labelled past the general public as one of the easiest and fastest to larn, mainly due to the huge amount of accessible sources (movies, serial, TV shows, books, etc.) that contribute to its learning process.^{[ citation needed ]} Egypt's position in the eye of the Arabic speaking globe has made it the centre of culture and its widespread dialect has had a huge influence on almost all neighbouring dialects, having so many Egyptian sayings in their daily lives.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Egyptian language, which formed a split branch amongst the family unit of Afro-Asiatic languages, was among the first written languages and is known from the hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved on monuments and sheets of papyrus. The Coptic language, the most recent stage of Egyptian written in mainly Greek alphabet with seven demotic messages, is today the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church.^{[ citation needed ]}

The "Koiné" dialect of the Greek language was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the philosophy and science of that culture, and was later on studied by Standard arabic scholars.^{[ citation needed ]}

In the upper Nile Valley, southern Egypt, around Kom Ombo and south of Aswan, in that location are almost 300,000 speakers of Nubian languages; mainly Noubi, just also Kenuzi-Dongola. In Siwa Oasis, at that place is besides the Siwi linguistic communication that is spoken by most xx,000 speakers. Other minorities include roughly two thousand Greek speakers in Alexandria and Cairo as well as roughly 5,000 Armenian speakers.^{[ citation needed ]}

Literature [edit]

Sample of a Book of the Dead of the scribe Nebqed, c. 1300 BC.

Many Egyptians believed that when it came to a death of their Pharaoh, they would take to bury the Pharaoh deep inside the Pyramid. The ancient Egyptian literature dates dorsum to the Old Kingdom, in the third millennium BC. Religious literature is all-time known for its hymns to and its mortuary texts. The oldest extant Egyptian literature is the Pyramid Texts: the mythology and rituals carved around the tombs of rulers. The later, secular literature of ancient Egypt includes the "wisdom texts", forms of philosophical didactics. The Instruction of Ptahhotep, for example, is a collation of moral proverbs by an Egto (the heart of the second millennium BC) seem to have been drawn from an elite administrative class, and were historic and revered into the New Kingdom (to the end of the second millennium). In time, the Pyramid Texts became Coffin Texts (perhaps later on the end of the Former Kingdom), and finally, the mortuary literature produced its masterpiece, the Book of the Dead, during the New Kingdom.

The Middle Kingdom was the golden age of Egyptian literature. Some notable texts include the Tale of Neferty, the Instructions of Amenemhat I, the Tale of Sinuhe, the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor and the Story of the Eloquent Peasant. Instructions became a pop literary genre of the New Kingdom, taking the course of communication on proper behavior. The Story of Wenamun and the Instruction of Any are well-known examples from this menstruum.

During the Greco-Roman flow (332 BC − Advertisement 639), Egyptian literature was translated into other languages, and Greco-Roman literature fused with native art into a new style of writing. From this menstruation comes the Rosetta Stone, which became the fundamental to unlocking the mysteries of Egyptian writing to modern scholarship. The slap-up city of Alexandria boasted its famous Library of almost half a million handwritten books during the third century BC. Alexandria's middle of learning also produced the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint.

During the first few centuries of the Christian era, Arab republic of egypt was a source of a great bargain of austere literature in the Coptic language. Egyptian monasteries translated many Greek and Syriac words, which are now only extant in Coptic. Nether Islam, Egypt continued to be a great source of literary endeavour, at present in the Arabic language. In 970, al-Azhar University was founded in Cairo, which to this day remains the most important eye of Sunni Islamic learning. In 12th-century Egypt, the Jewish Talmudic scholar Maimonides produced his virtually important work.

In contemporary times, Egyptian novelists and poets were among the last to experiment with modernistic styles of Standard arabic-linguistic communication literature, and the forms they developed take been widely imitated. The first modern Egyptian novel Zaynab past Muhammad Husayn Haykal was published in 1913 in the Egyptian vernacular. Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was the start Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many Egyptian books and films are available throughout the Centre East. Other prominent Egyptian writers include Nawal El Saadawi, well known for her feminist works and activism, and Alifa Rifaat who also wrote about women and tradition. Vernacular verse is said to be the most popular literary genre amongst Egyptians, represented nigh significantly by Bayram el-Tunsi, Ahmed Fouad Negm (Fagumi), Salah Jaheen and Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.

Faith [edit]

Al-Azhar Mosque founded in Advertisement 970 past the Fatimids as the first Islamic University in Egypt.

About 85-95% percentage of Egypt's population is Muslim, with a Sunni bulk. Virtually v- fifteen% percent of the population is Coptic Christian; other religions and other forms of Christianity contain the remaining 3 percent.^[3] Sunni Islam sees Egypt every bit an important part of its religion due to not only Quranic verses mentioning the country, only also due to the Al-Azhar University, one of the earliest of the world universities, and the longest functioning. It was created as a schoolhouse for religion studies and works.

Visual art [edit]

History [edit]

Egyptian art in artifact [edit]

Stele of Princess Nefertiabet eating; 2589–2566 BC; limestone & paint; height: 37.vii cm (14 7⁄eight in.), length: 52.5 cm (twenty

five⁄8 in.), depth: 8.3 cm (3

i⁄iv in.); from Giza; Louvre (Paris). This finely executed relief represents the almost succinct balls of perpetual offer for the deceased

The Egyptians were 1 of the starting time major civilizations to codify design elements in art. The wall painting done in the service of the Pharaohs followed a rigid code of visual rules and meanings. Early Egyptian art is characterized past the absenteeism of linear perspective, which results in a seemingly flat space. These artists tended to create images based on what they knew, and not equally much on what they saw. Objects in these artworks generally do non subtract in size as they increment in distance and there is little shading to indicate depth. Sometimes, distance is indicated through the utilize of tiered infinite, where more than afar objects are drawn higher to a higher place the nearby objects, simply in the same scale and with no overlapping of forms. People and objects are near always drawn in profile.

Painting achieved its greats height in Dynasty XVII during the reigns of Tuthmose Four and Amenhotep III. The Fragmentary panel of the Lady Thepu, on the right, dates from the time of the latter king.^[4]

Early Egyptian artists did have a system for maintaining dimensions within artwork. They used a filigree system that allowed them to create a smaller version of the artwork, and then calibration up the design based upon proportional representation in a larger grid.

Egyptian art in modern times [edit]

Modernistic and gimmicky Egyptian art tin be equally diverse every bit whatsoever works in the world fine art scene. Some well-known names include Mahmoud Mokhtar, Abdel Hadi Al Gazzar, Farouk Hosny, Gazbia Sirry, Kamal Amin, Hussein El Gebaly, Sawsan Amer and many others. Many artists in Arab republic of egypt have taken on modern media such as digital art and this has been the theme of many exhibitions in Cairo in contempo times. There has also been a tendency to utilize the Www as an alternative outlet for artists and there is a strong Fine art-focused cyberspace community on groups that accept found origin in Egypt.

Science [edit]

Egypt'south cultural contributions take included bully works of science, art, and mathematics, dating from antiquity to modern times.

Engineering science [edit]

Imhotep [edit]

Considered to be the kickoff engineer, architect and md in history known past proper name, Imhotep designed the Pyramid of Djoser (the Step Pyramid) at Saqqara in Egypt effectually 2630–2611 BC, and may have been responsible for the showtime known use of columns in compages. The Egyptian historian Manetho credited him with inventing stone-dressed building during Djoser's reign, though he was not the beginning to actually build with rock. Imhotep is also believed to have founded Egyptian medicine, being the author of the world's primeval known medical document, the Edwin Smith Papyrus.

Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt [edit]

Inscription referring to the Alexandrian library, dated Advertising 56

The silk route led straight through ancient Alexandria. Also, the Royal Library of Alexandria was in one case the largest in the world. It is ordinarily assumed to accept been founded at the get-go of the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy Two of Egypt afterwards his father had set upward the Temple of the Muses or Museum. The initial organization is attributed to Demetrius Phalereus. The Library is estimated to accept stored at its top 400,000 to 700,000 scrolls.

1 of the reasons so little is known about the Library is that it was lost centuries afterwards its creation. All that is left of many of the volumes are tantalizing titles that hint at all the history lost due to the edifice'south destruction. Few events in aboriginal history are as controversial as the devastation of the Library, as the historical record is both contradictory and incomplete. Its destruction has been attributed past some authors to, among others, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Catholic zealots during the purge of the Arian heresy, Not surprisingly, the Great Library became a symbol of knowledge itself, and its destruction was attributed to those who were portrayed as ignorant barbarians, frequently for purely political reasons.

A new library was inaugurated in 2003 almost the site of the former library.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient Globe, designed by Sostratus of Cnidus and built during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter served as the metropolis'south landmark, and later, lighthouse.

Mathematics and applied science [edit]

Alexandria, beingness the center of the Hellenistic world, produced a number of great mathematicians, astronomers, and scientists such as Ctesibius, Pappus, and Diophantus. It too attracted scholars from all over the Mediterranean such as Eratosthenes of Cyrene.

Ptolemy [edit]

Ptolemy is one of the nigh famous astronomers and geographers from Egypt, famous for his work in Alexandria. Born Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαίος; c. 85 – c. 165) in Upper Arab republic of egypt, he was a geographer, astronomer, and astrologer.^[five]

Ptolemy was the author of two important scientific treatises. 1 is the astronomical treatise that is now known every bit the Almagest (in Greek Η μεγάλη Σύνταξις, "The Peachy Treatise"). In this work, one of the most influential books of antiquity, Ptolemy compiled the astronomical cognition of the aboriginal Greek and Babylonian globe. Ptolemy'southward other main work is his Geography. This too is a compilation, of what was known about the world'due south geography in the Roman Empire in his time.

In his Optics, a work which survives only in an Arabic translation, he writes about properties of light, including reflection, refraction and colour. His other works include Planetary Hypothesis, Planisphaerium and Analemma. Ptolemy's treatise on astrology, the Tetrabiblos, was the most pop astrological work of artifact and likewise enjoyed bang-up influence in the Islamic world and the medieval Latin West.

Ptolemy also wrote influential work Harmonics on music theory. After criticizing the approaches of his predecessors, Ptolemy argued for basing musical intervals on mathematical ratios (in contrast to the followers of Aristoxenus) backed upwards by empirical observation (in contrast to the over-theoretical arroyo of the Pythagoreans). He presented his own divisions of the tetrachord and the octave, which he derived with the help of a monochord. Ptolemy's astronomical interests appeared in a word of the music of the spheres.

Tributes to Ptolemy include Ptolemaeus crater on the Moon and Ptolemaeus crater on Mars.

Medieval Egypt [edit]

Abu Kamil Shuja ibn Aslam [edit]

Ibn Yunus [edit]

Modern Egypt [edit]

Ahmed Zewail [edit]

Ahmed Zewail (Arabic: أحمد زويل) (built-in Feb 26, 1946) is an Egyptian chemist, and the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his piece of work on femtochemistry. Born in Damanhur (lx km south-due east of Alexandria) and raised in Disuq, he moved to the U.s. to complete his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. He was awarded a faculty date at Caltech in 1976, where he has remained since.

Zewail's primal piece of work has been as the pioneer of femtochemistry. He adult a method using a rapid laser technique (consisting of ultrashort laser flashes), which allows the description of reactions at the atomic level. It can be viewed as a highly sophisticated form of flash photography

In 1999, Zewail became the third Egyptian to receive the Nobel Prize, following Anwar Sadat (1978 in Peace) and Naguib Mahfouz (1988 in Literature). In 1999, he received Egypt'south highest state honor, the K Neckband of the Nile.

Egyptology [edit]

In modern times, archæology and the study of Egypt'south aboriginal heritage as the field of Egyptology has become a major scientific pursuit in the state itself. The field began during the Centre Ages, and has been led by Europeans and Westerners in modern times. The report of Egyptology, however, has in recent decades been taken upward past Egyptian archæologists such equally Zahi Hawass and the Supreme Quango of Antiquities he leads.

The discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a tablet written in ancient Greek, Egyptian Demotic script, and Egyptian hieroglyphs, has partially been credited for the recent stir in the study of Aboriginal Egypt. Greek, a well-known language, gave linguists the power to decipher the mysterious Egyptian hieroglyphic language. The ability to decipher hieroglyphics facilitated the translation of hundreds of the texts and inscriptions that were previously indecipherable, giving insight into Egyptian culture that would have otherwise been lost to the ages. The stone was discovered on July xv, 1799 in the port town of Rosetta, Egypt, and has been held in the British Museum since 1802.

Sport [edit]

Football is the most popular sport in Egypt. Egyptian football clubs, especially Al Ahly, the most decorated club in the world with 118 trophies in full and Zamalek are known throughout the continent of Africa and enjoy the reputation of long-time champions of the sport regionally. They are even popular among non-Egyptians.

The Egyptian national football squad won the African Cup of Nations a tape vii times (in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006 (on home soil), 2008 and 2010). Arab republic of egypt was the first African land to join FIFA, but it has only made it to the FIFA World Loving cup three times, in 1934, 1990 and 2018. Egypt also won the Earth Military Loving cup 5 times and finished as runners-up twice.

Other popular sports in Egypt are basketball, handball, squash, and tennis.

The Egyptian national basketball team holds the record for best performance at the Basketball World Cup and at the Summer Olympics in Middle East and Africa.^[6] ^[seven] Egypt hosted the official 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball game World Cup and is the only African country to host an official basketball earth loving cup at inferior or senior level. Further, the state hosted the official African Basketball Championship on six occasions. Arab republic of egypt too hosted multiple continental youth championships including the upcoming 2020 FIBA Africa Under-18 Championship and the 2020 FIBA Africa Under-18 Championship for Women.^[8] The Pharaohs, equally they are commonly known, won a record number of sixteen medals at the official African Championship.

The Egyptian national squash squad is always known for its fierce contest in worldwide championships, from the 1930s to today. Handball has get another increasingly popular sport among Egyptians every bit well. Since the early on 1990s, the Egyptian national handball team has become a growing international strength in the sport, winning regional and continental tournaments too equally reaching quaternary place internationally in 2001. The Inferior national handball squad won the world title in 1993 and it hosted the tournament in 2010 setting a record in the audition number specially the match between Arab republic of egypt and Denmark in the semifinals, the stadium was completely total.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Egypt was a powerhouse in weightlifting, boxing, and wrestling with several Olympic and world championship medals.

Roller hockey is besides a popular sport in Egypt. The Egyptian national roller hockey team has taken part in many world competitions, just didn't win any equally of now.

Local sports clubs receive financial support from the local governments, and many sporting clubs are financially and administratively supported by the government.

Media [edit]

Cinema [edit]

Egyptian cinema has flourished since the 1930s.^[9] Equally a result, the Egyptian capital has been dubbed the "Hollywood of the Center Eastward", where the world-renowned Cairo International Film Festival is held every twelvemonth. The festival has been rated by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations as being amongst the xi meridian-class film festivals worldwide.^[10]

Almost of Arabic-language Tv set and cinema has been notably affected by the Egyptian dialect, due to its influence, simplicity and familiarity in MENA.^{[ commendation needed ]}

The Egyptian movie industry is the largest & most adult within Standard arabic-speaking cinema.^[9]

Music [edit]

Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous Egyptian and Western influences.

As early on as 4000 BC, ancient Egyptians were playing harps and flutes, equally well as two indigenous instruments: the ney and the oud. However, in that location is a little notation of Egyptian music before the 7th century Advertizing, when Egypt became part of the Muslim world. Percussion and vocal music became of import at this time and has remained an important part of Egyptian music today.

Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of Abdu-l Hamuli, Almaz, Sayed Mikkawi, and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized past Khedive Ismail and who influenced the afterwards work of Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez and other successful Egyptian musicians.

From the 1970s onwards, Egyptian popular music has go increasingly important in Egyptian culture, particularly among the large youth population of Egypt. Egyptian folk music is likewise popular, played during weddings and other festivities. In the last quarter of the 20th century, Egyptian music was a mode to communicate social and class bug. The near popular Egyptian pop singers are Amr Diab, Tamer Hosny, Mohamed Mounir, Angham and Ali El Haggar. One of the most respected early on electronic music composers, Halim El-Dabh, is an Egyptian.

Belly dance, or Raqs Sharqi (literally: oriental dancing) may accept originated in Egypt, and today the state is considered the international center of the art.

The Arabic musical discipline known as "maqam," or chanting has both secular and religious uses. Maqams are virtually always sung by men in the region, where women who perform music or sing publicly are often viewed as promiscuous. The members of Alhour, Egypt'due south first all-female person Muslim recitation choir, are challenging deep-rooted taboos well-nigh women singing in public or reciting from the Quran in the socially conservative country. Alhour choir was launched in 2017.^[eleven]

Clothing [edit]

The hijab became more unpopular with educated women, including devout Muslims, in the early 20th century every bit the British authorities discouraged it and every bit women sought to gain modernistic positions of power. The hijab became more pop in the 1970s, with women choosing to prefer it due to the surge of pan-Arabism (specially its islamically-rooted side) and Wahabbism equally a upshot of the returning Egyptian migrants from Gulf Arab countries who got influenced past their beliefs & cultural set during their stay in that location.^[12]

In 2012, Misr International films was producing a television series based on the novel Zaat by Sonallah Ibrahim. Filming of scenes set at Ain Shams University was scheduled to occur that year, but Muslim Brotherhood pupil members and some teachers at the school protested, stating that the 1970s era clothing worn by the actresses was indecent and would not let filming unless the clothing was inverse. Gaby Khoury, the head of the film visitor, stated that technology section caput Sherif Hammad "insisted that the filming should stop and that we would be reimbursed ... explaining that he was not able to guarantee the protection of the materials or the artists."^[13]

Cuisine [edit]

Egyptian cuisine consists of local culinary traditions such as Ful medames, Falafel, Kushari, and Molokhia. It besides shares similarities with nutrient constitute throughout the eastern Mediterranean like Kebab and Shawarma.

See besides [edit]

Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Heart for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage
Egyptians
Media of Egypt
Egyptian television
Listing of museums in Egypt
Rosetta stone

Notes [edit]

^ "Egyptian Identity". world wide web.ucl.air-conditioning.u.k. . Retrieved 2021-03-04 .
^ Abdl-Hamid Youssef 2003, p. 7. sfn fault: no target: CITEREFAbdl-Hamid_Youssef2003 (aid)
^ Numbers vary widely. The 1996 demography, the last for which public info on faith exists has v.6% of the population as Christian (downwards from 8.3% in 1927). All the same the census may exist undercounting Christians. The regime Egyptian Demographic and Wellness Survey (2008) of around 16,500 women aged 15 to 49 showed about 5% of the respondents were Christian. According to Al-Ahram paper, one of the primary government endemic national newspapers in Egypt, estimated the percentage between x% - 15% (2017). QScience Connect in 2013 using 2008 data estimated that 5.1% of Egyptians between the ages of 15 and 59 were Copts. The Pew Foundation estimates 5.i% for Christians in 2010. The CIA Fact Book estimates 10% (2012) while the Washington Report on Middle E Affairs states in 1997, "Estimates of the size of Arab republic of egypt's Christian population vary from the depression government figures of 6 to seven million to the 12 meg reported by some Christian leaders. The actual numbers may be in the 9 to ix.five meg range, out of an Egyptian population of more than 60 1000000" which yields an gauge of about 10-twenty% so. Several sources give 10-20%. The British Strange Office gives a effigy of ix%. The Christian Post in 2004 quotes the U.Southward. Copt Clan every bit reporting fifteen% of the population as native Christian.
^ Bothmer, Bernard (1974). Brief Guide to the Department of Egyptian and Classical Fine art. Brooklyn, NH: Brooklyn Museum. p. 48.
^ Martin Bernal (1992). "Animadversions on the Origins of Western Science", Isis 83 (4), p. 596-607 [602, 606]
^ "1950 World Championship for Men". FIBA. 9 June 2012. Retrieved nine June 2012.
^ "Egypt – 1952 Olympic Games; Tournament for Men". FIBA. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
^ "Arab republic of egypt confirmed equally hosts for men'due south and women'southward FIBA U18 African Championships 2020". FIBA. 15 September 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
^ ^a ^b Egyptian State Data Service (SIS) - Movie theatre In Egypt Archived 2008-04-19 at the Wayback Car
^ Flick Festivals. "Find out more almost the Cairo International Film Festival". ukhotmovies.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
^ "Arab republic of egypt'due south First All-Women Islamic Choir Defies Gender Taboos". Global Denizen . Retrieved 2021-09-14 .
^ O'Donnell, Erin (September–October 2011). "The Veil's Revival". Harvard Magazine . Retrieved 2021-09-13 .
^ "Islamists halt filming of Egyptian TV serial." Daily News Egypt. Thursday, February ix, 2012. NewsBank Record Number: 17587021. "[...]and teachers were against it, because of the wearable worn by the actresses," he said. The serial, adapted from the novel "Zaat" past Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim, takes[...]"

References [edit]

ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd Yūsuf, Ahmad (2003). From Pharaoh's lips: aboriginal Egyptian language in the Arabic of today. Minneapolis, Minn.: American University in Cairo Press. ISBN9789774247088.

haddadwalach.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Egypt