Leahy, Anthony. “Ethnic Diversity in Ancient Egypt,” 1:225-234.
Although the literate elite minority in Ancient Egypt was concerned with presenting Egyptians as a people uniform in language, culture, religion, and ethnicity sharply distinct from its neighbors, such a perception can not be maintained. As pointed out by Leahy, in reality there was “incessant movement” of various ethnic groups and their cultures and beliefs in and out of Egypt throughout the pharaonic period (225). The causes of the rise of a unified Egyptian kingdom are difficult to locate. Around 3000 B.C. there is evidence of a unified language of semitic origin known as Egyptian that was the language of a kingdom that stretched from the Mediterranean to Elephantine/Aswan, ca. 500 miles south along the Nile. This nation now known as Egypt developed peculiar writing, art, architecture and culture. The Egyptian kingdoms were built on the domination and exploitation of the less-organized, nomadic peoples that surrounded them. In their own worldview and propaganda, Egypt was the center of the world, and the place favored by the gods to be the depository of divine order (ma’at). Beyond the bounds of Egypt was chaos, personified by the anarchic god Seth, who was associated with foreign nations (227). In Egyptian palaces these nations were depicted in paintings on the floors so that the king of Egypt would literally walk on them and thus they would be “under the king’s feet” (228). These idealistic perceptions of foreigners did not coincide with reality, as there is also evidence that Egyptians were open to utilizing foreigners for military purposes and as slaves. Egyptians preferred foreign mercenaries to fight their wars, and slaves to build their massive pyramids and temples. Close contact with these foreign groups led to intermarriages and ethnic mixing, and foreigners were integrated and accepted into Egyptian society. At several points in the history of Egypt, the country was ruled by foreigners, such as the Hyksos, the Libyans, and the Nubians. Curiously each of these peoples desired to portray their rulers as traditional Egyptian pharaohs (230-231). There was no formal definition of an Egyptian, or concept of citizenship, and it appears that the possibility of belonging to the nation of Egypt and adhering to their traditions was open to anyone willing to adopt the Egyptian way of life and religion. Particularly taking on a personal name expressing devotion to an Egyptian deity was a ticket to becoming Egyptian and gaining acceptance in society. Anyone taking on an Egyptian name was accepted, and had the possibility of accumulating wealth and upward social mobility (233). The unprejudiced openness of Egypt to absorbing different peoples was vital to its defense, infrastructural development, and duration of its culture as something foreigners were attracted to and willing to embrace (234).
