Ancient Egypt
The predecessors of Western civilization were found in the Middle East, an area around the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea that spreads inland into the area of the ancient Fertile Crescent along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Egypt furnished a natural place for an ancient civilization to flourish.
The annual floods of the Nile River provided a rich soil for farming, while the water was always available for irrigation. Although the civilization of ancient Egypt goes back thousands of years, it reached its peak around 1500 B.C. when it controlled large areas of the Middle East. The Egyptian people were a very advanced civilization for the times.
They developed writing and paper, produced great feats of engineering, developed a twelve-month calendar, and did much work in the sciences, farming, and the arts. Egyptian society was very religious, for the people believed in many gods and a life after death.
It was also one of the earliest to give women a role and status roughly equal to that of the men; the women had many more rights and powers than were available to them in other early societies.
Much of the educational process in early Egypt was aimed at professional training, particularly for the position of scribe which required the important skills of reading and writing.
The education was primarily oriented toward the practical aspects of learning a trade, and students often served apprentice ships. There was little interest in physical education. Since the Egyptians were not usually military oriented, there was little impetus for physical training from that direction.
Although physical education was not a major part of Egyptian life, physical activities were very important to the Egyptians. Many games and sports were popular with the Egyptians, and women frequently participated in physical activities.
Swimming was popular for the civilization’s life was based on the river as were gymnastic activities, hunting, games using the skills of fighting and war, and many types of ball games. The Egyptians also had a great love for activities involving dance.
