Hymn to the Nile explores the status that river Nile had before the people of Egypt as their lives depended on it. These people even referred to the river as god and even made sacrifices to appease this god. More importantly, the hymn appreciates that it’s the importance and benefits that the Nile brought to the people of Egypt that made them hold the river so close to their hearts that they referred to it as god. Looking at the hymn to the Nile, human beings should take care of the environment just as the environment takes care of human beings. Towards the last part, the author of the hymn writes that the Nile is unknown beyond Tuau (Hagen, 2013), this is because it does not hold a very important position in people’s lives and hence not exalted as in Egypt.
Civilizations tended to grow around ecosystems that could sustain life, in the hymn, the existence of life along river Nile where animals could feed, people plant and plough their land was as a result of the support of nature. The author notes through the hymn that at times, the god (nature) could be so cruel that the Thebaid looked like the Delta (Hagen, 2013), this was as a result of flooding. Also, human civilization is depicted to be so dependent on nature that any “reaction” from nature affected the whole civilization. In the hymn, during harsh conditions, even the sons of the noble families could not have their ornaments, no one could clothe themselves (Hagen, 2013). This shows the level of dependency that civilization had with the ecosystem and the natural ecosystem.
Geography also dictates human settlement hence civilization. For example, the ancient Egyptians could only stay in the area of Thebaid because it was a favorable geographical location for them to establish their temples, live, keep their livestock like oxen and even plant crops as the writer mentions the watering of the orchards. However, human activities are also seen as affecting the ecosystem. The writer states that when the god’s wrath came, all human beings were punished, and all that existed was in anguish including the ruling class. This shows that every human activity that affects nature, nature has a response to it. As the Egyptians carried their activities along the Nile, they left the land bare and floods affected them leaving their land to be like the Delta. As Khety wrote, “Southern Egypt is seen in the same state as the North” (Hagen, 2013). This means that the as the impacts of human activities on the environment continues, good ecosystems are destroyed, and they become just as bad as other ecosystems like Delta regions.
Human life depends on the environment within which it exists. However, Human beings have pursued their own benefits and changed the environment such that the ever changing environment does not favor them. Such ecosystems just turn out to be bad, for example, fertile land, which people prefer and establish settlements on, deteriorate as a result of human activities and become just as bad as the areas which human beings had avoided earlier. Human beings should, therefore, take care of the environment just as the environment “takes” care of them.
References
Hagen, F. (2013). An Eighteenth Dynasty Writing Board (Ashmolean 1948.91) and The Hymn to the Nile. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 49(1), 73-91.
