When the Nile River floods, all the farmers are temporarily out of work. Unrest and unemployment is 90% of the population. So the Kings created monuments out in the empty desert, away from the flood waters. This was busy-work for the people.
Khufu must have had millions of farm laborers; so he built the Great Pyramid at Giza. This monument took some time to build, and crime rates were low as a result. In later periods, crime rates and unemployment/unrest were high, leading to civil decline or corruption. The Middle Kingdom did this. The New Kingdom was focused on temple buildings and expanding the Empire. Ramses 3 had some unrest leading up to a coup; this followed Ramses 2 the Great, who built more temples than anyone, and who secured peace with the Hittites; Ramses 3 had military invasions as well. In the Late to Ptolemaic Periods, construction was less as Egypt was overtaken by foreigners. Romans saw Egypt as supplying their empire with grain, and some monuments were constructed.
The 19th Dynasty saw tomb building with Osiris as State Deity. The afterlife was popular as a diversion or escapism. After Rome fell, other invaders took control of Egypt, such as the Muslims, who built mosques near Cairo and Alexandria.
M7, 2012.
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