Hi again Si-Amun, and to you Orisis II,
I happen to agree with your sources Orisis II. i have mine own that indicate more or the less the same about Lower Egypt.
Toby A.H. Wilkinson in his book Early Dynastic Egypt writes that Upper Egypt provided its inhabitants with plenty enough grain in ancient times. What was the true importance of Lower Egypt to the traditional ruling class from Upper Egypt from the Predynastic to the late periods? The ease of trade routes to Asia and their control. This is the reason Wilkinson pegs as the major reason that caused the Upper Egyptians of the Predynastic period to unite the Two Lands. Oxford's Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw supports this as well.
Si-Amun places a lot of importance on Pi-Ramesse, Avaris, Tanis, Bubastis, and Alexandria.
Pi-Ramesse was accorded great power when Ramesses II made it his capital city. First off it was his non royal ancestor's homeland. Second, it was much closer to Egypt's border with those troublsome Asians than Memphis or Thebes. Who by the way Ramesses II's father Seti I, did much to bring back under control of Egypt.
Avaris, first off wasn't an Egyptian town, it was originally a Canaanite town grafted onto Egypt. It dates back, far earlier than the Hyksos reign, it was a booming town as early as the 12th Dynasty. i add, it and its area, lost all pretense of power during the 18th Dynasty until Ramesses II found his own capital Pi-Ramesse nearby in the 19th Dynasty.
Where do you Si-Amun, get that the Rammsides were in Tanis???? It was the royal seat of the Pharaohs of the 21st Dynasty Si-Amun not the Rammsides of the 20th or even the 19th. (See The Cultural Atlas of the World; Ancient Egypt by Baines and Malek, pgs 176-177 and or The Twilight of Ancient Egypt First Millennium BCE by Karol Mysliwiec translated by David Lorton, pg 220 not to mention Redford, Grimal, and the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt)
Tanis, Bubastis, and Salis recieved most of their late historical importance because they were the few still vital towns in a dying ancient nation greatly helped out by foreigners. Tanis (Libyans), Bubastis, (Libyans) Salis (Greeks). They were each the hometown seat of a "Pharaoh of Egypt" more a hometown boy with a pretence of grandure than reality.
By the way, Thebes in Upper Egypt was still an extremely important city, and it was to Thebes that the Kings of Tanis, Bubastis, and Salis sent their daughters to rule as the Divine Adoratrixs of Amun to maintain the fiction that they were Pharaoh of the Two Lands. Thebes itself never lost its importance until the Persian Period. Even after being sacked by the Assyrians in ca. 663 BCE, it was Thebes in Upper Egypt that the "Pharaoh of the Two Land" sought for their daughters to rule.
And i love to remind folks of the importance of Alexandria to Egypt. But you are right Si-Amun it did rule Egypt for 300 years, as a leech. To be a legal resident of Alexandria you had to be Macedonian, native Egyptians, half-breeds and or other folks could live, work and die there but were not ever citizens. Native Egyptians hated it and the Ptolomies who ruled from its safety. It did not grow its own food supply so it took the food of the natives, in times of plenty or famine. The Egyptian gods were not worshipped in Alexandria did you know that? Their temples in Memphis and the rest of Egypt served Egypt's most ancient God's. Most of the Ptolomies were not even considered Pharaoh, but only as King of Egypt. Cleopatra VII is the only Ptolomy i am able to find listed as Pharaoh and Queen of Egypt. See, for most of the Ptolomies, learning Egyptian, and worshipping Egypt's ancient gods/goddess' was just to much for them to handle. And one had to do both to be crowned Pharaoh and King. Leave it to a woman to be able to handle it
Are you right in that without the Delta, Pharaoh couldn't have worn his double crown? According to Early Dynastic Egypt both the Red Crown and White Crown are found in Predynastic Upper Egypt. Surprisingly Si-Amun, the Red Crown historcially considered the Crown of Lower Egypt is the earliest known crown, known in Upper Egypt. It is first found at the Upper Egyptian site known as Naqada and dates there to the period called Naqada I. While the White Crown historically considered to be the Crown of Upper Egypt also traces its origin to an Upper Egyptian site known as Hierakonpolis dating to the period known as Nagada III. Wilkinson ends his discourse on the history of both crowns with this line... "The white crown retained this superiority throughout Egyptian history." (See Early Dynastic Egypt by Toby A.H. Wilkinson pgs 192- 195.)