Ancient Egypt

1. Ancient Egypt

2. Geography of Ancient Egypt • The Nile River winds through a desert. • It floods annually from July through October making the land lush and green.

3. The Gift of the Nile • Egypt has been called “The gift of the Nile.” • The Nile is the world’s longest river, flowing 4,000 miles north from snowcapped mountains of East Africa and emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. • As the river rushes to the sea, it carries silt, a mixture of tiny bits of rock and soil.

4. Over time, much of the silt has been deposited on the fan shaped delta where the river empties into the sea. • A delta is a very fertile, flat land made of silt left behind as the river drains into a larger body of water. • The delta region is in northern Egypt and is called Lower Egypt because it is the downstream area of the Nile. • Upper Egypt is found in the south. It cuts through stone cliffs and desert sands.

5. A Land of Drought and Flood • The black soil brought by the Nile contrasted sharply with the dry, yellow sand of Egypt’s desert. • Farmers depended on the right amount of flooding annually. • Too little flooding meant that crops failed and too much flooding endangered homes and livestock.

6. In October, farmers planted wheat, barley, flax (used to make cloth), and vegetables. • Egyptian farmers dug canals to help irrigate (water) their crops. • Farmers scooped water from the canals to pour on their fields using a bucket-lifter called a shadouf. • In March, the crops were ready to harvest, and the surplus was stored.

7. Flood season was one of the busiest times for travel on the Nile. • Farmers could not work in their fields during the flood times. • The Nile was the main way people and goods moved from place to place. • The 600 mile journey between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt would take over a month to walk, or half that time in a reed boat.

8. Land of the Pharaohs Union of Two Crowns • People along the Nile banded together into two separate kingdoms. • Towns in Upper Egypt supported a king who wore a white crown. • Towns in Lower Egypt followed a king who wore a red crown.

9. About 3100 B.C., Menes, the king of Upper Egypt, overthrew the king of Lower Egypt. • Menes wore a double crown, combining his white crown with the red crown of Lower Egypt. • This stood for Egypt's unification or joining of separate parts into one. • Menes became the first pharaoh of Egypt.

10. Life in the Old Kingdom • The time when early pharaohs worked to build unity within the country is called theOld Kingdom. • Area governors acted as tax collectors and judges and reported to the pharaoh in Memphis. • The governors carried out the pharaohs wishes. The pharaoh decided how Egypt should be run from the highest to the lowest levels.

11. In addition to political power, the pharaoh had religious powers as well. • Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was a child of their sun god Ra. • Ra was the most important of the many gods Egyptians worshiped. • Gods had different roles, for example, one caused flooding of the Nile, anothergave artisans creativity.

12. Some gods took the form of snakes or crocodiles. • Isis protected people from sickness, and her husband, Osiris, represented the dead who awaited rebirth.

13. Ancient Egyptians believed that after a person died, he or she would go on to the “Next World.” • Food and belongings were buried with mummified bodies. • Mummification is the process of drying out bodies using natron and wrapping the bodies in cloth. This process would take 70 days.

14. Since the pharaoh was a god, all things belonged to the pharaoh. • The pharaoh was the center of Egypt's economy, the way people manage money and resources for the production of goods and services. • Agriculture was the basis for Egypt's economy. The surplus was divided through taxes. • Egypt's craftworkers depended on the pharaoh for jobs in temples and buildings. • Money did not exist so goods of equal value were traded.

15. A System of Writing • Ancient Egyptians developed a system of writing called hieroglyphics. • It was made up of individual picture signs. • Scribes traveled throughout Egypt to keep records of the details of the kingdom.

16. Because writing was taught to only a few, scribes were highly respected in Egyptian culture. • Only boys were trained to be scribes. • Scribes used sharpened reeds for pens and wrote on papyrus paper. • Scribes needed good math and writing skills.

17. The meaning of hieroglyphics was lost from 400 C.E. to 1799 C.E. • The Rosetta Stone contains messages written three times, in hieroglyphics, Greek, and another type of Egyptian writing called demotic. • By comparing the three languages, Jean Champollion worked to solve the mystery of hieroglyphics by 1822.

18. Building the Pyramids • The pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs. • 100,000 people worked for 20 years on Khufu's pyramid starting in 2600 B.C. • Entire cliffs of stone were cut into blocks for the pyramid, altering the Nile landscape. • Anger grew due to the time and property demanded by the pharaohs of this time. • Leaders in Upper Egypt revolted and set up a new capital, Thebes.

19. Ancient Egyptian Civilization • Many cultures were developing throughout the Mediterranean Region in Europe, Asia, and Africa. • Nubia, a kingdom south of Egypt, was growing rich from gold. • Nubia probably got its name from the Egyptian word for gold, nub.

20. New Rulers in Egypt • The Middle Kingdom occurred from 2100 B.C. to 1700 B.C. • Egypt's contact with other parts of the world increased. • People from Asia called the Hyksos moved to Egypt's delta region. • The Hyksos grew strong enough to challenge the pharaoh.

21. The Hyksos people used chariots, strong bronze weapons, and bows and arrows to defeat the Egyptian armies in battle to control Lower Egypt. • The Egyptian rulers in Thebes retained control of Upper Egypt.

22. After 100 years of Hyksos rule, Pharaoh Ahmose won back Lower Egypt. • The Egyptians now used chariots and weapons to conquer the Hyksos. • The defeat of the Hyksos in 1550 B.C. marks the beginning of a time in Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. • Ahmose and later pharaohs worked to make Egypt the strongest military power in their area of the world.

23. Expansion and Trade • Egypt became an empire during the New Kingdom period. • Nubia was now conquered. • Lands along the Mediterranean Sea, as far as the Euphrates River, became part of the empire. • These conquered lands brought Egypt valuable resources such as gold, spices, grains, and wood.

24. Archaeologists know that traders visited the conquered lands as well as Greece and Kush because they have found artifacts form these foreign kingdoms. • Kush supplied Egypt with gold, ivory, copper, and precious stones that craftworkers later formed into furniture and jewelry. • 150 men were needed in the caravan just to carry the gold bars.

25. Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh, expanded trade far beyond the Egyptian empire. • She became pharaoh when her husband died and her stepson was too young torule. • Hatshepsut organized a large, two year long, trading expedition, a trip with aspecific purpose. • Her goal was to trade with Punt in the South.

26. A caravan of scribes, artists, and attendants traveled by land to the Red Sea where they boarded ships bound for Punt. • Khmet, visitors from Punt, accompanied the caravan to Egypt to meet Queen Hatshepsut and bring the gold, perfume, and incense.

27. Moving Ideas • Trade brought new ideas in medicine, mathematics, and astronomy from other countries as well as goods. • Egyptian doctors/priests had scribes write about herbs and treatments that cured specific maladies. • Chamomile tea was used to calm an upset stomach and moldy bread was often placed on wounds. • Many modern day antibiotics are made from certain types of molds.

28. Priests-scientists developed mathematical rules needed to build the pyramids,understand the stars, and explain eclipses. • The Egyptians used a 365 day calendar based on the rising and reappearance of the Star Sirius. The flood cycle of the Nile was predicted using this calendar.

29. King Tut’s Tomb • Tutankhamun became pharaoh when he was about 9 years old. He ruled until hewas about 19 years old. • He was buried in the Valley of the Kings, a rocky valley where about 30 New Kingdom pharaohs were buried.

30. In 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon found his intact tomb. • Tut's tomb had remained undisturbed for over 3000 years. • Many treasures were buried with King Tut.

31. Among the treasures was King Tut's sarcophagus. • Three coffins were nested one inside another. • The outer coffin was carved red granite. • The second coffin was also of granite but it was carved in a human shape.

32. The innermost coffin was solid gold. • A golden mask covered the head and shoulders of Tut's mummy. • Shabtis, miniature sculptures of servants, boats, food, and furnishings, were found in the tomb.

33. Daily Life in Ancient Egypt A Social Pyramid • From the earliest days of Egypt's history, a person's position in society depended on what he or she did for a living. • This formed a social pyramid. • The pharaoh was at the top of the pyramid.

34. Under the pharaoh were the government officials, then soldiers, then scribes, then merchants, next artisans, finally farmers, and at the bottom of the social pyramid were slaves. • The culture had one pharaoh at the top of the pyramid and many slaves at the bottom.

35. Slavery is the practice of one person owning another person. • Many slaves were prisoners of war. • Slaves did the hardest work in Egypt. • Slaves were bought and sold just like cattle and cloth. • Slaves in Egypt had the right to be treated fairly under the law and own property.

36. Farms and Cities • Huge farms and busy cities dotted the shores of the Nile River during the NewKingdom. • In both places ordinary people worked long hours and enjoyed simple pleasures. • Farmers lived on large farms owned by people at the top of the social pyramid.

37. Farmers prepared the soil using cattle drawn wooden plows. • Farmers dug canals to help them water their fields. • At harvest, scribes measured and took away the shares claimed by the pharaohand farm owner. The rest was divided between the farmers. • At harvest, special offerings were made to Ra and Rennunet, the gods of harvest.

38. The cities craftworkers lived in small crowded neighborhoods. • Craftworkers had their workshops in their homes and visited the marketplace daily. Children in Egypt • Egyptian children apprenticed with their parents at a very young age. • Farm children were needed in the field at planting and harvest time.

39. Children of artisans, scribes, and government officials all studied with their parents, starting between the ages of 5 and 10. • When they were not working, Egyptian children loved to play games, makedolls, run, wrestle, and spin tops.