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2.2 – Pyramids on the Nile

2.2 – Pyramids on the Nile. Recall…. Like Mesopotamia Egypt is desert but a major river makes a small area of land very rich and farmable. Nile Flooding. Floods every July Why? Recedes every October, leaving silt Nile floods like clockwork What about flood levels though?

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2.2 – Pyramids on the Nile

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  1. 2.2 – Pyramids on the Nile

  2. Recall… • Like Mesopotamia • Egypt is desert but a major river makes a small area of land very rich and farmable

  3. Nile Flooding • Floods every July • Why? • Recedes every October, leaving silt • Nile floods like clockwork • What about flood levels though? • Lower than normal • Thousands starve • Higher than normal • Washed away settlements and seeds • Desert on either side of river acted as natural barrier • Isolated Egyptians. Little interaction with outsiders, more unified. • Little fighting with in • Differences from Mesopotamia?

  4. Upper and Lower Egypt Geography • Cataract • Def: river turns to rapids, impassable on boat • Upper Egypt • 1st Cataract to the delta • Lower Egypt • Nile River Delta (~100 miles from Med. coast) • Delta – def: broad, marshy triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the river • Travel btw Upper and Lower? • Yes… via the river. Drift North with current, sail south with wind patterns

  5. Egypt Timeline • 5000 BCE and earlier – farming villages • 3200 BCE - two distinct kingdoms • Upper and Lower • ~3000 BCE Egypt Unites • Scorpion or more likely Narmer • Crown is evidence • Capitol @ Memphis… why? • Est. 1st Egyptian dynasty • 31 dynasties over 2,600 years

  6. Government/Religion/Rule • Theocracy • Def: government in which rule is based on religious authority • Pharaoh • Def: king of Ancient Egypt, considered a g-d as well as a political and military leader • Has all responsibility for kingdom • Egyptians believed in ka (eternal life force) • So… Pharaohs ruled in death  need for tombs • Pyramids built during the Old Kingdom 2660-2180 • Large supplies of stone nearby

  7. Egyptian Religion • Confident and optimistic (more than in Fertile Crescent) • Polytheistic • Most important: Re (sun g-d), Osiris (g-d of the dead), Isis (goddess of mother and wife) • 2,000 + g-ds and goddesses • Afterlife • If your soul were pure… live on in beautiful world. If soul is not pure… ? • Burial, death planned for. Could take stuff with you. • Mummification – def: embalming and drying of the corpse to prevent decay (p. 38 – Herodotus) • Book of the Dead

  8. Egyptian Society ROYAL FAMILY ----------------------------------------------------------- WEALTHY LANDOWNERS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, PRIESTS, ARMY COMMANDERS ----------------------------------------------------------- MERCHANTS, ARTISANS ----------------------------------------------------------- PEASANT FARMERS AND LABORERS (majority) ----------------------------------------------------------- SLAVES • Ppl could change classes • Women mostly equal. (i.e. divorce, receive 1/3)

  9. Egyptian Writing • Heiroglyphics • Greek words… “sacred carving” • Def: ancient Egyptian writing system used pictures to represent ideas and sounds • Stone carvings early… then later • Papyrus • Reed which can be processed into a paper-like material

  10. Technology • Calendar • Flood and planting • Solar. Followed a star • 365 days btw star being in same place in sky • 12 months, 30 days per month + 5 days for holiday • Number system • Medicine • Even surgery

  11. Egypt after the Old Kingdom • Power would decline and be regained during the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BCE). • New farmland • Canal connecting Nile and Red Sea • ~1640 BCE a group called the Hyksos cross into Egypt and rule to 1523 BCE • New Kingdom • Egypt regains power and glory

  12. HOMEWORK • Separate Piece of Paper • 3, 5, 7

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