The Union of Upper and Lower Egypt

1. The Union of Upper and Lower Egypt

2. The Union of Two Lands • Ancient Egypt had two parts: Upper and Lower Egypt • Upper Egypt (Southern Part): Stretched for 500 miles from the Nile’s first cataract northward to the beginning of the Nile Delta. • Lower Egypt (Northern Part): The Nile Delta, 100 miles long but many times wider than Upper Egypt.

3. Maps of Upper and Lower Egypt

4. Two Lands (cont.) • 3300 B.C.E. both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt had kings. • Upper Egypt’s king wore a tall, white bowling pin shaped crown. • Lower Egypt’s king wore a short, boxy, red crown with a tall spike at the back and a curlicue at the front. • Knowledge of pre-historic Egypt is mixed with legend.

5. The Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt

6. Menes: Legend or Fact? • Legend: 3100 B.C.E. Menes defeated the king of lower Egypt and declared himself the king of both Lower and Upper Egypt. • Menes designed a new crown to celebrate his victory, the double crown stood for the union of the two lands. • Menes and his family formed the first Egyptian Dynasty • Dynasty = A series of rulers from the same family • Believed to establish the ancient city of Memphis • http://www.randmcnally.com/rmc/EdPub/action/showFlashGame.do?appType=IHM&flashAppName=MostPopulousCity.swf&hasIHM=true&TITLE=The%20Most%20Populous%20City%20in%20World,%203200%20B.C.-Present%20(INTERACTIVE)&OID=1073912326

7. The Combined Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt

8. Menes or Narmer • Historians believe the Menes may have been a real king possibly by the name of Narmer. • Narmer is the name of the historical figure • Menes is the name of the legendary king • There is strong archeological evidence for this: The Macehead of King Narmer describes the unification of Egypt

9. The Narmer Palette

10. The Macehead of King Narmer

11. Old Kingdom- 2600 B.C.E. – 2100 B.C.E. • During the period of the Old Kingdom Egyptian cities became centers of religion and government. Kings, priests, government officials and artisans lived there. • Most Egyptians did not live in cities: They lived on large Nile-side estates. • Wealthy Landowners and artisans • Farmers who lived on the estates: Worked the land • Pyramid Building Kingdom • Why did Egyptians build the pyramids on the west side of the Nile?

12. Pyramid Cross-Section • Built as burial chambers for Pharaohs • Used as a tool for helping the pharaohs reach the afterlife • Why did the Egyptians stop building pyramids? Interactive tour through Khufu’s Pyramid http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/khufudeschi.html

13. Pyramids at Giza

14. The Sphinx • Interactive image of Sphinx below • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/explore/sphinx.html • Body of a Lion, head of a man • Believed to reflect the likeness of Kafre • Guardian of Pyramid complex

15. Embalmment and Mummification • Egyptian Priests used various substances to preserve the bodies of important Egyptians • Natron – drying agent • Why? • The body needed to be recognized by the “Ka” in order to make it safely to the afterlife.

16. Rosetta Stone • 1799 French Soldiers, near Rosetta, a town in the Nile Delta unearthed a large Black Stone Slab. • The same passage is written on the stone in three ways: Egyptian Hieroglyphics, a form of Egyptian cursive (Demotic or Coptic) and Greek. • For 20 years scholars try to decipher the stone with no success…then…

17. Jean Francois Champollion • Champollion knew that part of the message was same in all three passages: It praised Pharoah Ptolemy V for gifts he had given the temples. • One day in 1822, Champllion was studying Greek and Hieroglyphics and he was able to match sounds and Hieroglyphs in the proper names Cleopatra and Ptolemy.