Pyramids on the Nile

1. Pyramids on the Nile Chapter 2 Section 2

2. Do Now: Take out HW and switch with a partner; discuss your answers in a group • Obj: Discuss environmental challenges surrounding the civilizations along the Nile • Egyptian Life & Religion • Compare/Contrast hieroglyphics and cuneiform • HW: Active Reading pgs. #44- 49 • Crit. Thinking #3-5

3. Vocabulary • Delta • Narmer • Pharaoh • Theocrasy • Pyramid • Mumification • Hieroglyphics • papyrus

4. The Gift of the Nile • The Nile River supported early life in Egypt • Yearly flooding left behind rich silt (farming) • Egyptians viewed the Nile as a god • Greek historian called Egypt, “the gift of the Nile”

5. Environmental Challenges • If water level was a few feet low; people starved • Too high destroy homes and flood crops • Forced people to live on very small area of Egypt • Desert protected the people from constant warfare

6. Upper and Lower Egypt • Upper Egypt: • Southern part of Egypt above the first cataract • Elevation is higher • Boats can flow up river with the rivers current • Lower Egypt: • Northern Egypt where elevation is lower • Leads to the Nile delta region • Strong winds can bring boats down the river against the current • Makes contact and trade very possible

8. Egypt Unites • Upper and lower Egypt ruled by two kingdoms • (3200 BC) • United by King Narmer (King of Upper Egypt) • King of Upper Egypt wore a white crown • Lower Egypt wore a red crown • Narmer Palette: both crowns as one • Symbol of unification around 3000 BC • Narmer settled his capital in Memphis, near where Upper and Lower Egypt met.

9. Pharaohs Rule in Theocracy • Egyptian kings known as pharaohs ruled as gods • Government ruled by religious authority is called theocracy • Pharaohs had full responsibility for kingdoms well being • Pharaohs reign was expected to last forever; so their tombs had to be as important as their palaces. • Egyptians built massive structures called pyramids to honor their dead kings

10. Egyptian Culture • Religion: • Polytheistic • Over 2,000 gods • Belief in after life • Judged for their deeds • If passed lived in Other World forever\

11. Preparing for Death • People of all classes planned their burials to ensure their passage to the Other World • Royal Egyptians would be mummified, so that the body would not decay over time. • Body would be placed in a tomb filled with material belongings to be used in the after life

12. Life in Egyptian Society • Social Pyramid

13. Egyptian Writing • Hieroglyphics: Greek- sacred carving • Early writing; picture represented ideas • Then pictures represented sounds • Developed papyrus: • Reeds from the Nile dried together to make paper like material

14. Science and Technology • Developed a calendar • Using astronomy to predict time between flooding of the Nile. • Solar Year: • 365 days divided into 12 months of 30 days. • Was accurate to a true solar year within 6 hours! • Mathematics: • Number system to help asses collecting taxes • Geometry helped to reset boundary lines after floods and make accurate measurements for building pyramids