Download Ancient Egypt

Name: _____________________________________________ Period: _______ Date: __________
Ancient Egypt
Directions: Read the following article on the
Ancient Egypt. Take the quiz which follows.
Then construct a timeline from what you have
read. You should find ten events within the
text for your timeline.
built smoother and larger pyramids,
culminating their efforts in the Great
Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. They also carved
the Great Sphinx nearby, an iconic image
that has come to symbolize Egypt itself.
For millennia, Egypt was a divided
land. The Kingdom of Upper Egypt lay in the
south along the banks of the Nile River
Valley, its king wearing a red crown which
resembled a chair. The Kingdom of Lower
Egypt lay in the north in the lush Nile Delta;
its king wore a crown which resembled a
white bowling pin. The kings of these lands
fought one another for the domination of
both Upper and Lower Egypt in the country’s
deserts, marshes, and farmlands.
By the end of the reign of Pepy II, the
power of the pharaohs had begun to
diminish. No longer did they rule with
absolute power; rather, local strongmen
gained suzerainty over the land, governing
many small kingdoms up and down the Nile
Valley. They waged war against each other,
trying to claim the title of pharaoh in a bid to
establish their dominion over the entire Nile
Valley. This kept farmers from working,
causing food shortages and famine in the
otherwise rich lands of Egypt. This time of
civil war was called the First Intermediate
Period, beginning around 2200 BC and
lasted about 100 years.
Around 3100 BC, King Narmer united
the Two Lands, and in doing so he wore a
double crown that incorporated both the
crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt as a
symbol of unification. It joined the white
crown of Upper Egypt with the red crown of
Lower Egypt, and would be worn by the
kings of Egypt for more than two millennia.
Indeed, their civilization would endure far
longer than any modern civilization extant.
For 400 years after Narmer, the sons
of two dynasties held dominion over all of
Egypt. These ruling families established the
power of the kingship in the Two Lands,
firmly establishing the king as the most
influential man in Egypt. The word of these
kings was law; all had to bow to their
absolute power. Moreover, the people of
Egypt began seeing these kings as living
embodiment of the god, Horus. As the link
between this world and the realm of the
gods, pharaoh was to be obeyed without
question.
After a hundred years of bitter
struggle of the First Intermediate Period,
King Amenemhet I came to power c. 2100
BC, quickly bringing all the squabbling
provinces of Egypt under his yoke, launching
the Middle Kingdom. In the three hundred
years that followed, Egypt enjoyed a golden
age in which the arts and literature
flourished in an era of peace and stability.
During this time, the pharaohs resumed
massive public works projects, including
their building of pyramids as their houses of
eternity. But instead of stone, they built
them with cheaper materials, like mud brick
encased in a veneer of stone. In ancient
times, the stone was stripped away, so these
monuments have not stood the same test of
time Old Kingdom counterparts. Instead
many have collapsed into amorphous heaps
of rubble.
Around 2700 BC, a new dynasty took
power under King Djoser, launching a new
age in Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom.
During this time, the Egyptians created some
of the greatest works the people of ancient
Egypt ever produced. They built the
pyramids, starting with Djoser’s Stepped
Pyramid at Sakkara. As time passed, they
In time, however, the pharaohs of
Egypt once again lost their control of the
kingdom in a time of chaos called the Second
Intermediate Period. A group of nomadic
herdsmen called the Hyksos thundered out
of the Middle East, taking over the Nile Delta
c. 1800 BC. From their walled capital city of
Avaris, the Hyksos battled with the native
Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012
Page 1
kings of Upper Egypt for a century.
Eventually, however, the Egyptians evicted
them from the Delta.
It was King Ahmose who expelled the
Hyksos from Egypt around 1700 BC,
ushering in the New Kingdom. During this
new age, the pharaohs of Egypt would wage
bloody campaigns of conquest on their
neighbors and come to establish their
dominion over lands far from their borders
for approximately six centuries. Great
warrior-kings like Tuthmosis III launched
chariot-borne campaigns into the lands of
Libya, Nubia, and Palestine, sweeping aside
all resistance. In bringing these lands to
heel, they pillaged city and kingdom alike,
bringing riches and slaves back to the lands
of Egypt in their bid to forge a great empire.
Amid the prosperity of the New
Kingdom, one pharaoh tried to sweep away
the polytheistic religion of Egypt, Akhenaton.
He closed the temples of the old gods and
introduced the concept of monotheism to the
Egyptian people. He worshiped only one god,
the sun disk which the Egyptians called the
Aten. But his ideas were far too foreign to
the Egyptians; they turned away from his
faith soon after his death and resumed the
worship of the old gods. They demolished
his temples and chiseled his likeness and
cartouche from every monument in Egypt.
Later generations called him “That Criminal,”
refusing to even utter his name and
expressing their profound hatred for him.
The kings who followed him became
some of the greatest known to the Egyptians.
Ramses the Great was the most notable
among them. He commanded his soldiers in
battle, combatting the Hittites at the famous
Battle of Kaddish. He left his mark all over
Egypt, building huge statues, temples, and
other monuments to his memory. One of the
greatest of these was the temple of Abu
Simbel near the Nubian border. Many
scholars believe he was the pharaoh Moses
confronted during the Exodus.
control of the land. Although some came
close to reuniting the Two Kingdoms during
this three and a half century period of
turmoil, all proved unsuccessful.
Around 750 BC, the Late Period began
with the Nubian invasion. This African
kingdom took advantage of Egypt’s weakness
and corruption to conquer the hapless land.
For the next four centuries, Egypt was ruled
by foreign conquerors, each controlling the
Two Lands for only a short time. First, the
Assyrians swept away the Nubians. The
Babylonians conquered the Assyrians, only
to have their empire conquered by the
Persians. Each warring people took control
of Egypt as a crowning jewel in their empires.
Around 330 BCE, the Greeks under
Alexander the Great marched into the
Persian Empire to inaugurate the GrecoRoman period in Egyptian history. They
subjugated the Persians, much to the joy of
the Egyptians who had chaffed under the
yoke of their despotic Persian masters. The
priests of Egypt expressed this elation by
proclaiming Alexander a god. For the next
300 years, the dynasty started by a Greek
general named Ptolemy ruled over Egypt.
In 30 BC, the last Greek ruler of
ancient Egypt, Cleopatra, committed suicide
after she had capitulated to the military
might of Rome. The Roman Empire soon
conquered Egypt after her death and brought
it under its dominion. From that point on,
Egypt became a jewel in the Roman Empire,
and would remain such for over six
centuries. Only at the end of this period
would the Muslim Empire conquer the Two
Lands and drive the Romans out.
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level 10.0
Again the pharaohs lost control of
Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period,
which began ca. 1100 BC, and never again
would the native Egyptians rule over a
unified Egypt. Rival kings fought over
Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012
Page 2
Name: _____________________________________________ Period: _______ Date: __________
Ancient Egypt
Directions: Read the article on ancient Egypt Read
the following questions and all their responses
carefully. Circle the response that best answers the
question.
1. Where did the Kingdom of
Lower Egypt lie?
a. In the Sinai Peninsula.
b. In the lush Nile Delta.
c. Along the banks of the
Nile.
2. What king united Upper and
Lower Egypt for the first time?
a. The Scorpion King
b. King Djoser
c. King Narmer
3. “For 400 years after Narmer,
the sons of two dynasties sat
on the throne of Egypt.” What
is the most likely meaning for
the word “dynasty?”
a. a king
b. a ruling family
c. the concept of kingship
4. What king’s reign launched
the Old Kingdom?
a. King Snefru
b. King Djoser
c. King Khufu
5. Which of the following
monuments was created during
the Old Kingdom?
a. Djoser’s Stepped Pyramid
b. The Great Pyramid at Giza
c. The Great Sphinx
d. All of the above
Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012
6. What did the civil wars of the
First Intermediate Period
cause?
a. food shortages
b. the unification of Egypt
c. violent desert sandstorms
7. What king unified Egypt after
the First Intermediate Period
to launch the Middle
Kingdom?
a. King Khufu
b. King Pepy II
c. King Amenemhet I
8. What material did the kings of
the Middle Kingdom use to
make their pyramids?
a. mud brick
b. stone
c. baked clay bricks
9. What group of nomads made
their capital in Avaris in the
Nile Delta?
a. Hyksos
b. Hebrews
c. Hittites
10.
What king drove the
Hyksos from Egypt?
a. King Amenemhet I
b. King Ahmose
c. King Tuthmosis III
11.
What king tried to sweep
away the polytheistic religion
of Egypt?
a. King Akhenaton
b. King Ramses the Great
c. King Tutankhamen
Page 3
12.
“He closed the Temples
of the old gods and introduced
the concept of monotheism to
the Egyptian people.” What is
the most likely meaning of the
word, “monotheism?”
a. the belief in many gods
b. the belief on one god
c. the belief in no gods
13.
What pharaoh do many
scholars believe Moses went
toe-to-toe with in the Exodus?
a. King Akhenaton
b. King Ramses the Great
c. King Tutankhamen
14.
What battle did Ramses
the Great fight against the
Hittites?
a. the Battle of Gaugamela
b. the Battle of Marathon
c. the Battle of Kaddish
15.
What invasion started
the Late Period?
a. the Nubian
b. the Libyan
c. the Greek
16.
What Greek ruler took
over Egypt to begin the GrecoRoman Period?
a. Alexander the Great
b. King Leonidas of Sparta
c. King Agamemnon
17.
ruler
a.
b.
c.
Who was the last Greek
of Egypt?
King Ptolmey
Queen Cleopatra
Caesar Augustus
Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012
Page 4