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Ancient Egypt – Government, Religion, Culture and Legacies
3 Benchmarks
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Standard 2:
Understands historical perspective
SS6.2hu.1
Knows how to view the past in terms of norms and values of the time
(Religion/Culture)
Standard 3:
Understand human development, identity, and behavior
SS6.3bs.1
Understands that technology is increasingly important in spreading
ideas. (Legacies)
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Standard 5:
Understands the sources, purpose and functions of law, and the
importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual
rights for the common good.
SS6.5c.1
Understands major ideas about why government and codes of law are
necessary
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SS6.5c.1
Understands major ideas about why government and codes of law are
necessary
Government Under The Pharaohs
Along the Nile River 5,000 years ago (3,000 BC) Egypt’s villages were thriving.
Farmers were learning how to produce more surplus crops. Craftworkers in villages were
using new technology to make tools, pottery, and jewelry. The Nile River became crowded
with boats and people as trade increased between towns. When “visitors” saw all of
Egypt’s resources, there was a lot of jealousy that often led to violence, just like in the
New Stone Age.
Archaeologists have uncovered ruins of walls around early towns and paintings of
bloody battle scenes that suggest that there were many wars between villages. People
began to fear for their safety and desire protection from a strong leader. This led to
Menes unifying, or bringing together, Upper and Lower Egypt under his rule. As a ruler,
he would collect taxes and provide an army to protect all of his people from outside
invasion. Menes was the first pharaoh of Egypt in 2686 B.C. The word pharaoh actually
refers to the “great palace” in which the rulers lived. Later it became the name given to
all the rulers of Egypt.
After Upper and Lower Egypt were unified under one leader, Egypt became too big
for the pharaoh to control alone. So, he appointed local leaders called governors.
Governors performed some of the same services as your local leaders. They were in
charge of collecting taxes in their areas and served as local judges. They had different
duties as well. Ancient Egyptian governors made sure that precious flood waters were
shared fairly among farmers through the use of canals and storage pools.
The area governors reported to the pharaoh’s headquarters in Memphis, Egypt’s
capital city. Memphis was located between Upper and Lower Egypt near present-day
Cairo. This is where the pharaoh lived and made his decisions about how Egypt would be
run.
Questions:
1. Who was the first pharaoh?
2. Where did the first pharaoh live?
3. Who did the pharaoh appoint to help him keep control of Egypt?
4. How did the local governors help the pharaoh rule all of Egypt? Make a list.
5. Why was Memphis a good place to build Egypt’s capital?
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SS6.2hu.1
Knows how to view the past in terms of norms and values of the time
(Religion/Culture)
Religion in Egypt
While the pharaoh had great political power in Egypt, he or she also had great
religious powers as well. In fact, Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was a child of their
sun god Ra (Rah). Just as Egyptians believed that Ra gave life to Earth, so they believed
that the pharaoh gave life to Egypt and its people. Just as Ra deserved to be
worshipped, so, too, did the pharaoh.
The ancient Egyptians believed in polytheism, the belief in many gods. Ra was the
most important of the many gods whom ancient Egyptians worshiped. Egyptians believed
different gods had different roles. For example, one god caused the flooding of the Nile.
Another gave potters and metalworkers their creativity. Other gods took the form of
snakes or crocodiles. The god Isis protected people from sickness and harm. Her
husband, Osiris, represented the dead who awaited rebirth.
Osiris was important because belief in the afterlife was central to the religion of
Egypt. Egyptians believed that after a person died, he or she would go on to the “Next
World.” Egyptians believed that the dead could take food and objects into the “Next
World.” Thus, food and belongings were buried with the dead.
Ancient Egyptians preserved the bodies of the dead royalty with a process called
mummification. The bodies were dried and wrapped in strips of cloth. Sometimes pets
such as cats were mummified to accompany their owners into the afterlife. As a result
of this tradition, many tombs have been uncovered and numerous artifacts have been
recovered giving archaeologists and historians a very valuable window into the ancient
Egyptian culture.
1. What type of religion did the ancient Egyptians believe in? What does that mean?
2. Who was the most important god to the Egyptians?
3. How did the Egyptians religious beliefs impact the power of the pharaoh?
4. Name two other important gods and what they were worshipped for.
5. What is mummification?
6. Who was mummified?
7. Why did the Egyptians mummify their dead?
8. Explain the religious reason for why so many personal belongings have been found in
pharaohs’ tombs when they are discovered.
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SS6.3bs.1
Understands that technology is increasingly important in spreading
ideas and values
A legacy is something that has been passed on to us from the past that
are still important to us today.
The following is a list of legacies that have been passed on to us
from the ancient Egyptians.
Hieroglyphics
Ancient Egyptians developed a system of writing around 3000 B.C. This system,
called hieroglyphics, was made up of about 800 picture-signs. These individual picturesigns, or symbols, were called hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs could stand for objects, such as
bread, or for sounds, such as s. Hieroglyphics are the reason why we now know so much
about the lives of the ancient Egyptians.
Papyrus is a reed plant that grows along the Nile. Ancient Egyptians used these
reeds to make a kind of paper, also called papyrus. Papyrus was not very different from
the paper we use today. Did you notice how similar the word papyrus and paper are? Our
modern word comes from the ancient one!
Scribes used sharpened reeds as pens. They dipped the reeds into small disks of
red or black ink. Then the scribes carefully wrote the information they needed to record
on their rolls of papyrus paper.
Rosetta Stone
By about 400 A.D., hieroglyphics fell out of use and their meaning was lost. The
ancient symbols found on Egyptian tombs and walls were a mystery to people who came
upon them many centuries later.
In 1799 a French soldier was digging in the Nile Delta town of Rosetta. There, he
found a large, black stone with writing on it. This stone was later called the Rosetta
Stone, after the place it was found. It contained a passage written three times, in
hieroglyphics, Greek, and other type of Egyptian writing called demotic. By comparing
the three languages, a French scholar named Jean Francois Champollion worked to solve
the mystery of hieroglyphics. By 1822 he had succeeded. Champollion recognized the
symbols for Ptolemy, a later Egyptian pharaoh. The Rosetta stone records many of
Ptolemy’s deeds. For example, the pharaoh lowered taxes, rebuilt certain temples, and
freed prisoners!
This discovery helped to unlock the mystery of hieroglyphics which helped
historians to start using the Egyptians written documents as historical evidence, as well!
This was a huge discovery for archaeologists and historians around the world!
The Great Pyramid
In the Old Kingdom (2686 B.C. – 2181 B.C.), pyramids were built as tombs, or burial
places, for pharaohs. The Great Pyramid is the Old Kingdom’s most spectacular
monument. It is by far the biggest of all the pyramids built in Egypt’s history. Pharaoh
Khufu ordered construction to begin about 2600 BC. This mountain of stone was to be
his tomb. It would bring glory to not only to himself but to all of Egypt.
The 20 year project involved as many as 100,000 people and took huge amounts of
Egypt’s resources. Few families escaped the call to work at the site. Large amounts of
Egyptian taxes went to feed and clothe the project’s workers. Even the Nile River
landscape changed. Entire cliffs of stone were cut into blocks to make up the pharaohs
great stone monument.
Although the Pyramids were supposed to be glorious resting places for the
powerful pharaohs who had them built, they were also very public, visible, and tempting to
tomb robbers. All of the tombs within the pyramids were eventually invaded and looted
by tomb robbers and the final resting places of those pharaohs will forever remain
disturbed, as a result.
The Great pyramid is important to us because it is one of the 7 Wonders
of the
Ancient World.
It has taught us a lot about the Egyptians knowledge of
engineering and mathematics.
It has also taught us a lot about their religious
beliefs and rituals.
The Valley of the Kings
West of Thebes, where steep cliffs plunge into a rocky valley, you can find the
Valley of the Kings, the final resting place for many New Kingdom (1550 BC – 1100 BC)
pharaohs and some of their family members. Most of the ancient Egyptian tombs that
have been discovered are located in the Valley of the Kings. These discoveries have
provided countless artifacts that archaeologists and historians have studied in the quest
to write the story of the past. The most famous of these discoveries was the tomb of
King Tutankhamun.
King Tut’s Tomb
King Tutankhamun was a very young man when he became pharaoh at the age of
nine. He ruled for about ten years until his death at the age of 19. King Tut is not a
famous ruler because of his accomplishments as a pharaoh. He is famous because when
his tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, it had, for the most part, remained
untouched for 3,000 years. Fabulous treasures from the tomb tell a great deal about
ancient Egyptians’ trade and values. The beautiful materials and crafting of the artifacts
show just how rich Egypt had become in the New Kingdom. Among the artifacts found in
the tomb were more than 300 articles of King Tut’s clothing and his world-famous golden
funeral mask. Tut’s mummy was also in the tomb. The mummy has been exhumed on
occasion for a short period of time for forensic testing. The mystery of King Tut’s death
is one that is still keeping scientists and archaeologists guessing. There are many
theories, but none have been clearly suggested…yet. 
Medicine in Egypt
Most Egyptian doctors were priests who learned their skills in temple schools.
These Egyptian doctors wrote medical textbooks about how to cure illnesses, stitch
together cuts, and set broken bones. The books also explained how to “measure the
heart” to see if it was beating too quickly or slowly (pulse). Chamomile, an herb used to
make tea, was first used in Egypt to calm upset stomachs. Moldy bread was often placed
on wounds. This sounds terrible until we remember that modern antibiotics, or germkilling drugs, are often made from certain kinds of mold.
Math and Science
Egyptian priests also knew a great deal about Mathematics. For example, they
developed the mathematical rules needed for building the pyramids.
The priests-scientists also used their knowledge of math to understand the stars.
Without telescopes, Egyptians identified five of the solar system’s planets, which they
called the “stars that know no rest.” The mysterious darkness of eclipses did not scare
priests. They had figured out that such events were just “meetings of the sun and moon.”
Egyptian Boats
The Nile is often referred to as Egypt’s very first “superhighway.” Not
surprisingly, boat-building technology developed very early in ancient Egypt. The first
Egyptian boats were made from bundles of reeds (also known as papyrus plant stems).
Boat travel was so important to the ancient Egyptians that images of boats are often
seen in Egyptian murals. There are even hieroglyphs that represent sailing. Models of
funeral boats were placed in tombs with their pharaohs. Many historians believe that the
Egyptians also invented the sail.
1.
Why are hieroglyphics a legacy? What was passed down?
2. How has the Rosetta Stone been valuable to us, non-Egyptians?
3. Why do you think the Great Pyramid is considered a legacy?
4. What has the Valley of the Kings passed down to us?
5. Why is King Tut one of the most famous pharaohs of all time?
6. Name and Describe one Math and Science legacy.
7. Name and Describe one Medicine legacy.
8. Why were the Egyptians such skilled boat-builders?