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EGYPT
Nadzak
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Did you
know
Egyptians
ate their
kids!!??
For what is Egypt famous?
Pharaohs
Mummies
Pyramids
Tombs
Deserts & sand
The Nile River
Where is Egypt?
• In continent of Africa
• The River Nile runs
through it
• The capital is Cairo
Upper and Lower Egypt
• Ancient Egypt was
divided into two regions:
Upper and Lower Egypt.
• Lower (northern) Egypt
consisted of the Nile
River’s delta made by
the river as it empties
into the Mediterranean.
• Upper (southern) Egypt
was the long, narrow
strip of ancient Egypt
located south of the
Delta.
Nubia
• Land to the south of Egypt between the Nile’s
first and sixth cataracts
– Cataracts are steep descents of the water of a
river, usually making navigation difficult or
impossible
• Lacked Egypt’s broad floodplain and
therefore was less able to agriculturally
support a large population
????
In what
continent
is Egypt?
Africa
What’s the
capital of Egypt?
Cairo
Upper Egypt
consists of what?
long, narrow
strip of ancient
Egypt located
south of the
Delta.
Lower Egypt
consists of what?
Nile River’s delta
made by the river
as it empties into
the
Mediterranean
Contrast Nubia &
Egypt.
Nubia did not
have sustainable
agriculture like
Egypt.
REMEMBER
THIS???
Characteristics of a Civilization
•
•
•
•
•
•
Intensive agricultural techniques
Specialization of labor
Cities
A social hierarchy
Organized religion and education
Development of complex forms of economic
exchange
• Development of new technologies
• Advanced development of the arts.
• Writing
Did Egypt
have
them???
Agriculture
The Nile River
Basin:
A Ribbon
of Green
• Egypt = the “Gift
of the Nile”
Agriculture
• Egyptians took advantage of
the Nile’s annual floods to
become an especially
productive agricultural
region
– After the floods receded
in late summer,
cultivators could go into
the floodplains and sow
their seeds without
extensive preparation of
the soil
Nile River Delta
rivers
Agriculture
• Expanded agriculture led to
expanded populations and
demand for increased production
• Cultivators moved beyond the
Nile’s immediate floodplains
building dikes to protect their
fields from floods and catchment
basins to store water for irrigation
agriculture
populations
cities
specialization
hierarchy
Shaduf
• To lift water from the canal
Egyptians used a shaduf, a large
pole balanced on a crossbeam
with a rope and bucket on one
end and a heavy counter weight
at the other.
• When the rope was pulled, the
bucket would be lowered into the
canal.
• The counterweight would raise
the bucket.
• The farmer would then carry the
bucket to the field and water it.
????
How do we know
the Scarab beetle
was important to
Egyptians?
It was given as
a good luck
charm.
Specialization
Brewing and Breadmaking
Sailing
Plowing and Sowing
Harvesting papyrus and Herding
Specialization
• Nile societies were
much slower than their
Mesopotamian
counterparts to adopt
metal tools and
weapons
• Did develop pottery,
textile manufacture,
woodworking, leather
production,
stonecutting, and
masonry occupations
Egyptian pottery
makers
Specialization
• Building a pyramid would require
– Laborers
– Architects
– Engineers
– Craftsmen
– Artists
Cities
Cities
• Relatively few cities and high
administrative centralization
• Memphis
– Founded by Menes around
3100 BC as capital of a united
Upper and Lower Egypt
– Located at the head of the
Nile River Delta
• Thebes
– Administrative center of
Upper Egypt
– Seat of worship for Amon
Religion and Education
Religion and Education
• Two main gods were
Amon (Thebian deity
associated with the sun,
creation, fertility, and
reproductive forces)
and Re (the sun god
worshipped at
Heliopolis)
– Eventually the two were
combined in the cult of
Amon-Re
Mummification
• In order to prepare a
person for the long
and hazardous
journey before they
could enjoy the
pleasures of the
afterlife, the body of
a dead person was
preserved by a
process called
mummification.
The Judgment
• The Egyptians viewed the heart as the seat of
intellect and emotion.
• Before entering the pleasures of eternity, the
dead person had to pass a test in which Anubis,
the god of the dead, weighed the person’s heart
against Ma’at, the goddess of justice and truth,
who was represented by a feather.
The Judgment
• If the deceased’s good deeds
outweighed the bad, then his
heart would be as light as the
feather (heavy hearts bore the
burden of guilt and evil), and
Osiris would welcome the
newcomer to the next world.
• If the deceased fell short in his
judgment, his body would be
eaten by a monster that was
part crocodile, part lion, and
part hippopotamus.
Osiris
• Patron of the underworld, the
dead, and past pharaohs
• Cult of Osiris demanded
observance of high moral
standards
– As lord of the underworld, Osiris
had the power to determine who
deserved the blessing of
immortality and who did not
Social Hierarchy
Social Hierarchy
• Pharaoh
– Egyptian kings of a centralized state
– Claimed to be gods living on earth in human form
• Bureaucrats
– Because the pharaoh was an absolute ruler there was little room for a
noble class as in Mesopotamia
– Instead professional military forces and an elaborate bureaucracy of
administrators and tax collectors served the central government
• Patriarchal
– Vested authority over public and private affairs in men
– However, more opportunities for women than in Mesopotamia as
evidenced by Queen Hatshepsut reigning as pharaoh
• Peasants and slaves
– Supplied the hard labor that made complex agricultural society
possible
– Among the slaves were the Hebrews
Pharaohs
Tutankhamun (King Tut)
1334 and 1325 BC
Ramesses II
1279-1213 BC
Bureaucrats
• Below the pharaoh, the most powerful officer in the
hierarchy was the vizier, the executive head of the
bureaucracy
– All royal commands passed through the vizier
before being transmitted to the scribes in his
office.
• The scribes dispatched orders to the heads of towns
and villages, including rules related to the collection
of taxes.
Economic Exchange
• The Nile provided excellent
transportation which facilitated
trade.
• Nile flows north so boats could
ride the currents from Upper to
Lower Egypt.
• Prevailing winds blow almost
year-round from the north so by
using sails, boats could then
make their way back upriver.
Economic Exchange
• Egypt needed to trade because,
beside the Nile, it had few natural
resources
– For example, Egypt had very few trees
so all its wood came from abroad,
especially cedar from Lebanon
• Much trade between Egypt and
Nubia
– Importance of trade was reflected in
the names of southern Egyptian cities
• Aswan comes from the ancient
Egyptian word swene which means
“trade”
• Elephantine owed its name to the
elephant ivory trade
New Technologies
Ramps and stonecutting required to
build pyramids
New Technologies
• Papyrus
– The raw material came from the plant
Cyperus papyrus which grew along the
banks of the Nile
– Used not only in the production of
paper but also used in the manufacture
of boats, rope and baskets
• Shipbuilding
–
–
–
–
Wooden boats
Multiple-oars
Sails
Rope trusses to strengthen hulls
Art and Writing
Art and Writing
• Pyramids
– Symbols of the pharaoh’s
authority and divine
stature; royal tombs
– Pyramid of Khufu involved
the precise cutting and
fitting of 2,300,000
limestone blocks with an
average weight of 2.5 tons
– Estimated construction of
the Khufu pyramid
required 84,000 laborers
working 80 days per year
for 20 years
The Sphinx and Great
Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.
Art and Writing
• Hieroglyphs
– Pictures that were used to write
the ancient Egyptian language
– Originally used to keep records
of the king’s possessions. Scribes
could easily make these records
by drawing a picture of a cow or
a boat followed by a number.
• As the language became more
complex, more pictures were
needed. Eventually the language
consisted of more than 750
individual signs.
Mesopotamia and Egypt
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Agriculture
+“Land between the rivers”
(Tigris and Euphrates forms
Fertile Crescent
+Artificial irrigation
+”Gift of the Nile”
+Artificial irrigation
Specialization
+Pottery, textiles, woodworking,
leather, brick making,
stonecutting, masonry
+Pottery, textiles, woodworking,
leather production, stonecutting,
masonry
Cities
-Numerous, densely populated
city-states (Ur and Babylon)
-Fewer cities with high
centralization (Memphis and
Thebes)
Social Hierarchy
-Noble class
-Patriarchal
+Slaves
-Absolute authority of the
pharaoh made a noble class
unnecessary (had bureaucrats
instead)
-Patriarchal, but the presence of
Queen Hatsheput may indicate
greater opportunities for women
+Slaves