Download Living in Ancient Egypt

Living in
Ancient Egypt
Teacher's Guide
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Living in Ancient Egypt
catalog # 1794
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Grades 4–8
Viewing Time: 18 minutes
with a two-minute, ten-question video quiz
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
This video explores various aspects of life in ancient Egypt, such as
farming, writing, numbers, paper making, temples, tombs, religion
and mummy making.
LINKS TO CURRICULUM STANDARDS
The design for this program was guided by the curriculum
standards of the States of Texas, California and Illinois as well as the
National Center for History in Schools (U.C.L.A). In accordance
with these guidelines we have attempted to help students:
1. Describe the many aspects of daily life in ancient Egypt.
2. Delineate the meaning of time and chronology specifically as it
relates to the civilization of ancient Egypt.
3. Draw upon visual data as an aid to historical comprehension.
4. Examine the religion and belief systems of the ancient Egyptians.
5. Create a timeline.
6. Compare and contrast different sets of ideas and values.
7. Formulate historical questions.
8. Acquire needed knowledge of time and place to construct an
explanation or historical narrative.
9. Consider multiple perspectives.
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TEACHER PREPARATION/INSTRUCTIONAL NOTES
• Before presenting this lesson to your students, we suggest that
you review history textbooks on the subject of ancient Egypt. We
also advise you to preview the video and review the guide and
accompanying blackline masters in order to familiarize yourself
with their content.
As you review the materials presented in this guide, you may find it
necessary to make some changes, additions, or deletions to meet
the specific needs of your class. We encourage you to do so, for
only by tailoring this program to your class will they obtain the
maximum instructional benefits afforded by the materials.
It is also suggested that the video presentation take place before
the entire group under your supervision. The lesson activities
grow out of the context of the video; therefore, the presentation
will be a common experience for all students.
You should also duplicate selected handout materials from the
blackline masters included in this guide.
• An optional pre-test is provided on Blackline Master 1. This
assessment tool will help you determine the level of student
comprehension prior to participating in this lesson. An Answer Key
begins on page 6 of this Teachers Guide.
• Set up a “Learning Center” with maps, pictures or other
materials relevant to the civilization of ancient Egypt.
STUDENT PREPARATION
Before viewing “Living in Ancient Egypt”:
• Have students explore the “Learning Center.”
• Introduce or review with your students the meanings of any words
from Blackline Masters 2 and 3, Vocabulary List, with which they
may need clarification.
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STUDENT OBJECTIVES
After viewing this video and participating in the follow–up activities,
students should be able to:
1. Explain the role of the Nile River in the development of civilization
in ancient Egypt.
2. Describe some of the preparations that were made for the journey
into the afterlife by ancient Egyptians .
3. Compare and contrast modern-day styles of writing down words
and numbers to those used in ancient Egypt.
4. Explain how paper was made in ancient Egypt.
5. Explain some of the different ways that religion was practiced in
ancient Egypt.
6. Make a timeline.
7. Compare and contrast belief systems of ancient Egypt to those of
today.
INTRODUCING THE VIDEO
• This program could be introduced by giving a brief overview of
the civilization of ancient Egypt. Discuss the Nile River’s role in
shaping Egyptian civilization. Discuss the pyramids and other
famous monuments of ancient Egypt. Discuss pharaohs and
mummies.
• Distribute whichever activity sheets you decide to use.
• View the video. The running time is 18 minutes followed by
an optional two-minute, ten-question quiz.
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. How did the religion of ancient Egypt influence the lives and deaths
of the ancient Egyptians?
2. Would you have liked to live in ancient Egypt?
3. What was the pharaoh’s role in Egyptian society?
DESCRIPTIONS OF BLACKLINE MASTERS
Blackline Master 1, Pre-Test, that when compared to
Blackline Master 7, Post-Test, will help you gauge student
comprehension of the Objectives before and after the
administration of the lesson.
Blackline Masters 2 and 3, Vocabulary Lists, will help
students with unfamiliar words used in the program or pertaining
to the subject of this program.
Blackline Master 4, Vocabulary Activity, asks students to
find terms and facts from Blackline Masters 2 and 3, Vocabulary
List.
Blackline Masters 5 and 6, Timeline for Ancient Egypt,
delineates some of the major events and occurrences of this era.
Blackline Master 7, Timeline Activity, asks students to locate
information from Blackline Master 3, Timeline, and then make
their own timeline from this and other information.
Blackline Master 8, Crossword Puzzle, challenges students
to use vocabulary words from this program.
Blackline Master 9, Post-Test, is an assesment tool to be
administered after the entire lesson is complete. Contrasting
students’ results with those of Blackline Master 1, Pre-Test, should
help you gauge overall comprehension of the Student Objectives.
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Blackline Master 10, Video Quiz, replicates the Video Quiz
questions found on–screen immediately following the video
presentation.
Blackline Master 11, Facts About Ancient Egypt,
decribes various aspects of life during this era.
Blackline Master 12, The Ancient Egyptian Religion,
describes various aspects of beliefs.
Blackline Master 13, Map Exercise, helps student learn the
geography of ancient Egypt and the surrounding area.
Blackline Master 14, The Hieroglyphic Alphabet and
Exercise, shows students this ancient alphabet and has students
use it to write an English word.
Blackline Master 15, Ancient Egyptian Numbers and
Exercise, shows students these ancient numbers and has
students use them to write a date.
EXTENDED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Research papers or oral reports should be assigned on one or
more of the following subjects:
1. Famous Egyptian pharaohs.
2. Hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone; the importance of literacy.
3. The gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt; religious practices of
the ancient Egyptians.
4. Burial practices of the ancient Egyptians.
5. Compare and contrast modern life to life in ancient Egypt with
an emphasis placed on beliefs.
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ANSWER KEY
Blackline Master 1, Pre-Test
1. True
2. False, they were called pharaohs.
3. False, B.C. means before the time of Christ, so they could not
possibly have become Christians.
4. True
5. False, the Nile River was their highway.
Blackline Master 4, Vocabulary Activity
1. Thebes, Memphis
2. Cleopatra, Hatshepsut
3. Amen, Anubis, Hathor, Horus, Isis, Knum, Nut, Osiris, Re, Thoth
Blackline Master 7, Timeline Activity
1. ––––A.D.
2. 1492 A.D.
3. 2680–2160 B.C.
4. 1468–1402 B.C.
5. 291–60 B.C.
6.1490–1468 B.C.
7. 332 B.C.
Blackline Master 8,
Crossword Puzzle
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Blackline Master 9, Post-Test
A. The Nile River was important to the ancient Egyptians because
it gave them water for their crops and water to drink. It provided
an easy means of transportation by ship and it carried silt to the
riverbanks and delta, which greatly enriched the soil of their farms
each year.
B. After death, specially trained priests removed the internal
organs. The organs such as the liver, lungs, and stomach, were
removed. The body and organs were dried and preserved with
salts and wrapped in cloth with magical amulets herbs and flower
bulbs. Then the body was placed in a painted coffin and buried in a
richly decorated tomb. Some of the tombs, such as the pyramids,
were huge. People were usually buried with jars of food, furniture,
jewelry and statues to accompany them on their voyage into the
afterlife. Special ceremonies were carried out before burial to
bring the tomb paintings to life and bring the spirit back to the
mummified body.
C. Modern people have been able to understand the ancient
Egyptians by reading the written, hieroglyphic records they left
behind. Archaeologists have also carefully studied how their
buildings were constructed. They have also been able to learn a
lot from just looking at their paintings and other artwork. These
paintings and artwork have allowed modern people to see what
the ancient Egyptians looked like, how they dressed, what jewelry
they wore, and how they went about many of life’s everyday
tasks.
Blackline Master 10, Video Quiz
1. True
2. False, Re was the sun god.
3. False, Osiris was ruler of the dead.
4. False, a sphinx was a large stone monument.
5. True
6. True
7. False, pharaohs did perform ceremonies.
8. False, the pyramids were built to be tombs.
9. True
10. False, they wrote in hieroglyphics.
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Blackline Master 13, Map Exercise
1. Syria
2. Jordan
3. Israel
4. Saudi Arabia
5. Sudan
6. Libya
7. Lebanon
8. Cairo
9. Jerusalem
10. The Red Sea
11. The Mediterranean Sea
12. The Nile River
13. The Delta of the Nile
14. Thebes
15. Giza
16. Sinai Peninsula
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
SCRIPT OF NARRATION
Over five thousand years ago, a great civilization began to take
shape here in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were talented builders
who created hundreds of beautiful temples, enormous pyramids,
and fantastic monuments at which we still marvel today. But the
ancient Egyptians were not only skilled builders, they were excellent craftsmen and engineers, as well, and nearly everything they
did was influenced by their mysterious religion.
Religion even played a key role in the way Egypt was governed,
allowing it to become the first country in the world to have an
organized government that was strong enough to rule millions of
people who lived across a very large geographical area. Over a
span of some three thousand years, the civilization of ancient Egypt
was born, grew old, and finally died, but while it lasted, it was one
the most magnificent civilizations the world has ever seen. So now
let us go back in time and find out what it was like to live during
this amazing period of history.
EGYPT AND THE NILE RIVER
The nation of Egypt developed in the northeastern corner of the
African continent around the year 3000 B.C. on lands where the
mighty Nile River cuts through the the Sahara Desert. The people
of Egypt could never have survived in such a harsh environment
without the Nile, for it not only provided water for drinking, its
water also turned the desert into a paradise where plants thrived
in the hot sunny weather.
Every summer, far upstream in central Africa, heavy rains washed
large amounts of topsoil and plant material into the river. Downstream in Egypt, these rains caused the river to overflow, but each
year after it returned to normal, a rich new layer of soil was left
behind. Over countless centuries, this soil was deposited along the
banks of the Nile. And where the river flowed into the Mediterranean Sea, it created a region of fertile islands called the Nile Delta.
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The combination of sun, water, and rich soil made it possible to
raise excellent crops here and have a dependable supply of food.
And having abundant food is what really made it possible for the
great civilization of Egypt to develop in the way that it did.
FARMING, HOUSES, AND TRANSPORTATION
Just as they did thousands of years ago, the Egyptians of today still
farm on the delta of the Nile. Many of their crops, such as barley,
wheat, and dates, are the same as those that fed the ancient
Egyptians and many of their farming methods are pretty much the
same as well, for a lot of work is still done by hand or with the
help of domesticated animals that have been trained to plow the
fields and bring water to the crops
Three thousand years ago, Egyptian farmers and other ordinary
people lived in simple houses much like this one, that were made
from bricks of sun–dried mud. Most houses were built in villages
near the fields, but on higher land, where they would be safe from
the the Nile’s yearly flood.
From their villages, the ancient Egyptians could gaze out at the
ships passing by, which were their nation’s main form of transportation, for the Nile was Egypt’s superhighway, flowing from one
end of the country to the other.
Some of the ships that passed by might be heading to a nearby
town to pick up a cargo of clay jugs needed for hauling water,
wine, and oil, or perhaps to unload a shipment of valuable spices
from some far distant land, while other ships might be carrying
government officials, soldiers, or even building stones for a new
temple.
THE PHARAOH
In ancient Egypt, the head of the government was called the
pharaoh and every citizen was obliged to serve him and follow his
commands. All the land and all the people of Egypt belonged to
the pharaoh.
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The Egyptians believed that every pharaoh was the child of the
god of the sun. As a living god, the pharaoh was quite different
from the rest of the people. Everything he wore and everything he
used in his daily life was designed for him alone. People believed
that, through his divine powers, the pharaoh could keep their
country safe and prosperous. For example, every year for more
than 25 centuries, the pharaohs performed a ceremony to make
sure the Nile flood would bring a new layer of rich soil so they
would have good crops. And because the ancient Egyptians
believed that at night the sun made a journey through the land of
the dead, every morning the pharaoh performed a special ceremony to bring back the sun and restart life again in his kingdom.
GODS, GODDESSES, AND TEMPLES
As a living god, the pharaoh was the religious leader of Egypt, but it
was the sun god Re, whose image is seen here, that was really the
main god of their country. The ancient Egyptians worshipped many
different gods and goddesses, and each one had their own special
supernatural powers.
Horus, the falcon-headed god, whose image is seen here, was the
god of heaven, and the pharaoh himself was believed to be this
god in human form.
People in different parts of the country had their own favorite gods
and built temples for them. For example, in parts of southern
Egypt, they built this temple to Isis, queen of all the gods, and the
goddess of women, while in the north, in one part of the delta,
they built temples to Osiris, the god of death and rebirth. This
temple honored Hathor, the goddess of love, and was built by a
great pharaoh for his favorite wife.
Temples owned large amounts farm land. In fact, at one time, a
third of all the land in Egypt belonged to the temples. The crops
raised on their lands were used to support the huge number of
people who worked at the temples. Temples were believed to be
sacred palaces where the god’s spirit lived. Ordinary Egyptians
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never entered the temples; instead, priests performed ceremonies
inside them to please the gods, asking for their help in preventing
disasters and to bring good fortune. During these ceremonies,
incense was burned, food was offered, and the god’s statue was
lovingly washed and rubbed with precious oils. And during special
festivals, the statue of the god was taken from the temple and
carried through the streets for all to see.
PAPER, WRITING, AND NUMBERS
Egyptian temples were not only places of worship, they were also
places of learning, where a few people could go to study reading,
writing, and mathematics. There is no doubt that the Egyptian
civilization was successful because it produced educated people,
but also, and nearly as important, Egypt produced a lot of paper
upon which they could write.
Egyptians made paper from the plant called papyrus, seen here,
that grew thickly along the riverbanks. Paper makers would cut
stalks of papyrus and strip off the thick green outer layer of the
stems to get to the soft center inside. The center was then cut into
long strips and laid on a heavy slab, first in one direction, and then
in the other. Next, a second heavy slab was placed on top, so that,
with pressure, the strips joined together to form a single piece of
paper.
The ancient Egyptians wrote on paper and carved in stone in their
own special kind of writing called hieroglyphics.
Hieroglyphic writing was very complicated because it had 700
symbols used to represent different sounds, as well as an alphabet
of 24 letters. For example, this was the hieroglyphic letter for “T,”
this for “N,” and this for “B.”
When it came to writing down numbers, things were much
simpler. Numbers from one to nine were made using short lines,
so that one line meant 1, two lines meant 2, and so forth. But
because they had no zero, they had to use different symbols for
the numbers 10, 100, 1000, 10,000, 100,000, and one million.
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So in ancient Egypt the number 46 would have been written like
this, using four tens and six ones.
Because they learned to work with numbers, the ancient Egyptians
were able to develop certain kinds of mathematics. In fact, over 45
centuries ago, mathematics were used in drawing up the plans for
this huge pyramid because, to build it correctly, more than two
million blocks of heavy stone had to be perfectly cut and then
arranged in a very accurate way.
TOMBS AND MUMMIES
Pyramids like these were royal tombs and were built to last
forever through the back-breaking labor of tens of thousands of
men. In ancient Egypt, large royal tombs were often guarded by
huge statues like this one called sphinxes, which depicted the
pharaoh’s head on the body of a powerful lion. Beside sphinxes,
tall monuments called obelisks, covered with hieroglyphics, also
were placed outside of royal tombs.
Tombs were extremely important to the ancient Egyptians, for
they believed that the dead person’s spirit, or Ka, could survive
forever inside the tomb, but for this to happen, the body had to
first be preserved by turning it into a mummy.
Mummies were made by specially trained priests who wore the
mask of the jackal–headed god Anubis while they prepared the
body for burial. They began by removing the brain, liver, lungs,
intestines, and stomach. Then the organs and the entire body
were completely covered with a salt mixture to dry them out.
After drying for one-and-a-half to two months, the salt was removed and the body cavity was filled with fresh linen and fragrant
spices, then the body was rubbed with cedar oil, each of the four
organs was placed in a different clay jar, and then the body was
wrapped in many layers of linen cloth to which magical amulets
were added. Finally, the mummy was placed in a coffin and taken
to its tomb, which had been filled with food, clothing, and other
things needed in the afterlife.
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At the door to the tomb, priests performed special ceremonies.
One ceremony was supposed to bring the spirit back to the body
and another was designed to bring the paintings on the walls of the
tomb to life. It was believed that after all these things had been
done, the person’s spirit would be led into the hall of judgment,
where the god Anubis knelt holding the scales of justice. On one
side of the scale was the person’s heart, while on the other side
was the sacred feather of Ma–At, the goddess of justice. If the
person had led a good life, his heart was lighter than the sacred
feather, but if the person had led a bad life, the heart side dropped.
After the weighing was done, the ruler of the dead, the god Osiris,
decided his fate. Spirits with heavy hearts were turned into demons, but those whose hearts were light and good went with
Osiris to dwell forever in the land of the dead.
Today, the religious beliefs of ancient Egypt may seem quite odd,
but back then they were just part of daily life. And, as we have
seen, those strange beliefs helped shape an amazing civilization
that was so successful it lasted for thousands of years, even in spite
of the fact that the ancient Egyptians rarely went to war, preferring
instead to live their lives in peace and comfort.
For the average Egyptian of 4000 years ago, Egypt was a universe
all its own, surrounded by desert, and nourished by the Nile. For
them, being an Egyptian meant worshipping Egyptian gods, following the pharaoh, and, above all else, dying and being buried in
Egypt.
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1
Name ________________________________
LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Pre-Test
Directions : Answer the following questions True or False:
1. Most ancient Egyptians were Africans. _______
2. The rulers of ancient Egypt were called Pharisees. _______
3. Most Egyptians became Christians around the year 100 B.C. _______
4. Ancient Egyptians probably appreciated floods more than most people. _______
5. Ancient Egyptians had an excellent system of paved roads for transportation. _______
©2000 Chariot Productions
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution
Published and Distributed by AGC/United Learning
1560 Sherman Av., Suite 100 Evanston, IL 60201
1-800-323-9084 Fax 1-847-328-6706
2
Name ________________________________
LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Vocabulary List
Abu Simbel- A huge cliff temple built by pharaoh Ramses the
Great that contains four enormous statues of him that are eight
stories high.
dynasty - Rulers who are all members of the same family. Egypt
was ruled by 19 different dynasties between 3000 B.C. and 1186
B.C.
Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.)
- Son of King Phillip
of Macedonia, he conquered Egypt in 332 B.C.
Edfu - A place in Egypt where a temple to the falcon god Horus
was built.
amulet- A magical charm that protects against evil. Amulets
were added to the linen in which mummies were wrapped.
Egyptologist - A person who studies the ancient language,
history, customs and buildings of Egypt.
ankh- The Egyptian symbol for life; a hieroglyphic symbol.
Hatshepsut - A powerful woman who became a pharaoh and
ruled Egypt during the 18th dynasty.
architect-
A person who designs buildings.
archaeologist (archeologist)
- A person who studies the
lives and cultures of ancient peoples. Through excavation,
archeologists examine the things that were left behind by long
forgotten people in order to understand how they lived.
Amen (Amun) - The ancient Egyptian god of life and of
reproduction.
Anubis - The jackal-headed Egyptian god. Anubis was believed
to hold the scales of judgment.
Hathor - The Egyptian goddess of love and happiness, usually
represented as having the ears and head of a cow.
Hieroglyphics
- The picture writing of ancient Egypt.
Horus - The falcon–headed Egyptian god of heaven who was a
protector of the pharaohs.
Isis - The Egyptian goddess of fertility; wife of Osiris, mother of
Horus.
barle y- A type of cereal grain raised by the ancient Egyptians.
Ka - A person’s spirit. The Ka needed a body to live in after death.
It was the Ka that received the offerings of food and drink at the
tomb.
cartouche - An oval frame used to surround the hieroglyphic
name of an important person, especially a pharaoh, in ancient
Egypt.
Kafre - A great king or pharaoh who had a huge pyramid–tomb
built for himself at Giza.
Cheop’s Pyramid - One of the great pyramids of Giza; the
same as the pyramid of Khufu.
civilization - The total culture of a people. Civilized people are
usually more advanced in science, art and social organization than
uncivilized people.
Cleopatra - Ruler and Queen of Egypt during the time of the
Roman emperors Julius Caesar and Augustus. As the last Greek
ruler or Ptolemy, Cleopatra committed suicide in 30 B.C. by
allowing herself to be bitten by a poisonous snake after Egypt fell
to the forces of Rome.
Crocodilopolis - A city in Egypt where a live crocodile was
kept in a temple of the crocodile god Sobek.
customary - Something that has been done for a long time,
according to custom. For example: It was customary for the
ancient Egyptians to mummify the dead.
delta - The triangle–shaped fourth letter of the Greek alphabet.
A triangular or fan–shaped piece of rich land that forms at the
mouth of a river.
Khufu - Another great pharaoh who built a huge pyramid at Giza.
Knum - An Egyptian god with a ram’s head who was believed
to have created human beings from clay.
linen - A fabric woven from the beaten fibers of the flax plant
that was popular in ancient Egypt and is still being made today.
Menes - The king who united Upper and Lower Egypt into a
single kingdom around 3000 B.C.
magnificent - Great, glorious, splendid. For example: Wearing
his crown, the pharaoh looked magnificent.
mastaba - A burial building of ancient Egypt that looks like a flat
bench with sloped sides.
Memphis - A great city that once serve as the capital of ancient
Egypt.
mummy - A dead body which has been preserved by drying.
(Continued on Blackline Master 3)
©2000 Chariot Productions
All rights to print materials cleared for classroom duplication and distribution
Published and Distributed by AGC/United Learning
1560 Sherman Av., Suite 100 Evanston, IL 60201
1-800-323-9084 Fax 1-847-328-6706
3
Name ________________________________
LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Vocabulary List (continued)
Nile River - One of Africa’s great rivers. It flows from central
Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt depends so much on
the waters of the Nile that it is sometimes called “The Gift of the
Nile.”
Rosetta Stone - This carved stone, which was covered with
writing in different languages, held the key to understanding the
hieroglyphic writing of ancient Egypt.
sarcophagus - A coffin or burial box usually made of stone.
Nofretari - The favorite wife of pharaoh Ramses the Great.
Nut- Goddess of the sky.
Osiris - Ancient Egyptian god of rebirth and of vegetation; ruler
of the dead; husband of the goddess Isis.
oasis - A fertile place in a desert with plants and water.
obelisk - A tall, slender, four–sided stone pillar shaped from a
single stone with a small pyramid on top. The ancient Egyptians
carved hieroglyphics on obelisks and usually placed them in pairs
outside of temples and tombs.
papyrus - A water plant that was abundant in the delta of the
Nile. Papyrus was used for many things by the ancient Egyptians,
but it is best known as a source of papermaking material.
Pharaoh - Ancient Egyptian rulers who were believed be
children of the sun god Re.
Ptolemy - The name of 14 different Greek (Macedonian) rulers
of Egypt from 323 to 30 B.C. Ptolemy I was a general in the
army of Alexander the Great.
pyramid - A huge building with a square base and triangular
sides. In ancient Egypt the pyramids were built as tombs. They
were designed to give the best possible protection to the body
and the gifts the spirit would need in the afterlife. The largest
pyramid in Egypt is 482 feet high (148M) and covers 13 acres of
land.
Rameses the Great- (Rameses II) (or Ramses)
- Probably
the most powerful of all the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Many
huge statues of Ramses the Great can still be seen in Egypt today.
Sahara Desert - Located in North Africa, the Sahara is the
world’s largest desert. Most of the land of modern Egypt is desert.
scarab- A beetle that was sacred to the ancient Egyptians because
it was believed to push the sun across the sky each day. The
scarab beetle was associated with the sun god, with immortality,
and with rebirth. Amulets with scarab designs carved on them
were placed within the linen wrappings of mummies.
Sobek - The Egyptian god that had the body of a man and head
of a crocodile.
sphinx - An Egyptian stone monument usually having the body
of lion and the head of a pharaoh.
symbol - Something that stands for or represents another thing.
For example, the cross is the symbol of Christianity.
Thebes - This city was the capital of ancient Egypt in the 21st
century B.C. It was located in the southern part of Egypt and
became one of the world’s wealthiest cities. It was famous for its
marble temples, palaces and beautiful pools.
theocracy- A country ruled by a god. Ancient Egypt was a
theocracy because everyone believed the pharaoh was a god.
Thoth - God of wisdom.
traditions - Beliefs and practices that are handed down from
generation to generation.
transformed - Changed into something else. For example, the
Greeks transformed the culture of ancient Egypt.
Tutankhamon - King “Tut.”
Re - The Egyptian sun god, also called Ra.
represented - Stood for something else: for example: The
round stone carving on the temple represented the sun.
Roman Empire - A great and powerful empire that ruled nearly
all of Europe and parts of Africa and Asia for many centuries. The
capital of this empire was Rome, which is today the capital of
Italy. The Roman Empire was most powerful from about 300
B.C. to around 400 A.D. The Romans came to rule Egypt in
30 B.C.
vizier - In ancient Egypt, a high government official, something
like a prime minister.
Zoser - A powerful pharaoh who built one of the first pyramids
in Egypt.
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Vocabulary Activities
Directions:
From the Vocabulary List found on Blackline Masters 2 and 3, find the following:
1. Two cities that served as capitals for ancient Egypt:
2. The names of two women who ruled Egypt:
3. The names of ten different gods of ancient Egypt:
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Timeline of Ancient Egypt
3000–2660 B.C.
THE FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES
•Pharaoh Menes and those who came after him organized
the united kingdom of Egypt.
•The Sothiac calendar, with 365 days a year, was invented
in Egypt. This was one of the first calenders ever used.
•Egyptian buildings were made mostly of sun–dried bricks
and statue making was just developing in Egypt.
•Camels were domesticated in Arabia for the first time.
•Cotton was cultivated in India for the first time.
•Silkworms were raised in China for the first time.
2660–2180 B.C.
“THE OLD KINGDOM” (DYNASTIES 3–6)
2660–2600 B.C. (Third Dynasty)
•Period when the first stone pyramids were built.
•The first tombs called mastabas were being built.
2600–2480 B.C. (Fourth Dynasty)
•The great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza were being
built.
•The high point of Egytptian statue making.
•Cats were being domesticated for the first time in history
in Egypt.
•Surgical operations were being done in Egypt.
1990–1780 B.C.
“MIDDLE KINGDOM“ (12TH DYNASTY)
•A time of glorious pharaohs when the royal Egyptian
sculpture workshops were making fine statues.
•Records of the movement of the stars and planets were
being kept in Babylonia.
•The Babylonians developed the first multiplication tables.
•The Egyptians were quite advanced in the type of
mathematics called geometry and were writing on paper
made from papyrus.
1780–1560 B.C.
SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
(13–17th Dynasties)
•A time of great social and political disturbances in Egypt.
Foreigners called the Hyksos invaded the Nile Delta from
the north.
•The first horses were introduced into Egypt from Asia.
•The Phoenecians were using a 22-letter alphabet.
THE NEW KINGDOM 1550–1100 B.C.
1552–1306 B.C. (The 18th Dynasty)
•End of control of Egypt by the Hyksos.
1557–1494 B.C.
•Pharaoh Amenhotep I worked to bring political stability
to Egypt. Egyptian military forces reached the Euphrates
River in northern Syria.
2480–2330 B.C. (Fifth Dynasty)
•The great people of the pharaoh’s court at this time were
having scenes from daily life painted on the walls of their
1490–1468 B.C .
tombs.
•Egypt was ruled by Queen Hatshepsut.
2330–2180 B.C. (Sixth Dynasty)
•The power of the central government of Egypt was getting 1402–1364 B.C.
•Egypt reached the peak of its glory and splendor. The
weaker.
•The world’s first maps were being made in Mesopotamia. temple of Luxor was built at Thebes.
2180–1990 B.C. (7th–11th Dynasties)
•The pharaoh’s government was falling apart, but near the
end of this period unity was reestablished in Egypt.
•The world’s first zoo was founded in China.
•In Mesopotamia mathematics were becoming very
advanced.
•The first plows were developed in Persia.
1347–38 B.C.
•Pharaoh Tutankhamon (King Tut) ruled Egypt.
•Books on medicine and surgery were being written in
Egypt on papyrus scrolls.
•Egyptians were building water clocks and making things
out of glass.
•Egypt controlled Syria, Palestine and Nubia—this was the
time of Egypt’s greatest geographical expansion.
(Continued on Blackline Master 6)
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Name ________________________________
LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Timeline of Ancient Egypt (continued)
1306–1186 B.C. (The 19th Dynasty)
•1290–1224 B.C. Ramses the Great ruled Egypt. The
great temple of Abu Simbel was built.
1186–900 B.C.
•Egyptian power declined: End of the New Kingdom period
in Egypt.
483 B.C.
•The Buddha, founder of Buddhism, died in India.
457 B.C.
•Beginning of the “Golden Age” of Athens under Pericles.
400 B.C.
•The Persians invaded Egypt.
900–851 B.C.
•A symbol for zero was being used in India for the first 390 B.C.
time in the world’s history, making great advances possible •A Greek astronomer suggested that the planets Venus
and Mercury may orbit the sun.
in mathematics.
900–600 B.C.
•There were no more conquests or expansions by Egypt
after this time.
•Power in Egypt was split between princes in the Delta
and the High Priest of Amun at Thebes; later on, kings from
Libya and Ethiopia ruled Egypt.
332 B.C.
•The Macedonian Greek, Alexander the Great, conquered
Egypt, bringing Greek culture to that land. The Egyptians
believed he was a god and made him pharaoh. Alexandria,
a great city of science and culture, was founded in Egypt in
honor of Alexander.
800–751 B.C.
•The Olmecs were building the first pyramids in Mexico.
324 B.C.
•Greece declared Alexander the Great to be a god.
776 B.C.
•The first Olympic games were being held at Olympia in
Greece in honor of the god Zeus.
323 B.C.
•Alexander the Great died. The Macedonian rulers called
the Ptolemies began to govern Egypt.
260 B.C.
663 B.C.
•The great Egyptian city of Thebes was sacked by the •The great wall of China was begun.
Assyrians.
170 B.C.
•The first paved roads were being built in Rome.
600 B.C.
•Phoenecian sailors were travelling by ship all around Africa.
148 B.C.
•Macedonia became a Roman province.
586 B.C.
• Jerusalem was destroyed by King Nebuchanezzar of
Babylonia.
585 B.C.
•May 28th of this year is believed to be the first accurately
known date in human history.
500 B.C.
•Certain people in Greece were teaching that the earth is
ball shaped, not a flat disc. The first steel was being made in
India.
146 B.C.
•Rome destroyed the Greek city state of Corinth.
91 B.C.
•The great wall of China was completed.
31 B.C.
•Rome conquered Egypt and made it a province of Rome.
30 B.C.
•The death by suicide of the queen Cleopatra, the last
Ptolemy, marked the end of independent rule for Egypt up
until modern times.
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Timeline Activity
Directions:
Make a timeline with 1000 year divisions from 4000 B.C to 2000 A.D. that includes the following events:
1. The year you were born.
2. The year Columbus landed in the New World.
3. The period of time the pyramids of Giza were being built.
4. The period of time the temple of Luxor was being built.
5. The period of time during which the great wall of China was begun and completed.
6. The time Queen Hatshepsut ruled Egypt.
7. The year Alexander the Great conquered Egypt.
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Crossword Puzzle
6
DOWN
1. In ancient Egypt, people could go to study reading and
writing at the __________.
1
2. The biggest buildings in ancient Egypt were tombs which
had triangular sides and square bottoms; they are called
the ___________.
1
2
3. Most of Egypt is covered by the sands of the ________
Desert.
4. In ancient Egypt _______ were used for most
long distance transportation.
5
2
3
5. Ancient Egyptian writing is called ______________.
6. In ancient Egypt, before a person was
entombed, their__________ , such as livers and lungs, 4
were placed in clay jars.
3
7. Priests who prepared to body for burial wore the
mask of the jackal-headed god named
_______________.
4
5
7
ACROSS
1. In ancient Egypt, a dead body was usually preserved
for burial by making it into a _______________._
6
2. The rulers of ancient Egypt were called ___________.
______________
3. The god of rebirth and ruler of the dead in ancient Egypt was
named ____________.
4. A huge monument with the face of a human and the body of
a lion is called a ______________.
5. A plant that once grew thickly in the marshes of ancient Egypt
and was used for making paper is called _____________.
6. Re, also called Ra, was the god of the __________ in ancient
Egypt.
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Post-Test
A. Write a paragraph giving three of the main reasons why the Nile River was so important to the ancient Egyptians.
B. Write a paragraph describing some of the things that were done with the bodies of people in ancient Egypt after they
died.
C. Write a paragraph explaining some of the reasons how modern-day people have been able to understand the lives of
the ancient Egyptians.
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Name ________________________________
LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Video Quiz
Directions:
Answer the following questions as directed by your teacher.
1. True or False? Pharaohs were believed to be the children of the sun god. ________
2. True or False? Re was the name of the moon god in ancient Egypt. _________
___________ __
3. True or False? The god Horus was the ruler of the dead. __________
4. True or False? A sphinx was a type of large Egyptian boat. __________
5. True or False? The papyrus plant was very important in ancient Egypt. __________
6. True or False? Hathor was an ancient Egyptian goddess. _________
7. True or False? Pharaohs were not allowed to perform religious ceremonies. ________
8. True or False? The pyramids were built to be the palaces of the pharaohs. _________
9. True or False? Obelisks were tall monuments carved from stone. ___________
10. True or False? Hieroglyphics was the name of Egypt’s greatest pharaoh. __________
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Name ________________________________
LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Facts About Ancient Egypt
The capital city of Egypt today is Cairo, but long ago, the capital was the city of Memphis. Memphis had a population of
500,000 in ancient times. The city of Thebes was also a capital of ancient Egypt.
In ancient Egypt, girls married at about the age of 12, boys at 14. Marriage was a private, not a religious, ceremony.
The average lifetime was 40 years .
Every pharaoh had five names. We use their fifth name, but the Egyptians used their fourth name.
Egyptians ate lettuce, onions, beans, cucumbers, cabbages, lentils, garlic, peas, radishes, wheat, barley, grapes, figs,
dates, melons, pomegranates, honey, fish, ducks, oxen, and geese. They drank milk, water, beer, and wine.
At banquets, rich ladies wore perfume cones on their braided wigs. As the evening passed, the sweet smelling oily
perfume would melt and run down over their dresses. Women in ancient Egypt used special paints to outline their eyes
in black and to color their cheeks and lips red. They also used henna to dye their hands reddish-brown.
Music was played on harps, trumpets, clarinets, lutes, oboes, double flutes, bells, rattles, castenets, lyres, and tambourines.
Professional musicians and dancing girls were hired to entertain at banquets.
Heavy stones or statues were pulled across moistened ground on sleds. A 23-foot statue, such as the one of Pharaoh
Ramses the Great, weighed 60 tons and it took 172 men to pull it over the ground.
The great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is made up of over two million stone blocks and each block weighs 2-1/2 tons.
Land was so valuable in ancient Egypt that anyone who moved a boundary stone could be punished by having his/her
ears cut off and by being enslaved.
There were some towns in ancient Egypt, near the Valley of the Kings, where nearly every man was a worker who built
royal tombs. Workers were paid in food or other supplies since no money was used in ancient Egypt.
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
The Ancient Egyptian Religion
Some gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt:
Amun-
creator god
Anubis- cemetary god who led the dead to judgment
Hathor- goddess of love
Horus- god of heaven, royal protector god
Isis-
queen of all the gods, goddess of women
Montu- god of war
Osiris- god of vegetation, death and rebirth, judge of the dead
Re (Ra)- the sun god
Sekhmet- goddess of war
Sobek- crocodile god
Thoth- god of writing and knowledge
Ancient Egyptian Religious Beliefs and Practices
_________________________________________________
The ancient Egyptians were polytheistic, meaning they worshiped many gods and goddesses. As is true of our modernday religions, their religion helped them understand the world around them, to deal with death, and with the daily
struggles of life.
Besides the gods listed above, the ancient Egyptians worshipped household gods and village gods. Most people had
small altars in their homes or had shrines in their gardens.
On special holy days, ancient Egyptians went to the state temples to see the statue of the god as it was carried out of the
temple. Ordinary people were not allowed beyond the temple’s first courtyard, for the inner part of the temple was
sacred and only priests were allowed to go there. It was in the inner temple that priests performed rituals and made
offerings to the gods.
It was because of their beliefs in an afterlife that the ancient Egyptians made complicated funeral preparations by mummifying
the dead body.
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Map Excerise
Directions : The map below shows the boundaries of ancient Egypt around 1450 B.C. Using textbooks, atlases,
encylopedias, or any other reference material, outline or mark the location of the following:
1. Syria
2. Jordan
3. Israel
4. Saudi Arabia
5. Sudan
6. Libya
7. Lebanon
8. Cairo
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9. Jerusalem
10. The Red Sea
11. The Mediterranean Sea
12. The Nile River
13. The Delta of the Nile
14. Thebes
15. Giza
16. Sinai Penisula
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
The Hieroglyphic Alphabet and Exercise
Exercise:
Write the word SHY in hieroglyphics.
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LIVING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Ancient Egyptian Numbers and Exercise
Exercise:
Using ancient Egyptian numbers, write the year you were born.
Note: The biggest number goes on top....the smallest number is on the bottom:
4 tens makes forty
9 ones makes nine
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