Download Name: American History Unit 1 Study Guide

Eastern Hemisphere
Study Guide
Unit 4: Ancient Egypt
This unit study guide contains most of the knowledge you will need to be successful during this unit.
Please keep it in your social studies binder for future reference.
Essential Questions
The purpose of this unit is to teach you the answer to the following essential questions:
 What is the physical and cultural geography of Saharan Africa?
 How does Ancient Egypt fit into the chronology of world history?
 How did the ancient Egyptians prepare for the afterlife?
 How and why did the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids?
Lesson A: The Geography of Saharan Africa
1. Where is Saharan Africa located? As the region’s name implies, Saharan Africa takes up
the northern half of the continent of Africa. You should be able to locate this region on a map
of the Eastern Hemisphere, along with the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Red
Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, Tunisia, Libya, and Somalia.
2. What are some important points to remember about the geography of Saharan Africa?
You should remember the following points about the geography of Northern Africa, and know
where to find these places on a map of the region.
a. Saharan Africa is a land of very hot and very dry deserts. The world’s largest desert, the
Sahara, dominates this region. Nevertheless, there are fertile areas within the region,
including the areas around the Nile River and Niger River and areas around oases like the
Faiyum in Egypt. Many areas are mountainous, like the Atlas Mountains in Northwest
Africa in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
b. Much of the world’s oil reserves lie in this land, making it very important to the rest of the
world.
c. The major religion in Saharan Africa is Islam, and Arabic is spoken by most people there.
Still, major pockets of Christianity—especially in Ethiopia—exist here as well.
d. This land is a land of great ethnic diversity. Many people who speak many different
languages live in this region. They do not always get along, causing violence.
e. The area around the Horn of Africa has been in the news frequently here, especially the
nation of Somalia. There has been no stable government since before 1990, when the
country disintegrated into a collection of small states run by warlords that fought against
each other in a bloody civil war that left the civilian population to starve. In 1992, the
United States intervened, sending troops into the Somalia to restore order. Unfortunately,
American troops were withdrawn in 1994 after the infamous “Black Hawk Down” incident.
Because of the lack of a functioning government, terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda have
been able to operate there. Recently, Somali pirates have been operating in the waters off
the coast of this land. American sailors and soldiers have been used to rescue hostages
taken by these Somali pirates in recent months.
f. In recent months, successful revolutions have been taking hold in this region in Tunisia,
Libya, and Egypt. These revolutions have dramatically changed the political landscape of
Saharan Africa.
i. Zine El Abidine bin Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, and Mu’ammar Gaddafi of
Libya had ruled their nations for decades. During the course of their terms in office,
many social problems plagued their nations. They included high unemployment, rising
food prices, government corruption, a lack of freedom of speech and other political
freedoms, and poor living conditions.
ii. The rulers of these nations failed to resolve these issues, which sparked protests in their
nations, first in Tunisia, then in Egypt and finally in Libya. Ben Ali and Mubarak were
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forced to step down in the wake of street demonstrations. Gaddafi was killed in the
revolution that swept Libya.
iii. The Internet and other electronic media have played a significant role in these
revolutions. People involved in the revolutions communicated with one another through
the Internet and cell phones. They also communicated their success to nearby nations,
causing the revolution to spread.
iv. These revolutions have been for the most part leaderless. As a result, power vacuums
have formed in these nations, causing instability. It is difficult to say who will take
control of these lands in the end.
v. Oil prices may rise because of the instability caused by the revolutions in Tunisia, Libya,
and Egypt, causing increased energy costs here at home.
Lesson B: The Chronology of Ancient Egypt
3. How is the history of ancient Egypt divided? Scholars divide the history of ancient Egypt
a number of periods—the Old Kingdom (2700 BCE to 2200 BCE), the Middle Kingdom (2100
BCE to 1800 BCE), and the New Kingdom (1700 BCE to 1100 BCE). Combined, they were
called the Pharaonic Era. Each of these periods was followed by a time of civil war and
foreign invasion. They were called Intermediate Periods.
4. How does Ancient Egypt fit into the chronology of world history? Please refer to
assignment 4A1 for a chronology of Ancient Egypt.
Lesson C: The Egyptian Afterlife
5. What are hieroglyphs? Hieroglyphs are an ancient form of writing. They used pictures and
symbols to represent sounds, words, and whole ideas.
6. What did the ancient Egyptians believe about the afterlife? The ancient Egyptians loved
life. They loved it so much that they spent a great deal of time preparing for the day they died
and went into the afterlife.
a. First and foremost, the Egyptians believed that the body had to be preserved for them to
reach the afterlife. It had to be recognizable to the person’s soul. So, they had their bodies
mummified after they died.
b. Those who were rich enough also built beautiful tombs for themselves. These protected the
bodies physically. The Egyptians wrote magic spells in hieroglyphs on tomb walls, the
mummy’s bandages, and the dead person’s coffin. They also wrote them in a work called
the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
c. They recorded the dead person’s name and likeness everywhere they could—on the walls
of buildings, in the tomb, and on the mummy’s coffin. They believed as long as the
person’s name existed in writing and could be spoken, the person existed as well.
d. They believed that the dead needed everything that the living needed. They needed food
and drink. They needed entertainments to keep themselves from getting bored. They
needed clothing, cosmetics, and perfumes. Mourners brought these things to the tombs as
offerings. The Egyptians also painted pictures of these things on their tomb walls. They
believed the paintings gave them these things magically as well.
e. The Egyptians believed that the spirit of the dead person traveled into the underworld after
death. In the underworld the dead person had to avoid many pitfalls. Many Egyptians
were buried with spells to help them avoid them.
f. In the underworld, the person was judged. He recited the Negative Confession, in which
he claimed not to have done a long list of sins. His heart was also weighed against the
feather of truth. That is why the heart was left in the body of the dead person. If his heart
was heavy with sin, then it was thrown to a beast. When the beast ate it, the person went
out of existence forever. To protect against this, many Egyptians were buried with magical
spells that kept the heart from confessing its sins. They helped them through this judging
process.
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g. Those who were judged to be without sin went into the afterlife. To the Egyptians, it was a
repeat of the life they new when they were alive. They could enjoy all the pleasures of this
life, but they still had to work as on earth.
7. How did the Egyptians mummify their dead? The process of mummification took 70 days.
First, they washed the body with palm wine and water. Then, they took a hooked instrument
and removed the brain through the nose, which they threw away. With a sharp stone knife,
an embalmer cut open the flank of the mummy. Through this small cut, the embalmers
removed the intestines, stomach, liver, and lungs. They preserved these organs in a salt
called natron and put them in canopic jars. They left the heart in place. The body was then
again washed inside and out with palm wine and water. A salt called natron then covered the
body. The embalmers let the body dry out in this natron “bath.” After 40 days, they took the
body out of the natron, washed it once again, and rubbed it with sweet-smelling oils. They
then wrapped the body in linen soaked in resin to protect it from bugs and rodents. Finally,
they laid the body in its coffin.
Lesson D: The Pyramids
8. Who was Imhotep? Imhotep was a sculptor, carpenter, and official in the court of King
Djoser (c. 2660 BCE to c. 2640 BCE). As his most important achievement, he designed the first
pyramid in Egyptian history, the Stepped Pyramid at Sakkara. The ancient Egyptians also
credited him with many other scientific and cultural achievements. These would include
advances in poetry, art, religion, and medicine. Late in Egypt’s history, the ancient Egyptians
worshiped him as a god.
9. What is a mastaba? A mastaba is a tomb built by the ancient Egyptians in the Old Kingdom
and before. It was a large mud brick or stone building. The building had rooms to which
mourners could bring offerings to the dead person. They also had underground rooms where
the dead person’s mummy and personal belongings were buried.
10.
Why did the ancient Egyptians build pyramids? The Egyptians built pyramids as
tombs for their kings. Over many centuries, they built over a hundred of these tombs.
a. To the Egyptians, the pyramid shape was a powerful symbol of resurrection. There are
many things the ancient Egyptians might have seen in these giant tombs. For instance,
some might have seen giant stairways or ramps to heaven. Others might have seen giant
mounds of earth in which the king’s mummy would be planted like a seed. Symbolically, it
would “sprout” in the afterlife.
b. The ancient Egyptians believed that the pyramids acted like giant resurrection machines.
They believed that the pyramid helped bring the pharaohs back to life. They also believed
that the pyramid guaranteed eternal life to those who helped build it as well.
c. The ancient Egyptians worshiped their kings after their deaths. The pyramids and their
temple complexes served as a focal point for that worship.
11.
How did the Egyptians build the pyramids? The Egyptians built their pyramids out of
stone.
a. The Egyptians probably did not use slaves to build the pyramids. The kings called up
armies of workers to work on them from the farmers of their kingdom. They worked on the
pyramid for a time and then returned to their homes. The workers on the pyramids
received pay in the form of food and clothing, and received time off and medical care. (It is
important to note that the last great pyramid was built in Middle Kingdom times around
1800 BCE. The story of the Hebrew slaves of the Exodus took place over 500 years later in
1250 BCE).
b. The Egyptians probably used ramps to bring up the stone used to build the pyramid. There
are many ideas of how these ramps probably looked. Only men hauled the stones up
these ramps; there is no evidence animals were used.
c. The first pyramid was built by King Djoser around 2650 BCE. It was designed by Imhotep.
It is called the stepped pyramid because of its shape. At first, it was designed as a
mastaba. Imhotep later enlarged the mastaba and added more mastabas on top of it to
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form the pyramid we see today. The builders used small blocks of stone which were easy
to transport. As in mastabas, the burial chambers were tunneled beneath the ground
under the structure.
d. The next step in pyramid construction came from King Seneferu around 2550 BCE. He
built the first true pyramid in history—the Red Pyramid at Dashur—after two failed
attempts. The builders used larger stones to build this pyramid. They built chambers
above ground inside the pyramid.
e. Khufu built the largest pyramid in Egypt around 2520 BCE. It followed his father
Seneferu’s plan, but he built chambers both above and below ground level.
f. After 2475 BCE, the Egyptian kings began building smaller pyramids of lesser quality
materials like mud brick. By the start of the New Kingdom c. 1700 BCE they stopped
building them all together.
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