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Ancient Egypt
A Palace
of Mud
A Highway
of Water
A Hall
of Two Truths
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2
The Gift of the Nile
hat s the first ord that comes to
mind hen ou hear ancient
pt
ummies
ramids
haraohs ummies p ramids and
pharaohs ere all important parts of
life in ancient
pt. ut there is
much more to no a out this lon
lastin ci ili ation. ome isit the
ancient
ptians here their ci ili
ation e an on the an s of the
ile i er.
u THE EGYPTIANS
developed techniques, such as
dams and canals, to
help them irrigate
(bring water to) their
fields. This allowed
them to extend
their farmland and
plant more. Farmers
began to harvest
more food and grain
than they could use
themselves. This
Ancient_Egypt_2-3.indd 2
surplus food could
feed others, and
some Egyptians
began to do jobs
other than farming.
As people began to
do different kinds
of work, the social,
economic, and
political systems
of their communities became more
complex.
s ou e plore ou ma notice that o er
pt
is north of pper
pt. he ords upper and
lo er refer to the direction of the o of the ile
i er. pper
pt is land upstream alon the up
per ile . o er
pt is do nstream here the
lo er ile empties into the editerranean.
PREDYNASTIC EGYPT c. 6520–3000 BCE
WAY BACK
WHEN
C.
4500 BCE
First semipermanent
villages in Egypt
C.
3100 BCE
l Earliest writing develops in
Mesopotamia
3/1/17 2:23 PM
MEDITERRAN
EAN
SEA
ALEX NILE DELT
AN
A
DR
IA
depositing thick,
black mud over
the countryside.
The fertile soil of
this 10-mile-wide,
600-mile-long Nile
Valley was ideal
for growing barley,
wheat, flax,
vegetables, and
fruit. These farmers are sowing
seeds after the
floodwaters
receded. Animals’
hooves push the
seeds into the
ground.
LOWER EGYPT
CAIRO
GIZ
A
MEM
PH
IS
RA
QA
SAQ
EA
DS
RE
THE EARLIEST KNOWN
settlements in
Egypt were farming
villages established over 5,000
years ago along
the banks of the
Nile. Each year, the
river overflowed,
LE
NI
R
VE
RI
CA
RI
ABOUT 90 PERCENT
of Egypt is desert.
UPPER
Without water from EGYPT
S
the Nile, people
BESSEDY
E
A
s
P
H
could not live in
g
T COM NT-DAAND
Kin
he
(EN ESE AK )
t
Egypt. The Nile
f
P R RN OR
KA LUX
yo
e
l
begins high in
l
Va
the mountains of
central East Africa
and flows north
into Egypt, where
it empties into the
Mediterranean
Sea. In ancient
times, almost all
Egyptians lived
in the Nile Valley,
AREA OF
along the banks of
DETAIL
A
the Nile River. No
F
wonder Egypt has
been called the
“Gift of the Nile.”
l THE NILE GAVE
Egyptians gifts
besides crops.
People fished in
it for food, and
they made paper,
sandals, and other
items from the
papyrus reeds
growing along
the river’s banks.
Wooden boats carried passengers
and products up
and down the Nile,
then on to ports
l ALL HOUSES,
including the royal
palace, were made
of mud brick.
The farmers’ flatroofed houses
usually had one
large room and a
in the eastern
Mediterranean. In
exchange for grain,
gold, and papyrus
sheets, Egyptians
took home items
such as incense,
ivory, and horses.
courtyard for animals and storage.
The roof served as
a place to relax.
The houses’ thick
walls and small
windows kept out
the heat.
OLD KINGDOM c. 2675–2130 BCE
C.
3100 BCE
l Earliest hieroglyphic
writing in Egypt. Egypt unified as a single kingdom
Ancient_Egypt_2-3.indd 3
C.
2630 BCE
l First stone
pyramid built, at
Saqqara, Egypt
C.
2585–2560 BCE
l Great Pyramid
built at Giza, Egypt
C.
2600–1900 BCE
r Mohenjo-Daro and
Indus River cultures in
India and Pakistan
3/1/17 2:23 PM
4
Mighty Pharaoh
u AMONG ANCIENT
Egyptian queens,
Hatshepsut, wife
of King Thutmose
II, stands out. She
served as pharaoh, becoming a
powerful ruler and
building one of
Egypt’s most spectacular temples,
at Thebes. This
statue is a typical
Egyptian depiction of a pharaoh,
seated and wearing a headdress. It
communicates the
pharaoh’s power
and her status
between humans
and gods.
Over time, Egypt’s villages
formed larger kingdoms,
and by around 3100 BCE,
Egypt was united into a single, powerful kingdom. The
reign of King Menes began
the first
ptian d nast a
series of rulers all from the
same family). Throughout
its history, Egypt had more
than 30 dynasties. Sometime between 1554 and
1304 BCE, Egyptians began
to call their king “pharaoh,”
a term that comes from
words meaning “great
house.” In the beginning,
Egyptians thought of their
rulers as living gods. Later,
they saw them as the link
between the gods and the
people of Egypt.
u ALL LAND BELONGED
to the pharaoh or
to the temples of
the gods. Farmers
owed a portion of
their crops to the
pharaoh. When their
FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
MIDDLE KINGDOM
C.
C.
2130–1980 BCE
Central government in
Egypt collapses
Ancient_Egypt_4-5.indd 2
land flooded, they
went to work for
their ruler to
build temples,
pyramids, and
palaces.
2000–1650 BCE
Kush civilization
begins. Egypt controls northern Nubia
r ALMOST EVERY
year for two
decades during the
1400s BCE, Queen
Hatshepsut’s stepson, King Thutmose
III, led his army into
nearby regions. A
brilliant general
and gifted leader,
he conquered
Palestine, Syria,
and the African
kingdoms of Kush
and Nubia. The
Egyptians enslaved
some people from
these lands. They
also took away
copper, gold, ivory,
and ebony.
u ANOTHER
important ruler
was Akhenaten,
who required
Egyptians to worship only the sun
god Aten. His wife,
Queen Nefertiti,
seen here (right)
adoring the rays of
Aten, helped him
achieve this goal.
SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
C.
1792–1750 BCE C. 1630–1523 BCE
l Law code of
Asian nomads
King Hammurabi
called Hyksos rule
of Babylon
northern Egypt
NEW KINGDOM c. 1539–1075 BCE
C.
1478–1458 BCE
r Reign of
Egyptian female
pharaoh
Hatshepsut
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5
One of Egypt’s
most famous
rulers was
Cleopatra. How
did her country
become part
of the Roman
Empire?
l TOWARD THE
end of the New
Kingdom, Egypt
began to decline.
Weak rulers
couldn’t control
the country, which
broke into small
states and lost
many territories. Weakness
attracted invaders,
and by 1070 BCE,
foreigners ruled
Egypt. Alexander
the Great (left)
added Egypt to the
Greek empire in
332 BCE.
u CLEOPATRA WAS
queen of Egypt
from 51 BCE to
30 BCE. Under her
rule, Egypt lost its
independence and
became part of the
Roman Empire. This
flat stone carving
of Cleopatra shows
some common
features of ancient
Egyptian art. For
example, the head
is shown in profile
(from the side) and
the shoulders and
chest face toward
the viewer.
75 BCE
C.
1458 BCE
Thutmose III
extends Egypt’s
empire to its
greatest size
Ancient_Egypt_4-5.indd 3
C.
1332–1322
l Reign of
Tutankhamen,
Egypt
BCE
C.
1279–1213 BCE
l Reign of Egypt’s
Ramses II, builder of
more temples than any
other pharaoh
C.
1200–400 BCE
l Olmec civilization
on Gulf Coast of Mexico
3/1/17 2:31 PM
Egyptians prized order (maat) in all things. They had rules
about how to act in society and even about how to prepare
for life after death. Their society was structured like a pyramid, with the pharaoh and important religious, military,
and political leaders (viziers) at the top. Scribes and artisans were below governors, and farmers and other workers
were at the bottom. For the poor, life was hard, and the
average life span was 36 years. For the royal family and the
nobles, life was much less work and much more play.
TH
Daily Life
ES
OC
IA
LP
YR
AM
ID
6
A NOBLE FAMILY lived in a large house that had several bedrooms. Egyptian
homes did not have much furniture. The house had stairways leading to
the roof. Outside were a pool and a garden. In their leisure time, wealthier
Egyptians enjoyed relaxing by their garden pools, taking boating trips, and
hunting desert game.
THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD
C.
1075–664
Egypt divided
into smaller
states
Ancient_Egypt_6-7.indd 2
BCE
LATE PERIOD 664–332 BCE
8TH CENTURY BCE
l Homer writes the
Iliad and Odyssey.
First Olympic Games
held (in Greece)
730–671 BCE
Kush pharaohs
rule Egypt
C.
671 BCE
Assyrians
conquer Egypt
C.
605–562 BCE
r Nebuchadnezzar II
builds ziggurat of
Babylon (the biblical
Tower of Babel)
3/1/17 2:32 PM
FOOD
THE FARMERS’ GRAIN WAS
used to make bread and
beverages. Bread, often
made from barley, was the
staple of the Egyptian diet.
Meals might also include
onions, garlic, leeks,
beans, lentils, figs, dates,
melons, and apricots. The
poor rarely ate beef. On
special occasions they
added protein to their diet,
eating geese, ducks, and
fish, caught with traps,
nets, or hook and line.
The rich attended lavish banquets where they
dined on beef, mutton,
and waterbirds, as well
as vegetables and exotic
fruits. Most of the time,
Egyptians ate a vegetarian
diet. Scientists figured this
out by studying mummies’
bones, teeth, and hair.
From head to
toe, Egyptians
liked to look
good, and they
knew how to
do it.
FOR THEIR MOUTH AND
cheeks, Egyptian
women used lip
paint and rouge
made from red
ocher and henna.
BOTH MEN AND
women wore eye
makeup, usually
black or green.
Eye paint was
made by grinding
up colorful minerals from rocks
and mixing them
with water.
WELL-TO-DO MEN AND
women sometimes
wore wigs made
of human hair and
also sheep’s wool.
Beeswax held the wig
in place.
WEALTHY MEN AND
women wore
earrings, necklaces, bracelets,
rings, armbands,
and anklets.
WOMEN WORE
close-fitting
sheath dresses
or pleated linen
dresses, usually
white.
OFTEN MEN WENT
shirtless. Sometimes they wore
long, collarless
tunics.
CREAMS AND LOTIONS
made from animal
or vegetable fat not
only made the skin
look better but also
protected it from
hot, dry weather.
MEN WORE PLEATED
skirts, sort of like
kilts.
MOST PEOPLE WENT
barefoot or wore
sandals made of
leather or papyrus
or other reeds.
431–404 BCE
Sparta defeats
Athens in the
Peloponnesian
War
Ancient_Egypt_6-7.indd 3
332 BCE
l Alexander
the Great conquers Egypt
C.
210 BCE
l Chinese emperor Shi Huangdi
buried with “terracotta army”
31 BCE
l Defeat of Antony
and Cleopatra;
Egypt becomes part of
Roman Empire
3/1/17 2:33 PM
8
Gods, Priests,
and Pyramids
The ancient Egyptians
worshipped dozens of
gods and goddesses, each
of whom had different
powers. Many were depicted as animals or as
humans with animal heads.
To worship certain gods,
the Egyptians built temples that held a golden
statue of the god locked in
a special room. Egyptians
believed the gods’ spirits
lived in these temples.
l IN MEMPHIS AND
other Egyptian
cities, residents
worshipped both
their own local
god and the major
gods. Ptah, at left,
was the creator
god of Memphis
and the patron of
craftspeople.
Ancient_Egypt_8-9.indd 2
l ALMOST NO
one, except the
pharaoh and
high priests and
priestesses, was
allowed inside the
temples. Priests
washed, clothed,
and fed the statues of the gods.
Here, Nefertiti
presents an offering. Ordinary
Egyptians saw the
divine statues only
during religious
festivals, when
priests carried the
statues around
the town.
u AS EGYPT’S DIVINE
ruler, the pharaoh
was expected to
keep good relations
between his people
and the other
gods. Rulers did so
partly through their
massive building
projects, such as
the temples at
Karnak (above)
and Luxor, which
were begun by
Amenhotep III,
who ruled Egypt
for 37 years.
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9
A PROCESSION OF THE
barque (royal boat)
of the god AmunRe leaves the
temple of the pharaoh Hatshepsut.
The leader carries
an incense burner
and sprinkles holy
water. A pharaoh
was the head of
government and
religion, and influ-
enced the people
of Egypt in both
those roles. A
good leader kept
gods, the pharaoh,
and humanity in
harmony. Although
this was a religious goal, it was
also good for the
social and political order of the
country.
Pyramid Builders
During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, pyramids were
built to house the pharaohs’ bodies after death. Some
were 40 stories high, constructed of stone blocks that
each weighed three tons or more. The Egyptians’ only
tools were ropes, levers, wedges, and a few stone and
copper hand tools. They lacked the wheel or any hoisting
equipment to move the stone. How did they do it? They
did it the hard way, with muscle power. For three or four
months each year, while the Nile flooded, the pharaohs
put farmers and laborers to work on pyramids and other
building projects. Because a pyramid took decades to
complete, a pharaoh had workers start on the one that
would be his long before he expected to die.
u THE FIRST PYRAMID
was built for King
Zoser in the desert at Saqqara
around 2630 BCE.
It is called a step
r A PRIESTESS LIKE
this one shook a
sacred rattle called
a sistrum to calm
the gods. Priests
and priestesses
also read prayers or
sang hymns during
ceremonies. They
scattered holy water
and lit incense during the rituals in
front of statues of
the gods.
Ancient_Egypt_8-9.indd 3
u THE GREAT
Pyramid of King
Khufu at Giza is
the world’s largest
stone structure. It
is made from more
than 2.5 million
stone blocks. It
took more than 20
years and 4,000
workers to build
pyramid; its shape
suggests a giant
stairway that
would lead the
king’s spirit to join
the sun god.
the Great Pyramid.
It was once covered in white
limestone. The
Sphinx – a huge
statue of a creature with a lion’s
body and a human
head – crouches
nearby.
3/1/17 2:40 PM
Cliff Carvings
Ramses II, or Ramses
the Great, ordered many
monuments to be built
during his long reign.
Among them were two
temples carved out of
the sandstone cliffs at
Abu Simbel, south of
Upper Egypt, in Nubia.
The facade (front) of the
Great Temple, built
around 1250 BCE, shows
four versions of the
king, each about 65 feet
tall. he tin fi ures
between his feet are his
mother, wife, and children. In the center is the
god Horakhty. While
Ramses II was pharaoh,
the Egyptian empire
enjoyed a time of
strength, wealth, and
military success.
Ancient_Egypt_10-11.indd 2
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Ancient_Egypt_10-11.indd 3
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12
l IN ANCIENT
Egypt, few people
could read or
write, so they hired
scribes to perform
those tasks. The
best scribes found
jobs working for
the pharaoh in the
royal government.
Leaving Their Mark
We know them best for their pyramids and pharaohs, but the ancient
Egyptians left many other achievements to mystify and amaze us.
They invented the form of picturewriting known as hieroglyphs, as
well as papyrus, a paper-like
writing material. Their temples
and pyramids give proof of their
skills as architects and engineers.
Ancient papyrus scrolls tell of
their achievements as writers,
doctors, and healers.
r OVER 700
different signs
make up the
Egyptian picturewriting known
as hieroglyphs.
In hieroglyphs,
picture symbols
represent ideas
and sounds.
Ancient_Egypt_12-13.indd 2
r EGYPTIANS LEFT
detailed medical texts on
long scrolls.
They describe
women’s health
care, childbirth,
and treatment of
injuries. They tell
how to diagnose
and treat diseases,
and how to make
medicines. Some
explain how the
Egyptians believed
the heart and other
organs worked.
For a sick princess
(pictured), the
royal physician
consults his medical papyrus before
mixing a remedy
from the ingredients on the table.
Hieroglyphs were
used mainly for
religious inscriptions on temples
and stone monuments and to
record the deeds
of royalty. Scribes
were experts in
writing hieroglyphs.
3/1/17 2:43 PM
13
l IN HIEROGLYPHS,
the names of the
royal family have
an oval-shaped
frame around
them. The symbols here are for
Pharaoh Ramses II.
u THE INVENTION OF
papyrus, made
from a reed plant,
was a significant
advance over
clay tablets. The
lightweight writing
material could be
easily carried and
stored. Scribes
d FOR CENTURIES,
no one could read
hieroglyphs. Then,
in 1799, the Rosetta
Stone was discovered. It showed the
same text in three
languages and
helped people to
crack the code and
understand hieroglyphs. The Rosetta
Stone shows
1 Egyptian hieroglyphs, 2 cursive
writing used in business, and 3 ancient
Greek.
l HIEROGLYPHS CAN
be written from left to
right, right to left, or
top to bottom. A simpler, ancient cursive
form was used for
business contracts,
letters, and scientific
texts.
Ancient_Egypt_12-13.indd 3
wrote on papyrus
with brushes
made from reeds.
u THIS TEMPLE
wall at Kom Ombo
shows almost 40
different medical
instruments. They
include scales for
weighing medicines, hooks for
holding wounds
open, and tools
for scraping away
infected tissue.
1
2
3
3/1/17 2:44 PM
14
Mummy
Makers
and the
Afterlife
The Egyptian religion was one of the
first to stress life
after death. To get
to the afterlife, a
dead person needed his or her body.
If the body was
properly preserved, its spirit
would reenter it
and bring it to life
in the next world.
To make sure the
spirit could find and
recognize the body,
the Egyptians created a process called
mummification.
Turning a body into a
mummy was a costly
process that took a
long time. That’s why it
was usually done only for
pharaohs and members
of the highest social
classes. But even those
who couldn’t afford
mummification hoped to
go to the afterlife. Egyptians thought the afterlife
was a place much like
Egypt – but there they
would live forever.
KING TUTANKHAMEN’S
Ancient_Egypt_14-15.indd 2
COFFIN
u TO PREVENT THE
body from decaying, the embalmer
packed it in a salt
mix called natron
for 40 days to dry
it out. Then he
wrapped it tightly
in long ribbons of
resin-soaked linen
and returned it to
the family for burial.
Anubis, the god
of mummification
(above), prepares a
body for burial.
u THE EMBALMER
(the person who
preserves the
body) removed the
intestines, stomach,
liver, and lungs,
and pulled the
brain out through
the nose. Only the
heart was left in
place, because the
dead needed their
hearts to get into
the next life.
l PUTTING THE BODY
into a coffin was
the last step in
the embalming
process. The rich
had elaborate
coffins.
3/1/17 2:47 PM
15
r SERVANTS CARRIED
items for the dead
person into the
underground tomb.
The family laid food,
drink, tools, jewelry,
clothes, and anything
else that the person
might need in the
afterlife in the tomb
with the coffin.
d THE MUMMIFIED
body traveled
under the canopy
of a funeral
barge as it made
its way through
the underworld.
u FAMILIES HIRED
women mourners
to follow the coffin. They tore at
their clothes, put
d THE MOST DANGERous part of the
journey occurred
in the Hall of the
Two Truths. Here,
the dead person’s
heart, which held
dust in their hair,
and wailed. Their
noise was perhaps
meant to keep evil
spirits away.
a record of his or
her past deeds,
was weighed on a
scale against the
feather of truth.
Serving as judge,
Anubis threw the
hearts of the unworthy to the Devourer
of the Dead, who
gobbled them up.
Those judged worthy moved on to the
kingdom of Osiris.
l MANY COFFINS
held a Book of the
Dead. It contained
magical spells to
help the person
pass through the
underworld. This
was a dangerous
place filled with
poisonous snakes,
lakes of fire, and
scary creatures. To
pass through unharmed, a person
had to recite the
spells correctly.
Ancient_Egypt_14-15.indd 3
3/1/17 2:48 PM
16
Nubia and Kush
South of Egypt along the upper Nile
River lay a land called Nubia. By
3500 BCE, Nubia was peopled by
cattle herders, roaming with their
herds through grasslands along the
riverbanks. The region was rich
with natural resources – gold, copper, emeralds, iron, and granite –
and early agricultural settlements
soon grew into manufacturing centers. Iron weapons and tools, jewelry, and pottery were made. The busy
cities became commercial (trading)
centers. Nubians began importing
(bringing in) goods from farther
south in Africa, including ivory,
spices, ostrich eggs, feathers, and
leopard skins. They then exported
(sent out) these goods, along with
their own gold, iron, and other valuables, to Egypt and other places.
r WHILE EGYPT
controlled the
northern part of
their land, the
Nubians formed
the kingdom of
Kush in the south
in about 2000
BCE. The Kushites
defeated the invaders and got their
independence
back. Trade flourished again, now
centered in the
Kush capital city
of Kerma. Many
goods traveled by
land, river, and sea
between Kerma,
Egypt, other parts
of Africa, and Asia.
These included
elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, salt,
incense, ebony,
spices, and gold.
Ancient_Egypt_16-17.indd 2
u TRADE AND
manufacturing
made Nubia rich.
Egypt didn’t like
that one bit! By
2600 BCE, Egypt
had taken over
northern Nubia’s
trade routes and
had begun to mine
its gold and haul
away its granite.
In about 1938 BCE,
Egypt annexed
(made a colony of)
northern Nubia.
The Nubians were
forced to follow
Egyptian laws and
customs. They had
to make payments,
called tributes,
in the form of
grain or other
goods. Nubians
often appeared as
Egyptian subjects
in artworks.
l NUBIANS AND
Kushites were
famous archers,
both as hunters
and warriors. They
fought for independence against
Egypt and were
often hired by foreign armies.
r BY 1630 BCE,
Egypt had fallen
under the control
of the Hyksos, from
Asia. The king of
Kush sided with
the Hyksos. It was
an unlucky choice.
After beating back
the Hyksos, Egypt
came south and
crushed Kerma.
Nubia, including
Kush, lost its independence for more
than 500 years.
RUINS OF KERMA
3/1/17 2:53 PM
Eu
ph
rat
es
Tig
R.
ris
R.
17
Mediterranean Sea
ASIA
Nile Delta
Giza
Memphis
iv
Nile R
EGYPT
Akhetaton
er
Valley of the Kings
SAHARA
Thebes
Aswan
ARABIA
1st
NUBIA
KUSH
d
Se
5th
Kerma
a
Napata
Meroë
6th
Ni
le
City
AKSUM
Blue
Khartoum
(Sudan)
White Ni
le
u KUSH ROSE AGAIN,
with Napata as its
capital, and defeated Egypt. Kushite
pharaohs ruled
Egypt from 730
to 671 BCE. This
sphinx (above) has
the body of a lion
and the face of the
Kushite pharaoh
Taharqa.
4th
Re
3rd
2nd
Mediterranean Sea
Cataract
Giza
EGYPT
Fertile Area
e
rs
ia
n
G
u
NUBIA
lf
ARABIA
KUSH
d
Kerma
Se
a
Ancient_Egypt_16-17.indd 3
P
Akhetaton
Re
When the Egyptians
conquered Kush,
they forced the people to adopt Egypt’s
customs and follow its laws. The
Kushites rebelled
and fought to regain
the freedom to
govern themselves.
Can you think of
any other societies
that have fought
for freedom from
a ruling country, in
the past or in the
present?
at the third cataract, Napata was
near the fourth,
and Meroë was
south of the fifth.
Kush came to an
end when Meroë
was destroyed by
Aksum, an African
neighbor, in around
325 CE.
Memphis
Thebes
Aswan
SAHARA
ur SOUTH OF
Egypt the Nile River
has six cataracts –
areas of waterfalls
or rough water,
difficult to ride a
boat through. The
capital of Kush
moved southward
over the years, putting more cataracts
between itself and
Egypt. Kerma was
ASIA
To E u r o p e
Napata
Meroë
Khartoum
(Sudan)
AKSUM
To A f r i c a n
Interior
ndi
To I
a
Arabian Sea
Trade Routes
I N D I A N
O C E A N
In its later years,
the culture of
Kush became
less Egyptian and
more like the rest
of Africa. Can you
think of why that
may have happened?
u THE ASSYRIANS TOOK
control of Egypt in
671 BCE, but Kush
continued to thrive.
Its new capital,
Meroë, was close
to the Red Sea. It
became a great
iron-manufacturing
and trading center.
Its culture combined
Egyptian, Nubian,
and African elements. Kush had its
own language and
writing, which even
today has not been
deciphered (figured
out or translated). The
Kushite kings were
buried in pyramids
(above), but these
looked very different
from the Egyptian
kind. Hundreds of their
servants and companions were sometimes
buried with them.
3/1/17 2:54 PM
18
Activities
WRITE A
NARRATIVE
Imagine you are a tour guide in Egypt leading a group
through the Nile Valley. As part of the tour you want to
help people understand what the Nile Valley was like
in 2500 BCE. Think about the area’s geography and climate. What settlements were present? Write a narrative
script for what you will tell tourists about the ancient
Nile Valley.
MAKE A POSTER
Suppose your job is to create a visual
summary for a museum exhibit on
the Egypt and Kush civilizations, and
you’ve decided to make a poster. To
get started, draw and label a map of
the region of ancient Egypt and Kush
on a large sheet of poster board. On
separate index cards, write descriptions of the political, commercial, and
cultural relations between Egypt and
Kush. Be sure to include a title on
each index card. Attach the cards to
the map and add a title to the poster.
Ancient_Egypt_18-19.indd 18
3/1/17 2:55 PM
19
MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH THESE RELATED TITLES
Mesopotamia
Archaeology
Language
Ever wonder when the first written
records appeared, when the wheel was
invented, or where our modern counting system came from? Believe it or
not, these and many other innovations
– like glass, farming, complex legal
systems, and basic astronomy – came
from one civilization, the very first:
Mesopotamia.
Understanding the daily lives of ancient
people is the driving force behind
archaeology. The pottery, art, tools,
and ruins early civilizations left behind
provide a window into their habits and
cultures. Learn all about the essential
tasks of archaeologists, from mapping
a site and sifting dirt to using delicate
brushes to unearth artifacts.
Language is more than just the words
and sounds we use to communicate.
The study of language helps us understand our past. From ancient hieroglyphs and the first papyrus scrolls, to
sign language and computer programming, language has long been at the
center of human society.
CALIFORNIA
STANDARDS
HSS 6.2 Students analyze the geographic, political,
economic, religious, and social structures of the
early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Kush.
LEARN MORE ONLINE!
• The farming settlements along the
Nile River grew into towns and then
cities, where people did many different kinds of work. Cities became
centers of commerce, industry,
government, religion, or culture.
• When a pharaoh was buried, gold,
jewels, and other precious items
were buried with him or her.
Robbers often broke into tombs.
• To the people of ancient Egypt,
maat meant order, truth, and justice, in society, in nature, and in
the cosmos. They believed everything had a certain orderliness
granted by the gods.
• Many Egyptian gods, or deities, had
more than one form and several
jobs.
Ancient_Egypt_18-19.indd 19
6.2.1 Locate and describe the major river systems and
discuss the physical settings that supported permanent
settlement and early civilizations. 6.2.2 Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities
as centers of culture and power. 6.2.3 Understand the
relationship between religion and the social and political
order in Mesopotamia and Egypt. 6.2.4 Know the significance of Hammurabi’s Code. 6.2.5 Discuss the main
features of Egyptian art and architecture. 6.2.6 Describe
the role of Egyptian trade in the eastern Mediterranean
and Nile valley. 6.2.7 Understand the significance of
Queen Hatshepsut and Ramses the Great. 6.2.8 Identify
the location of the Kush civilization and describe its political, commercial, and cultural relations with Egypt. 6.2.9
Trace the evolution of language and its written forms.
Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills:
Chronological and Spatial Thinking
3. Students distinguish relevant from irrelevant information, essential from incidental information, and verifiable
from unverifiable information in historical narratives and
stories.
Historical Interpretation
1. Students explain the central issues and problems from
the past, placing people and events in a matrix of time
and place.
3/1/17 2:56 PM
hmhco.com
EDITOR: Jennifer Dixon
ART DIRECTION: Brobel Design
DESIGNERS: Ian Brown, Ed Gabel,
David Ricculli, Jeremy Rech
PHOTO RESEARCH: Ted Levine,
Elisabeth Morgan
PROOFREADER: Paula Glatzer
FACT-CHECKER: Nayda Rondon,
Patricia Fogarty
ACTIVITIES WRITER: Marjorie Frank
AUTHOR: Linda Scher, Amy K. Hughes
AUTHOR TEAM LEAD: Amy K. Hughes
PRESIDENT AND CEO: Ted Levine
CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDER: Mark Levine
house
middle
GRADE 6 TITLES
World’s Early People
Ancient India
Mesopotamia
Indian Empires
Ancient Egypt
Ancient China
Archaeology
Early Romans
Language
Roman Empire
Ancient Hebrews
Christianity and Rome’s Legacies
Early Greeks
Olmec and Maya
Greece’s Golden Age
Civil Rights
Ancient Persia
ON THE COVER: Sphinx and pyramid, illuminated at night with full moon. Getty Images:
Adrian Pope.
PICTURE CREDITS: Alamy: rin a ni p. ottom left le ander the reat
rchi e
p. middle left le ander the reat anmas p. top left ss rian alace
ar a
p. ottom left tah ida icture i rar p. ottom ri ht o er of a el eter
orree p. top ri ht leopatra he rint ollector p. ottom center oui
ra el hoto p. center middle
henaten
orld istor rchi e p. ottom left
d sseus
. i le and ictures.com p. ottom center ode of ammura i . Art
Resource: l um p. top ri ht ro al famil hiero l phs ritish useum ondon
reat ritain p. top left phin of ahar a
p. middle left i or clapper .
Bridgeman Images: Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK: p.2 middle right
model ar oat rid eman ma es p.
ottom left detail from the oo of the ead
ptian useum urin tal p.
ottom center a ricultural scenes . imatallah
p. ottom ri ht terra cotta to
ou re aris rance p. center middle model of a
. arrier p. top ri ht u ians ational eo raphic reati e p. center
u ian troops eter illi p. middle ri ht tom ship model . Getty Images:
. a li rti p. ottom center amses
ptian ational useum airo
pt p. ottom left utan hamen ose nacio oto p. middle ri ht
henaten
offerin . Granger Collection, NYC: p. ottom ri ht umerian cuneiform p. top
left atshepsut p. ottom ri ht lmec head p. middle ri ht pap rus p.
ottom ri ht osetta tone p. left coffin of in utan hamen p. middle ri ht
nu is armin the heart p. middle left hired mourners p.
ottom left oo
of the ead p.
ottom ri ht ei hin the heart
icture i rar p. center
middle peasant . National Geographic Creative: . . e ret pp.
top farmers
so in seeds pp.
top in hutmose
p. full countr estate p. ri ht in s
dau hter ith mirror p. middle left carpentr shop p. top left rindin our
pp.
top procession p. top left scri es pp.
top ill princess and famil .
Science Source: hristian e ou u liphoto iffusion p. top ri ht mummification
u liphoto p. top ri ht mumm preparation . Shutterstock: Anneke Swanepoel:
p. middle ri ht om m o nton ano pp.
u im el rthit
aeoratanapattama p. ottom center and p. top ri ht a ara
pt
erett
istorical p. top
ptian ile oats edor eli ano p. ottom left
ptian
hiero l phs raficam hmed aeed p. ottom ri ht ueen atshepsut hec e
p.
ottom ri ht uins at erma ose nacio oto p. center middle efertiti sp
p.
ottom athor ostin
p. ottom ri ht reat ramid u ee he ear p.
top ri ht archaeolo ist
artchan p.
ottom ri ht ero p ramids aul rescott
p. ottom center reat ramid of i a
ics tudio p.
ottom museum
interior tan tan p. ottom ri ht leopatra ton hao
p. ottom center terra
cotta arriors ladimir ho a p. top center apanese hiero l phs
i nie
u o s i pp.
ottom arna temple .
ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS:
Acme Design Company: Map of the Nile, p.2.
Brobel Design: aps p.
.
Michael Kline Illustration: ocial
ramid p.
core oard p.
.
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