Download Egypt: Gift of the Nile - Miami Beach Senior High School

EGYPT: GIFT OF THE
NILE
THE NILE RIVER VALLEY
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The Nile River, at 4,000 miles long, is the
world’s longest river, and flows from south to
north, starting in Central Africa Pages 45-46
Before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea,
the Nile splits in two; this forms a fertile,
triangular area known as the delta
The area around the delta was known as Lower
Egypt, while lands upstream--to the south--were
known as Upper Egypt
THE MIRACLE OF THE NILE
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Every summer, the Nile would serge from heavy
rains in Central Africa, and deposit fertile mud
on the land around its banks--the “miracle” of
the Nile
The Egyptians called this fertile area the “Black
Land”, while the deserts further from the river
were known as “Red Land”
The Nile became a big part of Egyptian identity
and pride
THE NILE & ECONOMIC POWER
The Nile River was Egypt’s transportation
highway, with boats following the current
from the south, and pushed south from
the delta
 Egyptians grew extremely rich by selling
the extra food provided by the fertile Nile
mud
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GEOGRAPHY = POWER
Unlike Mesopotamia, Egypt’s geography
protected it from outside threats
 Surrounded by deserts to the east and
west, Egypt’s enemies found them hard to
cross
 River rapids in the southern Nile blocked
invaders from the south
 The Mediterranean and Red seas also
provided a natural defense against
invading armies
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EGYPTIAN RELIGION
Religion in Ancient Egypt was everything
 Like the Mesopotamians, Egyptians were
Polytheists
Page 46
 gods belonged to one of two groups:
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 sun
gods
 land gods
SUN GODS
Egyptians worshiped the sun as the
source of all life
 The sun god took on different forms:
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 Worshiped
as Atun, in human form, and
 Re, the falcon headed sun god
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Egyptian rulers were “Sons of Re”
LAND GODS
The Nile and its surroundings were also
worshiped for their bounty
 Land and River gods included:
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 Osiris,
god of rebirth & the Nile
 Isis, bringer of the flood & fertility
 Horus, son of Isis, protector of Egypt
 Anubis, god of the afterlife
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Cats were also worshiped as agents of
the gods
ERAS OF EGYPTIAN HISTORY
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Three periods of Egyptian History:
 Old
Kingdom
 Middle Kingdom
 New Kingdom
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
These eras were marked by peace,
prosperity, building projects and
intellectual activity
 Around 3100 B.C. Lower Egypt and Upper
Egypt were united by a king named
Menes, kings who followed wore a double
crown
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OLD KINGDOM (2700-2200 B.C.)
Egyptian kings were known as pharaohs
 Pharaohs were considered god-kings and
ruled with absolute power
 Egyptians believed as long as they
pleased the gods, their pharaoh would be
powerful; yet, if royal power faltered, it
was the fault of the people.
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THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT
The Old Kingdom’s greatest achievement
may have been the burial pyramids of
pharaohs
Page 48
 Pyramid complexes were cities of the
dead, made up of smaller pyramids for
the pharaoh’s family and mastabas-rectangular, flat roofed tombs for chief
bureaucrats
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 Bureaucracy
is an administrative organization
of governing procedures
 viziers, officials who controlled the
bureaucracy, answered only to pharaoh
THE EGYPTIAN AFTERLIFE
Egyptians believed humans had two
bodies, a physical body and a spiritual
body called the ka, which could return to
life if the tomb was comfortable and a
preserved body
 Pyramids were equipped with everything
the pharaoh might want in the afterlife
 Mummification preserved the body by
slowly drying it so it would not rot
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MIDDLE KINGDOM (2050-1652 B.C.)
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The Old Kingdom collapsed in 2200 B.C., and
chaos swept the land for 150 years
Then a new era of peace and expansion
ushered in the golden age of the M.K.
Egypt conquered Nubia, to the south, and built
fortresses to protect their territory
M.K. Pharaohs sent armies and traders to
Palestine, Syria, Kush, Crete and Mesopotamia
Pharaohs were no longer gods, but shepherds
of his people
Canals were built b/w the Nile and the Red Sea,
and delta swamps were drained for more farms
THE HYKSOS INVASION
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In 1652 B.C., the Middle Kingdom ended, as
Egypt was invaded by an Asian people they
called the Hyksos
Hyksos horse-drawn chariots were too fast for
the Egyptian donkey carts, and they quickly
conquered Egypt
From the Hyksos, Egyptians learned military
strategy and how to work with bronze to make
farming tools and weapons
Eventually, the Egyptians used what they
learned to re-conquer their land from the
Hyksos
NEW KINGDOM (1567-1058 B.C.)
With its improved military, Egypt creates
the biggest, most powerful empire in
Africa & Southwest Asia
 Pharaohs showed their vast wealth by
building temples and palaces, like the
temple of Hatshepsut--Egypt’s 1st woman
pharaoh
 Thutmose III, her son, conquered
Palestine, Syria and Libya, even reaching
the Euphrates River
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NEW KINGDOM PROBLEMS
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Pharaoh Amenhotep IV forces worship of one god, Aton,
the sun-disk god; and changes his name to Akhenaton
“It is well with Aton”
Egyptians saw this religious shift as the destruction of
Egypt itself, start rebelling
King Tutankhamen (Tut, the boy king) restores order and
worship of old gods
Ramses II restores most of territory lost during unrest,
until the “sea people” return them to their old frontiers,
ending the empire.
After 1085 B.C. Egypt entered a period of being
dominated by other empires for next 1,000 years
EGYPTIAN SOCIETY
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Egyptian society organized from the top-down;
with pharaohs on top, followed by nobles and
priests
Page 51
a middle class of merchants, scribes and
bureaucrats existed to service the nobility
the majority of people worked the land, giving a
share to the pharaohs as taxes
slaves were kept for hard work like construction
Artisans made beautiful goods from stone, gold,
silver, copper and wood; while rope and paper
were crafted from papyrus--clothing was linen.
EGYPTIAN LIFE
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Egyptians family practices monogamy, marrying
just one person, and were patriarchal in nature
while women had the right to own property, and
their inheritances were theirs even if married,
most jobs were off limits
only sons carried on the family name
Egyptian could divorce, and wives were usually
compensated
Love poems of the time show a culture rooted in
the family, with deeply loving marriages--even
though most marriages were prearranged by
families
EGYPTIAN EDUCATION
Around 3000 B.C., Egyptians began using
a system of writing with pictures and
shapes called hieroglyphics, or “sacred
writings”
 Eventually, this system was simplified into
hieratic script in business and daily life
 At 10 years old, boys went to school to
learn how to write from scribes, and girls
stayed home to learn housekeeping skills
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WORLD CHANGER: SCIENCE & MATH
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Egyptians made many advances in
mathematics, measuring volume and mastering
the use of geometry in surveying flooded land
Mummification lead to medical expertise in
human anatomy
Egyptian doctors also used splints, bandages
and compresses for treating fractures and
wounds.
Egyptians shared their knowledge of medicine
with other ancient peoples