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Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Explain how the Nile influenced the
development of Ancient Egypt
 Compare Old and Middle Kingdoms
of Egypt and describe the New
Kingdom
 Explain how Egyptian society was
structured.
 List the scientific contributions Egypt
made to civilization.

Ancient Egypt
app. 10,000 sq. miles
 a ribbon of fertile land 600 miles long


half a dozen miles wide for most of its length
compared to 165 miles in Mesopotamia
 Nile River

Longest in the World
 Lifeblood of Egypt.

Ancient Egypt, con’t
more arid and more fertile than
Mesopotamia
 divided into two parts
 the Delta (Lower Egypt) and the Upper
Nile (Upper Egypt)

Landforms of Egypt
Mediterranean Sea
 Red Sea
 Cataracts to the South – Protected
from the Kush in Ethiopia
 Libyan Desert to the West
 Nubian Desert to the South/East
 Arabian Desert to the East


What about the Sinai Peninsula?
Aswan Dam
Egyptian religion

Believed in Egyptian Gods & Life after
Death.

What type of Gods?
• God Over Nature
• God of Life & Death
• Village Gods

Worship of the Pharaoh was “nationwide”
Amon-Re

Most important God


Why did the Egyptians build all their
tombs and funeral temples on the west
bank of the Nile?
Sunrise and Sunset
Osiris
God of the Nile
 Legend says he was killed by his
brother Set (God who caused
harvests to wither and die).

Isis = Wife of Osiris brought him
back to life.
 He was then the God of Life and
Death. Associated with the rise and
fall of the Nile.

Mummification
As much of the brain as it is possible is extracted
through the nostrils with an iron hook, and what the
hook cannot reach is dissolved with drugs. Next,
the flank is slit open . . . and the entire contents of
the abdomen removed. The cavity is then
thoroughly cleansed and washed out . . . Then it is
filled with pure crushed myrrh, cassia, and all other
aromatic substances, except frankincense. [The
incision] is sewn up, and then the body is placed in
natron, covered entirely for 70 days, never longer.
When this period . . . is ended, the body is washed
and then wrapped from the head to the feet in linen
which has been cut into strips and smeared on the
underside with gum which is commonly used by the
Egyptians in the place of glue..Bob Brier, Egyptian
Mummies
Brain hooks, Oil jar, Funnel,
Embalmer's knife
Canopic Jars
Sarcofigace

In the Middle Kingdom,
it became standard
practice to place a
mask over the face of
the deceased. The
majority of these were
made of cartonnage
(papyrus or linen
coated with gesso, a
type of plaster), but
wood and, in the case
of royal mummies,
silver and gold, were
also used.
Mummified Animals

Some have been found in large quantities, while
others are rare. Many species were raised in the
temples to be sacrificed to the gods. Autopsies on
cats show that most had had their necks broken
when they were about two years old. Cats were
highly valued members of the ancient Egyptian
household.
Cat
Cat
Dog
Rosetta Stone
Jean Champollion deciphered it.
 Found in 1799 by French Soldiers

Three kinds of writing found on it
 Demotic
 Greek
 Hieroglyphics

Writing

Hieroglyphic scripts

for architectural and monumental purposes
Pictograms – pictures of objects.
 Ideograms – pictures of idea or action.
 Stones & Wood  papyrus paper

Unification

3100 B.C. Menes (Upper) & Lower Egypt
unite.
Menes was the first Pharaoh and started a
dynasty. Menes ruled for 62 years.
 What is a dynasty?


killed by a hippopotamus
Unification

Menes gained farmland as well as
access to the Sinai Peninsula
(Copper Mines).

Menes wore a double crown
symbolizing the unity of the two
kingdoms.
Unification
 The
most important event in Egyptian
history
 What
role did Menes play in religion
and politics ?
 How
was unification maintained ?
Historical Schema

Approximately 30 dynasties have been
traced to Ancient Egypt.
The Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.)
 The Middle Kingdom (2050-1800 B.C.)
 The New Kingdom (1570- 1090 B.C.)


What about the gap in years?
The Old Kingdom

The Pharaoh – absolute control of the
people.


Controlled land, quarries, mines, and water.
Centralized govt., improved life, known as
the PYRAMID AGE
Centralized Government

Kingdoms  Provinces  officials to
collect taxes.

Taxes paid for:


Building projects and irrigation systems
Officials became hereditary and part of
the noble class.
Zoser

Ordered his chief minister Imhotep
to design his step pyramid.

Pyramids at Giza still stand from this
age.
The Middle Kingdom

Pharaohs begin to pay attention to
the common person.
Common people resented Pharaohs in
the Old Kingdom.
 Common people were allowed to be
mummified.  gave them the same
access to the afterlife as nobles and
pharaohs.

The Middle Kingdom

Projects: Nile Delta, Canal from Nile
to the Red Sea.

Increased use of transportation and
trade. – Kush & Mesopotamia

1800 B.C. a time of turmoil

Invaded by Hyksos of Western Asia.
The Hyksos

Brought horses and war chariots.


Egyptians used donkey carts
During Hyksos’ Rule – 200 Years
Egyptians learned to ride horses and
become expert chariot riders.
 Egyptians eventually turned against the
Hyksos and expelled them from Egypt.

The New Kingdom
Egyptian power reaches its peak.
An EMPIRE is established.
 Flourishing economy – Trade Routes
 New Capital at Thebes. What is located
by Thebes?


Called the “Empire Age”
Queen Hatshepsut

1st Woman ruler in history…

Ruled for 22 years.
• Efficient Government
• Trade Expedition to Somalia.
• Ivory, incense, gold, etc.

Succeeded by her step-son.
• Thutmose III.
• Great military leader. Expanded Egypt to its
greatest size.
Thutmose III
Conquered Palestine and Syria
 Organized navy. Helped keep cities
subdued along coast.

Controversial Pharaoh

Amenhotep IV – no interests in
foreign conquests or “traditional”
religion of that time.

Wanted the worship of only one god.

Changed name to Akenaton

Aton – symbol was the sun disk.
Akenaton

Gave up defense of empire in order
to worship.

Should Pharaoh be “Twin” Head?

King Tut was his son-in-law

Tutankhaton  Tutankhamon

What did this signify?
The New Kingdom, cont.

Decline in power.

Struggle w/the Hittites.
• Under the leadership of Ramses II.
• Was last great leader in Egypt.
• 1st treaty in history ends the struggle.

Power declined following Ramses
• Defeated by Assyrians & Persians.
• Alex the Great occupies the Nile, 331 B.C.
• Cleopatra last Pharaoh, defeated by the
Romans
Egyptian Society

Social Classes

Ruling Class – Priests, nobles, etc.
• Daily sacrifices to gods, cast spells to make
land fertile, and recited prayers to reach
the souls of the dead to help reach afterlife.
Middle Class – Merchants, traders,
doctors, and artisans.
 Peasants/Slaves – Hard life of farming.
 Born into social class.

• Exception = Scribe
Women in Egypt

Role of wife and mother


Highly respected and held great value.
Had the right to buy and sell property
and to testify in court.
Had right to seek divorce.
 Property was inherited through female
line.

Education
Originally provided to teach priesthood.
 Most that attended were sons of the
wealthy.
 Evolves into a general education of
reading, writing, & arithmetic.
 Higher Education established.


Astronomy – Dealt with prediction
Education, cont.

Students learned by dictation.

After students completed studies,
they either learned a trade or were
apprenticed as scribes, or clerks, to
priests or govt. officials.
Scribes

Essential to government.
Kept records of taxes and expenses.
 Kept records of Pharaohs deeds.
 Kept track of daily life, births, deaths,
and marriages.
 May be appointed to be a noble by
being a scribe for a Pharaoh.

Scientific Accomplishments
Geometry
 Volume and Area
 Calendar – 365 days – 3 Seasons


Planting, Flooding, Harvesting
Rock Breaking
 Medicine


Broken Bones and Spinal Injuries
Suez Canal
Nile River
Nile River Valley