Download Importance of the Nile River to Ancient Egypt

Timeline of Ancient Egypt
3100 – 2040
B. C.
2040 - 1550
B. C.
The Old
Kingdom
The Middle
Kingdom
This was
the age of
the
pyramids.
Trade grew
strong. The
arts
flourished.
1532 – 1070
B. C.
The New Kingdom
Armies conquered
nearby lands, and
Egypt’s power grew.
King Tutankhamen
was made pharaoh
after Amenhotep IV
died.
The Nile River
In ancient times, the
Nile River flooded its
banks from July to
October.
It left a layer of silt
along the river banks.
This enabled people
to grow crops there.
That was the reason
why a civilization grew
up in ancient Egypt.
The Importance of the Nile River
The ancient Egyptians
planned their lives
according to when the Nile
River would flood.
Importance of the Nile River to
Ancient Egypt
They divided their year into three parts:
http://search.worldbookonline.com/wbol/wbSearc
h/na/se/co?st1=egypt
A. the flood season.
B. the growing season.
C. the dry season.
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Papyrus was one of the most
important plants grown along the
Nile River Delta.
Fibers from the papyrus plant were
used to make writing paper.
http://www.aegyptenfotos.de/english.htm
Ancient Egyptians worshipped
many gods. They believed that
the gods made the Nile River
flood and the crops to grow.
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The most important one
was the sun-god, Re.
Re has a falcon head
and a scarab, or sun
disk, above his head.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, or picture symbols,
were written on this paper as early as 3000 B. C.
www.neferchichi.com/bbb.html
Scribes were among the few
people who knew how to read
and write.
Learning the Egyptian hieroglyphs
was an enormous job. After all,
there were over seven hundred
symbols!
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The Rosetta Stone was found in
1799 near Rosetta, Egypt.
It was unique because the same
message had been carved in
several languages.
One of these languages was ancient Greek, one was Egyptian, and
one was Egyptian hieroglyphs.
John Francois Champllion studied the hieroglyphs and “cracked the
code.”
People learned how to build ditches to
move water from the Nile River to the
crops. This practice is known as
irrigation.
Many people worked to dig ditches.
Many others worked as farmers. The
Egyptian workers needed a strong leader.
Their king was called a “pharaoh.” King
Menes was one of the first pharaohs.
The first step
pyramid was
built for
Pharaoh Zoser
in 2680 B. C.
Imhotep, the designer, must have convinced
Pharaoh Zoser that the step pyramid would be a
stairway to the gods.
After the step-sided
pyramids, architects
designed pyramids
without steps.
The largest and most
famous pyramid, the
Great Pyramid at Giza,
was built for Pharaoh
Khufu.
http://www.alletiquette.com/contents/images/45.jpg
Tourists would travel
long distances to see
it.
King Tutankhamun
The most
famous
pharaoh of
Ancient Egypt
is King
Tutankhamun,
even though
he was not a
strong king.
He became a
Pharaoh, or
king, when he
was only nine
years old. He
also got
married at the
age of nine.
http://www.akhet.co.uk/faces.htm
Many valuable items
were buried with the
pharaohs.
http://www.akhet.co.uk/tu
ttreas.htm
http://homepage.powerup.com
Delicately
InlaidCirclet
A Detailed
Part of
Furniture
The
Inner
Coffin
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/
These were placed in the
tombs so that they
would have these things
in the afterlife.
Here are some
other ancient
Egyptian
burial masks.
When a king died, special
care was taken to preserve
the body. The Egyptians
believed that the king would
need his or her body in the
afterlife.
1. Seventy days were spent embalming the
body.
2. The body was wrapped in long, linen bandages.
This was the mummification stage.
3. The body was taken to the river, and prayers were said.
4. The body was placed inside the burial chamber of the pyramid.
Robbers often took things from pyramids
because many jewels and other valuables were
stored inside them. The tomb robbers managed
to find hidden entrances to pyramids.
During the New Kingdom, most pharaohs
had their tombs built into the sides of
rocks in order to prevent robberies.
www.igs.net/~rrodg
ers/
egypt_frameset.ht
m
Ramses II is
considered to be
the greatest tomb
builder of the
New Kingdom. His
tomb was built into the
side of a rock.
Detail from Abu Simbel
Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel
academics.stonehill.edu/ FineArts/page.asp
Although most pharaohs were men, a few of them were
women. Queen Nefertiti may have been a pharaoh.
Queen Hatshepsut was a pharaoh during the early part of the
New Kingdom.
Her subjects called her “His Majesty.”
In many pictures, she is shown wearing a beard.
www.iw-chameleon.co.uk/
images/pharaoh/hat.jpg
www.studyworksonline.com/cda/i
mage/ preview/0,1010,35,00.gif
The Valley of the Tombs of Kings
www.knua.ac.kr/images/Egypt/
l%20hatshepsut.JPG
Queen Hatshepsut’s temple is still one of the
most beautiful buildings in the world. It is called
the Valley of the Tombs of Kings.
The New Kingdom came to an end as
a result of war. Conquerors wanted
to gain control of the fertile Nile
Delta.
Conquerors wanted to gain control of the fertile Nile Delta.
They also thought that Egypt would provide a good route for
sea trading between Europe and the East.
The Fight for Control
The Libyans gained control of Egypt after 1100 B. C., and then
the Assyrians took over.
In 552 B. C., the Persians forced the Assyrians out of Egypt.
In 332 B. C., the famous Macedonian, Alexander the Great,
conquered Egypt. When he died, one of his generals assumed
leadership. This general, King Ptolemy, and his successors ruled
Egypt for over three hundred years.
Cleopatra
Here is an example
of a costume that she
might have worn.
Queen Cleopatra
was the last of the
“Ptolemies.”
www.mrdowling.com/
604cleopatra.gif
This is a
guess;
there were
no
cameras
back then.
www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cbeal/
EgyptMedia/Liz%20Taylor.jpg
Books:
The Egyptian News: The Greatest Newspaper In Civilization by
Scott Steedman
Chadwick Press: Cambridge, MS © 1997
Enchantment of the World: Egypt by Ann Heinrichs
Children’s Press: New York, NY © 1997
The Kingfisher Book of The Ancient World by Hazel Mary Martell
Scholastic Inc.: New York, NY ©1995
Read About the Ancient Egyptians by David Jay
Copper Beech Books: Brookfield, CN ©2000
Internet Sites:
academics.stonehill.edu/ Fine-Arts/page.asp
http://www.aegypten-fotos.de/english.htm
http://www.akhet.co.uk/faces.htm
http://www.alletiquette.com/contents/images/45.jpg
www.bible-history.com/images2/
images/hieroglyphics_egypt.jp
www.crystalinks.com/ nefertiti.jpg
www.ditto.com
www.drizzle.com/~neferkmt/kemet/ images/
www.google.com
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/pyra1.htm
www.iw-chameleon.co.uk/ images/pharaoh/hat.jpg
www.igs.net/~rrodgers/ egypt_frameset.htm
www.knua.ac.kr/images/Egypt/ l%20hatshepsut.JPG
www.mrdowling.com/ 604cleopatra.gif
www.neferchichi.com/bbb.html
www.studyworksonline.com/cda/image/
preview/0,1010,35,00.gif
www.talariaenterprises.com/ images
www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cbeal/
EgyptMedia/Liz%20Taylor.jpg