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6th Grade World History
The Nile Valley

Essential Question:
 How did the geography of the Nile River
valley lead to the growth of a civilization
there?
A Mighty River
 Nile
River
 Drank from it
 Bathed in it
 Cooking and cleaning
 Fish
A Sheltered Land
Before it reaches the Mediterranean
Sea, the Nile forms a delta
 Desert located on either side – keeps
armies away from Egypt’s territory
 Traded in the Mediterranean Sea and
the Red Sea

The River People
 Nile
floods were predictable and
consistent
 Leave behind a layer of dark, fertile mud
 Irrigation
Techniques
 Dug canals to carry water to fields
beyond the river’s reach
 Papyrus
– reed plant
 Baskets, sandals, river rafts and paper!
Hieroglyphics
 Created
symbols that stood for
objects, ideas and sounds
 Few people could read and write
 Scribes: Few Egyptian men
○ Kept records for rulers, priests and traders
○ Carved hieroglyphics into stone monuments
The Rise of Government in
Ancient Egypt
Irrigation systems had to be built and
maintained
 Surplus grain had to be stored and
passed out in the case of need
 Disputes over land ownership had to be
settled
 Earliest rulers were village chiefs who
would gradually take over neighboring
villages

Upper and Lower Egypt

4000 B.C.E. – Egypt was made up of 2
large kingdoms
 Lower Egypt
 Upper Egypt
3100 B.C.E. – Upper Egypt conquered
Lower Egypt
 Egypt was ruled by 31 dynasties
grouped into 3 categories

 Old Kingdom
 Middle Kingdom
 New Kingdom
Egypt’s Social Classes
Pharaoh
 Priests and Nobles
 Traders, Artisans, Shopkeepers and
Scribes
 Farmers and Herders
 Unskilled Workers

Family Life
 Men
were often considered the head
of the household
 However, Egyptian women enjoyed
more rights than females in almost
every other early civilization
 Few Egyptian children attended
school
 Mothers taught daughters
 Fathers taught sons
Making Connections

1. What is papyrus and how did the
Egyptian’s use it?

2. Cause and Effect: Name three things
that led to the growth of government in
Ancient Egypt.

3. Answer the Essential Question: How did
the geography of the Nile River valley lead
to the growth of a civilization there?
Egypt’s Old Kingdom

Essential Question:
 What characterized the religious beliefs of
the Ancient Egyptians?
Old Kingdom Rulers – 26002300 B.C.E.
 Pharaoh
 All powerful ruler who guided all activity
 Lived in grand palaces
 Appointed officials to carry out their
wishes
 Considered to be the son of Re – The
Sun God
Egypt’s Religion
 Worshipped
many deities who were
believed to control nature and human
activities
 Re – The Sun God
 Isis – Worshipped as the ideal wife and
mother
 Osiris – God of the Dead
 Hapi – Ruled the Nile River
Life After Death
Hopeful view that life after death would
be better than the life before it
 Book of the Dead

 Collection of spells and prayers to obtain life
after death

For centuries, Egyptians believed only
the pharaohs and elite few could enjoy
the afterlife and their spirit would travel
to the afterlife after death
 Body could not be decayed for this journey
Enbalming and Mummification

Protection for the Pharaoh’s Body
Remove
organs from
body
Apply natron,
a special salt
to the body
Body is stored
for several
days to dry
Body is filled
with spices and
perfumes
Mummy is
placed inside
wooden
coffin inside
tomb
Body is tightly
wrapped in
linen
Body cleaned
Body is
sewed shut

with special
oils
Egyptians learned much about the human
body through embalming
The Pyramids
Protected bodies of dead pharaohs from
floods, animals and grave robbers
 Held supplies pharaohs would need in the
afterlife





Clothing
Furniture
Jewelry
Food
Skilled artisans used copper tools to cut
stone into huge blocks
 Pulled stone on sleds to pyramid site
 Dragged and pushed them up ramps to be
set in place
 Great Pyramid at Giza

Making Connections

1. What might Egyptians have learned
from embalming bodies?

2. Answer the Essential Question: What
characterized the religious beliefs of the
Ancient Egyptians?
The Egyptian Empire

Essential Question:
 How did Akenaton upset the traditional order
of the New Kingdom?
The Middle Kingdom 2050-1670
B.C.E.
New dynasty came to power
 Moved Egyptian capital to Thebes
 Golden Age of stability, prosperity and
achievement
 Forced conquered people to send tribute
to the pharaoh

The Arts Blossom
Painters covered walls of tombs and
temples with colorful scenes of the
deities and daily life
 Sculptors created large statues of
pharaohs
 Tombs were cut into the side of cliffs –
Valley of the Kings

The New Kingdom
 Queen
Hatshepsut
 More interested in trade than conquest
 Traded beads, gold, ivory, ebony and
incense for wood
 Trade under her rule brought great
wealth to Egypt
Expanding the Empire
 Thutmose
III’s armies expanded
Egypt North of Mesopotamia and into
Africa
 Enslaved prisoners of war
 Could own land, marry and eventually be
granted freedom
The Legacies of Two Pharaohs
 Amenhotep/Akhenaton
 Introduced one god worship of Aton
 Removed priests who resisted the
changes
 People saw this as an attack on Egypt
itself
 Devotion to a new religion caused him to
ignore the attack of the Hittites who took
over much of the empire
The Legacies of Two Pharaohs
 Tutankhamen
– The Boy King
 Restored the old religion
 Died unexpectedly – murder?
 Most famous of all pharaohs because of
his brilliant gold funeral mask
End of the New Kingdom
II – rebuilt the empire and
constructed new temples
 Ramses
 Karnak
 Thebes
 Temples were the homes of gods and
goddesses
Egypt’s Decline and Fall
 Later
pharaohs have difficulty
controlling a large empire
 Egypt was attacked by people from
the Mediterranean
 Iron weapons
 Egypt
changed hands several times
 670B.C.E. – Egypt is taken over by
the Assyrians
Making Connections

1. What improvements did the Middle
Kingdom rulers make?

2. Answer the Essential Question: How
did Akenaton upset the traditional order
of the New Kingdom?