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Egyptians
Egypt: Role of the Nile
• Nile flows north,
floods yearly
• Originates at Lake
Victoria
Hieroglyphics
• 3000 B.C. –
Hieroglyphics
developed (Pictorial
language)
• Translated the
Hieroglyphics with
Rosetta Stone
Menes
members.tripodnet.nl/ ancientegypt/history.html
3000B.C., King Menes united the
Nile River kingdoms into one
• ruled by God-kings 
pharaohs
• history divided into Old,
Middle, and New
Kingdoms
The Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom (2700–2200B.C.) – Egypt ruled by god-like pharaohs
with absolute power!
• Great Pyramids of Giza buried Pharaohs, showed absolute
power of royal families (started by Pharaoh Khufu)
mummification – preserving the body through drying methods
and removing internal organs
Middle Kingdom
Middle Kingdom (2050–
1650B.C.) – after overcoming drought, Pharaohs
lose their god-king status
• Expanded empire to
Mesopotamia
• ended with invading
Hyksos invasion who
had technology  horsedrawn chariots, compound
bow, and bronze weapons
New Kingdom
• Kingdom centered
around their capital,
Thebes
• Drove the Hyksos out
of Egypt with use of a
strong army
• Begin to build an
empire
Pharaohs
• Major Pharaohs
• Hatshepsut: First female
Pharaoh
• AkhenatonMonotheistic Pharaoh –
son was King Tut,
returned to Polytheism
• Ramses II- ruled 64
years, Pharaoh during
Jewish exodus
Other Early Civilizations in
Mesopotamia
• Hittites – first recorded use of
iron
• Phoenicians – ancestor of
nearly all Western alphabets
• Israelites – founded Judaism
and influenced Christianity and
Islam
Persians
Persians – empire that stretched from Asia Minor to
India and Egypt
• one of the largest empires in the ancient world
• formed under Cyrus the Great
• his grandson Darius goes to war with the
Greek city-states in an attempt to expand
the empire