Download 1 Egyptian Culture 2 Geography of Egypt 3 4 The Gift of the Nile 5

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Egyptian Culture
Geography of Egypt
Nile River is the longest river in the world
The Nile creates a ribbon of water in a parched desert
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The Gift of the Nile
The predictable flooding of the Nile creates rich soil good for crops
The Nile provides a reliable transportation system that promotes trade
The desert acted as a natural barrier
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Environmental
Challenges
if floods were a few feet below normal 1000’s of ppl starved
if floods were higher than normal homes were destroyed
desert acted as a natural barrier, but caused Egyptians to live on a small area and have little contact with others, did
not have to deal with the constant attacks like the Fertile Crescent.
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Upper and Lower
Egypt
Egyptians traveled along the Nile from the mouth to the First Cataract: churning rapids, the cataract area made it
impossible to travel to the North past that pt
Between the 1st Cataract and the Mediterranean lay 2 different regions
Because of its elevation being higher the river area to the South is called Upper Egypt, it is the skinny strip of land from
the 1st Cataract to the point where the river starts to fan out into many branches
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Upper Egypt
Upper and Lower
Egypt
To the North, near the sea, Lower Egypt includes the Nile delta: the 100 miles before the river enters the
Mediterranean. The delta is a broad marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the river
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Lower Egypt
Egypt unites into a
Kingdom
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Egypt unites into a
Kingdom
by 3200 BC the villages of Egypt were under the rule of two separate kingdoms, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt
it is believed that a ruler named Scorpion King started uniting Egypt, but it was finished by Narmer
Narmer created a combination crown to represent his rule
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Crowns
Pharaohs Rule as
Gods
In Mesopotamia kings were considered to be representatives of the gods. In Egypt kings were gods
Pharaohs: god-kings that ruled Egypt
This type of government is called a theocracy: gods ruling a kingdom
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Beliefs
Egyptians believed that the pharaohs bore full responsibility for the kingdom’s well-being. They believed that the
pharaoh causes the sun to rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to grow. The pharaoh must promote truth and justice
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Builders of the
Pyramids
believed the king ruled after his death
eternal life force called ka, which continues to take part in the governing of Egypt
since kings were to rule forever tombs were more important that the palaces
For the kings of the Old Kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure called a pyramid: tomb for
Egyptian kings
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Giza
Pyramids
remarkable engineering built by people who had not even begun to use the wheel.
in the pyramid at Giza, built mostly by peasants
Egyptians mummified the body so the soul could return to it later. They were so good that archaeologists have found
mummies that still have hair, skin, and teeth
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Egyptian Culture
Religion and Life: polytheistic, Re (the sun god) and Osiris (god of the dead) Isis (represented the ideal mother)
worshipped more than 2000 gods
believed in the afterlife and that they would be judge based on how the lived their lives
mummification: involves embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying.
Egyptians filled tombs with items the dead person could use in the afterlife, such as clothing, ford, jewels
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Life in Egyptian Society
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Life in Egyptian Society
king queen and royal family at the top
upper class (wealthy landowners, government officials, priests and army commanders)
middle class (merchants and artisans)
lowest class, by far the largest (peasant farmers, laborers
slave were the bottom
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Egyptian Writing
hieroglyphics: Egyptian writing system
first written on stone or clay later the Egyptians invented papyrus: marsh reed dried and press together to form a
paper like sheet
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Science and Technology
know for medicine, some of their methods are still used today
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Kingdoms
2180 BC marked the end of the Old Kingdom
2040 - 1640 BC is the Middle Kingdom where law and order was restored. Trade and transportation increased, but
this did not last long bc the Hyksos took over.
Final Kingdom was the New Kingdom (1570 -1365) that will be discussed in Chapter 4
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Ch 4 Sec. 1
New Kingdom - great rulers tried to return the glory of the Old Kingdom
Ramses II build many great statues one of which is located at Karnak
Slowly the Egyptian empire faded.