Download 4-4 The New Kingdom • Ahmose was an Egyptian Prince who

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The New Kingdom
 Ahmose was an Egyptian Prince who defeated the Hyksos
 He began the period known as the New Kingdom
 Egypt grew larger and richer
 During the New Kingdom pharaohs didn’t just stay in the
Nile River Valley, they started to move eastward
 This period is when the Egyptian Empire was founded
 20,000 Egyptians with weapons invaded Syria and Palestine
 They used bow & arrows and spears
 Egyptians now began to trade and build temples
 They traded beads, tools, weapons for ivory, ebony (black
wood) hunting dogs, leopard skins, and incense
 Incense – material burned for its pleasant smell
 They sailed along the eastern coast of Africa
A. Religion
 Egyptians in the New Kingdom began to worship a new god
 They combined Amon, the god of the city of Thebes and Re,
the god of sun
 Thebes was the capital of Egypt
 The new god was called Amon-Re
 Amon-Re became the most powerful god of all
 Many temples were built in his honor
 Temples were not just houses of worship
 The temples gave work to sculptors and artisans
 They carved statues, built furniture, and made clothes for
priests
 Temples were also treasuries, filled with gold and copper,
jewelry, glass bottles, and oils
 Temples were also schools
 Young boys were trained to be scribes
 Scribes kept records of pharaoh’s laws
 They also kept records of grain and animals paid as taxes
 The most common type of Egyptian writing was
hieroglyphics
 Hieroglyphics – kind of writing in which pictures stand for
words or sounds
B. Decline of Egypt
 The priests of Amon-Re gained much power and wealth
 The owned 1/3 of Egypt’s land and played a major role in
gov’t
 As time went on the pharaoh’s had less power
 A pharaoh named Amenhotep IV came to power
 He didn’t agree with the priests, and felt they were not good
for Egypt
 He wanted to return power to the pharaohs
 Amenhotep IV closed all temples of Amon-Re
 He set up a new religion that worshiped only one god
 That god was called Aton
 Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akenaton
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After Amenhotep IV died, Tutankhamen became Pharaoh
He was 9 years old
He died after ruling for only nine years
Little by little Egypt lost its power
By 1150 B.C. Egypt’s empire was gone
Egypt was taken over by he Assyrians