Download The Ancient Egyptians

The Ancient Egyptians
Since the Old Stone Age, people have been living along the Nile River,
which flows through North Africa. Water form the Nile and a warm climate aided
the development of agriculture. The surrounding deserts kept most attackers
away. Because the people along the river did not have to worry about getting
food or fighting enemies, they had the time and energy to develop one of the first
advanced civilizations in the world. Today we refer to that civilization as ancient
Egypt.
For a long time, Egypt was a collection of independent villages along the
Nile River. Slowly, local rulers gained control over larger and larger areas. Then
Egypt developed into two parts. In the south was Upper Egypt, far from the
mouth of the Nile. In the north was Lower Egypt, near the mouth of the Nile.
About 3000BC, a ruler named Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt into
one kingdom. Menes set up his capital at Memphis and established Egypt’s first
dynasty. Dynasties are made up of a succession of rulers from the same family.
The last dynasty to rule Egypt was the 30th. It ended about 343BC.
The rulers of Egypt were called pharaohs. They had absolute or total
power over everyone and everything in Egypt. They owned all property, made all
decisions and were worshipped as gods. At their direction, great temples were
built and huge statues were created. Many of these structures still stand. The
pharaohs made Egypt prosperous by promoting trade with other peoples.
Egyptian ships sailed to faraway places to find new products and new sources of
wealth.
The pharaohs also maintained powerful armies to protect Egypt form its
enemies. Some pharaohs wanted to gain control over more land. During the
Empire Period of Egyptian history (1580-1150BC), the armies of the pharaohs
conquered Syria, Israel, Phoenicia and other neighboring lands. The rulers of
the defeated areas paid tribute (taxes) to the pharaohs in the form of gold, silver,
jewels and food. Many of the conquered peoples became slaves in Egypt.
Two of the most important pharaohs were Thutmose III and Ramses II.
Thutmose III, a military genius, ruled from 1483 BC to 1450 BC. He led his
armies to many victories. Ramses II ruled from 1304 BC to 1237 BC. Under
him, Egypt’s empire reached it greatest size.
Although pharaohs were usually men, some were women. The most
famous of Egypt’s female pharaohs was Hatshepsut. She greatly increased
Egypt’s trade and artistic development during her rule from 1503 BC to 1482 BC.
The Egyptians worshipped many gods. Re, the sun god, was the god of
the living. Osiris was the god of the underworld, or the realm of the dead. He
represented the forces of good. His wicked brother, Set, led the forces of evil. In
the endless struggle against evil, Osiris was aided by his wife, Isis. Her magic
was the source of life and fertility. The son, Horus, was associated with light,
heaven and all things good and beautiful. Horus aided his father’s struggle.
The Egyptians believed that each person’s soul, or ka, could live on after
death. It would be judged by Osiris according to the good and evil done by the
person in life. The soul would live only if the body was preserved to look as it did
in life. To preserve the body, Egyptian priests developed the art of
mummification. This is the process of treating a body with herbs and oils and
then wrapping it tightly in narrow strips of linen cloth before placing it in a sealed
coffin. So great was the skill of the priests that many mummies are still whole
even though thousands of years have gone by.
To house their mummies, the pharaohs build huge tombs in the shape of
pyramids. each of these enormous stone structures took thousands of workers
many years to complete. Rooms in the pyramids were filled with all the objects
the dead pharaoh would need in his life after death. Painted on the walls of the
rooms were scenes showing the pharaoh’s family life and his accomplishments.
Modern scholars have learned much about life in ancient Egypt by
studying the interior of the pyramids. One of the most informative tombs was that
of the pharaoh Tutankhamen. He ruled from about 1361 BC to 1351 BC.
Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered by a scholar named Howard Carter in
1922. The tomb enabled scholars to see just what kinds of things were buried
with a pharaoh.
The priests of ancient Egypt had a great deal of influence over the lives of
Egyptians. The priests directed the worship of the gods. The priests believed
that if the forms of worship were not correct, the gods might become angry.
Then crops might fail or people might get sick.
A pharaoh named Akhenaton (ruled 1379-1632 BC) tried to turn his
people away from polytheism to monotheism. This means that he tried to
persuade them to worship one god, the sun god Aton, instead of many gods.
The priests did not like this idea and made sure that the pharaoh’s teachings did
not continue after his death.
One of the greatest achievements of the Egyptians was the invention of a
system of writing. They created pictures and symbols called hieroglyphs to
express sounds, words and ideas.
The calendar invented by the Egyptians divided the year into 12 months of
30 days each. Five feast days, or holiday, ere added to end the year to make
365 days. Egyptian doctors performed complicated surgery and used drugs to
lessen pain. Egyptians developed a system of geometry to help them measure
their land. They also crated a mathematical system based on the number 10.