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Social Studies – Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom
The development of civilizations did not occur as single events one after another, they
overlapped and influenced each other. Approximately 800 years into Sumer's development
nomadic tribes began to establish permanent settlements
along the Nile River in North Africa. These settlements
eventually evolved into Ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egypt’s
development had three significant periods of development
that archaeologists refer to as the Old Kingdom, the
Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom.
The environment of Egypt includes the fertile Nile valley
and surrounding deserts. Egypt's climate is hot and dry but
the annual flooding of the Nile, just like the Tigris and
Euphrates
in
Mesopotamia,
moisture to the valley.
brought
fertile
silt
and
The ancient Egyptians called the
Nile valley the Black Lands because of its fertile soil, and
the deserts were called the Red Lands because of the
reddish colour of the sand.
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The delta area of the Nile was known as Lower Egypt, where it
empties into the Mediterranean Sea, and Upper Egypt lay further
south along the Nile. The length of the Nile within Ancient
Egypt’s boundaries is broken into six sections by natural barriers
known as cataracts1.
The last of these cataracts marked the
southern most border of Ancient Egypt. The Nile River eventually
divides into the Blue Nile and the White Nile.
Around
3100
BCE
climatic
changes
resulted
in
drought2
conditions and began forcing the nomads of the desert regions to
the Nile valley where there was more water. Here they gathered
in small villages and began growing crops. Villages in the area of
Upper Egypt were eventually united under one king and around
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3050 BCE the king of Upper Egypt took over Lower Egypt and
united the two areas into one kingdom.
This marked the
beginning of the period known as the Old Kingdom, lasting from about 2700 to 2200 BCE.
1
Cataract: a shallow area of water with many boulders, white water rapids, and/or waterfalls.
Drought: a prolonged period without rainfall resulting in a water shortage.
2
Egypt developed much the same as Mesopotamia did, and it is believed travellers from
Mesopotamia provided Egypt with much of their skills and knowledge.
With what the
Egyptians were able to grow and make they formed trading partnerships with other areas,
and they were particularly well known for their ability to work with the gold they mined
from the deserts.
Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians began paying more attention to their religious
beliefs as their civilization continued to thrive. Every part of Egyptian
religion related to the natural environment that surrounded them; it
helped to explain such mysteries as why the sun rose each morning and
why the Nile flooded every year. The Sun God Re, or Ra, (left) was
shown as having a human body with the head of a falcon, and crowned
with a disk representing the sun. The Nile god was Hapi. He was a
human headed god with a big chest and belly, representing the
abundance of food that the river helped provide.
Offering daily
prayers to Ra and Hapi helped reassure the Egyptians that the sun's
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warmth and the river's floodwaters would never fail them. Other gods
and goddesses were in charge of such things as love, beauty, truth &
justice, arts & crafts, and even writing.
There were many gods dealing with death and the afterlife. Chief among the gods of
death and the afterlife was Osiris (lower right). The Egyptians believed that once, long
ago, Osiris had been a king of Lower Egypt who was loved by everyone except his jealous
brother, Seth. Seth decided to murder Osiris. He invited Osiris to a banquet at which all
the guests were invited to take turns lying down inside a beautiful lidded box to see which
one fit best. As soon as Osiris climbed into the box and lay down Seth slammed the lid shut
and threw the box into the Nile where it floated out to sea. Isis, the wife of Osiris, went
in search of her husband’s body. She found it in a city on the shore of Asia where the box
had become tangled in the branches of a young tree by the water’s
edge. When Isis returned to Egypt with the body of her husband, the
evil Seth, afraid of the magical powers of Isis, feared that she could
bring Osiris back to life again. To prevent this from happening Seth
stole the body of Osiris. This time he cut the body up into fourteen
pieces and scattered them all over Egypt. With the help of her sister
Isis searched until she recovered all of the pieces of her dead
husband and, magically, the body of Osiris became whole again. Osiris
could not return to Earth, however, because his body had been
damaged.
Instead he became the ruler of the underworld.
When
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people died Osiris would judge the way they had lived their lives; the good went to a land of
plenty, while the evil were devoured by a beast. Isis and Osiris had a child named Horus
who was able to live on Earth and he became king of Egypt.
This story led Ancient
Egyptians to believe their rulers were part human/part god and could live both on Earth and
in the sky
The Old Kingdom was ruled by a god/king, called a pharaoh, who wore a
crown called a Pschent (right). The Pschent [skent] was a double crown
that combined the crowns of the lower and upper kingdoms to symbolize
the union of these two regions. The pharaoh had absolute power over all of
the land of Egypt and all its resources and was both a political and religious
leader. The position of the pharaoh was hereditary, meaning it was passed
on to a family member, but rather than passing to the pharaoh's son the
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position was passed on to the daughter. The daughter then had to be married and her
husband became pharaoh. The Egyptians measured time in dynasties1, and as long as the
new pharaohs were related to the prior pharaoh it was considered one dynasty. If there
were no heirs and a leader had to come from a different family, a new dynasty began.
There were four dynasties during the period of the Old Kingdom.
It was believed, during the Old Kingdom, that the pharaoh continued to live even after
the death of their body, and the pharaohs wanted to continue the life of luxury they had in
life. To do this they needed an extravagant tomb to preserve and protect their body. The
pharaoh had many officials serving him. The most powerful of these officials was called a
Taty. The Taty supervised the details of running the kingdom and reported directly to the
pharaoh. During the third dynasty of the Old Kingdom a
ruler, King Djozer [Jozer], commanded his Taty,
Imhotep [imotep] to plan his tomb for the afterlife. It
was Imhotep who designed and was in charge of creating
the first pyramid, which has become a lasting symbol
associated with Ancient Egypt by people around the
world. Imhotep’s early pyramid is called a Step Pyramid
because of the clear layers, or steps.
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Later pyramids became much larger and were
covered with casing stones to create smooth sides. The Egyptians did not have iron tools,
yet they managed to quarry stone blocks weighing more than two tons and move them onto
the building site. The pyramid of King Khufu, during the fourth dynasty, was constructed
of more than two million of these stone blocks. It is still the largest man-made stone
structure on earth!
Ancient Egypt: Origins & The Old Kingdom Activity -
/20 Marks
Part A: Answer the following.
1) What environmental similarities did Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt share?
2) Why do you think Upper Egypt was in the south, to the Ancient Egyptians?
3) What led to the development of permanent settlements along the Nile river?
4) Approximately how long did the Old Kingdom last?
5) Where did the Ancient Egyptians get many of their skills and ideas?
6) What system of government did the Ancient Egyptians have?
7) Why were the gods important to the Ancient Egyptians?
8) How might the religious beliefs of the Egyptians affected the way they led their
lives?
9) Who was the most powerful official to serve the king of Egypt?
10) Who was Imhotep, and what is he most remembered for?
Part B: Complete the following directions on the map below.
Refer to your Mapping Essentials handout.
a) Colour and label the major bodies of water.
b) Label the Nile River.
c) Label Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.
d) Label the Western Desert, Eastern Desert.
e) Shade the Nile Delta green.
Ancient Egypt: Origins & The Old Kingdom Activity -
/20 Marks
Name: _______________________
Part A: Answer the following.
1) What environmental similarities did Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt share?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2) Why do you think Upper Egypt was in the south, to the Ancient Egyptians?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
3) What led to the development of permanent settlements along the Nile river?
_______________________________________________________________
4) Approximately how long did the Old Kingdom last? ____________________________
5) Where did the Ancient Egyptians get many of their skills and ideas?
_______________________________________________________________
6) What system of government did the Ancient Egyptians have? ____________________
7) Why were the gods important to the Ancient Egyptians?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
8) How might the religious beliefs of the Egyptians affected the way they led their lives?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
9) Who was the most powerful official to serve the king of Egypt? __________________
10) Who was Imhotep, and what is he most remembered for?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Part B: Complete the following directions on the map below.
Refer to your Mapping Essentials handout.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Colour and label the major bodies of water.
Label the Nile River.
Label Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.
Label the Western Desert, Eastern Desert.
Shade the Nile Delta green.