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Ancient Egypt
Section 1: Geography and Ancient Egypt
• Egyptian civilization
developed along a 750 mile
stretch of the Nile River in
Northern Africa.
• The Nile River:
• Is the longest river in
the world at 4,000 miles
• Runs from South to
North starting in central
Africa and ending at the
Mediterranean Sea
Natural Barriers
• The geography of
Egypt protected it
from invaders.
• To the north was the
Meditterranean Sea
• To the east and west
were deserts too harsh
to cross
• Along the Nile River
were cataracts, which
made it hard to sail in
fromthe south
Two Regions of Ancient Egypt
1. Upper Egypt – located in the south (upriver on
the Nile)
2. Lower Egypt – located in the north (downriver on
the Nile)
The Nile created an area of
fertile land about 13 miles
wide. Beyond the Nile River
Valley lays hundreds of miles
of desert.
Satellite image of the Nile River
Lower Egypt contained the Nile Delta and
about 2/3 of Ancient Egypt’s farmland.
Floods of the Nile
• The Nile flooded every year, coating the land along
the river with silt.
• The floods allowed Egypt to settle in this area.
• Without the floods, Egyptians could not have
grown food.
Unification of Egypt
• Around 3100 BC, King Menes of Upper Egypt
invaded and took control of Lower Egypt. Menes
unified the 2 regions and wore a double crown to
symbolize his leadership.
• Menes is Egypt’s first PHARAOH and founder of
Egypt’s first DYNASTY.
• Menes built Egypt a new capital on the southern tip
of the Nile Delta and named it Memphis.
• Do you think Menes made a
good choice by building his
capital city at Memphis?
Section 2: The Old Kingdom
2700 BC to 2200 BC
Rule by Pharaohs
• Believed to be both a king and a god
• Had absolute power (political and religious)
• Hired government officials (usually from own
family) to help carry out responsibilities
• Responsible for preventing disasters and bringing
good fortune
• The people expected the pharaoh to make crops grow,
prevent war, keep them healthy, and make trade
prosperous but blamed him if wars started, crops failed,
diseases struck, or the economy was poor.
Social Structure
The Egyptian Social Structure was shaped like a
pyramid and divided into classes. Egyptians could
move up the hierarchy, especially if they learned
to read and write (becoming a scribe) or went to
school and learned a trade (such as medicine, tool
or pottery making).
Social Structure
Pharaoh/Gods
Upper Class
(Nobles: Priests, Government Officials)
Middle Class
(Scribes, Craftspeople, Merchants, Skilled Workers)
Lower Class
(Farmers – 80% of the population, worked on building projects
during the floods)
Servants and Slaves
(Slaves were prisoners of war and worked on building projects)
Religion
• Polytheistic – belief in many gods
• Built temples to their gods (only priests were
allowed to enter the temples)
• Egyptian gods represented nearly all aspects of
daily life.
• Many gods had animal forms for heads and human
bodies.
Egyptian Gods
• Re (Amon-Re) – the sun god, creator of the world
and other gods
• Osiris – god of the underworld
• Isis – goddess of magic
• Horus – sky god, god of pharaohs (Pharaohs were
believed to be Horus in human form.)
• Anubis – god of the dead
Re (later known as Amon-Re)
• The most important Egyptian god. Egyptians
believed the world was made of his tears and that
he created all other gods and goddesses.
• Egyptians also believed that he had to fight three
monsters every night (usually seen as serpents
and crocodiles) in order to rise the
next morning.
• Re is usually depicted as having a
hawk head and a solar disc. His
hieroglyph is seen above.
The Legend of Osiris
Osiris was believed to have been a great ruler
over Egypt. Osiris was married to Isis. Osiris and
Isis had a son, Horus. While Horus was a baby,
Osiris was killed by his brother Set (who was
jealous over his power). Upon his death, Isis used
her magic to resurrect Osiris as god of the
underworld and ruler over the dead. Isis grieved for
her husband Osiris and her tears were believed to
be the cause of the floods of the Nile River. After
Horus grew up, he had a vision of Osiris. Osiris told
him to avenge all of Set’s wrongdoings. Horus
tracked down Set and a great battle began. This
battle continues daily and is seen as the battle of
good versus evil in Egyptian religion.
Osiris
• Judged the dead when they
entered the underworld.
• Was depicted as a green
skinned man in the form of
a mummified pharaoh
Isis
• Believed to be mother to all pharaohs
• Was benevolent and kind, she was
the protector of all creatures
• The giver of food and life to the dead
• Used her gift of magic to create the
first cobra
• Usually depicted with a vulture
headdress and two horns with a
solar disk between them
Horus
• Depicted with a hawk or falcon head
wearing the double crown
• All pharaohs were believed to be
Horus in human form
• His eyes were sometimes depicted
as the sun and moon
Anubis
• Son of Osiris
• Anubis had the head of a
jackal and supervised the
embalming and mummification
process. He also assisted Osiris
in the funeral rites and
monitored the Scales of Truth.
The Afterlife
• Egyptians believed that once a person died,
his KA, or life force, left the body and became
a spirit. The ka was connected to the body
and could not leave the burial site. The ka
had all the needs a living body did, including
food, drink, clothing, tools, weapons, and
furniture.
• This belief resulted in elaborate burial rituals for the
Egyptian dead. If the body decayed, the ka would not
be able to receive the food and drink it needed and
would suffer. Therefore, the body had to be
preserved for the afterlife through embalming
and mummifying.
The Mummification Process
Embalming (the first part of the process)
1. The body is rinsed with water from the Nile River.
2. A cut is made on the left side of the body and the
internal organs are removed. The heart is left inside the
body because it is the center for feeling and wisdom.
3. The organs are wrapped in natron salt to dry them out.
4. A long hook is used to take the brain out through the
nose.
Embalming (cont)
5. The body is covered and stuffed with natron salt and
left for 40 days.
6. The body is rinsed again with water from the Nile
River and rubbed with oils to keep the skin elastic.
Embalming (cont.)
7. The dried out organs are placed in canopic jars and the
body is stuffed with sawdust, leaves, and linen to make it
appear lifelike.
Imsety (the human headed
god) looks after the liver
Hapy (the baboon headed god)
looks after the lungs.
Duametef (the jackal headed
god) looks after the stomach.
Qebehsenuef (the falcon headed
god) looks after the intestines.
The Mummification Process
Wrapping (the second part of the process)
1. The neck and head were wrapped with fine strips of
linen first.
2. The fingers and toes were individually wrapped.
3. The arms and legs were wrapped next. The embalmers
would place amulets between layers of the linen to help
protect the body in its journey to the underworld. A
priest reads a spell during all parts of the wrapping to
help protect the ka.
The plummet amulet
kept the person
balanced in the next life.
The Isis knot amulet protected the body.
Wrapping (cont.)
4. The linen bandages are painted with resin to help
keep them together.
5. A cloth is wrapped around the body and Osiris is
painted on the cloth.
6. A final large cloth is wrapped around the mummy and
linen strips are placed around that.
7. The body is placed in the coffin
(or sarcophagus).
8. A funeral ceremony was performed for
the deceased.
Mummification
• Only the wealthy could afford the mummification
process. The poor buried their dead in the desert
where the hot, dry sand would naturally preserve
the body.
The burial site of a poor Egyptian
Weighing of the Heart
Once the dead arrived in the underworld, they had to
face Osiris for judgment in the Weighing of the Heart
Ceremony (also known as the Scales of Truth Ceremony).
Anubis would weigh the heart against a feather as the
dead justified their time on earth. If the scales were
balanced, the ka achieved immortality. If the scales
were unbalanced, the god Seth devoured the body and
the god Ammut ate the heart.
The Pyramids
Because burial was so important, the
Egyptians built pyramids to bury their
rulers in. The size of the pyramid
symbolized the pharaoh’s greatness.
Pyramids had many rooms inside of them for all of
the things the pharaoh would need in the afterlife.
Often, this included the pharaoh’s servants, who
would be placed in the pyramid along with him.
PYRAMIDS
• The first large pyramid built in Egypt was a step
pyramid built for the body of King Djoser in 2649
BC.
The Giza Pyramids
• The Giza Pyramids include 3 pyramids built for
pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure who ruled
from 2589 – 2504 BC. They are the greatest
accomplishments of Egyptian pyramid builders.
The Giza Pyramids
• The Great Pyramid of
Khufu at Giza is
considered to be the largest
building ever constructed.
It was built over 4500
years ago!
• The Sphinx and Pyramid of
Khafre. The age and
purpose of the Great
Sphinx are debated, but it
was probably part of
Khafre's Pyramid complex.