Download Egyptian hierarchy and religion

A United Egypt
Main Idea
• Around 3100 B.C., Egypt's two major
kingdoms, Upper and Lower Egypt were
combined into one.
• Just like Mesopotamia, Egyptians ended up
having a surplus of food.
• The started becoming artisans as well as
farmers.
• They could then trade with others even those
outside of Egypt.
The Rise of Government
• The advances in farming, crafts and trade
created a need for a government.
• The began to store surplus crops, so they
could be used in times of need.
• Government started with village chiefs as
rulers.
• Then a few strong chiefs would join together
and take over others and form small
kingdoms.
• Over time, Egypt was made up of 2 kingdoms,
one in the Lower Nile and one in the Upper
Nile.
Egypt’s Ruling Families
• Around 3100 B.C. The two kingdoms became
one.
• The Credit goes to Narmer, also known as
Menes.
• As the King of Upper Egypt, he took his army
and led them to victory over the north.
• To show unity, the new King Namer, wore the
crown of the Upper and Lower kingdoms
combined.
• This kingdom lasted a long time, and when he
died his family took over.
• A line of rulers from one family is called a
dynasty.
• When one dynasty died off, another one took
over.
• Over time, Egypt would be ruled by 31
dynasties, lasting for over 2,800 years.
• Historians divide the dynasties into three
categories: Old, Middle and New Kingdoms.
Mesopotamia
Natural Defenses
Unskill
Egypt
Flat mud plains; few natural
defenses
Nile Delta, Sahara, cataracts,
eastern desert
Rivers
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Nile River
Floods
Unpredictable, constant threat Dependable and regular, not
to people
feared
Economy
Farming and trade
Farming and trade
Government
City states led by kings and
priests; empires later
Villages led by chiefs, then
kingdoms, then kingdoms
ruled by pharaohs
Work of Artisans
Metal products, pottery &
cloth
Metal products, pottery &
cloth
Advances
•Cuneiform writing
•Numbers based on 60
•Hieroglyphic writing
•365 day calendar
•
Early Egyptian Life
• Main Idea: Egyptian society was divided into
social groups based on wealth and power.
Pharaoh
Priests and
Nobles
Traders, artisans,
shopkeepers, and
scribes
Farmers and herders
Unskilled workers
Egypt’s Social Classes
• Upper class
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Nobles
Priests
Other wealthy Egyptians
They worked as government officials
• The lived in the cities and on large estates along the river.
• They had beautiful homes made of wood and mud, with gardens,
pools, and ponds with fish.
• They had servants to wait on them.
• They wore heavy eye makeup and white linen
clothes.
Social Classes
Middle Class
 Ran businesses
 Produced goods
 They lived in smaller homes and dressed more
simply.
 Artisans formed an important part of middle class.
 They produced linen cloth, jewelry, pottery, and
metal goods.
Social Classes
Lower class
 Made up largest section of society
 Farmers
 Some rented their land from rulers, paying them
with a hefty portion of their crops.
 Many worked the lands of the wealthy
 They lived in small huts along the river.
 Ate a simple diet of bread, beer, vegetables and
fruit.
Social Classes
 Many of the city dwellers were unskilled workers
who performed physical labor.
 They lived in city neighborhoods, in small huts
with dirt floors and a flat roof.
 They had a courtyard for the families animals.
 On the rooftops, families would play games, talk
and sleep.
 Women would dry fruit, make bread, and weave
cloth.
Family Life
• Patriarchal Society:
– The father headed the family.
– Women did have a lot of rights
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Own and pass on property
Buy and sell goods
Make wills
Obtain divorces
• Upper class women (were in charge of temples and
could perform religious ceremonies).
Family Life
• Not many children went to school.
• Mothers taught their daughters to sew, cook,
and run a household.
• Boys learned farming and skilled trades from
their fathers.
• For fun, children played games, dolls,
spinning tops and stuffed leather balls.
In what direction does the Nile
Flow?
Who united upper and Lower
Egypt in 3100 B.C?
How many years did the Old
Kingdom Last?
Pharaoh - The most powerful person in ancient Egypt.
The pharaoh was the political and religious leader of
the Egyptian people.
Vizier - a civil officer in ancient Egypt having regal
powers.
Noble - scribes, doctors, lawyers, or important military
personnel.
Priest - servants of the gods who performed daily
rituals to honor them.
RA
• Major deity in ancient Egyptian
religion, identified primarily with
the mid-day sun.
• To the Egyptians, the sun
represented light, warmth, and
growth. This made the sun deity
very important and the sun was
seen as the ruler of all that he
created.
Gods and Goddesses
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Ancient Egyptians worshiped over 2000 different gods
Before Egypt was united their were 40 tribes all with different gods
After all the Gods were kept, meaning many gods had similar characteristics
Animals were considered the living images of the gods
Ra (re)
Ma’at
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Sun God
Appearance:
A man with the head of a
Hawk wearing a sun disk
headdress
He was the most
important God
The ancient Egyptians
believed that each night
Ra was swallowed night by
Nut, the sky goddess then
reborn in the morning.
Thoth
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Appearance: A man with
the head of an ibis holding
a writing palette
Thoth was the go of
Knowledge and writing
It was said that he gave
the gift of hieroglyphics.
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Appearance: A Woman
with a feather on top of
her head
Ma'at was the goddess of
truth, justice and
harmony.
Ma’at was oftene
associated with the
balance of things on earth.
Anubis
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Appearance: A Man with
the head of a jackal
Anubis was the god of
embalming and the dead.
Jackals were often seen
found in cemeteries,
because of this it was
believed that Anubis
watched over the dead.
Horus
Osiris
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Appearance: Man with
the head of a hawk
Horus was a god of the
sky. He is the protector
of the ruler of Egypt.
It was believed that the
pharaoh was the 'living
Horus'.
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Amun
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Appearance: A Man with
a ram-head wearing an
ostrich feather hat
Amun was one of the
most powerful gods in
ancient Egypt.
At the height of Egyptian
civilisation he was called
the 'King of the Gods'.
Appearance: A
mummified man who is
wearing a white headdress
with feathers
Osiris was the god of the
dead, and ruler of the
Underworld.
Osiris was also the god of
vegetation (plant matter)
that’s why he is green in
appearance.
Atum
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Appearance: Man with
the double crown
Atum was a creator god.
It was belived that Atum
was the first god to exist
on earth.
BOOK OF THE DEAD
(reu nu pert em hru)
 Contains spells, charms, passwords and numbers to help
secure an easy passage for the deceased into the after life
• Egyptians believed that knowledge of the appropriate spells
was essential to achieving happiness in the next life
• Spell 125 is one of the most well known segments which is
the judging of the soul done by Osiris and his 42 judges
• The weighing of the heart against Ma'at is considered one of
the more important chapters
• "Book of the Dead" meant to aid deceased in not dying a
second time and becoming an akh
The book of dead
inscribed on tomb 
 weighing of the
heart against Ma'at’s
Feather
SPIRIT OF THE DEAD
• Egyptians believe that each person is composed of three essential elements:
ba (soul/personality), ka (life force), and the body in which the soul is kept
• Ka, ba and akh are believed to be immortal aspects of the soul thus
remaining alive inside the body after death
• In the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, the ba and ka are released into the
next world
• Upon death, the ba and ka become separated from the body but remain
alive
• During the night when Ra visits the underworld, the ba are allowed to
freely roam but must always return to the underworld because that is where
the body lies and the ba and body are part of the same being
Ba
Ka 
Ba leaving the
body 
Embalming the Body
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Mummification
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Wrapping
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First the head and neck are wrapped with
linen. The fingers and toes are wrapped
individually. The arms and legs are wrapped
separately from the body
In the layers the embalmers place amulets to
protect the body in the underworld. The 'isis
knot' amulet protects the body and '
Plummet' represents personal balance
Priests read out spells while the mummy is
being wrapped.
Papyrus scroll filled with spells from the book
of the dead is wrapped in the mummies
hands
A cloth is then wrapped over the whole body
and a painting of Osiris is Painted on top.
A funeral is then held for the dead person
before the body is layered to rest they have a
ritual called 'the opening of he mouth' this
lets the dead person eat and drink one last
time
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Wash the body with good smelling palm wines
and rinse with water from the Nile.
Cut a slit in the left side of the body and remove
internal organs the liver, stomach, lungs and
intestines are placed in canopic jars.
imsety the human headed god holds the liver
hapy the baboon headed god holds the lungs
duamutef the jackal headed god holds the
stomach
qebehsenuef the falcon headed god holds the
intestines
A hook is then inserted up the nose to remove
the brains the heart remains in the body because
the Egyptians believed that your heart was the
most important aspect of the human.
the body is then covered and stuffed with which
will help to dry out the body
The body is then placed in the desert for 40 days.
After the 40 days the body is then washed again
with Nile water the skin is the covered in oils.
Canopic
Jars 
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/
history/ancient/egyptia
ns/launch_gms_mumm
y_maker.shtml
• Horrible histories
The After Life
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Death is not seen as the last stage of life
Before the mummy can reach the underworld it has to pass through seven
gates, aided by the magic spells inscribed upon the funerary objects, then
the dead person arrives in the presence of Osiris (god of the underworld)
Osiris then performs a ceremony called the 'weighing of the heart'
Heart of the dead person is weighed on a scale by the jackal headed god
Anubis (god of dead) against the feather of Ma'at (goddess of truth)
Balancing the scale meant immortality
If the scale did not balance then Amemt (crocodile headed god) would eat
the heart, and Seth, murderer of Osiris ate the rest of the body
• Was Egyptian religion
polytheistic or monotheistic?
• How many days did a mummy
stay covered in salt?
• Who was the god of writing
and knowledge?
•
Ancient Egypt
Mummification
What are mummies?
• When you think of a
mummy, what comes
to mind?
• While the Egyptian ones
are the most famous,
mummies have been
found in many places
throughout the world.
or
Early Mummification
• Early Mummies were
made when they died in
the desert and were
buried under sand.
• They were left out and
all the water in the
cadaver evaporated
causing mummification
Roles in Mummification
• There were 3 major roles in the
mummification
– Scribe, the Cutter and the Embalmer.
• The Scribe would oversee the cutting of the body.
• The Cutter would make the incisions.
• The Embalmer was a class of priests which prepared
the body and removed the organs.
How They were Made
• Mummification was a long and expensive process.
• It took 70 days to embalm the body.
– Step 1- wash the body and ritually purified.
– Step 2 - remove the brain.
• This was done with a heated hook. The hook was put up the nose and
the brain was scrambled so it could run out the nose.
• After the Brain was removed they took out the organs and placed
them in canopic jars, but they left the heart in.
How They are Made Continued
– Step 3 - put salt in the body to dry the corpses out.
– Step 4 - Then they would start to wrap the mummy. In
between each layer, they would place a jewel.
– Step 5 - After the wrapping, the opening of the mouth
ceremony was preformed. They would place a face mask
onto the mummy.
• This would restore all body parts.
Rituals
• The first ritual was to remove all the organs.
The first organ was the Brain which was
removed from the nose. They believed the
brain was not important. Then they took out
the liver, intestines, lungs and stomach were
placed in conopic jars. The heart was left in
the body. The heads on the jars were the four
sons of Horus. They had a Human head, a
Jackel head, Falcon head and Baboon head
and each one was the protector of an organ in
the afterlife.
Rames II
Social Class of Mumification
• Mummification was manly reserved for the rich and
powerful although they did mummified lower and middle
class citizens.
• In Egypt, the rich were mummified and had expensive
jewels. You were also buried in a tomb.
• But if you were lower or middle class citizen, you were
mummified. Instead of being placed in a tomb you were
put by the Nile river. Since the Egyptians believed in the
passage through to the After life, people were Buried as
while as they could afford.
The Afterlife
• In the After life the Egyptians
believed that you heart was
weighed against an ostrich
feather as shown in the bottom
right picture).
• If your heart weighed more
then the feather, you could not
move on to the after life.
The Afterlife
• In the After life the Egyptians
believed that you heart was
weighed against an ostrich
feather as shown in the
bottom right picture). If your
heart weighed more then the
feather you could not move on
to the after life.
Other uses….
The Great Pyramids of
Egypt
Introduction
• The Great Pyramids of
Egypt have stood for
thousands of years.
They each have their
own histories, stories,
and appearances.
Building a pyramid is
hard work and takes
many years.
Introduction
• There are three
types of pyramids
– true pyramid
– bent pyramid
– stepped pyramid
History of the Pyramids
•
History
• The Great Pyramids
were built in Ancient
Egypt thousands of
years ago
History
• Pyramids were constructed to house the dead
pharaohs and queens.
• Imhotep built the first known pyramid for King
Zoser about 2580 B.C.
• The pyramid that Imhotep built was a Stepped
Pyramid.
• The transition from the Step Pyramid to a True
Pyramid took place during the reign of King
Snefru, around 2610 B.C.
History
•
The Great Pyramid was built in 30
years. 100,000 men worked on the
pyramids for three or four months
shifts.
History
• Famous pyramids are built about 4,500 years
ago. Smaller pyramids continued to be built
for more than one thousand years. Several
pharaohs died before their pyramids were
built.
• Around 2465 B.C, halfway through the Old
Kingdom, pyramids became less important.
History
• There are 10 pyramids at Giza that were built
for Kings about 2500 to 2600 B.C.
• From about 1700 to 2700 B.C., the bodies of
Egyptian Kings were buried inside or beneath
a pyramid in a secret chamber that was filled
with treasures of gold and precious objects.
Construction of a Pyramid
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Construction
• There are three phases to building a pyramid.
They are:
»Phase I- Preparing the Site
»Phase II- Building the Pyramid
»Phase III- The Finishing Touches
Construction
• The first step is to level and clear the ground.
This is very important because it determines
the stability of the pyramid.
• Peasants plow the ground to clear it out grass,
plants, weeds, top soil, and other removable
terrain. They keep digging until they hit solid
bedrock.
Construction
• To accurately level the site, peasants cut
grooves into the ground and fill them with
water. Then, they mark the water’s exact level
and drain the water. Finally, they cut the
ground down to the mark and fill the grooves
with rubble.
Construction
• The final step of Phase I is cutting the tomb,
which will ultimately house the dead. The
tomb might also contain traps to prevent
intruders from stealing things.
Construction
• Phase II requires three different kinds of
people. Peasants are needed to move bricks
and stone from a storage yard to the
construction site. Bricklayers are also needed
to lay the bricks and stone. Carpenters
contribute their services by building ramps
around the pyramid for peasants to transport
things.
Construction
• After peasants deliver supplies one load at a
time, bricklayers lay the stones. The pyramids
are built layer by layer, so the construction
may take many years.
Construction
• After the rest of the pyramid is built, a gold
capstone is placed on top.
Construction
• The final phase is to
smooth the sides of the
pyramid. Stonemasons
do this by chipping
away the limestone
until the sides are
smooth. This makes the
sides of the pyramid
reflect the light of the
sun.
video
Appearance
•
Appearance- The True Pyramid
• The picture to the left is
a picture of a true
pyramid. A true
pyramid has 5 sides:
small, large, pyramid
complex, and grand
pyramid complex. The
true pyramid looks
like,“a path to the sun.”
Appearance- True Pyramid
• The true pyramid’s sides
are polished and
smoothed. The inside is
made out of plain
stone, and the outside
is limestone.
Appearance- The Stepped Pyramid
• The stepped pyramid
has gigantic steps that
go up to the top.
• The size most used for
the pyramid is small.
• The stepped pyramid is
made entirely out of
stone.
Appearance- The Bent Pyramid
• The bent pyramid is
very smooth and has
curved sides.
• The sides shine as
brightly as the sun
when light is reflected
onto them.
• The bent pyramid is
made of plain stone and
limestone.
Appearance- The Inside Of A Pyramid
• The inside of a pyramid
looks like the diagram
to the right.
• Inside the pyramid,
there are many tall,
long passages covered
with beautiful tomb
paintings.