Download The Egyptian Civilization

The Egyptian Civilization
Geography of Egypt
•
Egyptian civilization arose along
the Nile River.
– Praised as “creator of all good.”
– Divides Egypt into two regions
• Lower Egypt
– Nile Delta
• Upper Egypt
– Upstream
– Northerly current and southerly
winds made transportation and
communication easy.
– Flooded every summer
• Deposited silt.
•
Egyptians were surrounded by
natural barriers
– Relatively isolated from other
civilizations.
•
The regularity of the Nile floods
and relative isolation allowed the
Egyptians to feel secure.
– How might this sense of security be
depicted in Egyptian religion?
Government
• Theocracy
– Led by a Pharaoh
• Seen as a god on
Earth.
– How is this different
than the Sumerians?
• A large bureaucracy
helped him/her rule.
– A group of advisors.
• Egypt was divided
into provinces with
governors (42)
Egyptian Social Structure
Egyptian Writing
• Earliest writing was
called hieroglyphics
– Very complex – used
pictures and
abstract forms.
– Are sacred writings
– used on temple
walls and in tombs.
• Hieratic script is a
simplified version of
hieroglyphics for use
in daily life.
Religion
• Gods were
seen as
“providers.”
– Connection to
flooding?
• Polytheistic
• Common
Religious
Themes =
Resurrection
and rebirth
Mummification
“When a person died, the priests recited
prayers and a final attempt was made
to revive the deceased. The body was
then washed and taken to the
embalmer's workshop. A cut was made
in the left side, and all the organs were
removed and stored in containers
known as canopic jars. The body was
then packed with salt for a period of
forty days. After the forty days had
passed, the insides were filled with linen
or sawdust, resin and salt. The body
was wrapped in bandages with jewelry
and amulets between the layers. A
portrait mask was placed over the head
of the deceased by the Chief Embalmer,
who wore a jackal mask to represent
the god Anubis. The wrapped body, or
mummy, was put into a coffin.”
-Embalmer’s workshop inscription
• Drying and
wrapping a body
to preserve it.
The Opening of the Mouth
Ceremony
Opening of the Mouth Ceremony
The mummy was removed from
the sarcophagus when it
arrived at the door of the tomb
and was placed upright against
the wall by a priest wearing the
mask of Anubis. The Opening
of the Mouth ceremony was
then performed. It was
supposed to turn the mummy
(or a statue of the dead) into
an inhabitable vessel for the
deceased‘s soul. The mummy
was touched by ritual objects
on various body parts to
restore the senses - the spirit
would then be able to see, hear,
speak and eat as a living being.
Contents of the Tomb
• Mummified bodies were buried with all of
their possessions for use in the after-life.
Categories of
Objects Recovered
Accessories
Clothing
Cosmetic equipment
Furniture
Game components
Human mummies
Lighting equipment
Models
Mummy trappings
Scarabs and seals
Sculpture
Tomb equipment
Transport
Vegetal remains
Vessels
Warfare and hunting
equipment
The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony
This symbolic ritual is the weighing of the heart of the deceased on a scale. The heart
was weighed against a feather, the symbol of truth, order and justice. If the heart
balanced with the feather then the deceased would be granted a place in the afterlife. If
it was heavy with the weight of wrongdoings, the balance would sink and the heart
would be grabbed and devoured by a terrifying beast that sat ready and waiting by the
scales. This beast was Ammit, "the gobbler", a composite animal with the head of a
crocodile, the front legs and body of lion or leopard, and the back legs of a
hippopotamus.
Three Major Periods
• Historians divide Ancient Egyptian history
into three periods:
– Old Kingdom (2700 – 2200 BC)
– Middle Kingdom (2055 – 1650 BC)
– New Kingdom (1550 – 1070 BC)
• All were periods of long-term stability
separated by disorder and invasion.
The Old Kingdom
• 3100
– King Menes unites Upper
and Lower Egypt.
• 2700-2200 B.C.
– Establishment of Egyptian
culture.
– Built Pyramids
• Tombs dedicated to the dead.
– Furnished with all the objects
of a regular life so the spiritual
body (ka) could return.
• The Great Pyramid
– Built at Giza by King Khufu,
2540 B.C.
The Middle Kingdom
• 2055-1650 B.C.
– Egypt began expanding and
establishing trade.
• Expanded to the North and
South.
• Traded with the
Mediterranean and
Mesopotamia.
– Pharaohs now expected to
build public works and
provide for public welfare.
• “Shepherd of his people”
– Established new farmland.
– Built canal connecting Nile
River and Red Sea.
The New Kingdom
• 1550-1070 B.C.
– Egyptians utilized new
weapons to overthrow
Hyksos rulers.
• Chariots and iron weapons
– Pharaohs acquire massive
wealth.
• Hatshepsut
• Akhenaten and Tutankhamen
• Ramses II
• With the collapse of the
New Kingdom, Egypt will
be ruled by other
civilizations for the next
1000 years.