Download Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt
Geography
• Almost all of the land of Egypt is desert
• South, east, and west borders are the Sahara
Desert
• North borders the Mediterranean sea
• Protected from outsiders
• Almost uninhabitable except for…
…The Nile RiveR
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Longest river in the world (over 4,000 miles)
Was the lifeblood of Ancient Egypt
Made life possible in the barren desert
Served as a source of food for the people
Only source of water for bathing and
drinking
• Crucial for farming
The White & Blue Niles
• 2 sources:
– Lake Victoria
• White Nile (Uganda)
– Lake Tana
• Blue Nile (Ethiopia)
• Nile flows from South
to North
• Mouth (or end) of the
river empties into the
Mediterranean Sea
The White & Blue Nile meet in Sudan
Upper & Lower Egypt
• Ancient Egypt was once
two lands
• Lower (north) Egypt:
– Nile River's delta
• Upper (south) Egypt:
– the long, narrow strip of
fertile land along the
riverbanks
The Union of Two Crowns
• Red Crown
– Upper Egypt
• White Crown
– Lower Egypt
• Menes
– Overthrew the king of Lower Egypt
– Wore a Double Crown
– Unified, or joined, the two lands together
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Three Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt
OLD
KINGDOM
MIDDLE
KINGDOM
NEW
KINGDOM
2650 BC – 2134 BC
2125 BC – 1550 BC
1550 BC – 1295 BC
Achievements
•Organized strong
central state
•Pharaohs were
considered gods
•Pyramids at Giza
Collapse
•Power struggles
•crop failures
•cost of pyramids
Achievements
•Large drainage project
created farmland
•Traded with Middle
East and Crete
Collapse
•Corruption
•Rebellions
•Invasions
Achievements
•Large empire that
reached Euphrates
River
•Hatshepsut
encouraged trade
•Ramses II expanded
Egyptian rule to
Syria.
•Valley of the Kings
Collapse
•Egyptian Empire fell
for good
Invasion
• During Middle Kingdom,
nomadic army called the
Hyksos invaded Egypt
• Gained control of Egypt
– Used unknown weapons
• Horse-drawn chariots
• Swords
• Metal armor
• Egyptians learned military
skills from the Hyksos,
rebelled, and drove them
out
Building An Empire
• Empire – different lands
and peoples under one
government
• After regaining control,
Pharaohs set out to
conquer other lands
• New territories were
placed under Egyptian
rule
• Egypt became an empire
• Thebes became the
capitol
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Social Class Pyramid
PHARAOH
Earthly leader; considered a god
HIGH PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES
Served gods and goddesses
NOBLES
Fought pharaoh’s wars
MERCHANTS, SCRIBES, AND ARTISANS
Made furniture, jewelry, and fabrics for
pharaohs and nobles, and provided for other needs
PEASANT FARMERS AND SLAVES
Worked in the fields and served the pharaoh
Egypt Timeline Activity
• Use the fact sheet to
create a timeline of
events in Egyptian history
• Include events from the
Old, Middle, and New
Kingdoms
– 4 events from each
Kingdom
– 1 event from each
intermediate period
• Illustrate at least 6 events
from your timeline
Homework – P.5e
• Why did it take almost
1500 years for the
Egyptian empire to
face threat and attack
from foreign invaders?
The Pharaohs
• Worshipped as gods
• Made the laws and
owned all land
• Divided Egypt into
about 40 regions
– Named governors to
rule them
– Governor answered to
Pharaoh
• Total power over
everyday life
Hatshepsut
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First female ruler
Many statues of her show a beard
Increased trade
Built many temples
– Temples signified wealth and power
for a pharaoh
Akhenaten
• Father of Tutankhamen
• Moved the capitol of Egypt to Amarna
• Turned Egypt monotheistic
– Worshipped only the sun-god Aten
• Changed royal art from powerful to more
natural
– Showed family life
• Most Egyptians hated the changes
Tutankhamun
• Son of Akhenaten
– Restored Egypt back to polytheism
• Took the throne at age 9 & died at 18
• Historians were unsure how he died
– Now believed he died of infection and disease
• Tomb discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter
• Found in the Valley of the Kings
– Historical
• untouched for thousands of years
• contained beautiful treasures
– Most pharaoh tombs had been robbed before they
were discovered
TuT’s BuRial Mask
Howard Carter with
TuT’s saRcophagus
Rameses II
• Also known as Rameses the Great
• Was 30 when he took the throne
– Ruled for 67 years!
• Fought for 20 years against the Hittites in
Syria
• Known to be a “show-off”
– Built many temples in his own honor
– Most famous temple Abu-Simbel
Cleopatra
• Took the throne at age 18
• Actually Greek & ancestor of Alexander the Great
• To keep control of Egypt she married Julius Caesar,
Emperor of Rome
– Had a son
• After his death, married Mark Antony
– Also Roman
– Had three children
• After losing a major battle Mark Antony & Cleopatra
committed suicide
– Preferred death over being captured
Religion
• Guided every aspect of life
• Polytheistic
– Important Gods/Goddesses
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Amun – father of the gods
Isis – mother of the gods
Aten – sun god
Horus – god of the pharaohs
Osiris – god of the dead
The Afterlife
The Afterlife
• Death was only the end
of physical life on earth
• Spirit moved on to live
eternal life
– Called “Afterlife”
• Still needed earthly body
for happy afterlife
– Preserved body through
mummification
Mummification
• About a 70 day process
• Ritual from the Book of
the Dead
1. Embalmed body
– Removed internal organs
– Placed in Canopic Jars
– Dried out body
2. Wrapped body
– Stuffed insides
– Covered with death mask
3. Placed in sarcophagus
4. Mummification Story
The Pyramids
• First pyramid a step-pyramid
– Similar to ziggurats from Mesopotamia
– Built by Imhotep
• Most famous are the Pyramids of Giza
– Built by Khufu
• Were funeral temples
– Burial place of a Pharaoh
– Protection from grave-robbing
• Oriented to the 4 directions
Valley of the Kings
• Built during the New Kingdom era
• Located across the Nile River from Thebes
• New burial location for Pharaohs, their family
members, and nobles
• Many famous tombs:
– Hatshepsut
– Rameses II (and his entire family – up to 11!)
– Tutankhamun
• Possibly Akhenaten
• Though thought to be well-guarded, most
tombs were robbed
The Great
Sphinx
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Much mystery surrounds this statue
Believed to be built by either Khufu or Khafre
Body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh
Made of limestone
Over 4,000 years old
Was dug out of the sand in 1925-1936
Today, focus is on preserving the statue from
erosion and exposure to the elements
• Eventually, it will disappear
Decline of Egypt
• Egyptian Empire began to fall around 1100 B.C.E.
• For about 700 years, Ancient Egypt split back up into two
kingdoms
– North ruled by Pharaoh
– South ruled by High Priests
• Eventually, Egypt was taken over
– Greece around 300 B.C.E by Alexander the Great
– Roman Empire around 30 B.C.E. after Cleopatra’s death
• By 400 A.D., all aspects of Ancient Egyptian culture
disappeared
– Christianity took over after Roman Empire’s control
– Arabic culture spread in the 600’s A.D.
• The culture and the language was lost until…
…The RoseTTa sToNe
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The Rosetta Stone
Written in 196 B.C.E.
Discovered in 1799 A.D.
The “key” to unlocking the
forgotten language of
Ancient Egypt
Written in Egyptian
hieroglyphics but also
had a Greek translation
Those who knew Greek
then translated the
hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics
• Language of Egypt
• Picture symbols that
represented words
• Written left to right, right
to left, or top to bottom
– Way human or animal
picture faced told you
which way to read it
• Scribes were honored
– Only they and the elite
knew the language
Contributions to Today
• Made advancements in math, astronomy, and
language
• First civilization to give us:
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Modern calendar
Paper
Ink
Cotton fabrics
• Experts at preservation
– Human body
– Ancient artifacts & record keeping