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Name: _____________________________________________ Period: _______ Date: __________ Ancient Egypt Directions: Read the following article on the Ancient Egypt. Take the quiz which follows. Then construct a timeline from what you have read. You should find ten events within the text for your timeline. built smoother and larger pyramids, culminating their efforts in the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. They also carved the Great Sphinx nearby, an iconic image that has come to symbolize Egypt itself. For millennia, Egypt was a divided land. The Kingdom of Upper Egypt lay in the south along the banks of the Nile River Valley, its king wearing a red crown which resembled a chair. The Kingdom of Lower Egypt lay in the north in the lush Nile Delta; its king wore a crown which resembled a white bowling pin. The kings of these lands fought one another for the domination of both Upper and Lower Egypt in the country’s deserts, marshes, and farmlands. By the end of the reign of Pepy II, the power of the pharaohs had begun to diminish. No longer did they rule with absolute power; rather, local strongmen gained suzerainty over the land, governing many small kingdoms up and down the Nile Valley. They waged war against each other, trying to claim the title of pharaoh in a bid to establish their dominion over the entire Nile Valley. This kept farmers from working, causing food shortages and famine in the otherwise rich lands of Egypt. This time of civil war was called the First Intermediate Period, beginning around 2200 BC and lasted about 100 years. Around 3100 BC, King Narmer united the Two Lands, and in doing so he wore a double crown that incorporated both the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt as a symbol of unification. It joined the white crown of Upper Egypt with the red crown of Lower Egypt, and would be worn by the kings of Egypt for more than two millennia. Indeed, their civilization would endure far longer than any modern civilization extant. For 400 years after Narmer, the sons of two dynasties held dominion over all of Egypt. These ruling families established the power of the kingship in the Two Lands, firmly establishing the king as the most influential man in Egypt. The word of these kings was law; all had to bow to their absolute power. Moreover, the people of Egypt began seeing these kings as living embodiment of the god, Horus. As the link between this world and the realm of the gods, pharaoh was to be obeyed without question. After a hundred years of bitter struggle of the First Intermediate Period, King Amenemhet I came to power c. 2100 BC, quickly bringing all the squabbling provinces of Egypt under his yoke, launching the Middle Kingdom. In the three hundred years that followed, Egypt enjoyed a golden age in which the arts and literature flourished in an era of peace and stability. During this time, the pharaohs resumed massive public works projects, including their building of pyramids as their houses of eternity. But instead of stone, they built them with cheaper materials, like mud brick encased in a veneer of stone. In ancient times, the stone was stripped away, so these monuments have not stood the same test of time Old Kingdom counterparts. Instead many have collapsed into amorphous heaps of rubble. Around 2700 BC, a new dynasty took power under King Djoser, launching a new age in Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom. During this time, the Egyptians created some of the greatest works the people of ancient Egypt ever produced. They built the pyramids, starting with Djoser’s Stepped Pyramid at Sakkara. As time passed, they In time, however, the pharaohs of Egypt once again lost their control of the kingdom in a time of chaos called the Second Intermediate Period. A group of nomadic herdsmen called the Hyksos thundered out of the Middle East, taking over the Nile Delta c. 1800 BC. From their walled capital city of Avaris, the Hyksos battled with the native Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012 Page 1 kings of Upper Egypt for a century. Eventually, however, the Egyptians evicted them from the Delta. It was King Ahmose who expelled the Hyksos from Egypt around 1700 BC, ushering in the New Kingdom. During this new age, the pharaohs of Egypt would wage bloody campaigns of conquest on their neighbors and come to establish their dominion over lands far from their borders for approximately six centuries. Great warrior-kings like Tuthmosis III launched chariot-borne campaigns into the lands of Libya, Nubia, and Palestine, sweeping aside all resistance. In bringing these lands to heel, they pillaged city and kingdom alike, bringing riches and slaves back to the lands of Egypt in their bid to forge a great empire. Amid the prosperity of the New Kingdom, one pharaoh tried to sweep away the polytheistic religion of Egypt, Akhenaton. He closed the temples of the old gods and introduced the concept of monotheism to the Egyptian people. He worshiped only one god, the sun disk which the Egyptians called the Aten. But his ideas were far too foreign to the Egyptians; they turned away from his faith soon after his death and resumed the worship of the old gods. They demolished his temples and chiseled his likeness and cartouche from every monument in Egypt. Later generations called him “That Criminal,” refusing to even utter his name and expressing their profound hatred for him. The kings who followed him became some of the greatest known to the Egyptians. Ramses the Great was the most notable among them. He commanded his soldiers in battle, combatting the Hittites at the famous Battle of Kaddish. He left his mark all over Egypt, building huge statues, temples, and other monuments to his memory. One of the greatest of these was the temple of Abu Simbel near the Nubian border. Many scholars believe he was the pharaoh Moses confronted during the Exodus. control of the land. Although some came close to reuniting the Two Kingdoms during this three and a half century period of turmoil, all proved unsuccessful. Around 750 BC, the Late Period began with the Nubian invasion. This African kingdom took advantage of Egypt’s weakness and corruption to conquer the hapless land. For the next four centuries, Egypt was ruled by foreign conquerors, each controlling the Two Lands for only a short time. First, the Assyrians swept away the Nubians. The Babylonians conquered the Assyrians, only to have their empire conquered by the Persians. Each warring people took control of Egypt as a crowning jewel in their empires. Around 330 BCE, the Greeks under Alexander the Great marched into the Persian Empire to inaugurate the GrecoRoman period in Egyptian history. They subjugated the Persians, much to the joy of the Egyptians who had chaffed under the yoke of their despotic Persian masters. The priests of Egypt expressed this elation by proclaiming Alexander a god. For the next 300 years, the dynasty started by a Greek general named Ptolemy ruled over Egypt. In 30 BC, the last Greek ruler of ancient Egypt, Cleopatra, committed suicide after she had capitulated to the military might of Rome. The Roman Empire soon conquered Egypt after her death and brought it under its dominion. From that point on, Egypt became a jewel in the Roman Empire, and would remain such for over six centuries. Only at the end of this period would the Muslim Empire conquer the Two Lands and drive the Romans out. Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level 10.0 Again the pharaohs lost control of Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period, which began ca. 1100 BC, and never again would the native Egyptians rule over a unified Egypt. Rival kings fought over Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012 Page 2 Name: _____________________________________________ Period: _______ Date: __________ Ancient Egypt Directions: Read the article on ancient Egypt Read the following questions and all their responses carefully. Circle the response that best answers the question. 1. Where did the Kingdom of Lower Egypt lie? a. In the Sinai Peninsula. b. In the lush Nile Delta. c. Along the banks of the Nile. 2. What king united Upper and Lower Egypt for the first time? a. The Scorpion King b. King Djoser c. King Narmer 3. “For 400 years after Narmer, the sons of two dynasties sat on the throne of Egypt.” What is the most likely meaning for the word “dynasty?” a. a king b. a ruling family c. the concept of kingship 4. What king’s reign launched the Old Kingdom? a. King Snefru b. King Djoser c. King Khufu 5. Which of the following monuments was created during the Old Kingdom? a. Djoser’s Stepped Pyramid b. The Great Pyramid at Giza c. The Great Sphinx d. All of the above Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012 6. What did the civil wars of the First Intermediate Period cause? a. food shortages b. the unification of Egypt c. violent desert sandstorms 7. What king unified Egypt after the First Intermediate Period to launch the Middle Kingdom? a. King Khufu b. King Pepy II c. King Amenemhet I 8. What material did the kings of the Middle Kingdom use to make their pyramids? a. mud brick b. stone c. baked clay bricks 9. What group of nomads made their capital in Avaris in the Nile Delta? a. Hyksos b. Hebrews c. Hittites 10. What king drove the Hyksos from Egypt? a. King Amenemhet I b. King Ahmose c. King Tuthmosis III 11. What king tried to sweep away the polytheistic religion of Egypt? a. King Akhenaton b. King Ramses the Great c. King Tutankhamen Page 3 12. “He closed the Temples of the old gods and introduced the concept of monotheism to the Egyptian people.” What is the most likely meaning of the word, “monotheism?” a. the belief in many gods b. the belief on one god c. the belief in no gods 13. What pharaoh do many scholars believe Moses went toe-to-toe with in the Exodus? a. King Akhenaton b. King Ramses the Great c. King Tutankhamen 14. What battle did Ramses the Great fight against the Hittites? a. the Battle of Gaugamela b. the Battle of Marathon c. the Battle of Kaddish 15. What invasion started the Late Period? a. the Nubian b. the Libyan c. the Greek 16. What Greek ruler took over Egypt to begin the GrecoRoman Period? a. Alexander the Great b. King Leonidas of Sparta c. King Agamemnon 17. ruler a. b. c. Who was the last Greek of Egypt? King Ptolmey Queen Cleopatra Caesar Augustus Assignment 4B1 (Advanced) Updated 2012 Page 4