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Unit 4
We are going to start a brand new unit today. Before we get
there, let’s run through Mesopotamia quickly. We started
learning about the importance of geography. We know that
Mesopotamia was the land between two rivers, and those two
rivers were the _________________
and Euphrates. Since they
Tigris
fertile
lived between two rivers, the soil there was ______________,
which meant it was easier to farm on. Many early humans
wanted there to be a flood, because this made the soil better.
Since people could finally settle down, people started getting
really good at different jobs, which was called
specialization
_____________________.
People in Mesopotamia built
__________________,
which is where they believe gods lived
ziggurats
in. These could be seen many miles away. This is also the place
where the first set of laws, called _________________________,
wasHammurabi’s
written down onCode
clay tablets. These laws were tough, but
they applied to everyone.
Think, Write, Pair, Share
Where would be the best
place to live?
Where would be the worst
place to live?
Why was Egypt protected
from invaders?
 How is Egyptian geography similar to the geography of
Mesopotamia?
 If I wanted to attack ancient Egypt, what would be
difficult about it?
 Why is Egypt called “the gift of the Nile?”
Job: The pharaoh was the
king of Egypt. He had all
the power and owned all the
land. He was the head of the
military, made all of the
laws, and was the most
important religious leader. In
addition, many Egyptians
believed the pharaoh was a
god. Though the pharaoh was
in charge, he had many
government officials and
priests who did the work of
running the country for him.
(Pharaohs were usually men,
but a few (like Hatshepsut,
Nefertiti, and Cleopatra) were
women.)
Lifestyle: Pharaohs often
had many wives, and
generally the pharaoh’s son
became king after the
pharaoh died. The royal
family lived in great luxury,
with jewelry and clothes
made of the finest linen.
They lived in the grand
palace, but also had many
other homes throughout
Egypt.
Job: Government officials
served as advisors to the
pharaoh. They helped
make laws, and were in
charge of collecting taxes
from the Egyptian people
living on the land. (Taxes
were paid in crops, not
money.) Important officials
were often in charge of
sections of the country or
led sections of the army.
Lifestyle: Government
officials lived lives of
luxury. Their mud-brick
homes had many rooms
– for business,
entertaining, and
servants quarters. They
and their families wore
make-up, fine linen
clothes, and jewelry.
They often had
banquets with beer,
wine, ducks, sheep, goats,
dates, and figs.
Job: Priests and priestesses
held places of great honor in
Egyptian society. They served
as religious advisors to the
pharaoh and performed
ceremonies at temples,
festivals, and funerals. On a
daily basis, they worked in
temples taking care of the
statues that honored each god
or goddess. They also oversaw
the whole process of making
mummies, to ensure that each
person’s soul made it to the
afterlife.
Lifestyle: It was common
for both men and women
to be priests. They were
allowed to marry and
have children, and
generally lived in very
nice homes.
Job: The scribes were in a
slightly lower class than the
priests and government
officials. They worked for
the government as the
official writers and record
keepers. They told the
pharaoh about what was
happening in his country.
They kept records of the
grain supply, taxes, and court
cases.
Lifestyle: Scribes spent 12
years learning more than
700 symbols in the Egyptian
writing system,
hieroglyphics. Schools for
scribes were very strict, and
beatings for laziness or not
paying attention were
common. However, once
done with school scribes were
respected and fairly well
paid.
Job: The artisans were the
carpenters, jewelers,
metalworkers, painters,
potters, basketmakers, and
stone carvers. They usually
worked under the eye of a
boss in workshops, making
tools, furniture, linen cloth,
jewelry, and stone statues.
Pharaohs asked hundreds of
artisans at a time to work on
the statues and paintings for
tombs, temples, pyramids,
and monuments they were
building.
Lifestyle: The artisans rarely
got the respect they deserved
– even the most talented
were not allowed to sign their
work, because people in the
upper classes viewed them
as common workers. They
usually worked for 9 days in a
row before getting a day off.
They lived in small, threeroom houses and
sometimes went without
food when it was hard to
find work.
Job: The peasants were at the bottom of the social
Lifestyle:
The peasants
lived
in simple
pyramid,
even though
everyone
depended
on them.
homes
with
furniture.
They
atefood.
Theybrick
grew the
crops
thatlittle
supplied
everyone
with
andusing
bread,
but rarely
like the
Theyfish
farmed
a plow
pulledate
by meat
cows. There
were
classes.
They
often
worked
for 9 and
threeupper
seasons
in Egypt,
and
during
the planting
th day.
days straight
andworked
rested on
harvesting
seasons they
in the
the 10
fields.
During
They had
to pay
their
cropsthe
(not
the summer
season
when
thetaxes
Nile in
flooded
farmlands,
they
worked
the pharaoh
struggling to
money),
and
were for
beaten
buy government
build
monuments
Some
officials
if theyand
werepyramids.
not able to
pay.peasants were
actually slaves captured from other countries and put to
work on the pharaoh’s pyramid building projects.
Directions: Write a journal entry describing your life
and how you feel about it. Fill up all of the lines! First,
look at the notes you took today in class, and then think
about the following as you write:
 What do you do?
 What do you like/dislike about your job?
 How much power and respect do you have in Egyptian
society?
 What is your lifestyle like?