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Standard(s) 15.Describe the culture of ancient Egypt including: class structure/governance beliefs, including polytheism and monotheism accomplishments. Ancient Egypt. The Nile River Valley. The Geography. Egypt is surrounded by desert - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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• Standard(s)
15.Describe the culture of ancient Egypt including:
• class structure/governance
• beliefs, including polytheism and monotheism
• accomplishments
Ancient Egypt
The
Nile
River
Valley
The Geography• Egypt is surrounded by
desert
• The Nile River runs north, 4,000 miles to the Mediterranean Sea
– Through modern Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt
• From May until September is the rainy season
Egypt
• Northern Egypt is called Lower Egypt because it lies downstream on the river
• Upper Egypt in the south is “upstream”
The Nile River• At the Mediterranean Sea the Nile
deposits much of its silt
– Then divides into a fan-shaped delta
• Very fertile, flat land made of silt
The Importance of the Nile
• The Nile River flooded every year.
– But every April the ancient Egyptians' waited for it
“The Gift of the Nile”
• The floods helped ancient farmers turn the Nile Valley into a fertile agricultural area.
Times of High Water or Hunger• Too much water
– villages were destroyed and farm animals drowned
• Too little
– crops failed.
Nile Farming• In October,
farmers planted wheat, barley, and other crops, and flax
– Flax is a plant that makes linen
• In March farmers harvested
Irrigation
• Ancient Egyptians dug canals
• And used a shadoof to lift water into their fields
• The Nile River was the center of ancient Egyptian civilization.
• Annual floods provided rich soil for their fields
• The river was used for irrigation and transportation
• http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/28707-assignment-discovery-uses-of-the-nile-river-video.htm
The Kingdoms of Egypt
• Egypt was a thriving culture
– Surplus crops
– Crafts workers
• Tools
• Pottery
• Jewelry
– Trade along the river
– Cooperation among communities
King Menes• 3100 B.C.
– Menes, king of Upper Egypt overthrew the king of Lower Egypt
• Designed the double crown
– Represented the unification of Egypt
Menes - The First Pharaoh
• Pharaoh refers to the “great palace” where the rulers of Egypt lived
• Later it became the name given to the rulers
Old Kingdom
• From about 2700 B.C. to about 2200 B.C.
• A time when Egypt’s pharaohs worked to build unity in the country
Egypt’s Government
• Menes made Memphis his capital
• The pharaoh made local leaders serve the new government
– To collect taxes
– To serve as judges
– To make sure canals and storage pools were shared fairly
Religion• Egypt’s pharaohs had religious duties
– “The sun god … entrusted me with what he protected.”
• Egypt had many gods with a variety of responsibilities
Horus• The god who united the
two Egypts.
• The Egyptians believed the pharaoh was the “beloved of Horus”
Isis
• The most important goddess
– The mother of Horus
– Protected people from sickness and harm
Ra
• The most important god
– The sun god
• Gave life to Earth
• Just as the pharaoh, the child of Ra, gave life to Egypt and its people
Mummification
• Ancient Egyptians believed they would need their bodies in the afterlife.– They preserved the bodies of the dead
• They anointed the body with spices
• Wrapped the bodies in cloth
• Then encased them in wood or stone cases
The Pyramids
• Huge stone structures built as tombs, or burial places, for the pharaohs
– The first was for Pharaoh Zoser
• Around 2780 B.C.
• A stepped pyramid
The Great Pyramid• The three largest pyramids are at Giza
near Cairo
– The largest pyramid built was for Pharaoh Khufu in 2600 B.C.• It took 22
years to build
• About 100,000 people worked on it
• Building pyramids was expensive
– Most of the collected taxes were used to feed and cloth the workers
– It put a strain on Egypt’s people and economy
– Then local rulers began to demanded pyramids
• Which weakened the unity of Egypt
Hieroglyphics
• Egyptian writing system
– It had about 800 picture signs
• Each sign could stand for an object or a sound
Scribes
• Travelled around Egypt keeping records, and preparing letters and contracts – Only boys
could become scribes• Training
began at about 10 years old
Papyrus
• A reed plant that grows along the Nile
– It was pressed together to form a kind of paper
• A sharpened reed was used as a pen
• Reeds were dipped into red or black ink
• Scribes also had to be good at math
– To keep accurate records of taxes and the pharaoh’s goods
Lost Meaning
• Around 300 B.C. Egypt was conquered by the Greeks
– Egyptians stopped using hieroglyphics
– The meanings became a mystery
The Rosetta Stone• Found by French
soldiers near the Egyptian city of Rosetta
• The stone had Egyptian hieroglyphics, a later Egyptian writing called demotic, and Greek
• In 1822
– Jean Champollion figured out how to read hieroglyphics
The Egyptian Number System
The Egyptian Economy• Hieroglyphic records tell us the Egyptian
economy was based on a surplus of crops• The pharaoh collected taxes which could
include– Part of a farmers crops– Portions of products
• Leather goods, linen cloth, baskets– Days of work
Slaves• Were prisoners of war
• Some worked in government owned gold mines
• Others were trusted with government positions
Middle Kingdom
• The Old Kingdom of Egypt ended around 2000 B.C.
• The Middle Kingdom was a time of change and prosperity
– Egyptians gain new rights
– The Pharaohs increased their control over Egypt
Nubia• Located to the
south of Egypt
– Was a wealthy kingdom with important gold mines
– Was conquered by pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom
Trade Expeditions
• Expeditions were sent from Egypt to Greece and to the Fertile Crescent
• As trade grew people from Asia began to settle in the Nile area
The Hyksos
• Were people who lived in the hills of western Asia
• They were skilled in warfare
• They conquered Lower Egypt and ruled for about 100 years
The New Kingdom
• Pharaoh Ahmose I led an Egyptian army and defeated the Hyksos
• He made Egypt the strongest military power in its part of the world
Egypt Becomes an Empire
• Egypt’s armies captured nearby lands
• The pharaohs created an empire from Kush in the south to the Euphrates River in the north
Kush• Was a wealthy kingdom
• Controlled trade routes with other African Kingdoms
• Traded gold, copper and precious stones for ebony, leopard skins, and elephant ivory
• Enriched the economy of Egypt
Amenhotep I• Made allies and traded in Africa, Asia,
and southern Europe
• He was one of Egypt’s great builders
Hatshepsut
• One of Egypt’s few female pharaohs
• During her reign Egypt enjoyed a long period of wealth and peace
• She is known for her burial temple
The Empire Weakens
• Amenhotep IV
– Angered Egypt’s priests
• Forbid the worship of Amon
–Chief god
• Replaced Amon with Aton
–God of the sun
• He renamed himself Akhenaton
– In honor of Anton
• Practiced monotheism
• He was unpopular
• After his death the Egyptian restored Amon and returned to the worship of many gods
Changes in the Empire• Tutankhamen became
pharaoh after Akhenaton’s death
– He restored the old gods
– But he only ruled for a few years and died young
Reconstruction of Tutankhamun’s face.
Ramses II• The last strong
pharaoh
• Ruled for 67 years
• The kingdom collapsed about 100 years after his death
• The empire was followed by many small kingdoms
Egyptian Medicine• Most doctors were
priests
– Could measure a person’s heartbeat
– New that moldy bread prevented infections
• Today antibiotics are often made from molds
Mathematics & Astronomy
• Priests knew about mathematics
– Needed to design and build pyramids
– Used to study the stars
• Developed a calendar based on 12 months of 30 days each
Nubia and Kush
• Located on the Nile River
– Includes parts of today’s southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Sudan
The Land of Nubia
• The Nile River is formed by
– The Blue Nile which flows north out of Lake Tana
– The White Nile which flows north out of Lake Victoria
• The Nile River has stone cliffs, and cataracts (a steep rapids in a river), rocks, and waterfalls
– It make navigation difficult
• Nubia has harsh desert climate
– Above 100 in summer
• Below freezing in winter
• But the Nile provided water and good soil
• Nubia had two regions
– Lower Nubia in the north
• Had fertile farmland and annual flooding of the Nile
– Upper Nubia in the south
• Had a rugged landscape
–Rocky cliffs and hills that were rich in minerals
»Gold and copper
• People herded cattle
• Nubia developed cities
• Were active traders with Egypt and other African civilizations
• Had a government run by kings
• Had complicated religious beliefs
• Grew wealthy from its gold, iron and copper mines
A New Kingdom
• When Egypt’s pharaohs grew powerful they made Lower Nubia pat of their empire
• But they could not conquer Upper Nubia because it could not defeat the kingdom of Kush
• Kush’s capital city Kerma was an important trading city
– Kush grew rich and powerful
– It was strong enough to defend itself from Egyptian armies
• Until 1525 B.C.
• Egypt ruled Kush for 550 years
Blending Cultures• Kush was influenced
by Egypt
– Used hieroglyphics
– Adopted Egyptian religion
• And was also influenced by African and Asian cultures
– They used trained elephants for battle
Rise of Kush• Around 1000 B.C. Kush drive out the
Egyptians• Around 740 B.C.
Piye, a king of Kush, invades Egypt and becomes ruler
• Around 670 B.C. the Assyrians invaded Egypt – The Kushite rulers
retreated to Nubia
Life in Kush• The Kush capital city was Meroë
– It was the center of of the kingdom for 600 year• It was a large city with wide streets
and brick buildings• At the center was a walled area
called the Royal city–With temples and palaces
• It was a rich city
Meroë Society• It had the same social pyramid as Egypt• Pharaohs
• Vizier
• Nobles, Priests
• Scribes, Soldiers
• Craftsmen
• Farmers, Slaves
Women in Kush
• Had important responsibilities
• The throne was passed on to the son or daughter of the king’s sister
• Kush had many queens, and priestesses
• By A.D. 350 Kush had been conquered by the empire of Aksum from nearby Ethiopia
• It was the end of a 3,000 year old civilization
• Up next …
Ancient Greece
• Evaluation
– Egypt timeline worksheet
– All About Egypt worksheet
– Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
– Giza Pyramid worksheet
– Egyptian Hieroglyphics worksheet
– Tutankhamen worksheet
– End of Chapter Test