WH1.3 Egypt After today I will be able to explain the geographical features of Egypt and understand its cultural contributions to history

WH1.3 EgyptWH1.3 EgyptAfter today I will be able to explain the geographical features of Egypt and understand its cultural contributions to history.

The Geography of EgyptThe Geography of Egypt

The Nile River flows northward for over 4,100 miles, making it the longest river in the world.

Egypt’s settlements arose along the Nile on a narrow strip of land made fertile by the river.


• The change from fertile soil to desert – from the Black Land to the Red Land – was so abrupt that a person could stand with one foot in each.

The Geography of Egypt: The Gift The Geography of Egypt: The Gift of the Nileof the Nile

The yearly flooding of the Nile brought the water and rich soil that allowed settlements to grow.

Every July the rains and melting snow from the mountains of east-central Africa caused the Nile River to rise and spill over its banks. When the river recedes in October, it leaves behind a rich deposit of fertile black mud.


Before the scorching sun could dry up the soil, the peasants would hitch their cattle to plows and prepare their fields for planting. All fall and winter, they tended the wheat and barley plants. They watered their crops from an intricate network of irrigation ditches. After this the harvest. Every year the cycle repeats itself.


• In an otherwise parched land, the abundance brought by the Nile was so great that the Egyptians worshiped it as a god who gave life and seldom turned against them. As the ancient Greek historian Herodotus remarked Egypt was the “gift of the Nile”.

The Geography of Egypt: Upper The Geography of Egypt: Upper Egypt and Lower EgyptEgypt and Lower Egypt For most of their history, ancient

Egyptians knew only the lower part of the Nile – the last 750 miles before the river empties north into the Mediterranean Sea

Their domain ended at a point where jagged granite cliffs and boulders turn the river into churning rapids called a cataract.

Riverboats could not pass the spot known as the First Cataract and continue upstream to the south.

Cataracts in the NileCataracts in the Nile

The Geography of Egypt: Upper The Geography of Egypt: Upper Egypt and Lower EgyptEgypt and Lower EgyptBetween the First Cataract and the

Mediterranean lay two very different regions. Upper Egypt (to the south) was a skinny strip of land from the First Cataract to the point where the river starts to fan out into many branches. Lower Egypt (to the north), near the sea consisted of the Nile delta region, which begins about 100 miles before the river enters the Mediterranean


• The delta is a broad, marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the river. This rich land provided a home for many birds and wild animals.

The Geography of EgyptThe Geography of EgyptThe Nile provided a reliable

system of transportation between Upper and Lower Egypt

The easy transportation down the Nile made trade easy and helped unify Egypt

The Geography of Egypt: The Geography of Egypt: Environmental ChallengesEnvironmental ChallengesThe Nile was more predictable

than the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. However, the level that the Nile flooded was unpredictable.

If the Nile’s flood waters were just a few feet below normal, the amount of silt and water for crops was greatly reduced. Thousands might starve

The Geography of Egypt: The Geography of Egypt: Environmental ChallengesEnvironmental ChallengesIf the Nile’s flood waters were a

few feet higher than usual, the water would spread beyond the fields to the mud-brick villages nearby. The unwanted water might destroy houses, granaries, and the precious seeds that farmers needed for planting.

The Geography of Egypt: The Geography of Egypt: Environmental ChallengesEnvironmental Challenges• The vast and forbidding deserts on

either side of the Nile acted as natural barriers between Egypt and other lands. They forced Egyptians to stay close to the river, their lifeline, which reduced their interaction with other peoples. At the same time, the deserts also shut out invaders. For much of its early history, Egypt was spared the constant warfare that plagued the Fertile Crescent.

Movement of Goods and Movement of Goods and IdeasIdeasBy 3200 B.C. Egyptians were

coming into contact with the people of Mesopotamia.

Caravans transported goods between the two Egypts

Movement of Goods and Movement of Goods and IdeasIdeas

• By about 2000 B.C. Egyptian traders were also traveling up the Nile on barges to the lands of Nubia and Kush to the south.

Movement of Goods and Movement of Goods and IdeasIdeasEgyptians were in search of such goods as

gold, ivory, cattle, and granite blocks for their massive temples and tombs.

The early Egyptians may have borrowed some ideas from the Mesopotamians in the early development of their cities and writing systems. However, the influence did not last long. From then on, Egypt followed its own cultural path, which was very different from Mesopotamia’s.

Movement of Goods and Movement of Goods and IdeasIdeas• Egypt blended the cultures of

the Nile Valley people with the cultures of people who migrated into the valley from other parts of Africa and from the Fertile Crescent. Egypt thus was a land of cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity throughout its 3000 year history.

Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: MenesMenesEgyptians lived in farming villages as far back as 5000 B.C.

Each village had its own rituals, gods, and chieftain.

By 3200 B.C. the villages of Egypt were under the rule of two separate kingdoms. Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt

Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: MenesMenes• According to legend, the king of Lower Egypt wore a red crown, and the king of Upper Egypt wore a tall white crown shaped like a bowling pin.

Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: MenesMenesAbout 3100 B.C. a strong-willed

king named Menes united all of Egypt. The symbol of his united kingdom, Menes created a double crown from the red and white crowns.

Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: MenesMenesMenes shrewdly established his

capital, Memphis, near the spot where Upper and Lower Egypt met, and established the first spot where Upper and Lower Egypt met, and established the first Egyptian dynasty

Egypt’s history would eventually include 31 dynasties over 2,600 years

Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: Egypt Unites into a Kingdom: MenesMenesLittle is known of the first two

dynasties of Egypt, but records improve with the third.

The Third Dynasty begins a period called the Old Kingdom (2660 – 2180 B.C.)

The Old Kingdom set the pattern for Egypt’s great civilization

Pharaohs Rule as GodsPharaohs Rule as GodsThe role of the king was one

striking difference between Egypt and Mesopotamia. In Mesopotamian kings were considered to be representatives of the gods. To the Egyptians, kings were gods, almost as splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens.

Pharaohs Rule as GodsPharaohs Rule as GodsThe Egyptian god kings were

called PharaohsThe pharaoh stood at the center

of Egypt’s religion as well as its government and army.

Pharaohs Rule as GodsPharaohs Rule as GodsThe type of government where

the rule is a divine figure (or god like) is called a theocracy.

Egyptians believed that the pharaoh bore full responsibility for the kingdom’s well-being. It was the pharaoh who caused the sun to rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to grow. It was the pharaoh’s duty to promote truth and justice.

Builders of the PyramidsBuilders of the PyramidsEgyptians believed that their king

ruled even after his death. He had an eternal spirit, or ka (kah), which continued to take part in the governing of Egypt.

In the Egyptian’s mind, the ka remained much like a living king in its needs and pleasures.

Builders of the PyramidsBuilders of the PyramidsSince kings rule forever their tombs were even more important than their palaces.

The kings of the Old Kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure called a pyramid. The Old Kingdom was the great age of pyramid building in ancient Egypt.

Builders of the PyramidsBuilders of the PyramidsPyramids were built with out the

use of the wheelThe were a great engineering

achievement.

Builders of the PyramidsBuilders of the Pyramids• For the Great Pyramid of Giza, the

limestone facing was quarried 400 miles up river. Each perfectly cut stone block weighing at least 2 ½ tons. Some weighed 15 tons. More than 2 million of these blocks were stacked with precision to a height of 481 feet. The entire structure covered more than 13 acres

Builders of the PyramidsBuilders of the PyramidsThe pyramids reflected the strength of the Egyptian civilization

The Great Pyramid of GizaThe Great Pyramid of Giza

Pyramids of GizaPyramids of Giza

Egyptian Culture: Religion Egyptian Culture: Religion and Lifeand LifeThe Egyptians were polytheisticThe most important god was Ra,

the sun god and Horus, the god of light.

The most important goddess was Isis, who represented the ideal mother and wife.

Ra: ________________ Horus: _______________

Isis: ___________________ Osiris: _________________

Egyptian Culture: Religion Egyptian Culture: Religion and Lifeand LifeThey built huge temples to

honor the major deitiesThe believed in an afterlifeA person would be judged after

death by Osiris, the powerful god of the dead, who would weigh each dead person’s heart.

Egyptian Culture: Religion Egyptian Culture: Religion and Lifeand LifeTo win eternal life, the heart could

be no heavier than a feather. If the heart tipped the scale, showing that it was heavy with sin, a fierce beast known as the Devourer of Souls would pounce on the impure heart and gobble it up. But if the soul passed this test for purity and truth, it would live forever in the beautiful Other World

Egyptians planned their burials.

Religion and Live

Egyptians preserved a dead person’s body by mummification – embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying.

Religion and LifeA mummy was placed in a coffin

inside a tomb. The tomb was filled with items the dead person could use in the afterlife, such as clothing, food, cosmetics, and jewelry.

Religion and LifeEgyptians purchased scrolls that

contained hymns, prayers, and magic spells intended the guide the soul in the afterlife. This collection of texts is known as the Book of the Dead. These texts often contained declarations intended to prove the soul was worthy of eternal life.

Life in Egyptian SocietyLife in Egyptian SocietyEgyptian society formed a pyramid.

The king, queen, and royal family stood at the top.

Below the royal family was the upper class, which included wealthy landowners, government officials, priests, and army commanders.

Life in Egyptian SocietyLife in Egyptian SocietyThe next tier was the middle class, which

included merchants and artisans.At the base of the pyramid was the lower

class, by far the largest class. It consisted of peasants farmers and unskilled laborers.

Egyptians were not locked into their social class. People could climb the pyramid either by business success or marriage.

Women had many of the same rights as men

Egyptian WritingEgyptian WritingCrude pictographs were the

first form of writing in EgyptScribes created a more flexible

system of writing called hieroglyphics

Egyptian Writing Egyptian Writing In the beginning hieroglyphics

were written on stone tablets The Egyptians developed a

paper like sheet to write on made out of papyrus reeds from the delta. The papyrus reeds were split open and dampened and the pressed together

Egyptian Science and Egyptian Science and TechnologyTechnology In order to assess and

collect taxes, the Egyptians developed a system of written numbers for counting, adding, and subtracting

Farmers used an early form of geometry to survey and reset property boundaries after the annual floods.

Egyptian Science and Egyptian Science and TechnologyTechnology

Egyptian architects were also the first to use stone columns in homes, palaces, and temples

Egyptian Science and Egyptian Science and TechnologyTechnologyThey developed a

calendar to keep track of the floods. They followed the track of the star Sirius and discovered that the time between the rising of the star was 365 days. They divided the year into 12 months of 30 days.

Egyptian Science and Egyptian Science and TechnologyTechnology

Egyptian medicine was also famous in the ancient world. Although Egyptian medical writings contain all sorts of magic charms and chants, Egyptian doctors also relied on practical knowledge.

Egyptian Science and Egyptian Science and TechnologyTechnologyThey knew how to

measure a person’s heart rate by feeling for a pulse, how to make splints for broken bones, and effective treatments for wounds and fevers. They also used surgery effectively.

Pictures not taken from wikipedia are: http://www.bikyamasr.com/31815/egypt-youth-coalition-to-

deal-with-nile-basin-crisis/ http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2009/01/21/

sewage_boosts_nile/ http://www.crooktree.com/?Action=VF&id=982824219 http://esciencecommons.blogspot.com/2011/05/mummies-

tell-history-of-modern-plague.html http://www.ancient-egypt.info/2012/03/egyptian-nile-river-

and-god-kings-of.html http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?

guid=d821ad9d-9b95-48b9-a997-a645bcf3356c http://www.eyelid.co.uk/numbers.htm http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/

dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1761427&imageID=1619771&word=Architectural%20decorations%20%26%20ornaments%20--%20Egypt&s=3&notword=&d=&c=&f=2&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&sort=&total=121&num=0&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=8

http://www.fromcairo.com/calendar.htm

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WH1.3 Egypt After today I will be able to explain the geographical features of Egypt and understand its cultural contributions to history