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Pyramids on the Nile

MAIN IDEA

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Along the Nile River, civilization

emerged in Egypt and became united
into a kingdom ruled by pharaohs.

Many of the monuments built by the

Egyptians stand as a testament to their
ancient civilization.

TERMS & NAMES

cataract
delta
Menes
pharaoh
theocracy
pyramid
mummification
hieroglyphics
papyrus

SETTING THE STAGE To the west of the Fertile Crescent in Africa, another river
makes its way to the sea. While Sumerian civilization was on the rise, a similar process
took place along the banks of this river, the Nile in Egypt. Yet the Egyptian civilization
turned out to be very different from the collection of city-states in Mesopotamia. Early
on, Egypt was united into a single kingdom, which allowed it to enjoy a high degree of
unity, stability, and cultural continuity over a period of 3,000 years.

The Geography of Egypt

From the highlands of east-central Africa to the Mediterranean
Sea, the Nile River flows northward for over 4,100 miles, making
it the longest river in the world. (See the map on page 34.) A thin
ribbon of water in a parched desert land, the great river brings
its water to Egypt from distant mountains, plateaus, and lakes in
present-day Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
Egypts settlements arose along the Nile on a narrow strip of
land made fertile by the river. The change from fertile soil to
desertfrom the Black Land to the Red Landwas so abrupt
that a person could stand with one foot in each.
The Gift of the Nile As in Mesopotamia, yearly flooding

Image not available for us on CD-ROM.

brought the water and rich soil that allowed settlements to grow.
Please refer to the image in the textbook.
Every year in July, 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 receded in October, it left behind a rich
deposit of fertile black mud.
Before the scorching sun could dry out 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. At last came the welcome harvest. This cycle
repeated itself year after yearflood, plant, harvest; flood,
plant, harvest.
In an otherwise parched land, the abundance brought by the Nile was so great that A traditional
sailboat sails the
the Egyptians worshiped it as a god who gave life and seldom turned against them. As Nile River in Egypt.
the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (hih RAHD uh tuhs) remarked in the fifth century B.C., Egypt was the gift of the Nile.

Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt For most of their history, ancient Egyptians knew

only the lower part of the Nilethe 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 (KAT uh rakt). Riverboats
could not pass this spot, known as the First Cataract, to continue upstream to the south.

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The Mighty Nile

30E

35E

Ancient Egypt, 30002000 B.C.

An outline of the continental United

States shows the length of the
Niles course. The actual length of
the Nile with all its twists and
turns is more than 4,100 miles.

Region of
Great Pyramids
Prevailing winds
River current
Nile Valley

Mediterranean
Sea
Nile
Delta

LOWER
EGYPT
30N

Memphis

SINAI

ARABIAN
DESERT

Width of
continental
United States:
2,442 miles.

UPPER EGYPT
E

WE

ST

ER

STE

le

Ancient Egyptian civilization

formed along the lower Nile.

DE

Se
a

ver

SERT

Ri

DESER

25N

Re

Ni

RN

Thebes

T
N U B I A
Tropic of Cancer

First
Cataract

0
0

200 Miles
400 Kilometers

G E O G R A P H Y S K I L L B U I L D E R : Interpreting Maps
1. Movement In which direction does the Nile flow?
2. Location Describe the location of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.

Between 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 Nile provided a reliable system of transportation between Upper and Lower
Egypt. The Nile flows north, so northbound boats simply drifted with the current.
Southbound boats hoisted a wide sail. The prevailing winds of Egypt blow from north
to south, carrying sailboats against the river current. The ease of contact made possible by this watery highway helped unify Egypts villages and promote trade.
Environmental Challenges Egyptian farmers were much more fortunate than the

villagers of Mesopotamia. Compared to the unpredictable Tigris and Euphrates rivers,

the Nile was as regular as clockwork. Even so, life in Egypt had its risks. If the Niles
floodwaters were just a few feet lower than normal, the amount of fresh silt and water
for crops was greatly reduced. Thousands of people might starve. If the floodwaters
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 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.

34 Chapter 2

THINK THROUGH HISTORY

A. Contrasting
What was the main
difference between
the flooding of the Nile
and that of the rivers
in Mesopotamia?
A. Answer Nile
flooding occurred with
greater regularity than
the flooding of the
Tigris and Euphrates.

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Movement of Goods and Ideas By 3200 B.C., Egyptians were coming into contact
with the people of Mesopotamia. Caravans loaded with goods for trade were traveling
between the two regions. 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. They were in search of
such goods as gold, ivory, cattle, and granite blocks for their massive temples and tombs.
Whole groups of people seem to have moved freely from one region to another in
search of better land for farming or grazing. The early Egyptians may have borrowed
some ideas from the Mesopotamians in the early development of their cities and in
their system of writing. However, the period of Mesopotamian influence ended
quickly. From then on, Egypt followed its own cultural path, which was very different
from Mesopotamias. Egypt blended the cultures of the Nile Valley peoples with the
cultures of peoples 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 3,000-year history.

Egypt Unites into a Kingdom

Egyptians lived in farming villages as far back as 5000 B.C., perhaps
even earlier. 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.
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. About 3100 B.C., a strong-willed king of Upper Egypt
named Menes (MEE neez) united all of Egypt. As a symbol of his
united kingdom, Menes created a double crown from the red and
white crowns. Menes shrewdly established his capital, Memphis, near
the spot where Upper and Lower Egypt met, and established the first
Egyptian dynasty. Eventually, the history of ancient Egypt would consist of 31 dynasties, spanning 2,600 years.
Little is known of Egypts first two dynasties, but records
improve with the Third Dynasty. The Third Dynasty begins
the period historians call the Old Kingdom, which lasted
from 2660 to 2180 B.C. The Old Kingdom set the pattern for
Egypts great civilization.

HISTORY
MAKERS


Menes
Who was Menes? Did he exist at
all? Historians cannot answer
these questions, because the
evidence of this early period is very
limited. Written accounts of Menes
accomplishments were recorded
hundreds or even thousands of
years later. By then, Menes had
become a legendary hero.
In the retelling, Menes deeds
became imaginary myths. According
to one story, Menes finally died after
a long and triumphant reign when he
was carried off and killed by a
hippopotamus.

Pharaohs Rule as Gods The role of the king was one

striking difference between Egypt and Mesopotamia. In

Mesopotamia, kings were considered to be representatives
of the gods. To the Egyptians, kings were gods, almost as
crown of
crown of Upper
splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens. The
Upper Egypt
and Lower Egypt
Egyptian god-kings came to be called pharaohs (FAIR ohz).
The pharaoh stood at the center of Egypts religion as well as its government
and army. This type of government in which the ruler is a divine figure is called a
theocracy. Egyptians believed that the pharaoh bore full responsibility for the kingdoms well-being. It was the pharaoh who caused the sun to rise, the Nile to flood,
and the crops to grow. It was the pharaohs duty to promote truth and justice.

crown of
Lower Egypt

THINK THROUGH HISTORY

B. Making
Inferences Why
were Egypts pharaohs
unusually powerful
rulers?
B. Answer They
were believed to be
gods as well as temporal rulers.

Builders of the Pyramids Egyptians 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 Egyptians mind, the ka remained much like a living king in its
needs and pleasures. Since kings expected to reign forever, their tombs were even
more important than their palaces. For 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.
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The largest of the pyramids is the Great Pyramid (right

background) at Giza, completed about 2556 B.C. The
diagram shows how the interior of a pyramid looks.
Kings chamber
Air shaft
Grand gallery
Queens chamber
Ascending passage

Escape passage
Unfinished chamber

Daily Life
Builders of the Pyramids
Etched into some of the stones of
the pyramids are the nicknames of
the teams of workers who built
themthe Victorious Gang, the
Enduring Gang, and the Craftsman Gang, for example. Just as
construction workers today leave
their marks on the skyscrapers they
build, the pyramid builders
scratched messages for the ages
inside the pyramids.
Who were the pyramid builders?
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus claimed that the pharaohs
worked an army of laborers to
death. However, it was actually
peasants who provided most of the
labor. They had to work for the
government when the Nile was in
flood and they could not farm. In
return for their service, the country
provided the workers with food and
housing during this period.

These magnificent monuments were remarkable engineering

achievements, built by people who had not even begun to use the
wheel. Unlike the Sumerians, however, the Egyptians did have a good
supply of stone, both granite and limestone. For the Great Pyramid of
Giza, for example, the limestone facing was quarried 400 miles upriver.
Each perfectly cut stone block weighed at least 2 1/2 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.
The pyramids also reflect the strength of the Egyptian civilization. They show
that Old Kingdom dynasties had developed the economic strength to support massive public works projects, as well as the leadership and government organization to
carry them out.

Egyptian Culture
With nature so much in their favor, Egyptians tended to approach life more confidently and optimistically than their neighbors in the Fertile Crescent.
Religion and Life Like the Mesopotamians, the early Egyptians were polytheistic,

believing in many gods. The most important gods were Ra, the sun god, and Horus,
the god of light. The most important goddess was Isis, who represented the ideal
mother and wife. In all, Egyptians worshiped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses.
They built huge temples to honor the major deities.

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In contrast to the Mesopotamians, with their bleak view of death, Egyptians

believed in an afterlife, a life that continued after death. Egyptians believed they
would be judged for their deeds when they died. Osiris (oh SY rihs), the powerful god
of the dead, would weigh each dead persons heart. To 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.
People of all classes planned for their burials, so that they might safely reach the
Other World. Kings and queens built great tombs, such as the pyramids, and other
Egyptians built smaller tombs. Egyptians preserved a dead persons body by
mummificationembalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. (See
Something in Common, pages 4041.) Scholars still accept Herodotus description of
the process of mummification.

THINK THROUGH HISTORY

C. Analyzing
Motives Why do you
think the Egyptians
used mummification?
How does it reflect
their religious beliefs?
C. Possible Answer
Mummification helped
preserve the body for
use in the afterlife; it
provided a body in
which the ka, or eternal spirit, could
reside.

A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
First, they draw out the brains through the nostrils with an iron hook. . . . Then with a
sharp stone they make an incision in the side, and take out all the bowels. . . . Then, having filled the belly with pure myrrh, cassia, and other perfumes, they sew it up again;
and when they have done this they steep it in natron [a mineral salt],
leaving it under for 70 days. . . . At the end of 70 days, they wash the
corpse, and wrap the whole body in bandages of waxen cloth.

Daily Life

HERODOTUS, The History of Herodotus

Attendants placed the mummy in a coffin inside a tomb.

Then they filled the tomb with items the dead person could
use in the afterlife, such as clothing, food, cosmetics, and jewelry. Many Egyptians purchased scrolls that contained hymns,
prayers, and magic spells intended to 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.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T
Behold, I have come to you, I have brought you truth, I have repelled
falsehood for you. I have not done falsehood against men, I have not
impoverished my associates, I have done no wrong in the Place of Truth,
I have not learnt that which is not, I have done no evil. . . . I have not
caused pain, I have not made hungry, I have not made to weep, I have
not killed, I have not commanded to kill, I have not made suffering for
anyone. . . . I am pure, pure, pure, pure!
Book of the Dead, translated by Raymond O. Faulkner

Life in Egyptian Society Like the grand monuments to the kings,

Egyptian society formed a pyramid. The king, queen, and royal family stood at the top. Below them were the other members of the
upper class, which included wealthy landowners, government officials, priests, and army commanders. The next tier of the pyramid
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 peasant farmers and unskilled laborers.
In the later periods of Egyptian history, slavery became a
widespread source of labor. Slaves, usually captives from foreign
wars, served in the homes of the rich or toiled endlessly in the gold
mines of Upper Egypt.
The Egyptians were not locked into their social classes. Lowerand middle-class Egyptians could gain higher status through

Egyptian Cosmetics
The dark-lined eyes that look out at
us from the artwork of ancient
Egypt were the height of fashion
3,000 years ago. Men and women
applied the makeup, called kohl, to
their eyes with small sticks. They
made kohl from powdered minerals
mixed with water.
The Egyptians also wore lipstick,
made from powdered red ocher
(iron oxide) mixed with oil. They
soaked flowers and fragrant woods
in oil and rubbed the oil into their
skin. Sometimes they decked their
hairdos with cones of scented wax,
which melted slowly in the heat.
These cosmetics were more
than just beauty aids. The dark eye
makeup softened the glare of the
desert sun. The oils protected skin,
lips, and hair from the dry desert
air. Egyptians kept their cosmetics
in chests such as the one shown
above, which was found in an
Egyptian tomb.

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marriage or success in their jobs. Even some slaves could hope to earn their freedom
as a reward for their loyal service. To win the highest positions, people had to be able
to read and write. Once a person had these skills, many careers were open in the
army, the royal treasury, the priesthood, and the kings court.
Women in Egypt held many of the same rights as men. For example,
a wealthy or middle-class woman could own and trade property. She
POTLIGHT N
could propose marriage or seek divorce. If she were granted a divorce,
The Rosetta Stone
she would be entitled to one-third of the couples property.

Although it lasted more than 2,500

years, Egyptian civilization eventually declined. Soon after, the ability to read hieroglyphics was lost
and remained so for many centuries.
In 1799, near the delta village of
Rosetta, some French soldiers found
a polished black stone inscribed with
a message in three languages. One
version was written in hieroglyphics
(top inset). A second version was in
a simpler form of hieroglyphics and
the third was in Greek (both are
shown in the bottom inset).
Since ancient Greek was a wellknown language, it provided clues to
the meaning of the hieroglyphics.
Still, deciphering the Rosetta
Stone took many years. In 1822,
a French scholar named
Jean Franois Champollion
(shahmpawLYAWN)
finally broke the code
of the hieroglyphics.

Egyptian Writing As in Mesopotamia, the development of writing

was one of the keys to the growth of Egyptian civilization. Crude pictographs were the earliest form of writing in Egypt, but scribes quickly
developed a more flexible writing system called hieroglyphics
(HY ur uh GLIHF ihks). This term comes from the Greek words hieros
and gluphe, meaning sacred carving.
As with Sumerian cuneiform writing, in the earliest form of hieroglyphics a picture stood for an idea. For instance, a picture of a man stood
for the idea of a man; a picture of a bird stood for the idea of a bird. In
time, the system changed so that pictures stood for sounds as well as ideas.
The owl, for example, stood for an m sound. Hieroglyphics could be used
almost like letters of the alphabet.
Although hieroglyphics were first written on
stone and clay, as in Mesopotamia, the Egyptians
soon invented a better writing surface. They used
another gift of the Nile, the tall stalks of the
papyrus (puh PY ruhs) reeds that grew in the
marshy delta. The Egyptians split the reeds into narrow strips, dampened them, and then pressed them.
As the papyrus dried, the plants sap glued the strips
together into a paperlike sheet.

Egyptian Science and Technology Practical needs led

to many Egyptian inventions. 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.
Mathematical knowledge helped Egypts skillful engineers and architects as well. Builders needed to make
accurate calculations and measurements to construct
their remarkable pyramids and palaces. Egyptian
architects were also the first to use stone columns in
homes, palaces, and temples.
To help them keep track of the time between
floods and plan their planting season, the Egyptians
developed a calendar. Egyptian priests had

38 Chapter 2

THINK THROUGH HISTORY

D. Comparing How
was the status of
women similar in
Egyptian and
Sumerian society?
D. Answer Women
in both societies could
own property and had
many rights.

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THINK THROUGH HISTORY

E. Summarizing
What were the main
achievements of the
ancient Egyptians?
E. Possible Answer
System of written
numbers, hieroglyphics, geometry, pyramids, stone columns,
accurate calendar,
medicine.

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observed that a very bright star, now known as Sirius, began to appear above the eastern horizon just before the floods came. The time between one rising of Sirius and
the next was 365 days. They divided this year into 12 months of 30 days each and
added five days for holidays and feasting. This calendar was so accurate that it fell
short of the true solar year by only six hours.
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. They knew how to check a persons heart rate by feeling for a
pulse in different parts of the body. They set splints for broken bones and had effective treatments for wounds and fevers. They also used surgery to treat some conditions. All in all, the Egyptians approached their study of medicine in a remarkably
scientific way.

This detail from a

tomb painting
shows how the
Egyptians grew
their grain.

Chariot Riders Invade Egypt

The power of the pharaohs declined about 2180 B.C., marking the end of the Old
Kingdom. Historians call the period of weakness and turmoil that followed the First
Intermediate Period. Strong pharaohs regained control during the Middle Kingdom
(20801640 B.C.) and restored law and order. They improved trade and transportation
by having a canal dug from the Nile to the Red Sea. With the wealth from new trade,
the kings undertook other public projects. They had huge dikes built to trap and
channel the Niles floodwaters for irrigation. They also created thousands of new acres
of farmland by draining the swamps of Lower Egypt.
The prosperity of the Middle Kingdom did not last. In about 1640 B.C., a group of
Asian nomads swept across the Isthmus of Suez into Egypt in horse-drawn chariots.
These chariot-riders were the Hyksos (HIHK sahs), which meant the rulers of the
uplands. The Hyksos ruled much of Egypt from 1640 to 1570 B.C. This 70-year
period is sometimes called the Second Intermediate Period.
Egypt fell to the Hyksos at roughly the same time other nomads were invading
Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley farther to the east. But Egypt would rise again for a
new period of power and glory, the New Kingdom, which is discussed in Chapter 4.

Section 2 Assessment
1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify
cataract
delta
Menes
pharaoh
theocracy
pyramid
mummification
hieroglyphics
papyrus

2. TAKING NOTES

Recreate the web below on your

paper and fill in examples related
to the main idea in the center.

Egyptian
Achievements

3. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Look at the map on page 34. Three
natural features determined the
boundaries of ancient Egyptian
civilization: the Nile River, the First
Cataract, and the surrounding
desert. In your judgment, which of
these features was most important to Egypts history? Explain
your conclusion.

4. THEME ACTIVITY

Interaction with Environment

Using information from Sections 1
and 2, create a chart, sketch, or
drawing to show how Sumerians
and Egyptians made use of their
environment. Then tell which
group you think made better use
of what they had. Be prepared to
defend your opinions.

Which would you consider most

important? Why?

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something in common across cultures

Dealing with Death

All humans face death. Anthropologists believe that religious beliefs grew out of
humanitys attempts to explain what happens after death. The Egyptians wrapped their
dead as mummies to preserve the body for an afterlife. The ways other cultures treat
their dead reveal their own beliefs about God and the soul. As you compare and
contrast the customs on these pages, look for how they are influenced by the religious
beliefs of the people who practice them.

Ireland

Bali
United
States

Ancient Egypt
Among the first people to
believe in life after death, the
ancient Egyptians mummified
the body so the soul could
return to it later. Embalmers
used chemicals to dry out the
body. Then they wrapped the
mummy in fine linen and
adorned it with jewelry. Egyptian embalmers were so skillful that modern
archaeologists have found
mummies that still have hair,
skin, and teeth thousands of
years after burial.

closer
look

The Egyptians also

mummified the pets of the
deceased. These are
mummies of a cat and a dog.

EGYPTIAN MUMMIES

40 Chapter 2

Egypt

9th-Century Ireland
Christians believe that the dead will be
resurrectedbrought back to life
before the time of final judgment. Until
modern times, therefore, the Roman
Catholic Church discouraged cremation.
Since the first century A.D., Christians
have buried their dead in cemeteries and
marked each grave with a stone, a
monument, or a cross. The carvings
on this 9th-century Irish cross
reflect Christian symbolism.

These clay vessels are

called Canopic jars. After
preparing the mummy,
embalmers placed the
brain, liver, and other
internal organs of the
mummy in these jars.

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Modern Bali
Hindus cremate, or burn, their dead. They
consider the body as just a container for a soul
that never dies. After a person dies, they believe
the soul is reborn in another person. Hindu
cremations are sacred rituals. On the Indonesian
island of Bali, these rituals involve an elaborate
celebration. Several bodies are put in a tall tower
made of wood and bamboo, such as the one
pictured at right. The whole tower is burned and
the ashes scattered in the ocean.
19th-Century Native Americans
Just as Native American languages and lifestyles varied
widely, so did Native American customs for dealing with the
dead. Many 19th-century Plains Indians, such as the Sioux
and the Blackfeet (pictured below), placed their dead on
raised platforms. This protected the bodies from wild
animals and also lifted the dead closer to the sky, where
many spirits were believed to dwell.

Connect

to History

Recognizing Effects Which

groups believed in preserving the
body after death? How did those
religious beliefs affect their
customs?
SEE SKILLBUILDER
HANDBOOK, PAGE R6

Connect

This solid gold death mask of the

pharaoh Tutankhamen covered the
head of his mummy. The mask, which
weighs 22.5 pounds, is part of a
popular exhibit in the Egyptian
Museum in Cairo, Egypt.

to Today

Reporting Find out about modern

Jewish and Muslim burial practices. Illustrate each of these with
a picture and a caption like those
above. Then write a paragraph
comparing them to either
Christian or Hindu practices.

Early River Valley Civilizations 41