Ancient Egypt

The Gift of the Nile

 Ancient Egypt
∆ Introduction
∆ Geography
∆ Unification
∆ The Old Kingdom
∆ The Middle Kingdom
∆ The New Kingdom
∆ Egypt’s Legacy
∆ Unit Review
 Lila Perl
• Born in Brooklyn, NY

• Loved to read as a child

• Began writing fiction, “Fat

Glenda” series, but soon
moved into the challenge
of nonfiction
 Non-Fiction Texts
Mummies, Tombs, and
Treasure: Secrets of
Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egyptians

 Ancient Egyptian Time
An Explanation

First, the Egyptians developed a lunar calendar of 354 days.

In time, the Egyptians created a more accurate 360-day solar

calendar

BC - Means "Before Christ"

AD - Means "Anno Domini" (The Year of Our Lord)

Both of these terms were adopted during the early

formation of the Roman/Christian calendar.
 Ancient Egyptian Timeline
Archaic Era Egypt was a grassland. Nomads traveled in
6000 bc
search of food

Early Dynastic 3200 King Menes united Upper & Lower Egypt.
bc - 2780 bc
Established capital at Memphis.

Old Kingdom 2780 Age of Pyramids. First man made mummies

bc - 2258bc

Middle Kingdom Rise of the Middle Class – trade becomes

2134 bc - 1786 bc
the center of the economy.

New Kingdom 1570 Major trading expeditions. Akhenaten and

bc - 1085 bc
Queen Hatshepsut

Ptolemaic Dynasty Alexander the Great conquers Egypt.

304 bc - 30 bc
Cleopatra is the last Pharaoh

Roman Period Romans take control of Egypt. Egypt never

30 bc - 640 ad
rises to greatness again.
 INTRODUCTION TO EGYPT

• "Misr" - Ancient name of Egypt

• Egypt was first settled about

5000 B.C. (7000 years ago) by
nomads

• Egyptian Civilization developed

because of the Nile River
 Egyptian
Geography
located in the
northeast corner of
Africa

surrounded by natural
barriers:
• desert
• mountains
•Mediterranean Sea

PROVIDED
PROTECTION
 The Nile River
• Early people settled this area
because of its location near a
source of water.
• The Nile River Valley had
virtually no rainfall of its own.
• Egypt was called "The Gift of
the Nile" by Herodotus, a Greek
historian.
• flows north more than 4,000 miles into the Mediterranean Sea
world’s longest river

• branches create a triangle shaped delta from deposited silt

 The Important Uses of the Nile
1. Drinking & Bathing

• The Nile provided the daily necessities of life in

Ancient Egypt

• Egyptians depended upon the annual flooding of the

Nile
 The Important Uses of the Nile
2. Agriculture

• Inundation: June - October - SHAIT

– time of rising flood waters
– farmers had time to build

• Emergence: November - February- PIRUIT

– the return of the water to the river
– planted crops & trapped water for irrigation

• Drought: March - June - SHEMU

– Harvest time
 The Important Uses of the Nile
• The Nile provided rich soil (from the silt)
and water, producing three to four times
more crops than regular rain-fed soil. - made
farming very productive, created a surplus

• The Egyptians invented the shadouf to help

distribute water to the fields.

• The Egyptians invented the plow.

• The Egyptians domesticated animals to

assist in farming.
 The Important Uses of the Nile
3. Transportation
• Egyptians built boats and traveled the Nile
• The Nile linked all Egyptians - encouraged
community life
• Encouraged trade - used the surplus crops for
barter
 REVIEW
1. _____ Egypt was protected from invaders because:
a. the Nile River flooded every year
b. it was surrounded by natural barriers;
desert, mountains, and the sea
c. it was an island

2. _____ The Nile was important to the Egyptians for two main
reasons:
a. agriculture & transportation
b. swimming & bathing
c. fishing & water-skiing
 REVIEW
3. _____ The flooding of the Nile River is known as:
a. inundation
b. emergence
c. drought
4. _____ The Egyptians planted their crops during the time of the
receding flood known as:
a. inundation
b. emergence
c. drought
5. _____ The Egyptians harvested their crops during the time of:
a. inundation
b. emergence
c. drought
 REVIEW
6. _____ Egyptian farmers used irrigation to:
a. water their crops
b. make the soil more fertile
c. control flood waters
d. travel among the villages
7. _____ Transportation on the Nile was
important to the Egyptian civilization
because:
a. it encouraged trade
b. it linked all Egyptians
c. both a & b

Return
 BACK

VOCABULARY
nomads: a member of a people who have
no fixed residence, but move from place to
place usually seasonally and within a well-
defined territory
 BACK

VOCABULARY
delta: the alluvial
deposit at the
mouth of a river

silt: loose
sedimentary
material with rock
particles deposited
by a river
UNIFICATION

Menes’s Upper
Egypt army
invades and
conquers
Lower Egypt
Menes (Narmer) Palette

Return
Pharaoh's Role in the Old Kingdom
Government
• Pharaoh appointed
powerful local leaders
called governors
• Governors collected taxes
and served as local judges
• Governors made sure
local flood waters were
shared equally
• Governors reported to the
Pharaoh in Memphis.
Pharaoh's Role in the Old Kingdom

Religion
• Egyptians believed that
the Pharaoh was the
child of Ra, the sun-god.
• Egyptians believed that
Pharaoh gave life to
Egypt & its people
• Egyptians worshipped
the Pharaoh
 Pharaoh's Role in the Old Kingdom
Economy
• Pharaoh was the center of
Egypt's economy.
• Egypt's economy was based on
agriculture
• Surplus was distributed through
taxes: Pharaoh collected a
portion of crops for taxes.
• Craftworkers depended upon the
Pharaoh for work.
• Temple upkeep was the
responsibility of the government.
• Trade was the way in which
Egyptians were paid for their
services.
 The Great Pyramids
Religious Beliefs
• Religion was at the
center of Egyptian life
• Practiced polytheism -
worship of many gods
• Egyptian gods were
often pictured as an
animal or as a
person’s body with an
animal’s head.
The Great Pyramids
Egyptian gods:

• The story of Osiris & Isis is the basis

for the Egyptian belief in the afterlife

• Osiris: gave Egypt civilization, was

killed by his jealous brother, Seth, who
scattered his body in the Nile.

• Isis: wife of Osiris, gathered up his

body parts and returned him to life.

• Re (Ra): (Horus) Sun-god, recognized

by all Egyptians, son of Osiris & Isis
 AFTERLIFE
CENTRAL BELIEF IN EGYPTIAN LIFE
• BELIEF
– if the body was preserved, then the soul could
continue to live

• PRACTICE
– Mummification-preserving the bodies of the
dead by embalming, then wrapping them in
linen - “Mummies”

• The dry climate of Egypt helped to preserve

the bodies naturally, at first.

• The Pharaoh was the first to be mummified -

artificially.

• During the Old Kingdom, only the Pharaoh's

body went through the elaborate ritual of
mummification. If the Pharaoh was preserved,
then he would see all of his subjects safely to
their afterlife.
 Pyramids
Mastabas were first used as
tombs.

Then, a chief architect, IMHOTEP,

built the step pyramid of King
Zoser.

This design gave way to the

smooth sided pyramids of Giza.
Pyramids
 The Great Pyramid
∆ The Pyramids were considered "Houses of
Eternity“.

∆ Tallest human-made structure until the Eiffel

Tower in the 1800's

∆ Took approximately 23 years to build

∆ All pyramids had to have a North-facing

entrance, to align with the North Star.

∆ Built by farmers and other laborers during the

Inundation (flood season)

∆ Most stones weigh 2.5 tons, but some weigh up

to 80 tons

∆ Laborers used mud-slicked ramps to move the

stones.
The Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramids
The Sphinx stands
before the Pyramid of
Pharaoh Khafre.

The Sphinx was carved

from a single block of
limestone left over in the
quarry used to build the
Pyramids.

The Sphinx is said to

represent the body of a
lion and the head of a
pharaoh.
The Great Pyramids
 A System of Writing
• The Ancient Egyptians
had no separate word for
“art”, their word for “art”
was the word for
“writing”.

• This Egyptian “alphabet”

was made up of about 800
picture-symbols called
HIEROGLYPHS.

• The word
HEIROGLYPHICS means
“sacred writing”
A System of Writing
• The Egyptians considered
HIEROGLYPHS sacred
and believed that they
conveyed the words of
the gods.
• HIEROGLYPHICS also
helped to preserve the
memory of deceased
people.
• In order to keep track of
government records,
taxes, and the passage of
time, the Egyptians
developed a system of
writing called
HIEROGLYPHICS.
 A System of Writing
PAPYRUS:

• The earliest form

of paper
• Made from the
papyrus reed that
grew in the Nile
• The reeds would
be criss-crossed
and pounded down
to a paper-like
thickness.
 A System of Writing
Not all Egyptians could read or write hieroglyphics:
SCRIBES:
∆ Pharaoh’s record keepers
∆ Very Educated in reading, writing & math
∆ Highly respected
∆ Only boys could become SCRIBES
∆ A SCRIBE’S training started at the age of 10
∆ SCRIBES used rolls of PAPYRUS to write on

Only the SCRIBES used HIEROGLYPHICS.

 A System of Writing
• The Common people of
Egypt used a form of
writing called “hieratic”, a
form of script writing.
• Eventually, the
responsibility of reading &
interpreting the
HIEROGLYPHS fell to the
priests. Even SCRIBES
lost the ability to read the
ancient symbols.
• By 400 AD, no one could
read the HIEROGLYPHS
anymore.
 The Rosetta Stone
• The Rosetta Stone was the key that
unlocked the mysteries of Egyptian
hieroglyphics.

• Napoleon's troops discovered it in 1799

• The inscription is written on the stone three

times, once in hieroglyphic, once in hieratic,
and once in Greek.

• Jean Francois Champollion, a French

Egyptologist, deciphered the hieroglyphic
and hieratic texts by comparing them with
the known Greek text.

• From this meager starting point, a

generation of Egyptologists eventually
managed to read most everything that
remains of the Egyptians' ancient writings.
Return
 VOCABULARY
Economy: the way in which the people of
a country manage money and
resources for the production of goods
and services. PHARAOH

TEMPLES

SURPLUS CRAFTWORKERS

GOVERNEMNT
TAXES BUILDING
PROJECTS

BACK
 The End of the Old Kingdom
• The economy began to be strained by huge
government building projects.

• People became unhappy with the pharaoh's

demands for taxes to pay for these projects.

• Pharaoh Pepy III ruled for 92 years, he

eventually lost control over the central
government - local governors took over.

• This period without any pharaohs lasted about

150 years - there were foreign invasions and
disorder during this time.
 The Middle Kingdom
2100BC - 1700BC
• Order was restored by
Mentohotep:
• strong military leader
• restored unity to Egypt
• moved the capital to
Thebes
• took control of Nubia
• Nubian gold brought
increased prosperity
(economy improved)
The Middle Kingdom
2100BC - 1700BC
• Egypt's contact with other parts
of the world increased, bringing
foreign goods and foreign ideas
to the Egyptian civilization.
• Egyptian trade increased with
Western Asia, creating a new
wealthy class of "common
people" - Middle Class
• Outside groups began moving
into Egypt - Hyksos
REVIEW
 Lesson 2 Review
1. _____________ The name for the kings of Ancient Egypt.

2. _____________ The man responsible for deciphering

hieroglyphics.

3. _____________ The king who unified Egypt into one

kingdom.

4. _____________ "Sacred Writing“

5. _____________ The way people manage money &

resources for the production of goods and
services.
 Lesson 2 Review
6. _______________ A professional writer of hieroglyphics
who kept records & documents.

7. _______________ A reed plant that grows along the

Nile, used for making paper scrolls.

8. _______________ A stone discovered in 1799 that

helped to decipher hieroglyphics.

9. _______________ The joining of two separate parts into

one.

10. _______________ The architect who built the first “step

pyramid”
RETURN
 HYKSOS
• The Hyksos were "hill-people"
from Western Asia, who invaded
and took over Lower Egypt for
150 years.
• The Hyksos utilized superior
bronze weapons, chariots, and
bows to help them take control of
Egypt.
• The Egyptians learned how to
build chariots from the Hyksos.
• Within 50 years, they had
managed to take control of the
important Egyptian city of
Memphis.

RETURN
 Nubia
• May have had a cultural
impact on Egypt before
3200bc

• Located on the Upper Nile

in the Sudan between
modern day Egypt &
Ethiopia.

• Its name is from the

Egyptian word for "gold" -
"nub“

• Very much influenced by

Egyptians
 Nubia
• Accepted Egyptian
religion & art

• Used hieroglyphics, but

later developed their own
writing

• Built pyramids to serve as

tombs of kings & queens,
but smaller & shaped
differently than Egyptian
pyramids.

• Eventually won
independence from Egypt
 Nubia
• Skin color was not a determining factor in "race".
• If you lived as an Egyptian, you were Egyptian.

RETURN
Egyptian
Capitals
Old Kingdom
•Memphis

Middle Kingdom
•Thebes

New Kingdom
•Amarna
• Thebes

Today
•Cairo

RETURN
 Ancient Egyptian Society
• A person's position in society depended on what he or she did for a living.

SOCIAL PYRAMID- a diagram illustrating the divisions within a culture;

usually showing the most powerful person or group at the peak and
the least powerful groups at the bottom.
– Nubian soldiers made up a large part of the pharaoh's army & police force.
– Syrian princes were government officials.
– Government Officials owned most of the land.
– Syrian & Nubian craftworkers worked side by side with the Egyptians.

SLAVERY - the practice of one person owning another person.

– Slavery was the lowest level in Ancient Egyptian society.
– Slaves came from the conquered lands of Nubia and Syria
– Slaves did the hardest work:
– Mined gold in Nubia
– Planted crops
– Dug canals
– Worked as house servants
– Egyptians bought slaves like merchandise.
– Slaves had the right to be treated fairly under the law.
– Slaves could own property.
 Concept of “Middle Class”
• The middle class are those people who
have economic independence, but not a
great deal of social influence or power.
PHARAOH UPPER CLASS

TRADERS
MIDDLE
CLASS MERCHANTS
PROFESSIONALS
RETURN
PEASANTS & SLAVES LOWER CLASS
 RETURN

Pharaoh

Government
Officials

Soldiers

Scribes

Merchants

Artisans

Farmers

Slaves
 The New Kingdom
• The defeat of the Hyksos by the
pharaoh, Ahmose, began the New
Kingdom
• During the New Kingdom, Egypt
became an EMPIRE.
• Egypt’s economy now included goods
from other lands.
• Expansion & Trade
• Lebanon & Syria: silver, timber, wine
• Greece (across the Mediterranean):
olive oil
• Nubia gave access to other African
kingdoms, traded ebony, leopard
skins, and elephant ivory. Egypt also
gained gold, copper, and other
precious stones.
***Traded goods brought new types of
furniture, jewelry, and other fine goods for the
pharaoh and wealthy families.***
 The New Kingdom
Hatshepsut Pharaohs
• One of Egypt’s few female
pharaohs
• Expanded trade further than
any other pharaoh
• Her biggest trading expedition
was to Egypt’s neighbors in
the south: PUNT – Egypt
gained gold, perfumes, ivory,
leopard skins, and even live
apes.
• Hatshepsut’s stepson finally
overthrew her and tried to
erase all mention of her name
from all records.
 The New Kingdom
Pharaohs
Akhenaton & Nefertiti
• Amenhotep IV and his wife, Queen Nefertiti, tried to
make Egypt worship only one god - Aton (monotheistic)
– Changed his name to Akhenaton "servant to Aton"
– Moved the capital from Thebes to Amarna in the north
– Ordered officials to destroy the images of old gods
– Changed the style of art in Egypt
• This change angered priest who were considered
representatives of the old gods. The priests had lost much of
their power.
• When Akhenaton died, the old religion returned and the
priests picked a new pharaoh that they could control - a boy
king.
 The New Kingdom
Pharaohs
The Boy Pharaoh
• King Tutankhamen
was 9 years old when
he was chosen to
replace Akhenaton.
• The priests of Egypt
controlled King Tut,
who died when he
was only 19 years old.
 King Tutankhamen’s
•
Tomb
Howard Carter, a British
archeologist, discovered King
Tut's tomb in 1922. The tomb
contained everything Tut
would need in the afterlife.

• We know about the Egyptian

belief in the Afterlife mainly
through the discoveries made
by archeologists, like Carter.
Tombs which contained
riches, food, and other worldly
provisions told us that the
Ancient Egyptians expected
their dead to need these
things in the "next life".
 The New Kingdom
The Fall of the New Kingdom
• After Tut, Egypt began to lose
power.
– Egypt began to fight wars with the
surrounding people in present-
day Israel, Syria, and Turkey
– Their fiercest enemy was the
Hittites
– Rameses II, a very strong
pharaoh, made peace with the
Hittites for 67 years and returned
some prosperity to Egypt.
– In 525 BC the Persian army
invaded and conquered Ancient
Egypt - it never regained its
previous glory.
 Egypt’s Legacy
Moving Ideas
– Ideas and skills were also traded throughout the Ancient World.
– The Egyptians made discoveries and advancements in medicine, mathematics,
and astronomy.
Medicine In Egypt
– Most Egyptian doctors were actually priests who learned their skills in temple
schools.
– For centuries, various medical knowledge was recorded by scribes.
– Egyptians performed the first surgeries.
Math & Science
– The Egyptians developed the mathematical rules necessary for building the
pyramids.
– They used their knowledge of math to understand and study the stars.
– Pyramids had to be built facing true north – determined by the positioning of the
North Star.
– Identified five of the planets: “stars that know no rest”
– Understood the basic concept of an eclipse

• These ideas and skills were spread to Egypt’s neighbors, their knowledge
became famous.
• Egypt also gained knowledge from its neighbors – Hyksos (metal-working,
chariots)
REVIEW
 LESSON 3 REVIEW

1. ______________ The man who discovered a famous

tomb in 1922.

2. ______________ This pharaoh ruled for 92 years and

eventually lost control of the government to
local governors at the end of the Old
Kingdom

3. ______________ One of the few female pharaohs, she led

famous a trading expedition.

4. ______________ He restored order & unity at the start of the

Middle Kingdom.
 LESSON 3 REVIEW
5. ______________ The boy king, he ruled only 10 years.

6. ______________ The pharaoh who tried to make Egypt

believe in only one god.

7. ______________ The pharaoh who drove out the Hyksos

at the end of the Middle Kingdom.

8. ______________ The "hill-people" from Western Asia, who

invaded and took over Lower Egypt for
150 years.
 LESSON 3 REVIEW
9. ______________ Egypt conquered this land for it's gold mines.

10. _____________ Lower Nubia, an ancient & wealthy kingdom that

gave Egyptians access to trade routes into
Southern African kingdoms.

11. _____________ Egypt traded for olive oil and silver with this
civilization across the Mediterranean Sea.

12. _____________ A Southern Kingdom, believed to be present day

Ethiopia or Somalia, to which the Egyptians
traveled in a huge expedition to trade for gold,
perfume, ivory, incense, and live apes.

13. _____________ The capital of Egypt during the Middle & New
Kingdoms
 LESSON 3 REVIEW
14. _____________ A group of people who go on a trip for
a set reason.

15. _____________ A group of lands and people ruled by

one government.

RETURN
 Hittites
• Originally from present
day Turkey
• Invaded and warred with
Egypt many times during
the New Kingdom

RETURN
The Amarna Period
The Amarna Period
The Amarna Period

RETURN
EMPIRE
• A group of lands
and people ruled by
one government
• Egypt created an
empire by invading
and then
incorporating Nubia
and other ancient
city-states.
RETURN
ANCIENT EGYPT’S

“WHO WANTS TO
BUILD THE
BIGGEST
PYRAMID?”
 RULES
• Your team has three lifelines:
– Phone a friend
– Consult the text
– Eliminate one answer
• For each point you earn, your team’s
pyramid grows.
• The team with the highest pyramid wins.
1. Egypt was protected from invaders because:
a. the Nile River flooded every year
b. it was surrounded by natural barriers; desert, mountains, and the sea
c. it was an island

2. The Nile was important to the Egyptians for two main reasons:
a. agriculture & transportation
b. swimming & bathing
c. fishing & water-skiing

3. The flooding of the Nile River is known as:

a. inundation
b. emergence
c. drought

4. The Egyptians planted their crops during the time of the receding flood known as:
a. inundation
b. emergence
c. drought

5. The Egyptians harvested their crops during the time of:

a. inundation
b. emergence
c. drought
NEXT
6. Egyptian farmers used irrigation to:
a. water their crops
b. make the soil more fertile
c. control flood waters
d. travel among the villages

7. Transportation on the Nile was important to the Egyptian civilization because:

a. it encouraged trade
b. it linked all Egyptians
c. both a & b

8. The Rosetta Stone was an important discovery because:

a. it was found in the Nile River by soldiers
b. it was shaped like a rose
c. it led to the translation of hieroglyphics

9. Hieroglyphics mainly helped the Egyptian scribes keep records of:

a. taxes
b. speeches
c. flooding
d. all of the above

10. This period of Egyptian history is also called the "Age of Pyramids"
a. Old Kingdom
b. Middle Kingdom
c. New Kingdom NEXT
11. In Egypt's Old Kingdom what did craftworkers receive in return for the objects that they
made for the pharaohs?
a. land
b. money
c. clothes & food

12. Trade & building an empire became very important to Egypt's growth during this period:
a. Old Kingdom
b. Middle Kingdom
c. New Kingdom

13. This period of Egyptian history saw the rise of a Middle Class.
a. Old Kingdom
b. Middle Kingdom
c. New Kingdom

14. The Middle Kingdom is best described as a time when Egypt:

a. first developed a written language
b. began to use irrigation techniques
c. increased contact with other cultures

15. In Ancient Egypt most of the land and farms were owned by:
a. hard-working farmers
b. skilled craftworkers
c. government officials
END
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