Transcript Major Time Periods of Egypt

Ancient Egypt
Unit 1, Part 2
The Nile River’s impact
• 6000 B.C.E. - 5000 B.C.E - HG move
into Nile River valley - great fertile
soil
• World's longest river (4000 miles)
• Uses: bathed, irrigation, cooking,
cleaning, drinking.
• 2 rivers form the Nile just south of
Egypt
• Narrow cliffs and boulders form wild
rapids - CATARACTS
• Large ships only use the last 650
miles
Land of the Nile
• Green Valley - looks like a flower w/ long stem
• Nile Delta - Triangular area that fans out at the
mouth of the river
• Geographic features
• Isolated by cataracts, marshes & desert
• Marshes of the delta - keep ships out
• Sahara - largest desert in the world - To the west
of the Nile
• Red Land - burning heat
• Keep enemies out of territory
Flooding
•
•
•
•
Gentle & Dependable
did not worry about too little water
Crops not destroyed by overflow
Spring - Melting snow & heavy rains added to
Nile
• July-Oct - banks flowed over
• Left dark layer of fertile mud - Kemet - "the
Black Land"
Uses of the Nile
• Planted:
– Wheat
– Barley
– Flax seed
• Types of Irrigation
–
–
–
–
basins - bowl shaped holes to trap water
canals - carry water to fields
dikes- earthen banks to strengthen basin walls
Shadoof - bucket attached to long pole to lift water from
the Nile
• Developed new profession
– surveyor - marked boundaries after flood waters washed
them away each year.
What are “hieroglyphics?”
• “picture-writing” or “sacred symbols”
• “Hieroglyphics” is the language
Egyptians used to write things down:
history, stories, instructions, blessings,
and even…curses!
How is hieroglyphics different
from our alphabet?
• There are only 24 symbols (no x and no c).
• They used different letters to substitute:
–
–
–
–
Us:
Us:
Us:
Us:
c
x
v
u
Egyptian:
Egyptian:
Egyptian:
Egyptian:
k
ks
f
w
How did we learn how to read
hieroglyphics?
• In 1799, a French military officer found the “Rosetta
Stone” sunk in some mud.
• The Rosetta Stone had 3 kinds of writing on it:
Hieroglyphics, Demotic (everyday Egyptian
language), and Greek.
• In 1821, Jean Francis Champollion began translating
the Egyptian writings from his knowledge of Greek.
It had taken him 10 years to figure out the “pictures”
were pieces of language!
Where do we find hieroglyphics?
ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!
Pieces of pottery
Pyramids: in passages, on walls, on
stones
Papyrus scrolls
Vocabulary
1)
cartouche – a tablet with a border, used as a
nameplate
2)
hieroglyphics – a sophisticated system of pictures
and symbols used in ancient Egypt to communicate
information
3)
Nile River – river that runs through Egypt
4)
Ankh – a symbol for life after death
5)
pyramids – burial place for kings
6)
Pharaoh – Ruler of Egypt
7)
necropolis – the place of the burial tombs for the
kings and the wealthy
8)
papyrus – type of plant paper was made from
Rise of government
• Advances led to need for government
• Earliest rulers were village chiefs.
• 400 B.C. -2 kingdoms
– Lower Egypt
• Nile delta
– Upper Egypt
• South
Narmer
• Aka: Menes
• United Upper and
Lower Egypt
• Memphis (not just in
Tennessee)
• Double crown
Major Time Periods of Egypt
The Old Kingdom
When the pharaohs built
the pyramids
The Middle Kingdom
When training and military explorers were sent
out to expand Egypt’s boundaries
The New Kingdom
Ending with Queen Cleopatra losing her land to
Augustus Caesar and Rome
Egyptian Society
Pharaoh
Priest & Nobles
Traders, Artisans,
shopkeepers, and scribes
Farmers & herders
Unskilled workers
Men
Women
Kids
Daily life of the Wealthy
 Men were busy all day as merchants, trading along the Nile River.
Others supervised the daily workings of gigantic farms.
 Many of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Egypt were priests.
 Boys were taught to read and write.
 Women could own land, run businesses, testify in court, and bring
charges against men.
 Women oversaw the running of the households and gave the servants
instructions for daily menus and child care.
 Children were allowed much playtime. Girls practiced singing and
dancing. Boys wrestled and played army.
 Women and girls wore straight dresses of beautiful lined and a lot of
jewelry. At parties, they wore cones of incense on their heads that
melted slowly giving off a pleasant smell.
 Men and boys wore linen kilts
 Both men and women wore eye make-up made from black ashes.
 Their homes were(ELEGANT) brick and wood containing many rooms,
as well as walled garden and a shrine for a favorite god.
Daily Life of Workers
 The poor worked long hours for goods that they could
exchange in the marketplace for the products they needed.
 Agriculture was a major trade and many workers were
farmers.
 Boys learned a trade from their fathers, and girls were
taught to care for the home and family by their mothers.
 Women and girls wore straight, sheath-like dresses of
rough, unbleached linen.
 Men and boys wore short cloth kilts.
 Their homes were usually one-story made out of sun-dried
brick. There would be a basement and four rooms. They
had little furniture. Stairs led to the flat rooftop so that the
family could enjoy the cool night air after the sun went
down.
Painting and Sculpture
• Egyptians reached a highly advanced level of
sculpture. Beautiful figures sculpted from
wood, ivory, bronze, gold, and turquoise have
been found in tombs.
• One of the most famous sculptures in the world
is the head of Queen Nefertiti.
• Another famous work of art is the Great Sphinx,
a huge statue of a man’s head on a lion’s body,
which guards the pyramids near Giza.
The Least you need to know:
1. The Nile is the world’s ___________________
2. The flooding of the Nile can be described as
_______________ & ____________ and
therefore crops flourish here.
3. The Egyptian civilization is protected from
outside invaders by _________, __________,
and ______________.
4. ____________ united Upper & Lower Egypt
5. Egypt’s upper class lived in _______ homes
6. Most Egyptians that lived in the cities were
________ workers that did ________ labor.