Transcript Egypt - SchoolRack

ANCIENT EGYPT
 Take notes as you WILL have an exam on
this information in about 2 weeks!!!
~ Geography ~
• Ancient Egypt was a narrow strip of land along the
Nile River, otherwise it was desert
• Each year the river flooded its banks, leaving
behind a fertile fringe of soil they called "the Black
Land," while the desert all around the Nile valley
was called "the Red Land."
• Over 90% of Egypt is barren desert, leaving 99% of
the population to live in just 3% of the land,
including the fertile Nile Valley and Delta.
• Egypt's climate is hot and dry for most of the year.
The Nile River:
The Nile River is about 4,145
miles long. It is the longest
river in the world. The Nile
gave them rich soil to grow
there crops so they have food.
Egypt's two most important
places are the Nile delta and
the Nile valley, all ancient
Egyptians depended on the
Nile river for food, water and
transportation.
Agriculture
• Herodotus called Egypt the “Gift
of the Nile”
• Egyptians took advantage of
the Nile’s annual floods to
become an especially
productive agricultural region
Specialization
Brewing and
Breadmaking
Sailing
Plowing and
Sowing
Harvesting papyrus and
Herding
Specialization
• Nile societies were
much slower than
Mesopotamia to
adopt metal tools
and weapons
Egyptian
• Did develop pottery,
pottery makers
textile manufacture,
woodworking,
leather production,
stonecutting, and
masonry occupations
Specialization
• Building a pyramid would
require
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Laborers
Architects
Engineers
Craftsmen
Artists
Cities
Cities
• Relatively few cities and
high administrative
centralization
• Memphis
• Founded by Menes
around 3100 BC as
capital of a united
Upper and Lower
Egypt
• Located at the head
of the Nile River Delta
• Thebes
• Administrative center
of Upper Egypt
• Seat of worship for
Amon
~ Religion and Philosophy ~
•
In ancient Egypt visual arts, writing, and
literature all celebrated religion—the
elaborate tombs, pyramids, and temples are
legacies of their religious beliefs and
practices. Later, Muslim artists brought the
distinctive mosque architecture to Egypt. The
majority of Egyptian people today are fellahin,
or farmers, who’s lifestyles and traditions
have hardly changed over the past centuries.
Mummification in ancient Egypt was a very
long and expensive process. From start to
finish, it took about seventy days to embalm a
body. Since the Egyptians believed that
mummification was essential for passage to
the afterlife, people were mummified and
buried as well as they could possibly afford.
High-ranking officials, priests and other
nobles who had served the pharaoh and his
queen had fairly elaborate burials.
The people of Egypt used silver and
gold for money, to earn money they
would sell slaves, horses and food in
the market. Farmers had to give the
pharaoh a large part of their crop, as
their tax pay, every Egyptian had to pay
a large tax almost every year to help the
government.
Economic Exchange
In this scene from the grave of Ipui at Thebes,
sailors are seen leaving the boat carrying sacks
containing grain. A woman is selling bread and
possibly beer (top left), beside her a sailor is
exchanging grain for fish. On the right a buyer
checks out a cake or a loaf of bread while beside
him another is acquiring some vegetables.
Economic Exchange
• The Nile provided excellent
transportation which facilitated
trade.
• Nile flows north so boats could
ride the currents from Upper to
Lower Egypt.
Economic Exchange
• Egypt needed to trade
because, beside the Nile,
it had few natural
resources
• For example, Egypt had
very few trees so all its
wood came from abroad,
especially cedar from
Lebanon
• Much trade between
Egypt and Nubia
• Importance of trade was
reflected in the names of
southern Egyptian cities
New Technologies
Ramps and
stone-cutting
required to
build pyramids
New Technologies
• Papyrus
• The raw material came from
the plant Cyperus papyrus
which grew along the banks
of the Nile
• Used not only in the
production of paper but also
used in the manufacture of
boats, rope and baskets
• Shipbuilding
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Wooden boats
Multiple-oars
Sails
Rope trusses to strengthen
hulls
Religion and Education
Religion and Education
• Two main gods
were Amon
(Thebian deity
associated with
the sun, creation,
fertility, and
reproductive
forces) and Re
(the sun god
worshipped at
Heliopolis)
Brief Period of
Monotheism
• For a brief
period
Akhentan
challenged
the Amon-Re
cult by
proclaiming
Aten as the
one and only
true god
The sun disc Aten shining on
the names of the royal family
Mummification
In order to
prepare a
person for the
long and
hazardous
journey before
they could
enjoy the
pleasures of
the afterlife,
the body of a
dead person
was preserved
by a process
called
mummification
The Judgment
• The Egyptians viewed the heart as
the seat of intellect and emotion.
• Before entering the pleasures of
eternity, the dead person had to
pass a test in which Anubis, the god
of the dead, weighed the person’s
heart against Ma’at, the goddess of
justice and truth
The Judgment
• If the deceased’s good deeds
outweighed the bad, then his
heart would be as light as the
feather (heavy hearts bore the
burden of guilt and evil), and
Osiris would welcome the
newcomer to the next world.
• If the deceased fell short in his
judgment, his body would be
eaten by a monster
Osiris
• Patron of the underworld, the
dead, and past pharaohs
• Cult of Osiris demanded
observance of high moral
standards
• As lord of the underworld, Osiris
had the power to determine who
deserved the blessing of
immortality and who did not
Social Hierarchy
Social Hierarchy
• Pharaoh
• Egyptian kings of a centralized state
• Claimed to be gods living on earth in human form
• Bureaucrats
• Because the pharaoh was an absolute ruler
there was little room for a noble class as in
Mesopotamia
• Instead professional military forces and an
elaborate bureaucracy of administrators and tax
collectors served the central government
Social Hierarchy
• Patriarchial
• Vested authority over public and private
affairs in men
• However, more opportunities for women
than in Mesopotamia as evidenced by
Queen Hatshepsut reigning as pharaoh
• Peasants and slaves
• Supplied the hard labor that made
complex agricultural society possible
• Among the slaves were the Hebrews
~ Language, Education, and the Arts
~ • The ancient Egyptian civilization was a
system of apprenticeship. This allowed
craftsmen to teach their trade to young
people who were not their children. The
family of the apprentice paid the craftsman
for training. In earlier times, education was
more individualized. Each scribe taught his
successor individually, usually his own son.
Later there were formal classes for scribes.
The Books of Instruction also served as
teaching texts in the scribe schools.
Art and Writing
Art and Writing
• Pyramids
• Symbols of the
pharaoh’s authority
and divine stature;
royal tombs
• Pyramid of Khufu
involved the
precise cutting and
fitting of 2,300,000
limestone blocks
with an average
weight of 2.5 tons
• Estimated
construction of the
Khufu pyramid
required 84,000
laborers working
80 days per year
for 20 years
The Sphinx and
Great Pyramid of
Khufu at Giza.
Art and Writing
• Hieroglyphs
• Pictures that were used
to write the ancient
Egyptian language
• Originally used to keep
records of the king's
possessions. Scribes
could easily make these
records by drawing a
picture of a cow or a
boat followed by a
number.
• As the language became
more complex, more
pictures were needed.
Pharaohs
Tutankhamun (King Tut)
1334 and 1325 BC
Ramesses II
1279-1213 BC
~ Pharaohs ~
• The Egyptian kings ruled over Egypt for 3000
years until the armies of Alexander the Great
arrived in 332 B.C.
• During this 3000 year period the Egyptians
would overcome a lot such as the Hyksos and
the Persians, but then Alexander came.
Mesopotamia and Egypt
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Agriculture
+“Land between the rivers”
(Tigris and Euphrates forms
Fertile Crescent
+Artificial irrigation
+”Gift of the Nile”
+Artificial irrigation
Specialization
+Pottery, textiles,
woodworking, leather, brick
making, stonecutting,
masonry
+Pottery, textiles,
woodworking, leather
production, stonecutting,
masonry
Cities
-Numerous, densely
populated city-states (Ur and
Babylon)
-Fewer cities with high
centralization (Memphis and
Thebes)
Social Hierarchy
-Noble class
-Patriarchal
+Slaves
-Absolute authority of the
pharaoh made a noble class
unnecessary (had
bureaucrats instead)
-Patriarchal, but the presence
of Queen Hatsheput may
indicate greater opportunities
for women
+Slaves
Mesopotamia and Egypt
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Religion and Education
-Polytheism
-No afterlife
-Polytheism, but brief
period of monotheism
under Akhentan
-Afterlife and judgment
(mummification)
New Technologies
-Superior in metallurgy
-Papyrus, shipbuilding,
pyramids
Economic exchange
-Trade by land and water
-Trade principally by water
along the Nile
-Trade more important
because Egypt lacked
natural resources beside
the Nile
Art and Writing
-Cuneiform
-Hieroglyphs (more
pictorial than cuneiform)