Transcript Notes: Egypt

EGYPT
PREVIEW & PROCESSING
• What do you think of when you think of
Egypt?
• What river runs through Egypt?
• What is considered the gift of the Nile?
• Who was Herodotus?
• Can you name at least one Egyptian ruler?
Facts about the Nile
• 4100 miles long
• Flooding predictable: June=flood
Oct.=rich soil
• Herodotus called the silt the “Gift of
the Nile”
• Worshipped as a god
• Pop. Lived close to Nile bec. deserts on
both sides of the territory
• Libyan (Sahara) and Arabian
• Helped to keep invaders out
• Farming villages: nomes wh = agric.
district w/ own gov’t
• N. & S. Egypt w/ separate rulers
Egypt United
• 3200 BCE there were 2 Egypt's w/ 2 kings;
upper and lower
• 3100 BCE Menes/Namar = upper Egypt
• Capt. @ Memphis
• Egyptian dynasties are born
• What colors and symbols did Menes place
on his newly unified crown?
The Kingdoms of Egypt
• Old, Middle, New
• Old Kingdom (2660-2180BCE)
• Pyramids
• Lgest. In Giza: 481 ft tall and covers 13
acres
• Khufu
• Built by peasants and slaves
• 60 still standing
• Pharaohs=gods
• Immortal
• Ka: rule from grave wh/ = need for
pyramid
• 1st illness = Pharaoh's power
doubted
• Middle Kingdom (2080-1640 BCE)
•
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
Capt. Moved from Memphis to Thebes
Phar. Concerned w/ common people
Dug canals for trade
Channeled Nile for irigation
Drained swamps for farm land
Everyone w/ afterlife (no longer just for
Pharaohs)
• 2nd illness
• 70 yrs of civil War
• Invaders came to Egypt
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
Hyksos “rulers of the uplands”
Make bronze
Wage war from horse drawn chariots
New kind of bow
New technique of spinning & weaving
• Hyksos defeated by Pharaoh Kamose
• New Kingdom (1570-1075 BCE)
• Wealth & power
• Pharaohs buried beneath desert cliffs
• Tutankhamen
• Queen Hapshepsut (1478 BCE)
• Ramses II (1279-1212 BCE)
• 99:150
• Temples w/ own likeness
Ramses II
• Need to build empire
• Battle of Kadesh
• Hittites
• “brothers forever” official tie
• Ended E’s dominate power
• Over time E. would be controlled by
the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and
Romans
Daily life in Egypt
• Social Classes
1. Nobles: gov. generals, tax
collectors, priest, etc.
• Women: property trade marriage,
divorce
• Homes: gardens, wading pools
2. Peasants
• Wall painting in tombs
• Hard work on “borrowed land,” high
taxes
• Tombs, dams, canals
• Social mobility
• Pharoah’s service (i.e. army)
• Read & write
• Men & women
3. Slaves
• Homes or gold mines
Religion
• Maat: live a good life; in search of truth &
justice
• Osiris (god of the dead)
• Weigh heart
• Devourer of the Souls
• After life: nothing changed
• Priest
• Magical charms, chants: Book of the Dead
• More power, slaves & land than pharaohs
• Akhenaton = Aton only = monotheism
• Tutankhamun = Amun (Amon) & return to
polytheism
EDUCATION
• Arithmetic, geometry, surveying
• Calendar: Sirius: 365 days, 12
mos. of 30 days + 5 for holydays &
festivals
• Medicine: heartbeat, broken bones
One of the ways we learned about the
Egyptians
• Writing: hieroglyphics “sacred carvings”
• 1799 Rosetta Stone
• Found by French soldiers who were
rebuilding Egypt
• 3 scripts being used in Egypt @ the
time
• Written in 196 BCE
• Found in the town of Rosetta
• Written by priest o honor the pharaoh
• Deciphered by Champollion in 1822
• Papyrus: reed = paper
hieroglyphics=religious or
important writings
st
•1
nd
•2
demotic=common
Greek wh/ = occupying
power @ the time.
rd
•3
The
Rosetta
Stone
MAKING THE CONNECTION
Ticket out the Door :
1. Why is the Rosetta Stone so important to
unlocking the mysteries of ancient Egypt?
2. How did Egypt influence modern
societies?