Transcript Ancient Egyptians

Ancient Egyptians
By: Robin, Bridgette, Arya, and Carter
Introduction
• Birthplace of 1 of the world’s 1st
civilizations
• Arouse 5,000 years ago
• Ruled from 3,000 B.C.- 30 A.D.
• Advanced in arithmetic, had a 365 day
calendar, and established the 1st
national government
Geography
• Developed along the Nile River Valley
• Divided into upper and lower Egypt
– Upper: South
– Lower: North
• Area around Nile & current Israel
Food, clothing, and
shelter
• Food
– Bread major part of diet
– Beer was a popular beverage
– Other foods
• Vegetables, fruit, cheese, milk, butter, and duck and
goose meat
– Food of the rich
• Other meat (beef, gazelle, and antelope)
– Ate with fingers
• Medicine
– only cure is to keep clean and stay away from illnesses
– Herbs
• opium, cannabis, myrrh, frankincense, fennel, cassia, senna,
thyme, henna, juniper, aloe, linseed and castor oil
• Garlic found in tombs and burial sites
• Clothing
– Jewelry
• Necklaces, bracelets, and rings
• Cosmetics
–
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red lip powder
dyed hair
– painted fingernail
– outlined their eyes
– Men wore just as much make up as women
• Hair styling
– Matted and tangled hair
– Royalty were bald and wore wigs and large crowns
• Clothing
– Wore light clothes due to heat
– Cloth made from plant fibers
– Royalty- silk and feathers
• Houses
– Built out of bricks and dried mud
– City- narrow buildings w/ 3+ floors
– Poor Egyptian
• Small huts
• 1-3 rooms
– Typical Egyptian
• 2-3 story house
• Several rooms
– Wealthy Egyptian
• Up to 70 rooms
• Large estates w/ pools, orchards, gardens, etc.
– Furniture
• Stools, chairs, oil lamps, beds, and chests
Family life
• Marriage
– Civil marriage
– Had marriage contracts
– Main point was to get money and property
• Family Life
– Head of family- father
• If father died oldest son took over
– Women had many rights
• could own and inherit property, buy and sell goods, and
make a will.
• Wife could get divorced
Leisure and Travel
• Transportation
– boats or ships
• handy because of location along the Nile
made boats that were shaped like a canoe
– for the shallower parts of the Nile
• Leisure time
– Played mostly board games and sports
– Wealthy- bidding and betting games
Education and Writing
• Writing
– Hieroglyphics
• form of writing where picture symbols are used instead of
words
• are usually used to refer to Ancient
Egyptians.
• borrowed the idea from Mesopotamia
• Egyptian hieroglyphics generally included about 800
symbols.
– Papyrus
•
•
•
•
A type of paper
1st use around 4000 B.C.
very important
helped transform Egyptian society
Education and Writing
continued
• Schooling
– Not many boys/girls went to school
– Mostly rich people to become scribes
• if they didn’t want to become scribes
– be an apprentice and learn from people that did
their future job
Potters and Farming
• Potters
– Hired by royal family
– Pottery
• Important product
• Used to cook, store, and serve food
• Farming
– Workers
• Got crops as pay
– Crops
• Main- wheat and barely
• Beans, onions, figs, lettuce, dates, grapes,
melons, and cucumbers
– Animals
• Raised- beef cattle, goats, ducks, sheep,
geese, donkeys, and even bees
The Arts
• Music
– God of Music- Thoth
– Sang religious songs
– Invented Ney (flute) and Oudh (like a
guitar)
• Art
– Told stories
– Architectural features
• Festivals
– Large feasts
– Celebrated gods
Social classes and
slavery
• Social Classes
– Different families, different expectations
– Ruling elite at top
– Farm laborers at bottom
• Slavery
– Slaves
• Worked all day and all night
• Got little or no pay
• Built pyramids and worked on farms
Trade
Weapons and Hunting
• Weapons
– didn’t have very many
– Made out of metal and wood
– threw sticks at birds in hopes that it hit
them right
– threw spears and shot arrows
– nets used for capturing fish and some
types of birds
Mummies and Cats
• Mummies
– Preserved dead
– Believed in an “afterlife”
• Cats
– Known as Miw
– Kept down Vermis Bast
Pyramids and the Great
Sphinx
• Pyramids
– Built from 2650- 1800 B.C. by slaves
– Tombs for pharaohs
– Built entirely from stone
– Giza Pyramids
• Pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu- largest of 3
Great Pyramids
• Took 20+ years to build
• Built out of limestone
• The Sphinx
– Has lion’s head and man’s body
– Appears to be guarding pyramid of Khufu
The Rosetta Stone and
Re
• Rosetta Stone
– Tablet w/ hieroglyphics
– Key to translating language of ancient
Egypt
• Re
– All powerful god
Eye of Horus and the
Valley of the Kings
• Valley of Kings
– Rocky gorge that was a cemetery for kings
– Ramesses, Menkeptah, Seti, Tuthnosis,
etc.
• Eye of Horus
– Represented with 6 parts corresponding to
the six senses.
– senses are in the order of their importance.