Transcript Why was the Nile crucial to Ancient Egypt?

Ancient Egypt
History of Ancient Egypt
Introductory Documentary
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbzxqeCJfi
c
Computer Lab Checklist
• Spend 2 minutes on each slide. Discuss with
your partner what you think are the most
important points, and write them down. Start
on slide #4, and try to get to slide #17
• In a short paragraph, describe mummification
• If time, play the game about mummification at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/game
s/mummy_maker/index_embed.shtml
Why was the Nile crucial to Ancient Egypt?
• Ancient Egypt civilization
emerged more than 5000 years
ago
• It started near the Nile River,
because the land was fertile
• The Nile flooded the area
every year and left mud which
made the fields fertile
• The egyptians built dams and
canals to control the Nile
• The Nile was also used to
transport people and goods in
sailing ships
The Nile was so important that
they had a god which
represented the river
Chronology – Use your book to answer
these questions!
• Egyptian history started with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt
under the first pharaoh
• Which periods do you think were stable?
-Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom
• Which periods do you think were more unstable?
-The Intermediate Periods
• What were Egypt’s capitals during each of the Kingdoms?
Memphis during Old Kingdom, Thebes during Middle and New
• During which Kingdom was Egypt at its largest?
New Kingdom
Egyptian Expansion
• Can you find a map of the Old, Middle, and
New Kingdoms to compare their sizes???
(hint: use Google)
Egyptian Writing
• Egyptians
developed
hieroglyphic
writing, which
consisted of a
succesion of
symbols and
drawings. They
commonly used
papyrus for writing
The Rosetta stone
• The Rosetta stone is a fragment
of basaltic stone found in 1799
by napoleonic troops in a village
called Rosetta.
• On it there is a text written
three times, each time in a
different script: demotic,
hieroglyphic and Greek
• The inscription is a
commemoration of the
coronation of Pharaoh Ptolemy
V
• Translated by a French scholar
named Champollion
Champollion
• Champollion was a french
scholar who dedicated his life to
decipher the egyptian writing.
• He was able to find the name of
the Pharaoh in hieroglyphic
writing and compare it with its
greek translation on the Rosetta
Stone
Who were the pharaohs?
• The pharaoh was the
king of ancient
egyptians
• The first pharaoh was
king Menna, who
united all the
territories along the
River Nile, the lower
and the upper Egypt
The Pharaoh
• The Pharaoh was allpowerful
• He passed laws
• He ruled the country
• He owned most of the
land
• He controlled trade
• He led the armies
Pharaoh
• Egyptians believed
that the pharaohs
were gods
• They believed too
that the pharaohs
had magical powers
and could make the
waters of the Nile rise
What was Ancient Egyptian society
like?
Pharaoh
Priests and Noblemen
Soldiers
Scribes
Merchants
Craftsmen
Peasants
Servants
and Slaves
Egyptian women
• Egyptian women had
some rights: they
could inherit and own
property, and they
could also get
divorced
• They did house work
but some women, like
Hatshepsut or
Cleopatra, became
pharaohs.
Queen
Cleopatra
Queen Hatshepsut
What were Egyptian religious beliefs?
• The Egyptians were
polytheistic
• The main god was
the Sun, called Ra,
Amun or Atum
• Other important gods
were Isis, Osiris and
Horus
• Let´s see some of
them!
Egyptian religion
• Egyptian believed that
religion preserved the order
of the universe
• Religious rituals ensured
that the Nile flooded each
year.
• Each god had a temple,
where priests made
offerings to its statue. On
the feast day, the statue was
taken out in procession
AFTERLIFE
• Egyptians believed there was an afterlife, as
long as the body was preserved.
• The soul (ka) needed a body to stay in, which
is why they practised mummification
• To enter the afterlife the soul had to pass the
Judgement of Osiris. The Book of Dead was a
guide on how to pass this Judgement
MUMMIFICATION
• First, the
embalmers
wash his body
with goodsmelling palm
wine and rinse
it with water
from the Nile
MUMMIFICATION
• One of the
embalmer's men
makes a cut in the left
side of the body and
removes many of the
internal organs. It is
important to remove
these because they
are the first part of
the body to
decompose.
MUMMIFICATION
• The liver, lungs, stomach
and intestines are
washed and packed in
natron which will dry
them out. The heart is
not taken out of the body
because it is the centre of
intelligence and feeling
and the man will need it
in the afterlife
• A long hook is used to
smash the brain and pull
it out through the nose
EXTRACTION OF THE BRAIN
MUMMIFICATION
• The body is now
covered and
stuffed with
natron which will
dry it out. All of
the fluids, and rags
from the
embalming
process will be
saved and buried
along with the
body
MUMMIFICATION
• After forty days
the body is
washed again
with water from
the Nile. Then it
is covered with
oils to help the
skin stay elastic
MUMMIFICATION
• The dehydrated
internal organs
are wrapped in
linen and
returned to the
body
MUMMIFICATION
• In the past, when the
internal organs were removed
from a body they were placed
in hollow canopic jars. Over
many years the embalming
practices changed and
embalmers began returning
internal organs to bodies
after the organs had been
dried in natron. However,
solid wood or stone canopic
jars were still buried with the
mummy to symbolically
protect the internal organs.
Imsety, human headed, kept the liver
Hapy the baboon, the lungs
Duamutef, the jackal, the stomach
Qebesenuef, the falcon, the intestines
MUMMIFICATION
• Finally, the body was
wrapped in linen and a
priest reads spells out
loud. These spells will
help ward off evil
spirits and help the
deceased make the
journey to the afterlife
• The mummy was then
put in a sarcophagus
The Judgement of Osiris
The scene reads from left to right. To the left, Anubis brings Hunefer into the judgement
area. Anubis is also shown supervizing the judgement scales. Hunefer's heart, represented
as a pot, is being weighed against a feather, the symbol of Maat, the established order of
things, in this context meaning 'what is right'. If the heart did not balance with the feather,
then the dead person was condemned to non-existence, and consumption by the ferocious
'devourer', the strange beast shown here which is part-crocodile, part-lion, and parthippopotamus.
However, as a papyrus devoted to ensuring Hunefer's continued existence in the Afterlife is
not likely to depict this outcome, he is shown to the right, brought into the presence of
Osiris by his son Horus, having become 'true of voice' or 'justified'.
Tutankhamun and Howard Carter
Mummies
Tutankhamun
Mummies
Ramses II
Pyramids
What did it take to build the pyramids?
•
•
But the pyramids are more than mathematical puzzles. They hold the key to
understanding the structure of Egyptian society. The pyramids were built, not by
the gangs of slaves often portrayed by Hollywood film moguls, but by a workforce
of up to 5,000 permanent employees, supplemented by as many as 20,000
temporary workers, who would work for three or four months on the pyramid site,
before returning home.
The bureaucracy that we know lay behind this operation is staggering. Not only did
the workforce have to be summoned, housed and fed, but administrators also had
to coordinate the supplies of stone, rope, fuel and wood that were needed to
support the building work. Pyramid studies confirm that a pre-mechanical society
can, given adequate resources and the will to succeed, achieve great things.
Pyramid building would have been impossible without strong government backed
up by an efficient civil service. No wonder many archaeologists believe that, while
the Egyptians undeniably built the pyramids, the pyramids also built Egypt.
•
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/egypt_importance_01.shtml
Mastaba
Saqqara
Bent Pyramid of Snofru
Red Pyramid of Snofru
How pyramids were built?
http://www.wat.tv/video/bbc-documentary-pyramids-how-u0el_2gt67_.html
Hypogeum: the Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where, for
a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th
century BC, tombs were constructed for the
Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom
The tomb of Tutankhamon
The Valley of
the Kings
What was Egyptian art like?
• Temples
The most
important
temples
were those
of Karnak
and Luxor.
They had an
avenue of
sphinxes
leading to
the
entrance.
Egyptian temple
Egyptian Painting
• The main
characteristics of
Egyptian painting
were:
• Objects and human
body (chest) are seen
from the front, but the
head, arms and legs
are seen in profile
• Human figures are
static
What killed King Tut?
• There are three plausible explanations:
• The War Wound
• The Accident
• The Murder
What was the main
clue?
The Kneecap was broken
And the answer is…
The War Wound!
THE END