Transcript Ancient Egyptians and the Environment

Ancient Egyptians and the
Environment
2850 BC-525 BC
Egypt/North Eastern Africa
Social Structure
Pharaoh
The son of the sun
A God among people
Nobles
Appointed by the pharaoh
Most important were the scribes
Peasant Farmers
Majority of society
Slaves
Still lived better than slaves anywhere else
Could own property
The Nile
People depended on the Nile for
everything- literally
Regular flooding deposited
silt/fertilized farmland
Houses built of river mud
Pharaoh and his Job
Perform rituals to keep society safe
and well-fed
Sympathetic magic
Literally thought to keep the sun rising
each morning
“Responsible” for the regular flooding
of the Nile
When the Nile floods regularly…
People can’t farm so they build
monuments (ex pyramids) for the
pharaoh. (June to October)
Crop yields increase so the pharaoh
can tax the people more
People are happy so they trust the
Pharaoh- results in unity
build his irrigation systems- increases
productivity
Farming
• People depended on irrigation to water
their fields
– Important since the Nile cuts through Sahara
desert
• Farmed using plows, hand tools
• Barley, wheat, fig trees
• Used animals to help cultivate soil and
irrigation
Writing System
Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphics on
papyrus
Paper from reed like plants that grow on the
Nile River Bank
Kept track of everything in the kingdom
Taxes
Food
People
News
Book of the Dead
Only the scribes could write- coveted
position
Religion
Most Gods are connected to
nature/natural phenomenon
Ra- Sun God most important
Osiris- God of farming/agriculture,
God of the underworld
Nut swallows and gives birth to the
sun
Ma’at- idea of cycle life and death
(just like Nile River cycles)
Trade
• Nile is the superhighway to transfer
– Troops
– Goods
– Ideas
How is Egypt Vulnerable?
If the Nile’s cycle of flooding and receding
isn’t regular…
People lose faith in the Pharaoh (taxes and
power decrease)
More likely to trust local priests and Godsdisunity
People starve because irrigation won’t work
well
Society becomes weak and ripe for invasion
Trade slows (less water to sail on) and people
are not healthy to travel