Transcript Ancient Egypt

Egyptian Timeline
• Old Kingdom (2700-2150)
• Middle Kingdom (2040-1786)
• New Kingdom (1570-1075)
Old Kingdom
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Theocracy
Menes united Egypt
Came to an end with a Civil War
Hieroglyphics developed
Religion developed
Pyramids and Sphinx built
Middle Kingdom
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Extension of Egyptian control into Nubia
Arts developed
Theocracy type government
Invaded by the Hyksos (invaders on horse)
New Kingdom
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Militaristic
Hebrews enslaved
Mummification perfected
Social and religious changes
Pharaoh had absolute power
Invasions prevention used all money in
treasury
I. Desert
• Surrounded by desert with occasional oasis
– Permits some trade
– Defense from invasion
• Contributes to feeling of safety
– preserves artifacts
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“Egypt is the gift of
the Nile” -Herodotus
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I. The Nile
• yearly flooding - no concern for soil
depletion
– Predictable
– Irrigation systems
• Encourages
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Trade/protection/food
Communication
Political unity
4160 Miles long-empties in the Mediterranean
Sea
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I. The Nile
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I. The Nile
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I. The Nile
I. The Nile
• Impact on religion
– divided life - living and dying.
• East (sunrise) is land of the living - cities, temples
• West (sunset) is land of the dead – tombs
• Burials are completed this way
***** How do we bury people today?
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II. Religion
• Omnipresence of religion
• Polytheistic
– interaction with the natural environment shows
interrelated gods and goddesses yearly rebirth of Nile and
daily rebirth of sun
– over 2000 gods
• Pharaoh as living god
• Most important god was Amon-re or RA- the
creator or sun god
• Afterlife
– Evolution of who has an afterlife
• Old vs. New Kingdom
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II. Osiris
• God of the Dead - “rebirth” and the weighing of the heart
against a sacred feather
=eternal happiness or death
• Evolution of Egyptian
mythology
– known as a ruler in the Nile
delta – a local god
– regional god.
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II. Horus
• Horus, god of balance and harmony
• maintained the natural order: the flow of the Nile and the fertility of
the soil.
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Isis
• Wife and sister of Osiris and mother of
Horus
• Protector of children
Anubis
• God of the dead
• Supervises the embalming process
• He shows the dead the way to the
underworld
• Weighted the souls of the dead to determine
their fate in the afterlife
Anubis
Ra and Amon-Ra
• During the New Kingdom the two gods
were merged into one main god. Amon-Ra
II. Early Pyramids
Zozer’s stepped pyramid - similar to
Babylonian ziggurats
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Why build Pyramids?
• Belief in the afterlife demanded:
1. Bodies be interred whole
2. Material goods for use in afterlife be present
• The need to protect the bodies demands
good burial tombs
1. First were mastabas
2. Then pyramids
3. Then later… hidden tombs
II. Great Pyramid
• Tomb for Khufu
• an almost perfect square (deviation .05%)
• Orientation is exactly North, South, East
West
• 2,300,000 blocks, 500ft high
• 20 years to build
• Average block weighs 2.5 tons
– Some weigh 9 tons!
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Pyramids of Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu
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Queen Pyramids in front
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II. Mummies
• Not known when it started in Egypt
• Perfected by time of New Kingdom
• How to make a mummy: 70 steps
– 1) Removal of the brain through the nostrils 2) Removal of the
intestines through an incision in the side 3) Sterilization of the
body and intestines 4) Treating, cleaning, dehydrating the
intestines 5) Packing the body with natron (a natural dehydrating
agent) and leaving for 40 days 6) Removal of the natron agent 7)
Packing the limbs with clay or sand 8) Packing the body with linen
(soaked in resin), myrrh and cinnamon 9) Treating the body with
ointments and finally wrapping with a fine linen gauze, not less
than 1000 square yards .
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Mummies
Canopic Jars made of alabaster for storage of heart,
stomach, intestines and liver which were also treated
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Mummy
Inner coffin
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Second inner
coffin
Second inner
coffin lid
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Funerary
Gifts
Gift bearers
Shawabti box
Model boat
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III. The Pharaoh “The Great
House”
• God-King -
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owns all the land and people and what people posses
law vs. Pharaoh's will
irrigation
no city walls
Had absolute power
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III. The Pharaoh
• God-King – Religious
• direct descendant of the Sun god
• controls access to the afterlife
• July-Sept, during floods life is controlled by the
Pharaoh
– 365 day calendar.
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Menes
Amenhotep III
Ramses II
King Tut
Hatshepsut
Nefertiti
Cleopatra VII
IV. Daily Life in Egypt
• Cosmetics, cleanliness (bathe 3 times a day), shaved
bodies, wigs
• main food is beer and bread
– Grow many crops: emmer, barley, flax, lentils, onion,
beans, and millet
• common building made of sun-dried mud bricks - up
to three stories in height
• Four social classes - slaves on the bottom
• Most common job … farming
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Women
• Could improve her status through marriage
• Women had many legal rights such as
property ownership
Achievements
• Lunar Calendar/365 day year/12 months
• Number system based on 10
• Used fractions and geometry
Farms
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Pharaoh owned ALL land
Peasants kept part of crops for themselves
Land was divided into large estates
Grew mostly wheat, barley, flax and cotton
IV. Farmers in Egypt
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IV. Hieroglyphics
• Language is written without
vowels
• Pictographs were usually written
on walls, slates or papyrus
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IV. Hieroglyphics
• Use in
temples
• Rosetta Stone
• Used for
translations
• 1798
• Demotic,
Greek and
• Hieroglyphics
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IV. Egyptian Artwork
Stela (carved stone)
Egyptian Farmers & animals
Notice, all people drawn
from the side – even when
looking right at you!
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Old Kingdom
2680 BC-2180 BC
Menes united Upper and Lower
Egypt
2 classes- Peasants and farmersPharoah, scribes and government
officials
Ended with Civil Wars
V. Middle Kingdom 2050-1750 BCE
• End of civil wars, farming and trade return
• move capital south to Upper Egypt (Thebes)
• public improvements
– drain swamps, canal to Red Sea
• belief in afterlife expands to include
common people
• tombs instead of pyramids
– better protection for mummies.
– Hyksos introduce the chariot and invade Egypt
– Weakened government
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V. Middle Kingdom 2050-1750 BCE
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VI. New Kingdom 1550-1075 BCE
• Ahmose I expelled the invading Hyksos and
reunited Egypt
• Known as the Empire period
• development of “public” and “private”
zones at temples.
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Ahmose I leading Egyptians against the Hyksos
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VI. New Kingdom 1550-1075 BCE
• Characterized by a more militaristic and
imperialistic nature
– incorporated chariot, bronze working, horses
– development of a professional army
• became a slave based economy fueled by
war and expansion
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VI. Threats to Tradition
• Amenhotep IV (c. 1362-1347 B.C.)
introduced the worship of Aton, god
of the sun disk, as the chief god and
pursued his worship with
enthusiasm.
• Changed name to Akhenaten (“It is
well with Aton”)
• He closed the temples of other gods
and especially endeavored to lessen
the power of Amon-Re and his
priesthood at Thebes.
• Unsuccessful change to traditional
beliefs
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VI. Threats to Tradition
1355-1335 BCE
• Nefertiti
– Wife of Akhenaton the only
pharaoh to even partially
reject polytheism
– political move against priests
of Amon-Re
– moved capital to Amarna
– worshipped Aton, the sun
disk
• royal inbreeding.
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VI. Tutankhamen
1335-1325 BCE
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(King Tut)
child ruler
ruled nine years, died at 18
young death meant burial
in the tomb of a lesser
person (noble) resulting in
preservation
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VI. Ramses II (1279-1213)
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greatest New Kingdom ruler
military leader of Egypt
expanded into southern Turkey
built many monuments to
himself
• last gasp of Egyptian power.
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VI. Ramses II (1279-1213)
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VI. Ramses II (1279-1213)
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Ramses II
1st Peace treaty signed
Kept Egypt together
Called “Ramses the Great”
After Ramses II
The following Pharaohs were
weak and Egypt fell to invaders
from the Mediterranean Sea.
By 300 BC, Egyptian rule had
come to an end