Transcript Egypt - Fort Bend ISD

Warm-up
August 22
•What advantages does an
agriculturally based society
have over a hunter/gatherer
based society?
Egypt
1. Geography
• Nile River
–Predictable flooding
allowed for farming
–Flows North towards
Mediterranean Sea
–Nile Delta
–Lower Egypt (N. River) – Red
Crown
–Upper Egypt (S. River) –
White Crown
• King Menes – pharaoh;
3100 BCE; united Upper and
Lower Egypt into a single
kingdom.
st
1
•What are some natural
boundaries that would
protect and isolate Egypt?
–Western Desert
–Mediterranean
–Red Sea
2. Political Organization
•Theocracy (theo=god)
–Pharaoh was political
and religious leader
(viewed as a god)
•Dynastic – son to son to
son
•Bureaucracy = a group of
government officials
appointed by the king’s
“Rizier” – Prime Minister
•A. Queen Hatshepsut
(1480 BCE)
st
–1 female pharoah
–Extensive building
projects
–Prosperous reign
• B. Amenhotep IV (1370 BCE)
–Declared Egyptians only
worship Aton (sun-disk god)
st
–1 attempt at monotheism
–Changed name to Akhenaton –
“Spirit of Aton”
• C. Ramses II “The Great”
(1304-1237BCE)
–Ruled 67 years
–Worked to reestablish
greatness of Egypt (prestige)
–Built large statues of himself
–52 sons
–Ramses mummy
3. Religion
• Polytheism
• Re or Ra – most important
god; sunrise = birth; sunset =
death
• Pyramids – resting place for
kings after death
4. Organization of Society
•Social classes divided into
2:
–Upper class
–Farmers (Majority of
People)
5. Writing/Language
•Pictographs – 3100 BCE
•Ideograms – shows an
idea or action
•Hieroglyphics – written
on papyrus (kept records)
• Rosetta Stone – Jean Champollion
–Meaning of it lost until 1800’s
when Jean Champollion
deciphered the Rosetta Stone –
slab of black rock had
Hieroglyphics
–Most important Egyptian
artifact; key to understanding
hieroglyphics.
6. Technology
•Written numbers
•Architects
•Calendar (flooding of the
Nile
•Medical treatments