Transcript Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt
Objective 2.1- Objective 2.1- Compare how
different geographical issues of the ancient
period influenced settlement, trading, networks,
and the sustainability of various ancient
Civilizations
Life in Ancient Egypt
• Life centered around
the Nile river
• Yearly floods brought
nutrients to the soil
• The river was a main
route of travel
“Egypt is the gift of
the Nile” -Herodotus
Egyptian Timeline
• Old Kingdom (2700-2150)
– Hieroglyphics and religion develop
in Egypt
– pyramids built
• Middle Kingdom (2040-1786)
– extension of Egyptian control into
Nubia
• New Kingdom (1570-1075)
– militaristic - Hebrews enslaved
– mummification perfected
Social Pyramid of Egypt
• Pharaoh- Egyptian
King
• Upper Class
–
Royal Family, Government Officials,
Army Officers, Priests, Landowners,
and Doctors
• Middle Class
–
Merchants, Manufacturers, and
Artisans or skilled laborers
• Lower Class
–
Unskilled Laborers and Farmers
• Slaves and Servants
The Pharaoh
• God-King - unlike
Mesopotamia
• Pharaoh’s cities did not
have walls-unlike
Mesopotamia
– Religious significance
• direct descendant of the Sun
god
• controls access to the afterlife
• July-Sept, during floods life is
controlled by the Pharaoh
– 365 day calendar.
IV. Farmers in Egypt
Egyptian Religion
• Polytheism
– About 2000
gods & goddesses
EXAMPLES
– Amon-Ra (Creator God)
– Osiris (God of the Dead)
– Horis (Sky God)
• Death and Funerals
– Three souls “ka, ba, and akh”
– Embalming
– Burial Tombs
Ka, Ba, Akh
• Egyptians believed that humans possessed a ka, or
life-force, which left the body at the point of
death. In life, the ka received its sustenance from
food and drink. Each person also had a ba, the set
of spiritual characteristics unique to each
individual.[30] Unlike the ka, the ba remained
attached to the body after death. Egyptian funeral
rituals were intended to release the ba from the
body so that it could move freely, and to rejoin it
with the ka so that it could live on as an akh.
However, it was also important that the body of the
deceased be preserved, as the Egyptians believed
that the ba returned to its body each night to
receive new life, before emerging in the morning as
an akh.
Egypt’s Economy
• Pharaoh was at the
center of the economy
• Based upon Agriculture
• Pharaoh took taxes on
the crops that were
grown, and goods that
were made
• Goods were “bartered”
or traded for other
needed goods
A System of Writing
• Hieroglyphics
– Used to keep record
• Scribes
– Record keepers
– Original Accountants
• Papyrus
– Paper made from plants
• Rosetta Stone
– Transcribed
Hieroglyphics, Greek,
and Demotic
IV. Hieroglyphics
• Language is written without
letters
• Different pronunciations
– MNFR as Memphis
– SR as Osiris
– TTMS as either Thutmose,
Thutmosis, Tatmusa or
Atithmese
• Who learns this writing style?
Building the Pyramids
• Built as tombs for the Pharaohs
• Afterlife
– Housed everything needed for the
Paraoh
• Khufu’s pyramid
– Total number of blocks
• 2,300,000
– One block’s average weight
• 2.5 tons
– Number of blocks added each day
• 285
• Tall as a 45 story building
Daily Life in Egypt
• Cosmetics, cleanliness (bath 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
Children in Egypt
RICH
• Children of Pharaoh
swam in palace pools
• Learned their parents
trade
• Spun tops, and
played games
•
•
•
•
POOR
Swam in canals
Worked alongside
their parents
Little time to play
Daily chores
End of Ancient Egypt
• The Egyptian Civilization
lasted over 2000 years.
• After 1100 B.C. the
civilization declined.
• Eventually The Greeks
would conquer under the
leadership of Alexander
the Great.