Transcript Chapter 3 - Ancient Egypt and Nubia MP

Unit 2
Early Civilizations in
Africa and Asia
“Hymn to the Nile”
Lord of the fish, during the inundation,
no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain,
you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to
the temples. If you cease your toil and your
work, then all that exists is in anguish. If the
gods suffer in heaven, then the faces of men
waste away…If He shines, the earth is joyous,
every stomach is full of rejoicing, every spring is
happy, every jawbone crushes (its food).
Lesson 1 – The Lifeline of the
Nile
Nile River Valley
•Ideal place for civilization to
thrive
•Egypt depended on agriculture
•Delta was located in Lower Egypt
Giver of Life Nile River
•Heavy rains in East Africa cause the
Nile to overflow
•Black land – fertile soil
•Red land – dry, desert land
•Wheat, barley and papyrus were
important crops
•Nile transported goods
•Six waterfalls, or cataracts, break up
the flow of the Nile…you need to
take the boat out of the water and
carry it.
•Because the water flowed from
south to north…you needed sails to
move upstream!
Taker of Life Nile River
•Heavy rains caused the Nile to
overflow and ruin crops, sometimes
people died
•Sometimes, the Nile did not flood
enough and crops would not grow
•Egyptians stored food from surplus
harvests
•Egyptians investigated why the Nile
flooded in a different way each year
•They built irrigation canals to
transport water to their crops
Help from the gods
•Polytheistic (belief in many gods)
•Stories about gods helped to explain the
Nile
•Main god was Amon-Ra represented
by sun
•Egyptians observed that sunrise and
sunset times changed and that the
moon’s appearance changed slightly
every night
•Egyptians used a calendar to
keep track of days between
flooding cycles.
•They predicted that the Nile
would flood between May and
September
The Nile River Was Important to Egyptians
The Nile
River flooded
about the
same time
every year.
Sometimes,
the river
flooded too
much or not
enough
Calendars
were
developed to
keep track of
when the Nile
would flood
Lesson 2 – Life in Egypt
• Unifying Egypt 3100BC
• Lower – red crown
• Upper – white
• Unified – red and white
• Menes went to the
North wearing the
double crown
•Memphis became the first capital of Egypt
•Manetho was a priest and advisor who began
to keep records of Egyptian kings and he
divided the kings into different dynasties
Ancient Egypt
•Old Kingdom 2650-2150 B.C.
•Ancient Egypt makes great strides in
mathematics, astronomy, art and
mummy making
•Known as the Age of the Pyramids
•Most famous is at Giza and is guarded
by the Sphinx
Facts of Pyramid of Khufu at Giza 2,600 BC
• 2,000,000 blocks of stone
• 481’ tall
• Weighs 6.5 million tons
• Covers 13 acres
• 203 levels of stairs
• Took about 23 years to build
• Aligned using stars
• Off magnetic north by only a few degrees
• Angles measure 510
• Was covered with white limestone to reflect light
First Intermediate Period
2150-2040 B.C.
•Rival kings fight
•Political chaos gives the common people
independence to create new art styles
First Intermediate Period Art
Middle Kingdom
•Middle Kingdom – 2040 – 1640 B.C.
•King Mentuhotep reunited the kingdom
•Border of Egypt expanded into Nubia in
the South (Nubia was rich in gold)
•After-life becomes available to all
Egyptians…not just kings
•Art, jewelry and literature improve
•Egyptian children learn to write by
copying Middle Kingdom stories and
epics
Middle Kingdom Jewelry
Second Intermediate Period
•1640-1550 B.C.
•Foreign settlers called Hyksos take
control of Lower Egypt
•They introduce horses and chariots into
combat
•They are eventually driven out of Egypt
New Weapons
Social Classes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
King – always at the top
Nobles and priests
Merchants, craftsmen and scribes
Farmers and unskilled workers
Enslaved people
Women in Egyptian Society
• Had more rights than women in many other ancient
civilizations
• Could inherit land and handle business transactions
• May have been scribes and merchants
• Archaeologist found an Egyptian word for female scribe
• Most were not taught to read or write
Trade and Technology
• Egyptians trade with people and the economy
becomes more prosperous (profitable)
• Economy – the way people use and manage
resources
• To improve transportation, Egyptians dug a canal
from the Nile River to the Red Sea
Hyksos
• Groups of people begin to invade Egypt and some
take control of the people
• Hyksos – desert princes from western Asia bring
new technology and ideas (chariots, horses)
• 100 years of rule and then Egyptians again take
power
New Kingdom Pharaohs
• Pharaohs begin to rule with their sons or wives
• Hatshepsut daughter of a pharaohs and married to
Thutmose II
• She took control after husband and sometimes is
portrayed as a man…in her tomb she is described as
a man because Egyptians believed all pharaohs
were male
• She greatly increased trade – myrrh was a favorite
spice used in perfume
New Kingdom
• New Kingdom (1550 to 1086 B.C.) ruled by
Pharaohs
• In the New Kingdom, kings were referred to as godking or pharaoh (which means great
house)…Ramses, King Tut and
Hatshepsut…pharaohs are buried in the Valley of
the Kings
• Pharaohs were thought to be related to Amon-Ra,
the Sun God.
End of Ancient Egypt (1086-30 B.C.)
•Pharaohs and priests squabble over
control of Egypt
•Conquerors invade: Nubia, Assyria,
Persia, Greece and finally Rome
Nubia and Egypt
• Nubia was a kingdom to the south of Egypt
• They were separated by a cataract on the Nile
• Since their land was very rocky, they developed
sturdy farming tools
• Nubians grew food, used irrigation and had their
own language
• Written language, Merotic, had not been
decoded
• Egypt and Nubia had similar beliefs…including the
afterlife
• Built pyramids that were smaller than Egyptian and
in a different style
Interactions
•Egypt and Nubia traded gold, ostrich
feathers, ivory and cattle
•Egypt expanded its borders into Nubia
•When the Hyksos ruled Egypt…the Nubians
became independent.
•Kingdom of Kush was established
Retaking Nubia
• Thutmose II retook Nubia but when the New Kingdom ended…Egypt
became weak and Kush regained its independence
• Kastha of Kush conquered Upper Egypt
• His son, Piankhi, conquered the rest of Egypt and Kushite kings
became pharaohs of Egypt
Kush Rises…and then Falls
•Building projects completed
•Assyrians invade (600 BC) and Kush move
south
•Iron is plentiful and iron and bronze tools are
used in building the pyramids
•Kush fades into history by 350AD
Valley of the Kings
Luxor, Egypt (63 tombs)