Transcript Ancient_Egypt_powerpoint

Ancient Egypt
7th grade
Chapter 4
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
Geography
• River dominates Egyptian world/thought
• Surrounded by desert with occasional oasis
– Permits some trade
– Defense from invasion
• Contributes to feeling of safety
– preserves artifacts
“Egypt is the gift of
the Nile” -Herodotus
The Nile
• Yearly flooding - no concern for soil depletion
– Predictable
– Irrigation systems
• Encourages
– Trade
– Communication
– Political unity
• 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
The Nile
The Nile
The Nile
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
• Afterlife
– Evolution of who has an afterlife
• Old vs. New Kingdom
The Pharaoh
• God-King - unlike Mesopotamia
– Temporal power
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owns all the land and people and what people posses
law vs. Pharaoh's will
irrigation
no city walls
• God-King - unlike Mesopotamia
– 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.
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
Social Hierarchy
• Pharaoh
– Egyptian kings of a centralized state
– Claimed to be gods living on earth in human form
• Bureaucrats
– Because the pharaoh was an absolute ruler there was little room for a
noble class as in Mesopotamia
– Instead professional military forces and an elaborate bureaucracy of
administrators and tax collectors served the central government
• Patriarchal
– Vested authority over public and private affairs in men
– However, more opportunities for women than in Mesopotamia as
evidenced by Queen Hatshepsut reigning as pharaoh
• Peasants and slaves
– Supplied the hard labor that made complex agricultural society possible
– Among the slaves were the Hebrews
Egyptian Social Hierarchy
Bureaucrats
• Below the pharaoh, the most powerful officer in the
hierarchy was the vizier, the executive head of the
bureaucracy
– All royal commands passed through the vizier
before being transmitted to the scribes in his
office.
• The scribes dispatched orders to the heads of towns
and villages, including rules related to the collection
of taxes.
Farmers in Egypt
Shaduf
• To lift water from the canal
Egyptians used a shaduf, a large
pole balanced on a crossbeam
with a rope and bucket on one
end and a heavy counter weight
at the other.
• When the rope was pulled, the
bucket would be lowered into the
canal.
• The counterweight would raise
the bucket.
• The farmer would then carry the
bucket to the field and water it.
Economic Exchange
• Egypt needed to trade because,
beside the Nile, it had few natural
resources
– For example, Egypt had very few trees
so all its wood came from abroad,
especially cedar from Lebanon
• Much trade between Egypt and
Nubia
– Importance of trade was reflected in
the names of southern Egyptian cities
• Aswan comes from the ancient
Egyptian word swene which means
“trade”
• Elephantine owed its name to the
elephant ivory trade
Hieroglyphics
• Language is written without
vowels
• Different pronunciations
– MNFR as Memphis
– SR as Osiris
– TTMS as either Thutmose,
Thutmosis, Tatmusa or Atithmese
• Who learns this writing style?
Hieroglyphics
• Use in
temples
• Rosetta Stone
• Napoleon and
Egyptology.
Egyptian Artwork
Stela (carved stone)
Egyptian Farmers & animals
Notice, all people drawn
from the side – even when
looking right at you!
Role played by size in Egyptian Artwork
Middle Kingdom 2050-1750 BCE
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.
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.
Ahmose I leading Egyptians against the Hyksos
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
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.
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.
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
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.
Ramses II (1279-1213)
Ramses II (1279-1213)
Nubia
 Trading with Egypt since Pharaoh Snefru from the Old Kingdom
 Egypt bought gold and elephant tusks (Ivory) from Nubia
 Egyptians sold grain, cloth, papyrus, glass, and jewelry with
Nubia
 Egypt relied on Nubia’s gold, Nubia relied on Egyptian grain
 Nubians adopted many Egyptian cultures and the religion
 Land
 Little rainfall
 Narrow ribbon of fertile soil beside the Nile River
 Travel was done on foot in Nubia because the Nile River
cataracts made boat travel impossible
 Often short of food due to small area of farm land
 Closer contact with peopl eof Africa south of the Sahara
Desert
 Government
 Modeled after the Egyptian kingdom
 Powerful kingdom
 Saw their king as a god
 Issues
 By the time of the Middle Kingdom most of Nubia now
belonged to Egypt through battles
 By the end of the New Kingdom Nubia regained their lands
and became an independent kingdom ruled by their own king
again
 In 700s BC, Nubian King conquered the Egyptian city of
Thebes
 The next Nubian King Piye continued conquering Egyptian
cities until he declared himself Pharaoh over Nubia and
Egypt (over 100 years)
 Nubia tried to increase their land and fought with the Assyrains in
the Fertile Crescent and lost (returned to Nubia and gave up
Egypt)
 Nubia in 591 BC had its capital city Napata destroyed by the
Egyptians
 Nubia moved its capital to Meroe which became an ironworking
center for all of Africa
 Nubians were pyramid builders as well
 Nubia created Meroitic script, one of the world’s first alphabets
 Nubia became an important kingdom of Africa and a center of
trade for ebony, iron weapons, gold, and cloth
 Nubia was conquered by Axum (present day Ethiopia) in the 300s
AD
Activity
Make a list of achievements accomplished by
the Egyptians. Compare it to the list on the next
slide.
Achievements
• Pyramids
 There were about 80 along the banks of the Nile River.
 The largest is the Great Pyramid, built by King Khufu in about
2600 B.C.
 It stands about 481 feet high and covers 13 acres.
 The pyramids functioned as huge burial tombs for the
Egyptians’ dead pharaohs and queens.
• Ship-building
 They used the Nile River like a highway to transport people and
goods to foreign lands.
 The first ships were made out of bundles of papyrus reeds tied
together to make a canoe-like vessel.
 As the ship trade flourished, the hulls of the ships were made
of cedar, and oars and sails were added for greater speed.
• Hieroglyphics
 These were pictures and symbols that served as one of the first
written languages in the world.
• Calendar
 Calendars were developed in 4241 B.C. with 365 days in a
year.
 It was based on the flooding of the Nile River.
 New Years was on June 1, not January 1!
Activity to follow
Copy the chart and complete it using
your notes and textbook
Ancient Egyptian History
Periods
Nile Culture Begins
Archaic
Old Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom
Late Period
Greek Ptolemaic
Era
Roman Period
Time Frame
Answers on next slide
Ancient Egyptian History
Periods
Time Frame
Nile Culture Begins
Archaic
Old Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom
3900 B. C. E.
3100 – 2650 B. C. E.
2650 – 2134 B. C. E.
2040 – 1640 B. C. E.
1550 – 1070 B. C. E.
Late Period
Greek Ptolemaic
Era
Roman Period
750 – 332 B. C. E.
332 – 30 B. C. E.
30 B. C. E. – 395 C. E.
Activity to follow
Copy the chart and complete it using
your notes and textbook
Mesopotamia
Agriculture
Specialization
Cities
Social
Hierarchy
Egypt
Mesopotamia
Religion and
Education
New Technologies
Economic
exchange
Art and Writing
Egypt
Answers on next 2 slides
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Agriculture
+“Land between the rivers”
(Tigris and Euphrates forms
Fertile Crescent
+Artificial irrigation
+”Gift of the Nile”
+Artificial irrigation
Specialization
+Pottery, textiles, woodworking,
leather, brick making,
stonecutting, masonry
+Pottery, textiles, woodworking,
leather production,
stonecutting, masonry
Cities
-Numerous, densely populated
city-states (Ur and Babylon)
-Fewer cities with high
centralization (Memphis and
Thebes)
Social
Hierarchy
-Noble class
-Patriarchal
+Slaves
-Absolute authority of the
pharaoh made a noble class
unnecessary (had bureaucrats
instead)
-Patriarchal, but the presence
of Queen Hatsheput may
indicate greater opportunities
for women
+Slaves
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Religion and
Education
-Polytheism
-No afterlife
-Polytheism, but brief period of
monotheism under Akhentan
-Afterlife and judgment
(mummification)
New Technologies
-Superior in
metallurgy
-Papyrus, shipbuilding, pyramids
Economic
exchange
-Trade by land
and water
-Trade principally by water along the
Nile
-Trade more important because
Egypt lacked natural resources
beside the Nile
Art and Writing
-Cuneiform
-Hieroglyphs (more pictorial than
cuneiform)