Transcript Egypt PPT

Ancient
Civilizations:
Egypt
Geography &
Environment
The Geography
•
•
On which
continent is
Egypt located?
Africa; in the
northeastern
region
The Geography
•
•
•
On which river
did the ancient
Egyptians settle?
Nile River
WHY??
The Geography
•
•
The Nile provided a small strip of fertile
land in the middle of a desert
Annual flood;
The “Gift of
the Nile”
Gifts of the Nile
-Boats
· Sandals
· Paper
· Baskets
Papyrus
Drinking
Water
· Bathe/Swim
· Entertainment
(Swimming,
boating, and fishing)
· Water crops
· Made soil good for
growing crops
· Make bricks for
building
Mud
Silt
Travel
Food
-Hunting in the marshes (Birds,
Reptiles, Crocodiles, and Hippos)
- Fish (catfish and perch)
· Trade
· War
· Transportation
of stones for
pyramids
Calendar
· Accurate (Nile flooded around July
15-19th)
· 365 days divided into 12 months of 30
days each
· 5 extra days fell at the end of the
year
Religion &
Government
Egyptian Religion
• Polytheism:
• The worship of
many gods
• Worshipped
2000+ gods and
goddesses
Egyptian Religion
• Primary Egyptian Gods:
• Re – the Sun god
• Osiris – the god
of the Dead
• Isis – the goddess
of women
• Anubis – god of the underworld
Egyptian Government
• Villages of Egypt ruled by 2 kingdoms;
King Narmer
unites them
around 3000BC
• Government is
a theocracy –
gov’t based on
religious authority
Egyptian Government
• Egyptians believed
that their kings,
called pharaohs,
WERE gods
• Pharaohs were VERY
POWERFUL!
• Ruled religion,
government &
military
What is Ka?
• Egyptians believed
that the Pharaohs
possessed an
eternal life force,
also known as ka
What is Ka?
• Ka allowed pharaohs to rule for all of
eternity; therefore, their tombs were
even more important than their
palaces on earth
Pyramids
• Pyramids:
• Tombs for the
Pharaohs
• Built out of
limestone,
granite & stone
The Great Pyramid at
Giza
• The only surviving wonder of the ancient
world, Egypt's pyramid of Cheops takes
up 13 acres of land, and overlooks the
neighboring pyramids belonging to this
pharaoh's son and grandson. Experts
speculate it took one hundred thousand
laborers roughly 20 years to build the
pyramid of Cheops alone
Northern
Entrance
The Sphinx
Culture
Weighing of the Heart
• Strong belief in the
afterlife
• Believed that the final
judgment occurred at death
• Does your heart weigh more than a
feather?
Weighing of the Heart
• If the soul “passed” test for purity, it would
live forever in the beautiful other world
Mummification
• Reserved for royals &
elites
• What is mummification?
• A technique that
involved embalming & drying the
corpse to prevent it from decaying
Mummification
• “First, they draw out the brains through the nostrils
with an iron hook…Then with a sharp stone they make
an incision in the side, and take out all the
bowels…Then, having filled the belly with pure myrrh,
cassia, and other perfumes, they sew it up again; and
when they have done this they steep it in natron
(mineral salt), leaving it under for 70 days…At the end
of 70 days, they wash the corpse, and wrap the whole
body in bandages of waxen cloth.” - Herodotus
Mummification
• Coffins were
filled with items
that could be
used in the
afterlife such as
clothing, food,
cosmetics & jewelry
Book of the Dead
• Book of hymns, prayers & magic spells
that were intended to guide the soul
in the afterlife
• Placed in the
coffin
Mummification
Society
Royal
Family
Upper Class:
Priests, Army, Gov’t
Middle Class:
Merchants and Artisans
Lower Class:
Peasant Farmers and Laborers
Slaves (in later periods)
Great to be an
Egyptian?
• A social hierarchy did exist in Egypt;
however, one was not locked into his or
her social class
• Possible to change status via marriage,
personal success, etc.
• Women had many of the same rights
as men
Knowledge
Egyptian Writing
• Hieroglyphic writing
system
• Pictures represent
ideas as well as
sounds
• Paper-like sheets
made from papyrus
reeds used for
writing
Egyptian Writing
• Hieroglyphics
decoded after
discovery of
Rosetta Stone
Egyptian Science &
Technology
• Invent calendar of 365 days & 12
months
• Develop system of written numbers
& a form of geometry
• Skilled engineers & architects
construct palaces, pyramids
• Egyptian medicine famous in
ancient world