ancient egypt - pbworks
TRANSCRIPT
BIG IDEA
The kingdom of Kush, which
arose south of Egypt in a land
called Nubia, developed an
advanced civilization with a
large trading network.
Ancient Kush• The Kingdom of Kush
started in Nubia, south of Egypt – this was the first great kingdom in the interior of Africa.
• We know this kingdom by the name the Egyptian gave it – KUSH.
• Geography greatly influenced Nubian society.
** Today Nubia is a desert, but thousands of years ago it was very fertile.
Topics in the Section:
The Geography of
Early Nubia:
- The Land of Nubia
- Early Civilization in Nubia
Topics in the Section:
Kush and Egypt
- Egypt’s Conquest of Kush
- Effects of the Conquest
- A Change in Power
- The Conquest of Egypt
- The Kushite Dynasty
- The End of the Kushite Rule
in Egypt
Topics in the Section:
Later Kush
- Kush’s Iron Industry
- The Expansion of Trade
- Kushite Culture
- Women in Kushite Society
Ancient Kush
– Kush and Egypt became trading partners. They creating a trade network of imports and exports.
– Kush exported the following items:• Gold• Slaves• Ebony• Ivory• Copper• Stone
Egypt conquered
Kush, around
1500 B.C.,
because Kush
had so many
more resources
than Egypt and
they feared that
they would get
too strong. Egypt
ruled them for
over 400 years.
Then Kush began to
decline:
A. Allowed their cattle
to overgraze, soil
blew away = less
foodB. Iron workers used
all the wood – furnaces to make
Iron ore had to shut down = fewer
weapons
C. Loss of trade – trade route no longer
went through Kush.
In the late 300’s, rulers of Aksum
became Christian. About 200 years later,
the Nubiansalso converted.
The last influence of
Kush disappeared.
When the Egyptian
empire declined at
the end of the New
Kingdom, the
Kushites began to
invade Egypt –
around mid 1000’s.
As Kush grew stronger, Egypt grew weaker (a few bad Pharoahs). In 700s BC, Kashta seized the weakness of Egypt and took over upper Egypt.
The people of Kush now turn to
agriculture and trade - hoping to
make it a prosperous and
powerful again.
Kush combined many other cultures into
their own culture. They took many
Egyptian elements, but also many of
their own.
Clothing
Customs
Dress
Gods
Language
Ancient Kush
• The Kushite
developed
Meroitic as
their written
language.
Today we are
not yet able
to
understand
Meroitic.
Then Kush began to
decline:
A. Allowed their cattle
to overgraze, soil
blew away = less
foodB. Iron workers used
all the wood – furnaces to make
Iron ore had to shut down = fewer
weapons
C. Loss of trade – trade route no longer
went through Kush.
In the late 300’s, rulers of Aksum
became Christian. About 200 years later,
the Nubiansalso converted.
The last influence of
Kush disappeared.
Mesopotamia and Egypt
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 and Egypt
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)