ANCIENT EGYPT

AAAWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEAHHHH!!!!

What are Egypt's geographical features?

The Nile River

The Delta (Delta)

Desert

Hymn to the Nile

“Hail flood! Emerging from the earth, arriving to bring Egypt to life, hidden of form, the darkness in the day, the one whose followers sing to him, as he waters the plants, created by Ra to make every herd live, who satisfies the desert hills removed from the water, for it is his due that descends from the sky.”

What can we learn about Egyptian culture from this hymn?

Where were all of the ancient Egyptian cities located? Why?

Along the Nile River in flooding zones

Why is Upper Egypt where it is?

Upper Egypt was upriver

Upper Egypt was at a higher elevation

Back then Egyptians had not concept of North or South

King Menes

United both Upper and Lower Egypt

This was important because it allowed Egyptian culture to thrive under stable political conditions.

Why was Egyptian civilization able to last thousands of years, relatively

unchanged when Mesopotamian civilization did not last so long? Egypt had even better natural borders,

so no natural enemies. The common economy of the Nile The early unification of Upper and Lower

Egypt

Egyptian Religion

Egyptian religion

Mono or polytheistic?

What were Egyptiansconcerned with?

Death The afterlife

How were Egyptian rulers different from Sumerian kings?Sumerian King Egyptian pharaoh

How were Egyptian rulers different from Sumerian kings?Agents of God: Ham getting codes

Actually gods: pharaoh ruling over

Couple of vocab words

Dynasty – when a king or other ruler passes their position down in their family and that family is in power for a long time

Pharaoh – the Egyptian equivalent of king. The word means “great house” Why does it mean great house? Why do you think people followed the

pharaoh’s orders?

Egyptian history is divided

Three Kingdoms Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New Kingdom

Old Kingdom

3100-2100 BCE King Menes united

Upper and Lower Egypt

The Great Pyramid at Giza built for Khufu

Sphinx built for his son Khafre People still don’t

know what the Sphinx is

Great Pyramid at Giza

Herodotus – nice beard, baldy

484-425 BCE The father of History

Awesome Wrote Histories,

which describes the Great Pyramid at Giza

Is Histories a primary or a secondary source?

Old Kingdom

The pharaoh created a bureacracy What’s that? a form of organization in which

officeholders have defined positions and titles. Formal rules specify the duties of the officeholders.

The pharaoh had a vizier The vizier was an advisor, governor, and

assistant to the pharaoh

Middle Kingdom

2050 – 1550 BCE Pharaohs began to care

for their public Canals, and dams, and

draining swampland Period of great political

and social stability Creation of an empire Why are periods of

stability usually times of cultural achievement?

Hatshepsut – the woman pharaoh

Female pharaoh who ruled as a regent for her young son

Very successful and powerful leader

Why is she depicted like she is on the right here?

New Kingdom

1550 – 1070 Egypt becomes the

most powerful empire in ancient world

Egypt goes through religious shifts Poly-mono-poly

King Tut and the Valley of the Kings Elaborate tombs

Who was King Tut? Why important?

King Tutankhamen who brought back the old polytheistic gods

Relatively not special as a king

His tomb was found completely intact. This was a HUGE

archaeological find

King Tut’s Tomb

The tomb was densely packed with items in great disarray. Carter was able to photograph garlands of flowers, which disintegrated when touched. Due to the state of the tomb, and to Carter's meticulous recording technique, the tomb took nearly a decade to empty.

King Tut’s Tomb

Tutankhamun's tomb had been entered at least twice, not long after he was buried and well before Carter's discovery. The outermost doors of the shrines enclosing the king's nested coffins were left opened, and unsealed. It is estimated that 60% of the jewelry which had been stored in the "Treasury" was removed as well.