Chapter 5: Lesson 3 The Pyramid Builders The Old Kingdom A dynasty is a line of rulers from the same family
When a king died, one of his children usually took his place as ruler The order in which members of a royal family inherit a throne is called thesuccession Historians divide ancient Egypt dynasties into the Old Kingdom, theMiddle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom The king of Egypt became known as the pharaoh, which meantgreat house Ruled from the capital city of Memphis Thought to be a child of the gods and a god himself Because of this belief, government and religion were not separate If Egypt suffered hard time for a long period, the people blamed thepharaoh for angering the gods Khufus Great Pyramid The first rulers of Egypt were often buried in an underground tombtopped by mud brick, but soon kings wanted more permanentmonuments A pyramid is a structure shaped like a triangle, with four sides that meetat a point King Djoser built a much larger pyramid over his tomb called a steppyramid because its sides rise in a series of giant steps Known as the oldest structure in the world 80 years later, a pharaoh named Khufu decided he wanted amonument that would show the world how great he was Ordered the construction of the largest pyramid ever built Miners had to cut huge blocks of stone using copper saws and chiselsand workers pulled the stone slabs up long, sloping ramps to their placeon the pyramid. Afterwards, workers dragged each heavy blockhundreds of feet and set it in place A city called Giza was built for the pyramid workers and the people whofed, clothed, and housed them No more pyramids?! Egyptians eventually stopped building pyramids
Pyramids drew attention to the tombs inside themand grave robbers broke into them to steal thetreasure buried with the pharaohs Egyptians believed that if a tomb was robbed, theperson buried there could not have a happyafterlife During New Kingdom, pharaohs began buildingmore secret tombs in an area called the Valley ofthe Kings Burial chambers were hidden in mountains near theNile Hoped to protect their bodies and treasures fromrobbers Inside the Tombs Early and later pyramids had several passageways leading todifferent rooms to confuse grave robbers about which passage totake Tombs were supposed to be the palaces of pharaohs in the afterlife Filled with objects ranging from food to furniture that the mummifiedpharaoh would need Walls were decorated with art and sculptures Paintings showed pharaohs enjoying themselves so they could have a happyafterlife As hard as the pharaohs tried to hide themselves, robbers stole thetreasures from almost every tomb Only a secret tomb built for a New Kingdom pharaoh was ever foundwith much of its treasure untouched Middle Kingdom Egyptian kings began to lose their power to local rulersof the provinces The 500 years in which the kings held Egypt together,but with a much weaker central government, is calledthe Middle Kingdom Rulers during this period also faced challenges fromoutside Egypt A nomadic people called the Hyksos invaded Egypt fromthe northeast Their army conquered by using better weapons and horse- drawn chariots After about 100 years, Egyptians were able to drive theHyksos and begin the New Kingdom