Life in Egypt
-Unifying Egypt-Egyptian Records-Pyramid Building
-Social Life-Trade and Technology
-New Kingdom Pharaohs
Unifying Egypt
• Upper Egypt – The king wore a white crown.• Lower Egypt – The king wore a red crown.• When the two kingdoms were unified (united)
into one country, the two different-colored crowns were united into one crown.
• Legend says that King Menes led his army into Lower Egypt, wearing the double crown. He is recognized as being the king to unify the two kingdoms.
Unifying Egypt
• Egyptians referred to a king as a god-king or pharaoh, which means “great house.”
• “A pharaoh is a god by whose dealings one lives, the father and mother of all…without an equal.”
Egyptian Records
• The discovery of the Rosetta Stone enabled archaeologists to decode hieroglyphics.
• The Rosetta Stone contains a passage written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and a form of Egyptian cursive writing. – By comparing Egyptian hieroglyphics to Greek words,
the Rosetta Stone could be translated.
• Scribes traveled around the kingdom. They recorded information such as how much wheat was harvested, and how many taxes farmers owed to the government.
Egyptian Records
• From the Rosetta Stone, archaeologists were able to discover that the Egyptians used at least 700 different hieroglyphic symbols.
Pyramid Building
• Pyramids, or large stone buildings, served as houses or tombs for the dead.
• The Egyptians believed that pharaohs remained gods even after death, and that pyramids were like palaces.
• Pharaohs were buried with their possessions, because it was believed that they took their belongings with them to the afterlife (or life that continued after birth).
Pyramid Building
• Because the afterlife was more important than life on Earth, the Egyptians took great care in preparing pharaohs for burial.
• To preserve the bodies of the pharaohs, the Egyptians used the process of mummification.
Pyramid Building
• The building of Egypt’s largest pyramid began in 2,600b.c. at Giza.
• It is called the Great Pyramid, built for the pharaoh, Khufu.
• It has been estimated that this pyramid took about 20 years to build and that slave labor was used.
• Approximately 20,000 workers used more than two million blocks of heavy stone to build the Great Pyramid.
Pyramid Building
• Mummification– Step 1 – The Egyptians removed all organs
except for the heart from the body.– Step 2 – They rubbed oils and perfumes all
over the body.– Step 3 – They wrapped the body in linen
bandages.– Step 4 – The mummy, or preserved body,
was placed in a coffin and put in a tomb.
