Egypt

Arabic

EgyptTell me what you are thinking, feeling, hearing, smelling, and tasting.

Cairo

Egyptian pound

Bilady, Bilady, Bilady

President Mohamed Morsy

Modern Standard Arabic

Egyptian pound is divided into 100

piastres. One piastre is orignally a silver coin of

U.S. dollar size

Money has two faces—one in Arabic and one in English

83,000,000Desert: hot, dry summers; moderate winters

History

• Was one of the world’s greatest civilizations• 7th Century: Arabs introduced Islam and the

Arabic language• 1869: completion of the Suez Canal made Egypt

an important world transportation hub• 1882: Britain seized control• 1952: Egypt acquired full sovereignty with the

overthrow of the British-backed monarchy• Egypt has the fastest growing population in the

Arab world

Aswan High Dam, constructed in 1971

Lake Nasser

Nile River

Mount Catherine

Suez Canal

Geography

• Location: North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza Strip, and the Red Sea north of Sudan

• About three times the size of New Mexico• Mount Catherine is the highest point• Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron

ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, rare earth elements, zinc

• Divided into Upper and Lower Egypt

• Only 2.92% of the land is arable

• Natural Hazards: droughts, earthquakes, flash floods, landslides, khamsin (hot, driving windstorms in the spring), dust storms, sandstorms

Traditional Clothing

• There are a variety of different clothing styles in Egypt

Members of the upper classes in cities adopted the clothing of their conquerors—

Ottoman Turks and European

Farmers (fellahin) wear gallibayas (a long shirt)

Kaftan: full length garment like a coat with long, wide

sleeves, that is often striped. Open in the front and often

bound by a hizan (fabric belt)

Binish: a cloth overcoat with wide sleeves

Jubbah: a long, wide sleeved gown which

reached to the feet and was buttoned half way

down

Kamis: a wider version of the

gallibayaEri: a gallibaya with

a looser fit under the arms

Sserual: trousers, sometimes worn under

the gallebaya

Melaya luf: a large rectangular wrap worn for

modesty, warmth, and used to carry things

Yelek: a woman’s version of the kaftan. It is lined, with the neck open to just below the

collar bone and buttoned or laced

along side seams for shaping. There is a high side slip over

trousers, and girded with shawl. A shirt is worn under it, and a djubbeh or binnish

over it

Peasant woman wear a gallebaya outdoors, but in the city gallebaya are worn

only indoors

In public, women wear a wide dress called a tob sebleh

Male Headwear Different head coverings tell a lot about the

wearer’s location in time and space, status, and religion

Taqiyah: skull cap

Tarbush/fezTurban (cloth shaal)

’iqal: draped headscarf and band

Female Headwear

Some women will pull part of their other clothing over

their head as headwear

Burnous: hood pulled over head

Bedouin thobes: sleeve worn over

head

Headscarves (khimar, hattah, zurband, shash, qun’ah, mandil): a rectangular scarf which can be pinned around the face, wrapped

around the head, held by a headband, or formed into a bag

Games

Equipment:•Balls•Board Games•Children’s Toys•Chariots•Simple and composite bows, with arrows, quivers, etc.•Throwing Sticks•Harpoons•Fish Hooks

Venues:•Tracks•Archery Sites•Ponds for Swimming•Hunting Preserves

Board Games

Senet Board Game: means game of passing. One of the oldest known board games in the world (3100 BC). Game

board is a grid of 30 squares, arranged in three rows of ten. There are two sets of pawns (at least 5 of each). Actual rules are still debated. A board for this game

was found in the tomb of King Tut.

Modern Culture: Played in Lost. Video Game Tomb Raider: The

Last Revelation

Seega: Two player game played on a 5x5 board, with stones or marbles. Each player has 12

pieces, which are placed on the board 2 at a time.

Mehen (snake): Board depicts a coiled snake whose body is divided into rectangular spaces. Game is

traditionally played with lion or lioness shaped game pieces, in sets of 3 or as

many as 6

Mancala: One of the oldest games in the world. There are over 200 versions. A count and capture game.

Thutmose III: Commonly called the Napoleon of Ancient Egypt. He never lost a battle. A national

hero, respected through Egyptian history. Set up several obelisks (one was moved to Central

Park in New York).

Tutankhamen: Became a pharaoh at the age of 9. Known as King Tut. Too young to rule, so his Uncle Ay ruled for him while he was a boy. Died mysteriously and suddenly at 18.

Cleopatra VII: Queen of Egypt. Her family ruled Egypt for more than 100 years before she was born. Inspired the story Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare.

Last ruler of Macedonian dynasty. Julius Caesar fell in

love with her.

Ancient Egyptian Architecture• Popular building materials: sun-baked mud bricks

and stone (limestone, sandstone, granite)

• Wood was difficult to find

• Stone usually reserved for tombs and temples

• Bricks used for royal palaces, fortresses, walls, and minor buildings

Ancient Egyptian Architecture

• Many Ancient Egyptian towns have disappeared because of the rising and flooding caused by the Nile River

• Current understanding of Egyptian architecture is based primarily on religious monuments

• Much of the ornamentation is symbolic—scarab, sacred beetle, solar disk, vulture, palm leaves, papyrus plants, lotus flowers

Hieroglyphics

• Hieroglyphs means “sacred drawings” in Greek• Believed to date back as far as 3000 BC• This system of writing has undergone many

changes over time• 6 primary periods when hieroglyphics were used• Last official known use of hieroglyphics was

around 500 AD• There were at least 700 symbols used and each

symbol had more than one use

• Meaning of hieroglyphics could be phonetic or representative of the symbol

• 1798: Napoleon discovered the Rosetta Stone

• Hieroglyphics were important in portraying the history of the Egyptian nation, especially the accomplishments and feats of the pharaohs

Art

• Early Egyptian artists learned skills from West Asian artists

• Learned how to make glass and metal, how to use pottery wheel, and how to carve large stone statues

• Wall paintings were common, especially for Pharaohs

• Early art characterized by lack of linear perspective (flat space)

• Objects typically do not decrease in size as they increase in distance, and there is little shading to indicate depth

• People and objects commonly drawn using profiles. People in art never face forward, and no one knows why

Daily Life: Rural

• Villages, commonly made of mud-brick houses

• Most people work as farmers, growing barley, beans, fruit, cotton, and lentils

Daily Life: City

• People live in apartment buildings made of steel, stone, and glass. Only the extremely wealthy can afford houses.

• Men and women typically live at home until they get married

• Some people work in factories producing: aluminum, cement, chemicals, fertilizers, food products, iron and steel, textiles

• Many children attend school Saturday through Thursday (6 hours), as Friday is observed as a day of rest

• 12 years of formal education, which is technically free, but severely underfunded

• At the end of high school, all students take a test similar to the SAT, to determine where they will attend university

• Many children do not complete school or go on to college, but rather learn a trade or apprenticeship in business

• Education comes primarily from the family, as this is where they learn societal values

• Family is very important

Cognates

• Algebra• Alkaline• Chemistry• Soda• Zero• Admiral• Carafe• Gauze• Ream• Average• Cotton• Safari

Shokran: Thank You

Al’afw: You’re Welcome

Kam howa thamanoh?: How much is this?

Hal tatakallamu alloghah alenjileziah?: Do you speak English?

La afham!: I don’t understand!

Na’am: Yes Laa: No

Ayna Al Hammam?: Where is the bathroom

Fadlek (m), Fadleki (f): Please