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Timeline: 4th-2nd Millenium BCE (Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age)FQ: Is the role of faith in Ancient Egypt relegated to just a creed or does it affect daily routine?

Main Idea: Much of what remains of ancient Egypt is dripping with religious significance. Is it possible that thissociety placed so much emphasis on the importance of faith that it dedicated huge quantities of resources andhuman labor to ensure that traces of its faith was preserved for all eternity? Themes addressed in this lesson(geography, political systems, and culture) will remain important when studying the river valley societies ofMesopotamia, the Indus, and the Huang He.

PO: SWBAT... Use a video as a content source. Using select film questions, compile political, social, & commercial data on ancient Egypt. Explain the religious, political, & social role of kingship in the daily lives of Egyptians.

Do Now

Responses, and class discussion, to these film questions will enrich your lesson notes on Ancient Egypt.

I: The Nile River

A. Ancient Egypt was referred to by Herodotus as the gift of the Nile. How would you describe the Nile'simportance to Egypt based on this reference? Be prepared to offer evidence in support of this description.

B1. News accounts of a flood often instills a sense of sadness because of the loss of life and property damagethat may result. Why was the flooding of the Nile river rarely viewed in such a manner?

B2. Didnt people living along the banks lose their homes?

B3. Unlike the Tigris-Euphrates rivers, the Nile observed a natural routine that contributed to Egyptiancivilization. Identify this special characteristic. Ponder1 how it contributed to the greatness of Ancient Egyptian.

C. What do the terms Upper and Lower Egypt refer to?

II: Kingship2 (Monarchy)A. The Narmer Palette is an artifact that helped archaeologists (Egyptologists) reveal secrets of the Egyptianview of Kingship.3How did the palettes images offer an account of the formationof an Egyptian kingdom wevecome to know?

B. Recent archaeological finds notwithstanding,3 there is a record of 31 Egyptian dynasties that spanned ~3000years. Identify the three chronological divisions historians use to categorize these dynasties.

III: Pyramids & the Passage into EternityA. All ancient Egyptians are believed to have adhered to a universal concept. The concept explains how all thingscoexist in a harmonious order. Identify the term used to represent this concept.

B. How might you explain the divinity of the Pharaoh? How did this monarch acquire that trait?

C. Which concern may have contributed to the use of pyramids as tombs and then their eventual abandonment?4

D. Why were tombs filled with valuables and supply of daily necessities if the monarch was dead?

E1. Describe what the Ka is and its role in Egyptian religious beliefs.

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E2. What are the requirements to keep the Ka from being lost'.

E3. Why would the need for mummification be a logical parallel belief in an Egyptian faith that holds the concept

of Ka and Maat as important?5

E4. By the 16th C. Egyptian mummies became targets of looters.6 How did looters reap wealth by desecratingthese corpses?

F. How did a stone pyramid evolve from a single mud-brick Mastaba?7

G. Why were the tombs in the Valley of the Kings as appropriate as tombs placed in pyramids?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1Ponder: To think about and consider the importance of a thing or idea.

2Kingship: That which makes one a king. Qualities or roles that is befitting a monarch.

3Within the decade of the 1990s, archaeological finds in Egypt indicate that there may have been a king (Pharaoh) of a unified Egypt that

predates Narmer.

Special Note:This is one of a few issues of Academic Currency as it relates to your course textbook, which was published before the latestdiscoveries.

4Refer to your ancient Egyptian creation myth titled /Atum/ for the significance of the pyramidal shape as it relates to the divine.

5The myth of Osirus is an example of how myths answer questions concerning matters lost to time.

6Looter: In this context, anyone who enters a tomb (breaking in) for the purpose of stealing items of material or spiritual value.

7Mastaba: Arabic for Step or bench.

Parallel Development

Political Religious Commercial/ EconomicCommunities on banks of the Nile In-ground Burials Expanding Commercial WealthTwo Kingdoms [Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt] Mastabas Increasing cost of tomb construction & Looting ProblemUnification [Scorpion King & succeeding Pharaohs]

Pyramids

Increasing cost of tomb construction & Looting Problem

Old, Middle, New Kingdom Dynasties Valley of the Kings Looting Problem

IV. Summary Activity: Discuss responses to film questions. Handout: Stars Said to Tell Age of Pyramids Mindmap: Ancient Egypt (viewable via the course website) Puzzle: Anc. Egypt Crossword Puzzle

Curriculum LinkageUnit One: Ancient World- Civilizations & Religions (4000 BCE - 500 CE)Sections B1 a - e

Materials/Sources: Refer to the course calendar for additional assignments and pertinent due dates. Handouts: Stars Said to Tell Age of Pyramids and Atum PBS Video: PYRAMID, hosted by David Macaulay. 1988. A Unicorn Projects, Inc. Production. [~30 min.]