Year 4 Knowledge Organiser History – The Egyptians - the achievements of the earliest civilizations.

Autumn Term

Where in the World?

Clues about the Ancient Egyptians way of life

Key Vocabulary Pharaoh The supreme ruler of all of Ancient Egypt. He or she was considered a god.

Tomb A large vault, usually underground, used for burying the dead.

Mummification A process for preserving (keep original state) a body.

Hieroglyphics A type of writing used by the Ancient Egyptians that uses pictures and symbols.

Shaduf A hand operated device used for lifting water used for irrigating land.

Irrigation Adding water to plants to help them grow when there is not enough rain.

Canopic Jar Special jars that hold the organs of a mummy including the lungs, intestines, liver and stomach.

Sarcophagus A large stone box which holds the mummy’s coffin.

Sphinx A mythological beast with the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh or god. The Egyptians built sphinx statues to guard tombs.

Nile The longest river in the world and found in Africa. It was a really important part of Egyptian life where it gave them food, transport, building materials and more.

Valley of the Kings

The valley contains the tombs of numerous pharaohs, including Tutankhamun.

Timeline – over 3000 years! Elsewhere in the world/Britain Early Egypt Upper and lower Egypt are two separate lands before the

Ancient Egyptian civilisation begins. Hieroglyphics developed to make records.

Stone axes, antler combs and pottery in common use. The first stone circles are built.

Old Kingdom The Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx are built. The fourth dynasty is a time of peace when the sun god Re became. Egyptians began mummification.

Metal working in copper began.

Middle Kingdom

The Egyptians start to use irrigation to carry water from the Nile to their crops. Pyramid building slowed down and stopped. Osiris most important god.

Bronze Age. In Europe, skilled workers began making weapons from Bronze. Stonehenge completed.

New Kingdom The time of greatest prosperity for the civilization. The first Pharaoh is buried in the Valley of the Kings. Tutankhamun and Ramesses ruled during some of this time.

People started living in small villages.

Late Period Alexander the Great and the Greeks conquer Egypt. He founds Alexandria and it becomes the capital.

The Iron Age began

Ptolemaic dynasty

Ptolemy I becomes Pharaoh. May years later, Cleopatra becomes the last Pharaoh and eventually dies. The Romans took over Egypt after Cleopatra's death (30 BC). Christianity comes to Egypt. Cairo becomes the capital.

Celtic people arrived in Britain from Europe. The Romans invaded Britain.

Map of the World locating Egypt.

Gods and Goddesses

Amun King of the gods Anubis God of mummification

Horus God of the sky Ra God of the sun

Thoth God of knowledge Osiris God of death and the afterlife

Isis Goddess of protection and healing

Famous Kings, Queens, Gods and Archaeologists Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun or ‘King Tut’ is probably the most well-known Egyptian pharaoh. One of the reasons is that his burial tomb is one of the few that was discovered with everything still in it. He was only ten years old when he became a pharaoh so he was called ‘The boy king.’

Cleopatra

A very famous woman in Ancient History who ruled Egypt for 21 years. She was one of the last pharaohs in Ancient Egypt. She had a child with Julius Caesar from the Roman Empire and was popular because the country prospered under her rule. She was known for her beauty and could speak many languages.

Howard Carter Howard Carter became famous because of a 4,000-year-old man. He was the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. Lord Carnarvon financed Carter's search for the tomb of a previously unknown Pharaoh, Tutankhamen, whose existence Carter had discovered.

Egyptian

hierarchy in

society

Egyptian Gods Map of Ancient Egypt