Chapter 2Nile River Valley Civilization

Egypt, Nile River Valley Civilization

• Nile River played a key role

• Yearly flood deposited rich silt for farming

• Egyptians learned how to harness the flood to help instead of harm them (dikes, reservoirs, irrigation ditches)

Contrast between the desert and the Nile Valley

Aswan High Dam

Menes unites Egypt• 3100 B.C. the king of Upper

Egypt united Upper and Lower Egypt

• He and his successors used the Nile as a highway linking north and south.

• The Nile helped make Egypt the world’s first unified state

• Created a dynastydynasty, or family of rulers

The Pyramids

Pyramid facts• Built during the Old Kingdom

• Were tombs for the pharaohs

• Took a pharaohs entire reign to build

• Made by hand of limestone blocks, some weighing 2 tons or more

King Tut’s chariot

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/tut/mysteries/index.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/

Pyramids

Tutenkhamen

http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/index.html

Empire

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/09/tut-dna/garrett-photography

Pharaohs• The Ancient Egyptians viewed them as

gods

• They usually wore wigs and a false beard to signify their authority

Queen Hatshepsut, one of the most prolific builders of the Middle Kingdom

Bust of Nefertiti

The death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen is made of gold inlaid with colored glass and semiprecious stone. The mask comes from the innermost mummy case in the pharaoh’s tomb, and stands 54 cm (21 in) high. The emblems on the forehead (vulture and cobra) and on the shoulders (falcon heads) were symbols of the Two Lands of Upper and Lower Egypt and of divine authority.

• 12 month calendar, 30 days each (5 extra days for feasting)

• Number system based on 10

• Used fractions & whole numbers

• Geometry

Achievements

Hieroglyphics• More than 600 signs, pictures, or symbols

to represent words or sounds

• Wrote on papyrus

Rosetta Stone• Key to understanding hieroglyphics

• Found by a French soldier in 1798

• Greek, hieroglyphics, and demotic

A painted box from Tutankhamun's tomb depicts the Pharaoh on a chariot chasing Nubians.

Religion• Many gods, often with animal symbols

• Amon-Re, the creator, identified with the sun

• Osiris judged people after death, associated with the Nile

• Strong belief in the afterlife

Nubia• Another Nile Kingdom (also known as

Kush)

• Neighbor of Egypt to the South

• Traded or fought with Egypt for centuries.

• For a time, added Egypt to their empire around 730 B.C.

Gifts for the King from Nubia, which was to the south of Egypt. Can you find gold rings, a baby leopard, a monkey , an ebony log?