Ancient EgyptOBJECTIVE: TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NILE RIVER TO

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

Early Kingdom

Around 3100 BC, King Menes, the

ruler of Upper Egypt, conquered

the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt to

unite Egypt.

He established his capital at Thinis.

Rulers were called pharaohs. They were believed to be both man

and god.

By 2650 BC, the pharaohs moved

the capital to Memphis.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Societal Structure

Pharaoh levied taxes, regulated agriculture, and exercised control

over the water system.

Nobility, priests, and governors supervised the execution of the laws in various districts.

Majority of the farmers were free and possessed cattle and their

own equipment.

Strict class stratification did not exist.

Women had almost equal rights as men in Egypt.

Skills and Learning

Egyptians produced textiles, jewelry, papyrus, glass, and metal

objects of gold, silver, and copper for trade.

Scribes taught children in writing, mathematics, mechanics, medicine, astronomy, and politics.

Developed a twelve month calendar of thirty days each.

Egyptian form of writing was called hieroglyphs (pictures were used

to represent complete words or concepts).

Recorded records on papyrus, stone, brick and clay tablets.

Art

Many paintings and sculptures

have been found in temples and

tombs.

The first pyramid was built in 3000

BC by Imhotep, who was an

adviser and architect of the

pharaoh.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu was

build in 2600 BC.

Pyramids were an expression of

the Egyptian attitude toward life,

death, and life after death. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Industry and Trade

Majority of citizens worked in agriculture, by raising wheat, barley,

vegetables, grapes, cattle, and fowl.

Farming depended on the yearly floods of the Nile.

Eventually an irrigation system was used.

Other citizens mined copper, worked stone and made bricks,

produced cloth, glass, bronze, and pottery.

For the most part, Egypt traded with nearby regions such as Nubia,

Syria and Crete.

Used barter system for trade.

Religion

Polytheistic

Tombs were often filled with furnishings and riches for the afterlife.

Mummification of kings, queens, nobles, and the rich.

Gods included Horus, Ra, and Amen as the sun gods, Osiris as the Nile, and Isis the goddess of motherhood and fertility.

Gods were represented as animal or part-animal forms.

For Egyptians, death was not the end but one of the transformations in life’s natural cycle.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-

SA

Middle Kingdom

Old Kingdom ended around 2300 BC, with the death of Pharaoh

Pepi II.

Around 2000 BC, order was reestablished and a strong central authority returned.

Capital was moved from Memphis to Thebes, which was more

centrally located.

A canal was built to connect the Nile and the Red Sea.

In culture, priorities shifted from art to science.

Mathematics and practical activities, like construction and mining, increased.

New Kingdom

Hyksos conquered the Egyptians

and ruled for about 200 years.

Ahmose I overthrew the Hyksos

rulers and reunited Egypt.

He replaced mercenaries with a

Egyptian army and helped revive

the bureaucracy.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Thutmose III and Amenhotep III

Hatshepsut, served as Queen while Thutmose III was young.

When Thutmose III became of ruling age, he ruled solely.

Starting in 1482 BC, Thutmose III expanded the empire into Canaan,

Phoenicia, and Syria.

Amenhotep III expanded the empire to its greatest size around 1380

BC, by pushing the borders southward and eastward.

He expanded trade to the Hittites, Phoenicians, and other tribes of

Syria and Crete.

Akhenaten and Monotheism

Akhenaten built a temple to Aten and established Aten as the sole

god.

He forbade worship of other gods and reduced the priestly power and wealth.

Moved the capital from Thebes to Akhenaton and gave up

territories that he considered nonbeneficial.

Akhenaten sponsored schools, expanded the sciences, literary

work, and fine arts.

Decline of New Kingdom

Akhenaten failed to defend boarders and let valuable territories be

taken away.

After his death, Tutankhamen became the pharaoh of Egypt around 1361 BC.

King Tut reestablished polytheism and gave the priest back their old

power.

Invaders took much of the territory of Egypt during this time.

About 1170 BC, Rameses II briefly took back much of the Egyptian

lands and increased Egyptian power.

But after his death, his successors relied on mercenaries which led to

the end of the New Kingdom in 1085 BC.

Assignment

Document based Activity 13,14.