Gift of the Nile

Ancient Egypt

SOURCES OF EVIDENCE

TOMB PAINTINGS HYMN OF THE NILE HERODOTUS ARCHAEOLOGY OF DEIR EL MEDINA

Nile flows northwards to the Meditarranean

Prevailing winds blow Southwards

Mark on the following; Upper and Lower Egypt, Delta, Giza, Luxor Memphis, Thebes, Nubia Alexandria

Mark on The Great Pyramids, Hatshepsuts Temple, Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Karnak

The Nile, linking Upper and Lower Egypt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_a3N0mx8zE&feature=related

SEASON MONTHS ACTIVITIES

Akhet - the inundation

June-September No farming was done at this time, as all the fields were flooded. Instead, many farmers

worked for the pharaoh (king), building pyramids or temples. Some of the time was spent mending their tools and looking after

animals.

PeretOctober-February In October the floodwaters receded,

leaving behind a layer of rich, black soil. This fertile soil was then ploughed and

seeded

Shemu March-May The fully grown crops had to be cut down (harvested) and removed before the Nile

flooded again. It was also the time to repair the canals ready for the next flood.

North with the Current, South with the Winds

The Nile Today

Water for Crops

Activity on the Nile

CROPS ?

THE SHADUF

To lift the water from the canal they used a shaduf. A shaduf is a large pole balanced on a crossbeam, a rope and bucket on one end and a heavy counter weight at the other. By pulling the rope it lowered the bucket into the canal. The farmer then raised the bucket of water by pulling down on the weight. He then swung the pole around and emptied the bucket onto the field.

A source of food

A Nile Bird Hunt

An Ancient Form of Transport

IDENTIFY THE DOMESTIC AND WILD ANIMALS

Goddess Boat

Ancient Trade Routes

Asiatic Traders in Ancient Egypt

Cheops Boat into the afterlife

The Nile God- Hapy

HYMN OF THE NILE Hail to thee, O Nile! Who manifests thyself over this land, and comes to

give life to Egypt! Mysterious is thy issuing forth from the darkness, on this day whereon

it is celebrated! Watering the orchards created by Re, to cause all the cattle to live, you

give the earth to drink, inexhaustible one! Path that descends from the sky, loving the bread of Seb and the first-

fruits of Nepera, You cause the workshops of Ptah to prosper! Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to

the temples. If you cease your toil and your work, then all that exists is in anguish. If

the gods suffer in heaven, then the faces of men waste away. Then He torments the flocks of Egypt, and great and small are in agony.

But all is changed for mankind when He comes; He is endowed with the qualities of Nun.

If He shines, the earth is joyous, every stomach is full of rejoicing, every spine is happy, every jaw-bone crushes (its food).

Power of the Gods Year 3, first month of the second season, day 12,

under the majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands, Usermare-Setepnamon, L.P.H.; Son of Re, Lord of the diadems, Osorkon (II) Siese-Meriamon, given life forever.The flood came on, in this whole land; it invaded the two shores as in the beginning. This land was in his power like the sea, there was no dyke of the people to withstand its fury. All the people were like birds upon its [...], the tempest ... his ....., suspended ..... ..... like the heavens. All the temples of Thebes were like marshes. On this day Amon caused to appear in Opet, the [barque] of his (portable) image ....; when he entered the "Great House" of his barque in his temple. Flood inscription at Karnak22nd dynasty

HERODOTUS

It is certain however that now they gather in fruit from the earth with less labour than any other men and also with less than the other Egyptians; for they have no labour in breaking up furrows with a plough nor in hoeing nor in any other of those labours which other men have about a crop; but when the river has come up of itself and watered their fields and after watering has left them again, then each man sows his own field and turns into it swine, and when he has trodden the seed into the ground by means of the swine, after that he waits for the harvest, and when he has threshed the corn by means of the swine, then he gathers it in. Herodotus, Histories II

The River in History

2250-1950; Low inundations, caused the drying out of Lake Moeris and signalled the end of the Old Kingdom

1840-1770; High inundations weakened the central power of the Middle Kingdom dynasties, which was exploited by the Hyksos to take over large parts of Egypt.

1170-1100; Low inundations accompanied the decline of the New Kingdom.

STUDENT ACTIVITY

EXPLAIN WHY THE NILE RIVER WAS SO IMPORTANT

TO EGYPT500 WORDS