Chapter 11

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Chapter 11 History of Ancient Egypt
Section Notes
Video
Geography and Early Egypt The Old Kingdom The
Middle and New Kingdoms Egyptian Achievements
Impact of the Egyptian Pyramids
Maps
Close-up
Ancient Egypt, 4500-500 BC Ancient Egypt Egyptian
Trade, c. 1400 BC Assessment Map Ancient Egypt
Building the Pyramids The Temple of Karnak
Images
Quick Facts
The Old Kingdom Egyptian Society Ancient Painting
of Ramses Howard Carter
Chapter 11 Visual Summary
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Geography and Early Egypt

• The Big Idea
• The water and fertile soils of the Nile Valley
  enabled a great civilization to develop in
  Egypt.
• Main Ideas
• Egypt was called the gift of the Nile because the
  Nile River was so important.
• Civilization developed after people began farming
  along the Nile River.
• Strong kings unified all of ancient Egypt.

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Main Idea 1Egypt was called the gift of the
Nile because the Nile River was so important.

• The Nile River, the longest river in the world,
  brought life to Egypt and enabled it to thrive.
• It begins in central Africa and runs north
  through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea.
• The civilization of ancient Egypt developed along
  a 750-mile stretch of the Nile.
• Ancient Egypt included two regions, southern and
  northern.
• Southern Egypt was called Upper Egypt because it
  was upriver in relation to the Niles flow.
• Northern Egypt, or Lower Egypt, was downriver.

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The Nile

• South of Egypt, rocky terrain caused cataracts,
  or rapids, to form.
• The first cataract marked the southern border of
  Upper Egypt.
• Five more cataracts lay farther south.

• In Lower Egypt, the Nile divided into several
  branches that fanned out and flowed into the
  Mediterranean Sea.
• These branches formed a delta, a triangle-shaped
  area of land made from soil deposited by a
  river.
• Two-thirds of Egypts fertile farmland was
  located in the Nile Delta.

• Each year rainfall south of Egypt caused floods
  in Upper Egypt in mid-summer and in Lower
  Egypt in the fall.
• The Niles flooding coated the land around it
  with a rich silt.
• Without the Niles regular flooding, people
  never could have farmed in Egypt.

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Main Idea 2Civilization developed after people
began farming along the Nile River.
Hunter-gatherers first moved into the Nile Valley
more than 12,000 years ago.
By 4500 BC farmers living in small villages grew
wheat and barley.
Over time farmers in Egypt developed an
irrigation system.
Egyptians enjoyed a varied diet, with wheat,
barley, fruits, vegetables, cattle, sheep, fish,
wild geese and ducks.
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Two Kingdoms

• Egypts location had natural barriers, which
  made it hard to invade Egypt.
• To the west, the desert was too big and harsh to
  cross.
• To the north, the Mediterranean Sea kept many
  enemies away.
• To the east, more desert and the Red Sea were
  barriers.
• To the south, Nile cataracts made sailing into
  Egypt hard.

• Villages grewwealthy farmers became village
  leaders strong leaders controlled several
  villages villages banded together to form two
  kingdoms.

• Capital of Lower Egypt was Pe in the Nile Delta.
• Capital of Upper Egypt was Nekhen on the Niles
  west bank.

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Main Idea 3Strong kings unified all of ancient
Egypt.

• According to tradition, Menes rose to power in
  Upper Egypt around 3100 BC.
• Invaded Lower Egypt and married one of their
  princesses to unify the two kingdoms
• Many consider Menes to be Egypts first pharaoh,
  the title used by the rulers of ancient Egypt.
• Founded Egypts first dynasty, or series of
  rulers from the same family.
• Built a new capital city, Memphis, at the
  southern tip of the Nile Delta.
• Egypts First Dynasty lasted for about 200 years.
• In time some 30 dynasties would rule ancient
  Egypt over a span of more than 2,500 years.

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The Old Kingdom

• The Big Idea
• Egyptian government and religion were closely
  connected during the Old Kingdom.
• Main Ideas
• Life in the Old Kingdom was influenced by
  pharaohs, roles in society, and trade.
• Religion shaped Egyptian life.
• The pyramids were built as tombs for Egypts
  pharaohs.

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Main Idea 1Life in the Old Kingdom was
influenced by pharaohs, roles in society, and
trade.

• The Old Kingdom lasted for about 500 years, from
  about 2700 to 2200 BC, beginning with the Third
  Dynasty.
• Ancient Egyptians believed that Egypt belonged to
  the gods, and the pharaoh had come to Earth in
  order to manage Egypt for the rest of the gods.
• The most famous pharaoh of the Old Kingdom was
  Khufu, who ruled in the 2500s BC. He is best
  known for the monuments that were built to him.

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Society and Trade
As Egypts population grew, social classes
appeared. Egyptians believed that a well-ordered
society would keep their kingdom strong.
Pharaoh Egypts ruler, also considered to be a god
Nobles Officials and priests, many nobles, people
from rich and powerful families
Middle Class Lesser government officials,
scribes, and rich craftspeople
Lower Class Farmers, servants, and slaves
As society developed, trade grew as Egypt traded
with neighbors for gold, copper, ivory, slaves,
stone, and wood.
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Main Idea 2Religion shaped Egyptian life.

• Worshipping the gods was a part of daily life.
• The Egyptians practiced polytheism.
• Before the First Dynasty each village worshipped
  its own gods.
• During the Old Kingdom, Egyptian officials
  expected everyone to worship the same gods.
• The Egyptians build temples to the gods all over
  the kingdom.
• Egyptian families also worshipped household gods
  at shrines in their homes.

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Major Egyptian Gods
Ptah

• Creator of the world

Anubis

• God of the dead

Re

• Sun god

Osiris

• God of the underworld

Isis

• Goddess of magic

Horus

• Sky god god of the pharaohs

Thoth

• God of wisdom

Geb

• Earth god

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Emphasis on the Afterlife

• Much of Egyptian religion focused on the
  afterlife, or life after death.
• The Egyptians believed that the afterlife was a
  happy place.
• The Egyptian belief in the afterlife stemmed from
  their idea of ka, or a persons life force.
• When a person died, his or her ka left the body
  and became a spirit, but could not leave its
  burial site.
• It had all the same needs as a living person.
• Egyptians believed that a body had to be
  preserved so that its spirit could recognize it.
• They developed a method called embalming to
  preserve bodies and to keep them from decaying.
• They preserved bodies as mummies, specially
  treated bodies wrapped in cloth.
• Only royalty and other members of Egypts elite,
  or people of wealth and power, could afford to
  have mummies made.

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Main Idea 3The pyramids were built as tombs
for Egypts pharaohs.
The Egyptians believed that burial sites,
especially royal tombs, were very important, so
they built spectacular monuments in which to bury
their rulers.
The most spectacular were the pyramidshuge,
stone tombs with four triangle-shaped sides that
met in a point on topfirst built during the Old
Kingdom.
The largest is the Great Pyramid of Khufu near
Giza. It is an amazing example of Egyptian
engineering, the application of scientific
knowledge for practical purposes.
Pyramids required huge labor forces. As many as
100,000 workers may have been paid to work on
just one pyramid.
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Significance of the Pyramids
Burial in a pyramid showed a pharaohs importance.
Both the size and shape of the pyramid were
symbolic. Pointing to the sky above, the pyramid
symbolized the pharaohs journey to the afterlife.
Egyptians believed the pharaoh, as their link to
the gods, controlled everyones afterlife.
To ensure the pharaohs safety after death, the
Egyptians sometimes wrote magical spells and
hymns on tombs. Together, these spells and hymns
are called Pyramid Texts.
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The Middle and New Kingdoms

• The Big Idea
• During the Middle and New Kingdoms, order and
  greatness were restored in Egypt.
• Main Ideas
• The Middle Kingdom was a period of stable
  government between periods of disorder.
• The New Kingdom was the peak of Egyptian trade
  and military power, but its greatness did not
  last.
• Work and daily life differed among Egypts social
  classes.

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Main Idea 1The Middle Kingdom was a period of
stable government between periods of disorder.

• At the end of the Old Kingdom, the wealth and
  power of the pharaohs declined.
• In time, nobles gained enough power to challenge
  the pharaohs.
• By about 2200 BC the Old Kingdom had fallen and
  local nobles ruled for the next 160 years.
• Around 2050 BC a powerful pharaoh defeated his
  rivals, reuniting Egypt and beginning the Middle
  Kingdom, a period of order and stability that
  lasted to about 1750 BC.
• Around 1750 BC the Hyksos from Southwest Asia
  invaded and conquered Lower Egypt.
• They ruled the region as pharaohs for 200 years.

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Main Idea 2The New Kingdom was the peak of
Egyptian trade and military power, but its
greatness did not last.

• Building an Empire
• In the mid-1500s BC Ahmose of Thebes drove the
  Hyksos out of Egypt.
• Start of the New Kingdom, the period during which
  Egypt reached the height of its power and glory
• Egypts leaders conquered a large area, including
  kingdom of Kush, south of Egypt.
• By the 1400s BC Egypts empire extended from the
  Euphrates River to southern Nubia.

• Growth and Effects of Trade
• As empire expanded, so did trade.
• Conquest brought Egyptian traders into contact
  with more distant lands and profitable trade
  routes, or paths followed by traders, developed
  from Egypt to these lands.
• One of Egypts rulers who worked to increase
  trade was Queen Hatshepsut who used the money
  gained from trade to support the arts and
  architecture.

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Invasions of Egypt

• Hittites
• In the 1200s BC the pharaoh Ramses II, or Ramses
  the Great, fought the Hittites from Asia Minor.
  Neither could defeat the other.

• Tehenu
• The Tehenu invaded the Nile Delta and were
  defeated by Ramses.
• Built a series of forts to strengthen Egypts
  defenses, and the Tehenu were defeated again when
  they invaded a century later.

• The Sea Peoples
• Soon after Ramses the Great died, the Sea Peoples
  invaded.
• They crushed the Hittites and destroyed cities in
  Southwest Asia.
• The Egyptians turned them back after 50 years of
  fighting.

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Main Idea 3Work and daily life differed among
Egypts social classes.
A complex society requires people to take on
different jobs. In Egypt, these jobs were often
passed on within families.

• Worked for the government and the temples
• Kept records and accounts, wrote and copied
  religious and literary texts

Scribes

• Worked for the government and the temples
• Sculptors, builders, carpenters, jewelers,
  metalworkers, and leatherworkers

Artisans

• Designed the temples and royal tombs
• Artists worked for the state and temples, and
  painted the walls of the pharaohs tombs

Architectsand Artists
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Merchants, Soldiers, Peasants, and Slaves

• Small group of Egyptians were traders
• Usually accompanied by soldiers, scribes, and
  laborers

Merchants

• Professional army
• Received land as payment, kept captured treasure,
  promotion to officer possible

Soldiers

• Vast majority of Egypts population
• Paid crops as taxes worked on special projects
  for the pharaoh

Farmers andPeasants

• Worked farms, projects, workshops, and homes
• Had some legal rights
• Could earn their freedom

Slaves
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Family Life in Egypt

• Most Egyptian families lived in their own homes.

• Men were expected to marry young so that they
  could start having children.

• Most Egyptian women were devoted to their homes
  and families.
• Some women had jobs outside the home, serving as
  priestesses and working as royal officials,
  administrators, or artisans.
• They could own property, make contracts (binding
  legal agreements), divorce their husbands, and
  keep their property after a divorce.

• Childrens lives were less structured. They
  hunted and played with balls, dolls, tops, and
  animal figurines.
• At school, they learned morals, writing, math,
  and sports.
• At age 14 most boys entered their fathers
  profession.

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Egyptian Achievements

• The Big Idea
• The Egyptians made lasting achievements in
  writing, art, and architecture.
• Main Ideas
• Egyptian writing used symbols called
  hieroglyphics.
• Egypts great temples were lavishly decorated.
• Egyptian art filled tombs.

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Main Idea 1Egyptian writing used symbols
called hieroglyphics.
Hieroglyphics, the Egyptian writing system, were
one of the worlds first writing systems.
The earliest known examples are from around 3300
BC.
Later, Egyptians learned how to make papyrus, a
long-lasting, paperlike material made from reeds.
Scribes wrote on papyrus using brushes and ink.
The hieroglyphic writing system used more than
600 symbols.
Hieroglyphics could be written in any direction.
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The Rosetta Stone and Egyptian Texts
Rosetta Stone

• People have known about hieroglyphics for
  centuries, but did not know how to read them.
• In 1799 a French soldier found the Rosetta Stone,
  a huge, stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics,
  Greek, and a later form of Egyptian.
• Because the message in all three languages was
  the same, scholars who knew Greek were able to
  translate the hieroglyphics.

Egyptian Texts

• Because papyrus did not decay in Egypts dry
  climate, many ancient Egyptian texts still
  survive.
• They include government records, historical
  records, science texts, medical manuals, and
  literary works, including The Book of the Dead,
  telling about the afterlife.

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Main Idea 2Egypts great temples were lavishly
decorated.

• Temples were the homes of the gods.
• People worshipped, offered gifts, and asked for
  favors.
• Common temple features
• Rows of stone sphinxesimaginary creatures with
  the bodies of lions and the heads of other
  animals or humanslined the entrance path.
• Entrance was a huge, thick gate.
• On either side might stand an obelisk, a tall,
  four-sided pillar that is pointed on top.
• Inside was lavishly decorated, with huge columns
  supporting the roof, often covered with paintings
  and hieroglyphics like the walls.

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Main Idea 3Egyptian art filled tombs.
Many of the Egyptians greatest works were
created to fill the tombs of pharaohs and nobles
because they believed the dead could enjoy them
in the afterlife.

• Egyptian artists painted on tomb and temple
  walls, canvas, papyrus, pottery, plaster, and
  wood.
• Subjects included historical events, major
  religious rituals, and scenes from everyday
  life.
• More important figures are larger than less
  important people.

Paintings
Stonework

• Huge statues and detailed carvings

• Made for men and women out of gold and precious
  stones

Jewelry
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