Ancient Egypt Nicknamed “The Gift of the Nile”

Contributed by:
Steve
This booklet enhances students' knowledge and helps them learn about Egyptian geography, the Nile River, and its important uses, the Egyptian Social pyramid, The Rosetta Stone.
1. Ancient Egypt
Nicknamed “The Gift of the Nile”
• Egypt was first settled about 5000 B.C.
(7000 years ago) by nomads
• Egyptian Civilization developed because Click photo for “A Kid Explains History”
of the Nile River
2. ❖Located in the
northeast corner of
Africa
❖Surrounded by natural
barriers:
• desert
• mountains
•Mediterranean Sea
PROVIDED
PROTECTION
3.
4.
5. The Nile River
 Flooded every year
 Provided fertile soil for crops when the “silt”, from the
bottom of the river bed, full of vitamins and minerals
would flood the earth
 Was the “Lifeline” for Egypt
 Transportation Route
 Used for Irrigation
 Flows south to north
 (opposite of every other river)
 Mouth = “Delta”
Click for Nile Video
6. The Important Uses of the Nile
Uses: Drinking & Bathing, Agriculture, &
Transportation
The Egyptians had 3 seasons, based on the river.
 Inundation: June - October - SHAIT
 time of rising flood waters
 farmers had time to build (pyramids and other
projects)
 Emergence: November - February- PIRUIT
 the return of the water to the river
 planted crops & trapped water for irrigation
 Drought: March - June - SHEMU
 Harvest time (picking the crops)
7.  Irrigation systems watered crops
 Main crops were barley, wheat and flax
 Main food was bread, fish, vegetables and fruit.
 Only the wealthy ate meat.
8.  Egypt’s weather is very warm
 People wore linen robes
 Women wore make-up and jewelry
 People shaved their heads and wore wigs for
special occasions.
9. Egyptian Social Pyramid
• Egypt’s lowest class were
slaves.
Egyptian Social
SLAVERY - the practice of one
Classes were person owning another person.
based on wealth,
Slavery was the lowest level in
jobs and Ancient Egyptian society.
education Slaves came from the conquered
lands & did the hardest work:
• Mined gold
• Planted crops
• Dug canals
• Worked as house
servants
10.  People built homes from mud bricks
 More important people had better houses.
 Only the wealthy had “bathrooms”
11. Language
 Egyptians developed a
form of picture or symbol
writing known as
hieroglyphics.
 They developed this
language in order to keep
track of government records
and laws, taxes, and the
passage of time
 This Egyptian “alphabet”
was made up of about 800
picture-symbols called
hieroglyphs.
 The word hieroglyphics
means “sacred writing”
 Had Scribes like the
Mesopotamians
12. Language/Writing Continued
 Writings carved in wood
or stone
 Later, painted with ink
on papyrus
 The Egyptians wrote
on Papyrus, the
earliest form of paper
 Made from the
papyrus reed that
grew in the Nile
 The reeds would be
criss-crossed and
pounded down to a How to make Papyrus video
paper-like thickness.
13. The Rosetta Stone
 Slab of black rock carved in three
languages
 Hieroglyphics
 Greek included
 Allowed hieroglyphics to be translated
 1799: found a stone with a message
written in 3 languages
  Hieroglyphics
  Aramaic
  Greek
 1822: Jean Francois Champollion finally
broke the code
Rosetta Stone Video
14.  The king or ruler of Egypt was
called a Pharaoh.
 The Pharaoh was seen as a god.
 Everyone worked for the pharaoh.
 When he died, the pharaoh was
mummified and buried in a beautiful
chamber along with his belongings.
 Like all civilizations, Egyptians had
the need for laws. The Pharaoh
was the supreme judge of what was
right and wrong under the law.
15. Pharaohs Rule As Gods
 Pharaohs were in charge of:
 Economy- Pharaoh collected a portion of crops for taxes, Trade was
the way in which Egyptians were paid for their services
 Government- Pharaoh appointed powerful local leaders called
governors, then the Governors collected taxes and served as local
judges, And made sure local flood waters were shared equally
 Religion- believed that the Pharaoh was the child of Ra, the sun-god,
that Pharaoh gave life to Egypt & its people, worshipped the Pharaoh
 Pharaohs cause sun to rise, Nile to flood, crops to grow
 Pharaohs you may have heard of …
 King Menes: United United Upper and Lower Egypt
 King Tut: Much of what we know today is due to the discovery of his
elaborate tomb!
16. King Tutankhamen’s Tomb
The Boy Pharaoh
 King Tutankhamen was 9 years old when he
was chosen to replace Akhenaton.
 The priests of Egypt controlled King Tut, who
died when he was only 19 years old.
 His tomb was discovered in 1922. The tomb
contained everything Tut would need in the
afterlife.
 We know about the Egyptian belief in the
Afterlife mainly through the discoveries
made by archeologists, like Carter. Tombs
which contained riches, food, and other
worldly provisions told us that the Ancient
Egyptians expected their dead to need these
things in the "next life".
17. An Important Pharaoh- King Menes
Was known for Uniting Upper and Lower Egypt
Menes’s Upper
Egypt army
invades and
conquers
Lower Egypt
18. Some Famous Egyptian Pharaohs
Hatshepsut Khufu
-Hatshepsut was one
Thutmose III of Egypt’s few female Built the great
1504-1450 B. C. pharaohs Ramses II pyramids (Giza)
-She expanded trade
further than any other 1279-1212 B. C.
pharaoh
Brain Pop Video (weddington Moby1)
19. Religion
 The Egyptians believed in many
gods. (Polytheistic)
 Egyptians prayed to different
gods who controlled different
things.
 They built temples and shrines to
honor their gods.
 The Egyptians believed in an
“afterlife.”
 -Most of their gods were part
human, part animal
20. Anubis – Horus – Ra – God
God of God of Osiris –
of the Sun
Preserving the Sky God of the
the Dead Dead and
the
Underworld
21.  Egyptians believed that when people die, they
move on to another world.
 Since people needed their body in the afterlife, it
would need to be “preserved.”
 The process of mummification was developed.
22. The Process of Mummification
 First they would remove the organs.
These would go into canopic jars.
 They would take the brain out
through the nose.
 They packed the body with natron
(a salt mixture) that would remove
all the moisture.
 After several weeks, they would
apply oil, wrap the body in
bandages and place the body in a
sarcophagus. They would put a
decorated mask on the body.
 The body would be put in a
chamber with all the things needed
for the afterlife…food, riches, etc.
23. Contributions of Egypt
 Language: Hieroglyphics
 Architecture: Pyramids
 Inventions: 365 day calendar, papyrus (paper),
irrigation system, mathematics, weapons, chariots
 Medicine/surgery
 Medical discoveries
 Magic heavily used
 Developed surgery
 Greeks & Romans based much of their medical knowledge on that of the Egyptians
 Art: statues, paintings, jewelry
24. Egyptian Pyramid
25. The Great Pyramid & Sphinx
26. Inside The Great Pyramid
27.
28. Ancient Egyptian Time
An Explanation
First, the Egyptians developed a lunar calendar of 354 days.
In time, the Egyptians created a more accurate 360-day solar calendar
BC - Means "Before Christ" (a.k.a. B.C.E – before common
AD - Means "Anno Domini" (The Year of Our Lord)
(Also can be shown as C.E. Common era)
Both of these terms were adopted during the early
formation of the Roman/Christian calendar.
BC counts backward (kind of like a negative number) until it
gets to year 0, then you are in AD time period and count
going up.
29. Ancient Egyptian Timeline
Archaic Era Egypt was a grassland. Nomads traveled in
6000 bc
search of food
Early Dynastic
King Menes united Upper & Lower Egypt.
3200 bc - 2780 bc
Established capital at Memphis.
Old Kingdom Age of Pyramids. First man made mummies
2780 bc - 2258bc
Middle Kingdom Rise of the Middle Class – trade becomes
2134 bc - 1786 bc
the center of the economy.
New Kingdom Major trading expeditions. Akhenaten and
1570 bc - 1085 bc
Queen Hatshepsut
Ptolemaic Dynasty Alexander the Great conquers Egypt.
304 bc - 30 bc
Cleopatra is the last Pharaoh
Roman Period Romans take control of Egypt. Egypt never
30 bc - 640 ad
rises to greatness again.
30. Other Symbols of Egypt
Queen
amulets
Hatputshut Scarab Beetle
King Tut
Eye of Horus
The Sphinx Ancient Egypt Song
Cartouche
31.  Next to what river did Egypt develop?
 In what direction does the Nile River flow?
 Name three ways is a river important to a
civilization?
 What is the fan-shaped mouth of a river called?
 What was the main food eaten by Egyptians?
 What did most Egyptians live in?
 What was Egyptian language called?
 What is an Egyptian king called?
 What was the “afterlife?”
 Describe the mummification process.
 Name four contributions of Ancient Egypt.