• Nile River is 4,160 miles long. Longest
in the world. 30 Miles wide.
• River annually floods. In a predictable
manner.
• Was divided into Upper and Lower
Egypt. United by Narmer.
• First period known as Old Kingdom or
Age of Pyramids. 2700 to 2200 BCE.
A View of Egypt by Satellite
The Fertile Nile Valley
The Annual Flooding of the Nile
Nile Irrigation-the Shaduf
Narmer:
Unifier of Upper & Lower Egypt
c. 3050 B. C. E. ?
• Ruled by Pharaohs who claimed to be
the earthly representative of the Sun
god. Pharaoh literally means “Great
House”
• This is a theocracy when religion and
government are not separated.
• Pyramids built as tombs for the
pharaohs.
Ancient Egyptian Housing
Middle Class
Homes
Peasant
Homes
Scenes of Ancient Egyptian
Daily Life
Making Ancient Egyptian Beer
Making Ancient Egyptian Wine
An Egyptian Woman’s “Must-Haves”
Mirror
Perfume
Wigs
Egyptian Social Hierarchy
Egyptian Nobility
Egyptian Priestly Class
Egyptian Scribe
Papyrus  Paper
Hieratic Scroll Piece
Papyrus Plant
Egyptian Math & Draftsmenship
1
10 100 1000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
What number is this?
Champollion & the Rosetta Stone
Hieroglyphic
“Cartouche”
Egyptian Gods & Goddesses:
“The Sacred ‘Trinity’”
Osiris
Isis
Horus
Preparations for the Underworld
ANUBIS weighs the
dead person’s heart
against a feather.
The Ba of
Nefetari
Preparation for
the Afterlife
Egyptian Mummies
Seti I
1291-1278 B. C. E.
Queen Tiye, wife of
Amenhotep II
1210-1200 B. C. E.
Ramses II
1279-1212 B. C. E.
Journey to the Underworld
The dead travel on
the “Solar Bark.”
A boat for the
journey is provided
for a dead pharaoh
in his tomb.
Egyptian Book of the Dead &
Opening of the Mouth Ceremony
The Final Judgement:
Test of the Heart and Feather
Anubis
Horus
Osiris
Shabtis: The Pharaoh’s Servants
in the Afterlife
Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara by
Djoser
“Bent” Pyramid of King Sneferu
Giza Pyramid Complex
By Cheops,
Khaffre, &
Menaukre
Plan of the Great Pyramid
of Khufu
Middle Kingdom 2050 BCE –
1800 BCE
• Memphis nobles lost power & the
Theban nobility take over
• Trade expands rapidly with Palestine,
Syria even Minoan Crete
• 1700 BCE invaded by t he Hyksos –
had iron weapons and introduced 2
wheeled horse-drawn chariots
New Kingdom – 1600 BCE
• Ahmose I – Theban prince drove the
Hyksos out of Egypt
• Hatshepsut – 1472 to 1458 BCE only
female pharoah
• Her stepson Thutmose III came to
throne, Napoleon of Egypt, expanded
empire
The New
Kingdom’s
Agenda
I (Amun) gave you valour and
victory over all lands.
I set your might, your fear in
every country,
The dread of you as far as
heaven’s four supports.
I magnified your awe in every
body
I made your person’s fame
traverse the Nine Bows.
(From Thutmose III’s Tomb)
Famous Egyptian
Pharaohs
Hatshepsut
1479-1458 B. C. E.
Ramses II
1279-1212 B. C. E.
Akhenaton
1380-1362 BCE
Thutmose III
1504-1450 B. C. E.
Tutankhamun
1336-1327 B. C. E.
The Valley of the Kings & the New
Kingdom
The Valley of the Queens
1473-1458 B. C. E.
Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
Relief of Hatshepsut’s Expedition
to the Land of Punt
Ankhenaton: Another
Monotheist?
1352-1336 B. C. E.
• Akhenaton, the Heretic Pharaoh 1379
BCE to 1362 BCE
• Wife – Nefertiti
• Imposed monotheism on the people
• Worshipped Aton, the sun disk
• Built a new capital city
Queen
Nefertiti
• Tutankhamen came to the throne after
his father Akhenaton died. We know so
much about him because of the
discovery of his tomb in 1922 by
Howard Carter.
• Tut returned the religion to polytheism.
Archaeologist, Howard Carter (1922)
Entrance to King “Tut’s” Tomb
King Tutankhamon’s Death Mask
1336-1327 B. C. E.
King Tutankhamon
King Tutankhamun’s Tomb
Treasures From Tut’s Tomb
The Ankh – The “Cross” of Life
Abu Simbel:
Monument to Ramses II
1279-1213 B. C. E.
• Ramses II was the last great pharaoh.
Lived to be 90. Fathered 150 children.
• Pharaoh of the Hebrew oppression and
Exodus (Moses).
• Battle of Kadesh - first written peace
agreement
Kadesh and Exodus
Who Are These Strange People?
Routes of the “Sea Peoples”
The end of the Bronze Age!