INDEX
TOPIC
SLIDE NO
Introduction
05
Geography
06
Map
07
Timeline
08
Town Planning
10
Building
11
Architecture and Engineering
12
Social Structure
13
Family Life
14
Food
15
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INDEX
TOPIC
SLIDE NO
Dress
16
Occupation Practised
17
Trade
18
Writing
19
Religion
20
Achievements of Civilization
21
Decline of Civilization
22
Conclusion
23
Bibliography
24
2
Acknowledgement
I Akshara Nayak of class 6/C , roll no. (roll) would
like to thank to my history teacher (name) for
guiding me till the end of this project named
“The Egyptian Civilization”.
I thank to my parents and God for their contant
support and blessings , for believing in me and
boosting me up. I would also like to thank my
friends for discussing the topics and sharing their
ideas.
Without the support of all of them, it would have
been very difficult to complete this task.
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introduction
Egyptian civilization Ancient Egypt, civilization that thrived along the Nile
River in north-eastern Africa for more than 3,000 years, from about 3300
BC to 30 BC. It was the longest-lived civilization of the ancient world.
Geographically, the term ancient Egypt indicates the territory where the
ancient Egyptians lived in the valley and delta of the Nile. Culturally, it
refers to the ways ancient Egyptians spoke, worshiped, understood the
nature of the physical world, organized their government, made their
livings, entertained themselves, and related to others who were not
Egyptian.
The Nile River, which formed the focus of ancient Egyptian civilization,
originates in the highlands of East Africa and flows northward throughout
the length of what are now Sudan and Egypt. Northwest of modern-day
Cairo, it branches out to form a broad delta, through which it empties into
the Mediterranean Sea. Because of seasonal rains farther south in Africa,
the Nile overflowed its banks in Egypt every year. When the floodwaters
receded, a rich black soil covered the floodplain. This natural phenomenon
and its effects on the environment enabled the ancient Egyptians to
develop a successful economy based on agriculture.
4
Geography
Egypt is located in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
There are no mountains in Egypt just sand dunes. The
sand dunes make huge sand hills in the desert making
it hard to travel. The sand dunes are crated by wind
blowing the sand around. There are two parts of
Ancient Egypt. Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt. Lower
(northern) Egypt consisted of the Nile River’s delta
made by the river as it empties into the
Mediterranean. Upper (southern) Egypt was the long,
narrow strip of ancient Egypt located south of the
Delta. Most of Egypt is made of sand and some rock.
The geographic size is 387,000 square miles.
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MAP
6
Timeline
• The Old Kingdom
3000-2000 BCE (approx)
• The Middle Kingdom 2000-1700 BCE (approx)
• The New Kingdom 1600-1100 BCE (approx)
• For about 100 years, between 1700-1600 BCE,
Egypt was invaded and ruled by Hyksos tribes
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8
Town planning
Some cities were planned while some like Memphis
and Thebes grew organically.
Cities were planned according to their location with
respect to Nile river and were divided into two regions:
1. Upper Region (Southern)
2. Lower Region (Northern)
There were a few broad parallel streets running north
to south, cut at right angles by narrow streets,
dividing the city into blocks and grids.
9
buildings
There were two types of buildings:
1. Dwelling houses
2. Public Buildings
• Dwelling houses:
–
–
–
–
Built around crossing of major roads
Made of sun bricks
Number of rooms depend upon wealth of family
Poors had one-two roomed house while rich lived in storeyed houses made of stone with as
many as 30 rooms, garden, pools
– Royal palaces were enclosed by high walls and separated from the rest of the city. Some
were surrounded by moats for additional security.
• Public Buildings:
– Temple districts were better planned and surrounded by high walls and separated from the
rest of the city
– Layout were symmetrical
– Temples were massive structure with huge gateways
10
Architecture and
engineering
Architects and engineers
built
remarkable
monuments
such
as
pyramids and temples.
The Great Pyramid at Giza is
one of the seven wonders of
Ancient World.
Another
architectural
wonder is the Sphinx, a
mythological figure with the
body of a lion and head of a
human. It is carved out of a
single piece of stone.
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Social structure
Egyptian society was divided into
three distinct classes:
1. Upper class: consisted of the
royal family, rich landlords, high
ranking priests, government
officials and doctors.
2. Middle class: consisted of
merchants,
manufacturers,
crafts people and lower clergy.
3. Lower class: consisted of
peasents. At the bottom of the
social heirarchy were the slaves
who were mainly the prisoners
of war.
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Family life
Families in ancient Egypt were close-knit group.
Relationship between husband, wife and child was
usually close.
The father was the head of the family, women were
treated with respect and their property rights were
protected. They were more or less equal to men in the
eyes of law. Children enjoyed carefree and happy
lives.Boys were sent to school and girls stayed back
home learning the household works.
Wealthy families lived lives of luxury and pleasure.
Family outings and recreation included hunting,
fishing, swimming and sailing on the Nile.
13
Food
Bread made from wheat and beer amde from
barley formed the staple diet of the people.
They also ate vegetables, fruits, meat and
dairy products.
14
dress
Early Egyptians dressed simply. Their dressed
were made of white linen.
The men wore loin cloth and the women
wore long tight fitting dresses with shoulder
straps. Later their dress became more
complex . Both men and women wore
elaborate jewellery, cosmetics and wigs.
Men paid as much attention to their hairstyle
and complexion as much as women did.
15
Occupations practised
•
•
•
•
Some of the occupation practised by the egyptians
were :
Agriculture : Soil was fertile and they got water from
Nile. Major crops were wheat ,barley and millet. Some
vegetables and fruits were also grown.
Domestication of Animals: cowa, sheep, goats, geese,
doves, camels were domisticated
Art and Craft: These included potters, goldsmiths,
carpenters, weavers, scluptors and painters.
Medicine: Doctors and Surgeons. The mummification
technique used showed that they had a high
knowledge of human body and systems.
16
Trade
Trade was carried on both land and sea route.
Boats and barges along the Nile and camels and
donkeys on the road were used for trading .
Egyptians built the world’s first seafaring ships for
foriegn trade. They exported wheat, linen,
glassware, jewellery, etc whereas they imported
gold, iron, copper and cedar woods.
King controlled the foreign trade and barter
system was used.
17
Writing
Egyptians developed a form
of
writing
called
hieroglyphic script (sacred
writing). They used pictorial
symbols of various obejcts
and creatures to denote
letters. About 2000 picture
signs have been found on
ancient
pyramids
and
temples.
Later,
they
developed
simplified
alphabet which had 24
consonants and no vowels.
18
religion
Egyptians worshiped many gods and goddesses
connected with nature. Ra, the sun god and Osiris, the
god of the dead were among the important gods.
Pharaohs were also worshipped as gods. Each god had
their own temple and preist.
Certain animals like jackal, bull, hawk , crocodile were
also worshipped.
Egyptians believed in life after death, so they preserved
the body of the dead. A dead body was embalmed with
spices and wrapped in fine linen. Such preserved body
were known as mummy. The pyramids were the tombs
of the pharaohs.
19
Achievements of civilization
The Egyptians had made important contribution in various field:
• They made paper using papyrus, a water reed.
• They made ink for writing using soot, gum and water.
• They introduced the world’s first solar calendar. They divided a year
in 12 months each having 30 days and rest 5 days were used for
celebrating festival.
• They developed advance system of mathematics used in building
pyramids, doing land survey.
• They developed astronomy and the instrument to read the
movement of stars and planets.
• They also invented water clock to read time at night
• Their mummies are still well preserved and they made the world’s
first medical diagnosis.
20
Decline of civilization
The decline of the Egyptian empire set in with the collapse
of New Kingdom. By 1000 BCE, glory and splendour of the
Egyptian empire declined. Foreign invasions and internal
revolts weakened the empire. Egypt was repeatedly
invaded by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians and finally
by Alexander the Great. It later became one of the greatest
cultural centers of the ancient world during the reign of
Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s generals. Ptolemy was the
founder of the last dynasty of Egypt.
Herodotus wrote “There is no country that possesses so
many wonders, nor any that has such a number of works
which defy description.”
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conclusion
I got to learn a lot about the Egyptian civilization,
how they lived , what did they eat, how they
dressed up and a lot more.
I learnt that they lived a life very similar to us,
they also worshiped god and ate food similar to
us. We can see their pyramids and statues and
can conclude that they had better architecture
and engineering knowledge as compared to now.
It was a very fun learning experience for me.
22
bibliography
• https://www.britannica.com/place/ancientEgypt
• History book name-publication-author
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Egyp
t
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