Old Kingdom
3,000 BC
2700 – 2200 BC
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom
2050-1652 BC
1567 – 1085 BC
•Called the “Gift of the
Nile” and the “Miracle
of the Nile.”
•The yearly flooding of
the Nile was
predictable.
•Flooded, leaving a
Hymn to the Nile – “The bringer of food, rich deposit of fertile
rich in provisions, creator of all good,
lord of majesty, sweet of fragrance.”
soil that forms a delta.
•Longest river in the
world. (4,000 miles).
•Runs from the south
to the north.
•Largest, most heavily
populated cities are
located near the
arable land next to the
Nile river.
•Black land –
name given to
the fertile,
farming land.
Red Land and Black Land above
•Red land –
name given to
the land that is
desert.
•Farming surplus –
made Egypt a wealthy
region.
•Nile river unified
Upper and Lower
Egypt.
•Nile provided
transportation and the
ability to trade goods.
•Natural barriers
included deserts to
their east and west,
the Red Sea, and the
Mediterranean Sea.
•Natural barriers
meant the Egyptians
rarely feared invading
armies.
•Hieroglyphics – which
means “priest
carvings” or “sacred
writings.” The Egyptian
style of writing.
•Scribes wrote on
papyrus, a reed found
in the Nile.
•Papyrus=paper
•Jean Francois
Champollion cracked the
code of Egyptian
hieroglyphics with the
Rosetta Stone. We could
now read Egyptian
hieroglyphics.
•The Rosetta Stone had
three languages,
Egyptian, demotic and
Greek.
•Filled with hope.
Secure and
confident.
• Sense of
changelessness.
•Prosperous and
stable.
•Belief in an afterlife.
Pharaoh
Grand Stewart or
Vizier
Upper class Nobles and
Priests
Merchants, Artisans, Scribes, and
Tax collectors – strong middle
class.
Farmers – most people in Egypt were
farmers. They paid taxes, lived in small
villages, provided military service and labor
for building projects.
1. What is the Egyptian style of writing
called?
2.What did scribes write on?
3.Of what value was the Rosetta Stone?
4.Who was the most powerful person in
Egypt?
5.Which group made up the largest % of
the population?
•The Egyptians were
polytheistic with over 2,000
gods and goddesses.
•The most important gods
were the sun god, Ra, and
land gods.
•Their gods provided balance
between order and chaos.
Sun god, Ra
•Osiris was the god of
the Underworld and
resurrection.
•It is from the story of
his death and
resurrection, that
Egyptians got their
belief in the importance
of mummification.
•Isis was an
important goddess.
•Her bringing
together of Osiris’s
body and his
resurrection were
symbolic of the new
life brought with the
Nile’s yearly flood.
•Began in 3100 BC
when King Menes
united Upper and
Lower Egypt.
•He wore the double
crown of Egypt.
•Menes established
a dynasty of rulers
or pharaohs.
White crown-Upper Egypt and
the Red Crown is for Lower
Egypt.
•Dynasty – a family
of rulers whose
right to rule is
passed on to their
children.
•Power is usually
transferred to the
oldest male child.
•Pharaoh – meant
“great house” or
“palace.”
•They had absolute
power.
•Egyptian pharaoh’s
were called the “Son
of Ra.”
1. Were the Egyptians monotheistic or
polytheistic?
2.Who was the god of the Underworld?
3.Who was the 1st pharaoh to unite
Egypt?
4.A line of rulers from the same family is
called this…
5.What does the term pharaoh mean?
•The greatest accomplishment of the Old
Kingdom was –
•The building of the Great Pyramids at
Giza.
•Originally,
mastabas were built
to house pharaohs.
Later, great
pyramids were built.
•Mastabas were then
used to bury the
pharaoh’s officials.
•The Great Pyramids were
built by King Khufu in Giza –
2,540 BC.
•Largest and most
magnificent of pyramids.
•Pyramids had supplies for
the pharaoh to enjoy when
he returned from the dead.
Supplies included: food,
games, weapons, and boats.
•Guarding the Great
Pyramids is the Great
Sphinx.
•240 ft long, 66 ft.
high.
The Great Sphinx
•It has the body of a
lion and the head of a
man, probably
Khufu’s son, Khafre.
•The process of
mummifying a body was
taken very seriously by
priests.
•First, the major organs
were removed, and then the
body was drained of all
fluids and dried with natron
(salt) for about 3 months.
•Then, the major
organs were wrapped
and placed in canopic
jars.
•Finally, the body was
carefully wrapped one
layer at a time and
placed in a
sarcophagus.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/launch_gms_mummy_ma
ker.shtml
•2050 – 1652 BC.
•Golden Age of
stability and trade.
•Conquered Nubia.
•Traded with Kush,
Syria,
Mesopotamia, and
Crete.
•Egypt was the most
powerful nation in the
region.
•Massive wealth and a
new kingdom of
powerful pharaohs.
•Age of militarism and
empire.
•Hatshepsut -1st
female pharaoh.
•She dressed as a
man, and claimed
the gods wanted her
to be pharaoh.
•She built many
temples.
•Map to
the
temples
that ran
the
length of
the Nile
river.
•Amenhotep IV or
Akhenaton – 1st
pharaoh to claim that
there was only one
god, Aton, the sun.
•He angered many
priests by closing
their temples.
•Akhenaton was
married to the world’s
most beautiful
woman, Queen
Nefertiti.
•Their son was King
Tutankhamen, or King
Tut, the “boy king.”
•King Tutankhamen
restored the old gods, but
his memory was erased
from history.
•His tomb was the most
famous because it was
complete, and had not
been looted.
•Archaeologist
Howard Carter made
the most famous of
all archaeological
finds when he
uncovered the tomb
of the boy king.
•Ramses the Great
ruled the longest of
all the pharaohs.
He died at the age
of 90.
•He may have been
the pharaoh that
dealt with Moses.
•Cleopatra II was the
last of the Egyptian
pharaohs.
•Her challenge to
Roman power was
answered by defeat at
the Battle of Actium
and her suicide.
•Writing –
hieroglyphics.
•Pyramids,
temples and
monuments.
•Math – calculate
area, volume.
•365 day calendar.
•Expertise in
anatomy.
•Great doctors
and nurses.
Medical training
and expertise.