Name _____________________________ Pd. ____________
Ancient Egypt Notes
Why is the Nile River Important?
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______________________________
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_______________________________
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_______________________________
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_______________________________
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As the land in northeastern Africa became _________________, plants died.
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Animals and people in search of __________________ moved to the valley of
the ___________________.
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The Nile River provided a source of water and spread silt, which made the
surrounding land __________________.
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People grew ___________________ and raised sheep,
__________________, and cattle.
Some years the Nile took life away:
 If _______________________ rain fell, Nile did not overflow, land and
crops dried up, people starved.
 If _______________________ rain fell, Nile flooded, washed away crops
and drowned people and animals.
 Egyptians kept track of the pattern of flooding with a _______________
calendar-the oldest known calendar based on the sun.
 The Egyptian calendar divided the year into ____________ parts:
 Inundation – ______________________________________________
 Emergence –
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
 Harvest – ________________________________________________
 People of ancient Egypt used stories about their gods to explain
___________________
 Some Egyptian gods:
 _______________________ – Sun god, the most important god,
created the other gods and the world.
 ______________________- taught the Egyptian people about
farming and made things grow.
 _______________________– Osiris’ wife
 _______________________– son of Osiris and Isis who ruled the sky
and took the form of a falcon. God of the sky.
Unity for Egyptians
1. ____________________ – villages in the northern region of Egypt on the
Nile delta.
2. _____________________ – villages in the river valley south of the delta.
3. About 3,000 BC, Upper Egyptian kings gained control of
______________________.
4. Some experts think that _____________________ may have brought the
“Two Lands” together.
5. The uniting of Egypt established the world’s first
__________________________ representing one group of people.
Dynasties of Egypt
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_______________________________
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________________________________
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________________________________
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________________________________
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________________________________
The Early Period
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Egyptians believed their ___________________was a god in human form.
He controlled all the land and all the people in ancient Egypt.
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Egyptians developed a system of writing called
_______________________
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Egyptians wrote on stone, on walls, and on paper like material called
_____________________ Papyrus was one of the great inventions of
ancient Egypt.
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_____________________________ in Egypt were written in hieroglyphics
on papyrus.
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Egyptian history is usually divided into _____________ parts: the old
kingdom, the middle kingdom, the new kingdom.
The Old Kingdom
1. Also known as the _________________________
2. ______________________________ were burial places for ancient
Egyptian rulers.
3. Egyptians believed they would need their bodies in another life after death, so
they built strong tombs (pyramids) and
____________________________their dead.
4. The best known of Egypt's pyramids is the
______________________________ ordered by Pharaoh Khufu.
The Middle Kingdom
1. During the Middle Kingdom Egypt became an empire and captured much of
______________________
2. The Egyptians and the people of Nubia often cooperated with each other to
conduct ______________________.
3. During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt had _____________________:
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______________________ = nobles and priests
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______________________ = craftsmen, merchants, scribes, and
people who had jobs in government
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_______________________= farmers and slaves
4. The _______________________captured Egypt and rules for about 100
years. They introduced the Egyptians to a horse drawn chariot and a stronger
bow.
The New Kingdom
1. The Egyptians took back their country using _________________ and
other weapons learned from the Hyksos.
2. The first woman to rule Egypt as pharaoh was _____________________.
3. Amenhotep (who later changed his name to Akhenaton) and his wife Nefertiti
urged Egyptian people to _________________ only
_____________________, the Aton. This brought fear to the Egyptians
and angered the priests.
4. When Akhenaton died the priests chose a new pharaoh whom they could control,
a nine year old boy, ____________________(King Tut).
5. After Tut’s death, Egypt’s wealth began to slip away, by
________________________ BC the new kingdom had ended and
conquerors from other lands began to rule Egypt.