ANCIENT LIVES: Part 2
PROGRAMME LENGTH
1 hour
SCREENING DETAILS
Monday May 3rd at 9.30am EST/ NZ
John Romer, Egyptologist and archaeologist, shares insights into Egyptian society and the life
and death of Egyptians in the New Kingdom.
The focus of Romer’s narrative is the village and the villagers of Deir El-Medina on the west
bank of the Nile near Thebes and the Valley of the Kings.
This program will be invaluable for students studying New Kingdom Egypt. It would make a
major contribution to a Case Study of Deir el-Medina.
Denis Mootz
NBB: this program requires previewing.
It discusses and displays erotic drawings
STAYING FOCUSED.
This is the data collection stage of the activity.
The detailed questioning is designed to ensure that students decode the visual and aural materials
presented to them in the video.
The video programs can be stopped at the end of each section. This will allow students to share and
discuss answers.
Introduction.
Note the surroundings of Thebes.
Note the parallels between modern Thebes and ancient Thebes.
Act 1.
Why were the temples of the Nile Valley built in stone?
Note the location of the Valley of the Kings.
Note the work of the tomb workers.
Note details of the decorations of a royal tomb and its connection to daily and annual cycles.
Note the details of the house of the scribe Kenher-khepshef.
Why is his house the biggest in the village?
Note the details of the work of the scribe Kenher-khepshef.
Note details of the gods of Egypt.
Note details of the story of Horus and Seth.
Note details of the tomb of Paneb.
Why was the foreman Paneb a ‘man of Seth’?
Note the quality of the work done under Paneb’s supervision.
What does the Turin Papyrus suggests about village activities?
What else do we know about Paneb?
Act 2.
Why did Paneb flourish in this period?
What caused Paneb’s downfall?
What evidence is pieced together to give us the details of the lives of the villagers?
What happened to Paneb and his son?
Why was the map of the mines made? Implications?
Note details of the Wadi Hammamat.
Note the evidence Romer finds of Egyptian presence in the valley.
Note the use of the cartouche.
Note conditions in the mines and stone quarries.
Act 3.
Where did most gold come from?
What was gold used for?
Note details of the Temple of Medinet Habu.
How did palaces contrast with temples?
Note the construction techniques.
Note Romer’s description of the Egyptian state.
What was at the heart of the Egyptian state?
Note details of the sacrifices in the temple.
Note details of the daily account keeping in the temples.
Who provided for the tomb makers?
Note details of the family daily ration.
What was the source of meat for the Egyptians?
How did the Egyptians celebrate their religion? Result?
Act 4.
Note the activities that accompanied the festivals of the gods.
Note the evidence we have for the activities that Romer describes.
Note details of the offerings prepared for the gods.
Note details of the reign of Rameses 111.
Why was Thebes vulnerable in this period?
Why was the Nile being strangled/ Implications?
How was the Nile used to offset this problem?
Why did the tomb workers strike during the reign of Rameses 111?
Note their protest at the Rameseum. Result?
Why did the community split?
EXTENSIONS.
Useful, interesting, challenging, books, sources and websites will provide materials to supplement and
complement the History presented in the video program.
The data collected here should be used in the notemaking below.
Some useful Internet sites:
New Kingdom Egypt: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/egypt/history/newkingdom.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Kingdom
http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html
Thebes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes,_Egypt
http://i-cias.com/e.o/thebes.htm
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/thebes.htm
http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/
Book of Gates:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Gates
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/bookofgates.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/gate/
Horus and Seth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus
http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/horus.htm
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/horus.htm
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/horus.html
http://www.philae.nu/philae/Horus&Seth.html
http://www.egyptartsite.com/battle.html
Deir el-Medina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_el-Medina
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Deir_el-Medina
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Place_of_Truth,_Deir_el-Medina
http://xy2.org/lenka/index.html
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/dem.htm
http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/articles/article_4.6.html
http://www.leidenuniv.nl/nino/dmd/dmd.html
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/medinanec.htm
http://xy2.org/lenka/Turinostraka.html
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/deirelmedine/ostracagallery.html
http://www.archaeowiki.org/Deir_el-Medina
Kenher-khepshef: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/medina.htm
http://xy2.org/lenka/Kenherkhepshef.html
http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/Deir%20el%20Medina/pages/deir_el_medina_documents.htm
Paneb: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/medina.htm
http://xy2.org/lenka/BM2.html
http://heritage-key.com/egypt/paneb
Opet festival: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opet_Festival
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/opetfestival1.htm
http://www.philae.nu/perankh/PAOpet.html
Wadi Hammamat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_quarries_of_ancient_Egypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turin_Papyrus_Map
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/mining.htm
http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/faculty/harrell/egypt/Turin%20Papyrus/Harrell_Papyrus_Map_text.htm
Rameses 111: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_III
http://www.eyelid.co.uk/k-q7.htm
Ramesseum: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesseum
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/egypt/thebes/ramesseum/ramesseum.html
Medinet Habu: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/habu.htm
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/egypt/thebes/medhabu/medhabu.html
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/egypt/luxor-medinet-habu
NOTEMAKING.
This is the collation stage of the activity. Students need to organise the field of information and begin to
explore its context.
Directions and /or Inquiry questions are provided for notemaking / summary exercises that
will follow the viewing of the video.
The materials / data for the summaries have been collected above.
The activity could be done in teams, groups, or by individuals, or as a class with teacher direction.
1. Draw up a timeline / chronological chart of the events described and discussed in this
program.
2. Note details of the city of Thebes.
3. Note details of Ancient Egyptian beliefs about the ‘after-life’.
4. Note details of the conflict between Horus and Seth.
5. Note details of the lives of the villagers of Deir El-Medina.
6. Note details of the foreman Paneb and his family.
7. Note details of the Papyrus of Turin.
8. Note details of the mining activities in the Wadi Hammamet.
9. Note details of the reign of Rameses 111.
10. Note details of the strike of the village workmen.
11. Note details of the sources of evidence for reconstructing the lives of the workmen.
ISSUES & INQUIRY.
Key issues and inquiry questions that have been raised by the video are addressed at this stage for
discussion and research.
1. Why was so much time and expense spent on royal tombs?
2. Why was so much time and expense spent on the temples of the gods?
PROBLEMS of EVIDENCE.
Questions of reliability and validity of the perspectives, evidence and sources presented in the video
program need to be considered, tested and researched.
1. What evidence allows Romer to reconstruct such intimate details of the lives of the
villagers such as Kenher-khepshef and Paneb?
2. What do the fates of Paneb and his son suggest about the workmen and their lives?
COMMUNICATING.
The key issues and inquiry questions are potential topics for debate, essay writing, reports, historical
recount and explanation.
1. Write a REPORT on the strike of the tomb workers of Deir el-Medina.
2. Debate the proposition that
It is not possible to know the lives of the people of the past.
3. Explain the role of the gods in the lives of the Ancient Egyptians.