Chapter Five: Ancient Egypt
(p. 146-151)
Lesson One: The Gift of the Nile
 Geography of Ancient Egypt
o The Longest River (The Nile)
 4,160 miles long, world’s longest river
 begins at the equator and flows north to the Mediterranean Sea
 cataract: waterfall
 delta: area near the mouth of a river where rich silt is deposited
making soil fertile.
 Rains in Ethiopia made river flood annually (unlike Tigris &
Euphrates rivers, the Nile’s floods were predictable
 Provided transportation
o Red Land Black Land
 People lived along the river (“black land” because of silt deposits)
 “red land” was barren desert
o Isolation
 Desert acted as barrier to protect Egypt from enemies
 Mediterranean coast lacked good harbors (not much trading)
 Land of Plenty (arrival of Ibis birds came just ahead of the annual flood)
o Agricultural techniques
 2,400 BCE farmers used irrigation
 Shaduf (bucket on a lever for irrigation)
 Canals
o Egyptian Crops
 Wheat (invented yeast, the first rising bread)
 Vegetables (lettuce, radishes, cucumbers)
 Fruit (dates, figs, grapes)
 Cotton used to make linen: lightweight cotton cloth
 Wove marsh grasses into sandals
o Egyptian Houses
 Used mud bricks (made from Nile mud and chopped straw)
 High, small windows to reduce heat
 Painted houses white to reflect sun’s heat
 Wove sticks and palm trees for roofs
 Reed mats on floors
 Cooked, ate, and slept outside
 Nobles had fancier homes with courtyards, fish pools, flowers
 Geography Shapes Egyptian Life:
o Mining
 Metals
 Copper (from 6,000BCE, from Sinai Peninsula)
 Iron
 Gold (Nub in Egyptian, from Nubia’s gold mines in the
south or upper Nile)

Precious Stones
 Turquoise
 Lapis lazuli
o Fishing and Hunting
 Used harpoons, nets
 Made rafts from reeds
 Hunted hippos and crocodiles
 Captured quail with nets
 Boomerangs to hit ducks and geese
o Transportation and Trade
 Eventually made sails and oars, making travel fast
 Traded surplus crops for goods (no money - only bartering)
(p. 154-161)
Lesson Two: Life in Ancient Egypt
 Work and Family Life (surplus food means specialized jobs)
o Specialized jobs
 Scribes: people whose job was to keep records and write
 skilled artisans (built temples, pottery, mats, furniture, clothing,
sandals, and jewelry)
 traders brought Egyptian goods like scrolls, linen, gold, and
jewelry to south to trade for exotic wood, animal skins, and live
beasts
o Social Classes:
 Pharaoh (considered a god)
 Rulers & Priests (Egypt was divided into 42 provinces.)
 Rulers and priests held ceremonies to please gods
 Believed if gods were angry, the Nile wouldn’t flood
 Scribes & Government officials
 Kept records (only people who could read/write)
 Artisans & Merchants
 Farmers
 Slaves
 Became slaves if they owed a debt, committed a crime, or
were capture in war
 Had to work in mines, built temples and pyramids
 Army
 Mainly made of draftees from each province
 During wartime, there were mercenaries from the south
 Archers, infantry, charioteers
 Clubs, spears, axes, throwing sticks, shields, bows &
arrows
o Life for Women
 Fairly equal rights for men and women


o Childhood
 Many ancient toys found
 Learned their parents’ jobs
 Wealthy children went to school with scribes
 Married in early teens
Expanding Knowledge
o Astronomy
 Studied the sky as part of religion
 Sirius (star) appeared just before Nile would flood and disappear
after 365 days - Created the basis of today’s calendar
 Used measurements from the stars to align pyramids
 The sides of The Great Pyramid of Giza each face precisely
north, south, east, and west
o Geometry
 Developed to measure land and boundaries washed away by floods
 Shapes like squares and triangles were considered sacred and used
in temple building
o Medicine
 Performed first surgeries
 Believed the heart controlled thought and the brain controlled
circulation
o Hieroglyphics
 3,000 BCE developed hieroglyphs: pictures that stand for different
words or sounds
 early hieroglyphics has about 100 characters, but grew to have
6,000 symbols
 papyrus: paper created from a reed by the same name, rolled this
paper into scrolls
 The Rosetta Stone: a stone found with Greek, Demotic, and
hieroglyphics that allowed hieroglyphics to be translated.
Beliefs and Religion
o Life after Death
 Afterlife: a life after death
 Egyptians believed it was happy and prosperous
 Based on observation: the sun and moon appeared and
disappeared, plants died and new plants grew
 Originally only pharaohs could attain afterlife, but
eventually the belief changed to everyone could
 Mummification was not a requirement for afterlife, but
believed to help
o Many Gods
 Polytheism: belief in many gods
 Re – sun god (later called Amon-Re)
 Osiris – judged Egyptians after death
 Isis – Osiris’s wife / fertility goddess
 Anubis – jackal-headed god of embalming
o Making Mummies
 Embalm: to preserve a body after death
 Mummy: a body that has been embalmed and dried so it won’t
decay
 Tombs included furniture, jewelry, etc. to be enjoyed in the
afterlife
(p. 164-170)
Lesson Three: The Pyramid Builders
 The Old Kingdom (2575 BCE – 2130 BCE)
o The First Dynasty (Narmer united upper and lower Egypt)
 Dynasty: a line of rulers from the same family
 Succession: the order in which members of the royal family inherit
the throne
o Pharaoh’s Rule
 Pharaoh: king of Egypt, believed to be a child of the gods and a
god himself
 “Lord of the Two Lands” – upper and lower
 “High Priest of Every Temple”
 Government and religion very connected (Pharaoh was in charge
of the temple and the government.)
o Khufu’s Great Pyramid (2630 BCE King Djoser built a stepped pyramid
as a tomb, setting the precedent.)
o The Great Pyramid
 2550 BCE built by Khufu over period of 20 years
 city of Gizeh was created for the workers
o Grave Robbers
 Eventually Egyptians quit building pyramids due to grave robbers.
They wanted their tombs to be less obvious. (Valley of the Kings)
o Inside the Tombs
 Many passages
 Palaces of the pharaohs in the afterlife
 House mummified pharaoh and his treasures
 King Tutankhamen’s Tomb (New Kingdom, Valley of the Kings)
 Middle Kingdom (1980–1630 BCE) (period of weaker government & instaibility)
o Invasions
 Hyksos invaded from the north in 1720 BCE, controlled Egypt for
100 years
(p.172-177)
Lesson Four: The New Kingdom (1570-1070 BCE) Capital city: Thebes
o A Woman Pharaoh (Hatshepsut)
o Taking Power (1472- 1458 BCE)
 Hatshepsut’s husband died, and she took control
 Wore the beard of a pharaoh
o Trade Grows
 Made Egypt prosperous again
 Traded with Africa (port Punt) and across the Red Sea
o Hatshepsut’s Monuments
 Obelisk: four-sided shaft with pyramidal shaped top
 Temple of Hatshepsut (in mountainside)
o Mysterious End
 She only ruled about 15 years, and it’s unclear how she died
o A Reforming Pharaoh (Akhenaton 1353-1330 BCE)
o A New Belief
 Akhenaton lifted Sun god Aton to highest status (monotheism)
 Closed temples of other gods
 Priests were angered
 Akhenaton moved to new capital to avoid conflict
 Married to Nefertitti
o Realistic Art
 Art used to show perfect beauty, now it was realistic (pot-belly)
o Reform Ends
 Tutankhamen (King Tut) takes the throne after his death and
undoes his religious reforms
o A Powerful Pharaoh – Ramses II (1279 – 1213 BCE) (1250 BCE - Moses leads
Hebrews out of Egypt)
o Empire Builder
 Ramses II, extended the empire south into Nubia and into the east
Mediterranean (Hittites)
o Military Leader
 Lead troops to take over Hittite lands
 Didn’t win, but claimed victory in history
 This was the world’s first treaty
o Ramses’ II Reign (1279 - 1213 BCE)
 Married many wives, Nefertari was his favorite
 Abu Simbel (built monuments to himself and Nefertari)
 Prosperous time for Egypt
o Egypt’s Decline
 After Ramses II died, Egypt slowly declined
 By 1070 BCE foreign rulers took over Egypt (including Alexander
the Great of Macedonia, Cleopatra was the last Macedonian ruler
before the Roman’s took over Egypt)