Ancient Egyptians
I. Geography
1. Nile River valley
2. Warm Climate
-Many Crops
-Livestock
3. Surrounded by desert
-Protection from invaders
II. A United Egypt
1. King Menes 3,000 BC
a. United Upper and Lower Egypt
b. Capital at Memphis
c. Created a Dynasty
-rule by family
-generation after generation
III. The Pharaohs
1. Absolute power
2. Own all property
3. Make all decisions
4. Maintain armies
5. Usually men
a. Thatmose III
b. Ramses II
c. Hatshepsut
-1st woman pharaoh
IV. Egyptian Religion
Re- Sun God
Osiris- God of the dead (after-world)
Isis- Wife of Osiris
Amon-Re & Tut-Ankh-Amon
Set- Osiris’ evil brother
Egyptian god who
Ka- a person’s eternal soul
represented the dead
Pharaoh. He was the
god of dying and
1. Power of Priests
resurrecting nature,
the judge of the
a. Direct worship
dead, and was
represented as a
mummy. Product of
b. Keep gods happy
a virgin birth.
-happy gods = prosperous harvest
As a winged goddess she may represent the
wind. In the Osiris legend there are
references to Isis wailing and moaning like
-unhappy gods = famine
the wind. She is also continually travelling
God of storms, chaos
and the desert;
depicted as a man with
the head of a
(presently) unknown
animal, with an
elongated snout and
upright, rectangular
ears
up and down the land in search of her lost
husband. Upon finding Osiris' body, she
takes the shape of one of the swiftest birds,
a kite. Flapping and darting above his
dead body she wails in mourning. She
restores life to Osiris by flapping her wings
and filling his mouth and nose with air.
Isis was a great enchantress
V. The Pyramids
1. Houses for mummies
c. Dead Pharaohs
2. Built by 1000s of workers
3. Filled with valued objects
a. Gold
b. Food
c. Pets
d. “After-world needs”
4. Painted walls
a. scenes of Pharaoh’s life
5. Tutankhamen (King Tut)
a. Revealed new info about
Pyramids and Pharaohs
Accompanying the
Pyramids of Giza is, the
Sphinx, a gigantic figure
of a lion with the head
of a pharaoh.
Inside pyramids such as this one for King
Pepi I, passageways lead to a main burial
chamber. Designs varied for each pyramid.
VI. Cultural and Scientific Achievements
1. System of writing
a. Hieroglyphics
2. Papyrus
a. paper
3. Modern Calendar
4. Mathematics
5. Medicine
In this calendar the 12 signs of the
Zodiac are in the center, along with
people and animals. Supporting the
zodiac is the god Horus (8 times) and
4 female goddesses. Horus
represents the 4 directions, the
goddess represent the 4 seasons. The
months are represented by the adding
the goddesses and Horus, for a total
of twelve. If we add the total number
of hands it is 24, or the hours in the
day. If we take the number of
fingers(10) and multiply it by 12 (8
Horus, 4 goddesses) the answer is
120. Dividing 120 by 2 we get 60 - 60
for the 60 minutes in an hour, and 60
for the 60 seconds in a minute. The
hieroglyphics on the side tell the
story.