Part 3 - Exploring
with Mr. Williams
• Menes (review)
• Khufu
• Ramses II (a.k.a. Ramses the Great)
• Hatshepsut
• King Tutankhamun (already covered)
• Cleopatra
• Considered by many to be the first pharaoh
• United Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt through
war
• Had a neat crown that combined the white and
red crowns of the two kingdoms into one.
• Supposedly reigned 62 years and was killed by
a hippopotamus
• Greeks called him Cheops, which is
probably more well-known than
Khufu.
• Traditionally thought to be a very
cruel king, though there is little
evidence to support this.
• Known because the Great Pyramid
of Khufu was built during his reign.
• Most well-known for banishing worship of all but the Sun
god Aten.
• After their death Tutankhamun and his successors
restored the old gods.
• Their names were removed from inscriptions, and their
temples were torn down.
• Has Nefertiti’s tomb been found? Time will tell.
• Trained at a young age as a ruler and fighter
• Made an army captain at age 10
• Well-known for the massive monuments he
built such as the temples at Karnak and
Luxor
• Greatly increased the size of his kingdom
• Considered by many to be the last great
Egyptian pharaoh
• First great woman in recorded history
• Was married to the pharaoh Thutmose II, her half
brother. He died young, leaving the throne to
Thutmose III, a son by another woman.
• Because Thutmose III was still very young,
Hatshepsut took over power.
• Because many people did not think women should
rule, she dressed as a man, wore the pharaoh’s
crown and royal ceremonial beard, and called herself
king.
• Ruled 20 years.
• When she died, her stepson took back power and
had her name stricken from all monuments she
built.
• 69-30 BC (ruled MUCH later than the
other pharaohs we’ve studied)
• Greek by birth
• Highly educated, spoke 7 languages
• Was 17 when her father died, and she
and her brother were made co-rulers
of Egypt
• Had children with Julius Caesar and
Mark Anthony.
• According to legend, she committed
suicide by poisoning herself with the
venom of a deadly snake.
• Horrible Histories Cleopatra Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a
l5NxDmPdrs&index=6&list=PLwE2Nxu
QmGw5taiW5lhLKPqi5eOg0gi0-
• Valley where for 500 years the
pharaohs and nobles of the New
Kingdom were buried
• 63 known tombs
• Valley of the Kings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=iIF7BActSZY
• Period in Egyptian history that
lasted about 500 years, from 2700
to 2200 BC.
• Developed political system with
pharaoh as both a king and a god.
• First and some of largest pyramids
built in this period.
• Power struggles, crop failures, cost
of building pyramids lead to its
decline.
• 2050-1750 BC
• Drainage project creates more
farmland
• Trade developed with the Middle
East and Crete
• Corruption and rebellion common
• Group called Hyksos invade using
horse, chariots, and advanced
weapons to conquer and rule
Lower Egypt for 200 years.
• 1550-1050 BC
• Height of Egyptian power and glory
• Hyksos defeated and empire greatly
expanded.
• Trade greatly increased
• Conquered kingdoms and those
wanting to maintain good relations
make Egypt wealthy with gifts such
as gold, precious, stones, and
leopard skins.
• Egyptian writing system, one of
the first in the world.
• More than 600 symbols, each
representing one more sounds
in the Egyptian language.
• Could be written horizontally or
vertically, right to left or left to
write
• Extremely difficult to read
• Papyrus – long-lasting, paperlike material made from reeds
• Cartouche – Oval name plate
• Scholars couldn’t read hieroglyphics until the
discovery of the Rosetta Stone
• Huge stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics
• Originally set up in a temple as a “thank you”
to Ptolemy V, a Greek ruler of Egypt
• Found in 1799 by a French soldier
• French archaeologist Jean-Francois
Champollion spent 20 years studying and
deciphering the symbols
• Same text in ancient Egyptian, in a later form of
Egyptian, and in Greek
• Currently most visited item in the British
Museum
• A cartouche is a rectangular plaque with
rounded corners which contains
hieroglyphics that represent a person’s
name, usually a pharaoh.
• They were used as nameplates on a
sarcophagus, tomb, etc. to show who they
belonged to.