Ancient Egypt

High School accelerationApril 25-26, 2013

When people hear Egypt, they usually think of. . .

Timeline of Egyptian Kingdoms

3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 BCE BCE BCE BCE BCEPre-Dynastic

? – 2,600 BCEOld Kingdom

2600-2100 BCEMiddle Kingdom2100-1567 BCE

New Kingdom1567-1085 BC

Egyptian Milestones

• Pre-Dynastic– Hieroglyphics (method of writing that used

pictures for words) developed– Irrigation methods perfected by Mesopotamians

were brought to Nile River Valley• Old Kingdom– Pyramids and sphinx were built during this time– Memphis was capital– Kingdom was divided into upper and lower

Egyptian Milestones (cont.)

• Middle Kingdom– Upper and Lower kingdoms reunited– Economy and society grew with state-sponsored

building plans– New irrigation and canal system introduced– Religious center was Thebes

Egyptian Milestones (cont.)

• New Kingdom– Some of most famous pharaohs ruled –

Tutankhamun (King Tut) and Ramses– Egypt begins to lose power; Invaded by Kushites

and Assyrians– Begins canal from Nile to Red Sea– Economy prospers despite coming Persian

invasion

Egyptian Milestones (cont.)– 525 B.C. Persian empire invades Egypt – King

Darius finishes canal and connects Egypt to rest of Persian Empire

– 404 B.C. Egypt regains control from Persia– 60 years later, Persia re-invades and ends native

rule of Egypt– 332 B.C. – Alexander the Great invades Egypt. The

city of Alexandria is started a year later. The famous library at Alexandria is built.

– 30 B.C. – The Roman Empire takes over Egypt.

What was a pharaoh?• The pharaoh was the political and religious leader of

the Egyptian people, • Had two title: 'Lord of the Two Lands' and 'High

Priest of Every Temple'. • ‘Lord of the Two Lands' meant he was the ruler of

Upper and Lower Egypt. He owned all of the land, made laws, collected taxes, and defended Egypt against foreigners.

• As 'High Priest of Every Temple', the pharaoh represented the gods on Earth. He performed rituals and built temples to honor the gods.

Egyptian Religion

• Polytheistic• Most important god – Ra – the sun god/father

of mankind

• Anubis – God of the dead – embalmers would wear a jackal mask to represent Anubis

• Osiris – God of the afterlife

• Isis – Queen of the gods; sister-wife of Osiris

Egyptian social classes

• Pharaoh – Ruler • Royal Officials – scribes, priests, nobles• Middle Class – merchants• Working Class – farmers, craftspeople in

workshops, fishermen, boat builders, house workers

• Slaves and Servants – worked for any class above them

Egyptian Lifestyle

• Men and women treated equally and had equal rights

• People could move from one social class to another

• Education was based more on wealth than gender; school trained you for a skill

• Plenty of vegetables were grown; grains ground into flour for bread; animals kept for meat