1 Egyptian Culture 2 Geography of Egypt Nile River is the longest river in the world The Nile creates a ribbon of water in a parched desert

3 4 The Gift of the Nile The predictable flooding of the Nile creates rich soil good for crops The Nile provides a reliable transportation system that promotes trade The desert acted as a natural barrier

5 Environmental Challenges if floods were a few feet below normal 1000’s of ppl starved if floods were higher than normal homes were destroyed desert acted as a natural barrier, but caused Egyptians to live on a small area and have little contact with others, did not have to deal with the constant attacks like the Fertile Crescent. 6 Upper and Lower Egypt Egyptians traveled along the Nile from the mouth to the First Cataract: churning rapids, the cataract area made it impossible to travel to the North past that pt Between the 1st Cataract and the Mediterranean lay 2 different regions Because of its elevation being higher the river area to the South is called Upper Egypt, it is the skinny strip of land from the 1st Cataract to the point where the river starts to fan out into many branches

7 Upper Egypt 8 Upper and Lower Egypt To the North, near the sea, Lower Egypt includes the Nile delta: the 100 miles before the river enters the Mediterranean. The delta is a broad marshy, triangular area of land formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of the river 9 Lower Egypt 10 Egypt unites into a Kingdom 10 Egypt unites into a Kingdom by 3200 BC the villages of Egypt were under the rule of two separate kingdoms, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt it is believed that a ruler named Scorpion King started uniting Egypt, but it was finished by Narmer Narmer created a combination crown to represent his rule 11 Crowns 12 Pharaohs Rule as Gods In Mesopotamia kings were considered to be representatives of the gods. In Egypt kings were gods Pharaohs: god-kings that ruled Egypt This type of government is called a theocracy: gods ruling a kingdom 13 Image 14 Beliefs Egyptians believed that the pharaohs bore full responsibility for the kingdom’s well-being. They believed that the pharaoh causes the sun to rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to grow. The pharaoh must promote truth and justice 15 Builders of the Pyramids believed the king ruled after his death eternal life force called ka, which continues to take part in the governing of Egypt since kings were to rule forever tombs were more important that the palaces For the kings of the Old Kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure called a pyramid: tomb for Egyptian kings 16 Giza 17 Pyramids remarkable engineering built by people who had not even begun to use the wheel. in the pyramid at Giza, built mostly by peasants Egyptians mummified the body so the soul could return to it later. They were so good that archaeologists have found mummies that still have hair, skin, and teeth 18 Egyptian Culture Religion and Life: polytheistic, Re (the sun god) and Osiris (god of the dead) Isis (represented the ideal mother) worshipped more than 2000 gods believed in the afterlife and that they would be judge based on how the lived their lives mummification: involves embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. Egyptians filled tombs with items the dead person could use in the afterlife, such as clothing, ford, jewels 19 20 Life in Egyptian Society 19 20 Life in Egyptian Society king queen and royal family at the top upper class (wealthy landowners, government officials, priests and army commanders) middle class (merchants and artisans) lowest class, by far the largest (peasant farmers, laborers slave were the bottom 21 22 Egyptian Writing hieroglyphics: Egyptian writing system first written on stone or clay later the Egyptians invented papyrus: marsh reed dried and press together to form a paper like sheet 23 24 Science and Technology know for medicine, some of their methods are still used today 25 Kingdoms 2180 BC marked the end of the Old Kingdom 2040 - 1640 BC is the Middle Kingdom where law and order was restored. Trade and transportation increased, but this did not last long bc the Hyksos took over. Final Kingdom was the New Kingdom (1570 -1365) that will be discussed in Chapter 4 26 Ch 4 Sec. 1 New Kingdom - great rulers tried to return the glory of the Old Kingdom Ramses II build many great statues one of which is located at Karnak Slowly the Egyptian empire faded.