Timeline of Ancient Egypt

1532 – 1070B. C.

The New Kingdom

Armies conquered nearby lands, and Egypt’s power grew. King Tutankhamen was made pharaoh after Amenhotep IV died.

3100 – 2040 B. C.

The Old Kingdom

This was the age of the pyramids.

The Middle

Kingdom

Trade grew strong. The arts flourished.

2040 - 1550 B. C.

In ancient times, the Nile River flooded its banks from July to October. It left a layer of silt along the river banks. This enabled people to grow crops there.That was the reason why a civilization grew up in ancient Egypt.

The Nile River

The ancient Egyptians planned their lives according to when the Nile River would flood.

They divided their year into three parts:

A. the flood season.

B. the growing season.

C. the dry season.

The Importance of the Nile River

http://search.worldbookonline.com/wbol/wbSearch/na/se/co?st1=egypt

Importance of the Nile River to Ancient Egypt

Papyrus was one of the most important plants grown along the Nile River Delta.

Fibers from the papyrus plant were used to make writing paper.

www.ditto.com

http://www.aegypten-fotos.de/english.htm

Ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods. They believed that the gods made the Nile River flood and the crops to grow.

The most important one was the sun-god, Re. Re has a falcon head and a scarab, or sun disk, above his head.

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Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, or picture symbols, were written on this paper as early as 3000 B. C.

www.neferchichi.com/bbb.html

Scribes were among the few people who knew how to read and write. Learning the

Egyptian hieroglyphs was an enormous job. After all, there were over seven hundred symbols!

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The Rosetta Stone was found in 1799 near Rosetta, Egypt.

It was unique because the same message had been carved in several languages.

One of these languages was ancient Greek, one was Egyptian, and one was Egyptian hieroglyphs.John Francois Champllion studied the hieroglyphs and “cracked the code.”

People learned how to build ditches to move water from the Nile River to the crops. This practice is known as irrigation.

Many people worked to dig ditches. Many others worked as farmers. The Egyptian workers needed a strong leader. Their king was called a “pharaoh.” King Menes was one of the first pharaohs.

The first step pyramid was built for Pharaoh Zoser in 2680 B. C.

Imhotep, the designer, must have convinced Pharaoh Zoser that the step pyramid would be a stairway to the gods.

http://www.alletiquette.com/contents/images/45.jpgAfter the step-sided pyramids, architects designed pyramids without steps.

The largest and most famous pyramid, the Great Pyramid at Giza, was built for Pharaoh Khufu.

Tourists would travel long distances to see it.

http://www.akhet.co.uk/faces.htm

He became a Pharaoh, or king, when he was only nine years old. He also got married at the age of nine.

The most famous pharaoh of Ancient Egypt is King Tutankhamun, even though he was not a strong king.

King Tutankhamun

Many valuable items were buried with the pharaohs.

These were placed in the tombs so that they would have these things in the afterlife.

The InnerCoffin http://

homepage.powerup.com.au/~

Delicately InlaidCirclet

http://www.akhet.co.uk/tuttreas.htm

A Detailed Part of Furniture

http://homepage.powerup.com

Here are some other ancient Egyptian burial masks.

When a king died, special care was taken to preserve the body. The Egyptians believed that the king would need his or her body in the afterlife.

1. Seventy days were spent embalming the body.

2. The body was wrapped in long, linen bandages. This was the mummification stage.

3. The body was taken to the river, and prayers were said.

4. The body was placed inside the burial chamber of the pyramid.

Robbers often took things from pyramids because many jewels and other valuables were stored inside them. The tomb robbers managed to find hidden entrances to pyramids.

During the New Kingdom, most pharaohs had their tombs built into the sides of rocks in order to prevent robberies.

Ramses II is considered to be the greatest tomb builder of the New Kingdom. His tomb was built into the side of a rock.

Detail from Abu Simbel

www.igs.net/~rrodgers/ egypt_frameset.htm

Temple of Ramses II, Abu Simbel

academics.stonehill.edu/ Fine-Arts/page.asp

Although most pharaohs were men, a few of them were women. Queen Nefertiti may have been a pharaoh.

In many pictures, she is shown wearing a beard.

Her subjects called her “His Majesty.”

Queen Hatshepsut was a pharaoh during the early part of the New Kingdom.

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www.iw-chameleon.co.uk/ images/pharaoh/hat.jpg

Queen Hatshepsut’s temple is still one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It is called the Valley of the Tombs of Kings.

www.knua.ac.kr/images/Egypt/ l%20hatshepsut.JPG

The Valley of the Tombs of Kings

The New Kingdom came to an end as a result of war. Conquerors wanted to gain control of the fertile Nile Delta. Conquerors wanted to gain control

of the fertile Nile Delta. They also thought that Egypt would provide a good route for sea trading between Europe and the East.

In 552 B. C., the Persians forced the Assyrians out of Egypt.

The Libyans gained control of Egypt after 1100 B. C., and then the Assyrians took over.

In 332 B. C., the famous Macedonian, Alexander the Great, conquered Egypt. When he died, one of his generals assumed leadership. This general, King Ptolemy, and his successors ruled Egypt for over three hundred years.

The Fight for Control

Queen Cleopatra was the last of the “Ptolemies.”

www.mrdowling.com/ 604cleopatra.gif

CleopatraHere is an example of a costume that she might have worn.

www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cbeal/ EgyptMedia/Liz%20Taylor.jpg

This is a guess; there were no cameras back then.

Books:

The Egyptian News: The Greatest Newspaper In Civilization by Scott Steedman Chadwick Press: Cambridge, MS © 1997

Enchantment of the World: Egypt by Ann Heinrichs Children’s Press: New York, NY © 1997

The Kingfisher Book of The Ancient World by Hazel Mary Martell Scholastic Inc.: New York, NY ©1995

Read About the Ancient Egyptians by David Jay Copper Beech Books: Brookfield, CN ©2000

Internet Sites:

academics.stonehill.edu/ Fine-Arts/page.asphttp://www.aegypten-fotos.de/english.htmhttp://www.akhet.co.uk/faces.htm http://www.alletiquette.com/contents/images/45.jpgwww.bible-history.com/images2/ images/hieroglyphics_egypt.jp www.crystalinks.com/ nefertiti.jpgwww.ditto.comwww.drizzle.com/~neferkmt/kemet/ images/www.google.com

http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~ancient/pyra1.htmwww.iw-chameleon.co.uk/ images/pharaoh/hat.jpgwww.igs.net/~rrodgers/ egypt_frameset.htmwww.knua.ac.kr/images/Egypt/ l%20hatshepsut.JPGwww.mrdowling.com/ 604cleopatra.gifwww.neferchichi.com/bbb.htmlwww.studyworksonline.com/cda/image/ preview/0,1010,35,00.gifwww.talariaenterprises.com/ imageswww-unix.oit.umass.edu/~cbeal/ EgyptMedia/Liz%20Taylor.jpg