Ancient Egypt1. (slides 2-6) The Origins of the Society – Facts & Myth2. (slides 6-10) The Nile3. (slides 11-13) Social Hierarchy4. (slides 14-15) Government5. (slides 16-21) Religion in Society & Mummification8. (slides 22-24)Foreign Policy & Trade9. (slides 25-27) Women – Their Daily Life10. (slides 28-30) The Life of the Soldiers – Warfare11. (slides 31-34) A Female Pharaoh - Hatshepsut

12. (slides 35-41) The Legacy

The Origins of the Society – Fact & Myth

• Ancient Egypt is seen through the monumental buildings and the images inscribed on them. The images show strange people. They walk strangely, their torsos are twisted, and they wear all sorts of curious headdresses and wigs.

• Their gods were humans with animal heads. They dried up the dead bodies of loved ones, wrapped them in bandages and buried them in beautifully decorated tombs with all sorts of treasures.

How Did this Culture Develop?• How did the ancient Egyptians develop this

strange culture? • The land of the ancient Egyptians occupied a

fertile river valley, surrounded by deserts and bordered by the Mediterranean Sea.

• The climate was dry and sunny. The most important factor that shaped ancient Egyptian the Nile and the the geography and topography (the shape of the land).

• Other factors were the society, fact, and myth that surrounded that era.

There were two different Ancient Cultures – the North & the South. They were called the two lands of Egypt.

• The North – was humid.

• The South – was dry.

How Did this Culture Develop? (2)• Numerous chieftians tried to unify the two lands.• Around 3100 BC,

Egypt wasunified under the king Narmer (or Menes). (History does not clearly define which one he was).

• The first dynasty started the Archaic period of Egyptian history, which shaped the Egyptian culture - Hieroglyphic writing, artistic and architectural styles, religion, and science and early technology were developed.

Ancient Egypt and the Nile

The Nile• The Nile (iteru, the river), originated in tropical Africa

and travelled over 1300 kilometres from the Sudan to Egypt.

• Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions, namely Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta. To the south was Upper Egypt, stretching to Syene (Aswan).

• The terminology "Upper" and "Lower" derives from the flow of the Nile from the highlands of East Africa northwards to the Mediterranean Sea, so Upper Egypt lies to the south of Lower Egypt. Lower Egypt mostly consists of the Nile Delta.

The Nile (2)• The Nile created two very different environments in

Egypt. The northern delta was more humid and fertile. The southern Nile was surrounded by hot, dry deserts and fertile land was limited to the valley.

• The two environments of Egypt created two very different ancient cultures. The two cultures worshipped different gods and spoke different languages.

• The Nile was the lifeblood of Egypt, carving a path through the high, desert cliffs of southern Egypt.

• On either side of the Nile is a narrow strip of fertile valley, lined with the mud and soil transported by the Nile floods every year. In the north of Egypt, the Nile broke into several rivers, forming a marshy delta which led to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nile (3)• This area was lush, flat and fertile, a stark contrast to the

narrow cliff-lined valley of the south.• Between the valley and the delta, a branch of the Nile flowed

west and formed a lake in the desert. Over time the lake became large and the area attracted wildlife. This area was called the Faiyum.

• On the east and west of the Nile valley was barren and inhospitable desert.

• Each year the Nile would flood. This was not a flash flood but a gradual rising of the Nile. In late spring/early summer (northern hemisphere), there were monsoons at the source of the Nile in central Africa. These rains caused floods in Egypt.

• As the waters rose, they brought fertile soil. Ancient Egyptian farmers used this soil for farming, creating a prosperous agricultural economy, including wheat harvesting.

The Nile in Flood

Societal Hierarchy• The pharaoh, the Egyptian king, was the top of

Egyptian society. He was the power and authority and the son of the god Ra.

• The pharaoh exercised his divine right. He was the head of the bureaucracy, religion, the military and society, the collection of taxes.

• The vizier was the Prime Minister, overseeing the day-to-day running of the State.

• Egypt did not have a cash economy. Instead people functioned on a barter system. Scribes would issue rations of beer, bread, grain, linen, and meat to people in royal and private estates.

Societal Hierarchy (2)• Egypt had a huge demand for fine artists, artisans, craftsmen and

tradesmen. These people made the tools, statues, sculptures and buildings that made Egypt's beautiful and distinctive artistic culture.

• A tradesman or craftsman would teach his son his trade. There were generations of skilled craftsmen and tradesmen.

• Egyptian crafts included masonry, sculpting, metal working, jewellery making and carpentry.

• There were also professional artists and painters. Craftsmen and tradesmen could find employment in any part of Egyptian society.

Skilled Craftsmen and Tradesmen• The largest numbers of Egyptians were employed in agricultural

work. The work was physically demanding.

• Crops were planted and had to be harvested within months. Egyptians grew wheat, barley, emmer (wheat used for fodder), fruits and vines for wine production. There was little rest for the Egyptian farmer. Farmers had to prepare the fields after the floods subsided and plant a new crop.

• Several months later they had to harvest their various crops only to be scrutinised and taxed by the royal scribes. Although the peasant farmers were not slaves, they did not have easy lives.

Government• The system of government established by the first pharaohs

of the Archaic Period and Old Kingdom remained unchanged for the duration of Egypt's history.

• This was regardless of whether Egypt was ruled by Egyptians, Libyans, Nubians, Assyrians, Persians or Greeks, the ruling figure was still the pharaoh. The bureaucracy was left untouched to function as it had for thousands of years.

• Becoming a Pharoah - There had always been a tradition of kingship in ancient Egypt. Powerful chieftains tried many times to unite the cities and lands of Egypt under the control of one ruler.

• The king reflected his role as a warrior and protector of Egypt, an aspect of the pharaoh that was maintained for thousands of years.

Government (2)

• The pharaoh wore a crown. Traditionally this crown was the double crown of Egypt.

• He also wore an artificial beard, the tail of a bull or lion, a girdle and royal apron. He also held the crook and flail, the ancient symbols of the shepherd, reflecting the importance of agriculture to Egyptian prosperity.

• The pharaoh was never addressed by his personal name. Names were of great importance in Egypt. There were five traditional titles for the king: the Horus name or throne name, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Two Ladies, Golden Horus, Son of Ra.

Religion & Mummification

• The ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods. Most gods who symbolised some aspect of the natural environment, such as the sun, the Nile, and various animals they saw in the valley.

• The physical environment of Egypt had a significant impact on the development of Egyptian religion and myths regarding the creation of the world.

• They believed that once upon a time, the entire Earth was covered with dark, chaotic waters called nun. One day, a mound of earth emerged from the waters. Upon this mound of earth was a lotus flower (the Nile River).

• It opened and the first god, Ra, emerged. He created the other gods and human life. Ra became the sun god. He created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). Shu and Tefnut became husband and wife and had the children Geb (earth) and Nut (sky).

Religion & Mummification (2)• Anubis was the jackal-headed god of embalming and

mummification. He was identified with the jackal because in the western deserts where the Egyptians often buried their dead, jackals were seen roaming about. Anubis became the god presiding over the art of mummification and protecting the dead.

• The Egyptian belief in reincarnation and life after death was derived from their observation of nature. The Egyptians believed that the sun would die every night in the west and be reborn every morning in the east.

• By the New Kingdom, the Egyptians believed that after they died they would be able to spend their afterlife in the idyllic Field of Reeds. This paradise resembled the delta, a rich and fertile marshy area where people could enjoy life.

Mummification• In order to reach the afterlife, Egyptians had to lead a

good life and preserve the body. The Egyptians believed that every individual had a ka.

• It was a spiritual twin of an individual, like a soul. The ka would live forever in the afterlife. The body had to be preserved so that the ka could live in the afterlife.

• There were several steps involved in mummification. • The ultimate aim was to completely dry the body to

stop decomposition while maintaining a life-like appearance.

• After the individual had died, he or she was taken to a special embalming area. The body was first washed in an antiseptic salt solution.

Mummification (3)• The internal organs were removed and dried. The brain was removed through the nose with a sharp instrument, such as a hook. The brain was not considered an important part of a person's personality. The heart was the seat of intellect and emotion. The heart was kept in the body.

Mummification (4)• An incision was made on the lower left side of

the abdomen through which the stomach and intestines were removed. Some vital internal organs were kept in canopic jars (technical term for the type of container) and buried with the body.

• The body was filled with sawdust or sand to keep its original shape. The body was then covered with natron salt to completely dry out the body. It was then placed on a sloping table so that any excess fluid would drain away.

Mummification (4)• The body was then washed out, dried and

filled with sweet smelling herbs and spices to keep the original shape of the person's body. This process also stopped the body from smelling bad during the drying process.

• The remaining internal organs were left to dry. Forty days later, the natron was removed and embalmers did their best to restore a life-like appearance to the individual.

Foreign Policy, Contact & Trade• Egypt was isolated from the rest of the ancient

Near East and Mediterranean by her geography. Large tracts of desert divided her from the coast of Syria and Palestine, and the rest of North Africa.

The Mediterranean Sea divided Egyptians from other early civilisations in Greece and the Near East. This location and security gave the Egyptians a strong sense of superiority, as their neighbours were not as advanced as them.

• Egyptians were inward-looking and suspicious of foreigners. These foreigners were often referred to as 'vile' and 'wretched'.

Foreign Policy, Contact & Trade (2)Egypt’s Trading partners included Nubia, Palestine,

Syria.• Egypt had a plentiful supply of grain, linen, papyrus

paper and many manufactured goods. • The early Greeks of Crete and Cyprus traded in oil,

silver and copper, horses and slaves in exchange for Egyptian products.

• Egypt also imported copper and opium from Cyprus. From Lebanon the Egyptians imported expensive cedar wood. The deserts of the Sinai Peninsula provided sources of copper and turquoise. Trade routes to Afghanistan were established by which Egypt imported lapis lazuli. .

Foreign Policy, Contact & Trade (3)• Trade with Nubia centred around gold.

Pharaohs often sent armies to Nubia to secure the trade route. Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt

Women’s Rights in Ancient Egypt

• In ancient Egypt women had the same legal rights as their male counterparts. Women were able to buy and sell property, inherit land and divorce their husbands.

• Women could work in the textile industry and temples. The majority of women's duties involved marriage, running the household and bearing children. Compared with other ancient societies such as Greece, Egyptian women had many freedoms and rights.

• Women were the legal equals of men. Women had the right to own property. A woman could purchase land, receive land as payment for work and inherit land from her family.

• When she was married, a woman was allowed to administer her own property. It did not automatically become the property of her husband. She could do as she pleased with her land, loaning it to her husband or friends, leasing it or selling it.

Women’s Rights (2)• Divorce was quite frequent in Egyptian society. The husband or

wife could initiate the divorce. Reasons for divorce included being incompatible, infertile or falling in love with another person.

• If a woman was divorced, she was able to return to her father's home with her own property (acquired before and during the marriage) and have a right to half the shared property of the marriage.

• Marriage was a legal contract between a man and a woman. It was like the modern pre-nuptial agreement. If a husband and wife divorced, the wife would retain her own property and receive her dowry (a material gift given to the husband from the bride's father). She could claim a share in joint property unless divorce was caused by adultery.

• If her husband died, the wife had a legal right to one third of his property. The rest of his property was equally divided among his family.

Women’s Rights (3)• Most women did not receive an education and were not able to obtain jobs in the

bureaucracy. There were a small number of women who were taught to write, but few women were employed in the bureaucracy.

• Some women were trained in arts and crafts. The majority of women were engaged in domestic work. Upper-class women were supervisors over the many servants and attendants in their households. These women often had the title 'Mistress of the House'.

• Middle - and lower-class women who did not have servants to assist them with the housework performed these labours themselves. Outside the domestic sphere, women were able to gain employment in the temple as priestesses, mourners, dancers and musicians. They performed at private banquets and special ceremonies.

• Women dominated the textile industry. Women worked as weavers and supervisors. In medicine, women acted as midwives, assisting other women during childbirth and helping them care for their children. Women worked alongside their husbands and families in agriculture. Most Egyptians were peasant farmers.

• Everyone in a community had to contribute to help complete the annual harvest on time. Women were not allowed to do the heavy labour jobs such as ploughing or reaping. Women did other jobs, such as gleaning (collecting leftover grain after it had been reaped) and weeding.

Welfare & Soldier’s Lives• In Egypt's early history, there was no professional

army. Incursions by foreigners and internal uprisings in the Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period saw the development of a professional and efficient Egyptian army.

This army expanded Egypt's borders in the New Kingdom to encompass all of Syria, Palestine and Nubia.

Welfare & Soldier’s Lives (2)• Egypt was founded through warfare. When King

Narmer/Menes came to power, he did so by conquering the other tribal chieftains.

• The Narmer Palette (an inscribed tablet from the time of King Narmer/Menes) shows him victorious, holding a mace and preparing to kill his enemy.

• The pharaoh was the commander in chief of the Egyptian armed forces. He often led the army in person. He can be seen in many wall paintings and reliefs riding in his chariot alone, reins tied around his waist, firing great arrows into the masses of the enemy. While most pharaohs did lead their army, some pharaohs delegated the position to their sons.

Welfare & Soldier’s Lives (3)• After a successful battle, the surrounding cities and towns were

captured. • Booty such as treasure and valuables were seized and distributed

among the soldiers. • Soldiers would cut off the right hands of the dead. Scribes would

collect the hands and calculate the number of enemy dead for reports made back to Egypt.

• When the army returned home, prisoners were paraded before the chariot of the pharaoh. Individual soldiers were singled out for honours for their valour in battle.

• Some were promoted. Ordinary soldiers could be promoted to standard bearer, others could become commanders.

• Some soldiers were left behind in fortresses and garrisons to ensure that subdued cities and states would not rebel. Soldiers in Egypt lived in quarters in the capital awaiting the next season of war.

• Peasant farmers who were conscripted or called up returned to their farms and the next year's harvest.

A Person – A Female Pharaoh – HatshepsutHatshepsut was an Egyptian pharaoh in the New

Kingdom. Hatshepsut was also a woman. Female pharaohs in ancient Egypt were an oddity. Becoming

regent for her stepson, Hatshepsut eventually took the throne for herself. She ruled for almost 22 years, bringing peace and prosperity to Egypt.• Hatshepsut was born into the royal family. She was the daughter of the

pharaoh Thutmose I. At a young age, she was married to Thutmose II. • Thutmose II only ruled for a short time. Although he was young, he died

from sickness. At the time of Thutmose II's death, Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had only one child together, a daughter named Neferura.

• Thutmose II had a son, named Thutmose III, by a concubine. Both children were too young to be considered for the throne. Neferura, being a girl, had little chance of becoming pharaoh. Thutmose III was nine years old.

A Person – A Female Pharaoh – Hatshepsut (2)• Hatshepsut's reign was a time of prosperity, peace and activity. She

constructed many monuments, repairing temples, chapels and sanctuaries to the gods. These buildings had been destroyed when Egypt was occupied by the Hyksos.

• Her greatest constructions included her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri, a red chapel, and a huge inscribed obelisk at the temple of Karnak. She also completed some buildings originally started by her husband, Thutmose III.

• Hatshepsut's monuments were decorated with beautiful inscriptions, wall paintings, statues of herself, sphinxes and colossal statues of the gods.

• Hatshepsut also organised a shopping expedition to the mysterious city of Punt. Modern historians are unsure of the location of Punt. Some say it was in the Horn of Africa. Egyptian pharaohs were well aware of the trading city and the exotic wares it provided

A Person – A Female Pharaoh – Hatshepsut (3)• Hatshepsut's reign was a time of prosperity, peace and activity. She

constructed many monuments, repairing temples, chapels and sanctuaries to the gods. These buildings had been destroyed when Egypt was occupied by the Hyksos.

• Her greatest constructions included her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri, a red chapel, and a huge inscribed obelisk at the temple of Karnak. She also completed some buildings originally started by her husband, Thutmose III.

• Hatshepsut's monuments were decorated with beautiful inscriptions, wall paintings, statues of herself, sphinxes and colossal statues of the gods.

• Hatshepsut also organised a shopping expedition to the mysterious city of Punt. Modern historians are unsure of the location of Punt. Some say it was in the Horn of Africa. Egyptian pharaohs were well aware of the trading city and the exotic wares it provided

A Person – A Female Pharaoh – Hatshepsut (4)• Although Hatshepsut's reign was characterised by peace and prosperity,

she embarked on several military campaigns. • There were expeditions to Nubia. Inscriptions erected after the

campaign show her as a sphinx trampling on her enemies. There was evidence that she accompanied and participated in these expeditions.

• Most military activities in her reign were left to the young Thutmose III. He led campaigns to Palestine and Syria.

• This early military experience was thought useful for him. When he became pharaoh he was the greatest military leader of the New Kingdom.

• The death of Hatshepsut• Hatshepsut died in the 22nd year of her co-regency. • There is no information on the circumstances of her death, thought in

1967, gyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass identified a woman's body from KV60 in the Valley of the Kings as Hatshepsut. The mummy reveals that Hatshepsut was around 50 years old when she died. She suffered from various ailments such as rotten teeth and diabetes. She eventually died of bone cancer.

The Legacy• Egypt has captured the imagination of people for thousands of

years, mostly because the ancient Egyptians left behind so many huge monuments, covered with inscriptions and hieroglyphs.

• For thousands of years, no one understood how to read the hieroglyphs and people speculated as to why and how the ancient Egyptians built such magnificent and beautiful buildings.

• With the decoding of hieroglyphs came the understanding of Egyptian culture which seemed full of gods and goddesses, kings and battles, intrigue, mystery and magic. Egypt captured the attention of the world. No ancient Egyptian contributed more to 'Egyptomania' than Tutankhamen and the discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter. Filled with treasures, the discovery captured the attention of the world. Egypt's legacy, however, was greater than the gold treasures of Tutankhamen's tomb.

The Legacy (2) – Pyramids at Giza• The ancient Egyptians built some

of the world's largest monuments, in size and scale, without modern technology. The largest monuments were the Great Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx.

Modern historians have difficulty understanding how the Egyptians constructed such vast monuments with only rudimentary (basic) mathematical systems and no mechanised tools. The Egyptians had a labour intensive system of writing. The Egyptians wrote out strokes for the numbers one to ten and used the symbol of a rope to count for ten and above.

The Legacy (3) – Pyramids at Giza• The pyramids were built by the sheer strength

of thousands of people. Over 100 000 Egyptian workers (not slaves) built the largest pyramid. Construction took over 20 years.

• The pyramids were built as tombs for the three Old Kingdom pharaohs, Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.

• Today, the mystery and magic surrounding the pyramids draw tourists and historians from around the world, to marvel at their size and grandeur.

The Legacy (4) - Sculptures• The Egyptians made life-sized and monumental

sculptures. Ancient Egyptian artists used a grid to determine the proportions of the human body. Ancient Greeks travelling in Egypt adopted this form of sculpture and modified it to appear more natural. The Greeks also used the Egyptian grid. The Greek adaptation of Egyptian statuary and proportion has influenced classical and modern art.

• The Egyptians also influenced architecture. Their design of doorways and use of obelisks can still be seen today. Obelisks are long, tall pinnacle-shaped monuments that stand upright.

The Legacy (5) – Clocks, Calendars, Measure• The ancient Egyptian culture had a strong impact on

other ancient civilisations. • Egyptian priests had invented items that measured

time, including the sun dial, water clock and calendar. • The Roman politician Julius Caesar used the ancient

Egyptian calendar as a model for the Roman calendar, which was used in Western cultures until it was modified slightly in 1582.

• The ancient Egyptians also developed the basic unit of measuring length, the cubit. They made observations about astrology and astronomy and had a developed understanding of medicine and the human body.

The Legacy (4) – Eye Liner• The Egyptians invented eyeliner. Both men and

women wore make-up and fine jewellery in ancient Egypt.

• They also used eyeliner and eye shadow like sunglasses.

• By lining their eyes in thick black and green paints, they were able to reduce the damaging effects of the sun reflecting off their skin.

• The Egyptians used kohl as eyeliner and kohl is still widely available as eyeliner.

The Legacy (6) – Paper• One of the greatest legacies of ancient Egypt was the

invention of papyrus, reed paper. Papyrus was highly sought after as paper for writing.

• It was the first paper and was used for important documents both by the Egyptians and other ancient civilisations. Papyrus was used for thousands of years.

• In 1922 the archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of the young pharaoh Tutankhamen. The tomb was packed with gold and gilded items including thrones, chariots, statues, shrines and thousands of religious items.

• Egypt's legacy is the story of an ancient and exotic land. The stories told by the wall paintings and hieroglyphs tell of intrigue, love, war and faith.