Chapter 3, Section 4

Ancient Egyptian Culture

Writing in Ancient Egypt

Hieroglyphics – writing made up of pictures or symbols

• Pictures stand

for ideas or

things

• Some pictures

stand for

sounds

• Became more

complicated as

time went on

Hieroglyphs

Papyrus and the Rosetta Stone

Wrote on papyrus instead of clay

Meaning of hieroglyphs lost for almost 1400 years

Rosetta Stone found in 1799 – 3 different languages on it

Rosetta Stone = key to understanding Egyptian culture

Science and MedicineScience

• Needed to predict floods• Astronomers noticed the Nile would rise about the same time Sirius would appear• Sirius = the Dog Star • Worked out the average time between appearances of Sirius led to 365 day calendar

Math

• Could add, subtract, multiply, divide• Knew geometry• Math helped Egyptians create the pyramids

Sirius = The Dog Star

Medicine Doctors =

specially trained priests

Knew a lot about the body because of mummification process

Understood herbalism

Greeks and Romans used Egyptian medicinal practices