The Egyptians• 5000 BC, nomads began settling along the Nile• Farming villages that grew wheat and barley

The Two Kingdoms• Early Egypt divided into

north and south• Lower Egypt in the north

where Nile empties into Mediterranean

• Upper Egypt in the south bordering Ethiopia

The Old Kingdom• 2700 BC to 2200 BC

the two kingdoms began to merge identities under one central government

• Theocracy evolved with a king and his bureaucracy

• First pyramids built during this time as tombs for the kings

The Middle Kingdom• Old Kingdom collapsed • New Dynasty seized power in 2050 BC to

establish the Middle Kingdom with capital at Thebes

The New Kingdom• Around 1700 BC, invaders from southwest Asia

attacked Egypt• Hyksos conquered Egypt with bronze weapons

and horse drawn chariots (Egyptians fought on foot with copper and stone weapons)

• Around 1500BC, Ahmose led the revolt against Hyksos rule and drove them out

• Ahmose was the first ruler of the New Kingdom, first to use the title pharaoh (great house of the king)

• Ahmose rebuilt Egypt to even greater glory

The Woman Pharaoh

• Around 1480 BC, Hatshepsut came to power when her husband Thutmose II died.

• Her stepson was too young to rule

• She became Regent of Egypt

Hatshepsut• About 7 years into her

regency, she proclaimed herself pharaoh and wore men’s clothing and the false beard

• Why? • Had to take on the persona

of a male pharaoh to gain legitimacy and acceptance

• Huge building programs under her reign, including the Valley of the Kings

• Thutmose III became pharaoh upon her death

• Unlike his stepmother, focused on military and conquest

• Conquered northern Mesopotamia and parts of central Africa

• Huge wealth came into Egypt from conquered areas

• After Thutmose III died, series of weak pharaohs brought about decline

• Saved from destruction by Ramses II

• After Ramses II died in 1237 BC, Egypt began to

• Finally conquered by Libyans from the west and Kushites from the south

Egyptian Culture and Society

• Similar to Sumer:a) Upper class—nobility

and priestsb) Middle class—

artisans, merchants, scribes

c) Lower class—farmers and laborers

d) slaves

Religion• Polytheistic• Greater focus on afterlife• Idea of god/king• Religion evolved over time to include afterlife for

all people• Originally only royalty and nobility had an

afterlife, but by the New Kingdom the concept was universal

Hieroglyphics• Writing with pictures• Scribes • Papyrus paper

Other Advancements

• Mathematics—geometry

• Calendar with 365 days

• Embalming and surgeries

• medicines

Age of Empire

• What is an empire? It involves a government that rules over multiple cultures and/or ethnic groups.

The First Empires

After the fall of Sumer to the Amorites, a

series of foreign

invasions swept the

region.

The Akkadians• Semitic nomads moved into

northern Mesopotamia and settled at Akkad around 5000 BC

• 2300 BC Sargon I seizes power and launches invasions across Mesopotamia

• Akkadian Empire predated Egyptian New Kingdom by 800 years

• Adopted Sumerian customs while maintaining Akkadian language

• Akkadian control ultimately did not disrupt Sumerian civilization. Only the ruling class changed, along with the spoken language—Akkadian eventually took over. Adapted the Akkadian language to cuneiform.

• Akkadians were basically “Sumerized”.

Akkadian Empire

• After the death of Sargon’s grandson, Naram-Sin, the empire began to collapse.

The Amorites• Another Semitic group from eastern Syria, the

Amorites, conquer the region• Conquered the Sumerian city-states to the south• Established capital at Babylon• Greatest expansion and growth under King

Hammurabi

King and Lawgiver

• Strong leader who united most of Mesopotamia

• Growth of trade and agriculture• Hammurabi is most famous for

his written code of laws282 sections with laws from around the region—created a type of equity of law

• Specific laws with harsh punishments kept harmony

Babylonian Society

• Similar class system to Sumer with laws/punishments differing for each class

• Borrowed heavily from Sumerian culture and adopted cuneiform to their Semitic language

Collapse of Babylon

• After Hammurabi’s death, empire collapsed

• Successors unable to keep empire together

• Hittite invasion destroyed Babylon