The Rise of Egypt

Chapter 2 Lesson 1

Summary

• Along with the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia, Egypt emerged along the Nile River.

• Developing into a vast empire that had a stable monarchy, religion, languages, and trade networks in the Mediterranean Sea.

Guiding Question

• What was the significance of geography to Egypt’s development?

Geography

• The Nile River played an important role in Egyptian civilization.

• The Nile River begins in the heart of Africa and flows northward for more than 4,000 miles.

• It is the longest river in the world.

Nile Delta• Before it empties into the Mediterranean sea,

the Nile splits into to major branches.

• This split forms a triangular territory called a delta.

• The Nile Delta region is called Lower Egypt.

• The land upstream, to the south, is called Upper Egypt.

Hymn to the Nile

• The Egyptians wrote of their reliance on the great river in “Hymn to the Nile”

• Hail to thee O Nile!Thou showest thyself in this land,Coming in peace, giving life to Egypt:O Ammon, (thou) leadest night into day,A leading that rejoices the heart!Overflowing the gardens created by Ra.Giving life to all animals;Watering the land without ceasing:The way of heaven descending:Lover of food, bestower of corn,Giving light to every home, O Ptah!

Flooding of the Nile

• The Ancient Egyptians referred to the river’s yearly flooding as the “miracle” of the Nile.

• The river rose in the summer from heavy rains in central Africa.

• Reached its highest point in early Autumn

• Left a layer of mud that created an area of rich soil several miles wide on both sides of the river.

Surplus

• Farmers in the Nile Valley grew a surplus of food, which made Egypt prosperous.

• The river also unified Egypt.

• The Nile was the fastest way to travel through the land, making communication easier.

• North winds pushed sailboats south, and the Nile’s current carried them north.

Natural Barriers

• Egypt’s natural barriers provided protection from invasion and a sense of security.

• Deserts to the west and east

• Red Sea to the east

• Rapids on southern part of the Nile

• Mediterranean Sea to the north.

Stability

• The regularity of the Nile floods and the isolation of Egyptians created a feeling of security and changelessness.

• Unlike Mesopotamia, Egyptians faced life with confidence in the stability of things.

• Ancient Egyptian civilization was characterized by remarkable continuity over thousands of years.

Bellringer

• Ancient Egyptian civilization was characterized by remarkable security and continuity over thousands of years.

• What explanation can you think of for this?

Egypt Timeline

Egyptian Kingdoms

• Historians divide Egyptian history into three periods.

• Old Kingdom (2700 BC – 2200 BC)

• Middle Kingdom (2000 BC – 1600 BC)

• New Kingdom (1550 BC – 1069 BC)

King Menes

• Egypt’s history began around 3100 BC when King Menes united upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom.

• Menes created the first royal dynasty.

• Dynasty: a family of rulers who’s right to rule is passed down within the family.

Double Crown

• From then on, Egyptian rulers would wear the double crown, indicating the unity of all Egypt.

Narmer Palette

The Old Kingdom

• The Old Kingdom (2700 BC – 2200 BC) was a time of prosperity and splendor.

• The Pharaohs (kings) of the Old Kingdom were powerful rulers

• Egyptian Pharaohs possessed absolute power

• They had complete, unlimited power to rule their people.

Bureaucracy

• During the Old Kingdom, a government bureaucracy developed.

• Bureaucracy: government by a hierarchy of bureaus, administrators, and officials.

Pyramids

• An example of the splendor of the Old Kingdom is the building of the pyramids

• One of the greatest achievements of the Egyptian Civilization.

• The Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for the pharaohs and their queens.

• The pharaohs were buried in pyramids of many different shapes and sizes

Pyramids at Giza

• There are about eighty pyramids known today from ancient Egypt.

• The three largest and best-preserved of these were built at Giza at the beginning of the Old Kingdom.

• The most well-known was built for the pharaoh Khufu, known as the 'Great Pyramid'.

Pyramid of Khufu

• The largest of the pyramids was constructed under King Khufu in 2450 BC.

• Measures 756 feet (230 meters) at each side of its base

• Stands 481 feet high (147 meters).

• People still debate how they were build with such great precision.

The Great Pyramid

How Tall?

How Were The Pyramids Built?

Steps in Pyramid Building

1. Rocks were quarried from as far as 600 miles away in Aswan

2. Transported to Giza, probably on rafts down the Nile during the rainy season.

3. A level surface was prepared and a causeway was built from the Nile toward Giza.

4. The stones were pulled on sleds or over rolling logs near the pyramid, where stonemasons prepared the slabs.

5. Once the four sides of the foundation of the pyramids were set, each layer was added smaller in area but higher off the ground.

Pyramids vs. Other Ancient Wonders

The Great Sphinx

• Guarding the Great Pyramid at Giza is a huge figure carved from rock known as the Great Sphinx.

• 240 feet long (73 m) and 66 feet (20m) high.

• Body of a lion and a human head.

• Historians debate the function of the Sphinx.

• Many Egyptians claim that it was an important guardian of sacred sites.

The Great Sphinx, 1866

Early 20th Century Images of the Sphinx

Mummification• To preserve the physical body after death,

Egyptians practiced mummification.

• Mummification: a process of slowly drying a dead body to prevent it from rotting.

• The process took place in workshops run by priests.

• Primarily for wealthy families who could afford it.

Process of Mummification1. Pull brain out of nose using a hook 2. Make a cut on the left side of the body near the tummy 3. Remove all internal organs 4. Let the internal organs dry 5. Place the lungs, intestines, stomach and liver inside canopic

jars 6. Place the heart back inside the body 7. Rinse inside of body with wine and spices 8. Cover the corpse with salt for 70 days 9. After 40 days stuff the body with linen or sand to give it a more

human shape 10. After the 70 days wrap the body from head to toe in bandages 11. Place in coffin

Materials Used in Mummification

Preparation for

the Afterlife

Egyptian Mummies

Seti I1291-1278 B. C. E.

Queen Tiye,

wife of

Amenhotep II1210-1200 B. C. E.

Ramses II1279-1212 B. C. E.

Archaeologist, Howard Carter (1922)

Treasures From Tut’s Tomb

The Osiris Myth

Significance

•The Osiris myth is central to Egyptian conceptions of kingshipand succession, conflict between order and disorder and, especially, death and the afterlife.

•It also expresses the essential character of each of the gods at its center, and many elements of their worship in ancient Egyptian religion were derived from the myth.

• Osiris, the king of Egypt, and Isis, his queen, was beloved by all his people.

• He was kind and just and taught them to plow the earth, how to honor the gods and he gave them laws to live by.

•But his brother Seth was jealous and plotted against him to take over the throne. •Queen Isis was constantly on her guard when Osiris traveled around his kingdom, she never felt safe from Seth´s scheming.

Can you identify Osiris and Isis?

• One day Osiris held a big banquet for his court and as he was kind and just Seth was also invited. This was the moment he had long waited for.

• Seth began to describe a wonderful coffin that he had been given, and soon enough he was asked to have it brought in for people to see.

• It was indeed beautiful, made of the finest wood and gilded and painted. He promised to give it as a gift to whomever fit exactly into it.

• And as he already had acquired Osiris´ measurements, the king was the only one that fit into the coffin.

• Osiris was persuaded into testing it, Seth´s servants quickly nailed the lid to it.

• While the rest of the court was held back, it was taken away and thrown into the Nile where the current carried it away.

• Isis was overcome with grief and cut off a length of her hair, dressed herself in mourning clothes and went on her way to look for the coffin with her husband´s body.

• She wandered for years without finding a trace, until she heard some children saying that they had seen the golden coffin being thrown into the waters.

• She wandered for a long time, weeping and searching for the casket, and often she heard rumors that a golden casket had been seen floating by some village.

• So she kept following after until she left Egypt and came into the land of Byblos.

• Here the rumors spoke about a wonderful tree that suddenly had started to grow on the shore. Isis understood then that the coffin had floated ashore and gotten stuck in a bush.

• Nurtured by the divine presence of Osiris´ body, the bush had sprouted and grown into a large tree which the king of Byblos had let cut down and used in the buildings of a palace. When Isis reached the place, she was shown to the palace by the villagers.

• She waited outside the palace until she met the Queen´s maidens. Soon enough she found the tree trunk that enclosed her husband´s coffin.

• Isis stayed there, and every night she went into the room where the coffin with her husband´s body was and she wept and mourned for him.

• And Isis asked for the pillar with the coffin. When the King and Queen of Byblos agreed, She cut it into pieces so that the coffin could be taken out.

• Then she left Byblos by boat and headed for Egypt. After a long journey, when she finally could bring the casket ashore by the Nile again, she opened it and embraced Osiris and wept for him.

• He looked as if he was only sleeping. Then the coffin was closed again and she continued on her way home through the marshlands to bury him.

• But that one night Seth and his men were out hunting nearby.

• Seth found the casket, recognized it, and while Isis slept he broke into it and tore Osiris´ body into many pieces which he spread out all over the land.

• Only then did he feel safe that Isis would not be able to find them.

• When Isis saw the empty casket, her cry of anguish shook heaven and earth. She called out to her sister Nephtys who came to console her and once more she went on her way, now with Nephtys by her side.

• For many long, sorrowful years they searched the lands together. Wherever they found a piece of Osiris´ body, they built an altar, giving thanks to the gods.

• When at last all the parts had been assembled, Isis made Osiris into the first mummy.

• She then proceeded to use her powerful magic and breathed new life into Osiris and so she was able to conceive the child Horus.

• After this Osiris became in time the King of the Land of the Dead, while Horus fought against his uncle Seth and won his father´s throne and became the Living King of Egypt.

Egyptian Accomplishments

• One system of writing in Egypt emerged around 3000 BC.

• The Greeks called this earliest Egyptian writing hieroglyphics, combining the words hieros(sacred) with glypho (inscriptions)

• The ancient Egyptians believed that writing was invented by the god Thoth.

Decoding

• The hieroglyphic system of writing used pictures and abstract forms

• Often difficult to decode, direction (right –left, top – bottom) varied.

Ideograms

• Hieroglyphs are ideograms , or visual representations of objects or ideas that were familiar to Egyptians

• Examples: different species of animals, parts of the human body, or varieties of food.

Ideograms

Modern Ideograms

Where are hieroglyphs found?

• The hieroglyphic script was used mainly for formal inscriptions on the walls of temples and tombs.

• In some inscriptions the glyphs are very detailed and in full color, in others they are simple outlines.

Hieratic script

• A simplified form of the hieroglyphic script

• people, animals and object depicted are no longer easily recognizable

• Written almost exclusively from right to left in horizontal lines and mainly in ink on papyrus

• Written in a number of different styles such as "business hand" and the more elaborate "book hand"

Hieratic Script and the Hieroglyphs they evolved from.

• Challenge:

• Can you write the number 2013 in Hieratic numerals?

• How about the year you were born?

Demotic Script

• The Demotic script developed from a northern variant of the Hieratic script in around 660 BC.

• Unlike Hieroglyphics, each letter in demotic script represented a sound, rather than an idea.

Demotic Script

Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone• What is the Rosetta Stone?• The Rosetta Stone (196 BC) is a stone

with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek).

• Why is it in three different scripts?• The Rosetta Stone is written in three

scripts because when it was written, there were three scripts being used in Egypt.

• The first was hieroglyphic which was the script used for important or religious documents.

• The second was demotic which was the common script of Egypt.

• The third was Greek which was the language of the rulers of Egypt at that time.

• The Rosetta Stone was written in all three scripts so that the priests, government officials and rulers of Egypt could read what it said.