II. Egypt

Objective To understand the complexity of ancient Egyptian culture, made possible by the flooding of the Nile River.

2 nd major civilization to develop “Gift of the Nile” – Egypt’s nickname Nile River is the longest river in the world stretching 4100 miles Nile flooded yearly like clockwork and it left behind rich deposits of black mud

Modern Day Nile River

Regular flooding created repeated patterns – Flood – Plant – Harvest

A. Pharaohs Rule as Gods Pharaohs – Egyptian king-gods who headed both government and religion Egyptians worshiped kings like gods Theocracy – Government controlled by religious leaders

Some Pharaohs were notoriously brutal. Why would nobody question Pharaohs leadership?

B. Pyramids Great tombs built for pharaohs and queens Built without the aid of wheels Believed in a life after death Ka – Eternal spirit inside pharaohs that lived forever and continued to take part in government

Great Pyramids of Giza – Most famous example of pyramids near Cairo, Egypt King Tutankamen – Famous death mask found in his pyramid

Egyptian coffins

C. Egyptian Religion One of the first religions to believe in an afterlife Polytheistic – Believe in many gods Mummification – Embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying Osiris – God of the Dead who weighed a person’s heart to determine their fate

Egyptian symbol known as the ankh Represents either life or “eternal life”

4000 Year Old Egyptian Mummy

D. Egyptian Achievements 1) Egyptian writing Hieroglyphics – Egyptian form of writing where pictures stand for ideas Papyrus – Reeds made into paper

The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799 A.D. The Rosetta Stone can be viewed by tourists today in the British Museum.

Rosetta Stone Video h?v=ptXlmZzSVV8

2) Math Created an early form of geometry Used advanced math to build the pyramids

3) Developed a calendar Farmers needed a way to track time between floods and harvest Created a calendar with 12 months and 365 days Only 6 hours short of modern calendars

4) Medicine Studied medicine in a scientific way Knew how to check a person’s heart rate Set broken bones with splints Used surgery to treat some conditions

Library of Alexandria

Lets Review 1.What was Egypt’s nickname? 2. What made farming possible for early Egyptians? 3. Why did Pharaohs build pyramids?