Ancient Egypt 3000 BCE to 332 BCE

Ancient Egypt app. 10,000 sq. miles the same as Sumer and Akkad radically different in shape a ribbon of fertile land 600 miles long –half a dozen miles wide for most of its length compared to 165 miles in Mesopotamia

Comparison and Contrast with Babylon profound differences because of environmental conditions Mesopotamia: open to invasion Egypt: isolated by geography

Different Perspectives Mesopotamians: pessimistic –life is unpredictable, their gods unstable, their afterlife indistinct and undesirable Egyptian religion inspired confidence –in the eternal, stable order of the universe

Different Perspectives, con’t divinely guided, rhythmic cycle of life and death and belief in a final, eternal bliss

Ancient Egyptian Housing Middle Class Homes Peasant Homes

Scenes of Ancient Egyptian Daily Life

An Egyptian Woman’s “Must- Haves” Perfume Whigs Mirror

Egyptian Nobility

Egyptian Priestly Class

Egyptian Scribe

Hieroglyphics “Alphabet” 24 “letters” phonetic symbols

Papyrus  Paper Papyrus Plant Hieratic Scroll Piece

Papyrus text

Making papyrus

Hieroglyphics On a temple

Egyptian Math & Draftsmenship ,000100,0001,000,000 What number is this?

Hieroglyphic “Cartouche”

Champollion & the Rosetta Stone

Sculpture early and sophisticated development human figures and archicectural forms led to great expertise in painting and other representational arts

Unifier of Upper & Lower Egypt c B. C. E. ? There is conflicting historical evidence over who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Some evidence points to a king called Scorpion. More solid evidence points to a king named Narmer. (also known as Menes)

Kings and Queens of Egypt Pharaoh: link between the gods and people Pharaoh: divine –his rule eternal and absolute Egypt was not just ruled for the gods but by a god

Distinctions ? human vs. divine ?? They could tell the difference in practice: whoever held the throne was divine including: women, foreigners, commoners

The Pharaoh shed his impermanent and human status assumed the eternal and unchangeable divine status became the embodiment of the divine led a divinely unified Egyptian state

Egyptian Book of the Dead

Egyptian Religion each city had its patron deity emergence of national government caused some to be more important as dynasties changed, the primary gods changed why??

Examples Memphis: Ptah later, as the center of power changed, Re/Ra or Horus etc.

Ptah

Amun

Atum

Osiris, god of resurrection Also known, as the Throne

Isis Sister and wife of Osiris, mother of Horus

Isis, with the child Horus Virgin Birth Provides the iconographic style for the later representations of Mary and the baby Jesus

Horns removed, the moon is dropped, behind the head, to become the halo.

Horus

Horus is the son of the god Osiris Born of a virgin Baptized in a river by Anup the Baptizer – Who was later beheaded Horus was tempted while alone in a desert Healed the sick and the blind Cast out demons

Horus continued Walked on water Resurrected “Asar” from the dead. – This translates to “Lazurus” Had 12 disciples Was crucified After 3 days two women announced that Horus, the savior of humanity has risen from the dead

Egyptian Gods & Goddesses: “The Sacred ‘Trinity’” Osiris Isis Horus

Egyptian Mummies Seti I B. C. E. Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep II B. C. E. Ramses II B. C. E.

Journey to the Underworld A boat for the journey is provided for a dead pharaoh in his tomb. The dead travel on the “Solar Bark.”

Egyptian religion extremely tolerant of difference extremely tolerant of many gods –as opposed to, say.. Hebrew religion the principal deity (national/Pharoah’s deity) allowed other gods to flourish

Religion as a Unifying Force Mesopotamia: master-slave relationship Egypt: gods like a shepherd –who cherish and care for the people –Would change very little over the 3000 years

Religion, con’t probably the origins of the idea of Jehovah-as-shepherd –especially in the Psalms –which are pre-dated by Egyptian psalms –Akhenaton’s Hymn to the Sun

Egyptian Social Hierarchy

Achievements of the Old Kingdom efficient, centralized authority astronomy, arithmetic, geometry medicine

The Most Important Solar calendar pyramids belief in immortality

Ancient Egyptian History PeriodsTime Frame Nile Culture Begins3900 B. C. E. Archaic3100 – 2650 B. C. E. Old Kingdom2650 – 2134 B. C. E. Middle Kingdom2040 – 1640 B. C. E. New Kingdom1550 – 1070 B. C. E. Late Period750 – 332 B. C. E. Greek Ptolemaic Era 332 – 30 B. C. E. Roman Period30 B. C. E. – 395 C. E.

Pyramids Imhotep: architect and developer of the calendar – Imhotep: physician, architect, doctor, miracle worker, giver of wisdom – designed the Step Pyramid of Zoser – processor of the Pyramids of Giza Engineering an Empire: Pyramids

Step pyramid of Zoser

Djoser

Imhotep Architect of the pyramids…later he become a god…

The Broken Pyramid of Snefru

The Bent Pyramid of Snefru

The Red Pyramid of Snefru

Giza Pyramid Complex

Plan of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Pyramids, con’t eternal home for the immortal pharaoh insured their divinity for all eternity

Belief in Immortality first to really develop the idea sophisticated consciousness another order of existence

Map Showing Egypt, Nubia, And Kush

Decline of the Old Kingdom Old Kingdom: the most stable period the Pharaoh dominated life – forestalled the emergence of provincial power – but gradually lost power to royal officials gradual drying of the environment – failure of the Nile to flood on time

First Intermediate Period B.C. – localism, anarchy, short reigns, palace coups, assassinations “seventy kings in seventy days” reversal of established order dissolution of law and order disruption of trade and agricultural production

The Middle Kingdom B.C. united under the Eleventh Dynasty from Thebes, not Memphis – followers of the god Amon – elevated to the rank of primary god – modern examples??

The Middle Kingdom Fortifying of Egyptian borders military garrisons on the borders new office: the vizier

Second Intermediate Period B.C. invasion by the Hyksos People from Palestine Hyksos dynasty by 1650 B.C. (Fifteenth Dynasty) Chapter 4 Sec 1 Questions

Do not go past this slide Day 3-Save for Tomorrow!

The New Kingdom rise of the Seventeenth Dynasty – Thebes beginning of the imperial period

The New Kingdom B.C. reaction to control by a foreign people policy of planned aggression create a “buffer zone” in Palestine

Imperialism: 18th Dynasty Thutmoses I Hatshueput I Thutmoses III – conquest of an Asian Empire – successor had problems

The Valley of the Queens Temple of Queen Hatshepsut B. C. E.

The New Kingdom This whole conquer others thing led them into conflicts with others like Persians, Greeks and eventually Romans.

Akhenaton: the Amarna Revolution worship of the Aton – the solar disk elevated the worship of the Aton – suspended the worship of other gods – particularly Amon

The Aton—the physical disk of the sun

The Valley of the Kings

Archaeologist, Howard Carter (1922)

Entrance to King “Tut’s” Tomb

King Tutankhamon’s Death Mask B. C. E.

King Tutankhamon

Treasures From Tut’s Tomb