EGYPT

Physiographic Features of Egypt

Map of Egypt’s Physiographic Features

NUBIAN DESERT

Nubian Desert The Nubian Desert is located in northeast Africa, between the Nile River and the Red Sea. It is an approximately 97,000 square mile region of the Sahara Desert. Primarily a sandstone plateau, this arid (dry) region has numerous wadis, or dry watercourses, which fill with water that flows to the Nile during periods of heavy rainfall. The ancient Kushites mined copper and gold from this desert, and traded these metals to Egypt for linen and grain.

NILE DELTA

NILE DELTA The delta of the Nile River is a triangle shaped region located north of Cairo, in northeastern Egypt. Originally, as many as seven branches of the Nile wound through the delta. The delta contains sixty percent of Egypt’s cultivated land (farmland), large areas of marshy wetlands, and shallow lakes. During ancient times, the Egyptians took advantage of the region’s rich soil, gentle winds, and level landscape to develop an extremely productive agricultural system.

ARABIAN DESERT

ARABIAN DESERT The Arabian Desert is the eastern desert of Egypt. It runs from the Nile River in the west to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez in the east. The desert is mountainous and rutted by deep, dry riverbeds. The ancient Egyptians used its abundant quarries of granite, feldspar, and other materials for many of their building projects.

NILE RIVER

NILE RIVER The Nile River is the longest river in the world, stretching 4,160 miles. It flows northward from its headstream in Central Africa to its delta on the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile runs through parts of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Zaire. At six different places along the Nile, crystalline rocks form cataracts, or stretches of rapids and waterfalls that are not navigable. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, Egypt was “the gift of the Nile” because its waters supported large scale agriculture, made transportation easier, and provided a variety of edible plants and animals.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

MEDITERRANEAN SEA The Mediterranean Sea is the world’s largest inland sea. Surrounded by Europe, Africa, and Asia, it covers an area approximately of nine hundred and sixty-five thousand square miles. The Mediterranean Sea connects with the Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea by way of the Aegean Sea. The shores of the sea are mainly mountainous. Many species of fish, sponges, and coral are abundant in the sea. The ancient Egyptians were originally afraid to sail on the Mediterranean, and so they relied on traders from other lands to bring them goods from Anatolia (Turkey) and Canaan. Eventually, the Egyptians got over their fear and sailed the Mediterranean Sea doing their own trading.

LIBYAN DESERT

LIBYAN DESERT The Libyan Desert is the northeastern part of Africa’s Sahara Desert, the largest desert in the world. The Libyan Desert covers parts of southwestern Egypt, eastern Libya, and northwestern Sudan. The region consists primarily of sand dunes, course, stony plains, and plateaus of bare rock. Although its hot, dry climate is harsher and more forbidding than that of Egypt’s eastern deserts, the oases of this region were known in ancient times for their wines and agricultural products.

Settling Egypt

Settling Ancient Egypt Where did most people in Egypt settle? What are resources the Nile provided/gave to the Egyptians? What is a shaduf and why was it important to Egyptian farmers? What are two reasons why the Egyptians did not have to worry about fighting many enemies? 5) What are the positive and negative aspects of settling in Egypt? Most Egyptians settled along the Nile River. The Nile provides farmable soil from when it flooded, water for bathing/drinking/etc., fish, ducks, geese, and papyrus. A shaduf is a device Egyptian farmers used to irrigate their cultivated fields. It was important because they could water their plants with fresh water to keep their fields fertile. The Egyptians did not have to worry about fighting many enemies because they were protected on 3 sides by deserts and they had plenty of farmland and did not have to conquer others to get more. + - river flooded predictably relying on a river rich soil near river dry environment protected by deserts have to irrigate plenty of resources

UNIFICATION OF EGYPT

PARTS of EGYPT UPPER EGYPT southern Egypt over 500 miles long first cataract northward to the Nile Delta LOWER EGYPT northern Egypt It is the Nile Delta 100 miles long but very wide

Unification 1) Which Egyptian king united Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt and which part of Egypt was he from? 2) What was the title given to the king/ruler of Egypt? 3) What did the Egyptians believe their ruler was? 4) What were the two responsibilities of the pharaoh? 5) Ancient Egypt was ruled by over thirty different dynasties. What is a dynasty? Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt and he was from Upper Egypt The king/ruler of Egypt was known as the “Pharaoh” The Egyptians believed their ruler was a god keep Egyptian society in order protect Egypt from its enemies A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family

KINGDOMS Prehistoric Egypt Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New Dates 3700 – 2700 BCE 2686 – 2181 2055 – 1650 1570 – 1070 Nickname Age of Pyramids Period of Reunification Egypt’s Golden Age Important Achievements Irrigation Formed Government Hieroglyphs Built the Great Pyramids Became strong again Achievements in literature, art and architecture Became a world power by conquering others

PYRAMIDS

STEP PYRAMID

BENT PYRAMID

Great Pyramid of Khufu

GREAT SPHINX

Pyramid of Khafre

Other Buildings with the Pyramids

Pyramid Construction

More Construction

Stop Building

A mastaba is a bench shaped mound tomb built for the burial of early Egyptian pharaohs The Great Pyramid at Giza’s base covers 13 acres and the pyramid rises 450 feet into the air. It is 30 times larger then the Empire State building The Sphinx is a massive statue of a lion with the head of a pharaoh Temples, chapels, other tombs, massive walls, and smaller pyramids can be found at the pyramid site

The Pyramid Texts have been a source of great information about Egyptian rulers and religion Pyramids are considered earthquake proof because their corner stones have ball and socket joints that allowed them to expand and contract with movement A stone gets to the pyramid site by: *being placed on a raft and floated down the Nile to the site *moved on rolling logs called sledges to the pyramid *brought up ramps to be positioned on the pyramid

The pyramids were built by ordinary citizens as part of their tax payment to the government Pyramid building was stopped because it was expensive, it took a lot of time, and the pyramids did not keep the pharaoh safe in death

PYRAMID FLOW CHART The site was chosen and the land was cleared for the pyramid to be built. A list of the necessary stone was prepared by scribes. Tunnels were dug into the face of cliffs to carve out the stone blocks. The stone block was drug onto a wooden sled and pulled down to the Nile River. A boat brought the stone blocks down the Nile River. The stone block was placed on logs and rolled to the pyramid. The stone block was placed into the pyramid.

RELIGION and MUMMIFICATION

Mummification is when all of the water is taken out of the body of a dead person and then the body is embalmed to protect it from decay.

The priests were responsible for the mummification process because the process was getting the dead person ready for the afterlife where the gods were and only the priests could communicate with the gods.

Items were placed in the tomb to ensure that the person would continue to have and enjoy the good things of this life in the afterlife, such as, statues, food and drink, jewelry, clothes, games, gold and other riches.

The death of an Egyptian was important because the Egyptians believed in an afterlife where the dead person’s soul would go to meet back up with its body and continue its life. If the soul and body did not reunite then life stopped.

Mummification Steps Take the internal organs out of the body. Wash the body and pack it with natron. The same thing is done with the removed organs. Remove the body and organs from the natron after 40 days, wash body and organs, coat body in oil and resins, and close cut in stomach area. Place organs in canopic jars. Wrap body with linen. Place mask on mummy and put mummy in coffin. Put coffin, canopic jars, and items to be used in the afterlife in the tomb.