1. Unit 1: River Valley Civ.
Ancient Egypt

2. Geography Egypt The Gift of the Nile Transportation along the river
Natural Barriers helped to reduce warfare

3. Satellite Image of the Nile

4. History: Egypt Unites into a Kingdom
Egypt was separated into two kingdoms
A king named Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt into one empire in 3000 BC
Narmer created the first Egyptian dynasty

5. Pyramids of the Old Kingdom
The “Step” Pyramid built by Djoser
Old Kingdom or “Age of Pyramids”
Most of the pyramids were built in this time period
Pyramid: immense stone structure often built as tombs

6. More Pyramid Action

7. Social Structure Egyptian Culture
Pharaohs: Egyptian pharaohs ruled absolutely- Center of Egyptian culture, government, and religion
Theocracy: when religion and gov’t mix
Polytheistic:
Re (sun god), Osiris (god of the dead), Goddess Isis (represented ideal mother and wife)
Believed in afterlife and built burial chambers and tombs
Mummification: embalming and drying of corpses to prevent decay

8. Religion
Ra: The Sun God
Isis
Horace

9. Social Structure

10. Writing Egyptian Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics: meaning “sacred carvings” started out as pictographs then transformed into sounds
First were written on stone then on papyrus an Egyptian form of paper
The Rosetta Stone: found by the delta town of Rosetta in 1799 helped to break the code

11. Mummification
First, they draw out the brains through the nostrils with an iron hook Then with a sharp stone they make an incision in the side, and take out all the bowels Then, having filled the belly with pure myrrh, cassia, and other perfumes, they sew it up again; and when they have done this they steep it in natron [a mineral salt], leaving it under for 70 days At the end of 70 days, they wash the corpse, and wrap the whole body in bandages of waxen cloth.
HERODOTUS, The History of Herodotus

12. Crash Course with John Green