1.
Egypt
The beginning

2. From PCS to Washington, DC is about 2,886 miles
The Nile
One of World’s longest rivers…
4,160 miles long
Flows North
Blue Nile from Ethiopia
White Nile from Lake Victoria (Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya)
From PCS to Washington, DC is about 2,886 miles
A few years ago Brazilian Scientists measured the Amazon to be a couple hundred miles LONGER than Nile… has been a LONG dispute about which is longest!
Fed from rain and snow in mountains of East Africa
The “black land” fertile land several miles wide on both sides of river (Caused by annual flooding)
Egypt had a larger floodplain than rest of Nile
WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS AFFECTED?

3. SILT!!! Agriculture flourished in the Nile River Valley
Nile flooded its banks annually , leaving…
SILT!!!
Large flood plain
Red Land and Black Land
Agriculture flourished in the Nile River Valley
SURPLUSES… (leads to…?)
Spread ideas/goods
Agriculture flourished in the Nile River Valley
SURPLUSES… what does that do???
Distinctive societies ~ 4th millennium B.C.E. (shortly after Mesopotamian civ.!)
Small kingdoms
Semi-divine rulers

4. Geography
Protection?
The Mediterranean (N)
The Red Sea (E)
Harsh Deserts (E & W)
Cataracts (rapids!) (S)
Memphis = first united capitol of Upper and Lower Egypt.
(Just south of modern capitol of Cairo)
Nubia: Trade for gold (also slaves, ivory, etc.)
Egypt has largest floodplain along Nile
WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS AFFECTED?
Nile linked regions
Spread ideas and goods!
Wheat and barley from Mesopotamia reached Egypt by travelling up the Nile from the Mediterranean!!!

5. Menes (aka Narmer) Egypt United c. 3100 B.C.E.
United Lands of Lower and Upper Egypt
Founded the capitol at Memphis
Founder of the “First Dynasty”.(of 31 total)
Also known as Narmer (and Scorpion King!)
crowns of Egypt, part of the sovereign regalia of the kings of ancient Egypt. The crown of Upper Egypt was white and cone-shaped, while that of Lower Egypt was red and flat, with a rising projection in back and a spiral curl in front. Physical examples of these crowns remain elusive, so the materials from which they were made have not been conclusively determined. Often these two crowns were combined to form the double crown, symbolizing the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the divine king. Another royal emblem—the rearing uraeus serpent, placed above the brow of the king—frequently adorned these crowns
White- upper, red, lower
Upper Egypt Lower Egypt United

6. Three major periods: OLD KINGDOM 2700 B.C. to 2200 B.C.
Then Chaos!
MIDDLE KINGDOM B.C. to 1652 B.C.
Then Hyksos!
NEW KINGDOM B.C. to 1085 B.C.
Then Decline!
Each period was divided into a number of Dynasties

7. Hieroglyphics Combined Pictographic and Phonetic writing.
(we’ll study more later)

8. Other scripts
Hieratic Script: Basically the “easy” version of hieroglyphics.
Used much more for business, less ceremonial.
Hieroglyphics and Hieratic used 3200 BCE-400 CE.
Demotic Script: A more “cursive” form. Never used for religious purposes. Used 600 BCE to 400 CE.

9. Papyrus
Wrote on paper made from reed (as well as carvings in stone.)

10. Rosetta Stone Written in Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek.
Made in 196 BCE
Discovered in 1799 CE by Napoleon’s Army
Currently at the British Museum in London