1. The Union of Upper and Lower Egypt

2. The Union of Two Lands
Ancient Egypt had two parts: Upper and Lower Egypt
Upper Egypt (Southern Part): Stretched for 500 miles from the Nile’s first cataract northward to the beginning of the Nile Delta.
Lower Egypt (Northern Part): The Nile Delta, 100 miles long but many times wider than Upper Egypt.

3. Maps of Upper and Lower Egypt

4. Two Lands (cont.)
3300 B.C.E. both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt had kings.
Upper Egypt’s king wore a tall, white bowling pin shaped crown.
Lower Egypt’s king wore a short, boxy, red crown with a tall spike at the back and a curlicue at the front.
Knowledge of pre-historic Egypt is mixed with legend.

5. The Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt

6. Menes: Legend or Fact?
Legend: 3100 B.C.E. Menes defeated the king of lower Egypt and declared himself the king of both Lower and Upper Egypt.
Menes designed a new crown to celebrate his victory, the double crown stood for the union of the two lands.
Menes and his family formed the first Egyptian Dynasty
Dynasty = A series of rulers from the same family
Believed to establish the ancient city of Memphis

7. Menes or Narmer
Historians believe the Menes may have been a real king possibly by the name of Narmer.
Narmer is the name of the historical figure
Menes is the name of the legendary king
There is strong archeological evidence for this: The Macehead of King Narmer describes the unification of Egypt

8. The Narmer Palette

9. The Macehead of King Narmer

10. The Combined Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt

11. Old Kingdom B.C.E. – 2100 B.C.E.
During the period of the Old Kingdom Egyptian cities became centers of religion and government. Kings, priests, government officials and artisans lived there.
Most Egyptians did not live in cities: They lived on large Nile-side estates.
Wealthy Landowners and artisans
Farmers who lived on the estates: Worked the land
Pyramid Building Kingdom

12. The Sphinx Body of a Lion, head of a man
Believed to reflect the likeness of Kafre
Interactive image of Sphinx below

13. Pyramids Built as burial chambers for Pharaohs
Used as a tool for helping the pharaohs reach the afterlife
Interactive tour
through Khufu’s Pyramid

14. Pyramids at Giza

15. Embalmment and Mummification
Egyptian Priests used various substances to preserve the bodies of important Egyptians
Natron – drying agent
Why?
The body needed to be recognized by the “Ka” in order to make it safely to the afterlife.

16. Rosetta Stone
1799 French Soldiers, near Rosetta, a town in the Nile Delta unearthed a large Black Stone Slab.
The same passage is written on the stone in three ways: Egyptian Hieroglyphics, a form of Egyptian cursive (Demotic or Coptic) and Greek.
For 20 years scholars try to decipher the stone with no success…then…

17. Jean Francois Champollion
Champollion knew that part of the message was same in all three passages: It praised Pharoah Ptolemy V for gifts he had given the temples.
One day in 1822, Champllion was studying Greek and Hieroglyphics and he was able to match sounds and Hieroglyphs in the proper names Cleopatra and Ptolemy.