1. Ancient Egypt and Kush
Chapter 5/Lesson 3 and 4

2. Egypt’s Empire
Around 2200 BC, the ruling pharaohs in Memphis began to weaken.
During the Middle Kingdom, Egypt conquered new territories. They require tribute, or forced payments from the people they conquered.
The pharaohs made many improvements. They added farmland, irrigation dams, canal and more trade.

3. Egypt’s Empire
Egyptian arts and architecture thrived during the Middle Kingdom. Painters decorated the wall of tombs and temples with colorful scenes about deities as well as everyday life.
There were sculptors that carved hunting, fishing, and battle scenes.
During the Middle Kingdom, the Egyptians no longer used pyramids , but had their tombs cut into limestone west of the Nile River. This area became known as the Valley of the Kings.

4. Egypt’s Empire
During the 1600s BC, some Egyptian nobles challenged the power of the pharaohs and civil war divided Egypt.
A people form the western Asia known as the Hyksos swept across the desert into Egypt.
They rode horse drawn chariots and fought with weapons made of bronze and iron.
For more than a 100 years, the Hyksos kings ruled Egypt.
Around 1550 BC, an Egyptian prince named Ahmose formed army and drove out the Hyksos.

5. Egypt’s Empire
Ahmose founded a new dynasty that began the New Kingdom, BC to 1070 BC.
Egypt prospered through trade and gain more lands through conquest.
A queen by the name of Hatshepsut came to power in 1473 BC and governed with her husband. After his death, she made herself pharaoh and ruled on behalf of her young nephew.
She dressed in the clothes of male pharaoh and wore the beard to get the people to accept her.

6. Egypt’s Empire
She accomplished much during her reign ( built and restored monuments, promoted trade
They sailed to ports in Arabia and East Africa to exchange beads, metal tools, and weapons, for gold, ivory, ebony wood, and incense.
They Egyptians valued wood because the Nile River Valley had few trees.
They traveled to the Mediterranean for wood which is present-day Lebanon. The people in the region were called Phoenicians. They invented an alphabet and system of writing that had a great impact on other cultures.

7. Egypt’s Empire
The Egyptians traded wheat, paper, gold, copper, tin and tools to the Phoenicians for purple dye, wood and furniture. The Phoenicians, then traded the Egyptian goods with other people.
The trade made the Egyptian kingdom wealthy.
New Kingdom pharaohs developed political ties between Egypt and nearby kingdoms. For example, the Egyptian dynasty became joined by treaty or marriage with ruling families in the Babylonian Empire in Mesopotamia.
To maintain close ties, pharaohs and the other rulers also exchanged envoys or representatives.

8. Egypt’s Empire
When Hatshepsut died, her nephew, Thutmose III became pharaoh.
Thutmose was a strong leader and general who expanded Egypt’s control north to the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia.
His troops moved south and conquered Nubia.
Egyptian armies captured nearly 350 cities during Thutmose’s reign.
As Egypt became more wealthy, there were more enslaved people from prisoners of war. Enslaved people had some rights such as the right to marry, own land, and eventually gain their freedom.

9. Egypt’s Empire
A new pharaoh named Amenhotep Iv came to power in about BC and he tried to change Egypt’s religion which was based on the worship of many deities.
Because the priest had grown too powerful and wealthy, he lessen their authority by creating a new religion.
He introduced the worship of Aton, the sun god, as Egypt’s only god. Many priests opposed this and he removed many of them form their posts and took their land.
He changed his name Akhenaton and moved the capital to a new city north of Thebes called Akhetaton.

10. Egypt’s Empire
Most Egyptians rejected Aton and continued to worship many deities. The priests resisted their loss of power.
Under Akhenaton’s (Amenhotep IV) weak rule, Egypt lost most of its lands in western Asia to outside invaders.

11. Egypt’s Empire
When Akhenaton died around 1360 BC, his son in law, 10 year old Tutankhamen became pharaoh.
Relied on advice from priests and officials to rule Egypt.
He quickly restored the worship of many deities. He died after only nine years and his death is still a mystery today.

12. Egypt’s Empire
During 1200s BC, the pharaoh worked to restore Egypt’s greatness.
Ramses II was the most successful (1279 BC to 1213 BC)
During his 66 year reign, many temples were built. One of the most magnificent was Karnak at Thebes.
Temples were important to Egypt’s economy. They were also used as banks. Priests hired people to work in temple workshops and granaries which were used to store valuable.

13. The Kingdom of Kush
One of the African civilization was Nubia, later known as Kush.
Located south of Egypt, along the Nile River in present-day Sudan.
They had fertile soil and received rainfall year long.
They grew beans, yams, rice, and grains.
They hunted for food and were excellent at using the bow and arrow.

14. Egypt’s Empire
The stronger Nubian villages took over the weaker ones and formed the kingdom of Kerma.
The Nubians grew wealthy from agriculture and the mining of gold.
They had a close relationship with Egypt and traded with them.
From Kerma, the Egyptians acquired cattle, gold , incense, ivory, giraffes, leopards and enslaved people. They also hired Nubians to serve in their military because of their skills in warfare.

15. Egypt’s Empire
Kerma’s artisans produced fine pottery, jewelry and metal goods.
Kerma built tombs for their kings, but on a smaller schale than in Egypt. Their goods that were buried with the dead were magnificent and elaborate.
Egypt invaded Nubia in 1400 BC which caused a 50 year war and the Egyptians conquered the kingdom and ruled for the next 700 years.
Nubia adopted many of the Egyptian culture such as their gods and goddesses and hieroglyphs .

16. Egypt’s Empire The Rise of Kush
By 850 BC, the Nubians were able to break away from Egypt and form an independent kingdom called Kush and their capital was Napata.
About 750 BC, Kushite king named Kashta invaded Egypt and reached the city of Thebes.
Kashta died and his son Piye completed the conquest in 728 BC
He founded the 25th Dynasty that ruled Egypt and Kush from Napata.
The Kushites built pyramids , developed their own style of painted pottery and the elephant was sacred animal in Kush

17. Egypt’s Empire
Kush ruled Egypt for about 60 years until the Assyrians invaded Egypt. They had iron weapons that were much stronger and were able to drive out the Kushites.
The Kushites learned how to make iron from the Assyrians. Used the iron to make their hoes, plows and weapons.
About 540 BC, they moved their capital to the city of Meroe, safe from Assyrian attacks.