1. Ancient Egypt

2. Geography Nile River floods with regularity Silt replenishes soil Water nourishes new crops protected by sea, desert, & river cataracts at its borders access to stone, clay, copper, & timber geographical unity led to political unity under one king (pharaoh)

3. Politics absolute rulers Pharaohs worshipped as gods built great pyramids to shelter the body of the pharaoh through death & into the afterlife required great social organization & architectural skills

4. Writing priests wrote in hieroglyphics on tomb & temple walls hieroglyphics decoded in 1821 by Jean Champollion using the Rosetta Stone invented a paper-like material called papyrus

5. Dynasties Old Kingdom: 3100 B.C.-2200 B.C. –King Menes united Lower Egypt (north) with Upper Egypt & established the first of many dynasties who ruled Egypt for nearly 3,000 years –known for its great pyramids –Civil wars & unrest led to downfall

6. Middle Kingdom: 2100 B.C.-1700B.C. –known for literature, art, & ideas –Civil war & attacks by Hyksos invaders destroyed Middle Kingdom

7. New Kingdom: 1580 B.C. -900 B.C. –became efficient warriors (drove out the Hyksos) –known for monotheism (Aton) & empire-building –lost empire & independence to foreign rule

8. Numerical System life centered around agriculture –planted, harvested, & ordered time with a solar calendar of 365 days –calculating boundaries of fields required the development of geometry gov’t officials collected taxes using arithmetic based on the decimal –did not use money--bartering

9. Society Society was stratified elite minority served the pharaoh as priests, nobles, & bureaucrats upper class women were important, because dynastic rights were matriarchal –Hatshepsut (wife & half-sister to two pharaohs) ruled for 40 years most men & women = like serfs –couldn’t easily leave their land –often forced to work as laborers on the pharaoh’s projects (ex. Pyramids)