1. Ancient Egypt: The Rule of The God King The Old Kingdom 2700-2181 B.C. The Middle Kingdom: 2060- 1785 B.C. The New Kingdom:1570-1085 B.C.

2. The Nile Valley Crops that grew in Mesopotamia arrive in the Nile Valley Nile River over floods its banks on a yearly basis depositing a rich silt Silt is the fertile topsoil carried by rivers and deposited on fields Nile River used as a transportation system because river flowed north and winds blew north to south Egypt was strategically protected by land forms Deserts to the east an west Coastline of Egypt was shallow Marshes to the south

5. The Nile Valley

7. Pharaoh Egyptians believed that their kings were gods Pharaoh’s were rulers of Egypt Pharaoh’s purpose was to bring truth, justice and order to Egypt Egyptians were expected to follow a code of order as well This order was called ma’at a concept of justice or social order based on the balance or reconciliation of conflicting principles

8. The Old Kingdom:Prosperity Soil rich fields provided a surplus of food which could be used for trade Rich deposits of mineral resources such as Silver Gold Turquoise Copper was Egypt's most profitable resource because it was in demand for tools Abundance of food surpluses and minerals helped Egypt trade for goods like textiles for clothes and timber for ships and housing Prosperity was responsible for the growth of families

9. The Old Kingdom: The Family Families were large and encouraged to be so Families were loving and caring Wives had equal relationships in households Wealth still had it’s privileges in respect to life opportunities and experiences

10. The Old Kingdom: Egyptian Society Housing design (small v. spacious), construction (brick v. stone) and placing (city v. countryside) Jewelry showed wealth Women protected by laws but could still be beat Food consumption based on social rank

11. The Old Kingdom: Egyptian Society Egyptian Society was ranked by importance Pharaoh High Priest,Nobles and generals Engineers, doctors and Priest Scribes Craftsmen and merchants Soldiers, farmers and tomb makers Possible to move up one’s social rank

12. The Old Kingdom:Sacred Writings Influenced by Sumerian writing-Egyptians introduce Hieroglyphs Hieroglyphs or “scared words” were called so because it was believed that the symbols represented a real or mythical power Hieroglyphs had three meanings It signified an object An idea associated with the object A sound associated with the object

13. The Old Kingdom:Sacred Writings Hieroglyphs were too cumbersome to use everyday preferred to use Hieratic for record keeping and Demotic for writing Hieroglyphs craved on stone but everyday records written on papyrus Papyrus was a paper made from the papyrus reed

14. The Old Kingdom: Pyramids and the Afterlife Pyramids were vast funeral monuments which held dead pharaoh remains and served as the center of worship to the dead king Size of pyramids symbolized the the Pharaoh’s immortality and length of order he brought to the land Great Pyramid of Giza took twenty years to construct and required 100,000 workers to complete

16. The Old Kingdom: Pyramids and the Afterlife

17. Egyptians introduced the version of a pleasant afterlife On death of Pharaoh an embalmer would remove internal organs and preserve them as well as body Tomb was then stocked with items the dead would need in the afterlife

18. The Old Kingdom: 2200-1570 B.C. Pepi II (2270-2180 B.C.) ruled for 90 years (longest) by consolidating power through marriage and favorable appointments (made people loyal to him) Following rulers were weak and indecisive Droughts and infighting signal an end to the Old Kingdom