Vocabulary
shadoof
pharaoh
pyramid
embalming
mummy
hieroglyphics
papyrus
Notes
The Egyptians settled in the Nile River valley in northeastern Africa.
The Egyptian civilization lasted more than 2000 years.
Egyptians had natural protection from invading civilizations.
Deserts, the sea, and waterfalls protected the Egyptians from their neighbors.
600 miles of the Nile River flow through Egypt.
The northern most part of this river that flows into Mediterranean Sea forms a fan-shaped delta.
The delta contains fertile land where the ancient Egyptians settled.
Each year the Nile would flood, overflowing its banks.
Once this water receded, rich soil for farming would be left behind on the delta.
Crops were planted while the soil was still wet.
They used a machine called a shadoof to lift water from the Nile to water their crops.
Flax, wheat, barley, and grapes were raised.
Ancient Egypt was first made of two kingdoms: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.
Upper Egypt was ruled by King Menes.
Menes conquered Lower Egypt about 3100 BC.
He set up a new capital called Memphis on the border between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.
About 2600 BC, the Old Kingdom began in Egypt.
Cities were important centers of government and religion.
Most people lived in estates along the Nile River.
Rich people owned the estates.
They had garden homes and beautiful pools.
An owner�s household contained the owner�s family, servants, and artisans.
Artisans built boats, wove cloth, and made tools for the household.
Farmers also lived on the estate.
They worked in the fields and took care of the cattle.
They also built ditches and repaired roads in the estate.
The first Egyptian rulers were called kings.
Later, they were called pharaohs and had the job of ruler, priest, and god.
The pharaoh owned all of the land in Egypt.
He made sure that the land was prosperous by ordering the building and repairing of irrigation canals and grain storage facilities.
Grain that was stored could be used in times of bad harvests.
Egyptians showed respect for their pharaoh by building them great tombs called pyramids.
Pyramids were built to withstand floods, animals, and robbers.
The process of building a pyramid took much work and time.
Farmers built the pyramids when the Nile flooded.
They had to cut huge blocks of rocks from quarries.
The blocks were then dragged to the Nile and floated across the river where they were again dragged to the pyramid building site.
Finally, the workers used ramps to help drag the blocks to each new level of the pyramid.
Egyptians ensured the happiness of their pharaohs in the afterlife by placing the pharaoh�s belongings into the pyramids.
Egyptians believed in many gods.
They depended on Hapi, the river god, to bring them water.
They relied on Re, the sun god, to help their crops grow.
Osiris, the god of harvest and eternal life, and his wife Isis ruled over the dead.
The souls of the dead were believed to go to the underworld where they were weighed to see if the person had lived a good life.
Osiris would grant the person life after death if they had lived a good life.
Egyptians used the process of embalming to preserve bodies of the dead.
They believed that the soul of the pharaoh could not survive in the afterlife without the body.
If the soul of the pharaoh lived after death, he would continue to take care of Egypt.
The embalming process first used a chemical called natron to dry up the water in the body causing it to shrink.
Next, the body was wrapped in long strips of linen.
The wrapped body was called a mummy.
Mummies of the poor were buried in caves or in the sand.
A rich person�s mummy was put in a coffin and then placed in a tomb.
Around 2300 BC government officials took over control of Egypt.
A period of about 200 years of confusion followed this.
When the pharaohs finally took over again the period known as the Middle Kingdom began.
Pharaohs had less power in this period and were no longer buried in pyramids but tombs cut into cliffs.
The Middle Kingdom came to an end when the Hyksos invaded Egypt in 1786 BC.
The Hyksos came from western Asia in horse-drawn chariots with bronze and iron weapons.
The Egyptians only had stone and copper weapons and fought on foot.
The Hyksos were finally defeated in 1550 BC when Egyptian prince Ahmose used the Hyksos weapon technology and drove them from Egypt.
Ahmose began the period known as the New Kingdom.
Pharaoh Hatshepsut built temples and increased trade.
Pharaoh Thutmose III extended control of Egypt into Syria and Palestine.
During the New Kingdom, the capital of Egypt was moved to Thebes.
A new god was created combining the sun god, Re with the god of Thebes, Amon.
The new god, Amon-Re, was seen as the most powerful god.
The priests of Amon-Re were very powerful.
Temples were built in honor of Amon-Re.
The temples served as industrial centers where sculptors and artisans worked.
The temples also served as schools to teach boys how to be scribes.
Scribes wrote religious material that contained spells and prayers.
They kept tax records and wrote prescriptions for medicines.
Hieroglyphics was the writing system where pictures stood for words or sounds.
It was quite complex.
It was used only on statues and monuments.
Two other writing systems were developed using the hieroglyphics that were easier to write.
These systems were used by scribes for record keeping.
Around 1370 BC Pharaoh Amenhotep IV came to power.
He closed the temples of Amon-Re.
He created a new religion worshipping only one god, Aton.
Tutankhamen became pharaoh in 1360 BC.
He returned to the old religion worshipping Amon-Re.
Also, his rule struggled to keep the Egyptian empire together.
As a result of these two problems, the Egyptian empire was gone by 1150 BC.
In 671 BC, Egypt was overtaken by the Assyrians.
Egyptians made several contributions to the world.
First, they created a paper called papyrus made from reeds.
Also, they created ink to write on the papyrus.
They made contributions in math using a number system based on ten.
They created a calendar to keep track of the Nile flooding.
In the field of medicine, they created treatments for many ailments.
They used bandages for wounds, set broken bones, and stitched large cuts.