ANCIENT EGYPT

ANCIENT EGYPT

• Ancient Egypt pertains to the life of Egyptians in early times. Egypt was divided into two regions and then united by Pharoah Menes. Egypt was located in Africa and all of its life revolved around the Nile River. Egyptians were polytheistic and even worshipped pharoahs as gods. Many women also had the same rights as men. Ancient Egypt was run off of a social pyramid. Speaking of pyramids, Egypt is most known for its pyramids and sphinxes.

LOCATION

• Ancient Egypt was located in Africa. Egypt was along the Nile River, which ran north to Egypt from the Mediterranean Sea. Ancient Egypt was a 750 mile long stretch. Egypt was divided into two regions: Upper and Lower Egypt. On the sides of Egypt were hundreds of miles of dry desert sands.

MUMMIFICATION

• Egyptian beleifs affected their burial practices. They believed that a body had to be prepared to be judged by the god Osiris in the afterlife. This created a burial process called mummification. An Egyptian wearing a mask of the god Anubis was to perform the process. They were to remove all of the organs and preserve them inn special jars called Canopic Jars. The mummy was then stuffed and sprinkled with spices to make it smell nice. Then the mummy was wrapped in cloth. Afterwards there was a ceremony in which the mummy was buried in a pyramid and left with his or her possesions.

PYRAMIDS

• Egyptans believed that burial sites were very important. With this, they created pyramids. Egyptians used engineering to create the pyramids, though it took a couple of tries. The Great Pyramid is the most known Egyptian pyramid. It is the largest pyramid in Egypt. It covers more than 13 acres and reaches 481 feet tall. It took 2 million limestone blocks to build.

THE GREAT SPHINX

• Egyptian temples all shared similar looks. Rows of sphinxes guarded the entrance. One particulalry large sphinx is known as the Great Sphinx. This was a ginormous sphinx carved out of rock. It's intentions were to guard Khafre's tomb from robbers and other spirits.

KING tUTANKHAMUN

• King Tutankhamun, or King Tut is a famous pharoah. He is known for the discovery of his tomb in 1922. He became king at about 13 years old, and died when he was about 19. People have argued about whether his death was murder or natural causes. People also believe in Tut's Curse, the strange instances that have happened since the discovery of his tomb. It is thought that he shares his tomb with Queen Nefertiti, his stepmother, their burial chambers separated by a wall.

IMPORTANT GODS #1

• Osiris was the lord of the dead. This is the god Egyptians were judged by in the afterlife. He is mostly portrayed green and very large since he was a god. When Egyptians die, Osiris will judge them based on the way they have lived. This is what makes the mummification process so important. Egyptians must appear well looking before the god Osiris.

IMPORTANT GODS #2

• Anubis was the god who performed the mummification process. The selected person to mummify a pharoah had to wear a mask of the god Anubis. When a pharoah was sent to the afterlife, Anubis will meet him and guide him to Osiris.Anubis is the only god allowed to perform the mummification process. If a different god was in charge, it would be considered wrong and unjust.

IMPORTANT GODS #3

• Re is the Sun god of Egypt. Pharoah Ramses beleived he was the son of Amon Re. All of his descisions revolved around this god. People in Egypt prayed to different gods for different reasons. Amon Re was prayed to for control of the sun, or for the weather in Egypt for the current day or the next day.

THE ROSETTA STONE

• Egyptians wrote in a strange writing that we call heiroglyphics. For a long time, we did not know how to read them. Until we discovered the Rosetta Stone. This was a translation of all of the heiroglyphics. It was translated in Greek and a form of later Egyptian. In this way, Greek scholars were able to read the Rosetta Stone and the Ancient Egyptian heiroglyphics.

QUEEN HATSHEPSUT

• Queen Hatshepsut declared herself pharoah because her stepson was too young to rule. Her reign was very peaceful because she encouraged trade instead of war. During her rule, Egypt had no war to deal with. To earn more respect for herself, Hatshepsut dressed up as a man and wore a fake beard. When her stepson became ruler, he tried to erase Hatshepsut from all of history, however, we found her tomb.

QUEEN NEFERTITI

• When we mentioned Queen Nefertiti earlier, I pointed out something about her tomb. Queen Nefertiti is not very famous and we don't know too much about her, but we have not discovered her tomb. We know she is King Tut's stepmother. We do know that she and her husband promoted Egyptian artwork that was much different from its predecessors. Hopefully our pediction of where her tomb is will be correct.

THE GREAT PYRAMID

• I mentioned the Great Pyramid earlier when I was talking about Egyptian pyramids. This is also known as the Pyramid of Khufu. Inside the pyramid, tunnels lead to the pharaoh's burial chamber, which was sealed off with rocks. Egyptian engineering was a major role in this pyramid. If one of those 2 million stones was off even by a mere centimeter, the whole thing would collapse. When you look back and see how many things Egyptians acheived, you are bound to be amazed,

PAPYRUS

• Papyrus is a paperlike material that Egyptians used to make scrolls and to write important messages on. Egyptians started with laying papyrus reeds together. Then they pounded them into sheets. The sheets were tough, but could be rolled as scrolls. Scribes, or writers wrote on papyrus using brushes and ink.

HEIROGLYPHICS

• Egyptians wrote in symbols called heiroglyphics. These are a set of symbols to represent letters and sounds. Heiroglyphics could be written top to bottom, right to left, left to right, or bottom to top. Heiroglyphics had more than 300 symbols. It took the scribes very long to memorize. That's why there were only certain people chosen to be scribes.

OLD KINGDOM

• The Old Kingdom was an Egyptian period that lasted about 500 years. This was a time when Egyptians were developing their political system. The system was based on a central belief. That a pharaoh was both a king and a god. By the end of the Old Kingdom, which was based mostly off of trade and the social pyramid, Ancient Egypt had about 2 million people.

MIDDLE KINGDOM

• In the Middle Kingdom, the wealth of the pharaohs started to die. There was not enough money to keep up with the pyramids. Pharoahs could not collect enough taxes to keep up with expenses. The Middle Kingdom lasted about 160 years. This was a period of time when Egypt had no specific ruler.

THE NEW KINGDOM

• Ahmose's rise to power marked the start of the New Kingdom. This was a particularly bright time in the Egyptian political rule. Conquest and trade brought wealth to the pharaohs. The New Kingdom lasted about 500 years and was the height of Egypt's power and glory.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

• Egypt was run off of a social pyramid. The pharoah was at the top. Then came the nobles, who were the pharaoh's attendants. Then came scribes and craftspeople under that. At the very bottom of the pyramid were farmers, slaves, and and servants. Egypt was built off of this social structure.