Ancient Egypt is the first country (nation state) in history..

• It was the first country to be united by a single government.

• It was the first country with a national culture.

• a nation-state—a political territory whose population shares a common identity—was the invention of the ancient Egyptians.

Geography and climate play a major role in making

a unified Egypt culture.

It has deserts on both sides.

Deserts protect Egypt from invaders.

Individuals who do not get along with the group, can be sent to the desert….a death

sentence.

Egypt is isolated.

Its southern boarder has waterfalls.

Egypt is isolated.

called cataracts.

The only easy way to go to Egypt is along the Mediterranean coast in the North.

Egypt is isolated.

Egypt has many natural resources.

The Eastern Desert has gold and copper mines.

Most importantly, Egypt has lots of food.

• The Nile river’s annual flood allowed Egyptian farmers to produce a large surplus of food.

Most importantly, Egypt has lots of food.

• Farmers could grow crops three times a year, if they cooperatively built irrigation ditches.

Herodotus (the father of history) called Egypt

“The Gift of the Nile”

The Greek Historian Herodotus

The Gift of the Nile

The Nile River flows for 6,650 KM.

It is the longest river in the world.

The Gift of the NileUntil the 20th Century, the Nile river gently floods every year.

The Gift of the NileHeavy summer rain in Nubia (Ethiopia) swells the Blue Nile.

• By August, water arrives in Egypt.

• The water spreads over the floodplain and stays for several weeks.

• As the water slowly drains, it leaves behind a layer of new fertile soil.

• This allowed Neolithic Egyptian valley farmers to produce lots of food on the same land year after year.

• Memphis• Giza• Saqqara• Thebes• Nubia• Tanis• Phoenicia• Crete• Knossos• Jerusalem

SAT Vocabulary• acquiesce apathy• amenable assimilate

bucolic• eclectic conducive• omnipotent deference • megalomaniac devout• pedagogical dichotomy• pious fortuitous • supercilious narcissism • viable

Achieve 3000Who Built the Pyramids?Will this Pyramid draw

crowds?

Historical Egypt

Timeline

• Archaic Period 2950 BC- 2650BC

• Old Kingdom 2850 BC – 2190 BC

First Intermittent Period

• Middle Kingdom 2052 BC – 1650 BC• Second Intermittent Period

• New Kingdom 1570 BC – 35 BC

• In 250 BCE, Manetho divides it into 30 dynasties in The Aegyptiaca.

• Modern historians have added a 31st dynasty.

Timeline

•Champollion & the Rosetta Stone•Champollion & the Rosetta Stone

• An Egyptian decree written in Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Greek, and Demonic.

•Champollion and The Rosetta Stone

•Champollion and The Rosetta Stone

• In 1799, a French soldier rediscovers it, during Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign.

• In 1801, it travels to London as the British defeat the French.

•Champollion & the Rosetta Stone•Champollion & the Rosetta Stone

• In 1822, Jean-François Champollion publishes the first translation of hieroglyphics in Paris.

Hieroglyphics

• In London, Sir Alan Gardiner publishes over 1000 hieroglyphics.

Timeline

• Archaic Period 2950 BC- 2650BC

• Old Kingdom 2850 BC – 2190 BC

First Intermittent Period

• Middle Kingdom 2052 BC – 1650 BC• Second Intermittent Period

• New Kingdom 1570 BC – 35 BC

Archaic Period 2950- 2650BCE• Priests and Priestesses create writing.

• Temples unite the gods into a pantheon.

• Pharaoh Narmer (Menes) unites Egypt politically.

• With so much food, the population grew quickly throughout Ancient Egypt.

• A population is a total of all the people that live in the same geographical region

Population growth rate

• How much a population goes up or down in a region.

Most people lived in the Nile River Valley

The population density was highest in the Nile River Valley

population density is the number of people per square kilometer or square mile.

Hieroglyphics

• Magical pictograms, each standing for a word.

Hieroglyphics

• This for example is the sign for cattle.

Hieroglyphics

• Also, the Egyptians used signs for sounds.

• B

Hieroglyphics

• H

Hieroglyphics

•Z

Hieroglyphics

• BAHZ =calf

Hieroglyphics

• The Egyptians would still add the drawing, a very literal people.

• BAHZ

Hieroglyphics

The Egyptians considered hieroglyphs powerful magic of the Gods.

Hieroglyphics• Around 3000 BCE, they find something more

practical to write on papyrus.

• 1600 BCE, The Edwin Smith papyrus, the world's oldest surviving medical document.

•Papyrus Paper•Papyrus Paper

• Papyrus Plant• Papyrus Plant

Papyrus

• The Egyptians thought papyrus so important that they crowned their columns with it.

Hieroglyphics

• Writing remained complex and mysterious. Only temple priests, scribes, and some nobles could read and write.

Religion

• The priests and priestess cooperated with each other, turning an eclectic assortment of Gods into a national mythology.

Ra the Sun Godhad been the chief god at Heliopolis.

• Obelisk carved from a single stone• Dedicated to RA, • Image of a Sun’s ray.• 20.7 m / 68 ft high 120 tons

• London

• Paris

• Vatican City• 25.5 m/83.6 ft high 331 ton obelisk

• Washington Monument made in the USA, five times larger than any Egyptian obelisk at 169.294 m.

Ra the Sun GodChief god at Heliopolis

• How the obelisks were erected in Ancient Egypt (theory)_(360p).flv

Ra the Sun GodChief god at Heliopolis

• How the obelisks were erected in Ancient Egypt (theory)_(360p).flv

Ra the Sun God

OSIRIS God of the Nile and ruler of the After life

Had been the chief god of Abydos

Isis his sister wife and goddess of magic

Chief goddess at Philae

Nepthys, Set’s sister wife and consort to Osiris

Horus the avenger godSon of Isis and Osiris

Former Chief God at Nekhen, Behdet , Edfu

AnubisKeeper of the Dead Son of

Osiris and Nepthys

ThothGod of Science and Scribes

SETH Osiris’ brother and god of war, desert, and things foreign.

Chief God at Ombos

NS=????????

• Egyptians treated outsiders without mercy.

• Egypt did not welcome foreigners.

• .

The Nile Valley Culture did not welcome tribes moving in from the Western and Eastern deserts.

•3150-2950 BCE Warring States

Around 3200 BC, tribes from the Eastern and Western Sahara moved into the Nile Valley .

The Eastern and Western Sahara had been Savanna.

But the climate changed (cause)! Summer rains that used to water

the savanna moved south eastward.

The summer rains now fell in Nubia, and the savannas dried out.

By 5000 BC, the savannas had become mostly desert.

• While Egyptian strong men fought for control of the Nile, they cruelly dominate Nubia.

•3150-2950 BCE Warring States

• While Egyptian strong men fought for control of the Nile, they cruelly dominate Nubia.

3150-2950 BCE Warring States

• The Nubians send tribute in gold, copper, slaves and soldiers to Egypt.

3150-2950 BCE Warring States

After two centuries of war, King Narmer (Menes) unites Egypt politically and establishes Memphis as the capital city

around 2950 BCE.

• Narmer Palette • Egyptian Museum

After two centuries of war, King Narmer (Menes) unites Egypt politically and establishes Memphis as the capital city

around 2950 BCE.

• Narmer Palette • Egyptian Museum

• It explicitly identifies the king as the earthly son of Horus.

• Narmer Palette • Egyptian Museum

• Battlefield Palette of Narmer (Menes)

Narmer (Menes) founds the first dynasty of pharaohs.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The King, leader of the Pharaoh, wore three crowns symbolizing the dichotomy of the kingdom.

• The red crown of Lower Egypt, the tall white crown of Upper Egypt, and a combination of both. 

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The King carries a crook and a flail, recalling the nomadic herdsmen of the Neolithic cultures.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The King owns everything in the Kingdom, including the people.

• His word is law, never codified as every decision he makes is right.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The semi divine King controls and provides MAAT to the Kingdom (peace, harmony, regularity, happiness).

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The pharaoh guarantees that the Sun would rise every day, through the Sun’s journey under Egypt at night.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• Pharaoh insures crops would grow, by ceremonially plowing the first field.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• Pharaoh throws a note into the Nile, commanding the flood to come.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The First to Third dynasties create a national administration .

• The Pharaoh divides the kingdom into 70 districts lead usually by one of his many sons or a priest.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The national administration builds cities primarily to collect and levy taxes.

• Most Egyptians remain living in small farming villages.

HIGH PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSESServed gods and goddesses

PHARAOHEarthly leader; considered a god

NOBLESCollected taxes; fought pharaoh’s wars

MERCHANTS, SCRIBES, AND ARTISANSMade furniture, jewelry, and fabrics for

pharaohs and nobles, and provided for other needs

PEASANT FARMERS AND SLAVESWorked in the fields and served the pharaoh

Social Classes2

•Egyptian Social Hierarchy•Egyptian Social Hierarchy

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The Pharaoh rules a centrally controlled command economy.

• Kings built projects on a lavish scale.

Pharaoh (Great House)

• On the east bank of the Nile, they build small cities to collect taxes and temples to the Gods.

• Dandara Temple• Memphis Egypt

• Temple of Nutt

Mastaba: made of sun dried bricks or stone.

• On the west bank, they built opulent burial structures and temples for the dead kings.

• Mastaba of a king• Royal Cemetery at Sakkar

Pharaoh (Great House)

• The King not only rules in this world, but would rule in the next.

• The King’s immortal spirit (KA) would be resurrected in the afterlife.

• Ra’s solar barge

Ground level floors contain chambers filled with things the king would need in the next life, and rooms for sacrifices.

Relatives and retainers were killed and buried with the early Kings.

• Mastaba of Menes

Mastaba: made of sun dried bricks or stone.

The King rested in the chamber below ground.

• Mastaba of Menes

Mastaba: made of sun dried bricks or stone.

• Shawabti box

• Gift bearers

• Model boat

Funerary Gifts

• By the second dynasty, models replace people.

•Shabtis: The Pharaoh’s Servants

in the Afterlife

•Shabtis: The Pharaoh’s Servants

in the Afterlife

•Journey to the Stars•Journey to the Stars

• A boat for the journey is provided for a dead pharaoh in his tomb.

• A boat for the journey is provided for a dead pharaoh in his tomb.

• The King traveled on the “Solar

Bark” of Ra.

• The King traveled on the “Solar

Bark” of Ra.

Preparing Pharaoh's body begins in the House of Anubis

• Inner coffin

• Mummy

• Magical eye of Ra facing East from which the Kings sprit KA could go out and in.

• Second inner coffin lid

• Second inner coffin

• 2• 3• 4• 5• 1 • 6

• Outer wood and stone coffins

•Preparation for the Afterlife

•Preparation for the Afterlife

•Materials Used in Mummification•Materials Used in Mummification

• 1. Linen 6. Natron2. Sawdust 7. Onion3. Lichen 8. Nile Mud4. Beeswax 9. Linen Pads5. Resin 10. Frankincense

• 1. Linen 6. Natron2. Sawdust 7. Onion3. Lichen 8. Nile Mud4. Beeswax 9. Linen Pads5. Resin 10. Frankincense

Mummies • 70 steps to make a mummy.

– 1) Removal of the brain through the nostrils – 2) Removal of the intestines through an incision in the side

3) Sterilization of the body and intestines – 4) Treating, cleaning, dehydrating the intestines– 5) Packing the body with natron (a natural dehydrating

agent) and leaving for 40 days – 6) Removal of the natron agent – 7) Packing the limbs with clay or sand– 8) Packing the body with linen (soaked in resin), myrrh and

cinnamon– 9) Treating the body with ointments and finally wrapping

with a fine linen gauze, not less than 1000 square meters .

• Canopic Jars made of alabaster store the heart, stomach, intestines and liver.

•Egyptian Mummies•Egyptian Mummies

• Seti I1291-1278 B.

C. E.

• Seti I1291-1278 B.

C. E.

• Queen Tiye, wife of

Amenhotep II

1210-1200 B. C. E.

• Queen Tiye, wife of

Amenhotep II

1210-1200 B. C. E.

• Ramses II1279-1212 B.

C. E.

• Ramses II1279-1212 B.

C. E.

Old Kingdom 2650 BC – 2134 BC Dynasties 3-6

• An Arabic proverb states “man fears time, but time fears the pyramids.”

• Era of great pyramid building, strong centralized nation.• The King alone gave Maat.• The King exclusively gains immortality in the afterlife.

Old Kingdom 2650 BC – 2134 BC

• Around 2650 BC, King Zoser (Djoser) and the architect Imhotep construct the Step Pyramid at Sakkara.

Step Pyramid at Sakkara. C 2650 BC

• Imhotep designed 6 successively smaller mastabas on top of each other.

• 62.18 meters(204 feet) Base: 125.27 m x 109.12 m (411’ x 358’)

Step Pyramid at Sakkara 2650 BC

• Imhotep planned a complex of temples, walls, and lesser burial chambers around the step pyramid.

Step Pyramid at Sakkara 2650 BC

• Cities of the dead always located on the west bank of the Nile.

Wall paintings replace figurines.

King Sneferu 2613 to 2589 BC

• Founder of the 4th dynasty.

• Improved and built at least 3 pyramids.

• Added the phrase “neb maat” to his Horus name, “owner of truth”.

• The king’s word is law because

the king himself is the law.

King Sneferu 2613 to 2589 BC

• He attempts a larger step pyramid at Meidum, but it did not work out so well.

Step Pyramid at Meidum

• Height 65 meters (213 ft) (ruined)(From base to summit: 93.5 meters (307 ft))

• Base 144 meters (472 ft)• Slope 51°50'35

King Snefru 2613 BC to 2589 BC

• His next attempt results in the bent pyramid at Dahshur.

• The lower part of the pyramid rises at 54-degrees, yet the top section changes to 43 degrees.

Bent Pyramid

• Height 101.1 meters (332 ft)• Base 188.6 meters (619 ft)• Slope 54°27'(lower) 43°22'(upper)

King Snefru 2613 BC to 2589 BC

• Height 101.1 meters (332 ft) • Base 188.6 meters (619 ft) • Slope 54°27'(lower) 43°22'(upper)

Red or True Pyramid

• Thirdly, he built the red pyramid at Dahshur.• The third time is a charm!

King Snefru 2613 to 2589 BC

• Height 104 meters (341 ft)• Base 220 meters (722 ft)

King Snefru 2613 BC to 2589 BC

Here he was buried, after adding the title “netjer nefer” meaning “the perfect god” to his title.

Sneferu’s son Khufu became the most famous pyramid builder of all time.

• The pyramids of Giza, the only surviving “7 Wonders of the World, the rest gone like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Egyptian Building Techfarmers had to work during the flood season for the King,

some slaves from Nubia.

The Great Pyramid at Giza 2545–2525 BC.

• Built by King Kufu (Cheops)• made of 2.3 million blocks of stone, each weighing on

average more than a ton, some weigh 9 tons . • It covers an area of thirteen acres.

The Great Pyramid at Giza 2545–2525 BC.

• Builders had to set one block of stone in place every two minutes, ten-hours a day, for the two decades of Khufu’s reign.

• The Pyramid Texts cover the inside walls.

• They are magical spells, showing the way to RA’s boat.

• The Pyramid texts give instructions on how to get to RA’s solar barge.

• Inner chambers of the pyramid of King Unas (Fifth Dynasty) at Saqqara.

•The Great Pyramid•The Great Pyramid

• Base 230.33 m and height 146.59 m, the Great Pyramid was the tallest building in the world until the Eiffel Tower (1889 CE).

• King Kufu’s nephew Hemiunu designed the building project.

• The Giza plateau (like Dahshur) being visible from Saqqara, yet on virgin ground.

• 2• 3• 4• 5• 1 • 6

Khafra (c 2500)

• Kufu’s son built his pyramid next to Kufu’s.

Khafra (c 2500)

• He chose a place on a hill.

Khafra (c 2500)

• Even though the pyramid is not as high as Kufu’s (Originally: 143.5 m Base215.25 m), it looks bigger.

Khafra (c 2500)

• He carved The Great Sphinx out of a rock outcropping, symbolizing , unification with the sun god,, a megalomaniac.

• 73.5 m long, 19.3 m wide, and 20.22 m high

Khafra (c 2500)

• The Great Sphinx reoriented the whole site around Khafra’s pyramid

Menkaura

• The son of Khafra built the last pyramid at Giza, much smaller Height 65.5 m Base103.4 m, one-tenth of the volume of the Great Pyramid. 

Menkaura

• It’s made out of red granite from the first cataract.

Menkaura

• They built a huge pyramid temple, where Menkaura’s funerary cult continued to be celebrated for centuries after his death.

Giza

• By the end of the dynasty, Giza was a complex place.

Giza

• By the end of the dynasty, Giza was a complex place.

• Built by the corvee: free work peasant• farmers had to do.

• Pay ten loaves of bread and a jug of beer per day.

• Pharaohs-The Great Pyramid of Egypt (How was it built_) - BBC 1 of 6 = 2011_(360p).flv

• Building the Great Pyramid_(360p).flv

• One in seven workers died, making the three kings the most despised in Egyptian history.

• Joseph Davidovits thinks the Egyptians poured the pyramid blocks, not carved stone. Limestone casted like modern concrete.

• Davidovits' method was not accepted by the archeologists of England.

• But, Michel Barsoum discovered air bubbles in the limestone pyramid blocks, which do not occur in natural limestone

4th Dynasty • King Huni last 3rd dynasty daughter

Hetepheres I married general Sneferu• Pharaoh Sneferu, Snofru, Snefer

• Pharaoh Khufu, Khnum, Khufum, Kufu

• Pharaoh Khafra, Khafre, Khefren, Chephren

• Pharaoh Menkaure, Menkaura

• Pyramids were too expensive.

Decline of the Old Kingdom

The king became poorer.

The 4th dynasty Kings gave out huge amounts of land to nobles that had helped build the great pyramids.

The noble houses keep the land giving rise to a feudal system.

• Priests and priestess became richer.

Decline of the Old Kingdom

King Pepi II’s six decades on the throne (2260–2175) caused major problems.

He outlived all of his sons and most of his grandsons.

Decline of the Old Kingdom

Upon his death dozens of people clamed to be the true pharaoh.

In 20 years, 19 pharaohs claimed the throne, and divide up Egypt’s wealth among their families.

Worst still, a series of low floods of the Nile brought famine to Egypt.

Nubia revolted and killed the Egyptian official sent to re-conquer them.

n.

• Local nobles took charge of their districts, ignoring the many kings.

1st Intermittent Period 2134-2052 BC Dynasties 7-10

• The Central Government completely broke down.• Rival cities and princes fought for control of Egypt.• Many claimed to be the true Pharaoh.

end

• Memphis• Giza• Saqqara• Thebes• Nubia• Tanis• Phoenicia• Crete• Knossos• Jerusalem• Nubia• Ur • Urk• Babalon• Tigris River• Euphrates River• Caspian, Medi, Ural, Red, Black Sea• Persian Gulf • Nile River

Loss of Nubian gold

• One of Pepi’s senior officials, the chancellor Mehu, was killed by hostile locals in Nubia.

• Although the Egyptian presence remained strong in the Dakhla Oasis, Egypt had effectively lost control of Nubia.

First Intermittent Period

• The devolution of political power to provincial officials, instigated in the late Fifth Dynasty, had proved both unwise and unstoppable. Local bigwigs—some now calling themselves “great overlord” of their province—were amassing ever more authority, arrogating to themselves a combination of civil and religious offices.

• Suddenly, Egypt was no longer the only serious power in the Nile Valley. Under its very nose, upstart Nubian chiefs had taken control, threatening Egypt’s centuries-old domination.

•  Merenra died, leaving the throne to a boy of six. The infant king, Neferkara Pepi II, was not in a position to offer any kind of guidance to his beleaguered country. At home, government was exercised by a regency council, headed by the king’s mother and uncle

An Afterlife for all

• following the collapse of the Old Kingdom marked a watershed in the long-term development of ancient Egyptian funerary religio

• For the vast majority of the population—the illiterate peasantry—the presence or absence of strong government changed little in the pattern of their lives. Long days of toil in the fields, sowing, hoeing, tending, and reaping, were as predictable as the rising sun.

• Yet without a central govement local officals repressed them more and irrgation systems broke down causing famine and trade routes closed causing economic destitute.

• .•Priests add Hathor, the goddess that could carry the Sun on her horns.