Ancient Egypt

EGYPT GEOGRAPHY❖ Nile Valley, known as “Black Land”

❖ fertile valley of the river

❖ Sahara, known as “Red Land”

❖ desert valley

❖ Egypt does not get a lot of rain

❖ Natural borders that protect Egypt from invaders

❖ E. & W. parts of Egypt are parts of the Sahara desert

❖ South is a mountainous region

❖ North is the Mediterranean Sea

The Annual Flooding of the Nile

Blue Q. pg. 189 ❖ Explain how water, mud, plants, and animals were all

“gifts of the Nile” to the Egyptians.

❖ Water= agriculture & transportation

❖ Mud=farms were fertile and useful

❖ Plants= papyrus was used to make baskets, sandals, and paper

❖ Animals= fish, geese, ducks were used for food & domestication

Lesson 1:The Gift of the Nile Thinking Focus Question Review pg. 186

❖ What did the ancient Egyptians accomplish because of the “gifts of the Nile”?

❖ Strong agricultural economy (due to farming + trade)

❖ Made paper using the papyrus plant

❖ Boats used the Nile R. as a highway to the north and south

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION

• Afterlife was very important to Ancient Egyptians

• Steps for death and burial preparations

• Pyramid building

• Body preparation

• Why is this important?

BODY PREPARATION• Embalming

• Changes the body into a mummy

• Makes sure the body does not decay

• Mummy

• Placed in a tomb

• Objects also buried with for use in the afterlife

• Ex. jewelry, gold, food, drink, animals, even servants

• Tomb paintings show daily life of the person

TOMB PAINTINGS

• Found in tombs of wealthy families

• would describe life of the person while they were living

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD • Hymns, prayers, and magic spells

• Soul goes through a trial in front of gods

• Tells what it did and did not do

• Heart is weighed against feather of truth

• Heart= intelligence and memory

• If soul is too heavy with sin= 2nd death

• Soul balanced or less = afterlife

THE EGYPTIAN GODS • Polytheism

• Osiris= Chief god of the underworld, or home of the dead

• Anubis=his helper, he prepares the bodies of the dead for the afterlife

• Body of human and head of jackal

• Ra (Amun-Ra)= Sun god, created & ruled the world

• Each city had a god

• Egyptians built shrines at home dedicated to their favorite god

WRITING SYSTEM • Hieroglyphics-earliest Egyptian writing

• used pictures to stand for sounds, ideas, objects

• Difficult to understand

• In 1799, a stone in the city of Rosetta was found (Rosetta Stone)

• Writing in 3 languages

• Greek

• Egyptian Hieroglyphs

• Egyptian cursive

• Jean Champollion figured out to read it comparing it to Greek

• Ancient Egyptian dictionary