Egyptian Timeline

• Old Kingdom (2700-2150)

• Middle Kingdom (2040-1786)

• New Kingdom (1570-1075)

Old Kingdom

• Theocracy

• Menes united Egypt

• Came to an end with a Civil War

• Hieroglyphics developed

• Religion developed

• Pyramids and Sphinx built

Middle Kingdom

• Extension of Egyptian control into Nubia

• Arts developed

• Theocracy type government

• Invaded by the Hyksos (invaders on horse)

New Kingdom

• Militaristic

• Hebrews enslaved

• Mummification perfected

• Social and religious changes

• Pharaoh had absolute power

• Invasions prevention used all money in treasury

I. Desert

• Surrounded by desert with occasional oasis– Permits some trade – Defense from invasion

• Contributes to feeling of safety

– preserves artifacts

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“Egypt is the gift of the Nile” -Herodotus

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I. The Nile• yearly flooding - no concern for soil

depletion– Predictable– Irrigation systems

• Encourages – Trade/protection/food– Communication– Political unity– 4160 Miles long-empties in the Mediterranean

Sea

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I. The Nile

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I. The Nile

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I. The Nile

I. The Nile

• Impact on religion– divided life - living and dying.

• East (sunrise) is land of the living - cities, temples

• West (sunset) is land of the dead – tombs

• Burials are completed this way

***** How do we bury people today?

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II. Religion• Omnipresence of religion• Polytheistic

– interaction with the natural environment shows interrelated gods and goddesses yearly rebirth of Nile and daily rebirth of sun

– over 2000 gods

• Pharaoh as living god• Most important god was Amon-re or RA- the creator or

sun god• Afterlife

– Evolution of who has an afterlife• Old vs. New Kingdom

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II. Osiris

• God of the Dead - “rebirth” - and the weighing of the heart

against a sacred feather

=eternal happiness or death• Evolution of Egyptian

mythology– known as a ruler in the Nile delta

- – a local god– regional god.

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II. Horus

• Horus, god of balance and harmony

• maintained the natural order: the flow of the Nile and the fertility of the soil.

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Isis

• Wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus

• Protector of children

Anubis

• God of the dead

• Supervises the embalming process

• He shows the dead the way to the underworld

• Weighted the souls of the dead to determine their fate in the afterlife

Anubis

Ra and Amon-Ra

• During the New Kingdom the two gods were merged into one main god. Amon-Ra

II. Early Pyramids

Zozer’s stepped pyramid - similar to Babylonian ziggurats

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Why build Pyramids?

• Belief in the afterlife demanded: 1. Bodies be interred whole

2. Material goods for use in afterlife be present

• The need to protect the bodies demands good burial tombs1. First were mastabas

2. Then pyramids

3. Then later… hidden tombs

II. Great Pyramid

• Tomb for Khufu• an almost perfect square (deviation .05%) • Orientation is exactly North, South, East West • 2,300,000 blocks, 500ft high • 20 years to build• Average block weighs 2.5 tons

– Some weigh 9 tons!

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Pyramids of Menkaure, Khafre and Khufu

Queen Pyramids in front2 3 4 51 6

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II. Mummies

• Not known when it started in Egypt• Perfected by time of New Kingdom• How to make a mummy: 70 steps

– 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 yards .

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Mummies

Canopic Jars made of alabaster for storage of heart, stomach, intestines and liver which were also treated

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Inner coffin

Mummy

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Second inner coffin lid

Second inner coffin

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Shawabti box

Gift bearers

Model boat

Funerary Gifts

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III. The Pharaoh “The Great House”

• God-King - – Temporal power

• owns all the land and people and what people posses

• law vs. Pharaoh's will

• irrigation

• no city walls

• Had absolute power

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III. The Pharaoh

• God-King - – Religious

• direct descendant of the Sun god

• controls access to the afterlife

• July-Sept, during floods life is controlled by the Pharaoh

– 365 day calendar.

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Menes

Amenhotep III

Ramses II

King Tut

Hatshepsut

Nefertiti

Cleopatra VII

IV. Daily Life in Egypt

• Cosmetics, cleanliness (bathe 3 times a day), shaved bodies, wigs

• main food is beer and bread– Grow many crops: emmer, barley, flax, lentils, onion, beans,

and millet

• common building made of sun-dried mud bricks - up to three stories in height

• Four social classes - slaves on the bottom

• Most common job … farming

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Women

• Could improve her status through marriage

• Women had many legal rights such as property ownership

Achievements

• Lunar Calendar/365 day year/12 months

• Number system based on 10

• Used fractions and geometry

Farms

• Pharaoh owned ALL land

• Peasants kept part of crops for themselves

• Land was divided into large estates

• Grew mostly wheat, barley, flax and cotton

IV. Farmers in Egypt

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IV. Hieroglyphics

• Language is written without vowels

• Pictographs were usually written on walls, slates or papyrus

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IV. Hieroglyphics

• Use in temples

• Rosetta Stone

• Used for translations

• 1798

• Demotic, Greek and

• Hieroglyphics

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IV. Egyptian Artwork

Egyptian Farmers & animals

Stela (carved stone)

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Notice, all people drawn from the side – even when looking right at you!

Old Kingdom2680 BC-2180 BC

Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt

2 classes- Peasants and farmers-Pharoah, scribes and government

officialsEnded with Civil Wars

V. Middle Kingdom 2050-1750 BCE

• End of civil wars, farming and trade return

• move capital south to Upper Egypt (Thebes)

• public improvements– drain swamps, canal to Red Sea

• belief in afterlife expands to include common people

• tombs instead of pyramids– better protection for mummies.– Hyksos introduce the chariot and invade Egypt– Weakened government

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V. Middle Kingdom 2050-1750 BCE

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VI. New Kingdom 1550-1075 BCE

• Ahmose I expelled the invading Hyksos and reunited Egypt

• Known as the Empire period

• development of “public” and “private” zones at temples.

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Ahmose I leading Egyptians against the Hyksos

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VI. New Kingdom 1550-1075 BCE

• Characterized by a more militaristic and imperialistic nature– incorporated chariot, bronze working, horses– development of a professional army

• became a slave based economy fueled by war and expansion

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VI. Threats to Tradition

• Amenhotep IV (c. 1362-1347 B.C.) introduced the worship of Aton, god of the sun disk, as the chief god and pursued his worship with enthusiasm.

• Changed name to Akhenaten (“It is well with Aton”)

• He closed the temples of other gods and especially endeavored to lessen the power of Amon-Re and his priesthood at Thebes.

• Unsuccessful change to traditional beliefs

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VI. Threats to Tradition1355-1335 BCE

• Nefertiti– Wife of Akhenaton the only

pharaoh to even partially reject polytheism

– political move against priests of Amon-Re

– moved capital to Amarna

– worshipped Aton, the sun disk

• royal inbreeding.

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VI. Tutankhamen 1335-1325 BCE

• (King Tut)

• child ruler

• ruled nine years, died at 18

• young death meant burial in the tomb of a lesser person (noble) resulting in preservation

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VI. Ramses II (1279-1213)• greatest New Kingdom ruler• military leader of Egypt• expanded into southern Turkey• built many monuments to

himself• last gasp of Egyptian power.

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VI. Ramses II (1279-1213)

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VI. Ramses II (1279-1213)

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Ramses II1st Peace treaty signedKept Egypt together

Called “Ramses the Great”

After Ramses IIThe following Pharaohs were

weak and Egypt fell to invaders from the Mediterranean Sea.

By 300 BC, Egyptian rule had come to an end