The Nile Valley Chapter 2:ie
Life in Ancient Egypt
“The Land of the Pharaohs.”
Life in Ancient Egypt
[Image source: http://www.library.nwu.edu/class/history/B94/society.gif]
[Image source: http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME1_INDEX.HTML#Plate1]
The nobility and priests who formed the top of the social order
controlled both the religious and political
affairs.
The upper class lived a comfortable urban life with their immediate families.
[Image source: The Age of the God-Kings, 3000-1500 B.C. (Time-Life Books)]
[Image source: http://www.comune.bologna.it/bologna/Musei/Archeologico/egizi/en/oggetti.htm#FUNERARY]
The middle class was made up of artisans, scribes, merchants, and tax collectors who lived a comfortable urban life.
The lower class provided for the needs of the upper classes.
[Image source: http://www.mfa.org/egypt/coll_high/]
The majority of of Egyptians were poor farmers who grew food.
[Image source: http://www.kent.wednet.edu/curriculum/soc_studies/Egypt/life.html]
[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/bountfrm.htm]
[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/bountfrm.htm]
Some peasants
ground grain and provided baked goods for the rich.
Still others herded and slaughtered animals for
meat.
[Image source: http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm]
Some were potters who
provided ceramic wares.
[Image source: http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/HIGH/OIM_10628.html]
Some slaves provided music
entertainment . . .
[Image source: http://www.natashascafe.com/cgi-bin/dbase.cgi?music]
. . . while other sang or danced.
[Image source: http://www.pharaonicarts.com/egypt-banquet.htm]
Upper class urban-dwelling
Egyptian families were often nuclear, including only the parents and their children.
[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/dress01.htm]
Many lower class people lived in extended families that included
grandparents and other relatives.
Women were originally viewed as the property
of their husbands.
[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/dress02.htm]
By the New Kingdom,
women could buy, own, and sell property,
testify in court, and initiate divorce and other legal
proceedings.[ http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME1_INDEX.HTML#Plate1]
Children were expected to cherish their mothers for
bearing them, nourishing them, and loving and
caring for them.[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/childfrm.htm]
Egyptians in each region worshipped
local deities, but rulers and priests
promoted the worship of specific
gods and goddesses throughout the land.
As a result, Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, or the
worship of many deities (gods).
[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/crea.html]
Horus, the sky god.
Pharaohs were often
referred to as “the living
Horus.”[Image source:
http://www.windows.umich.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/mythology/horus_sun.html]
Ra, the sun god, was also known as the
“father of the gods.”
Pharaohs were often referred to as the “son of the living
Ra.”[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/list.html]
Amon, a fertility god, was the deity worshipped in Thebes.
[Image source: http://phoebe.dws.acs.cmu.edu/~shawn/egypt/gods.html]
The Theban pharaohs
combined their local deity Amon with the sun god
Ra to create Amon-Ra.
[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/amun.html]
Osiris, originally the powerful god of the Nile, became the god of life, death, and
rebirth.[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/list.html]
Isis, the wife of Osiris, was the great mother-
goddess.
[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/isis.html]
Writing in Ancient Egypt
[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/adminfrm.htm]
In A.D. 1799 French soldiers
in Egypt uncovered a stone near
Rosetta that was carved with Greek letters and
hieroglyphs. [Image source: http://www.bc-freemasonry.com/biography/champollion_jf/rosetta.html]
In 1822 French archaeologist Jean-François Champollion succeeded in
deciphering the Rosetta Stone.
[Image source: http://www.bc-freemasonry.com/biography/champollion_jf/champollion_jf.html]
Champollion figured out how
the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone
matched the Egyptian texts.
[Image source: http://www.cimmerii.demon.co.uk/therosettastone/index.html]
Because of the work of people
like Champollion, scholars today are
able to read Egyptian
hieroglyphic texts.
[Image source: http://www.kent.wednet.edu/curriculum/soc_studies/Egypt/hier.html]
For everyday business, Egyptians
used a cursive script known
as hieratic.[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/learnfrm.htm]
Contributions of Ancient Egypt
Egyptian architecture bears witness to the achievements of their artisans.
[Image source: http://www.museum-tours.com/museum/roberts/roberts0.htm]
Egyptian monuments testify to the skill of their engineers.
These works would not have been possible
without advances in disciplines such as
mathematics.
Egyptians used the principles of geometry to survey flooded land.
Egyptian priests worked out a 365 day calendar that
made it possible to predict the
annual inundation.
Egyptians learned about anatomy as a result of their
practice of embalming their dead.
Other ancient cultures acquired much of their
medical knowledge from the Egyptians.
[Image source: http://web-owls.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/physician72_small.gif]