Ancient Egypt

3000 BCE to 332 BCE

Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt

• app. 10,000 sq. miles• the same as Sumer and

Akkad• radically different in

shape• a ribbon of fertile land

600 miles long – half a dozen miles wide

for most of its length

• compared to 165 miles in Mesopotamia

Nile and Egypt DBQ

• The Nile River Shaped the Egyptian culture.– List ways that the Nile shaped Egyptian culture

and what document you got this info

Example: The way the Nile shaped the culture (Doc 5)

Comparison and Contrast with Babylon

Comparison and Contrast with Babylon

• profound differences• because of environmental conditions• Mesopotamia: open to invasion• Egypt: isolated by geography

Different PerspectivesDifferent Perspectives

• Mesopotamians: pessimistic– life is unpredictable, their gods unstable,

their afterlife indistinct and undesirable

• Egyptian religion inspired confidence – in the eternal, stable order of the

universe

Different Perspectives, con’tDifferent Perspectives, con’t

• divinely guided, rhythmic cycle of life and death

• and belief in a final, eternal bliss

Ancient Egyptian Housing

Ancient Egyptian HousingMiddle Class

HomesMiddle Class Homes

Peasant Homes

Peasant Homes

Scenes of Ancient EgyptianDaily Life

Scenes of Ancient EgyptianDaily Life

Making Ancient Egyptian Beer

Making Ancient Egyptian Beer

How did Beer Save the World?

Making Ancient Egyptian WineMaking Ancient Egyptian Wine

An Egyptian Woman’s “Must-Haves”

An Egyptian Woman’s “Must-Haves”

PerfumePerfume

WhigsWhigs

MirrorMirror

Egyptian NobilityEgyptian Nobility

Egyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly Class

Egyptian ScribeEgyptian Scribe

Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”Hieroglyphics “Alphabet” 24 “letters” + 700 phonetic

symbols 24 “letters” + 700 phonetic

symbols

Papyrus PaperPapyrus Paper

Papyrus PlantPapyrus Plant

Hieratic Scroll Piece

Hieratic Scroll Piece

Papyrus text

Making papyrus

Hieroglyphics

On a temple

Egyptian Math & Draftsmenship

Egyptian Math & Draftsmenship

1 10 100 1000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000

What number is this?

What number is this?

Hieroglyphic

“Cartouche”

Hieroglyphic

“Cartouche”

Champollion & the Rosetta Stone

Champollion & the Rosetta Stone

SculptureSculpture

• early and sophisticated development• human figures and archicectural forms• led to great expertise in painting and other

representational arts

Unifier of Upper & Lower Egypt

Unifier of Upper & Lower Egypt

c. 3050 B. C. E. ?c. 3050 B. C. E. ?

• There is conflicting historical evidence over who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Some evidence points to a king called Scorpion. More solid evidence points to a king named Narmer. (also known as Menes)

Kings and Queens of EgyptKings and Queens of Egypt

• Pharaoh: link between the gods and people

• Pharaoh: divine– his rule eternal and absolute

• Egypt was not just ruled for the gods but by a god

Distinctions ?Distinctions ?

• human vs. divine ??• They could tell the difference• in practice: whoever held the throne

was divine• including: women, foreigners,

commoners

The PharaohThe Pharaoh

• shed his impermanent and human status

• assumed the eternal and unchangeable divine status

• became the embodiment of the divine• led a divinely unified Egyptian state

Egyptian Book of the Dead

Egyptian Book of the Dead

Egyptian ReligionEgyptian Religion

• each city had its patron deity• emergence of national government

caused some to be more important• as dynasties changed, the primary

gods changed• why??

ExamplesExamples

• Memphis: Ptah• later, as the center of power changed,

Re/Ra• or Horus• etc.

Ptah

Amun

Atum

Osiris, god of resurrection

Also known, as the Throne

Isis

Sister and wife of Osiris, mother of Horus

Isis, with the child Horus

Virgin Birth

Provides the iconographic style for the later representations of Mary and the baby Jesus

Horns removed,the moon is dropped,behind the head,to become the halo.

Horus

Horus

• Horus is the son of the god Osiris• Born of a virgin• Baptized in a river by Anup the Baptizer

– Who was later beheaded• Horus was tempted while alone in a desert• Healed the sick and the blind• Cast out demons

Horus continued• Walked on water• Resurrected “Asar” from the dead.

– This translates to “Lazurus”

• Had 12 disciples• Was crucified• After 3 days two women announced that Horus, the

savior of humanity has risen from the dead

Egyptian Gods & Goddesses:

“The Sacred ‘Trinity’”

Egyptian Gods & Goddesses:

“The Sacred ‘Trinity’”

Osiris Isis Horus Osiris Isis Horus

Early Creation StoryEarly Creation Story

• Atum• primeval mound of mud (Annual

inundation of the Nile?)• godly masturbation (How do you get a

date when there is nobody there but you?)

• generation of the gods

Egyptian MummiesEgyptian Mummies

Seti I1291-1278 B.

C. E.

Seti I1291-1278 B.

C. E.

Queen Tiye, wife of

Amenhotep II1210-1200 B. C. E.

Queen Tiye, wife of

Amenhotep II1210-1200 B. C. E.

Ramses II1279-1212 B.

C. E.

Ramses II1279-1212 B.

C. E.

Journey to the Underworld

Journey to the Underworld

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 dead travel on the “Solar Bark.”

The dead travel on the “Solar Bark.”

Egyptian religionEgyptian religion

• extremely tolerant of difference• extremely tolerant of many gods

– as opposed to, say.. Hebrew religion• the principal deity (national/Pharoah’s

deity) allowed other gods to flourish

Religion as a Unifying ForceReligion as a Unifying Force

• Mesopotamia: master-slave relationship

• Egypt: gods like a shepherd–who cherish and care for the people–Would change very little over the

3000 years

Religion, con’tReligion, con’t

• probably the origins of the idea of Jehovah-as-shepherd–especially in the Psalms–which are pre-dated by Egyptian

psalms–Akhenaton’s Hymn to the Sun

Egyptian Social Hierarchy

Egyptian Social Hierarchy

Achievements of the Old KingdomAchievements of the Old Kingdom

• efficient, centralized authority• astronomy, arithmetic, geometry• medicine

The Most ImportantThe Most Important

• Solar calendar• pyramids• belief in immortality

Ancient Egyptian History

Ancient Egyptian HistoryPeriods Time Frame

Nile Culture Begins

3900 B. C. E.

Archaic 3100 – 2650 B. C. E.

Old Kingdom 2650 – 2134 B. C. E.

Middle Kingdom 2040 – 1640 B. C. E.

New Kingdom 1550 – 1070 B. C. E.

Late Period 750 – 332 B. C. E.

Greek Ptolemaic Era

332 – 30 B. C. E.

Roman Period 30 B. C. E. – 395 C. E.

PyramidsPyramids

• Imhotep: architect and developer of the calendar– Imhotep: physician, architect, doctor, miracle

worker, giver of wisdom– designed the Step Pyramid of Zoser– processor of the Pyramids of Giza

Engineering an Empire:Pyramids

Step pyramid of Zoser

Djoser

Imhotep

Architect of the pyramids…later he become a god…

The Broken Pyramid of Snefru

The Bent Pyramid of Snefru

The Red Pyramid of Snefru

Giza Pyramid ComplexGiza Pyramid Complex

Plan of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Plan of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Pyramids, con’tPyramids, con’t

• eternal home for the immortal pharaoh

• insured their divinity for all eternity

Belief in ImmortalityBelief in Immortality

• first to really develop the idea• sophisticated consciousness• another order of existence

Map ShowingEgypt, Nubia,AndKush

Decline of the Old KingdomDecline of the Old Kingdom

• Old Kingdom: the most stable period• the Pharaoh dominated life

– forestalled the emergence of provincial power– but gradually lost power to royal officials

• gradual drying of the environment– failure of the Nile to flood on time

First Intermediate PeriodFirst Intermediate Period• 2180-2050 B.C.

– localism, anarchy, short reigns, palace coups, assassinations

• “seventy kings in seventy days”• reversal of established order• dissolution of law and order• disruption of trade and agricultural production• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9QAPch2o6Q

The Middle KingdomThe Middle Kingdom

• 2050-1800 B.C.• united under the Eleventh Dynasty• from Thebes, not Memphis

– followers of the god Amon– elevated to the rank of primary god– modern examples??

The Middle KingdomThe Middle Kingdom

• Fortifying of Egyptian borders• military garrisons on the borders• new office: the vizier

Second Intermediate PeriodSecond Intermediate Period• 1800-1570 B.C.• invasion by the Hyksos• People from Palestine• Hyksos dynasty by 1650 B.C. (Fifteenth

Dynasty)

Chapter 4 Sec 1 Questions

Do not go past this slide

The New KingdomThe New Kingdom

• rise of the Seventeenth Dynasty– Thebes

• beginning of the imperial period

The New KingdomThe New Kingdom

• 1570-1150 B.C.• reaction to control by a

foreign people• policy of planned

aggression• create a “buffer zone”

in Palestine

Imperialism: 18th DynastyImperialism: 18th Dynasty

• Thutmoses I• Hatshueput I• Thutmoses III

– conquest of an Asian Empire– successor had problems

The Valley of the Queens

The Valley of the Queens

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

Temple of Queen Hatshepsut

1473-1458 B. C. E.

1473-1458 B. C. E.

The New KingdomThe New Kingdom

This whole conquer others thing led them into conflicts with others like Persians, Greeks and eventually Romans.

Akhenaton: the Amarna Revolution

Akhenaton: the Amarna Revolution

• worship of the Aton– the solar disk

• elevated the worship of the Aton– suspended the worship of other gods– particularly Amon

The Aton—the physical disk of the sun

The Valley of the KingsThe Valley of the Kings

Archaeologist, Howard Carter (1922)

Archaeologist, Howard Carter (1922)

Entrance to King “Tut’s” Tomb

Entrance to King “Tut’s” Tomb

King Tutankhamon’s Death Mask

King Tutankhamon’s Death Mask

1336-1327 B. C. E.

1336-1327 B. C. E.

King TutankhamonKing Tutankhamon

Treasures From Tut’s Tomb

Treasures From Tut’s Tomb