The Hall of Justice: key to an immortal afterlife

Like Mesopotamia, religion was the center of Egyptian life.Religious beliefs reflected the importance of nature as a benevolent force

The Ten Commandments

Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Kemet- the Black Land

The first image that comes to mind...

Pharoah Khufu:

tallest man-made structure for 3800 years

481 ft high, 13 acres

2.3 million blocks – 2.5 tons - 500 miles

20 years moving 12 blocks per hour

No wheel; no iron

Limestone with gold top

Egypt: “Gift of the Nile”…stretched 600 miles long by 14 miles wide

No rain but agricultural prosperity was unmatched.

July Inundation receded in October leaving rich, fertile soil.

Isolation impacted on psyche- harmony, everything was in balance: “ma’at”

Egyptian motto: “Eat, Drink and be Merry”

Women in ancient Egypt:

• Kept anything inherited from their parents

• Entitled to one-half the wealth both partners acquired within their marriage

• Work at jobs other than a housewife

• Own and sell property• Be a witness in a court case or

represent themselves in court• Make a will giving their wealth to

whomever they wished• Go out in public and be in mixed

company with men• Keep their own name• Be supported by their ex-

husband after divorce

The Palette of Narmer, (King Menes) 3100 BC: The Archaic Period

The Old Kingdom, or Age of the Pyramids, 2686-2181 BC

The Rosetta Stone

196 BC Ptolemy V

Discovered in 1799

3½ x 2 ½

Jean Francois Champollion

• took 13 years to decipher the Rosetta Stone, 1822.

• At 5-read French and Latin

• At 11-translated Virgil & Horace into french

• At 15-mastered Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Syrian, Ethiopian

• At 19-learned Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese

• At 32, began Rosetta Stone

• “Father of Egyptology”

Civil War between Noble families ended the Old Kingdom(Flood pattern of Nile changed- floodwaters fell 12 feet reducing arable land by 40%)

Mentuhotep II >re-established the central government and built a new capital at Thebes

>major rebuilding program

>drained swamps

>restored irrigation systems

>built canal to the Red Sea

>Repelled the Nubians

>trade flourished with the Kush, Syria, Mesopotamia and Crete

The Middle Kingdom, 2090-1650 BCE

Thy Hyksos invasions, 1720 BC – led to the 2nd intermediate period

• Hyksos invaders introduce the chariot

• Ahmose I - founder of the New Kingdom

(1570-1070 BC

Queen Hatshepsut, “Restorer of Egypt”

(1479 - 1458 BC)

Deir el-Bahri

Thutmose III“The Napoleon of Egypt”(1479-1426 BC)

>17 military campaigns during 32 year reign- never lost a battle!

>captured 350 cities in Palestine & Syria

Akhenaton 1379-1362 BC Nefertiti

Tutankhamen

King Tut’s burial mask.Howard Carter, 1922

Abu Simbel- temple of Ramesses II (Ramesses the Great)

The Battle of Kadesh, 1275 BCE

Temple of Horus, Ramesses III

• Hekla volcano in Iceland???

• Labor strikes• Civil unrest• Series of droughts• Below-normal

flooding• Famine• Official corruption• Power grabs by

High Priests at Thebes

• Invasions by Sea Peoples and Libyan tribesmen