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5-3 Notes: The Pyramid Builders. The Old Kingdom Legend says a king named Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt – some historians think he represented several.

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Presentation on theme: "5-3 Notes: The Pyramid Builders. The Old Kingdom Legend says a king named Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt – some historians think he represented several."— Presentation transcript:

1 5-3 Notes: The Pyramid Builders

2 The Old Kingdom Legend says a king named Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt – some historians think he represented several kings who gradually joined the two lands After Egypt was united, its ruler wore the double crown – the red Crown of Lower Egypt and the white Crown of Upper Egypt

3 The First Dynasty The First Dynasty of the Egyptian Empire began around the year 2925 BCE A dynasty is a line of rulers from the same family – succession is the order in which members of a dynasty inherit a throne (more than 30 dynasties ruled Egypt) Historians divide ancient Egypt into the Old Kingdom (which began around the year 2575 BCE), Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom

4 Pharaohs Rule The king of Egypt became known as the pharaoh, which means “great house” and was originally used to describe the king’s palace – The pharaoh ruled from the capital city of Memphis Ancient Egyptians thought the pharaoh was a child of the gods and a god himself/herself If the pharaoh and his subjects honored the gods, their lives would be happy If Egypt suffered hard times for a long period, the people blamed the pharaoh for angering the gods – in such cases a rival might drive him from power and start a new dynasty Government and religion were not separate in Egypt – priest had a lot of power in the government and some high officials were priest

5 Pyramids The first rulers in Egypt were often buried in an underground tomb topped by mud brick Some kings replaced the mud brick with a small pyramid of brick or stone A pyramid is a structure shaped like a triangle with four sides that meet at a point Around 2630 BCE, King Djoser built a much larger pyramid called a step pyramid over his tomb (the oldest known large stone structure in the world!) A step pyramid is a pyramid that has sides that rise in giant steps

6 The Great Pyramid 80 years after Djoser built the step pyramid, a pharaoh named Khufu ordered the construction of the largest pyramid ever built Each side was 760 feet long along the base and the core was built from 2.3 million blocks of stone Miners cut the huge blocks of stone using copper saws and chisels – Other teams of workers pulled the stone slabs up long, sloping ramps to their place on the pyramid – Farmers hauled the stone during the flooding season – Stone cutters and overseers worked year round The pyramid took approximately 20 years to build and an estimated 20,000 Egyptians worked on it A town called Giza was built for the pyramid workers and the people who fed, clothed, and housed them

7 Grave Robbers Eventually Egyptians stopped building pyramids for a number of reasons Pyramids drew attention to the tombs inside of them, and grave robbers stole the treasures and even the mummies buried in the chambers Egyptians believed that if the person buried in the pyramid was robbed, they could not have a happy afterlife During the New Kingdom, pharaohs began building more secret tombs in an area called the Valley of the Kings The pharaohs hid their bodies and possessions in mountains near the Nile hoping to protect their bodies and treasures from grave robbers

8 Inside the Tombs Pyramids normally had several passageways leading to different rooms to confuse grave robbers Sometimes relatives like the queen were buried in extra rooms Tombs were supposed to be the palaces of pharaohs in the afterlife – mourners filled the rooms with objects the pharaoh would need (ranging from food to furniture to luxury items!) – Some tombs even had small statues that were supposed to be servants of the pharaoh Artists decorated royal tombs with wall paintings and sculptures carved into the walls (meant to glorify the gods and the dead person, so they had perfect features) Artists had strict rules for portraying humans (head, arms, and legs from the side – front of the body from the neck to the waist) Wall paintings showed the pharaoh enjoying himself so he could have a happy afterlife Common scenes included pharaohs fishing in a marsh, riding into battle, and people providing for the needs of the dead person (like growing/preparing food, caring for animals, and building boats) Robbers stole the treasures from almost every tomb, with the exception of one secret tomb from a New Kingdom pharaoh

9 The Middle Kingdom By around 2130 BCE, Egyptian kings began to lose their power to local rulers of provinces – for around 500 years the kings kept Egypt together but with a weaker central government (this period is known as the Middle Kingdom) Rulers from the Middle Kingdom also faced challenges from outside enemies A nomadic people called the Hyksos invaded Egypt from the northeast – they conquered Egypt using better weapons and horse- drawn chariots After about 100 years the Egyptians drove the Hyksos out of Egypt and began the New Kingdom


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