1. Life in Egypt -Unifying Egypt -Egyptian Records -Pyramid Building -Social Life -Trade and Technology -New Kingdom Pharaohs

2. Unifying Egypt Upper Egypt – The king wore a white crown. Lower Egypt – The king wore a red crown. When the two kingdoms were unified (united) into one country, the two different-colored crowns were united into one crown. Legend says that King Menes led his army into Lower Egypt, wearing the double crown. He is recognized as being the king to unify the two kingdoms.

3. Unifying Egypt Egyptians referred to a king as a god-king or pharaoh, which means “great house.” “A pharaoh is a god by whose dealings one lives, the father and mother of all…without an equal.”

4. Egyptian Records The discovery of the Rosetta Stone enabled archaeologists to decode hieroglyphics. The Rosetta Stone contains a passage written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and a form of Egyptian cursive writing. –By comparing Egyptian hieroglyphics to Greek words, the Rosetta Stone could be translated. Scribes traveled around the kingdom. They recorded information such as how much wheat was harvested, and how many taxes farmers owed to the government.

5. Egyptian Records From the Rosetta Stone, archaeologists were able to discover that the Egyptians used at least 700 different hieroglyphic symbols.

6. Pyramid Building Pyramids, or large stone buildings, served as houses or tombs for the dead. The Egyptians believed that pharaohs remained gods even after death, and that pyramids were like palaces. Pharaohs were buried with their possessions, because it was believed that they took their belongings with them to the afterlife (or life that continued after birth).

7. Pyramid Building Because the afterlife was more important than life on Earth, the Egyptians took great care in preparing pharaohs for burial. To preserve the bodies of the pharaohs, the Egyptians used the process of mummification.

8. Pyramid Building The building of Egypt’s largest pyramid began in 2,600b.c. at Giza. It is called the Great Pyramid, built for the pharaoh, Khufu. It has been estimated that this pyramid took about 20 years to build and that slave labor was used. Approximately 20,000 workers used more than two million blocks of heavy stone to build the Great Pyramid.

9. Pyramid Building Mummification –Step 1 – The Egyptians removed all organs except for the heart from the body. –Step 2 – They rubbed oils and perfumes all over the body. –Step 3 – They wrapped the body in linen bandages. –Step 4 – The mummy, or preserved body, was placed in a coffin and put in a tomb.