Unit 1: River Valley Civ. Ancient Egypt

Geography Egypt The Gift of the Nile Transportation along the river Natural Barriers helped to reduce warfare

Satellite Image of the Nile

History: Egypt Unites into a Kingdom Egypt was separated into two kingdoms A king named Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt into one empire in 3000 BC Narmer created the first Egyptian dynasty

Pyramids of the Old Kingdom The “Step” Pyramid built by Djoser Old Kingdom or “Age of Pyramids” Most of the pyramids were built in this time period Pyramid: immense stone structure often built as tombs

More Pyramid Action

Social Structure Egyptian Culture Pharaohs: Egyptian pharaohs ruled absolutely- Center of Egyptian culture, government, and religion Theocracy: when religion and gov’t mix Polytheistic: Re (sun god), Osiris (god of the dead), Goddess Isis (represented ideal mother and wife) Believed in afterlife and built burial chambers and tombs Mummification: embalming and drying of corpses to prevent decay

Religion Ra: The Sun God Isis Horace

Social Structure

Writing Egyptian Hieroglyphics Hieroglyphics: meaning “sacred carvings” started out as pictographs then transformed into sounds First were written on stone then on papyrus an Egyptian form of paper The Rosetta Stone: found by the delta town of Rosetta in 1799 helped to break the code

Mummification First, they draw out the brains through the nostrils with an iron hook. . . . Then with a sharp stone they make an incision in the side, and take out all the bowels. . . . Then, having filled the belly with pure myrrh, cassia, and other perfumes, they sew it up again; and when they have done this they steep it in natron [a mineral salt], leaving it under for 70 days. . . . At the end of 70 days, they wash the corpse, and wrap the whole body in bandages of waxen cloth. HERODOTUS, The History of Herodotus

Crash Course with John Green