Please get into groups of 5 people Please get into groups of 5 people. Have your pens/pencils out and put everything else in your backpack.

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt: The Gift of the Nile Egypt is located in Africa and was built along the Nile River The Nile River is the world’s longest river at 4,100 miles Unlike the Tigris & Euphrates rivers of Mesopotamia, the flooding of the Nile river was predictable Every July the river would flood and leave silt deposits Farmers would plan ahead to make the most of the fertile silt

Environmental Challenges Sometimes the Nile would flood too much or too little Too much: destroy homes and other buildings Too little: reduce the number of crops that could be grown which led to starvation The deserts surrounding Egypt kept them isolated from other civilizations, but also acted as a barrier against invasions

Egyptian Pharaohs Egyptian kings were called pharaohs Pharaohs were considered to be gods Ancient Egypt’s government was considered a theocracy Theocracy- type of government in which the country is ruled by religious leaders

Egyptian Pyramids Egyptians believed that pharaohs continued to rule after they died Therefore, pharaohs would need a tomb and items to help in the afterlife The tombs of pharaohs were massive structures called pyramids

Mummification Mummification- the process of preserving a dead body so it would not decay Wealthy Egyptians would be mummified, placed in a coffin, and then in a tomb with their belongings

Egyptian Writing Hieroglyphics- writing system used and developed by Ancient Egyptians Papyrus- an early type of paper that was made using papyrus reeds

Egyptian Achievements Created an accurate calendar to keep track of dates and the flooding of the Nile Developed a written system of numbers to do math Mathematical knowledge helped engineers build amazing pyramids and palaces Developed medical techniques to heal broken bones and wounds, also used surgery

Homework 1. Review and organize your notes 2. Define and explain the significance of following vocabulary in your notebook: pharaoh, theocracy, pyramid, mummification, hieroglyphics, papyrus 3. Fill out the Ancient Egypt section in the comparison chart in your notebook.