Geography Egypt & Mesopotamia

Egypt

Egypt The Nile River Valley Yearly Floods cause the river to overflow its banks making soil rich Ancient people depended greatly on the floods. They built reservoirs and irrigation ditches to channel water and store it for the dry season.

The Annual Flooding of the Nile

Nile Irrigation-the Shaduf

Egypt

Egypt 2 Regions Lower Egypt (north / Delta region) Upper Egypt (south)

Egypt The Sahara Desert Isolated Egypt and protected it from invasion. VERY difficult environment!

Ancient Egypt periods: Old Kingdom Strong central governments Led by Pharaohs Pyramids Middle Kingdom Disunity created by Old Kingdom leads to new leadership Turbulent period New Kingdom Plenty of trade and conquest (all the way to Mesopotamia) Ramses II Assyrians and Persians invaders

The Great Pyramids of Giza

Built For: - Old Kingdom Pharaohs - Khufu (Cheops) - Khafre - Menkaure Location West bank of Nile River Near Cairo HUGE complex

Khafre’s Pyramid Khafre – Khufu’s son Looks bigger than Khufu’s Still has some limestone casing Best preserved of the Giza pyramids Sphinx is part of Kafre’s pyramid complex Several images of Khafre

Some Famous Egyptian Pharaohs Tutankhamon 1336-1327 B. C. E. Thutmose III 1504-1450 B. C. E. Ramses II 1279-1212 B. C. E.

Ancient Egyptian Religion

Religion Basics Polytheistic Gods are Anthropomorphic (human characteristics) Religion drove their lives Influenced nearly EVERYTHING they did.

Gods and Goddesses Ancient Egyptians worshiped about 2000 different gods Animals were considered the living images of the gods

Egyptian Gods & Goddesses: “The Sacred ‘Trinity’” Osiris Isis Horus

Gods and Goddesses Ra (re) Sun God He was the most important God morning.

Gods and Goddesses Isis Queen of Goddesses Goddess of healing and magic, fertility The Egyptians worshipped Isis as the perfect mother.

Gods and Goddesses Thoth Thoth was the god of Knowledge and writing It was said that he gave the gift of hieroglyphics.

Gods and Goddesses Ma’at Ma'at was the goddess of truth, justice and harmony.

Gods and Goddesses Anubis Anubis was the god of embalming and the dead. Jackals were often seen near graves so it was believed that Anubis watched over the dead.

Gods and Goddesses Horus Horus was a god of the sky. He is the protector of the Pharaoh. It was believed that the pharaoh was the 'living Horus'.

Gods and Goddesses Amun Amun was one of the most powerful gods in ancient Egypt. At the height of Egyptian civilization he was called the 'King of the Gods'.

The BOOK OF THE DEAD Contains spells, charms, passwords and numbers to help secure easy passage to the afterlife. Passages inscribed inside tombs to help the dead. The weighing of the heart is considered one of the more important chapters

The After Life Death is not end Before the mummy can reach the underworld it has to pass through seven gates Then, the dead person arrives in the presence of Osiris (god of the underworld) Osiris then performs a ceremony called the 'weighing of the heart’ The heart is placed on a balanced. Balancing the scale meant immortality If the scale did not balance then gods would eat body and hear

Preparation for the Afterlife

Mummification Embalming the Body Wrapping Washed the body with water from the Nile. removed the liver, stomach, lungs and intestines …placed in canopic jars. rituals remove the brain heart remains in the body dry out the body 40 days later, washed again with Nile water the skin is the covered in oils. Wrapping head and neck are wrapped with linen. fingers and toes are wrapped individually. The arms and legs are wrapped separately Priests read out spells while the mummy is being wrapped. A cloth is then wrapped over the whole body A funeral is then held for the dead person

Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep II 1210-1200 B. C. E. Egyptian Mummies Seti I 1291-1278 B. C. E. Ramses II 1279-1212 B. C. E. Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep II 1210-1200 B. C. E.

Hieroglyphics The writing of the Ancient Egyptians

Scribes Amenemhet Trained to read and write 12 year education Held in high regard by society Kept records of EVERYTHING! - Very important scribe during middle kingdom

Egyptian Scribe

Papyrus  Paper Hieratic Scroll Piece Papyrus Plant

2 classes of hieroglyphics Phonograms Ideograms Phonograms Ideograms Represented consonant sounds = RS Pictures represented objects = owl NO VOWELS

Can you figure out what this says? Mtn vst hgh schl s lctd n hghlnds rnch clrd nt fr frm dnvr.

The Rosetta Stone Discovered by the French during Napoleon’s time Said the same thing in 3 different languages 1. Hieroglyphics (top) 2. Demotic (middle) 3. Greek (bottom) Before this discovery no one knew what hieroglyphics said… they just guessed!

Hieroglyphics “Alphabet” 24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols