Ancient Egypt

Geography Nile River floods with regularity Silt replenishes soil Water nourishes new crops protected by sea, desert, & river cataracts at its borders access to stone, clay, copper, & timber geographical unity led to political unity under one king (pharaoh)

Politics absolute rulers Pharaohs worshipped as gods built great pyramids to shelter the body of the pharaoh through death & into the afterlife required great social organization & architectural skills

Writing priests wrote in hieroglyphics on tomb & temple walls hieroglyphics decoded in 1821 by Jean Champollion using the Rosetta Stone invented a paper-like material called papyrus

Dynasties Old Kingdom: 3100 B.C B.C. –King Menes united Lower Egypt (north) with Upper Egypt & established the first of many dynasties who ruled Egypt for nearly 3,000 years –known for its great pyramids –Civil wars & unrest led to downfall

Middle Kingdom: 2100 B.C.-1700B.C. –known for literature, art, & ideas –Civil war & attacks by Hyksos invaders destroyed Middle Kingdom

New Kingdom: 1580 B.C B.C. –became efficient warriors (drove out the Hyksos) –known for monotheism (Aton) & empire-building –lost empire & independence to foreign rule

Numerical System life centered around agriculture –planted, harvested, & ordered time with a solar calendar of 365 days –calculating boundaries of fields required the development of geometry gov’t officials collected taxes using arithmetic based on the decimal –did not use money--bartering

Society Society was stratified elite minority served the pharaoh as priests, nobles, & bureaucrats upper class women were important, because dynastic rights were matriarchal –Hatshepsut (wife & half-sister to two pharaohs) ruled for 40 years most men & women = like serfs –couldn’t easily leave their land –often forced to work as laborers on the pharaoh’s projects (ex. Pyramids)