1. Chapter 2, Section 2
Egypt’s
Old
Kingdom

2. Old Kingdom Rulers Old Kingdom lasted from 2600 BC to 2300 BC.
The Egyptian kings, pharaohs, lived with their families in grand palaces.
The pharaoh was an all-powerful ruler who guided Egypt’s every activity.

3. Old Kingdom Rulers Why did Egyptians willingly serve the pharaoh?
They believed the unity of the kingdom depended on a strong leader
They considered the pharaoh to be the son of Re, the Egyptian sun god

4. Old Kingdom Rulers
Whenever he appeared in public, people played music on flutes & cymbals.
Bystanders long the road had to bow down and “smell the earth.”

5. Old Kingdom Rulers
Egyptians thought their pharaoh was a god on earth who controlled Egypt’s welfare.

6. Egypt’s Religion
Egyptians worshipped many deities, or gods and goddesses.
The Egyptians believed these deities controlled the forces of nature and human activities.

7. Egypt’s Religion Egyptian Gods: Re – Sun God
Hapi – ruled the Nile River
Isis – goddess who represented the loyal wife & mother; she ruled over the dead with her husband Osiris

9. Egypt’s Religion
The Egyptians believed that life in the in the next world would be better than on Earth.
For centuries, Egyptians believed that only the pharaohs could enjoy the afterlife.
They thought the pharaoh needed a body to make the journey to the afterlife.

10. Egypt’s Religion
To protect the pharaoh’s body, the Egyptians used embalming.
Priests removed the body’s organs
Salt applied to body & body stored to dry
Body filled with perfumes & spices & stitched up
Body cleaned with oils & tightly wrapped with linen
The wrapped body was now a mummy
It was placed inside many wooden coffins
Ready to placed in a tomb

11. Egypt’s Medicine Skilled at sewing cuts and setting broken bones
Became the world’s first specialists in medicine
Wrote the world’s first medical books on papyrus

13. The Pyramids The pyramids were tombs for the pharaohs.
They were the size of city blocks.
They also held items the pharaoh would need for the afterlife.

14. How the Pyramids Were Built
Thousands of people
Years to build
Built during the Nile flooding season
Sits on a square base facing the north
Had a number system based on 10
Created fractions
Artisans used tools to cut stone into blocks
Pulled the blocks over “paved” roads of logs

15. How the Pyramids Were Built
Loaded the stones onto barges on the Nile
Had ramps to push/pull to set the stones in place

16. The Great Pyramid About 2540 B.C. the grandest of pyramids was built.
It is 10 miles from Cairo.
This pyramid was built for King Khufu & is still standing in Giza on the west bank of the Nile.

17. The Great Pyramid It covers an area the size of 9 football fields.
Contains 2 million stone blocks.