4. Geography of Ancient Egypt
• in Africa,
90%
desert w/
grasses
along
Nile River.

5. • hot dry climate, w/ more rain
in winter than summer
• 2 seasons: Hot summers (May
to Oct) w/ avg temp of 95
• Mild winters (Nov to April) w/
avg winter
temp: 48
degrees)

7. • Don’t Write!
• Blue Nile
(Lake Tana in
Ethiopia) joins
White Nile
(from Lake
Victoria) at
Khartoum
• Nile flows N
4100 miles to
Med Sea!

8. The Gift of the Nile
*Floods yearly as
snows in mtns
melt depositing
new, fresh
black soil
along river,
very fertile
(less than 24
miles across

9. • Nile used for fishing,
shipping, irrigation,
drinking, cooking &
irrigation &
trade
around Med

10. • Egypt divided into 2 lands:
• „Black Land„: fertile land on
banks of Nile used for
growing crops
• Red Land: barren desert that
protected Egypt from
invaders. Precious
minerals & stones

12. •Issues:
• Floods too low, many starve
• Too high, seeds,
granaries destroyed
• Desert reduced interaction
•But:
• Protection from invaders
• Trade/transportation w/ river
• Fertile soil replenished

13. *Farming villages
dev by 5000 BC
• 3200 BC, 2
separate
kingdoms dev.
(Upper & Lower
Egypt)
• Eventually
unite

15. Upper Egypt
• Higher elevation
• Skinny strip of
land from 1 st
Cataract to
where Nile starts
to fan out in
branches.

16. Upper Egypt
• 1st Cataract at Aswan.
(cataract: river turns to
rapids, shallow water is
broken by small boulders,
stones & rocky islets,
• Leader wore the
white crown

18. Lower Egypt
• Lower Egypt
around Nile delta
in N, where Nile
empties into Med
*Milder climate
*Leader wore
Red Crown

19. King Narmer
• Around 3000 BC, Upper &
Lower united by King
Narmer (Menes/Scorpion?)
• Narmer
palate
shows
unification

21. • Put together crowns
• Put capital, Memphis
near line of U/L
Egypt
• Est 1 st dynasty
(family of rulers) where
(31 dynasties
span 2600 years)

23. Blue crown (the Khepresh) was a blue cloth
or leather headdress decorated with bronze or
gold discs. The Blue Crown was worn in
battles, as well as on ceremonial occasions.
The Nemes Headdress
was a blue and gold
striped head cloth
Atef crown was a white
headdress decorated with ostrich
feathers. It was worn during some
religious rituals

25. Old Kingdom 2780-2200 BC
• Wide spread patterns of
civilization & ruling families
known as DYNASTIES
control Egypt
• Pharaohs ( means great
house) created irrigation
systems from Nile
• Papyrus invented (writing
becomes tool of govt)

26. *Capital is Memphis
• Accounting
& record
keeping
• Trade
expeditions
• Wealth spread
out btw kings &
temples

28. Pharaohs
• Pharaohs considered to be
gods (represent Horus)
• Govt based on religious
authority (theocracy)
• Pharoah center of
religion & govt, leader of
military & chief priest

29. • Responsible for kingdom‟s
well being
• Caused crops to grow, Nile
to flood, sun to rise, success
in battle
• Promote truth & justice
• *Landlord & nobles rent
land from them

30. • Pharaoh was Horus in life,
became Osiris in death &
united w/rest of the gods.
• Next Pharaoh was incarnation
of Horus

31. and justify Pharaonic power

32. Death of a Pharaoh
• Believed king ruled after
death
• Eternal life force called KA
needed resting place after
death to protect spirit.
• KA was like the
living king with
needs & pleasures

33. • Mastabas built early on,
but later pyramids
• whole towns developed
around pyramids

34. Don’t write!!!!Mastabas
• Earliest royal burials were pits dug in the ground
with mounds built over them.
• Mound was built roughly in the shape of a
pyramid & made from mud brick or stone,
• mounds covered burial chambers that were dug
deep into the ground
• Pyramids developed from mastabas. (Theory is,
step pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara was originally
a mastaba that had successively smaller square
slabs built around it)
• 1000s of mastabas all over Egypt, many of them
w/ wall paintings
• Paintings are a huge source of information on
everyday life.

36. Djoser & the Step Pyramid
• Djoser, Pharaoh (dynasty 3
2667-2648 BC), built
monument to self designed by
architect Imhotep
• Built pyramid
instead by putting 6
mastabas on top of
one another

37. • Step Pyramid, world‟s most
monumental stone structure
(shows hi level of govt
control of
labor &
resources &
organization)

38. • Djoser’s Step Pyramid complex has several structures
pivotal to its function in both life & afterlife. Its
purpose was to create an afterlife for the king so that
he could be eternally reborn.
• Complex surrounded by a wall (14 doors, one leads to
colonnade) , which is surrounded by a trench
• Roofed colonnade had side chambers, lead to hallway
w/columns
• Large court near pyramid w/ platform & double steps
(represents throne to cont. to rule in afterlife)
• Small s tomb w/ 3 chambers, decorated, showing king
running festivals
• Pyramid w/ substructure w/ chambers & galleries that
look like palace (place for the ka)
• Burial chamber blocked by 3.5 ton block. Robbed
• Northern funerary temple for rituals (king can use it to
go to north Star)

41. • No wheel
• Quarried stone
blocks (used
granite &
limestone)
• Blocks (weigh
1.5-2.5 tons)
transported on
sleds, barges

43. • Inclined earthen ramps built
up & torn down as pyramid
finished (may be straight or
spiral around pyramid)
• No written records or art of
how built

45. • DON”T WRITE!!!!
• Built by farmers outside of farming season
(slaves also)
• 20,000 to 30,000 workers
• Lived in villages around pyramids, had
supervisors!
• 118 known pyramids (2008)
• buried with treasures to help pharoah in
next world
• Walls covered with pics & hieroglyphs
telling story of Pharaohs deeds
• "Friends of Khufu," "Drunkards of Menkaure

46. The Pyramids of Giza (don’t write)
• Giza Pyramids were built 4,500 years ago.
• Egypt's pharaohs expected to become gods in the afterlife. To prepare for the
next world they erected temples to the gods & massive pyramid tombs for
themselves—filled with all the things each ruler would need to guide &sustain
himself in the next world.
• Pharaoh Khufu began the first Giza pyramid project, circa 2550 B.C.
• His Great Pyramid is the largest in Giza & towers some 481 feet (147 meters)
above the plateau. Its estimated 2.3 million stone blocks each weigh an avg of
2.5 to 15 tons.
• Khufu's son, Pharaoh Khafre, built the 2nd pyramid at Giza, circa 2520 B.C. His
necropolis also included the Sphinx. The Sphinx may stand sentinel for the
pharaoh's entire tomb complex.
• The 3rd of the Giza Pyramids is smaller than the first two. Built by Pharaoh
Menkaure circa 2490 B.C., it featured a much more complex mortuary temple.
• Each massive pyramid is but one part of a larger complex, including a palace,
temples, solar boat pits, and other features.

52. *Don’t write!!
Shape thought to be representative of the descending rays of the
sun, & most pyramids were faced with polished, highly reflective
white limestone, in order to give them a brilliant appearance
when viewed from a distance
*While it is generally agreed that pyramids were burial monuments,
there is continued disagreement on the particular theological
principles (One theory is that they were designed as a type of
"resurrection machine)
• Egyptians believed dark area of the night sky around which the
stars appear to revolve was the physical gateway into the
heavens.
• One of the narrow shafts that extends from the main burial
chamber through the entire body of the Great Pyramid points
directly towards the center of this part of the sky.
• suggests the pyramid may have been designed to serve as a
means to magically launch the deceased pharaoh's soul directly
into the abode of the gods.
• All Egyptian pyramids were built on the west bank of the Nile,
which as the site of the setting sun was associated with the realm
of the dead in Egyptian mythology

59. Don’t’ Write!!!
• Probably took 23 years (Khufu 2551 to 2528 BC)
• Herodotus writes about 10 years of preparation &
20 years of building
• Per Day: With 2'500'000 stones, 342 stones have
to be moved daily (working during 365 days a
year) or 431 stones daily (working during 290
days a year).
• Per minute 10-hour day: every 2 minutes a stone
(34 to 43 per hour)
8-hour day: nearly a stone every
minute (42 to 53 stones per hour

60. Mummification
• Mummification: Process to
dry a dead body
1.Workshops run by priests
2. Remove brain by using a
hook thru nose

61. 3. Remove liver, lungs,
stomach & intestines. Placed
in 4 canopic jars to be
protected by sons of Horus

62. 4.Body soaked for 70 days
in salt solution (natron)
5. Spices rubbed on body
(cinnamon, myrrh) & holes
filled with linen soaked in
resin
6.Make up artist

66. 7.Next oils & resin brushed on
8. Gold plate with wedjet eye
over incision
9. Body wrapped
in linen
10.Amulets
inserted btw linens

67. Don‟t write!
Ushabti
It means “the one who answers”.
The ushabti is small statue
, sometimes in the form of a
mummy, that was placed in a
tomb.
They were thought to
take care of or do work
for the mummy in their
afterlife.
S Westwood 2010

69. Features were meant to be recognizable

73. • Monument carved from
bedrock w/ blocks of
limestone to enlarge it
(hammers, bronze chisels)
• Body of lion (represents
strength of ruler) & head of
a man (face of the ruler)
• Represents Ra, sun god

74. • Largest surviving sculpture
from ancient world
• Mysteries: Unknown Purpose:
Symbolic guard? Portrait?
Who built it? Khafre? Khufu?
• Legend says secret passages
exist under the body &
archaeologists have
found 3 tunnels. Mystery!

75. Don‟t‟ write!! Most think Sphinx built by
Khafre ( 2575—2465 BC)
*Theory that it may be older. Inscription in Great
Pyramid (600 BC), records that Pharaoh Khufu—
Khafre's father—repaired Sphinx's tail &
headdress.
*Some believe Sphinx may
have been built by Khufu,
others date it as far back
as 3100 BC, before the
unification of
Upper & Lower Egypt

76. • DON’T WRITE!!!
• According Dream Stele, while Thutmose IV was on a hunting trip,
he stopped to rest under the head of the Sphinx, which was
buried up to the neck in sand. He fell asleep & had a dream in
which the Sphinx told him that if he
cleared away the sand &restored it he
would become the next Pharaoh.
• After completing the restoration of
Sphinx he placed a carved stone tablet,
now known as the Dream Stele, btw
2 paws of Sphinx.
• The restoration of the Sphinx & text of
Dream Stele was a piece of propaganda
on Thutmose's part, to make him the
legit king

77. 1st Intermediate Period
2160-2040 BC
*Lower levels of wealthy rebel
• class of feudal lords dev.
• Pharaoh now son of a god.
• Crops fail, hunger widespread,
famine, ess trade
• Pharaohs blamed. Gov became
rulers

78. Middle Kingdom:2050-1630 BC
*11th-13th dynasties:
*Mentuhotep II (2061 BC)
takes over Theben throne &
reunites Egypt
*Mentuhotep IV‟s vizier,
Amenemhet I, overthrows him

79. * moves capital to Itjtway
(El-Lisht today?)
• Ruled 30 yrs, bringing peace
• makes son Senurset I
coregent (Amen is murdered)
*Return to Old Kingdom
pyramids.

80. • Pharaohs concerned abt
people
• Start projects (dig
canal, drain swampland,)
• Arts & lit flourish

81. *Senusret III, (1878-1839
BC) warrior pharaoh, led
successful wars against
Nubia,Kush,
Meso, Syria &
Palestine.
Built forts,
designed canals
around cataracts

83. • Mining in Sinai
*Thebes capital,
Abydos center
of trade &
Karnak est to
worship Amun
& Osiris

84. 2nd Intermediate Period:1650-1550 Bc
• Don’t Write!
• Queen Sobekneferu dies, no heirs,
• Power splits between multiple centers (Avairs,
Thebes & Itjtway) & provisional governors take
over
• 13th dynasty pharaohs lose
power as when Hyksos take
over. Warlike, use horses,
chariots, bronze weapons,
destroy cities!

86. 2nd Intermediate Period :1650-1550 BC
• military tech advances (bow
bronze weapons, chariots).
• Horse lute & lyre
• Princes rebel against Hyskos
• 1600 BC Pharaohs use same
tools to fight back & drive
out Hyksos (cultural diffusion

87. New Kingdom 1580-1090 BC
• Ahmose 1 expels
Hyskos,, reasserts Egypt‟s
power in Thebes, Nubia &
Canaan, opens mines, trade
routes & building
programs!
(18th dynasty
1549 BC )

89. New Kingdom 1580-1090 BC
• Wealthiest, most powerful
period
• Standing army takes territory
(archers, charioteers,
foot soldiers)
• Lots of trade
• Thebes becomes center again
w/ focus on Karnak, Luxor &
Valley of the Kings

91. DON’T WRITE
• Many important pharaohs!
Hatshepsut
Thutmose III
Ramses II
Akhnaton
And King Tut!

92. Hatshepsut 1491-1479 BC
• Married to Thutmose II.
Took over at death, blocked
step-son from throne
• Wore men‟s
clothes,
ceremonial
beard)

94. • Focus on trade to Punt (near
Somalia) bringing back gold,
animals, plants, ivory
• Built, temple at Karnak &
worked on
Valley of the
Kings (new
burial place

98. Karnak
A city of temples near the
ancient city of Thebes. Thebes
is now called Luxor.
S Westwood 2010

99. Thutmose III 1479-1424
BC
• Step-son
of Hat.
(May have
killed her)

100. • Warrior!!! Ran 17 military
campaigns in 19 years!
• Conquers
Palestine, Phoenicia, Syria &
Nubia
• Brings new
ideas & goods
to Egypt

102. • Don’t Write!!!!
• New Kingdom warrior pharaoh image include:
1. The pharaoh leading his soldiers into battle &
returning in victory.
2. Attacking the enemy in his chariot,
3. Wearing war regalia, e.g. the blue war crown or
other pharaonic headdresses.
4. Holding 1 or more enemies w/ 1 hand, while he
clubs their heads with a mace- “smiting the
enemy.”
5.In the guise of a sphinx trampling the enemy.
6. Offering the spoils of war to the god Amun,

104. Tomb of Thutmose III

105. Ramses II 1279-1213
BC
*Ramses the Great
*Ruled 66 years
*Known for war
campaigns in
Nubia & Med

106. • Don‟t Write!
• Signed treaty w/ Hittites for
peace
• Added to Amon-Ra‟s temple
at Luxor, temple to self
(Rasmesseum), added to
temple of Karnak carved Abu
Simbel out of cliff along
Nile

114. • At least 8 royal wives &
officially 20 boys & 20
girls, but probably over 100
kids!
• Nefertari most
famous
(small temple at Abu
Sembal, large opulent
tomb (depicted w/
husband, unusual)

116. Amenhotep IV: 1353-1335?,
1.Cont dad‟s effort to worship
1 god, Amon-Ra
2. Switched to Aton (“sole
god, beside whom there
is no other”) Sun
disk, creator
& giver of life.
(monothiestic)

117. 3. Change name to Ikhnaton
(or Akhnaton)
4.built own capital by the
Nile, called, "Akhetaten", th
e Horizon of the Aton.(Tel-El
Amarna)

119. • Priests freak out when Ikh
ordered all to worship one
god, destroyed Amon‟s name
on temples
(even Dad‟s
name!) & pics
of other gods
be destroyed

120. • Went against Egypt‟s way of
life. Hated by priests as
they lost power
• Debate over
succession
upon death.
(Wife? Son?
Tut!)

121. Don’t write!!!!
Portrayals of Akhenaten, w/ a
sagging stomach, thick thighs,
larger breasts, & long,
thin face led
Egyptologists to suppose
that Akhenaten suffered some kind
of genetic abnormality.
Marfan or Froelichs syndrome?

124. King Tut 1334-1325 BC
1. Son of Akhnaton
2. ruler at 9
3. Married sister
4. Original name
Tutankhaton.
Changed to Tutankhamun.

125. 5.Returned Egypt 2 traditional
beliefs in Amon Ra.
6. Dedicated temples at Karnak
& Luxor, gave gifts to priests
of
Amon Ra
7.Murdered
at 18/19?

126. • Don’t write!!
• Wife wrote letter to marry Hittite king’s son, but was
killed along way. Forced to marry Ay, general who took
throne.
• War fought, Egypt loses.
• Angry priests destroy records of father & son
(why tomb survived)

129. http://www.kingtutone.com/tutankhamun/en
ter/

132. Decline of Egypt
• Abt 1300 Bc
small invasions
begin w/ Hittites
• Ramses II makes peace
treaty in 1200 BC w/
Hittites, become allies
• Waves of invaders, including
Sea Peoples sweep through

134. DON’T WRITE!
1150-332 invaded repeatedly
• Ethiopians 1150 BC
• Libyans 950 BC
• Kush 751 BC
• Assyrians 670 BC
• Persians 525 BC
• Greeks 331 BC (Alexander the
Great w/ Cleopatra as last pharaoh)
• Romans: 31 BC now Roman province

135. Why did it decline?
• Pharaohs often concerned w
building for own glory
• Heavy taxes
• Lots of $$$$$ spent trying
to expand border
• Little individual freedom
• Stuck w/ social class system
(No real middle class)

136. Egypt‟s Economy:
*Agricultural: wheat, barley,
vegetables, figs, melons,
pomegranates, flax (linen)
onions, leeks, cabbages,
beans, cucumbers & lettuce.
*Fruit trees & vines for shade
& fruit

139. • Most villagers farmers, work
for Pharoah.
• *Paid in units of beer,
bread, cloth & meat
• Simple tools: winnowing
scoops, hoes, rakes,
*Repair during flood
season!

141. Egypt’s Economy
• Traded w/ countries around
Med, Aegean & Red Seas
(No coins, bartered!)
• Import: silver, iron, cedar
logs, horses, ivory, copper,
cattle, skins & spices.
• Export: gold & minerals,
wheat, barley & papyrus sheet

143. Egyptian society like a pyramids

144. Religion

145. • Polytheistic (many gods)
• Believed gods control all.
• Pharaoh is Horus/Osiris
• Priests highest social class,
powerful
• Book of the Dead: guided the
soul in the after life

146. Anubis: God of the Dead
*weighs heart against
a feather, to get
eternal life, weigh
feather. Too heavy,
eaten by Devourer
of Souls
*Head of a jackal

147. • Ra: god of sun. head of a
hawk, w/ sun disk
S Westwood 2010

148. • Amon-god of air/wind.
Thought of as the soul & to
have created
world.
*Worshipped at Thebes,

149. • Osiris: god growing
things, after life & rebirth.
• Marries sister Isis
• Killed by Seth (tricked into a chest,
then cut up. Isis puts him back puts him
back together. (pharaoh in death)

150. • Isis: goddess of women &
kids. Married to Osiris
• Set(h); God of
chaos. Brother
of Isis & Osiris.
“kills” Osiris.
Battles Horus.

152. • Horus: sky god, god of war,
god to protect against evil.
• Was son of Ra,
by MK, son of Isis
& Osiris.
*His sons protect
canopic jars

153. Eye of Horus
A picture of the eye of god Horus .
A symbol of protection and truth.
S Westwood 2010

155. Major Contributions!
• Medicine: Surgery,dentistry,
setting bones, medicines
(Surgical tools such as knives, hooks, drills,
forceps & pinchers,
scales,spoons, saws)

156. • Land surveying: to build
pyramids & to tax accurately
• Papyrus: made paper.
(stalk of papyrus
reed on Nile (split
into strips, placed
crosswise, dampened,
pressed. Glued
together as it dried)

157. • Large scale irrigation: Nile
• Ship-building: learned how
to build out of wood planks
& create sails

158. • Calendar: 365 day calendar
w/ 12 months.
(30 days per
month, 10
days in week,
5 remaining
were feast
days)

159. • Math: 1 stroke for 1,2 of
2, etc. No zero
• Engineering: square & right
angles, calculate area

160. • Public administration: army
of scribes track
data, history, etc to make
predictions harvest,
tax yield & allot to
govt projects

162. More Major Contributions
• Hieroglyphs: alphabet of 24
sings. Represent consonants
(vowels have no sign)

163. Don’t Write!!!
• Stacked, not left to right.
• Visually hieroglyphs are mostly
figurative: represent real or illusional
elements, sometimes stylized &
simplified, but all generally
recognizable in form. However, the
same sign can, according to context,
be interpreted in diverse ways

167. Senet
A race game played in
Ancient Egypt. The
original rules are still
unknown though boards
and playing pieces have
been found.
S Westwood 2010

168. scarab
Sacred Egyptian symbol of
a beetle. It was a protector
of written products
S Westwood 2010

169. cartouche
The name of a pharaoh in
hieroglyphs surrounded by an oval
band.
S Westwood 2010

170. ankh of
A symbol
„eternal life
S Westwood 2010

171. sarcophagus
a stone coffin
S Westwood 2010

172. Thebes
An important city on the Nile.
S Westwood 2010

173. Valley of the Kings
.
The valley on the west bank of the Nile
at Luxor with ancient tombs that once
contained mummies and valuables
S Westwood 2010