Topic 3 - Egypt

Mrs Ahrens World History I (unfinished, needs img)

Amon-Ra

The sun god of Upper and Lower Egypt

Bastet

Goddess who protects Amon-Ra from Apophis (or Chaos). She is part cat, part lioness

Ma'at

The Feather of Truth, this goddess protects justice and keeps things in balance

Aten

Not the sun, but the sun's disk

Thoth

The god of learning and thought, patron of scribes

Tawaret

(The Great One)
Takes care of pregnant women. Protected Horus when he was a baby while Isis went to find Osiris.

Anubis

Dad is Osiris, Mom is Nepthys. Jackal headed god in charge of mummifying the dead properly.

Horus

Hawk-eyed avenger married to a cow. Son of Osiris and Isis. Fought his uncle Set. He's got his EYE on you!

Geb

God of the Earth; husband of Nut; one of the first Beings of Creation.

Nut

Goddess of the sky and heavens

Shu

God of atmosphere and dry winds

Tefnut

Goddess of Rain (created by Atum's clearing his throat)- Lioness's Head

Isis

Egyptian goddess of fertility. Beloved wife of Osiris. Searched high and low for his body, TWICE. Mummified his body parts.

Osiris

Egyptian god of the underworld and judge of the dead. Beloved husband of Isis. First to be mummified.

Seth

Jealous brother of Osiris and Isis. Murdered Osiris. TWICE. Fought Horus for control of Egypt.

Nephthys

Termed the "lady of the castle," for her role as guardian of the tomb, Isis' sister, she was also said to be Osiris' mistress and mother of Anubis

Narmer-Menes

1st pharaoh of Egypt, unites upper and lower Egypt with crown. His Palette shows unification by having both crowns

Pharaoh Djoser

Ordered his vizier Imhotep to buid the stepped pyramid from stacked mastabas

Vizier Imhotep

Genius who designed the first pyramid in the world, the Stepped Pyramid of Saqqara, for Pharaoh Djoser.

Stepped Pyramid of Saqqara

First pyramid in the world -built by Imhotep for Djoser

Khufu

Pharaoh who had built the Great Pyramid of Giza, the largest Pyramid in the world

Pyramid building

Twenty year project that was very expensive and very complex. Paid for with onerous taxes on product and labor.

1st intermediate period

2300CE, people of Egypt rebelled because pyramid building demanded too much- money, natural resources, people's time

Middle Kingdom of Egypt

Pharoahs stopped building pyramids and instead built drained & irrigated the Delta, and built canals between Nile and Red Sea. This focus on public works/infrastructure enriched Egypt and her people.

2nd intermediate period

HYKSOS INVADE and rule for 150 years, nothing changed because they like the Egypt lifestyle. They had better weapons.

New Kingdom

Incredibly powerful pharoahs who ousted the Hyksos and built obelisks, school, temples, tombs. Included Ahmose, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ramses the Great.

Ahmose

Upper Egypt pharoah who threw out the Hyksos and reunited Upper and Lower Egypt for the first time in 150 years.

Thutmose I

Non-royal pharaoh and father of Thutmose II & Hatshepsut by different wives.

Thutmose II

Non-royal pharaoh and husband/half brother of Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut

Only female pharaoh, took power in place of her nephew/step-son when her brother/husband Thutmose II dies.

Thutmose III

Nephew/step-son of Pharaoh Hatshepsut who tried to tried to rid every memory of her rule after she died

Nefer

Part of an Egyptian name, it means "beauty"
Ka-nefer-nefer
Nefertiti
Nefertari
Maathorneferure

Akhenaten

Tries to limit worship in all of Egypt to just the sun's disk god, Aten, (monotheism) and gives a lot of power to Nefertiti. Father to Tut and Anaksenamun

Tutankamen

Pharoah whose tomb in the Valley of the Kings is one of the only tombs found intact (not robbed), husband to Anaksenamun

Anaksenamun

Daughter of Nefertiti and Akhenaten. Married to her father Akhenaten, then her brother Tut and finally her grandfather Ay.

Why monotheism by Akhenaten?

The priests of Amun-Ra were even more powerful than the pharaohs so removing Amun-Ra removed the priests rendering them powerless.

Ramses II

Pharoah who ruled for 70 years in the 1200s. Emphasis on military power, famous treaty with Hittites, mortuary temples

Abu Simbel

Worship temple for Ramses placed specifically so that twice a year Ramses and three god faces sitting inside the temple would get lit up (except god of the underworld). Had to be moved onto higher ground and have a mountain built around it bc it was in flood plain

Ramesseum

Ramses' mortuary temple complete with a scribe school because it assured that he would always be worshipped

Nefertari

Ramses favorite wife, had a matching (smaller) mortuary temple.

Why are Egypt and Nubia considered frenemies?

Nubia needed crops and wheat from Egypt and Egypt needed gold from Nubia

Opposite geography of Nubia and Egypt

Nubia was very rocky and had gold in the hills,
Egypt was very fertile thanks to the Nile floods and produced wheat and lots of other food.

Medjai (medjay)

Nubians who guarded the tombs of the Pharaohs in the VOK

meriotic

Nubia's written language, still undeciphered

Why Nubia had 3 capitals over time.

Kerma, Napata, Meroë- kept moving farther up the Nile away from Egypt because each capital was too close to the enemy as Egypt expanded

Cultural Diffusion

Nubia copied Egypt -their kings dressed as pharaohs and built tiny pyramids

Egyptian writing system

Hieroglyphics

Isis, Osiris and Horus myth

Seth kills Osiris b/c of jealousy and puts him in a box which lands in a tree and grows into it. Tree gets moved to Tyre (Phoencia) and Isis get it back. Seth kills Osiris again and spreads body parts. Isis finds the body parts and puts them together in the world's 1st mummy. Horus avenges Osiris by fighting his uncle Seth for control of Egypt.

feather of truth test

They would weigh their hearts compared to a feather. If they were lighter they would be saved, if it was heavier, they would go to the underworld

mummification

canopic jars held your guts, spread with salt and then herbs and oils, wrapped in linen

tomb decorations

They were filled with a lot of gold and jewelry- everything the person would need for the afterlife

Egyptian soul

Ba

negative confession

"I have NOT..."

Nubian pharaohs

Copies Egypt with same fake beard, jewelry, crown, eye makeup, but not same skin color

Upper Egypt capital

Thebes

Lower Egypt capital

Memphis

Valley of Salt

Wadi Natron

Natural Borders of Egypt

Cataract, Mediterranean, Eastern and Western deserts

City of Aten

Akhetaten (Amarna)

Canopic Jars (sons of Horus)

Containers in which the ancient Egyptians preserved the internal organs of a deceased person usually for burial with the mummy

sarcophagus

coffin in Egypt

Nile Delta

The most fertile area of land in Egypt located end of the Nile River where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea

Valley of the Kings

An area were many tombs where built after the great pyramids because it allowed for easier guarding and less grave robbery.

Book of the Dead

Collection of religious spells which were thought to be helpful to the deceased in the afterlife.

Herodotus

Greek Historian, considered the father of History. He came from a Greek community in Anatolia and traveled extensively, collecting information in western Asia and the Mediterranean lands.

Dua-Khety

Wrote Satire of the Trades -a letter to his son Pepy encouraging him to stay in school -become a scribe and thus avoid entering the trades (HARD work)

scribe

A professional writer who works for those with money, power and position.

royal blood

Believed to be elite, containing special properties that commoners' blood did not have, thus enabling royal descendants to control aspects of nature that common people could not.

Ta-Seti

Name of Nubia that means Land of the Bow (Archers) and refers to the excellence of the Archers of Nubia and their ability to win wars by shooting at their enemies with bow and arrow.

Augustus Caesar (Octavian)

Enemy of the Nubia Kandake, Amirenas. He was the founder of the Roman Empire and its FIRST Roman Emperor. Part of a statue of him was the footrest of Amirenas' throne. Also enemy of Cleopatra

Palermo Stone

A fragment of the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom, ca. 2300 BCE, a record of military campaigns by Egypt against Nubia. Egyptian artifact held hostage in Palermo, Italy.

Kerma, 2400BCE

1st Kingdom of Kush capital, created when the more powerful Nubian villages gradually took over the weaker ones

Hyksos alliance with Nubia, 1700BCE

Agreement between them to attack Upper Egypt and defeat the forces of Kamose (last Pharaoh of 17th Dynasty)

Nubian alliance with Phoenicia and Judah, 700s BCE

Agreement between them to defend against expanding Assyrians (Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and finally Ashurbanipal). Led by Taharqa of Kush

Jebel Barkal

A city built to worship Amun, site of Nubian pillars that have the history of the Napatan period of Nubian/Kush history inscribed on them in hieroglyphics. Beautiful temple built during the age of the Black (Nubian/Kush) Pharaohs, modeled after the temples at Abu Simbel, and is the burial site of Piye and Shabaka. 700s BCE

Taharqa

A Kushite king he was one of the most powerful leaders in history. His Kushite kingdom grew to include Egypt and prospered under his reign. He built many large temples in and around Egypt and Kush. Driven out of Egypt by the conquering Assyrians under King Esarhaddon, but returned to reclaim Egypt until he was later defeated by the next Assyrian king, Assurbanipal. 600s BCE

Alara, King of Kush

Very first King of Kush (Nubia)

Kashta

Kushite king who attacked Egypt. Made the Kushite Kingdom into an Empire by conquering Upper Egypt and capturing Thebes. Father of High Priestess Amenirdis I. Founder of 25th Dynasty of Egypt.

Amenirdis I

Nubian princess, daughter of King Kashta, she became High Priestess in newly conquered Thebes. She was called "God's Wife of Amun". Super powerful

Piye

King of Kush around 750 B.C., who gained control of all of Egypt, becoming pharaoh and uniting Egypt with Kush. Got the Delta princes of Egypt to promise allegiance with Kush.

Shabaka

Piye and Amenirdis' brother. Pharaoh over Kush and Egypt. Avenged his brother Piye, by punishing the rebel Egyptian princes from the Delta region.

Meroe

Capital of a flourishing kingdom in southern Nubia from the 4th century B.C.E. to the 4th century C.E.. In this period Nubian culture shows more independence from Egypt and the influence of Sub-Saharan Africa. Known for its manufacture of iron weapons and tools.

kandake

Sister of the current king ("Qore" in Kush), she would be the mother of the next king/Qore. This is matrilineal succession. Often a very powerful female leader who ruled alongside her husband and/or her son. We use the name Candace for our daughters because it means QUEEN.

Powerful Nubian Kandakes:

Shanakdakhete, 177-155BC; Amanirenas, 40-10BC; Amanishakheto, 10BC-1AD; Amanitore, 1-20AD; Amantitere, 22-41AD [*might be the Kandake of reference in the book of Acts]; Amanikhatashan, 62-85AD; Maleqorobar, 266-283AD; Lahideamani 306-314AD.

Amanirenas, 40-10BCE

Most famous kandake of Kush because of her role leading Kushite armies against the Romans in a war that lasted five years, from 27 BC to 22 BC. After an initial victory when the Kushites attacked Roman Egypt and sacked Thebes, the Kushites were driven out of Egypt by the Romans and forced Amanirenas to make a treaty restoring the prior status quo. She was described as a tremendous warrior and leader, very brave, and blind in one eye!

Aksum (Axum)

Early African civilization located southeast of Nubia (in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan); oldest Christian empire in the world; traded goods such as ivory, emeralds, tortoise shells, silk, and spices with India, China, Rome, and Byzantium. Remained Christian even during Muslim expansion.

Lalibela, Ethiopia

Major Christian center of early Ethiopia. Key church in this city is made of one single rock. 11 rock-hewn churches connected by rock tunnels, near the Great Rift Valley still exist today.

Queen of Sheba

The queen of a wealthy country (Aksum/Ethiopia) who came to test Solomon's wisdom. Their son, Menelik, returned to Sheba (Aksum/Ethiopia) with the Ark of the Covenant.

Kebra Nagast

Work of sacred literature written in the Ge'ez language in the 1300s AD that documents Menelik and his successors in the Solomonic Ethiopian ruling dynasty. Considered historically reliable. Followed by Ethiopian Christians and Jamaican Rastafarians.

King Ezana of Axum

He brought Christianity to Africa and made it the official religion of Axum. 300s AD

Trade with Axum

Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, China, India, Persia, Egypt and Nubia

Frumentius

This man and his brother were captives in Aksum and became the tutors of King Ezana, eventually converting Ezana and all of Aksum to Christianity in 333AD (32 years after Armenia, 47 years before Rome)

Athanasius of Alexandria

(d. AD 373) Bishop/Patriarch of the Church in Alexandria, Egypt. Responsible for the Christian community in North Africa. \#2 Patriarch after Patriarch in Rome (Pope)

Ezana Stele

Standing stele (hawulti/obelisk) from Axum carved from a block of granite, marks the tomb of King Ezana, the 1st Christian leader of Aksum.

Ezana Stone

The Ezana Stone documents the conversion of King Ezana to Christianity and his conquest of various neighboring areas, including Meroë, commemorating his victories in praise of God. Written in various ancient languages, including the Ethiopian Semitic Ge'ez, the South Arabian Sabaean, and Greek, the king's engravings in stone provided a trilingual monument in different languages, similar to the Rosetta Stone.

Deir al Bahri, Egypt

Queen Hatshepsut's mortuary temple in the Valley of the Kings

Aswan, Egypt

Trade city in Upper Egypt at the 1st Cataract. The name means TRADE.

Narmer

Egyptian King who is believed to have brought 2 Egyptian Kingdoms together.

Double Crown of Egypt

the crown of unification that combined the white Ibis crown of Upper Egypt with the red Asp crown of Lower Egypt.