egypt

(CHAP 2) EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION LASTS 3,000 YEARS

Blue means war 

  • Egyptians depended on the nile river

    • Egypt has been called the gift of the nile 

    • Nile; from central africa flows north for 4,000 miles till the mediterranean sea 

    • Heavy spring and summer rain causes the river  to overflow regularly every july

    • Silt carried by the river gradually built up a marshy, triangular delta at its mouth.

    • Rivers Protected people from foreign attacks 

    • Excellent transportation route

      • Building of canals and reservoirs required lots of people 

        •  Needed to organize plans for new technology and irrigation

    • Nile river: 6650km/ 4132miles

    • Passes 11 countries; How long does flooding take: July- (3-4months) 


  • EGYPTIANS BELIEFS 

    • Believed in many gods that controlled nature 

    • POLYTHEISM 

  • EGYPTIAN BELIEF OF LIFE AFTER DEATH

    • Connecting life and death as the rising and setting of the sun and with yearly floods

      • OSIRIS: ruler of nile and rich harvest, ruled other world

      • ISIS: wife, revived osiris  

    •  When they died their soul would be weighed by a feather symbolizing the law

  • UNITED RULER; TWO KINGDOMS (3100 bc)  

    • TWO KINGDOMS: upper(higher in land height) and lower egypt 

    • King MENES conquered[ upper egypt] 

      • Conquered lower egypt

      • First dynasty 

    •  Under his rule built the city of MEMPHIS as his capital

  • DYNASTY’S

    • At least 30 ; each one ruled until overthrown or had no heirs left(each dynasty lasts for 100 years) 

    • Strong dynasty kept the country united under one kingdom 

  • THREE PERIODS OF DYNSATY

    • Old Kingdom (~2686-2181 bc)

    • Middle Kingdom (~2040-1786 bc)

    • New kingdom (~1570- 1090 bc) 

  • POWERFUL RULERS

    • Strong set up of menes became basis for old kingdom, this period established strong centralized government which held supreme power

    • PHARAOH; more than a king but one with the gods 

  • RESPONSIBILITIES OF PHARAOHS.

    • All aspects of life; keeping irrigation, directing army, peace and order, 

    • Controlled trade and economy

    • Tax collection(paid thru grains) and feeding of people in case of famine

    • Mines, quarries, trading fleets 

    • Foreign traders had to deal with royals not merchants 

    • Appointed officials to supervise; 

      • CHIEF OVERSEER(imy-RA); acting in name of pharaoh- presided over royal court, acted as diplomat, tax collector, public works 

      • Powerful officials became upper class nobles

  • OLD KINGDOM PYRAMIDS 

    • Built as their tombs ; built of solid stone and huge limestone (2m limestones, 2 tons each) from mountains 

    • Many built in this period- also called the PYRAMID AGE 

    • “The great pyramid” one of three that still stands in the west bank of the nile near giza. Built around 2600 bc for pharaoh khufu. 450 ft high, over 2m lime stones

    • All built towards the west as that is where the sun sets, and a setting sun meant death

    • Must be buried within 70 days, first order of pharaoahs was to build a pyramid 

    • Designed that way (theory) as a pointer to the sky (orions belt) 


(biggest)Pyramid of Khufu= 23 years 

Pyramid of Kahfre

Pyramid of Menkaure 


  • OLD KINGDOM DECLINES(2686-2181 BCE) 3rd-6th dynasty 

    • Pharaoh- royal house

    • Royal power reached its height during the pyramid age of building

    • Nobles gained more authority over the government, those who ruled distant parts challenged the pharaoh.

    • Egypt torn to civil war for over 200 yrs(7th-10th dynasty) 

    • No slaves yet 

  • MIDDLE KINGDOM(11th-14th dynasty) (2040-1786 BCE) 

    •  Restores prosperity 2040bc under rule of THEBE.

    • Culture and trade flourished for 250 years 

      • Pharaohs sent expeditions into NUBIA to bring back gold   

      • Trading w/ palestine, syria, and island of crete in mediterranean

    • Power of nobles and priests weakened pharaohs 

      • Kingdom declined in the late 1700 bc; power of nobles and priests weakened the pharaos rule 

      •   Invaders from asia moved to delta region( so civil war did not happen) 

  • FOREIGN DYNASTY RULES EGYPT 

    • HYKSOS[ Princes from foreign lands] had horses, war chariots,iron, bronze swords and daggers and heavy bows. Superior weapons helped established their rule in 1670 bc

    • Under their rule for 100 years then Egyptians learned to make their weapons and regained power.

  • NEW KINGDOM( 500 years) (18th-20th dynasty) (1570-1090 bce)

    •  Overthrowing hyksos in 1570 bc established a new kingdom and expanded. 

    • Aggressive pharaohs built empires and conquered lands eastwards towards the Euphrates River and southward africa. Called EMPIRE AGE 

      • Demanded that the conquered payed tribute ( slaves, food products, jewelry/ treasures, gold, ivory) 

      • Eastward to Euphrates river, africa southward  

      • Tribute meant they recognized the egypts superiority


PHARAOHS 

  1. AHMOSE I ( C.1549-1524 BCE) 

  2. AMENHOTEP I 

  3. THUTMOSE I (1526- 1513 BCE) 

  4. THUTMOSE II 

  5. HATSHEPSUT (co-regent) 

  6. THUTMOSE III

  7. Akhenaton

  8. Nefertiti 

  9. Tutankhamun (C. 1334- 1325 BCE) ruled at the age of 9, died at 18(marriage at 12) . only unearthed at 1922; valley of kings 

  10. Ay 

  11. Ramesses II  

  • OUTSTANDING PHAROAHS DURING NEW KINGDOM (500YRS)

    • Thutmose II[15120 bc]; added nubia, conquered syria and palestine 

    • Hatshepsut(wife of previous) ; daughter of earlier Pharoah. When her husband died she seized power ruled for 20 yrs. Did not seek military victories but built temples and sent out expeditions 

    • Thutmose III ruled after his mother died, ruled for 30 years; strong warrior king, expanded the empire along euphrates. 

      • Tribute demanded at his conquests was to decorate the temples of egypt   


 Akhenaton 

  •  Akhenaton Tried to change egyptian religious beliefs. 

    • [ 1300 bc ]Pharaoh Amenhotep IV tried to introduce the power of priests in the government. Tried to convince  people instead of worshiping many gods to worship only a single supreme god (aton) who was god of the son.

    •   Amenhotep took the name Akhenaton; meaning it is well with aton. He spoke of aten as the creat0r of the universe. His religion recognized two gods; aton and pharaoh himself. 

    • Died in 1360 bc only had a few followers and was succeeded by his son Tutankhamen . his monuments and religion were destroyed.

  • RAMESES MAINTAINS EMPIRE

    • [1304-1237 bc ] Rameses II one of the last few effective leaders

    • Hittite warriors from Asia Minor were making inroads in the eastern part of egypt. Fought for 20 years before peace

    • His marriage to the daughter of  Hittite king helped

    •  Rameses statues in the temple of Abu Simbel carved in a rock cliff 65 ft high


  • EGYPTIAN Civilization declines 

    • Pharaohs powers weakened. Invasion threatened the experience. [12oobc] 

    • Libyans from the desert to the west invaded the fertile valley of nile 

    • Sea people from Asia Minor and island of mediterranean and aegean attacked the coast 

    • Egypt under the rule of; Kushites from the south, Assyrians, Persians 

    • Empires came back to power not until alexander the great in fourth century bc

  • EGYPTIAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE 


Pharaoh 

Government officials, nobles priests 

Soldiers

Scribes

Merchants

Craftsman / artisans 

Farmers

Slaves/ prisoners  


  • Left written records; early in old kingdom pharaohs kept written records of their reigns.

  • Egyptian writing figure; hieroglyphics; greek term sacred carving. A picture stood for an idea, in time system changed so that pictures stood for sounds as well as ideas( e.g owl meant the sound ‘m’, hieroglyphics could almost be like an alphabet) 

  • Also wrote on paper scrolls made from reedlike plant called papyrus 

  • DECIPHER hieroglyphics

    •   [ a.d 1799] French Engineers working in the Nile delta dug up stone tablet ‘ROSETTA STONE’ carved in 196bc. Three languages; hieroglyphics, egyptian and greek. 

    • French scholar jean francois champollion guessed correctly all three languages meant same things 

  • SCRIBES

    • Kept records that made the government orderly and efficient.

    • Worked in temples; aside from political records they also wrote down religious content and art(poems) 

    •  Took years of training, they were always in demand; began at age 5 and lasted 12  years. 

    • Lived in households of high officials

  • SKILLED ARTISANS 

    • Produced goods used in trade; furniture, glassware, baskets, jewelry . The more skilled the more they were paid  

  • PRIESTS AND NOBLES HAVE WEALTH AND POWER

    • Priests and nobles equal in high society 

    • Advised pharaohs and planned and directed religious activite s

  • MOST PEOPLE ARE COMMONERS

    • Egypt depended labor from a thousand men and women.

    • Peasant men and women; worked in fields, grew crops/harvest, herded animals, grew cotton/flax

  • PRISONERS BECAME SLAVES

    •  Labor of slaves helped maintain society

    • Enslaved conquered people

  • WOMEN HAD RIGHTS

    • inherit,Sell and own land, Respected, Could divorce, Could influence rulers

  • DEVELOPED MEDS AND ASTRONOMY

    • Papyrus scrolls provided evidence for their knowledge of medicine; doctors were court physicians  

    • Study on stars for farming and rituals

    • Noted that nile was flooded annually as the star sirius was seen in the sky, created a calendar based on the sun and contained 365 days. 

  • Architects nad engineered developed new technology

    • Skills in building massive temples, palaces and tombs 

    • Engineers used geometry to survey the map on land, plan buildings and irrigation

    • Architects First to use stone columns in  building homes 

  • Tombs as homes for the dead 

    • Saw death as a continuation of life 

    • Had meticulous burial costumes for  burying and preserving the dead 

    • Book of the dead: set of scrolls on embalming procedures

  • British archeologist: Howard Carter 

    • Tomb of Tutankhamen; unrobbed and filled with riches and hieroglyphics

    • King Tut’s tomb