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Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt. Rule of the God King. Nile River. 4000 miles long Central Africa north to Mediterranean Sea Desert Reliable Flooding in June, receding in October Convenient for agriculture Deposited fertile soil Excellent Communication and Transportation River flows north

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Ancient Egypt

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  1. Ancient Egypt Rule of the God King

  2. Nile River • 4000 miles long • Central Africa north to Mediterranean Sea • Desert • Reliable • Flooding in June, receding in October • Convenient for agriculture • Deposited fertile soil • Excellent Communication and Transportation • River flows north • Winds blow south

  3. Egypt • Geographically isolated • Deserts – east and west • Marsh – Southern Sudan • Shallows – Mediterranean Sea

  4. Old Kingdom (2700 – 2181 BCE) • Blessed by gods • Regular and fertile flooding • Assumed order, didn’t legislate it • King • Living god • Political and religious unity = stability • Ma’at – proper behavior brought prosperity • Ptah-hotep (2450 BCE) • Pharaoh – “great house”

  5. Old Kingdom (2700 – 2181 BCE) • Prosperity and peace • Abundance of crops • Farming methods • Irrigation • Mineral resources • Copper • Trade • Mediterranean Sea • Nubia • Gold, ivory, gems, aromatics • Middle East • Textiles, wood

  6. Family Life “If you are prosperous you should establish a household and love your wife as is fitting…Make her heart glad as long as you live.” – Ptah-hotep

  7. Family Life • Loving family • Husband and wife side-by-side • Implies gender equality • Couple embracing • Smiling • Children below

  8. Religion • Ra • Sun • Amun • The Hidden One • Khepri • Movement of the Sun • Set • Chaos

  9. Religion • Geb • Earth • Nut • Sky

  10. Religion • Isis • Magic, motherhood, and fertility • Osiris • Nile and the afterlife • Anubis • Judgement

  11. Hieroglyphs • “Sacred writing” • Used for religious or magical power • Represents real or mythical object and its power • Types of characters: • Pictogram – object • Ideogram – abstract idea • Phonogram – speech sounds • Didn’t change much over time

  12. Other Writing • Hieratic • “Cursive” hieroglyphs • Still looked very similar to hieroglyphs • Demotic • Day-to-day writing • Lost many pictographic elements • Papyrus • Paper-like material

  13. Pyramids • Proof of excess, greatness • Saqqara • First pyramid • Pharaoh Djoser • Step pyramid • Designed by Imhotep (2650 BCE) • Similar to ziggurat • Made of cut stone, not mud brick • “Stairway to heaven”

  14. Pyramids • Great Pyramid at Giza • Pharaoh Khufu (2590 BCE) • 13 acres • More than 2 million blocks • 20 years to construct • 100,000 laborers

  15. Pyramids • Tombs • Houses for departed spirits • Same food and goods as in life • Immortality  Afterlife • Improved version of living world • Happy Field of Food

  16. Afterlife “Death is before me today Like a man’s longing to see his home When he has spend many years in captivity” --Ancient Egyptian Poem

  17. Sphinx • Pharaoh Khafra (2500 BCE) • Largest monolithic sculpture • Carved from bedrock

  18. Riddle of the Sphinx "A thing there is whose voice is one;Whose feet are four and two and three.So mutable a thing is noneThat moves in earth or sky or sea.When on most feet this thing doth go,Its strength is weakest and its pace most slow."

  19. First Intermediate Period(2181 – 2140 BCE) • Climate change • Drought in Nubia • Low floods in Egypt • Pepi II (2270 – 2180 BCE) • Strong ruler • Ruled 90 years • Average life expectancy: 40 years • Grew weak in later years • Authority broke down, couldn’t maintain ma’at • Series of short reigns/ineffective kings

  20. First Intermediate Period(2181 – 2140 BCE) “Everything is filthy: there is no such thing as clean linen these days. The dead are thrown into the river… The ladies of the nobility exclaim: ‘If only we had something to eat!’ They are forced to prostitute their daughters. They are reduced to sleeping with men who were once too badly off to take a woman.” -- Ancient Egyptian

  21. Middle Kingdom(2060 – 1650 BCE) • Amenemhat I of Thebes • Restored peace to Nile Valley • “None was hungry in my years, none thirsted then; men dwelled in peace.” • Conquered Nubia • Lots of gold • Brought sub-Saharan Africa into contact with Mediterranean world • Integrated African goods and elements into Egyptian culture • Engineering projects • 17,000 acres of new irrigated land • Exapanded trade with Middle East

  22. Second Intermediate Period(1650 – 1570 BCE) • Nubian revolt • Broke away from Egyptian control • Took all their gold with them • Invasion of the Hyksos • Settled in Nile Delta • New warfare technology • Bronze weapons • Chariots • Body armor

  23. New Kingdom (1570 – 1085 BCE) • Egyptians adopted Hyksos military technology • Overthrew the Hyksos • No longer relied on geographic isolation • Foreign wars established Egyptian Empire

  24. New Kingdom(1570 – 1085 BCE) • Hatshepsut (1504 – 1482 BCE) • Female pharaoh • Diplomat, not warmonger • Focused on trade, rebuilding kingdom

  25. New Kingdom(1570 – 1085 BCE) • Amenhotep IV (r. 1377 – 1360 BCE) • Priests becoming as powerful as pharaohs • Consolidated gods into single god: • Aten: the sun-disk • Changed his name to Akhenaten • “follower of Aten” • Known as “the Criminal”

  26. New Kingdom(1570 – 1085 BCE) • Tutankhamen (r. 1347 – 1338 BCE) • Renounced his father’s religious views • Began to restore the old gods • Died at age 18

  27. New Kingdom(1570 – 1085 BCE) • Ramses II (1279 – 1213 BCE) • Reestablished imperial frontiers in Syria • Restored peace under traditional gods • Negotiated treaty with Hittites • First recorded non-aggression pact • Built many temples and monuments to glorify himself

  28. “Ozymandias”Percy Bysshe Shelley I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,Tell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:And on the pedestal these words appear:'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'Nothing beside remains. Round the decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away."

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