The Nile Valley

Egypts Old Kingdom

The Egyptian Empire
The Civilization of Kush

Location

The Nile River Valley

Egyptians relied on it for

drinking water, irrigation,
cooking, cleaning,
transportation, fish
4,000 miles The Worlds
Longest River!
Large ships can only travel on
the last 650 miles because of
crazy rapids called cataracts

Geography

Deserts
West of the Nile is the Saharan Desert
East of the Nile is the Eastern Desert

Protection
Deserts, the marsh land of the delta & cataracts
provided Ancient Egypt with natural barriers to
fend off enemies!
Waterways
The Nile, the Mediterranean, & the Red Sea

The River People

Regular flooding means less

worrying about crops!

Floods left behind fertile mud

that looked black
Kemet = Black Land
Irrigation meant healthy crops
of wheat, barley, & flax seed

Papyrus

Made from a reed plant

Used to make baskets, sandals, river rafts, paper

Hieroglyphics

Complex writing system; had picture & sound symbols

Cartouche Project

Cartouche Project: Print out the blank cartouche and make a

copy for each student.
Have the students take the cartouche home and make the
paper look old. They could do this several ways (the best is
to place the cartouche paper in a deep pan, pour coffee or
dark tea over it, then bake it in the oven for a few minutes).
Have the students bring the cartouche back to class and
then they can write their name on it in hieroglyphics.
They can also add some Egyptian pictures and color it with
earth tones.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Today, I will learn about

when Egypt united under one
ruler. I will learn about
dynasties, the social class
structure of Ancient Egypt,
and Egyptian life.

Upper & Lower Egypt

Villages grew into kingdoms

Strong kingdoms took over weak kingdoms.
Eventually, there were 2 large kingdoms:
Lower Egypt the Nile delta
Upper Egypt upriver; to the south

Their names may seem backwardsbut its called Upper

and Lower because of their elevationnot because they
are North or South.

WaitUpper Egypt is south & Lower Egypt is North?!

Upper Egypt- is
higher in elevation

Lower Egypt (the

river delta is lower in
elevation)

A United Egypt

~ 3100 B.C., Egypts 2 major kingdoms were combined

into 1thanks, King Narmer (aka Menes MEE-neez)
Capital at that time was in Memphis

Narmers dynasty lasted long after his death

dynasty = a line of rulers from one family
Ancient Egypt had 31 dynasties

Assignment
Section 1 Review:

On a piece of headed paper:

Complete # 1-7 on page 46. Do
your BEST work!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Today, I will learn that Egypt was ruled

by all-powerful pharaohs, that the
Egyptians believed in many gods and
goddesses & in life after death for the
pharaohs. The Egyptians of the Old
Kingdom built huge stone pyramids as
tombs for their pharaohs.

Section 1 Review Answers

1. It is a reed plant that was used to make baskets, sandals, river

rafts, and paper.
2. Women could own and pass on property, buy & sell goods, make
wills, obtain divorces, and take part in religious ceremonies.
3. Farming, Crafts, Trade led to the growth of government in
Ancient Egypt.
4. The Nile River valley had natural barriers for protection, enriched
soil for farming, & the river and seas for trade.
5. Picture symbols (hieroglyphics) stood for objects, ideas & sounds.
6. It symbolized the unity of Upper & Lower Egypt.
7. Answers will vary.

Quiz 2-1 The Nile Valley

Write the word and the definition for: hieroglyphics, dynasty, papyrus,
cataract, delta
1. The Nile River the longest river in the world is
____________ miles long.
2. The Egyptians took advantage of the Niles yearly spring
flooding by becoming successful ___________.
3. After 3100 B.C, Egypts government was a __________.
4. A diagram of Egypts social classes looks like a _________.
5. Two ways Mesopotamia & Egypt are the same are:
_____________ & _______________.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Today, I will continue to learn about

Egypts Old Kingdom. I will review what
we learned on Wednesday about
pharaohs & their religion. I will then take
notes & read about their beliefs in life
after death, the pyramids, and the Great
Pyramid in particular.

Egypts Old Kingdom

2600 B.C. 2300 B.C

Egypt grew & became wealthy

Built cities
Expanded trade
Kings set up a strong government

Pharaohs

Powerful ruler, unlimited

power

Appointed officials to do
their work
People believed the
pharaoh was the son of Re
(the sun god)

Egypts Religion

Polytheism many gods or deities

Major gods
Re the sun god
Hapi goddess of the Nile

Isis represented loyal wife & mother; Osiriss

wife; goddess of the dead
Osiris Isiss husband; god of the dead

Life after Death

The Book of the Dead collection of spells & prayers

that Egyptians studied to obtain life after death
Osiris would meet them upon death & they would have
to say the spells to have life after death
Wanted bodies to be preserved for afterlife
(embalmed mummies)

Embalming = a process to preserve dead bodies

The Pyramids

Mountain-like tombs for pharaohs

Built by slaves & farmers during Nile floods
Entrance faced North

Egyptian Inventions

First specialists in medicine

365-day calendar with 12
months
Math
- numbers based on 10
- fractions
- advances in geometry

The Great Pyramid

Built in 2540 B.C

Largest & grandest of all the

pyramids

Built for King Khufu

In Giza on the west bank of the
Nile

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Turn in your green folder.

Make sure you have all your stuff!
Sharpen your pencil (the
sharpener is back in action)!
Sit quietly and wait for WCMS.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Today, I will read about and discuss

Ancient Egypts Middle & New
Kingdom. I will learn about important
Egyptian people like Queen
Hatshepsut, Akhenaton,
Tutankhamen, and Ramses II.

Jigsaw Reading

Each person will read a section. You will have

15minutes.
You will have 20 minutes to discuss as a group & take
notes on what you all think are the most important things
to know about this section.
Red The Middle Kingdom
Green The New Kingdom
Yellow The Legacies of 2 Pharaohs
Blue The End of the New Kingdom

p. 60
p. 61
p.64
p.65

The Middle Kingdom

2050 B.C.E 1670 C.E

Everything was good: stable, became more
rich, and powerful
Capital moved from Memphis to Thebes
Nobles started fighting for power, got
distracted & wham!...
the Hyksos attacked & ruled Egypt for
120 years!

The New Kingdom

Lasted from 1550 B.C.E 1080 C.E

Height of Egypts glory
Ahmose (Egyptian Princehow dreamy!) drove out the
Hyksos
Queen Hatshepsut - 1st Woman Pharaohsweet!
interested in trade (economy), not war (conquests).

ruled for 21 years & it was peaceful.

Thutmose III put the focus back on conquest

Ahmose

Hatshepsut

Thutmose III

The Legacies of 2 Pharaohs

Akhenaton tried to change the

religionwowthat must have
REALLY upset a lot of people! He
was so focused on his new religion,
enemies came and took a bunch of their
land!
Tutankhamen (his son-in-law) was 10
when he became king. Thats younger
than yallyikes! Ruled for 9 years and
died mysteriously.
King Tut didnt really do much, but his
tomb was discovered un-looted, so all the
good stuff was still in there. Cool!

The End of the New Kingdom

Pharaohs tried to get Egypt back on its feet.

Ramses II did a good job of this.
He helped regain lands, rebuilt the empire, built a
lot of new temples (they were banks too).
Whaaaat?! He had many wives and more than 100
kids!
Here we go againthe Egyptian empire fell
because another group had better weapons! Poor
Egypt. They didnt have any iron ore.

Ohhhh, yeaaah!...

Remember how the Assyrians were the 1st empire &

they had iron weapons that they had learned to make
from the Hittites? You gotta have good weapons to
have an empire.
Remember how when people start fighting for power,
they get so distracted that another group is waiting on
the sidelines ready to attack while no one is looking?
This happens a lot in history