The document summarizes various aspects of ancient Egyptian religion, culture, and society. It discusses their beliefs about the afterlife, which involved passing judgment in the Hall of Osiris and being ferried across a lake of fire. It also mentions the Egyptians' reliance on the Book of Dead to aid the soul's journey through the underworld. Additionally, it provides details on mummification practices and tomb discoveries like King Tut's. It briefly outlines the Egyptian class system and roles of women. Finally, it discusses hieroglyphics, medicine, and mathematics in ancient Egypt.

1. Section 2 Notes

2.  Amon-Re---sun god (chief god of Egypt)
 Osiris---god of the dead and Nile

5.  The Egyptians believed that each soul had to
pass a test in order to win eternal life.
According to Egyptian belief, the dead soul
would be ferried across a lake of fire to the
hall of Osiris. There, Osiris would weigh the
dead person’s heart against the feather of
truth. Those he judged to be sinners would
be fed to the crocodile-shaped Eater of the
Dead. Worthy souls would enter the Happy
Field of Food, where they would live forever in
bliss.

6.  To survive the dangerous journey through the
underworld, Egyptians relied on the Book of
the Dead.
 Book of the Dead---contained
spells, charms, and formulas for the dead to
use in the afterlife
 The Book of the Dead was written on scrolls
and placed in tombs

7.  Mummification---the preservation of the dead
 Skilled embalmers extracted the brain of the
dead person through the nostrils and removed
most of the internal organs. They filled the body
cavity with spices, then later dried and wrapped
the body in strips of linen. This costly process
took months to complete. At
first, mummification was a privilege reserved for
rulers and nobles. Eventually, ordinary Egyptians
also won the right to mummify their dead.

9.  Many Egyptian pharaohs were buried in the desolate
Valley of the Kings
 In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter
unearthed the tomb of the 18 year old pharaoh
Tutankhamen (King Tut)
 King Tut’s tomb had remained almost untouched for
more than 3,000 years
 The body of King Tut had been placed in a solid gold
coffin, nested within richly decorated outer coffins
 Today, the dazzling array of objects found in the
tomb fills several rooms in the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo. They include
chariots, weapons, furniture, jewelry, toys, games, an
d food.

16.  Like other early civilizations, Egypt had its
own class system
 Pharaoh and royal family, high priests and
priestesses, nobles, merchants/scribes/artisa
ns, peasant farmers
 In the off-season, peasant men were
expected to serve the pharaoh laboring to
build palaces, temples, and tombs
 Egyptian women generally enjoyed a higher
status and greater independence than women
elsewhere in the ancient world

17.  Hieroglyphics---Egyptian form of picture writing
 Hieroglyphics were used to keep important records
and were first carved on stone
 The earliest hieroglyphics were pictograms that
depicted objects. Later Egyptians added
ideograms, pictures that symbolized an idea or
action.
 Over time, scribes developed demotic, a simpler form
of writing for everyday use.
 They also learned to use papyrus to make a paperlike
material
 Writing with reed pens and ink on the smooth surface
of papyrus strips was much easier than chiseling
words onto stone

20.  After the New Kingdom declined, Egyptians
forgot the meanings of ancient hieroglyphics
 Not until the early 1800s did French scholar
Jean Champollion unravel the mysterious
writings on Egypt’s monuments
 Rosetta Stone---flat, black stone that had the
same message carved in three different forms
of script---hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek
 By comparing the three
versions, Champollion patiently worked out
the meanings of many hieroglyphic symbols

22.  Egyptian doctors became skilled at
mummification, observing
symptoms, diagnosing illnesses, finding
cures, and performing complex surgical
operations
 Some medicines used by ancient Egyptian
doctors are still used today---anise, castor
beans, and saffron
 Egyptians used geometry to measure fields
and to calculate the exact size and location of
each block of stone to be placed in a pyramid
or temple