The document outlines the significance of the Nile River in shaping ancient Egyptian civilization, highlighting its predictable flooding, which supported agriculture and provided stability. It details the historical periods of Egypt, the unification under Pharaoh Menes, and the evolution of society, government, and religion, including key figures and achievements. Additionally, it compares ancient Egypt to Mesopotamia in terms of agriculture, social hierarchy, and religious beliefs.

1. Ancient Egypt:
“The Gift of the Nile”
(Herodotus)

4. Egyptian Civilization:
Geography as Destiny
The Nile
– Flows from South to North
– Predictable annual flooding Nile
River
Stability and Unity
Sahara
– Protected by deserts on the Desert
east and west
– Developed in relative
isolation into a prosperous
and stable kingdom

5. A View of Egypt by Satellite

6. The Fertile Nile Valley

7. The Annual Flooding of the
Nile

8. Nile Irrigation

9. More Benefits of Nile River
• The river served as a highway
– United villages along the river
– Travel was relatively easy on the river
– Currents carried barges downstream to the delta
– Sails used to catch winds to return upstream
• Additional benefits
– River attracted wildlife and provided fish for
hunting & sport
– Papyrus grew along river
• Used to make paper

10. Bordered on the south, east and west by the
Sahara Desert, and on the north by the sea, ancient
Egypt was protected from outside influences.

11. Great Sahara Desert

12. Ancient Egyptian History
Periods Tim F e
e ram
Nile Culture Begins 3900 B. C. E.
Archaic 3100 – 2650 B. C. E.
Old Kingdom 2575 – 2134 B. C. E.
Middle Kingdom 2040 – 1640 B. C. E.
New Kingdom 1532 – 1070 B. C. E.
Late Period 750 – 332 B. C. E.
Greek Ptolemaic Era 332 – 30 B. C. E.
Roman Period 30 B. C. E. – 395 C. E.

13. Menes: Unifier of Upper & Lower
Originally two kingdoms
developed along the Nile
Egypt
Lower Egypt
– Located along the northern Nile
– Good farmland
– Access to copper mines in Sinai
Peninsula
Upper Egypt
– Located along the southern Nile
– King Menes (~3000 BCE)
conquered lower Egypt, unifying
the kingdom and establishing the
first dynasty
– Capital at Memphis

14. Three Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt
OLD KINGDOM MIDDLE NEW KINGDOM
(2575-2134 BCE) KINGDOM (1532-1070 BCE)
(2040-1640 BCE)
Pharaohs organized a Large drainage project Powerful pharaohs
strong central state, created arable farmland. created a large empire
were absolute rulers, that reached the
and were considered Traders had contacts with Euphrates River.
gods. Middle East and Crete.
Hatshepsut
Khufu and others built Corruption and rebellions encouraged trade.
pyramids at Giza. were common.
Tutankhamen: boy-king
Power struggles, crop Hyksos invaded and
failures, and cost of occupied the delta Ramses II expanded
pyramids contributed to region. Egyptian rule to Syria.
the collapse of the Old
Kingdom. Egyptian power
declined.

15. Achievements Government Old Middle New
Pharaohs Corrupt government Pharaohs created a
organized suffered frequent large empire
centralized state rebellions
Built enormous Land drained for Traded with lands
tombs, the pyramids farming along eastern
Mediterranean and
Red Sea
Decline
Power struggles,
crop failures and cost Hittites invaded and Nubians, then others
of pyramids caused conquered invaded
collapse

16. Egyptian Social Hierarchy

17. Some Famous Egyptian
Pharaohs
Tutankhamon
1336-1327 B. C. E.
Thutmose
III
1504-1450 B. C.
E.
Ramses II
1279-1212 B. C.
E.

18. Egyptian Priestly Class

19. Egyptian Nobility

20. Egyptian Scribe

21. Scenes of Ancient Egyptian
Daily Life

22. Women in Egyptian Society
• Status of Women
– Relatively high status for that time in history
– Could buy and sell property
– Could seek divorce (although rare)
– Property inherited through female line
– Role of wife & mother important
– Girls did not attend school
– A woman’s status increased
when she had children
– Sometimes women considered property,
but were treated kindly
– Queen might rule with pharaoh
– If pharaoh had more than one wife, the first wife was most
important
• Her son would be the next pharaoh

23. An Egyptian Woman’s “Must-
Haves”
Mirror
Perfume
Whigs

24. Ancient Egyptian Housing
Middle Class
Homes
Peasant
Homes

25. Making Ancient Egyptian Beer

26. Making Ancient Egyptian
W ine

27. Education
• Original purpose of schools was
to train priests
• Subjects taught
– Reading & writing
– Math
– Religious ceremonies & rituals
• Eventually temple schools
provided more general education
• Usually schools attended only by
the wealthy
• Girls did not attend school
– Taught domestic skills at home
• Students took notes on scraps of
pottery - Papyrus was expensive &
only used by advanced students
• Strict discipline

28. Egyptian Math & Draftsmenship
1 10 100 1000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
W number is this?
hat

29. Papyrus  Paper
Hieratic Scroll
Piece
Papyrus Plant

30. Champollion & the Rosetta
Stone
1822- French scholar Jean
Chapollion cracked the code of
hieroglyphics because he could
read Greek

31. Hieroglyphic
“Cartouche”

32. Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”
24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols

33. Egyptian Gods & Goddesses:
“The Sacred ‘Trinity’”
Osiris Isis Horus

34. The Circle of Life
Osiris
– God of the underworld
– Judges the dead
– Rise & fall of the Nile believed to
be the death & rebirth of Osiris
Set
– God of chaos (desert) who killed
Osiris
– Believed to cause failed harvest
Isis
– Wife of Osiris
– Brought Osiris back to life
– Nile floods and brings renewed
life

35. Religion and Government
• About 2,000 gods in
the Egyptian pantheon
• All powerful kings were
believed to be human
incarnations of gods
• Only the king could
express the ultimate
truth and justice, or
ma’at

36. Preparations for the Underworld
ANUBIS weighs the
dead person’s heart
against a feather.
Priests protected
your KA, or soul-
spirit

37. Preparation for
the Afterlife

38. Journey to the Underworld
The dead travel
on the “Solar
Bark.”
A boat for the
journey is
provided for a
dead pharaoh in
his tomb.

39. Egyptian Book of the Dead

40. The Final Judgement
Anubis Horus Osiris

41. Shabtis: The Pharaoh’s Servants
in the Afterlife

42. Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara

43. “Bent” Pyramid of King
Sneferu

44. Giza Pyramid Complex

45. Plan of the Great Pyramid
of Khufu

46. The Valley of the Kings

47. Archaeologist, Howard Carter
(1922)

48. Entrance to King “Tut’s” Tomb

49. King Tutankhamon’s Death
Mask
1336-1327 B. C.
E.

50. King Tutankhamon

51. King Tutankhamun’s Tomb

52. Treasures From Tut’s Tomb

53. The Valley of the Queens
1473-1458 B. C. Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
E.

54. Ankhenaton: First
Monotheist?
1353-1335 B. C.
E.

55. The Ankh – The “Cross” of
Life

56. Queen
Nefertiti
(W of Ankhenaton)
ife

57. Abu Simbel:
Monument to Ramses II
1279-1213 B. C. E.

58. W Are These Strange
ho
People?

59. Comparison of Mesopotamia
and Egypt
Mesopotamia Egypt
Agriculture +“Land between the rivers” +”Gift of the Nile”
(Tigris and Euphrates forms +Artificial irrigation
Fertile Crescent
+Artificial irrigation
Specialization +Pottery, textiles, woodworking, +Pottery, textiles, woodworking,
leather, brick making, leather production, stonecutting,
stonecutting, masonry masonry
Cities -Numerous, densely populated -Fewer cities with high
city-states (Ur and Babylon) centralization (Memphis and
Thebes)
Social Hierarchy -Noble class -Absolute authority of the
-Patriarchal pharaoh made a noble class
+Slaves unnecessary (had bureaucrats
instead)
-Patriarchal, but the presence of
Queen Hatsheput may indicate
greater opportunities for women
+Slaves

60. Comparison of Mesopotamia
and Egypt (cont.)
Mesopotamia Egypt
Religion and Education -Polytheism -Polytheism, but brief period of
-afterlife was bad monotheism under Akhentan
-Afterlife and judgment - could
be good or bad (mummification)
New Technologies -Superior in metallurgy -Papyrus, shipbuilding,
pyramids
Economic exchange -Trade by land and water -Trade principally by water
along the Nile
-Trade more important because
Egypt lacked natural resources
beside the Nile
Art and Writing -Cuneiform -Hieroglyphs (more pictorial
than cuneiform)