The document provides information on ancient Egyptian civilization between 1450-1100 BC. It describes the geography of Egypt centered around the Nile River, which was essential for agriculture and trade. It then outlines the three main periods of Egyptian rule: the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. Key developments included the Old Kingdom organizing a strong central state and building pyramids, the Middle Kingdom experiencing invasions and rebellions, and the New Kingdom expanding Egyptian rule. The document also summarizes Egyptian religious beliefs, architecture, and aspects of daily life like the class system.

1. Egyptian empire about 1450 b.C.

2. Geography of the Ancient Nile Valley
“Egypt is wholly the gift of the Nile.” – Herodotus
People settled and established farming villages along the Nile.
Egyptians depended on annual floods to soak the land and deposit
a layer of silt, or rich soil.
Egyptians had to cooperate to control the Nile, building dikes,
reservoirs, and irrigation ditches.
Rulers used the Nile to link and unite Upper and Lower Egypt.
The Nile served as a trade route connecting Egypt to Africa, the
Middle East, and the Mediterranean world.

3. Three Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt
OLD MIDDLE NEW
KINGDOM KINGDOM
KINGDOM
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 Euphrates River.
gods. with Middle East and
Crete. Hatshepsut
Egyptians built encouraged trade.
pyramids at Giza. Corruption and
rebellions were Ramses II expanded
Power struggles, crop common. Egyptian rule to Syria.
failures, and cost of
pyramids contributed Hyksos invaded and Egyptian power
to the collapse of the occupied the delta declined.
Old Kingdom. region.

4. Egyptian Religious Beliefs
•Belief that many gods and goddesses ruled the world and
the afterlife.
Amon-Re was the sun god.
Osiris was the god of the underworld and of
the Nile.
The pharaoh was believed to be a god as well as
a monarch.
•Belief in eternal life after death.
Relied on the Book of the Dead to help them
through the afterworld.
Practiced mummification, the
preservation of the body for use in the next life.

5. Ancient Egypt: A Center of Learning & Culture
Advances in Learning Advances in the Arts
Developed a form of picture writing Statues, paintings, and writings tell
called hieroglyphics. us about ancient Egyptian values
and attitudes.
Doctors diagnosed and cured
illnesses, performed surgery, and Developed painting style that
developed medicines still used remained unchanged for thousands
today. of years.
Developed 12-month calendar on Wrote hymns and prayers to the
which modern calendar is based. gods, proverbs, love poems, stories
Astronomers mapped constellations of victory in battle, and folk tales.
and charted movement of the
planets. Built pyramids and other great
buildings, such as temple of
Developed practical geometry. Ramses II.
Skilled in design and engineering.

6. Class System in Ancient Egypt
PHARAOH
Earthly leader; considered a god
HIGH PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES
Served gods and goddesses
NOBLES
Fought pharaoh’s wars
MERCHANTS, SCRIBES, AND ARTISANS
Made furniture, jewelry, and fabrics for
pharaohs and nobles, and provided for other needs
PEASANT FARMERS AND SLAVES
Worked in the fields and served the pharaoh

7. Characteristics of Egyptian Architecture
•Due to the scarcity of lumber, the two predominant building
materials used in ancient Egypt were sun-baked mud brick
and stone, mainly limestone, but also sandstone and granite
in considerable quantities.
•From the Old Kingdom onward, stone was generally
reserved for tombs and temples,
•while bricks were used even for royal palaces, fortresses, the
walls of temple precincts and towns, and for subsidiary
buildings in temple complexes.
• Egypt houses were made out of mud collected from the Nile
river. It was placed in molds and left to dry in the hot sun to
harden for use in construction.

8. Characteristics of Egyptian Architecture
•Many Egyptian towns have disappeared because they were situated
near the cultivated area of the Nile Valley and were flooded as the
river bed slowly rose during the millennia, or the mud bricks of which
they were built were used by peasants as fertilizer.
•Others are inaccessible, new buildings having been erected on
ancient ones. Fortunately, the dry, hot climate of Egypt preserved
some mud brick structures.
•Examples include the village
Deir al - Madinah,
the Middle Kingdom town at Kahun,
and the fortresses at Buhen and Mirgissa.
Also, many temples and tombs have survived because they were
built on high ground unaffected by the Nile flood and were
constructed of stone.

9. Deir al - Madinah
Kahun
fortresses at Buhen and Mirgissa

10. Religious buildings/monuments
•massive structures characterized by thick, sloping walls with
few openings.
• possibly a method of construction used to obtain stability in
mud walls.
•the incised and flatly modeled surface adornment of the stone
buildings has derived from mud wall ornamentation.
•the use of the arch was developed during the fourth dynasty,
all monumental buildings are post and lintel constructions,
•flat roofs are constructed of huge stone blocks supported by
the external walls and the closely spaced columns.

11. Religious buildings/monuments
•Exterior and interior walls, as well as the columns and piers,
were covered with hieroglyphic and pictorial frescoes and
carvings painted in brilliant colors.
•Many motifs of Egyptian ornamentation are symbolic, such as
the scarab, or sacred beetle
the solar disk
the vulture
palm leaves,
the papyrus plant
buds and flowers of the lotus
Hieroglyphs were inscribed for decorative purposes as well as
to record historic events or spells.

12. the scarab, or sacred beetle
the solar disk

13. the vulture

14. Palm leaves

15. Papyrus Capital

16. Buds and flower of Lotus

17. Religious buildings/monuments
•Ancient Egyptian temples were aligned with astronomically
significant events, such as solstices and equinoxes,
•required precise measurements at the moment of the
particular event.
•Measurements at the most significant temples may have been
ceremonially undertaken by the Pharaoh himself.

18. column

19. Examples
 TOMB ARCHITECTURE
MASTABAS
ROYAL PYRAMIDS
ROCK – HEWN TOMBS
 TEMPLES
 OBELISKS
 DWELLINGS
 FORTRESSES

20. MASTABAS
Historical Background
This type of structure was an elaboration of the Pre – Dynastic Period
burial-pit and mound form. Mastabas were favored as funerary
monument from the Early Dynastic Period on
As the Egyptian craftsmanship increased in the Early Dynastic Period,
mastaba such as those of the first dynasty at Saqqara, were elaborate,
having many storage or offering compartments, housing funerary
chapels, shrines, offering tables and were quite evidently close copies
of contemporary houses.
In the Old Kingdom, even after the Pharaohs began to be buried in
pyramids, other royal officials were still interred in Mastabas, usually
around the site of the pyramid.

21. MASTABAS
Usage and Shape
 A sepulchral structure built aboveground.
 Mastabas were built above a shaft at the
bottom of which was situated a tomb
The structure above the ground were
relatively low
Rectangular in plan with inward-sloping
walls
Flat roof.
Built of brick and faced with limestone slabs.
sides sloping at an angle of about 75 degrees

22. MASTABAS
Usage and Shape
 they were derived from the rude heaps of stones piled over
earlier mummy holes.
 They consisted of three parts :
(i) The outer chamber, in which were placed the offerings to the
Ka or " double," decorated with festal and other scenes which
are valuable from an historical standpoint.
(ii) The inner secret chamber, known as the " serdab," which
contained statues of the deceased members of the family.
(iii) The chamber containing the sarcophagus, reached by an
underground shaft.

23. MASTABAS
Decorations and Examples
 Plain undecorated exterior
 The interior of mastaba walls were decorated with texts and images,
illustrating scenes from the daily life of the deceased, offering scenes
and ritual hunt scenes.

24. MASTABAS
The Mastaba of Thi, Sakkara
well preserved and restored, dates from the Fifth Dynasty, and was
erected to Thi, who held the position of royal architect and superintendent
of pyramids.
It consists of a small vestibule, beyond which is a large court, where
offerings to the deceased were made, and from which a mummy shaft led
to the tomb chamber.
The masonry is accurately jointed, and the bas-reliefs are some of the
finest and most interesting in Egypt.

25. MASTABAS
The Mastaba of Thi, Sakkara
A second tomb chamber, 22 ft. 9 ins. by 23 ft. 9 ins. and 12 ft. 6 ins.
high, has mural reliefs which represent harvesting, ship-building,
slaughtering of sacrificial animals, as well as arts and crafts of Old
Egypt
while Thi himself is pictured in a papyrus thicket, sailing through the
marshes.

26. ROYAL PYRAMIDS
In its most common form, a pyramid is a massive stone or brick
structure with a square base and four sloping triangular sides that meet
in a point at the top.
Pyramids have been built by different peoples at various times in
history. Probably the best-known pyramids are those of ancient Egypt,
which were built to protect the tombs of rulers or other important
persons.

27. ROYAL PYRAMIDS
 Early royal pyramids were of mastaba type, from which the true
pyramid evolved.
 Pyramids did not stand in isolation.
 they were surrounded by a walled enclosure and had an offering
chapel, with a stele, a mortuary temple for the worship of the dead and
deified Pharaoh
 pyramids were built during the lifetime of the Pharaohs, because of
their belief in immortality.

28. ROYAL PYRAMIDS
Pyramids were founded on living rock, were of limestone quarried in
their locality, faced with the finer limestone.
 Granite, in limited use, such as linings of the chambers and passages.
 Tomb Chambers and their approaches were either cut in the rock
below the monument or were in its constructed core.
 Entrances were from the north side, the sides were scrupulously
oriented with the cardinal points.

29. ROCK – HEWN TOMBS
 Served for the nobility rather than royalty
 Pyramids, of indifferent construction, remained the principal form of
royal tomb.
 TOMBS, BENI HASAN
• Belonged to a provincial great family.
• totally rock –hewn, each consists of a chamber behind a porticoed
façade
• slightly fluted and tapered columns

30. TEMPLES
 Two main classes –
mortuary temples, for ministrations to deified Pharaohs
Cult temples, for the popular worship of ancient and mysterious
gods
 Royal burials more important than mortuary temples
 Their special character merged into that of the cult temples, lost the
distinction between the two types.
 Cult temples essentials were
rectangular palisaded court
entered from a narrow end flanked by pennon – poles
centrally within them an emblem of deity
pavilion comprising vestibule and sanctuary

31. TEMPLES
 Mortuary and cult temples had most features in common.
 Along main axis, not specifically oriented, there was walled open
court, with colonnades around leading to covered structure.
 Transverse axis in covered structure had columned vestibule and
sanctuary.
 Impressive axial gateway to the court.

32. TEMPLE OF KHONS , KARNAK
 A Cult temple
 it had entrance pylons,
court hypostyle hall,
sanctuary,
and various chapels
all enclosed by high girdle wall
 The entrance pylons, fronted by obelisks,
Corridor of Sphinxes
were approached through an imposing
avenue of sphinxes.
 The Portal gave on to the open court,
surrounded on three sides by a double
colonnade and leading to the hypostyle hall

33. TEMPLE OF KHONS , KARNAK

34. TEMPLE OF KHONS , KARNAK
 The light in the Hypostyle was admitted through clearstory
 Beyond was the sanctuary , with openings front and back and a
circulating passage around
 Beyond this was again a four- columned hall.
 There were small rooms flanking the sanctuary
 on its rear were mainly chapels, for purpose of rituals
 The temple was protected by a great wall of the same height as the
halls
 The wall decreased in height towards the sanctuary end.

35. TEMPLE OF KHONS , KARNAK
Exterior Wall
Internal Colonnade

36. TEMPLE OF KHONS , KARNAK