Ancient Egypt had a society centered around the Nile River. They used the river for transportation and irrigation, and also built canals. The geography was mostly desert, so they used sleds to transport heavy objects. Egyptian society highly valued family and children. They also had a complex social hierarchy topped by the powerful pharaoh. Ancient Egyptians developed an elaborate system of embalming the dead and built grand pyramids, temples, and tombs for pharaohs like Seti I, Ramesses II, and Tutankhamun.

1. Ancient Egypt
A brief history of things that you should probably know

2. The Geography

3. Egypt’s connection to water
• Egypt was very connected with water. They used the Nile for
transportation. It also allowed them to keep tight with friendly
nations and trade.
• They often built expansive canals in straight paths, building off the
Nile. This was done because walking in the hot desert (especially
while carrying materials) was time-consuming and all around
uncomfortable.

4. Also. They used more than just the Nile.
• lots of mining and trading was done through the red sea. However,
this was difficult as the currents were unpredictable.

5. Ok. I sound like a text book.

6. Insert Pharell Williams cover!

7. Because Im…

8. Ok, back to textbooks.

9. Egypt’s other geographical features.

10. The country was almost entirely composed of
desert.
• As you know, wheels don’t exactly work in sand. So, they did
something different.

11. They used sleds.

12. Well, not quite.
• Their sleds were much more basic. A flat surface (like a board of
wood) with ropes tied onto it

13. This is how they did most transporting for
major constructions.

14. Egypt’s society

15. Egyptians highly valued family life. In fact,
children were seen as blessings.
• God, how things have changed!

16. In poor families, mothers raised the kids. In
more rich families, slaves or servants did it.

17. Also, women were actually treated quite as
well as men.
• They were allowed to help in business deals, could represent
themselves in court, and faced the same punishments!

18. Marriage in Egypt

19. I am so sorry for this slide, girls.
• Peasant girls married at 12 (“cooties” weren’t an excuse).
• If you were rich, you had a few more years.

20. Also, divorce was completely allowed.
• Not much actually stopped you from doing it. The women got the kids
and some things, and were free to remarry.

21. They had a special social ranking system
• At the bottom were slaves and farmers.
• Next were the craftsmen
• Then scribes and soldiers (the pen is no mightier than the sword:
they are equal.
• Then nobles and priests.
• Then the viziers (they are high rulers)
• Then, lastly, the farm animals.
• No, I’m just kidding. The pharaoh.

22. Gods and embalming

23. Egypt was big on gods…
• Their gods had heads of animals, and the bodies of people.
• Ra, the sun god, had a falcon head
• Thoth, the god of knowledge, had a stork head
• Bastet, the cat god, had a… well… you can guess
• Horus, the war god, also… had a falcon head? Ok….

24. Other gods
• Geb, the god of earth
• Nut, the god of air
• Osiris, the god of the dead
• And who can forget Tawaret, the hippo god???

25. Embalming (making mummies)
• Step 1: Take the body to a special building, and rub it with good smelling lotion.
• Step 2: Cut a massive hole in the left side of the body, and take out the internal
organs. Be sure to use your handheld harpoon to smash the brain into a
smoothie, and take it out through the nose!
• Step 3: Dry the organs for 2-3 weeks with natron (it’s hard to explain what that is.
It’s science and stuff).
• Step 4: Dry the inside of the body for 2-3 weeks with natron, drying all fluids.
• Step 5: the body is cleansed with Nile Water and rubbed with oil, to keep the
body elastic.
• Step 6: the organs are to be returned to the body, and the body is filled with
sawdust, leaves, what ever you can find to make it look lifelike. Rub the body with
more good smelling lotion, and prepare to wrap.

26. Before we continue
• They used to put the organs in canopic jars, but they eventually put
the organs back in the body
• The canopic jars were, however, still buried with the body to
symbolically protect said organs.
• Imsety, the human-headed god, has his jar protect the liver.
• Baby, the baboon-headed god, has his jar take the lungs.
• Duamutef, the jackal-headed god, looks after the stomach.
• Qebehsenuef, ANOTHER falcon headed god (or maybe it’s Egyptian
for Ra/Horus), looks after the intestines.

27. • Step 7: the body is wrapped with linen, and the linen is embedded
with good luck charms.
• Step 8: put the body in a sarcophagus and bring it to the tomb!

28. Egypt as an empire

29. The force was strong with this one!
• Egypt was not a force to mess with. Their military was always strong,
and their land covered a LOT more than what you see in those maps!
• They often were in control of both far south and even as far north as
far into the middle east!
• A lot of the times, they just got lucky with amazing military-based
pharaohs.
• They also had a good balance of friends and enemies. Well… maybe
more enemies than friends, but…

30. They were also AMAZING builders
• You probably know them for the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx, and
maybe that’s it.
• But they were ALWAYS impressive. Just look around their towns!
• Oftentimes, obelisks were built in tribute to the pharaoh. These were
also placed in pairs outside of temples.
• They also made extravagant tombs with beautiful paintings. I won’t
go into detail about how these things were done, but I will highlight
some of them.

31. Pharaohs

32. Seti I: arguably the best general in all of Egypt

33. His non-war life
• He was the son of Ramesses I
• Eventually the father of Ramesses II
• He made a massive temple for worship. Problem: they hadn’t
mastered roofs yet.
• If you wanted a big room, you needed a lot of columns.
• His room had over 100 columns.

34. His war life (the actual interesting part)
• He conquered tons of land, building forts among the way.
• I believe Egypt, around this time, made the chariot.
• His biggest achievement was capturing the city of Kadesh, owned by
the Hittites. This was a city that many before him had tried and failed.

35. Ramesses II (or, as he is affectionately
referred to, Ramesses The Great)
(this guy could start a trend
nowadays: wearing snakes on
your head and having butter
taped to your chin to act as a
beard)

36. Ramesses II’s battles
• He fought Jake and the Neverland Sherdan pirates
• He had countless campaigns against Syria
• He also fought Nubia, Libya and actually set up a peace treaty with
the Hittites.
Ramesses “The Great's” death
count
10,000
100,000
And a grand total of:
1,000,500 (those who defiled
him included

37. His tomb
• His tomb was quite impressive, a massive catacomb of some luxury.
• In his center room, 4 statues of some important gods are depicted
• On the equinoxes, the light from the sun hits the sun god perfectly.
• In 1963-ish (I think), a man-made lake was being built. Ramesses’
tomb would surely perish.
• Multiple groups got together and decided to MOVE THE TOMB!!! It
was moved in 5 massive chunks, and that’s cool.

38. THIS GUY RUINED EVERYTHING
• Fine. I’ll show his face.

39. Amenhotep IV
• Ugh. This guy was SO bad.
• It took multiple hundreds of years [with efforts from Seti I,
Tutankhamen (we’ll get to him later) and many others] to clear the
path of shining death he left behind.

40. His first big “accomplishment”
• He had the brilliant idea of erasing 2000 years of religion and creating
a new one!
• This one had 1 god, a sun god (Aten), who was to be worshipped by
everyone. If you didn’t worship him, or worshipped the old religion,
you were severely punished.
• He actually CHANGED HIS NAME to Akhenaten, in honor of his
amazing idea.
• So, of course, he was already a wack job.
• Oh, it gets worse.

41. His next blunder
• He decided he didn’t like the capital, which was usually Memphis or
Thebes.
• One day, he was out riding, when his god came and spoke to him,
saying that this spot is the center of the universe, and you should
make a new city here.
• So, he did just that, and his one actual accomplishment came forth: a
new building system! This one used smaller bricks instead of the 2 ton
ones. He didn’t actually invent this, as he demanded the city be built
faster, so the builders were forced to make something up.

42. I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and
on….

43. And on, and on, and on……

44. and on, and on, and on, and on…. Ok, you get the
joke (and the point), so let’s move on to his son:
King Tutankhamen.
• Yes, King Tut.
• He didn’t actually do much in his reign, but his discovery in 1922
sparked a new worldwide interest in Egypt, sparking more discoveries
down the road.
• This is impressive, as tomb robbers got everything, always.
• His mask is displayed in the Cairo Museum, and is a popular symbol.

45. Hatshepsut (who looks like a guy in this photo, and
that’s what she was going for). Also, all other
photos were quite inappropriate.

46. Her claim to fame, and other facts.
• She was the original female pharaoh. Who needs Cleopatra, we have
a legit feminine pharaoh!
• Before her, women couldn’t have power. They were treated mostly
equally, but a woman COULDN’T rule.
• So, Hatshepsut put on a manly beard, and apparently fooled an entire
nation. At first.
• Her tomb was elegant, and looked quite Greece, with fountains and
gardens.
• Her son, Thutmose III, started countless wars, and killed tons. Way to
make mommy proud!