Essential Question : What were the important characteristics of ancient Egypt? Warm-Up Question :

1. Essential Question: • What were the important characteristics of ancient Egypt? • Warm-Up Question: • Create a “Hammurabi’s Code” for Churchville. Think of 5 laws & punishments appropriate for school

2. Ancient Egypt

3. Egypt began along the Nile River in North Africa Egypt was bordered on both sides by desert which isolated & protected Egyptians from outsiders The Nile River’s annual floods were predictable & provided fertile soil for farming The Nile flooded so predictably that the Egyptians designed their calendar around it

4. Lasting Contributions For many centuries, the people of Egypt lived in two Kingdoms, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Upper Egypt extended north from the Nile’s first area of rapids to the Nile delta. The delta is a broad, marshy, triangular area of rich land. Lower Egypt began here and continued north to the Mediterranean, just 100 miles away. Most of Egypt’s first great cities formed here like Cairo

5. Lasting Contributions • Specialized Workers: • ?

6. Lasting Contributions • Government : • Pharaohs ruled Egypt as “king-gods” & were thought to control nature • Egyptians constructed pyramids & elaborate tombs for the pharoahs In preparing the pharaoh for life after death, their bodies were mummified to preserve them.

7. Lasting Contributions • Religion: • Egyptians were polytheistic & believed the gods controlled all aspects of life

8. Lasting Contributions Early hieroglyphs were also written on scrolls made of early paper called papyrus • Writing: • Egyptian hieroglyphics was both pictograms & a phonetic alphabet • Hieroglyphics were translated using the Rosetta Stone

9. Lasting Contributions • Technology: • Egyptian ideas included a 365-day calendar, geometry, astronomy, & pyramids