Ancient Egypt

2. Most people of ancient Egypt lived in the Nile River Valley. Scholars believe the valley had from about 1 million to 4 million people at various times during ancient Egypt's history. The ancient Egyptians had dark skin and dark hair.

3. HISTORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT The earliest known communities in ancient Egypt were villages established over 5,000 years ago. In time, the villages became part of two kingdoms. One of these kingdoms controlled the villages that lay on the Nile Delta, and the other controlled the villages south of the delta. The delta area was known as Lower Egypt. The southern region was called Upper Egypt. Egyptian civilization began about 3100 B.C. According to tradition, King Menes of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt at that time. He then united the country and formed the world's first national government. Menes founded Memphis as his capital near the site of present-day Cairo. He also established the first Egyptian dynasty (series of rulers in the same family). More than 30 other dynasties ruled ancient Egypt.

6. FAMILY LIFE The father headed the family in ancient Egypt. Upon his death, his oldest son became the head. Women had almost as many rights as men. They could own and inherit property, buy and sell goods, and make a will. A wife could obtain a divorce. Few other ancient civilizations gave women all these rights. Kings commonly had several wives at the same time. To keep the blood line royal, brothers and sisters married. Children played with dolls, tops, and stuffed leather balls. They had board games with moves determined by the throw of dice. They also had several kinds of pets, including cats, dogs, monkeys, baboons, and birds.

8. RECREATION The ancient Egyptians enjoyed numerous leisure activities. They fished and swam in the Nile River. Sailing on the Nile was a popular family activity. Adventurous Egyptians hunted crocodiles, lions, hippopotamuses, and wild cattle with bows and arrows or spears. Many Egyptians liked to watch wrestling matches. At home, the Egyptians played Senet, a board game similar to backgammon.

10. FOOD Bread was the chief food in the diet of most ancient Egyptians, and beer was the favorite beverage. The bread was made from wheat, and the beer from barley. Many Egyptians also enjoyed a variety of vegetables and fruits, fish, milk, cheese, butter, and meat from ducks and geese. Wealthy Egyptians regularly ate beef, antelope and gazelle meat, and fancy cakes and other baked goods. They drank grape, date, and palm wine. The people ate with their fingers.

12. HOUSING AND FURNITURE The Egyptians built their houses with bricks of dried mud. They used trunks of palm trees to support the flat roofs. Many city houses were narrow buildings with three or more floors. Most poor Egyptians lived in one-room huts. The typical middle-class Egyptian lived in a one- or two-story house with at least 3 rooms. Many rich Egyptians had houses with as many as 70 rooms. Some of these homes were country estates with orchards, pools, and large gardens. Egyptian houses had small windows placed high in the walls to help keep out the sun. The people spread wet mats on the floors to help cool the air inside their houses. On hot nights, they often slept on the roof, where it was cooler. Ancient Egyptian furniture included wooden stools, chairs, beds, and chests. People used pottery to store, cook, and serve food. They cooked food in clay ovens or over fires and used charcoal and wood for fuel. Candles and lamps provided lighting. The lamps had flax or cotton wicks and burned oil in jars or hollowed-out stones. �

13. Why did they built the pyramids? Many scholars believe that the pyramid shape has a religious meaning to the Egyptians. The sloping sides may have reminded the Egyptians of the slanting rays of the sun, by which the soul of the king could climb to the sky and join the gods. Funeral ceremonies were performed in temples that were attached to the pyramids. Most pyramids had two temples that were connected by a long stone passageway. Sometimes a smaller pyramid for the body of the queen stood next to the king's pyramid. Egypt has at least 40 smaller pyramids that were used for queens or as memorial monuments for kings. The king's relatives and officials were buried in smaller rectangular tombs called mastabas. These buildings had sloping sides and flat roofs.

15. Pyramids-Tombs

19. Inside the pyramid

20. LONGEST RIVER IN THE WORLD!! The Nile river is the longest river in the world. It's 4,132 miles in length and 1,107,000 square-mile basin. The Nile river is made up of two rivers the White Nile and the Blue Nile. These rivers meet in Sudan and then go on their large journey. The white Nile is a lot bigger then the Blue Nile.

25. This map shows ancient Egypt during three periods, known as the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom

26. CLOTHING

35. Ancient Religious beliefs The ancient Egyptians believed that they could enjoy life after death. This belief in an afterlife sometimes led to much preparation for death and burial. It resulted, for example, in the construction of the pyramids and other great tombs for kings and queens. Other Egyptians had smaller tombs. The Egyptians believed that the bodies of the dead had to be preserved for the next life, and so they mummified (embalmed and dried) corpses to prevent them from decaying. After a body was mummified, it was wrapped in layers of linen strips and placed in a coffin. The mummy was then put in a tomb. Some Egyptians mummified pets, including cats and monkeys. A number of Egyptian mummies have survived to the present day. The Egyptians filled their tombs with items for use in the afterlife. These items included clothing, wigs, food, cosmetics, and jewelry. Many Egyptians bought texts containing prayers, hymns, spells, and other information to guide souls through the afterlife, protect them from evil, and provide for their needs. Collections of these texts are known as the Book of the Dead.

36. Worship The ancient Egyptians believed that various deities (gods and goddesses) influenced every aspect of nature and every human activity. They therefore worshiped many deities. The main god was the sun god Re. The most important goddess was Isis. She represented the devoted mother and wife. Her husband and brother, Osiris, ruled over vegetation and the dead. Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, was god of the sky. He was called the lord of heaven and was often pictured with the head of a falcon.

37. How to make a mummy

38. The jars that held the organs of the person to be mummified had stoppers representing the four sons of Horus.

39. HOW MUMMIES ARE MADE Mummy is an embalmed body that has been preserved for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians believed that the dead lived on in the next world, and that their bodies had to be preserved forever as they were in life. They believed that the body would serve a person in the next world and therefore spent much effort in developing methods of embalming. Thousands of years later, archaeologists found the preserved bodies in tombs. Many museums have one or more Egyptian mummies. The most famous are probably those of Ramses II and Tutankhamen, who were pharaohs (rulers) of Egypt. Wealthy persons could afford a more expensive treatment than the poor. Ancient texts state that a complete treatment required 70 days. Embalmers removed the brain through a nostril by using a hook. They removed the internal organs, except the heart and kidneys, through an incision such as a surgeon makes. They usually filled the empty abdomen with linen pads, and sometimes with sawdust. Then they placed the body in natron (sodium carbonate) until the tissues were dried out. Finally, they wrapped the body carefully in many layers of linen bandages and placed it in a coffin. Sometimes there were two or more coffins, one inside the other. The coffins were made of wood or stone, and were either rectangular or shaped like the wrapped mummy. The mummy in its coffin was then placed in a tomb, along with many objects of daily use. The ancient Egyptians believed that the dead would need this equipment in the next world.

43. Jobs in Ancient Egypt

45. MANUFACTURING AND MINING Craftsmen who operated small shops made most of the manufactured goods in ancient Egypt. The production of linen clothing and linen textiles ranked among the chief industries. Other important products included pottery, bricks, tools, glass, weapons, furniture, jewelry, and perfume. The Egyptians also made many products from plants, including rope, baskets, mats, and sheets of writing material. Ancient Egypt had rich supplies of minerals. Miners produced large quantities of limestone, sandstone, and granite for the construction of pyramids and monuments. They also mined copper, gold, and tin and such gems as turquoises and amethysts. Much of Egypt's gold came from the hills east of the Nile.

46. SAILING SHIPS The ancient Egyptians designed many kinds of vessels, including small, graceful canoes, beautiful yachts, and heavy freighters. Their most outstanding achievement was probably the huge barges that carried enormous stone pillars called obelisks from quarries up the Nile River. The Egyptians built their vessels chiefly for use on the Nile.

52. Hieroglyphics Hieroglyphics, is a form of writing in which picture symbols represent ideas and sounds. It comes from two Greek words that mean sacred carving.

55. Egyptian Inventions They created basic forms of arithmetic and a 365-day calendar. They invented a form of picture writing called hieroglyphics. The Egyptians also great advances in the development of sailing ships and barges.

56. Math and science The ancient Egyptians made observations in the fields of astronomy and geography that helped them develop a calendar of 365 days a year. The calendar was based on the annual flooding of the Nile River. Mathematics The Egyptians also used geometry in building the pyramids. Medicine Ancient Egyptian doctors were the first physicians to study the human body scientifically. They could set broken bones, care for wounds, and treat many illnesses. About 2500 B.C., Egyptian surgeons produced a textbook that told how to treat dislocated or fractured bones and external abscesses, tumors, and wounds.

57. Writing and Paper FIRST BOOKS Historians do not know when the first books appeared, but there is evidence that books were written in Egypt as early as 2700 B.C. In Egypt, people wrote on papyrus, a writing material made from stems of the papyrus plant that grows along the Nile River. The word paper comes from papyrus. Egyptian books consisted of scrolls, which were long pieces of rolled papyrus.

58. EDUCATION Only a small percentage of boys and girls went to school in ancient Egypt, and most of them came from upper-class families. These students attended schools for scribes. Scribes made written records for government offices, temples, and other institutions. They also read and wrote letters for the large numbers of Egyptians who could not read and write. They used papyrus, the world's first paper-like material, and wrote with brushes made of reeds whose ends were softened and shaped. The Egyptians made ink by mixing water and soot, a black powder formed in the burning of wood or other substances. Most Egyptian boys followed their fathers' occupations and were taught by their fathers. Some boys thus learned a trade, but the majority became farmers. Most girls were trained for the roles of wife and mother. Their mothers taught them cooking, sewing, and other skills. Ancient Egypt had many libraries. A famous library in Alexandria had over 400,000 papyrus scrolls, which dealt with astronomy, geography, and many other subjects. Alexandria also had an outstanding museum.

59. Working the land The Egyptians did not have a money system. Instead, they traded goods or services directly for other goods or services. Under this barter system, workers were often paid in wheat and barley. They used any extra quantities they got to trade for needed goods. Wheat and barley were the main crops of ancient Egypt. Other crops included lettuce, beans, onions, figs, dates, grapes, melons, and cucumbers. Parts of the date and grape crops were crushed to make wine. Many farmers grew flax, which was used to make linen. The Egyptians raised dairy and beef cattle, goats, ducks, geese, and donkeys. Some people kept bees for honey.

60. Trade and transportation Ancient Egyptian traders acquired silver, iron, horses, and cedar logs from Syria, Lebanon, and other areas of southwestern Asia. They got ivory, leopard skins, copper, cattle, and spices from Nubia, a country south of Egypt. For these goods, the Egyptians bartered gold, other minerals, wheat, barley, and papyrus sheets. Transportation within ancient Egypt was chiefly by boats and barges on the Nile River. During ancient Egypt's early history, most people walked when they traveled by land.

61. Crafts and professions The royal family and the temples of ancient Egypt employed many skilled architects, engineers, carpenters, artists, and sculptors. They also hired bakers, butchers, teachers, scribes, accountants, musicians, butlers, and shoemakers.

62. Clothing and cosmetics The Egyptians generally dressed in white linen garments. Women wore dresses with shoulder straps. Men wore skirts or robes. Rich Egyptians wore wigs, partly for protection against the sun. Young children rarely wore any clothes. Men also outlined their eyes and often wore as much makeup as women. Both sexes used perfume and wore necklaces, rings, and bracelets. Combs, mirrors, and razors were common grooming aids.

63. Government Kings ruled ancient Egypt throughout most of its history. Sometime between 1554 and 1304 B.C., the people began to call the king pharaoh. The word pharaoh comes from words that meant great house in Egyptian. The position of king was inherited. It passed to the eldest son of the king's chief wife. At least four women became rulers. In its early days, ancient Egypt had a small army of foot soldiers equipped with spears. During the 1500's B.C., Egypt built up a large army. The army included soldiers who were trained to shoot arrows from their bows accurately while riding in fast-moving, horse-drawn chariots. Egypt had a large navy of long ships. These ships were powered chiefly by oarsmen, though most vessels also had sails. �

65. Important leaders Egyptians considered the pharaoh a god and the son of a god. They thought he was the sky god Horus in human form, and the son of Re, the sun god. In theory, the pharaoh owned all the land and ruled the people. In reality, his power was sometimes limited by strong groups, including the priests and nobles. His actions were governed by rules of conduct that the Egyptians believed the gods had set down.

66. CLEOPATRA Cleopatra (KLEE oh PAT ruh or KLEE oh PAY truh) (69-30 B.C.), was a queen of ancient Egypt and one of the most fascinating women in history. She lacked beauty, but became known for her intelligence, charm, wit, and ambition. At times, Cleopatra was ruthless. However, she took a great interest in her subjects' welfare and won their affection. Cleopatra loved and developed loyal relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, two of the greatest Roman leaders of her day. Cleopatra was the last ruler in the dynasty (series of rulers in the same family) founded by Ptolemy I in 323 B.C.

68. Hatshepsut  Hatshepsut (hat SHEP soot) (?-1469 B.C.?) was the fourth female pharaoh in Egyptian history. Hatshepsut married her half-brother, King Thutmose II. When Thutmose II died unexpectedly about 1490 B.C., Hatshepsut's stepson, Thutmose III, inherited the throne. But because he was too young to rule, Hatshepsut served as regent (temporary ruler). Hatshepsut had herself crowned pharaoh alongside her stepson. Because Egyptians believed their kings were divine, she justified her new role by claiming to be the god Amon's daughter. She also had herself represented as a man on monuments. As pharaoh, Hatshepsut encouraged trade

71. KHUFU

73. Modern Egypt