The Nile Valley Egypts Old Kingdom The Egyptian Empire The Civilization of Kush

Location

 Egyptians relied on it for drinking water, irrigation, cooking, cleaning, transportation, fish 4,000 miles The Worlds Longest River! Large ships can only travel on the last 650 miles because of crazy rapids called cataracts

The Nile River Valley

Deserts West of the Nile is the Saharan Desert East of the Nile is the Eastern Desert

Geography

Protection Deserts, the marsh land of the delta & cataracts provided Ancient Egypt with natural barriers to fend off enemies! Waterways The Nile, the Mediterranean, & the Red Sea

 Regular flooding means less worrying about crops!

The River People

Floods left behind fertile mud that looked black Kemet = Black Land Irrigation meant healthy crops of wheat, barley, & flax seed

 Made from a reed plant Used to make baskets, sandals, river rafts, paper

Papyrus

 Complex writing system; had picture & sound symbols

Hieroglyphics

 Cartouche Project: Print out the blank cartouche and make a copy for each student. Have the students take the cartouche home and make the paper look old. They could do this several ways (the best is to place the cartouche paper in a deep pan, pour coffee or dark tea over it, then bake it in the oven for a few minutes). Have the students bring the cartouche back to class and then they can write their name on it in hieroglyphics. They can also add some Egyptian pictures and color it with earth tones.

Cartouche Project

Monday, September 19, 2011 Today, I will learn about when Egypt united under one ruler. I will learn about dynasties, the social class structure of Ancient Egypt, and Egyptian life.

 Villages grew into kingdoms Strong kingdoms took over weak kingdoms. Eventually, there were 2 large kingdoms: Lower Egypt the Nile delta Upper Egypt upriver; to the south

Upper & Lower Egypt

Their names may seem backwardsbut its called Upper and Lower because of their elevationnot because they are North or South.

WaitUpper Egypt is south & Lower Egypt is North?!

Upper Egypt- is higher in elevation

Lower Egypt (the river delta is lower in elevation)

 ~ 3100 B.C., Egypts 2 major kingdoms were combined into 1thanks, King Narmer (aka Menes MEE-neez) Capital at that time was in Memphis

A United Egypt

Narmers dynasty lasted long after his death

dynasty = a line of rulers from one family Ancient Egypt had 31 dynasties

On a piece of headed paper: Complete # 1-7 on page 46. Do your BEST work!

Assignment Section 1 Review:

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Today, I will learn that Egypt was ruled by all-powerful pharaohs, that the Egyptians believed in many gods and goddesses & in life after death for the pharaohs. The Egyptians of the Old Kingdom built huge stone pyramids as tombs for their pharaohs.

1. It is a reed plant that was used to make baskets, sandals, river rafts, and paper. 2. Women could own and pass on property, buy & sell goods, make wills, obtain divorces, and take part in religious ceremonies. 3. Farming, Crafts, Trade led to the growth of government in Ancient Egypt. 4. The Nile River valley had natural barriers for protection, enriched soil for farming, & the river and seas for trade. 5. Picture symbols (hieroglyphics) stood for objects, ideas & sounds. 6. It symbolized the unity of Upper & Lower Egypt. 7. Answers will vary.

Section 1 Review Answers

Write the word and the definition for: hieroglyphics, dynasty, papyrus, cataract, delta 1. The Nile River the longest river in the world is ____________ miles long. 2. The Egyptians took advantage of the Niles yearly spring flooding by becoming successful ___________. 3. After 3100 B.C, Egypts government was a __________. 4. A diagram of Egypts social classes looks like a _________. 5. Two ways Mesopotamia & Egypt are the same are: _____________ & _______________.

Quiz 2-1 The Nile Valley

Friday, September 23, 2011

Today, I will continue to learn about Egypts Old Kingdom. I will review what we learned on Wednesday about pharaohs & their religion. I will then take notes & read about their beliefs in life after death, the pyramids, and the Great Pyramid in particular.

 2600 B.C. 2300 B.C

Egypts Old Kingdom

Egypt grew & became wealthy Built cities Expanded trade Kings set up a strong government

 Powerful ruler, unlimited power

Pharaohs

Appointed officials to do their work People believed the pharaoh was the son of Re (the sun god)

 Polytheism many gods or deities Major gods Re the sun god Hapi goddess of the Nile

Egypts Religion

Isis represented loyal wife & mother; Osiriss wife; goddess of the dead Osiris Isiss husband; god of the dead

 The Book of the Dead collection of spells & prayers that Egyptians studied to obtain life after death Osiris would meet them upon death & they would have to say the spells to have life after death Wanted bodies to be preserved for afterlife (embalmed mummies)

Life after Death

Embalming = a process to preserve dead bodies

 Mountain-like tombs for pharaohs Built by slaves & farmers during Nile floods Entrance faced North

The Pyramids

Egyptian Inventions
First specialists in medicine 365-day calendar with 12 months Math - numbers based on 10 - fractions - advances in geometry

 Built in 2540 B.C

The Great Pyramid

Largest & grandest of all the pyramids

Built for King Khufu

In Giza on the west bank of the Nile

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Turn in your green folder. Make sure you have all your stuff! Sharpen your pencil (the sharpener is back in action)! Sit quietly and wait for WCMS.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Today, I will read about and discuss Ancient Egypts Middle & New Kingdom. I will learn about important Egyptian people like Queen Hatshepsut, Akhenaton, Tutankhamen, and Ramses II.

 Each person will read a section. You will have 15minutes. You will have 20 minutes to discuss as a group & take notes on what you all think are the most important things to know about this section. Red The Middle Kingdom Green The New Kingdom Yellow The Legacies of 2 Pharaohs Blue The End of the New Kingdom p. 60 p. 61 p.64 p.65

Jigsaw Reading

2050 B.C.E 1670 C.E Everything was good: stable, became more rich, and powerful Capital moved from Memphis to Thebes Nobles started fighting for power, got distracted & wham!... the Hyksos attacked & ruled Egypt for 120 years!

The Middle Kingdom

 Lasted from 1550 B.C.E 1080 C.E Height of Egypts glory Ahmose (Egyptian Princehow dreamy!) drove out the Hyksos Queen Hatshepsut - 1st Woman Pharaohsweet! interested in trade (economy), not war (conquests). ruled for 21 years & it was peaceful. Thutmose III put the focus back on conquest

The New Kingdom

Ahmose

Hatshepsut

Thutmose III

The Legacies of 2 Pharaohs

Akhenaton tried to change the religionwowthat must have REALLY upset a lot of people! He was so focused on his new religion, enemies came and took a bunch of their land! Tutankhamen (his son-in-law) was 10 when he became king. Thats younger than yallyikes! Ruled for 9 years and died mysteriously. King Tut didnt really do much, but his tomb was discovered un-looted, so all the good stuff was still in there. Cool!

The End of the New Kingdom

Pharaohs tried to get Egypt back on its feet. Ramses II did a good job of this. He helped regain lands, rebuilt the empire, built a lot of new temples (they were banks too). Whaaaat?! He had many wives and more than 100 kids! Here we go againthe Egyptian empire fell because another group had better weapons! Poor Egypt. They didnt have any iron ore.

 Remember how the Assyrians were the 1st empire & they had iron weapons that they had learned to make from the Hittites? You gotta have good weapons to have an empire. Remember how when people start fighting for power, they get so distracted that another group is waiting on the sidelines ready to attack while no one is looking? This happens a lot in history

Ohhhh, yeaaah!...