Scovish+R.+Egypt

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The Nile flows North across Africa 4,200 miles Black land is closer to the Nile and more fertile compared to the Red land Every July, rain and melting snow come from the mountains and cause the Nile to rise and spill All fall and winter they used irrigation ditches to water crops They worshipped the Nile as a God Called Egypt the Gift of the Nile Natural barriers were sand, and lots of it
 * __Geography__**

Each village had their own gods, chieftain and rituals Pharaohs were thought of as Gods Egypt was a theocracy There were two parts of Egypt, upper and lower Narmer united upper and lower Egypt by connecting the two crowns It was ruled by 31 dynasties The power decline began in 2180 BC This marked the end of the Old Kingdom The Middle Kingdom took place between 2040 -1640 BC The strong pharaohs regained control Hyksos took over Egypt 1630 - 1523
 * __Government__**

Top social class: Kings, Queens and the Royal Family Second: Wealthy landowners, government officials, priests, the army commander Third: Merchants and artisans Fourth: Farmers and laborers (largest group) Lowest social class: Slaves
 * __Social Class__**

Hieroglyphics were the sacred carvings of the Egyptian people Simple pictographs were the earliest form of writing A picture stood for an idea and more complex ones stood for sounds They could almost be used like letters of the alphabet First writing done on stone and clay Next was ink on papyrus paper, made out of papyrus reeds The Rosetta stone was found in 1799 with three different languages on it, one were hieroglyphics
 * __Writing__**

Narmer, whom united upper and lower Egypt and created the first dynasty
 * __Important People__**

Tombs of the pharaohs were more important in society than all other places Egyptians were polytheistic, meaning they believed in more than one god or goddess They worshipped over 2,000 gods and goddesses Pharaohs were mummified, embalmed and buried with their belongings and servants to aid them and help them rule in the afterlife Organs were placed in canopic jars In afterlife, Anubis would weigh your heart to see how heavy it was with sin If heart was very heavy, the Devourer of Souls would eat your heart Osiris was the god of the dead Anubis was the god of the underworld Re was the god of sun Isis was the goddess of the ideal wife and mother
 * __Religion__**

Kings or pharaohs ruled in the afterlife as well Ka was the eternal life force of Egyptians The Book of the Dead was a book of scrolls of hymns, prayers and spells to aid in the afterlife
 * __Afterlife__**

Used papyrus, reeds that were taken and put together by a machine that turned it into paper by rolling it over the reeds Egyptian calendar was 365 days, 12 months, each 30 days, and 5 holidays Used the star Sirius to calculate when Nile would flood Developed a system of numbers for counting, adding, and subtracting taxes Developed geometry to survey and reset property damage after floods Math helped engineers and architects to make the pyramids First to use stone columns Their medicine could check heart rate and pulse, set broken bones, treat wounds and fevers and knew basic surgeries Embalming was used to preserve the body with chemicals and then it was wrapped with waxen cloth Used canopic jars which held the liver, heart and other organs, which went into tombs with the pharaohs
 * __Technology__**

When Nile floods were low, people starved and water for crops were greatly reduced When Nile floods were high, houses, granaries and seeds were damaged and destroyed Deserts were natural barriers which forced Egyptians to live on one small portion of land which reduced interaction with other people and cultures Cataracts were rapids caused my churning rapids caused by boulders, which made it very hard for boats to travel up and down the Nile
 * __Challenges__**

5,000 BC: Farming villages began 3,000 BC: Civilization began, the age of the Pharaohs 2009 modern day Egypt to the west of the fertile crescent or Mesopotamia
 * __Time Periods__**

Ziggurats VS Pyramids Used granite, stone and limestone
 * __Architecture__**

Unlike Mesopotamians, Egyptians could predict when the floods were coming Egypt was spared of constant war by their natural barriers Barriers in Egypt were the deserts, and in Mesopotamia there was swampy land Mesopotamia had more cultural development and diffusion due to their Ziggurats which had many different people going in and out Egypt had little human interaction because of harsh climate and being forced to live on a small portion of land
 * __Comparing Egypt to Mesopotamia__**