CSEgypt

Home Page **__Egypt Geography __** __**Afterlife **__
 * Black Land to Red Land (Changes from fertile soil to desert)
 * Every July, rain and melting snow from Mts. Cause Nile to rise and spill
 * Nile River (flows North across Africa over 4,100 miles)
 * Africa
 * __Challenges __**
 * Floodwaters lower-->people starved (water for crops reduced
 * Floodwaters higher-> destroyed houses, granaries, seeds
 * Desert = natural barriers/forced Egyptians to liveo n small portion of land = reduced interaction w/ ppl
 * Cataracts=rapids caused by boulders (impossible for boats to pass)
 * __Religion __**
 * Pryamid =burial for afterlife
 * worshipped over 2,000 Gods
 * Each village had own rituals/gods/chieftain
 * Tombs more important than palaces
 * Devourer of souls would eat heavy hearts
 * heart couldn't weigh more than a feather
 * __Government __**
 * 2 separate Kingdoms (Upper and Lower Egypt)
 * King Scorpian or Narmer united Egypt
 * Lower Egypt- Red Crown
 * Upper Egypt-White Crown, like bowling pin
 * Narmer created the double crown
 * Narmer created 1st Egyptian Dynasty
 * 31 dynasties over 2,600 years
 * kings were gosd
 * Egyptian God kings- Pharoahs
 * Theocracy-gov. based on religious authority
 * Mummification (preserved bodies..they think the spirit will use body in the afterlife)
 * Believed king ruled after death (Ka)-eternal life force
 * Embalming means to preserve
 * Book of Dead (book w/ spells, prayers, hyms--a guide to the afterlife)
 * __Architecture__**
 * Ziggurat vs. Pyramid (Ziggurat=Social place) (Pyramid=tomb/death)
 * Engineering Feats-Egyptians were amazing builders
 * Used Stone, Granite, and Limestone
 * __Mesopotamia Vs. Egypt__**
 * //Meso//-2 Rivers //Egypt-//1
 * //Meso-// Unpredictable flooding //Egypt-//knew when
 * //Meso-//Kings represented gods //Egypt-//kings were gods
 * //Meso-// Ziggurat //Egypt -// Pyramids
 * //Meso-// Constant warfare //Egypt-// no war (desert was natural barrier)
 * //Meso-// bleak view of death (land of no return) //Egypt-// Afterlife
 * //Meso-// Dictatorship/Priests //Egypt-// Pharaohs/theocracy Kings/Queens
 * __Social Class__**
 * 1.Kings/Queens (royal family)
 * 2. Wealthy Landowners, gov. officials, priests, army commanders
 * 3. Middle class Merchants, artisans
 * 4. lower class (Largest group) Peasants, farmers, laborers
 * 5. Slaves (labor from war..gold mining, servants for the rich) not locked in
 * __Writing__**
 * Complex pics stood for sounds
 * Rosetta stone (3 different languages..Greek, 2 forms of heiroglyphics)
 * Used Greek to read hieroglyphics
 * Pictographs, scribes
 * Hieros + gulph = sacred carving
 * papyrus reeds
 * __Technology__**
 * Calender (keep track of floods)
 * Written #'s (adding, sub., + counting)
 * Medicine (pulse rates, broken bone treatments, surgeries)
 * Priests observed the Sirius Star ..appeared in horizon before floods came
 * __War/Military__**
 * Hyskos "rulers of foreign land" ruled egypt from 1630-1523 B.C