cnc+Egypt

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 * Notes on Egypt **

__**Geography**__ Located in Africa Nile River Desert Fertile soil- silt Black land/Red land Flooding- Predictable Know when, but now how much Nile was considered as a god Egypt was a "gift of the Nile"

__**Enviromental Challenges**__ Flooding- too much (starvation) too little (kill) Desert: foreced to live on a strip of land (black land) surrounding the river Cut off interation/trade with other people Shut out invaders, spared warfare Cararacts- rapids, caused by boulders, impossible for boats to travel

__**Transportation**__ Boats on the Nile Traveled against the current Used a sail Water highway promoted trade and unified villages\

__**Important People**__ Narmer- unified Upper and Lower Egypt and established first dynasty

__**Government**__ Pharohs Thought of as gods Theocracy Divided by upper/lower Egypt Pharohs ruled after death Pyramids- final resting place Power of pharohs decline 2180 B.C. (end of Old Kingdom) Middle Kingdom 2040-1640 B.C. Strong pharohs regained control Hyksos took over Egypt (1630-1523 B.C.)

__**Religion**__ Theocracy Pyramids- burial ground Mummification- preserved bodies Spirit will use body in afterlife Worshiped 2000+ gods (Re, Osiris, Isis, Anubis) Weighed heart; after-life/ devourer of souls

__**After Life**__ Kings ruled even after death Ka Pyraminds/tombs of kings Mummification (why) Embalming Book of Dead

Ziggurat vs. pyramid Pyramid used for death Engineering feats: amazing bulders Used stone, granite, limestone Link to government and organization
 * __Architecture__**

__**Social Class**__ Government officlas Priests, army commanders Merchants/artisans Pheasants, farmers, loborers Laborers from wars working for the rich, and in gold mines
 * 1.** Kings/queens: royal family
 * 2.** Wealthy landowners
 * 3.** Middle class
 * 4.** Lower Class (largest)
 * 5.** Slaves

Hieroglyphics- sacred carving Simple pictographs were the earliest form of writing Picture stood for idea Writing became more complex Pictures stood for sounds and could almost be used like letters of the alphabet First writing was on stone or clay New writing surfaces were invented (papyrus) Rosetta Stone- found in 1799, 3 languages (Greek, two forms of hieroglyphics) Greek was used to decode hieroglyphics
 * __Writing__**

__**Technology**__ Papyrus Calendar- kept track between flooding (12 months, 30 days, 5+ holidays) Used stars to calculate Developed system of numbers for counting and adding/subtracting which led to more buisness and tax Geometry- survey/reset land boundries after the floods Math helped people build the pyramids First to use stone columns Medicine: could check heart rate/pulse, help broken bones, treat wounds/fevers, knew how to preform surguries Enbalming

__**Compared to Mesopotamia**__ Flooding Warfare- desert cut off from wars in Egypt, didn't have constant war like Mesopotamia After life=bad place in Meso and Egypt Ziggurat was for social purposes, not like the pyramid used for death