DBedard+Egypt+Notes

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**__ Egypt

__** **__ Geography __**
 * Located in Africa
 * Nile River
 * Desert
 * Fertile soil = Silt
 * Black land VS. Red land
 * Flooding - Predictable flooding ment they knew when it was going to flood, but didn't know how much
 * Considered the Nile as a god
 * Egypt was a "Gift of the Nile"


 * __ Enviromental Chalenges __**
 * Flooding - Too much kills, too little starves
 * Desert: Forced to live on small stripe of land (Black land) surrounding the river
 * Cut off interaction with other people - Trade was bad, but it shut out invaders that spread much ancient warfare
 * Cataracts = Rapids caused bolders = Imposible for boats to pass


 * __ Transportation __**
 * Boats on the Nile
 * Travled agienst the current by using a sail
 * Water highway promoted trade and unified villages


 * __ Important People __**
 * Namar - United upper and lower Egypt
 * Established first dynasty

**__Government__**
 * Pharaohs
 * Thought of as gods
 * Theocracy = Government based on religion
 * Divided into upper/lower
 * 31 dynasties
 * Pharaohs controled nature
 * Pharaohs continued to lead after death
 * Pyramids - Final resting place
 * Power of pharaohs decline 2,180 B.C. = End of old kingdom, Middle kingdom (2040 - 1640 B.C.)
 * Strong pharaos regained control
 * Hyksos took over Egypt (1630 - 1523 B.C.)


 * __ Religion __**
 * Theocracy = Gov.
 * Pyramid = Buyrial
 * Ground/Tomb for after life
 * Mummification = Preserve bodies
 * Spirit will use body in after life
 * Worship more than 2,000 gods, Re, Osiris, Isis, Annubis
 * Belief in after life
 * Weigh heart to see if the person goes to other world, or if you were eaten by the devourer of souls


 * __ After Life __**
 * Kings ruled even after death
 * Ka (your inner spirit)
 * Pyramids/Tombs of kings
 * Mummification
 * Embalming
 * Book of the Dead
 * Comparison two Mesopotamia (After life is a bad place)


 * __ Architechure __**
 * Ziggarut VS. Pyramid
 * Pyramids were only used for after life, and Ziggaruts were teh center of attenchion
 * Engineering feats
 * Amazing builders
 * Used stone, granite, limestone
 * Link to Govt./Organization
 * __ Social Class __**
 * 1) Upper Class
 * Kings/Queens
 * Royal familey
 * 1) Upper-Middle Class
 * Wealthy land owners
 * Government officals
 * Preists
 * Army commander
 * 1) Middle Class
 * Merchants/Artisans
 * 1) Lower Class
 * Largest group
 * 1) Slaves
 * Laborers from wars to serve the rich or to mine gold
 * Peasants
 * Farmers
 * Laborers
 * __ Writing __**
 * Hieroglyphics = sacred carvings
 * Simple pictographswere the earliest form of writing
 * Then writing became more complex - Pictures stood for sounds
 * It could almost be used like letters of the alphebet
 * First writing was done on stone/clay
 * Invented new writing surface - (papyrass creeds - grass)
 * Rosetta Sotne - Found in 1799 - 3 languages (Greek and 2 forms of Hieroglyphics)
 * Used greek to decode hieroglyphics
 * __ Technology __**
 * Papyrus
 * Calendar - kept track of time between floods
 * Calendar - 365 days (12 months) (30 days) (5 holidays)
 * Used stars to calculate
 * Devloped a system of #'s for counting
 * Adding and subtracting = buisness and taxes
 * Geometry - sarvey and reset property boundries (after floods)
 * Math helped engineers and architects to make pyramids
 * 1st to use stone columns
 * Medicine: Could check heart rate/pulse - set broken bones - treat wounds/fevers - knew surgery
 * Embalming