MTCegypt

Back to homepage.

__**Geography-**__
 * Located in Africa
 * Desert
 * Black Land/Red Land
 * Considered the Nile a god.
 * Egypt was the "gift" of the Nile.
 * Nile river.
 * Fertile Soil-Silt.
 * Flooding-Predictable; knew when but not how much.

__**Environmental Challenges-**__
 * Flooding-too much(starve), too little (kill)
 * Desert: Forced to live on a strip of land (Black Land) surrounding the river.
 * Cut off interaction/trade with other people.
 * Shut out invaders - spared much ancient warefare.
 * Cateracts - Rapids caused by boulders - impossible for boats to pass.


 * __Transportation-__**
 * Boats on the Nile.
 * water highway protmoted trade and untited villages.
 * Traveled against currant, used a sail.


 * __Government-__**
 * Pharaohs
 * Though of as gods
 * Divided into upper and lower Egypt
 * Pharaohs controlled nature.
 * Pyramids - final resting place.
 * Theocracy, gov't based on religion.
 * 31 dynastys.
 * Pharaohs ruled after death.
 * Power of pharaohs ended in 2180 BC, that was the end of the old kingom
 * Middle Kingdom (2040-1640)
 * Strong Pharaohs regained control.
 * Hyksos took over Egypt (1630-1523BC)


 * __Religion-__**
 * Theocracy - Gov't
 * Pyramids were the burial ground/afterlife.
 * Worshipped 200+ gods.
 * Belief in afterlife.
 * Polytheistic
 * Mummification - Preserve bodies, spirit will use bodies in afterlife.
 * Re, Osirius, Isis, Annubis.
 * Weigh the hearts in the afterlife and if they are more then the weight of a feather the devourer of souls will eat it and the won't continue in the afterlife.

__**Important people-**__
 * Nomer, United Upper and Lower Egypt.
 * 1st dynasty established.

__**Afterlife-**__
 * Kings ruled after death
 * Pyramids/tombs of kings
 * Enbalming
 * Comparison to Mesopotamia. (Afterlife is a bad place)
 * Ka
 * Mummification
 * Book of the Dead.


 * __Architecture-__**
 * Zigg Vs. Pyramid
 * Engineering feats.
 * Link to Gov't/Organization
 * Amazing builders
 * Used Stone,Granate and Limestone

__**Social Classes-**__
 * 1. Kings/Queens, Royal family
 * 2, Wealthy landowners, Gov't officials, Priests, Army Commanders
 * 3. Middle-Class Merchants and Artisens
 * 4. Lower Class, (largest group) *not locked in.
 * 5. Slaves (labor from wars) for rich goldmines, peasents, farmers, and laborers.


 * __Writing-__**
 * Hieroglyphics - sacrad carving.
 * Simple pictographs were the earliest form of writing
 * Picture stood for idea
 * Than writing came more complex - pics stood for sounds.
 * Could almost be used like letters of the alphabet
 * First writing done on stone/clay
 * Invented a new writing surface papyrus (Reeds, Grass)
 * Rosetta Stone found in 1799 - 3 languages (Greek, and 2 forms of hieroglyphics)
 * Used the Greek to decode the Hieroglyphics
 * How we learned how to read the Hieroglyphics.

__**Technology-**__ __**Womens Rights-**__
 * Papyrus
 * Calender - 365 days; 12 monthes; 30 days; 5 holidays,
 * Calender - kept track of time between floods.
 * Developed a system of numbers for counting, adding, and subtraction. Business and taxes.
 * Used star to calcualate.
 * Geometry - survey and reset propertie boundries after floods.
 * 1st to use stone columns
 * Math helped engineers/ architects to make pyramids
 * Surgery
 * Enbalming
 * Medicine, could check heart rate/pulse, treat broken bones, wounds and fevers,
 * Same rights as men
 * Same thingswith divorce.