Unit 9 Part 4: Egypt: Natural Environment and History
p.146
4.1 The Natural Environment
Egypt = -big desert w/
Nile River crossing N to S
Nile = -flows from Lake Victoria to Med. Sea
-big delta at mouth of river
-flooded once per year in Ancient times, fertilizing the banks
-Ppl. Worhsipped the river b/c it was a source of life + main transport route
LOWER Egypt = North: delta= flat, marshy area
UPPER Egypt = South: Nile River Valley = got the Nile’s floods
4.2 The History of Egypt p.147
-3100BC Upper + Lower
Egypt united by King Menes
Periods:
1. THE OLD KINGDOM = 2700-2200BC
-Time
of splendor, Pyramids built by Pharaohs, capital of empire
= Memphis
2. THE MIDDLE KINGDOM = 2052 – 1786BC
-capital moved
to Thebes
-territory increased
-1786BC
The Hyksos invaded Egypt à moved capital
to Avaris (stayed almost 200 years)
3. THE NEW KINGDOM = 1567 – 1085BC
-Huge prosperity
-capital moved
to Thebes
-Pharaohs ruled (ex.
Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Ramses II and III)
4. THE LATE PERIOD = 1085-30BC
-time of decline
- Egypt disintegrates into
small, independent states
-invaded by Ethiopians,
Assyrians + Persians
-332BC Alexander the Great
conquers Egypt
-Rome rules Egypt after
Cleopatra dies
Part 5: Life and Culture in Egypt p.150
5.1 The Economy p.151
AGRICULTURE
-built dams+canals w/Nile
water
-cereals (for bread +
beer)
-flax (clothing)
-grapes, onions, lentils,
peas
LIVESTOCK
-cows, sheep, goats, pigs,
ducks, geese, + chickens
-fished from Nile
CRAFTWORK
-pottery, metalwork,
jewelry+ fabric making
TRADE
-w/Mesopotamia, Greece
etc.
-sold agricultural produce
+ craftwork
-bought wood, metals +
slaves
5.2 Society p.152
Hierarchy:
1. PHARAOH + his family
- king/god
-owned all land + ppl.
-held absolute power
2. RULING CASTE
-priests
-vizier (head of public of
public administration)
-important public servants
ex. provincial governors, military commanders, treasurers + scribes
3.OTHER FREE PEOPLE
-soldiers
-craft workers
-workers
-farmers
-foreigners
4. SLAVES
-worked in mines
-did domestic chores
Role of Women:
-They had greater freedom
than in other civilizations.
-could walk the streets
freely
-could own property
w/their husbands
-had same legal rights as
men
5.3 Religion
-polytheists (believed in
many gods)
-zoomorphic gods (w/ human
+ animal aspects)
-believed in life after
death à mummified dead
5.4 Arts and Sciences
-written texts preserved
on papyrus (plant) + inscribed on temple/tomb walls
- ex. The Book of the
Dead (religious)
-Understood basic
math à could calculate volumes of cylinders + pyramids
-Advanced
medicine à performed surgeries, understood fractures + other problems
5.5 Architecture + Art p.153
ARCHITECTURE
-colossal constructions
-dressed stones + columns
-temples
-religious buildings, dedicated to gods, where priests lived
-rock temples (ex: Abu Simbel temples)
-parts: shrine, open courtyard, avenue lined with stone sphinxes (p.153)
-tombs
-Mastabas
-for pharaohs + important public servants
-flat topped pyramids
-Pyramids
-tombs
for the pharaoh and his family
-formed
a labyrinth of rooms/passageways
-corpse
surrounded by treasure
-Hypogea
(1 hypogeum)
-underground
tombs carved out of rock
-had
various passageways leading to funerary chamber of pharaoh
SCULPTURE p.154
-for
religious + funerary purposes
-pharaoh
+ family w/ idealized depiction: young + big
-faces
static, inexpressive, looking straight ahead
-depictions
of nobles/civil servants more realistic
-small
statues of wood or clay depicting agricultural tasks + crafts
-reliefs
in wood + stone
PAINTING
-used
to worship the gods + for decoration
-techniques:
1. Tempera: pain diluted w/egg yolk or glue
2. fresco: paint dissolved in water + applied to a
wet plaster wall
-subjects
of paintings gods + humans
-more
important figures depicted as larger
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