ANCIENT
EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION
Nick,
Clinton, Mario
GEOGRAPHY BACKGROUND
The
ancient Egyptians enjoyed many natural barriers. There were deserts to the east
and west of the Nile River, and mountains to the south. This isolated the
ancient Egyptians and allowed them to develop a truly distinctive culture.
The
Nile is the world's longest river. It is over 4000 miles long! It is shaped
like the lotus flower so often seen in ancient Egyptian art. Each spring, water
would run off the mountains and the Nile would flood. As the flood waters
receded, black rich fertile soil was left behind. The ancient Egyptian called
this rich soil The Gift of the Nile.
Fertile
soil for crops was not the Nile's only gift. The Nile gave the ancient
Egyptians many gifts. Thanks to the Nile, these ancient people had fresh water
for drinking and bathing. The Nile supported transportation and trade. It
provided materials for building, for making cloth for clothes, and even for
making paper - made from the wild papyrus weed, that grew along the shores of
the Nile.
Because of the annual flooding of the Nile, the
ancient Egyptians enjoyed a high standard of living compared to other ancient
civilizations. Without the Nile, Egypt would be a desert.
ACHIEVEMENTS
1. PYRAMIDS
It was only during the
time of the Old Kingdom that the ancient Egyptians built pyramids
to hold the royal tombs of their kings. Pyramids were huge structures. Pyramids
had storage rooms, courtyards, secret passageways, and all kinds of fancy traps
designed to catch robbers who tried to break into the pyramid to rob it.
Pyramids
were full of treasures. The average person created grave goods to take with them
to their afterlife. Imagine the treasures a pharaoh might feel were necessary
to bring along!
The
first pyramid, the Step Pyramid, was built around 2700 BCE, nearly 5000 years
ago! Pyramid construction was abandoned after the time of the Old Kingdom. It
was simply too easy to find a pyramid. Grave robbers knew exactly where the
pharaohs were buried, and thus knew exactly where to find riches and wealth. If
you were caught, the penalty for grave robbing was death.
The
ancient Egyptians did not simply build a pyramid, bury a pharaoh, and walk
away. A whole city grew up around a pyramid during its construction. These
cities were called pyramid cities.
2.
MUMMIFICATIONS
The
best way the ancient Egyptians knew how to preserve a body was to mummify it.
The poor placed the bodies of their dead relatives out in the sun, in the
desert sand. The bodies mummified naturally.
Anyone
who could afford it went to a professional mummy maker. People wanted to look
their best in their afterlife.
3.
PAPYRUS
One
of the many "Gifts
of the Nile" was
a weed called papyrus. This weed grew wildly along the shores of the Nile
River.
The
ancient Egyptians used papyrus to make many things, such as baskets, sandals,
mats, rope, and paper!
4.
MATH
The
Egyptians invented a decimal system. They used 7 different symbols.
- 1 was represented by a single stroke.
- 10 was shown by drawing one hobble.
- 100 was shown with a drawing one coil of rope.
- 1,000 was represented by a drawing of one
lotus plant.
- 10,000 was shown as one finger.
- 100,000 was represented by a drawing of one
frog. (A hieroglyphic of six frogs in a row would mean 600,000)
- 1,000,000 was represented by the figure of a
god with raised arms
GOVERNMENT
Several
million people lived in ancient Egypt. But they didn't own anything - not their
house, not their jewelry or pets or crops or anything. The only person who
owned in ancient Egypt was the pharaoh. The pharaoh owned everything. The
pharaoh was in charge of everything.
To
help him do a good job, the pharaoh had helpers - lots and lots of helpers.
Some helpers were members of the royal family. Others were people who had
worked their way up the government ladder. Each pharaoh had an organized army,
a police force, and a huge number of ministers and government officials to
assist him.
The
ancient Egyptians loved titles. So it's not surprising that government
officials gave themselves all kinds of titles, some quite elaborate.
But
in ancient Egypt, the only title that really mattered besides the title of
Pharaoh was that of Vizier. The Vizier was Pharaoh's right hand man.
GOVERNMENT
LEADER
Tut
was only nine years old when he became Pharaoh. He was only 18 years old when
he died. The people did not have a lot of time to build Tut's tomb. Tut's tomb
was very small compared to the tombs of other pharaohs.
Because
his tomb was so small, it was overlooked for thousands of years.
In
1922, a British archaeologist named Howard Carter entered King Tut's tomb. It
was almost like entering a time machine.
Robbers
might have been there because a bag of gold rings was found on the floor, as if
dropped in haste. But they did not take everything because Carter and his team
found many treasures inside the tomb including a solid gold mask of King Tut's
face.
The
artifacts in Tut's tomb told archaeologists and scientists a great deal about
ancient Egyptian daily life. Many people all over the world became interested
in learning more about ancient Egypt because of the exciting discovery of an
ancient tomb full of treasure.
DAILY
LIFE
The
ancient Egyptians were fascinating people, and thanks to the movies, are often
misunderstood. The ancient Egyptians
were not in love with death, but with life! They enjoyed their life to
the fullest. They worked very hard, but saved time to enjoy family, friends,
music, parties, swimming, fishing, hunting, sailing, and especially their
children, all of which were very important to the ancient Egyptians.
In
ancient Egypt, children were the heart of the family. If a couple could not
have a child, they adopted a child.
Children
were taught to be kind and honest, to respect their parents, to help with the
family business, and to care for the elder members of their family.
It
was important that children learn to be caring. The ancient Egyptians believed
in "ma'at" - order and justice. They spent a lifetime trying to be
fair and just at all times.
The
ancient Egyptians believed that you could only reach your afterlife if your
heart was light. The only way your heart would be light is if you had spent a
lifetime being kind and honest.
Anyone
and everyone, from the pharaoh on down, who made a mistake or lost their temper
made up for it by doing good deeds to balance the scale.
We
think you'll be truly amazed at what you will discover about those creative,
clever, curious, hard working, life-loving, game-creating, light-hearted people
- the ancient Egyptians. We think you'll like them!
JOBS
Important
jobs in ancient Egypt included soldiers, scribes, artists, and peasants. Most
jobs were inherited. If your father was a farmer, so were you.
Anyone,
however, could learn to be a scribe if they had the talent. Learning to be a
script was a complicated process. Scribes went to scribe school. Most who
attended did not pass the course.
In
ancient Egypt, everything was written down, especially lists. Scribes were in
high demand. Good scribes could work their way up, all the way to Pharaoh's
court.
HOMES
The
ancient Egyptians built homes of sun-dried bricks, made of mud and straw.
To
make the bricks, the ancient Egyptians invented brick molds. A mix of mud and
straw was placed into the molds. Then, the molds were left out in the sun to
dry. The desert heat dried the bricks for them. They could make a huge number
of bricks easily.
Their
homes were huge. Homes had flat roofs. People often sat outside on their roofs
in the evening to watch the sunset and catch the evening breeze.
Nobles Homes: Nobles lived in
huge villas along the Nile. Some were front with white limestone, which made
the walls sparkle. A few homes were even built with stone. But stone was
difficult to cut and use. Most homes were made of sun dried brick.
Each
villa had 25-30 rooms. Most rooms had a purpose. They had family rooms, guest
rooms, storage rooms, kids rooms, and even bathrooms!
SYMBOLS
The
ancient Egyptians used many symbols.
- The red crown was the symbol of Lower Egypt.
- The white crown was the symbol for Upper
Egypt.
- The scarab beetle was a symbol of
resurrection.
- The lotus flower was a symbol of creation and
rebirth.
- The eye of Horus symbolized protection.
And
then there was the ankh.
One
of the artifacts found in King Tut's tomb was a beautiful ankh. The ankh is
also found in ancient hieroglyphics and it was used as an design on tomb walls.
The
ankh was a common symbol in ancient Egypt.
BELIEFS
The
Book of the Dead is not a book. It's a nickname for a bunch of
different magical spells written down in various ways by the ancient Egyptians.
Nearly
all of the magical spells that have been discovered to date were written to
help the ancient Egyptian safely reach their afterlife. Egyptologists have
found about 200 different spells so far, most written on piece of papyrus, some
written on tomb walls.
Everyone
in ancient Egypt wanted to safely reach the afterlife.
They believed the afterlife was a real place, and they believed magical spells
would help them get there.
Wealthy Egyptians hired scribes to write down all their personal
favorite spells on papyrus sheets. Once prepared, this collection of spells was
packed carefully away with their other grave goods, to be placed in their tomb someday.
