Ancient Egypt and the Nile

Ancient Egypt and the Nile

Egypt • Primarily desert • Part of the Sahara Desert

Nile River Land is very moist and fertile near the river Nile River basin was home to many different types of animals Water from the Nile allowed the Egyptians to grow huge crops of: barley emmer wheat beans chickpeas flax Made oils and traded Able to raise different farm animals: Chickens Cattle Supplied the Ancient Egyptians with a year-round supply of fish to eat

History • Civilization of Ancient Egypt flourished for more than 3,000 years • Survived years of wars and political struggle • Most of Ancient Egyptian history is organized according to the Kingdom, or Dynasty, that was in control of Ancient Egypt at the time

Ancient Egyptian Life • Built their homes from bricks of sun-dried mud. • The houses would have several rooms and windows covered with curtains to keep out flies and dust • During the summers, many people slept on their roofs to keep cool • Egyptians had very little furniture - usually only small stools and jewelry boxes • Clothing was made out of linen. • Both men and women wore skirts called kilts, and children usually didn't wear clothes at all in the warm weather • Wealthy women sometimes wore beaded dresses, and wealthy men often wore decorative robes Homes Clothing

Language • The language spoken by Ancient Egyptians changed a bit over time • Came from: • the languages spoken to the east of Egypt • Semitic languages like Hebrew, • and languages spoken to the south, • Hamitic languages like Somali. • The words in this language are mostly made up of consonant sounds • Old Egyptian is the language that scientists believe was being spoken at the time when the pyramids were built • Middle Egyptian came a bit later and has been found on many recently discovered business and government documents • Coptic • the last known stage of the Ancient Egyptian language • used a lot of the Greek alphabet with only a few additional letters from the older Egyptian languages • Coptic was mainly used by the Egyptian Christians toward the end of the time of the Ancient Egyptians.

Education Education was very important to the Ancient Egyptians By becoming educated, Egyptians could move up to a more respected position in the society Getting a respected job, however, meant learning how to read and write • Hieroglyphs Schoolchildren spent hours copying these hieroglyphs in order to get their education Egyptian children also learned a lot about math in school. Importance of Math • Pyramids Young boys went to school to learn reading, writing, religion, and arithmetic. There were no schools for girls, but many learned to read and write at home.

Pyramids Step True

Pyramids (cont’d) • Built in Ancient Egypt as tombs, or burial places, for Egyptian pharaohs, or kings • Believed in an afterlife, so it was very important to them to protect the bodies of their pharaohs • In order to keep the body of the pharaoh safe, the insides of the pyramids were like mazes with secret doors and dead-end passages • The pharaoh would be near the bottom or even underground • Other rooms contained things like jewelry and furniture that the pharaoh might want in his next life

Pyramids (cont’d) • The Egyptians had to use their hands to make big blocks out of different kinds of sand, clay, and stone • Pulled them up big ramps onto the pyramid • The largest pyramid ever built was over 450 feet high

Pyramids of Giza

Mummies • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwiYnzfLUwI

Ancient Egypt and the Nile