Section+2-2+Pyramids+on+the+Nile

=Section 2-2: Pyramids on the Nile:=

Key Terms:

 * __Delta__: Big, marshy, trianguler shaped area that is made by a cover of silt from the river.
 * __Pharaoh__: Egypt's kings, who were gods from the heavens.
 * __Theocracy__: When a kingdom is ruled by religious authority.
 * __Pyramid__: They were the tombs for their kings, and acted as their palaces after their deaths.
 * __Mummification__: Is a process where Egyptians would preserve the bodies and would keep them from decaying.
 * __Hieroglyphics__: Egypt's writing system which comes from the Greek term "sacred carving."
 * __Papyrus__: Was used as paper, and would be glued together. Papyrus reeds grew in the delta's marshes.

Key People:

 * __Narmer__: Was the king who united Upper and Lower Egypt and created Egypt's first dynasty.

Key Ideas:

 * The Geography of Egypt:**
 * Nile River spreads 4,100 miles through Africa and is longest river in the world.
 * Egypt settled by the river because of the fertile soil the river gave to the banks.


 * The Gift of the Nile:**
 * In July the Nile River would flood because of melting snow, and would finally fall back down in October, leaving nice fertile land, like in Mesopotamia.
 * The crops farmed in this area includes wheat and barley, the farmers used ditches to hold water during the winter.
 * The Nile River was worshipped like a God.


 * Environmental Challenges:**
 * The Nile River worked like clockwork, which was good for the farmers.
 * Nile River challenges: the flooding wasn't always the same, and when shorter could effect amount of crops, when higher it could destroy villiges/buildings. The surrounding desert greatly reduced the amount of land they could live on, and isolated them.
 * Luckily, the desert also acted as a wall against invaders.


 * Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt:**
 * Ancient Egypt was located in the mouth of the river, river boats was a very common use of transportation, but could not be used past the First Cataract, which was a bunch of boulders making the Nile River into rapids.
 * Farther North up the Nile and First Cataract is two regions. The more northern one is known as Lower Egypt and the more southern one is known as Upper Egypt because of elevation differences. The Lower Egypt has the Nile delta region, which is 100 miles of the Nile River before it enters the Mediterranean Sea.
 * The Nile River's boat transportation system between the two parts of Egypt included floating boats northbound, and sailing boats southbound that helped with trading.


 * Egypt Unites into a Kingdom:**
 * From around 5000 B.C. to 3200 B.C. the farming villiges had their own way of life and religions, but after 3200 B.C., they were divided into Upper and Lower Egypt as kingdoms. These kingdoms were united by two possible men; either King Scorpion, or more likely King Narmer.
 * Since the Upper and Lower kingdoms had different crowns, Upper Egypt had a white bowled shape crown and Lower Egypt had a carved slate called Narmer Palette, there are pictures shown with King Narmer wearing both. Upper and Lower Egypt was united around 3000 B.C.
 * Narmer combined the two crowns to show unification, he made Memphis his capital, and created the first of 31 dynasties in Egypt. These dynasties all happened within 2,600 years, and it is believed that Egypt's best time of civilization is between 3200 B.C. and 2700 B.C.


 * Pharaohs Rules as Gods:**
 * Egypt's kings, or pharaohs, were gods to their people, and Egypt was ruled under religious rulers.
 * It is believed that the pharaoh would make the world turn, and make everything good happen. Which is why they ruled the entire kingdom, they ruled the religions, armies, and he would make truth and justice turn out in the end.


 * Builders of the Pyramids:**
 * it is believed by Egyptians that a pharaoh would always rule, even after death. Their spirit, or //ka// would continue help govern Egypt from beyond the grave, which is why the king's tombs from the Old Kingdom (the "great age") were pyramids, and were decorated and built like palaces.
 * The architecture of the pyramids are amazing, they are made out of over two million stacked blocks that can weigh up to 15 tons, and were made out of limestone or granite and they were built before the wheel, which means they had to carry the blocks of stone.
 * Pyramids show the Old Kingdom's strength, power, and intelligence.


 * Egyptian Culture:**
 * Religion was major in Egypt, and because of the surrounding nature, Egypt advanced quickly and greatly.


 * Religion and Life:**
 * Egypt was a country who believed in over 2,000 gods and goddesses and built pyramids to honor the more important gods, like Re, the god of the sun, and Isis, the goddess of the ideal mother and wife.
 * Egyptians believed in an afterlife, were they would be judged for their deeds in the underworld. You would either go to the Other World, which was amazing beautiful, or you would be eaten by the beast known as the Devourer of Souls. This would all be judged by how heavy your heart is, the heavier it is, the more sins you have, the heavier the heart.
 * The higher social status you have, the bigger preparation you can make to make your journey to the Other World easier. Royalty would build huge pyramids, the rest of Egypt would build smaller ones depending on their wealth. The uppermost statuses were able to be mummified after death.
 * The mummy would be put into a tomb and the tomb would be filled with objects they needed for their afterlife, including clothing, jewelry, and scrolls with writing, which now has all been put together in a collection know as the //Book of the Dead.//


 * Pyramids and Mummies:**
 * On the tombs are names of the group of people who built it, like the companies signature.
 * The people who built the tombs were peasants who didn't have jobs during the flooding season, they, received homes and food from the government in return.


 * Life in Egyptian Society:**
 * Egyptian's built a pyramids made out of social classes: first royalty, then upper class (the wealthy), middle class (merchants, artists), and the lower class, which was the biggest (slaves, farmers, and laborers).
 * Salves were mostly captives from war and would work for the upper class.
 * It was possible to change your social status. You could climb up "the latter" by marrying a higher class, having important skills (the most important: writing and reading), getting a better/higher job, and slaves earning freedom.
 * Women had equal rights, they could own property, seek marriage and propose themselves, also, if divorced, she would receive 1/3 of the property.


 * Egyptian Writing:**
 * Writing was Egypt's major reason for growth, their first form of writing was pictographs, which soon evolved into a new form of writing: hieroglyphics.
 * In hieroglyphics, a picture was a translation for an idea, but turned into sounds instead, which is how Egyptians created an alphabet.
 * At first, they would write of pieces of clay, but they soon started to write on papyrus reeds, which was easier. They would lay them across in strips next to each other, and would glue themselves together with their own sap as they dried.


 * Egyptian Science and Technology:**
 * Egyptians invented things that they needed, like a calendar, which would tell them when the floods would come. The calendar was determined by the priests who would study the star Sirius, and created a 365 day calendar with 12 months and 30 days for each month. It was short of the solar calendar by only 6 hours!
 * Egyptians created a counting and numbers system in order to add, subtract, and collect taxes. Math also helped with the calendar, and building.
 * Their medicine was also amazing, the doctors found out the different locations on the body to count his/her pulse, they would fix broken arms, they knew how to treat fevers, and would even occasionally perform surgery!


 * Invaders Control Egypt:**
 * Pharaoh's power was lost in 2180 B.C., which ended the Old Kingdom, but regained it in in the Middle Kingdom 2040-1640 B.C. and improved trading and created many new acres of land to farm on.
 * Hyksos in 1640 B.C. invaded from Palestine and took control from 1630-1523 B.C.
 * New Kingdom was the next period for Egypt.