Pyramids on the Nile

1/30/20
Main Idea: Science and Technology. Using the mathematical knowledge and engineering skills Egyptians built beautiful monuments to honor dead rulers
Why it Matters Now: Many of the monuments built by the Egyptians stand as a testament to their ancient civilizations
  • delta-a marshy region formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of a river
  • Narmer- an ancient Egyptian king 
  • pharaoh-a king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political and military leader
  • theocracy-a government in which the ruler is viewed as a divine figure; a government controlled by religious leaders
  • pyramid-a massive structure with a rectangular base and four triangular sides like those that were built in Egypt as burial places for Old Kingdom pharaohs 
  • mummification-a process of embalming and drying corpses to prevent them from decaying
  • hieroglyphics-an ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds
  • papyrus- a tall reed that grows in the Nile delta, used by the ancient Egyptians to make a paper like material for writing on
The Geography of Egypt
  • nile flows northward across Africa for over 4,100 miles making it the longest river in the world
Gift of the Nile
  • yearly flooding brought water and rich soil that allowed settlements to grow 
  • Every year in July, rains and melting snow from the mountains cause the river to overflow its own banks
  • When the river receded in October, it left behind silt
  • who the soil was parched, the peasants would water the crops all fall and winter using irrigation ditches 
Environmental Challenges
  • Nile was as regular as clockwork
  • When the Nile floodwaters were lower than normal, the amount of fresh silt was greatly reduced
  • when floodwaters were higher, it would destroy houses
  • the desert surrounding the Nile acted as natural barriers between Egypt and other lands
  • forced Egyptians to live on a small portion of land that reduced interaction with other lands
Lower and Upper Egypt
  • river travel was common but it ended at the point in the Nile where boulders turn the river into curing rapids called cataract 
  • this made it impossible for riverboats to pass the First Cataract to continue upstream south to the interior of Africa
  • Upper Egypt => the river area in the south because the elevation was higher
  • Lower Egypt => includes Nile delta region
  • the Nile provided a reliable system of transportation between Upper and Lower Egypt

Egypt Unites into a Kingdom
  • each villages had its own rituals, gods, and chieftain

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