Chapter 5 - Ancient Egypt
"A pupil may show you by his own efforts how much he deserves to learn from you." - Egyptian Proverb
The Story Matters:
When you think of the most powerful person in your country, who is it? Is it the president? For ancient Egyptians, one of the most important beings was the god Osiris. Osiris controlled the power of life and death. AS the god of agriculture, he controlled the very food Egyptians ate. He allowed the Nile River to flood its banks and bring fertile soil and water to the Egyptian desert. Osiris also knew death. In the underworld, the souls of the dead met the god Osiris. He did not have the power to return the dead to life, but he was a symbol of ongoing life. As you read this chapter, you will learn how the forces of life and death shaped the daily life of the ancient Egyptians and Kushites.
Egyptians decorated royal tombs with images of the pharaohs, gods, and the afterlife. The image of Osiris, the son of the sky god Horus, appears in many tombs. He was thought to be responsible for successful harvests. To honor Osiris, Egyptians planted special gardens.
Egyptians decorated royal tombs with images of the pharaohs, gods, and the afterlife. The image of Osiris, the son of the sky god Horus, appears in many tombs. He was thought to be responsible for successful harvests. To honor Osiris, Egyptians planted special gardens.
It Matters Because:
Lesson 1: The Nile River - The Nile River was the most important factor in the development of ancient Egypt.
Lesson 2: Life in Ancient Egypt - The Egyptian pharaohs were all-powerful rulers. Egyptians built such gigantic and sturdy pyramids in their honor that the pyramids still stand today.
Lesson 3: Egypt's Empire - The leaders during the golden age of Egypt expanded the empire through war and trade. Although Egypt later declined, it greatly influenced other civilizations.
Lesson 4: The Kingdom of Kush - The kingdoms of Nubia and Kush were influenced by Egyptian culture, and they continued many Egyptian traditions.
Lesson 1: The Nile River - The Nile River was the most important factor in the development of ancient Egypt.
Lesson 2: Life in Ancient Egypt - The Egyptian pharaohs were all-powerful rulers. Egyptians built such gigantic and sturdy pyramids in their honor that the pyramids still stand today.
Lesson 3: Egypt's Empire - The leaders during the golden age of Egypt expanded the empire through war and trade. Although Egypt later declined, it greatly influenced other civilizations.
Lesson 4: The Kingdom of Kush - The kingdoms of Nubia and Kush were influenced by Egyptian culture, and they continued many Egyptian traditions.
- Students will understand the different elements/factors that encouraged the growth of the Nile River civilizations and their contributions to other civilizations by integrating visual information with corresponding evidence, data, and facts found within print and digital text.
Learning Scale:
4.0: Students will be able to: analyze the similarities and differences between Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
3.0: Students will be able to:
3.0: Students will be able to:
- understand the different factors that encouraged the growth of Nile River civilizations and their contributions to other civilizations.
- summarize important achievements such as development of new farming techniques, calendar, pyramids, art and architecture, hieroglyphic writing and record-keeping, literature such as The Book of the Dead, mummification)
- summarize characteristics related to advanced government/cities, social structure, religion, arts/writing, advanced technology of Ancient Egypt
- Explain the contributions of 2 key figures within Ancient Egypt and describe how they had a lasting impact on the Egyptian civilization
- Explain how religion, social classes, and the government of Egypt affected the lives of the Egyptian people.
- Explain how Ancient Egypt interacted with other civilizations
- recognize and describe specific terminology such as: pharaoh, hieroglyphics, dynasty, social class, unify, isolate, labor
- locate Ancient Egypt and the Nile River on a map
- explain how the Nile River affected the way of life of the Ancient Egyptians
- identify the different social classes in Ancient Egypt
Content Vocabulary:
Academic Vocabulary:
Short History: Egypt
Mysterious hieroglyphics. Abandoned tombs filled with mummies and golden artifacts. Great pyramids surrounded by desert sands. Ancient Egypt rose to power in 3200 BC, combining the farming settlements along the Nile River to create the first Egyptian kingdom. The fortunes of the people were deeply dependent on the Nile River—growing their food in the rich black soil along the river’s edge.
The religion of the ancient Egyptians reflects their reliance on the natural world. The Sun god, Ra, was the most powerful of all the gods. But there were dozens of others. The lion-headed Sakhmet was the goddess of fire and vengeance. Horus, the falcon, was the god of the sky and war.
The religion of the ancient Egyptians reflects their reliance on the natural world. The Sun god, Ra, was the most powerful of all the gods. But there were dozens of others. The lion-headed Sakhmet was the goddess of fire and vengeance. Horus, the falcon, was the god of the sky and war.
The kings and queens, called “pharaohs,” were considered gods on Earth, and it was their job to make sure the kingdom was in harmony with all the gods. That meant having religious ceremonies and building temples to honor the gods. For example, there were temples all around Egypt filled with live crocodiles to honor the god of the Nile, the crocodile-headed Sobek.
Maintaining harmony with the gods also meant that when a pharaoh died, he or she had to be ushered into the afterlife. Elaborate tombs were built for the pharaohs, their bodies were mummified to preserve them, and they were buried with many of their possessions, which it was believed they would need in the afterlife.
Caption: The pharaoh Seti, who died in 1279 BC, is shown being welcomed by Anubis, the jackal-headed god and protector of the dead. This carving is found at the Temple of Abydos, which is dedicated to Seti. (BasPhoto/ Shutterstock)
Maintaining harmony with the gods also meant that when a pharaoh died, he or she had to be ushered into the afterlife. Elaborate tombs were built for the pharaohs, their bodies were mummified to preserve them, and they were buried with many of their possessions, which it was believed they would need in the afterlife.
Caption: The pharaoh Seti, who died in 1279 BC, is shown being welcomed by Anubis, the jackal-headed god and protector of the dead. This carving is found at the Temple of Abydos, which is dedicated to Seti. (BasPhoto/ Shutterstock)
Ancient Egyptian culture lasted for almost 3,000 years, but the Egyptian Empire reached its peak in the “New Kingdom,” which lasted from 1550 to 1069 BC. During this period, Egypt expanded its territory, pushing into the Kingdom of Kush in Ethiopia and battling the Hittites, a neighboring empire to the north. Before the New Kingdom, the Egyptian Empire had been somewhat weakened, with some of its outer territories given up to rival kings. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom were determined to reestablish Egypt’s full power—and they engaged in many battles with surrounding forces.
Caption: The great pyramids at Giza were built to be monumental tombs for three ancient Egyptian pharaohs: Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. (sculpies/ Shutterstock)
Caption: The great pyramids at Giza were built to be monumental tombs for three ancient Egyptian pharaohs: Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. (sculpies/ Shutterstock)
One of the most epic battles was the Battle of Kadesh, when pharaoh Ramesses II invaded Hittite-held territory with his massive army of foot soldiers and thousands of horse-drawn war chariots. Although the battle was a draw, it sent the message that the Egyptians were as strong as ever, and the border wars continued until 1258 BC when Ramesses II signed a peace treaty with the Hittites. A copy of this treaty, written in hieroglyphs on the walls of Ramesses II’s tomb and on clay tablets, survives today, the oldest surviving international peace agreement in history.
Caption: When pharaohs and high priests of ancient Egypt died, their bodies were mummified and placed in colorful wooden coffins. The coffin was often placed inside another container sculpted from of stone called a sarcophagus. (In Green/ Shutterstock)
Caption: When pharaohs and high priests of ancient Egypt died, their bodies were mummified and placed in colorful wooden coffins. The coffin was often placed inside another container sculpted from of stone called a sarcophagus. (In Green/ Shutterstock)
Maintaining the Egyptian Empire was far from easy, especially when members of the royal family squabbled among themselves and jockeyed for power. In the end, droughts, famine, foreign invasions, and the high costs of war finally caught up to the ancient Egyptians. After five centuries, the pharaohs could no longer hold their empire together and it broke up into a series of smaller kingdoms, some ruled by foreign invaders (kidsdiscover.com).
Caption: The Abu Simbel Temple was carved out of a mountainside in southern part of the Egyptian Empire under the orders of Pharaoh Ramesses II in 1244 BC. The statues depict the pharaoh himself. More than a vanity project, monuments like this were meant to intimidate rival kingdoms. (Nestor Noci/ Shutterstock)
Caption: The Abu Simbel Temple was carved out of a mountainside in southern part of the Egyptian Empire under the orders of Pharaoh Ramesses II in 1244 BC. The statues depict the pharaoh himself. More than a vanity project, monuments like this were meant to intimidate rival kingdoms. (Nestor Noci/ Shutterstock)
King Tut:
King Tutankhamen (or Tutankhamen) ruled Egypt as pharaoh for 10 years until his death at age 19, around 1324 B.C. Although his rule was notable for reversing the tumultuous religious reforms of his father, Pharaoh Akhenaten, Tutankhamen’s legacy was largely negated by his successors. He was barely known to the modern world until 1922, when British archaeologist Howard Carter chiseled through a doorway and entered the boy pharaoh’s tomb, which had remained sealed for more than 3,200 years. The tomb’s vast hoard of artifacts and treasure, intended to accompany the king into the afterlife, revealed an incredible amount about royal life in ancient Egypt, and quickly made King Tut the world’s most famous pharaoh.
Bet You Didn't Know:
- The Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World that still exists.
- The first recorded use of a bow and arrow dates back 5,000 years to ancient Egypt.
- The Great Pyramid, built in the 25th century B.C., weighs 6 million tons—as much as the Hoover Dam, built 4,500 years later.
- Possibly the largest structure ever built, the Great Pyramid at Giza contains more than 2 million stones.
- Recent DNA testing on the mummies of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen and his family suggested that the boy king's parents were brother and sister.
- The largest and oldest of the pyramids at Giza, the Great Pyramid was built for the pharaoh Khufu in the 25th century B.C.
- Before ancient societies discovered how abundant iron ore is on Earth, their only source of the metal was meteorites. Because they thought it was a gift from the gods, ancient Egyptians called iron "ba-ne-pe," or "metal of heaven."
- The ancient Egyptians won history's first recorded battle in the 15th century B.C. at Megiddo, in what is now Israel.
- Ramses II, one of ancient Egypt's longest-reigning rulers, is believed to have fathered nearly 100 children during his lifetime.
- The first known text on the study of mathematics dates back 3,600 years. It was written by an Egyptian scribe named Ahmes.
- Wigs were one of the most important status symbols in ancient Egyptian society. The wealthy made them out of human hair, while the poor relied on vegetable fibers or wool.
- According to legend, Napoleon's army shot off the nose of the Great Sphinx in Giza, Egypt. But local sources claim the statue was actually damaged in 1378 by an Islamic cleric who was executed for the crime.
- Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were developed around 3000 B.C. and used more than 700 different symbols.
- The Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, better known as King Tut, was buried in a series of intricate coffins. The most impressive one was made of solid gold and weighed 243 pounds—worth more than $6 million in today’s money.
Comprehension and Study Guide:
Egyptian Comprehension Guide | |
File Size: | 21 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Egypt Test Study Guide | |
File Size: | 196 kb |
File Type: |
Facebook Activity:
Facebook Activity Information - Create a Fake Facebook Page for an Egyptian Pharaoh or God from the following list (pick one):
1. Tutankhamen
2. Thutmose III
3. Amenhotep IV
4. Hatsheput
5. Narmer
6. Osiris
7. Isis
8. Anubis
9. Hapi
10. Re
1. Tutankhamen
2. Thutmose III
3. Amenhotep IV
4. Hatsheput
5. Narmer
6. Osiris
7. Isis
8. Anubis
9. Hapi
10. Re
Facebook Page | |
File Size: | 15 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Vocabulary:
Egyptian Who Am I? | |
File Size: | 20 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Worksheets and Writing Assignments:
Egyptian Paragraph Writing Assignment | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
File Type: | docx |
How the Nile Shaped Egypt | |
File Size: | 6487 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Egyptian Primary Source Activity | |
File Size: | 979 kb |
File Type: |
Egyptian Vocabulary Builder | |
File Size: | 856 kb |
File Type: |
PowerPoint:
Egyptian PowerPoint | |
File Size: | 1417 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
Chapter Summary:
Egypt Chapter Summary | |
File Size: | 835 kb |
File Type: |
wh_ch._5_spanish_summary.pdf | |
File Size: | 291 kb |
File Type: |
Graphic Novel:
Egyptian Graphic Novel | |
File Size: | 976 kb |
File Type: |
cat_mummies_graphic_novel.pdf | |
File Size: | 626 kb |
File Type: |
Journey to the Afterlife:
How to Make a Mummy:
Holey Mummies:
Making Mummies:
Decoding Mummies:
King Tut:
Mummy Mania:
Oldest Mummies:
Mummies: No-Brainer:
Mummy Secrets:
Ramses' Temple at Abu Simbel:
The Great Sphinx:
Building the Pyramids:
Deconstructing History: The Great Pyramid
Building the Great Obelisks at Luxor:
The Lighthouse at Alexandria:
Mankind and Engineering:
Ancient Egyptian Aspirin:
References:
www.mrdowling.com
www.history.com
McGraw-Hill Networks Company, Inc.
www.mrdowling.com
www.history.com
McGraw-Hill Networks Company, Inc.