HIST 111:

EARLIEST CIVILIZATIONS
TOPIC: EARLY CIVILIZATION
IN AFRICA : ANCIENT EGYPT
CIVILIZATION
 BEFORE WE BEGIN…
• GEOGRAPHY: Where is it? Is the land
mountainous? Desert? Oceanic?
• POLITICAL: Who controls what? What
type of Government is that? Anything to
do with laws or war.
• ECONOMIC: What type of economy?
How do people make a living?

Department of History, SOA Slide 2

• SOCIAL: Religious, intellectual, artistic

Department of History, SOA Slide 3

 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
CIVILIZATION.
• Civilization Name: Egypt
• Period: 3100 – 2686 BCE
• Originated location: Bank of the Nile
River
• Current location: Egypt
• Major highlights: Construction of
Pyramid
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 KEY TERMS.

• Dynasty: a family of rulers whose right

to rule is passed on within the family
• Pharaoh: (‘great house’ or ‘palace’) the
most common title of Egyptian
monarchs
• Bureaucracy: an administrative
organization with officials and regular
procedures
Department of History, SOA Slide 5
• Mummification: a process of slowly
drying a dead body to prevent it from
rotting
• Hieroglyphics: (‘priest-carvings’ or
‘sacred writings’) the Greek name for the
earliest Egyptian writing

Department of History, SOA Slide 6

HIEROGLYPHICS.

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 THE COURSE OF EGYPTIAN
HISTORY.
• Historians have divided Egyptian history
into 3 major periods, known as the Old
Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New
Kingdom.
• These periods were times of stability.
• Between these periods were times of
chaos and invasion, known as
Intermediate periods.
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 OLD KIMGDOM
• Egyptian history begins around 3100
BCE, when King Menes united Upper
and Lower Egypt into one kingdom.
• King Menes also created the first dynasty.
• The Old Kingdom lasted from 2700 to
2200 BCE.
• It was time of prosperity and splendour.
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• The monarchs of the Old Kingdom were
powerful rulers.
• The most common title for Egyptian
monarchs was pharaoh.
• The Egyptians believed that pharaohs
were gods. By obeying their pharaoh,
they believed that they were helping to
keep their world stable.
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• Pharaohs had unlimited power to rule
their people, but they developed a
bureaucracy to help them rule.
• One of the greatest achievement which
took place during the Old Kingdom was
the building of pyramids.
• Pyramids were tombs for the bodies of
dead pharaohs.
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PYRAMID.

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• The Egyptians believed that human
beings had two bodies – a physical one
and a spiritual one.
• The spiritual body was called the ka.
• If the physical one was preserved after
death and its tomb was stocked with food
and supplies, the ka could return.

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• To preserve the physical body after death,
the Egyptians used mummification.
• The largest of the pyramids was build at
Giza around 2540 BCE. It was built by
King Khufu and is called the Great
Pyramid.
• Tradition says that it took 100,000
Egyptians 20 years to build it.
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MUMMIFICATION.

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• Guarding this pyramid is a huge statue,
known as the Great Sphinx.
• It has the body of a lion and a human head
• The Great Pyramid still stands as a symbol of
the power of the Egyptian pharaohs.
• The Old Kingdom eventually collapsed.
• It was followed by a period of chaos that
lasted 150 years.
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 MIDDLE KINGDOM.
• Around 2050 BCE, a new dynasty gained
control of Egypt.
• The marked the beginning of the Middle
Kingdom.
• The MK lasted until 1652 BCE and was a time
of stability and expansion.
• During the MK, Egypt conquered Nubia and
Syria.

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• The MK ended around 1652 BCE when the
Hyksos invaded Egypt.
• The Hyksos were people from western Asia
who used horse-drawn chariots.
• They rule Egypt for almost 100 years

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 NEW KINGDOM.
• The New Kingdom lasted from about 1567 to
1085 BCE.
• During the period of the NK, Egypt created
an empire and become the most powerful state.
• Hatshepsut, the first woman to become
pharaoh.
• There were also problems during the NK. The
pharaoh Amenhotep IV forced the people to
worship a single god, Aton
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• He closed the temples of the other gods. And
changed his own name to Akhenaton (‘It is
well with Aton’).
• After he died, the new pharaoh,
Tutankhamen, restored the old gods
• Under Rameses II, the Egyptians tried to
regain control of their earlier empire, but they
were partly successful.

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• The NK itself ended in 1085 BCE.
• For the next 1000 years, Libyans, Nubian,
Persians and Macedonians dominated Egypt.
• In the first century BCE, the pharaoh
Cleopatra VII tried to regain Egypt’s
independence
• But she was defeated and Egypt become part
of the Roman Empire.

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THE IMPACT OF GEOGRAPHY.
• The Nile is the longest river in the world.
• It begins in Africa and empties into the
Mediterranean Sea
• About a 100 miles before it reaches the sea,
it splits into two branches
• The split forms a triangle of land, called
delta
Department of History, SOA Slide 24
• The Nile Delta is called Lower Egypt
• The Land to the south is called Upper
Egypt
• The point where the delta splits is called
the tip of the delta
• The most important cities in Egypt
developed at the tip of the delta.
Department of History, SOA Slide 25
• The yearly flooding of the Nile was called
‘Miracle’
• When the river flooded, it left a deposit of
mud on both sides of the river.
• And this created an area of rich soil,
Farmers were able to grow a surplus of
food.

Department of History, SOA Slide 26

• This surplus made Egypt prosperous.
• The Nile also made it easy to travel throughout
the land.
• Egypt had natural barriers that protected it
from invasion.
• The barriers were the deserts to the west and
east; the Red Sea to the east; the cataracts
(rapids) to the south; and the Mediterranean
Sea to the north.
Department of History, SOA Slide 27
Source: Glencoe World History: Slide 28
 SOCIETY IN ANCIENT EGYPT.
• Egyptian society was organized like a
pyramid.
• The pharaoh was on the top, under him was
a small upper class of nobles and priests.
• Below the upper class were merchants,
artisans, scribes and tax collectors
• Most of the people in Egypt were in the
lower classes.
Department of History, SOA Slide 29
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 DAILY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.

• Ancient Egyptians had a positive attitude

toward daily life.
• They married young, and a man normally
had only one wife.
• If a marriage ended in divorce, the wife was
compensated.
• Men were the masters in their houses, but
women were well respected.
Department of History, SOA Slide 31
• Wives were in charge of the household and the
education of children.
• They kept control of their property and
inheritance even after married.
• Some women operated business.
• Upper-class women could become priestesses,
and 4 queens become pharaohs. (What are
their names?).

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 THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION.

• Religion also made ancient Egyptians feel

secure.
• They were polytheistic.
• The most important gods were sun gods and
land gods.
• They believed that the sun god had different
forms and names, depending on his role.
• Two names for the sun god were Amon/Atum
and Re/a (Amon-Re/a)
Department of History, SOA Slide 33
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• Two of the river and land gods were Osiris and
Isis.
• Osiris was a symbol of resurrection (coming
back to life).
• Famous myth (believed in reborn after dead).

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LASTING CONTRIBUTION/ACHIEVEMENT
OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

1. Achievements in Arts and Science:

• Pyramids, temples, and other monuments
• Egyptians also made advances in
mathematics and science.
• They developed a 365-day calendar, and
became experts in human anatomy
(mummification)
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THANK YOU…