Sofía Lozano
Ancient Egypt
On the banks of the Nile, a fascinating civilisation developed: Ancient Egypt.
NATURAL ENVIROMENT HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT ECONOMY AN SOCIETY
The Egyptians based their economy on fluvial
During the summer Ancient Egypt has a long
agriculture and trade.
the Nile floods it is in history (almost 3000
The Nile was the main means of transport for
upper course. Because years). We divide it into
people and products. It allowed armies and
of these floods the four main periods: the Old
royal officials to move around relatively
Egyptian agriculture Kingdom, the Middle
quickly.
was very productive. Kingdom, the New
Trade with other peoples was extremely
Egypt had great Kingdom and the Late
important.
natural defences: Period. Between these,
The Egyptians traded with Mesopotamia,
in the north the there were three periods
Phoenicia, Canaan, Nubia, Libya, Crete and
Mediterranean sea , in of instability called the
Greece
south , east and west Intermediate Periods
They sold cereals, wine, craftwork and
the Sahara Desert
precious stones.
CULTURE AND RELIGION They sold cereals, wine, craftwork and
precious stones and bought wood, metal and
The Egyptians made important advances in
slaves. Metal and wood were both essential
mathematics and astronomy
materials for fighting wars.
They developed a solar calendar with 12 months, each
Egyptian society was hierarchical. At the top
with 30 days.
was the pharaoh, who the people considered
They added 5 days, dedicated to the gods, to the final
a god. He held absolute political, judicial and
month to make a 365-day year. They also invented the
military power. Below him was the ruling
decimal system.
class: vizier, the head of royal government
Religion was polytheistic. Goods had a human body
large landowners an royal officials
and the head of an animal. Each city had its own patron
Religion was very important, so the priests
deity
held great power as the pharaohs religious
priests of the different gods also competed for power. If
representatives.
their god became more powerful, the priests gained
The rest of the population were farmers,
influence, land and
merchants and craftworkers. At the bottom
and wealth.
were the slaves.
Egyptian society believed in life after death so people
spent a lot of time and money on funeral rites
WRITING REVOLUTION : THE ROSET ROCK
GOODS
Ra : god of the sun The decree appears in three different scripts: the upper text in
Osiris : god of agriculture and Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle part in Demotic script, and
resurrection the lower part in Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially
Isis : goddess of fertility the same content in the three inscriptions, with minor
Horus : god of the sky differences between them, this stone provided the key to the
Amun : god of wind and secrets modern decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Hathor : goddess of love
Sekhmet : goddess of power
Anubis : god of mummification
Thoth : god of wisdom
Seth : god of evil
ARCHITECTURE
Egyptian monumental architecture had these main DEAD BURIALS
characteristics:
The egyptians use stone. Religion was polytheistic, priests of
They built massive structures to reflect the power of their the different gods also competed for
gods. power. Egyptians practiced rites and
And they used flat roofs used amulets to ask the gods for
Most Egyptian monuments were for religious and funerary help. They believe in life after death,
purposes. when someone died the god Anubis
This ara the most important types accompanied the body into the after
Temples were buildings dedicated to the gods and only life. The person have to pass tests and
the priests could enter them. face the judgement of Osiris (god of
Tombs were buildings that contained burial chambers or death) and if the person pass the test
rooms. This is where they placed the sarcophagus? with lived eternally in paradise. Egyptians
the mummy mummified their corpses. The book
Mastabas were one-storey rectangular buildings with of the dead was a set of religious
sloping texts that helped the deceased pass
Pyramids were called step pyramids when there was a the judgement of Osiris. When
division of someone dies starts the
Hypogeums were hidden tombs cut out of the rock to embalmment process : first the clean
prevent robbers from finding them. and perfume the body. After they
remove the intestines and place ham
in canonicjars. Also they submerge
SCULPTURE the body in natron for 70 days. The
last thing they do
the Ancient Egyptians used sculpture for religious and is wrap the body in linen while the
funerary purposes. priest recites magic formulas.
They used stone for important sculptures. The figures had
unnatural positions
characteristics.
The faces showed no emotion
The faces showed no emotion
The most important figures, such as gods and pharaohs, were
larger than the others.
For scenes of daily life, the Egyptians used less valuable
materials, such as clay or wood, and a more natural style.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this project shows
us how we have evolved from
ancient civilizations (in this case
Egypt)
that they had a system of
society and culture very
different from ours and how the
human mind has been
perfecting this system until
today.
