Ancient Egypt Flashcards
What is the Old Kingdom also known as?
Age of Pyramids
Name the two areas Egypt was split into during 3150BCE - 2180BCE.
Upper Egypt
Lower Egypt
True/False
Egypt’s history dates back to as early as 9300BCE.
True
During the period between 9300 and 4000BCE, Egypt was the home to a diverse group of people who aren’t well known because evidence of their existence has been covered by floodplains or the surrounding desert.
What was Upper Egypt also known as during the Early Dynasty Period?
Land of Reeds, which spanned from Cairo to Lake Nasser, and included all the lands between the Nile and Nubia.
Nekhen was the patron city of the vulture-like goddess ___.
Nekhbet.
What was Lower Egypt made up of during the Early Dynasty Period?
What was the capital city?
The Nile River delta region that ran to the Mediterranean Sea.
The capital city was Memphis.
Memphis was the patron city of the goddess ___.
Wadjet, who was often represented as a cobra.
Who became known as the Two Ladies during the Early Dynasty Period?
Goddesses Wadjet (Lower Egypt) and Nekhbet (Upper Egypt).
Around 3150BCE:
The ancient Egyptians accredited the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt to ___, who has been identified by historians as King Narmer.
Menes.
In the ancient Egyptian religion, which god was represented by a falcon?
Horus.
His right eye represented the sun and power, while the left eye represented the moon and healing.
Which god was a trickster with various animal features?
Seth.
He was known as the god of the desert, warfare, and chaos.
What is the myth about Osiris and his demise?
Osiris was the king of Egypt and a descendent of the creator god, Ra. His queen was Isis, who gave the women of Egypt the gift of weaving, beer brewing, and baking.
Osiris’s brother, Seth, became jealous of him and wanted to claim the kingship for himself. Seth built an ornate wooden chest and coated it in lead. He trapped Osiris in it and threw it into the Nile. Osiris died, and Seth became king.
Isis wasn’t willing to forget Osiris, and searched for his body, which she found and brought home. Seth found out and hacked Osiris’s body into pieces and scattered it across the world.
Isis and her sister found them all, and put him back together with bandages. Sadly, his penis was missing, but Isis used magic to make him whole again. He was neither alive nor dead, and became the first mummy.
Nine months later, Isis bore a son and named him Horus.
Name the king of Egypt around 2650BCE who was known for his great building projects, including Egypt’s first pyramid.
King Djoser.
What was King Djoser’s tomb, Egypt’s first pyramid called, and where is it located?
The Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, northwest of the ruins of Memphis.
It was the tallest building in the world at the time at 62m high.
___, King Djoser’s vizier who was in charge of the building of the Step Pyramid, died and became the god of ___ and ___.
Imhotep became the god of medicine and wisdom.
Who was the first king of the Fourth Dynasty around 2575BCE?
King Sneferu
King Sneferu (2575BCE) built two pyramids ad Dahshur. His pyramid at Medium is referred to as the ‘false pyramid’, why is that?
Because it rests on a huge heap of soil and resembles a tower instead of a pyramid.
Which is Egypt’s first ‘true’ pyramid? And why?
The Red Pyramid.
A ‘true’ pyramid is one with smooth sides, not stepped sides.
Who succeeded Sneferu on the throne around 2575BCE?
King Khufu, who forced his people into slavery and conscripted hundreds of thousands of men to work without pay on his pyramid (or so they suspect…)
This king built his pyramid alongside Khufu’s and may have commissioned the Sphinx since the Sphinx’s face closely resembles his own.
King Khafre.
The fourth pyramid at Giza is the tomb of a prominent women, who was she?
Khentkaus (Fifth Dynasty)
There isn’t much known about her and what led to the honour of a pyramid.
What were the kings of the Fifth Dynasty known as?
The Sun Kings because many of them had names that were derived from the sun god Ra.
When did the Old Kingdom end?
Around 2181 BCE.
What was the time of the Middle Kingdom?
2180 BCE - 1550 BCE
What is the Middle Kingdom also known as?
The Period of Reunification.
Which Kingdom was known as Egypt’s Classical Age due to the art that was produced in that era?
Early / Middle / Late
Middle Kingdom (2180 BCE - 1550 BCE)
Who is this statue of?
Statue of Queen Sobekneferu.
Who is this statue of?
Statue of Imhotep.
He was the vizier to King Djoser and led the construction of the Step Pyramid in Saqqara.
Who is this carving of?
Hint: it’s from the Early Dynasty Period (3000 BCE)
Carving depicting Horus defeating Seth.
Who is the king carved into this slate palette?
King Narmer (Menes) from the Early Dynasty Period
What landmark is this?
Temple Complex at Karnak
What landmark is this?
Temple of Ramesses ll at Abu Simbel.
Who is this statue of?
Statue of Tutankhamun.
Who is this statue of?
Statue of Queen Hatshepsut.
