Ancient Egypt

Question 1

Why was the Nile River so important to ancient Egyptians?

Answer 1

• grow crops (annual flood left behind highly fertile black silt; water from Nile used for irrigation)
• fishing
• drinking water
• transportation (esp. for trading)
• mud used for making bricks
• Papyrus reeds used for making papyrus
• used to set their calendar

Question 2

What kind of crops did ancient Egyptians grow?

Answer 2

• Wheat
• Barley
• Fruits (melons, figs)
• Vegetable (peas, garlic, lettuce, cucumber)
• Linen

Question 3

What did ancient Egyptians use instead of money?

Answer 3

They bartered or traded items (eg. Pottery, art and jewellery) with each other.

Question 4

Discuss the accient Egyptians calendar

Answer 4

Based on the happenings of the River Nile.
3 seasons, each lasting 4 months.

1. Akhet (July to October; flooding)
2. Peret (November to February; new crops planted)
3. Shemu (March to June; harvest)

Question 5

Explain the social structure of the ancient Egyptians

Answer 5

1. Pharaoh (1, richest, most powerful person)
2. Visier (pharaoh’s advisors)
3. Nobles & priests
4. Soldiers
5. Scribes (wrote down important things; kept records of people’s taxes & business accounts)
6. Traders & craftsmen
7. Herders & farmers (most people were farmers)
8. Slaves

Rich people (1-3) and poor people (7-8) lived very different lives.
Rich: big houses, ate well, wore fine, had time to play games, went to school)
Poor: small houses packed close together.

Everyone had to pay taxes

People in the middle (4-6) worked for the rich leaders

Question 6

What were hieroglyphics?

Answer 6

• a form of writing used in ancient Egypt
• pictures and symbols
• used to communicate important info

Question 7

Where were hieroglyphics used in ancient Egypt?

Answer 7

• Temples walls
  -Tombs (sides)
• Papyrus scrolls (i.e.documents, that were adminstrative and/or personal)
• Everyday objects (eg. pottery, jewelery & furniture)

Question 8

Who wrote hieroglyphics?

Answer 8

Scribes

Question 9

Discuss scribes in ancient Egypt

Answer 9

• They were the were the people who wrote hieroglyphics.
• Received lots of training to write hieroglyphics
• highly respected members of society
• skills were in high demand

Question 10

Why do people study hieroglyphics?

Answer 10

To learn about the culture

Question 11

Who made one of the earliest attempts to decode hieroglyphics?

Answer 11

Jean-Francois Champollion

Question 12

How were the first hieroglyphs decoded?

Answer 12

Jean-Francois Champollion used the Rosetta stone, because it had the same text written in Ancient Greek and Hieroglyphics

Question 13

Where have hieroglyphics been found?

Answer 13

Throughout ancient Egypt
- including in Cairo & Luxor and remote areas
- specifically in pyramids, tombs of pharaohs (like Tutankhamun and Ramses II)

Question 14

What is someone who studies hieroglyphics called?

Answer 14

Hieroglyphologist

Question 15

How do people study hieroglyphics today?

Answer 15

• they use computers to analyse and compare different hieroglyphic texts
• they study ancient texts and records to better understand the language and message better

Question 16

Describe the Sphinx in Egypt

Answer 16

• A monument in Egypt
• built out of sand
• head of a human
• body of a lion

Question 17

How does the monument of the sphynx differ from the mythological creature?

Answer 17

• Monument: statue, does not have wings, has head of a woman,
• Mythological creature: smaller, has wings, isn’t real, has the head of a human or animal, serpent tail (in Greek mythology)

Question 18

Why did pharaohs build underground tombs?

Answer 18

to hide them from tomb robbers

Question 19

Why did pharaohs build temples?

Answer 19

For worshipping their gods, which them happy

Question 20

Describe the land along the banks of the Nile

Answer 20

Fertile and so crops grew there easily

Question 21

Why was the soil on the banks of the Nile so fertile?

Answer 21

The Nile flooded every year and when it drained away, it left a layer of fertile soil behind.

Question 22

How long ago did farmers live along the banks of the river Nile?

Answer 22

10 000 years ago

Question 23

What did the farmers plant after the Nile flooded and when did they harvest it?

Answer 23

They planted wheat and barley and it was harvested in Summer.

Question 24

What was the area along the banks of the Nile called and why?

Answer 24

The Black Land because of the fertile black mud that was left behind after the river flooded.

Question 25

What animals did the farmers keep?

Answer 25

Sheep, goats and cattle.

Question 26

What was there not enough of next to the river for all farmers?

Answer 26

There wasn’t enough land along the river

Question 27

Why did some farmers settle far away from the river?

Answer 27

because there was not enough land

Question 28

The farmers who settled away from the river needed something for their crops they couldn’t access what was this thing and what did they do about it?

Answer 28

• Water for their crops
• so they built canals and ditches to transport water from the river to their farms.

Question 29

The farmers who couldn’t access water from the Nile directly did something about it - what is the name for what they did?

Answer 29

Irrigation

Question 30

What is a shaduf and how does it operate?

Answer 30

A hand-operated device for lifting water.
A bucket/skin is hung on a rope from the long end and a counter weight is hung on the **short end.