ancient egypt/nubia Flashcards
what river flowed through the center of ancient egypt?
the nile
were the pyramids located north or south of the mediterranean sea?
south
how long is the nile river?
4,160 miles (the worlds longest or 2nd largest river)
which direction does it flow?
south to north (begins in a mountainous region and flows downhill to the mediterranean sea)
who names it egypt?
the greeks
what was the land orginally called near the nile?
kemet after the black soil
when does the nile flood and why is it important?
in the springtime, depositing fertile silt (good for farming)
what is the flooding of the nile sometimes called?
“gift of the nile”
what shape does the nile go into before emptying into the mediterranean sea?
a triangular area of marshland which is formed by silt deposits
what diverted water from the nile to lands nearby (to grow more and better crops)
irrigation channels
what desert that was on both sides of the nile reduced the amount people interacted with each other?
the sahara desert
what are the rapids in the nile sometimes called?
cataracts
when was the old kingdom (pyramid age)?
2660-2180 BCE
when was the middle kingdom (rebellion and foreign invasions)?
2040/80-1640 BCE
when was the new kingdom (empire and wealth)?
1570-1075 BCE
what was the old kingdoms government like?
- strong central authority
- paraoh
- controlled all aspects of life
- theocracy (government where rule is based on religious authority)
- vizier (chief minister)
what was the rulers of egypt called?
pharaohs (a monarch), believed to be a god, had absolute power
who is the vizier?
- chief minister
- supervised day to day life
- head of large bureacracy
what were some of the old kingdom’s achievements?
- first pyramids were step pyramids
- pyramids at giza (tombs of the pharaoh for eternity, pharaohs started building when they took the throne)
what were the pyramids like?
- inside the pyramid was a burial chamber
- outside were two temples
- there were millions of blocks of stone, mostly limestone, and some granite blocks that would make up the pyramids
- pyramids would normally take around 20-25 years to build
how were pyramids built?
- probably got stone from the nile and brought it downstream
- theories of using stone blocks along lubricated runway or ramp might have been sufficient
- ramps and levers were probably used to lift the stones
- built by 20,000-35,000 people who would need to be fed, housed and provided other amenities to keep them healthy
- probably had a permanent crew of specialized workmen (reaped rewards in the afterlife)
what is the great sphinx?
- body of a crouching lion and head of the pharaoh khafra
- carved out of natural limestone
- at one time was colored and had a beard
why did the old kingdom decline?
- crop failures (lack of rain)
- famine
- cost of the pyramids (taxes, labor and human lives)
- power struggles
- pharaoh power declines
what was life like in egypt?
- people were not locked into social classes
- had to be able to read and write to reach the highest levels of the social structure (had jobs like commander in the army, treasurer, priest, or pharaoh’s advisor)
- women held many of the same rights as men (could divorce husbands, took 1/3 of their wealth)
what was writing like?
- first wrote in the simple pictographs that evolved into hieroglyphics
- hieroglyphics - “sacred carving”
- picture represented an idea or thing
- later on, pictures becoem sounds and symbols called demotic
- mostly wrote on papyrus paper, made from reeds from the nile
- the meaning of hieroglyphics was lost until the rossetta stone
the rossetta stone
- discovered by napoleon soldiers in 1799
- same text written in 3 different kinds of writing
- not deciphered until 1822 by jean-francois champollion (he matched the greek to the demotic then the demotic to the hieroglyphics)
what were some of the scientific developments?
- developed a 12 month, 365 day calendar (only 6 hours off of the solar calendar)
- system of numbers (used for taxes)
- geometry
- medicine (surgery, set broken bones and checking pulse)
what were some of their religious beliefs?
- polytheistic (worshipped over 2000 gods and goddesses)
- most gods had a human body and animal head with human qualities
- built temples to honor their gods
what were their beliefs in the afterlife?
- belief in the afterlife - follow the book of the dead
- egyptians believed that the dead needed their bodies in the afterlife
- to ensure everlasting life, egyptians had to (honor the gods, mummify the dead so that the body did not decay, and provided equipment in tombs for use in the afterlife)
what was mummification?
- clean the body inside and out
- remove the organs and intestines
- remove the brain, usually through the nose with an iron hook
- place the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines in canopic jars (jars were placed in the tombs or in the body cavity, each jar had a protector god)
what did they do to the brain in mummification?
they did not believe the brain was useful so it was usually just thrown away!
what did they use to dry out the body almost completely?
a kind of salt called called natron
what would they use to wrap the body in?
linen (would sometimes take hundreds of yards to keep the body dried)
how long could the mummification process take?
70 days
what was the coffin called that the body of the mummy placed into?
sarcophagus
what happened to their favorite pet when the were mummified?
the pet was often sacrificed and mummified too
what were mummies buried with?
mummies were buried with hundred of items including; anything that a person would need when living, weapons, food, clothing and their servants
*toy-like objects were also found in tombs (were believed to show what the person did for a job)
what was the middle kingdom government like?
- strong pharaohs regained control during the middle kingdom
- capitol moved to thebes
what were some middle kingdom accomplishments?
- occupied nubia (to the south)
- traders had more contact
what caused the middle kingdom to decline?
- 1640 BCE, the hyksos invaded and conquered egypt’s delta region
- hyksos had a secret weapon (the horse drawn war chariot along with bronze weapons)
- even though the hyksos dominated, they were admired and impressed with egyptian culture leading them to adopt many egyptian customs
how did egypt make a comeback?
- several rulers helped get rid of the hyksos
*queen ahhotep took over after the death of her husband (killed in battle)
pharaoh kamose and ahmose (both died in battle, the sons of queen ahhotep)
**the comeback lead to the beginning of the new kingdom
what was the new kingdom’s government like?
- strong pharaohs
- era of empire building
- egypt built an impressive army with archers, chariots, soldiers and weapons
- glorious time for egypt
who was hatshepsut and why was she important?
in 1472 BC, she takes over as pharaoh (not queen) for her young stepson, thutmose III
- encouraged trade, not just waging war like most pharaohs
- builds obelisks
- might of been killed by her own stepson
what was thutmose III like?
- warlike ruler
- invasions: palestine, syria, nubia
- brought wealth and new ideas to egypt
- erases hatshepsut from records (his stepmother)
- EMPIRE!
who was ramses II?
- “the great”
- first to use diplomacy in confrontation (made a treaty with the hittites of syria after the battle of kadesh)
- ruled for 67 years and lived to the age of 99 (had 200+ wives and 100 kids!)
- one of the great builder pharaohs
- may have been the pharaoh at the time of moses
why did egypt start to decline after the death of ramses II?
- weak, self-absorbed leaders
- beginning in 945 BCE, egypt was invaded and taken over by many different groups (libyans, nubian, assyrians, persians, greeks, romans)
who were the libyans?
- they crossed the sahara desert and conquered egypt (940-730 BCE)
- followed egyptian way of life
- piankhi, a kushite king, ousts libyans in 751 BCE and controls egypt
what was nubia?
- a rich and powerful african region
*gold, ivory copper, frankincense and ebony - on the nile (south of egypt)
- when egypt declined, nubia became a regional power
- pyramids tombs house nubian rulers and royals (egyptian influence)
*cultural diffusion also included: temples, pyramids, statues and hieroglyphic writing - nubia was an important trade link between sub-saharan africa and the rest of the world
- kush was a kingdom in nubia
*kushite princes learn egyptian language, custons and gods (sees themselves as the keepers of egyptian values as egypt declines) - conquer egypt
- remove the libyans
who was piankhi?
- nubian kushite king
- conquered the libyans in 751 BCE
- began egypt’s 25th dynasty until the assyrians conquer the nubians in 671 BCE
what was meroë?
- the kushite nubians are pushed south by the assyrians and settle in meroë, near the red sea
- trade with africa, arabia, india
- live well and prosper until circa 350 CE when conquered by axum
where there social classes in egypt?
yes (pharaohs at the top and workers at the bottom)
what was used as makeup in egypt?
coal
what were made for the gods?
temples
who was the greek historian who wrote about the pyramids 500 years before the birth of crist?
herodotus
who was the king who united lower and upper egypt and how is this unification of the two kingsoms reflected in the statues?
- narmer
- the crowns between the upper and lower egypt were different until the to regions combined which combined the crowns also
who were the 3 smaller pyramids at giza built for?
for the 3 queens of the pharaoh
what two rooms were placed under the larger pyramid built at giza?
the tomb and storage room
how did the egyptians prevent grave robbers of khufo’s tomb?
there were many fake passages distracting to the real way to get to the tomb
whose tomb was discovered intact by howard carter in 1923? what did they find?
king tut’s tomb was found with loads of treasure (enough to fill a whole room in the egyptian museum)
