notes on Egypt

Land of the Pharaohs: Egypt

• The Nile and the “Two Lands”

• The Nile was a  major provider of life for the Egyptians
• The Nile flows south to north
• One of the longest rivers
• 3100 BC:
• Lower and upper Egypt were under one Pharaoh

Government by a god-king

• Pharaohs

• Pharaohs were all powerful
• Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe which they called "moat"
• Pharaohs had multiple lives; often their own sisters
• Women had few rights but were still less important than men

Gods, humans, and everlasting life

• Gods were often portrayed with an animal head or bodies
• Egyptians believed in an afterlife but only for some important, special people
• Mummified the dead bodies to preserve them for the afterlife
• Your soul needed to justify itself

The writings

• Wrote using pictures
• Writing was formed 3100 BC
• Pictures were known as hieroglyphs
• Used papyrus as paper
• Scribes were known to write down things and once done, roll them in a script 

Calendars and sail boats

• Egyptian astronomers created a calendar with 365 days to make better sense of the seasonal cycles
• Technological advance:
• The sail boat
• Used sail boat for transportability

Pyramids and temples

• Were massive stone tombs
• Were originally covered in marble
• Stone sculptures and interior painting depicted humans and gods