Pharaonic /Dynasty/Ancient Egypt.

“Egypt is the Nile and the Nile is Egypt ” = Importance of the Nile river to the Egyptian Civilization.

•Silt (Fertile soil at river banks after overflowing)

•Irrigation

•Transportation

•Defence( cataracts and the navy)

•Domestic purposes

•Trade

•Agriculture- Fishing, farming, animal husbandry.

Terms

•Pharaoh -An Egyptian king .

•Dynasty -A family of rulers.

•God-king- kings as a reincarnation of gods.(Or the king’s served as a link between the people and the
gods).

•Pyramid- Tombs [The Great pyramid of Giza (took 20 years to build) ].

•Mummification -preserving a corpse with spices ( herbs).

•Valley of kings - ……………

Characteristics of Egyptian Civilization.

1. Religion
• Polytheism and monotheism.
•God-king
•Believe in spiritual body(Ka) and physical body.
•They offered sacrifices
Sacred animals: crocodile, cat , vulture, bull, hippopotamus, lion, jackal.
2. Government
•Was monarchical and hierarchical.
-Pharaoh
-Vizier( in charge of the secular aspect of administration)
- Treasurer/Engineer/General
-Scribes/Special army
-Priests
Note: From the treasurer, idk whether they follow in that order. Also, the military is included in
the government.
•Bureaucracy- A system where the nomes make decisions for their districts.
•Standing army. (Calvary, charioteers, navy)
3. Social Stratification

•Upper class- Pharaoh, Vizier, Nomes, Treasurer.

•Middle class-Farmers, Artisans, Scribes, etc

•Lower class-slaves

4. Cities- Giza, Thebes, Lisht

NB: Families> Communities> Villages> Towns>Cities>Civilizations.

5&6. Art( Writing)-

Hieroglyphics>Hieratic>Demotic

NB: Famous for creating paper(papyrus). Had ink and pens(feather) for writing. They use dye from
flowers. Ink(water, gum, carbon).

Achievements

•Planetary system

•365 days calendar

•Time(Sundial & shadow)

•Hieroglyphics

•Architecture

-Pyramids

-Sphinx

-Houses

•Agriculture

-Shaduf

-Canals and ditches

NB: They moved from stone tools to metal tools. The Hyksos introduced to hem to metallurgy.

Old , Middle and New kingdom.

Their kingdoms lasted for about 1500 years whilst the intermediate period lasted for about 150
years.

The main focus in the old kingdom was to construct pyramids and extend trade. They had abundant
gold and grains which they traded for items such as ivory.
In the middle kingdom, they focused mainly on strengthening their administration system.

In the new kingdom, they focused on the construction of tombs for the king’s( The Valley of kings).

NB: These tombs were more robbed than the pyramids.

The Pharaohs

•Menes or Narmer - started the old kingdom. United Lower and Upper Egypt.

•Khufu/ Cheops – built pyramid at Giza.

•Amenhotep (Akhenaton) - started monotheism. Aton the sungod.

•Tutankhamum- introduced Polytheism again.

NB: Please check the spellings of the red lines.