Ancient Egypt: Architecture, Arts, Trade, Religion and the Rise and Fall of Dynasties
1. Architecture and Arts
-Pyramids ~80 still stand today. Giza Khufu/Cheops
-Construction: ramps, levers, human labor
-Sculptors statues of rulers and animals
-Paintings show Egyptian way of life
2. Trade and Farming
-Gov’t controls trade, no social mobility.
-Women had rights and owned property given to
daughters
-Egypt traded surplus food to other civilizations
(wheat, barley, flax, cotton) Most of production
went to pharaoh.
-1st to trade with sea ships.
-Caravans – groups of people and camels travel
together for protection.
3. Education and Religion
-trained elite groups to be scribes learned to write in
hieroglyphics and record
-GODS local god linked to animal
Amon- Re (RA) – creator God, Sun God
Osiris – judged people after death
Isis – Osiris’ wife – Goddess of Nile River/Royal Throne
-After life persons heart weighed against a feather.
Balanced eternal happiness
Unbalanced monster gets it, “Eater of the Dead”
-Mummification preserving the body
4. Math, Science, and Medicine
-Calendar based on movements of the moon, stars
above before annual flooding – 365 days a year.
-Counted years by Pharaoh’s reign.
-Math number system based on ten. Fractions, whole
numbers.
-Geometry to build pyramids and rebuild fields after
floods.
-Treat illness and mummify dead. Magic spells, herbs,
and medicines.
5. OLD KINGDOM
-2680 BC – 2180 BC
-Menes/Namer – unites UE and LE. Creates a ruling
dynasty and makes Memphis the 1st capital.
-Development in science and arts (sphinx,
pyramids, and mummification)
-Social Classes:
Pharaoh, royal family, priests, scribes, gov’t
officials
Peasants, farmers, army, labor
Noble class grows power struggle between
nomarchs and with pharaoh “internal strife”
6. MIDDLE KINGDOM
-2050 BC Egypt reunited by Mentuhotep.
-Strong pharaoh makes Thebes 2nd capital.
-Two national works projects:
- drains Delta for farmland
- connects Nile and Red Sea with canal
-“Golden Age” – period of stability and prosperity
-Hyksos – foreigners from western Asia cross the
Sinai Peninsula and conquer Egypt with horse
drawn chariots and bronze scimitars.
- Hyksos rule Egypt for 100 years.
7. NEW KINGDOM
-1570 BC - ~1080 BC
-Egypt’s leaders drove out Hyksos by copying weapons
“Cultural Diffusion”
-Egypt united by long line of strong pharaohs. Gained land.
-1530 BC – 1482 BC Hatshepsut – 1st female pharaoh. Kept
boarders secure. Increased trade.
-1482 BC – 1450 BC Thutmose III (stepson) – conquest and
trade, ruled at the height of Egypt’s power.
-1380 BC – 1362 BC – Amenhotep IV – Believes only in RA.
Attempts to make Egypt Monotheistic. Changes his name to
Akhenaton.
-Tutankhamen – King Tut. Dies at 19. Buried in “Valley of the
Kings” Changes Egypt back to Polytheism.
8. Egypt’s Decline
-Ramses II – 1279 BC – 1213 BC “Ramses the Great”
builds temples and monuments
-Followed by weak rulers who could not keep off
invasion
-~300 BC Egypt was ruled by outsiders.
-Cleopatra – 1st century BC – tries to reunite Egypt and
rule independently – fails
-Egypt becomes province of Roman Empire.