The Egyptian Civilization

Geography of Egypt• Egyptian civilization arose

along the Nile River.– Praised as “creator of all good.”– Divides Egypt into two regions

• Lower Egypt– Nile Delta

• Upper Egypt– Upstream

– Northerly current and southerly winds made transportation and communication easy.

– Flooded every summer• Deposited silt.

• Egyptians were surrounded by natural barriers – Relatively isolated from other

civilizations.• The regularity of the Nile floods

and relative isolation allowed the Egyptians to feel secure.– How might this sense of

security be depicted in Egyptian religion?

Government• Theocracy

– Led by a Pharaoh• Seen as a god on

Earth. – How is this different

than the Sumerians?

• A large bureaucracy helped him/her rule.

– A group of advisors.

• Egypt was divided into provinces with governors (42)

Egyptian Social Structure

Egyptian Writing

• Earliest writing was called hieroglyphics– Very complex –

used pictures and abstract forms.

– Are sacred writings – used on temple walls and in tombs.

• Hieratic script is a simplified version of hieroglyphics for use in daily life.

Religion• Gods were

seen as “providers.”– Connection

to flooding?

• Polytheistic• Common

Religious Themes = Resurrection and rebirth

Mummification“When a person died, the priests recited prayers and a final attempt was made to revive the deceased. The body was then washed and taken to the embalmer's workshop. A cut was made in the left side, and all the organs were removed and stored in containers known as canopic jars. The body was then packed with salt for a period of forty days. After the forty days had passed, the insides were filled with linen or sawdust, resin and salt. The body was wrapped in bandages with jewelry and amulets between the layers. A portrait mask was placed over the head of the deceased by the Chief Embalmer, who wore a jackal mask to represent the god Anubis. The wrapped body, or mummy, was put into a coffin.”

-Embalmer’s workshop inscription

• Drying and wrapping a body to preserve it.

The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony

Opening of the Mouth Ceremony

The mummy was removed from the sarcophagus when it arrived at the

door of the tomb and was placed upright against

the wall by a priest wearing the mask of

Anubis. The Opening of the Mouth ceremony was then performed. It was supposed to turn the

mummy (or a statue of the dead) into an

inhabitable vessel for the deceased‘s soul. The

mummy was touched by ritual objects on various body parts to restore the senses - the spirit would then be able to see, hear, speak and eat as a living

being.

Contents of the Tomb

Categories of Objects Recovered Accessories  Clothing  Cosmetic equipment  Furniture  Game components  Human mummies  Lighting equipment  Models  Mummy trappings  Scarabs and seals  Sculpture  Tomb equipment  Transport  Vegetal remains  Vessels  Warfare and hunting equipment 

• Mummified bodies were buried with all of their possessions for use in the after-life.

The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony

This symbolic ritual is the weighing of the heart of the deceased on a scale. The heart was weighed against a feather, the symbol of truth, order and justice. If the heart balanced with the feather then the deceased would be granted a place in the afterlife. If it was heavy with the weight of wrongdoings, the balance would sink and the heart would be grabbed and devoured by a terrifying beast that sat ready and waiting by the scales. This beast was Ammit, "the gobbler", a composite animal with the head of a crocodile, the front legs and body of lion or leopard, and the back legs of a hippopotamus.

Three Major Periods• Historians divide Ancient Egyptian

history into three periods:– Old Kingdom (2700 – 2200 BC)– Middle Kingdom (2055 – 1650 BC)– New Kingdom (1550 – 1070 BC)

• All were periods of long-term stability separated by disorder and invasion.

• 3100– King Menes unites Upper

and Lower Egypt.

• 2700-2200 B.C.– Establishment of

Egyptian culture.– Built Pyramids

• Tombs dedicated to the dead.

– Furnished with all the objects of a regular life so the spiritual body (ka) could return.

• The Great Pyramid– Built at Giza by King

Khufu, 2540 B.C.

The Old Kingdom

• 2055-1650 B.C.– Egypt began expanding

and establishing trade.• Expanded to the North

and South.• Traded with the

Mediterranean and Mesopotamia.

– Pharaohs now expected to build public works and provide for public welfare.

• “Shepherd of his people”– Established new

farmland.– Built canal connecting

Nile River and Red Sea.

The Middle Kingdom

The New Kingdom• 1550-1070 B.C.

– Egyptians utilized new weapons to overthrow Hyksos rulers.

• Chariots and iron weapons

– Pharaohs acquire massive wealth.

• Hatshepsut • Akhenaten and

Tutankhamen• Ramses II

• With the collapse of the New Kingdom, Egypt will be ruled by other civilizations for the next 1000 years.