The Nile Valley Chapter 2:ie

Life in Ancient Egypt

“The Land of the Pharaohs.”

Life in Ancient Egypt

[Image source: http://www.library.nwu.edu/class/history/B94/society.gif]

[Image source: http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME1_INDEX.HTML#Plate1]

The nobility and priests who formed the top of the social order

controlled both the religious and political

affairs.

The upper class lived a comfortable urban life with their immediate families.

[Image source: The Age of the God-Kings, 3000-1500 B.C. (Time-Life Books)]

[Image source: http://www.comune.bologna.it/bologna/Musei/Archeologico/egizi/en/oggetti.htm#FUNERARY]

The middle class was made up of artisans, scribes, merchants, and tax collectors who lived a comfortable urban life.

The lower class provided for the needs of the upper classes.

[Image source: http://www.mfa.org/egypt/coll_high/]

The majority of of Egyptians were poor farmers who grew food.

[Image source: http://www.kent.wednet.edu/curriculum/soc_studies/Egypt/life.html]

[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/bountfrm.htm]

[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/bountfrm.htm]

Some peasants

ground grain and provided baked goods for the rich.

Still others herded and slaughtered animals for

meat.

[Image source: http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm]

Some were potters who

provided ceramic wares.

[Image source: http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/HIGH/OIM_10628.html]

Some slaves provided music

entertainment . . .

[Image source: http://www.natashascafe.com/cgi-bin/dbase.cgi?music]

. . . while other sang or danced.

[Image source: http://www.pharaonicarts.com/egypt-banquet.htm]

Upper class urban-dwelling

Egyptian families were often nuclear, including only the parents and their children.

[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/dress01.htm]

Many lower class people lived in extended families that included

grandparents and other relatives.

Women were originally viewed as the property

of their husbands.

[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/dress02.htm]

By the New Kingdom,

women could buy, own, and sell property,

testify in court, and initiate divorce and other legal

proceedings.[ http://www.siue.edu/COSTUMES/COSTUME1_INDEX.HTML#Plate1]

Children were expected to cherish their mothers for

bearing them, nourishing them, and loving and

caring for them.[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/childfrm.htm]

Egyptians in each region worshipped

local deities, but rulers and priests

promoted the worship of specific

gods and goddesses throughout the land.

As a result, Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, or the

worship of many deities (gods).

[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/crea.html]

Horus, the sky god.

Pharaohs were often

referred to as “the living

Horus.”[Image source:

http://www.windows.umich.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/mythology/horus_sun.html]

Ra, the sun god, was also known as the

“father of the gods.”

Pharaohs were often referred to as the “son of the living

Ra.”[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/list.html]

Amon, a fertility god, was the deity worshipped in Thebes.

[Image source: http://phoebe.dws.acs.cmu.edu/~shawn/egypt/gods.html]

The Theban pharaohs

combined their local deity Amon with the sun god

Ra to create Amon-Ra.

[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/amun.html]

Osiris, originally the powerful god of the Nile, became the god of life, death, and

rebirth.[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/list.html]

Isis, the wife of Osiris, was the great mother-

goddess.

[Image source: http://members.aol.com/egyptart/isis.html]

Writing in Ancient Egypt

[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/adminfrm.htm]

In A.D. 1799 French soldiers

in Egypt uncovered a stone near

Rosetta that was carved with Greek letters and

hieroglyphs. [Image source: http://www.bc-freemasonry.com/biography/champollion_jf/rosetta.html]

In 1822 French archaeologist Jean-François Champollion succeeded in

deciphering the Rosetta Stone.

[Image source: http://www.bc-freemasonry.com/biography/champollion_jf/champollion_jf.html]

Champollion figured out how

the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone

matched the Egyptian texts.

[Image source: http://www.cimmerii.demon.co.uk/therosettastone/index.html]

Because of the work of people

like Champollion, scholars today are

able to read Egyptian

hieroglyphic texts.

[Image source: http://www.kent.wednet.edu/curriculum/soc_studies/Egypt/hier.html]

For everyday business, Egyptians

used a cursive script known

as hieratic.[Image source: http://www.uk.sis.gov.eg/pharo/html/learnfrm.htm]

Contributions of Ancient Egypt

Egyptian architecture bears witness to the achievements of their artisans.

[Image source: http://www.museum-tours.com/museum/roberts/roberts0.htm]

Egyptian monuments testify to the skill of their engineers.

These works would not have been possible

without advances in disciplines such as

mathematics.

Egyptians used the principles of geometry to survey flooded land.

Egyptian priests worked out a 365 day calendar that

made it possible to predict the

annual inundation.

Egyptians learned about anatomy as a result of their

practice of embalming their dead.

Other ancient cultures acquired much of their

medical knowledge from the Egyptians.

[Image source: http://web-owls.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/physician72_small.gif]