Transcript Egypt: gods and goddesses

Egypt: gods and goddesses
By Max Scheu, Eric Zhang, and Mike
Holmes
Creation
• In the beginning, there was only chaos. This chaos was
named Apophis, he was a giant snake god.
• Then there was a light a and this light was Re, he fought back
Apophis and settled Egypt; and so the sun and Egypt were
born.
• Re then created the god of air-Shu, the god of the earth-Geb
and his wife Nut-goddess of the sky, he also sculpted humans
and placed them in the Nile valley so they cold worship him.
• Re was warned that one day a child of Nut and Geb would
over throw him( he was Egypt’s first pharaoh), so he forbid
them from having children on any day of the year.
creation
• So nut went to the moon god, Khonosu she gambled with him
and each time she won he gave her a little moon light she did
this till she had enough to make 5 more days. Making the year
365 days long.
• On these five days she gave birth to Isis, Osiris, Set, Horus, and
Nephthys.
King Tutankhamen
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 Son in law of Akhenaton
 Died and was mummified at 19
 Had birth defects such as malaria and a bone
disorder from incest
Mummification
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 Took 70 days
 Is the preservation of dead bodies by embalming
them and wrapping them in cloth
 Was discovered because of King Tut
 Started out with nobles and pharaohs and then was
used by ordinary Egyptians
• Most Egyptians were peasant famers
• Their main crops were emmer wheat and barley
• Women also helped with farming along with
their husbands working for soil and repairing
the dikes
• During the off- season they were expected to
serve the pharaoh
• Cattle were raised for their milk and for their fattening and then slaughtered for
food, and they are also used for leather. Leather can be used in products from
sandals to military shields.
• The Nile flooded every year that made the land fertile. The farmers divided the
seasons into 3 rather than 4 according to the behavior of the Nile.
• The flood lasted from around June through September
• The water then drained out from October until February
• From then onto June it is “drought season”
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/EGYPT/farming.html
Dailey Life in Ancient Egypt- Chapter 5 “On the Farm”
Egyptian Women •Women could
inherit property, they could enter businesses, buy
and sell goods, and they could also go to court.
•They had a greater independence
•Most women were not able to learn to read and
write and even if they could they were not able to
become scribes.
•Egyptian sociEty was highly structurEd: a woman’s
social position was largely defined by the status of
hEr fathEr and husband. according to ‘maat’ thE
Egyptian view of the order of the universe, it was
dEfinitEly a man’s world.
Keeping Written Records
• What is a written record? A written record is a set of signs used to
represent units in a systematic way. Scribes often used hieroglyphics.
• They wrote on papyrus or carved it into stone.
Hieroglyphics-was the
1st writing system
Hieratic- simpler script
for everyday
Demotic- another siscript for everyday
use
Rosetta Stone
• Dates back to 196 B.C.
• A flat, black stone that has the same passage in
hieroglyphics, demonic script, and Greek.
• The meanings of Egyptian hieroglyphics was lost until
the 1800s when Jean Chamollion began to decipher it.
• The name Ptolemy was found in all three texts, thus the
first hieroglyphics were discovered
• Stone was first used to uncover mysterious writings on
Egyptian monuments.
• The Egyptian language was meant to be difficult to
understand so the scribes could keep their jobs and
others could not master the language.
Science and Mathematics
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Egyptian physicians believed in various kinds of magic.
Doctors performed complex operations and prescribed plants and medicine
Egyptians developed a calendar that included 12 months and 30 days
Geometry was developed to survey the land and calculate the size of blocks to use for
building pyramids
Mathematics was developed to face important problems in ancient Egyptian lifestyle
Ancient Egyptians had a vast number system based on 10
10 – heel
100 – crook
1,000 – flower
10,000 - finger
100,000 – tadpole
The standard measurement used in ancient Egypt was a cubit (approximately 21 inches)
Egyptian Art
Statues, wall painting and tombs, and
carvings on temples. Paintings and sculpture
styles stayed the same for a thousand years.
Statues often showed people in stiff poses.
Some human figures have animal heads that
represent special qualties.
Some show everyday scenes of trade,
farming, family life, for religious ceremonies.
Others boast of victories in battle. Artists
always presented gods and pharoahs as
much larger than other figures.
Egyptian Literature
By: Daniel Helmling and Toby Shaw
Ancient Egyptian Literature
• Some of the oldest Egyptian literature includes: Hymns, prayers to gods, proverbs
and love poems.
• They also recorded battles and through their victories they thought and recorded
themselves as superior.
• They only seem to educate the high up in society, Artisans and Scribes. All
Egyptian people learned the importance of table manners even the women who weren’t
educated.
• The three types of Egyptian writing are Hieratic, Hieroglyphic, Demotic.
• Archeologist have found religious text in pyramids near the pharaohs tomb.
Akhenaton
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Ordered priests to worship Aton (sun God)
Tried to make religion monotheistic
Ideas had little success
Ordered workers to remove the names of
other gods from their temples
• Nobles deserted him because he neglected his
duty of defending the empire
Osiris
• According to mythology, Osiris ruled Egypt until his
jealous brother named Set kill him, cut him up into
pieces and scattered him all over Egypt.
• Osiris’s wife Isis saved him by reassembling his body
which saved his life.
• Now Osiris could no longer rule the living and
became god of the dead and judge of the souls
seeking admission to the after life.
• In addition to ruling the underworld he also was the
god of the Nile. His role was to control the annual
flood which made the land fertile.
• He is appeared to be a green skinned man who dress
like a pharaoh.
Proving yourself to Osiris
• The Egyptians believed that each soul had to pass judgment to win eternal
life after death.
• First the dead would be ferried across a lake of fir to the hall of Osiris.
• Second the dead persons heard would be weighed against the feather of
truth to determine whether he was a good person or not.
• Those that were judged as a sinner would be fed to the crocodile-shaped
Eater of the Dead.
• The good souls would live in a happy field of food forever in bliss. To
survive this dangerous journey the Egyptians relied on the Book of the
Dead which contained spells, charms, and formulas for the dead to use in
the afterlife.