Transcript Egypt “Gift of the Nile”

Egypt
“Gift of the Nile”
Ancient Egypt
Chronology*
(all dates BCE)

c. 3100-2700: Early Dynastic
– Dynasties 1-2

c. 2700-2200: Old Kingdom
– Dynasties 3-6

c. 2200-2050: First Intermediate Period
– Dynasties 7-10

c. 2050-1652: Middle Kingdom
– Dynasties 11-12
*
This basic framework was provided by Manetho,
an Egyptian priest and historian of the early 3rd
century BCE.
Chronology (cont.)

c. 1652-1567: Second Intermediate Period
– Dynasties 13-17

c. 1567-1085: New Kingdom
– Dynasties 18-20

c. 1085-30: Post-Imperial Period
– Dynasties 21-31
The geographical
imperative

“gift of the Nile”
– Herodotus
– cf. Mesopotamia, India. China, etc.
Hymn to the Nile



Hail to you, O Nile, that
issues from the earth and
comes to keep Egypt alive!
He that waters the meadows
that Re created….
He that makes to drink the
desert and the place distant
from water….
Natural bounty

Right: hunting birds
Agricultural plenty
Hymn to the Pharaoh

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He has come unto us and has
united the Two Lands….
He has come unto us and has
brought the Black Land under his
sway; he has apportioned to
himself the Red Land….
He has come unto us and has
made Egypt to live; he has
banished its suffering….
Pharaohs (cont.)
Hatshepsut
(d. c. 1481 BCE)
Akhenaten
(c. 1364-1347 BCE)
Pharaohs (cont.)

Battle of Kaddesh
– Hittites

Sea Peoples
Ramses II
(c. 1304-1237 BCE)
Ramses III
c. 1188-1156 BCE)
Monumental architecture


Right: Zoser’s step pyramid (c.
2650 BCE)
Below: the great pyramids at
Giza
Architecture (cont.)

Anatomy of a pyramid
War and weapons
War and weapons (cont.)
War and weapons (cont.)
The afterlife
Writing
Early hieroglyphics