Blog Week 7 - 1

 Egypt – Land 

·     Upper Egypt was a 500 mile long strip of fertile land along the Nile. 

·     Lower Egypt was the wide land of the Nile delta, emptying into the Mediterranean sea.

·     Nile = Major provider of life.

·     River flows from upper to lower.

·     Around 3100 B.C. they were united (the 2 lands) by the pharaoh (Narmer)

·     Pharaohs was all powerful, worshipped, and intimately connected to other gods and goddesses.

·     Relied on harmony and balance, which they called maat.

·     Pharaoh’s had multiple wives, all router to financial and social success were through the palace.

·     Women had little rights, but they could inherit money and land, and divorce their husbands, but no political power.

·     Gods were often portrayed with animal heads or bodies.

·     They believed in the afterlife (ka), they mummified bodies to preserve them.

·     All souls would need to justify themselves at the point of death (after-world paradise or the jaws of a monster)

·     Writing formed 3100 BC and were small pictures known as hieroglyphics.

·     Script was written in ink on papyrus.

·     Papyrus was stored in scrolls; the scrolls have taught us a lot about ancient Egypt.

·     Astronomers created a calendar with 12 months and 365 days to make better sense of the seasonal cycles.

·     They had knowledge of the human anatomy and tried to make medicine and cures.

·     Wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transportation ability on the Nile.

·     Pyramids are tombs, originally covered in marble, but it was later stripped off.

·     Temple of Amon at Karnak is the largest religious temple in the world.

·     Stone sculptures and interior paintings depicted humans and gods.