Egyptian Civiliztions

Geography

Located in Africa on the Nile River and Nile River Delta

The Nile is the longest river in the world (4100 miles long)

The Niles flows from South to North

The area around the Nile is very fertile in the middle of a desert

and floods predictably

The surrounding desert makes the river valley and delta easy to protect

Government

Ruled by Dynasties starting with Menes

Their rulers were known as Pharaohs: God-Kings, who were to be both obeyed and worshiped

Egyptians also had a strict social class structure, which included slaves

Religion

Egyptians were Polytheistic

Egyptian Gods

• Pharoah
• Ra: Sun God
• Isis: Goddess of Motherhood
• Horus: God of light
• Osirus: God of the Underworld

Pharaohs believed they could rule in the afterlife, which is why they mummified their bodies

and built the pyramids to keep them safe

Writing

Egyptians used Hieroglyphics as their formal written language

Each symbol stands for an actual object

We are able to translate their writing through a Rosetta Stone found in 1799

which has both Greek and Hieroglyphics (so it could be translated)

Nubia

Geography

Egypt's neighbors to the south

Importance: Source for slaves and raw materials for Egypt

The Nubians adopted many of Egypt's traditons and customs

After the Libyans take over Egypt, the Nubians push them out and restore traditional Egyptian Cutlure

Egypt is eventually conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC

then the Romans

then the Byzantines

then the Muslims

then the British until 1950