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One of the most powerful civilizations in the history of the world, ancient Egypt reigned
supreme for more than 3,000 years.
Settled around the Nile River in northeast Africa, the ancient Egyptians created huge
pyramids, beautiful statues, detailed artwork, and a complex system of hieroglyphic writing.
During their long history they made advances in agriculture, architecture, and astronomy,
and the many artifacts they left behind still capture our imaginations today.
Before Egypt became an empire, it was divided into two kingdoms: the Upper Kingdom in the
south, and the Lower Kingdom in the north.
These names may seem backwards to us, but they were named after the flow of the Nile
River.
The Upper Kingdom was upstream, and the Lower Kingdom was downstream.
Around 3100 BC, about 5,000 years ago, a king named Narmer united the two kingdoms, creating
an empire that would last thousands of years.
To show that the kingdoms were equal, Narmer established a new city between them - Memphis.
This unification marked the official beginning of Egypt as a civilization.
The unification of Upper and Lower Egypt also gave Egypt control of the entire Nile river,
and that was a key to its power.
Without the Nile, there would have been no Egypt.
Northeast Africa is almost completely desert, and receives very little rain.
In some areas it may rain only once every few years!
The Nile river provided the Egyptians with precious water, but also something else, just
as important: mud.
Every year, between June and September, the Nile river overflowed its banks, flooding
the land on either side.
But this annual flood was not a disaster - the people of Egypt looked forward to it!
When the Nile flooded it covered the fields on both sides with a layer of rich brown mud
that could grow wheat, barley, and vegetables.
When the river did not flood very much, the people would not be able to grow enough food.
The Nile river provided other important resources, as well.
Mud from the riverbanks was used to make bricks.
Papyrus plants growing along its edge were used to make paper, baskets, rope, and sandals.
Even the water itself formed a sort of highway, allowing boats to transport people and goods
from one end of the kingdom to the other.
Because of the Nile, the Egyptians became shipbuilders.
Their earliest ships were skiffs, made of bundles of papyrus reeds tied together.
Air trapped in the hollow reeds helped these skiffs to float.
The Egyptians would use long poles to push these early boats across the river.
Later ships were made of wooden planks with reeds stuffed into the cracks.
At first they rowed, but later developed sails to allow the wind to blow their ships up and
down the river.
With these ships the ancient Egyptians were able to trade with other countries around
the Mediterranean sea.
They also became explorers, traveling as far as the east coast of Africa, and crossing
the Indian Ocean.
The Nile river was so important to the people of ancient Egypt that their calendar was based
on it.
They divided the year into three seasons: Inundation, when the Nile would flood, Growing,
when it was time to plant crops, and Harvest.
When things went wrong, such as the Nile floodwaters not rising high enough, the Egyptians thought
it was because the gods were displeased.
The people would perform rituals and make offerings to try and persuade the gods to
put things back the way they should be.
The ancient Egyptians had a god for almost everything - as many as 2,000 of them.
There was a god of the underworld, of the sun, of the sky, of deserts, and of course,
a god of the Nile river.
The Egyptian gods could take many forms, often animals, and were sometimes depicted as a
person with an animal's head.
One of the most important of their gods was Osiris, god of the underworld.
In Egyptian mythology, Osiris was a king, ruling as Lord of the Earth with Isis, the
mother goddess, as his queen.
His brother, Set, became jealous of Osiris and came up with a plan to kill him.
Set had a beautiful coffin made that was just the right size for Osiris and then threw a
big party.
He told his guests that whoever fit the coffin best would get it as a gift.
When Osiris laid in the box, Set closed the lid, fastened it, and threw it in the Nile.
Osiris died, but eventually Isis found his body.
She was about to use a magic potion to resurrect him when Set cut the body into pieces and
scattered them around Egypt.
With the help of her sister, Isis found all of the body parts but one and put Osiris back
together.
Because a piece was missing, Osiris could not be brought back to life.
Instead, he went to the afterlife and became Lord of the Dead.
Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, became the next king.
This story helps explain how the Egyptians viewed their pharaohs.
Pharaohs served as rulers in ancient Egypt, but these kings and queens were believed to
be gods on earth, the sons and daughters of the other gods.
It was the job of a pharaoh to keep things in balance and maintain the cosmic order.
They would lead armies in battle, collect taxes, and build temples to the gods.
After their death, it was believed that the pharaohs would take their place in the afterlife
with the other gods, just like Osiris, and leave behind an heir to become the new pharaoh,
just like Horus.
The pharaoh was the most powerful person in Egyptian society, with all the other social
classes underneath them.
Second in command was the vizier, who was also sometimes the high priest.
The vizier was the pharaoh's chief advisor, and was responsible for approving official
documents and running the pharaoh's household.
Beneath the vizier were nobles and priests.
The nobles ruled the different nomes, or regions of Egypt, making their laws and keeping order
in these areas.
Egyptian priests were responsible for performing ceremonies and rituals in their temples, to
keep the gods happy and the world in balance.
The next rank down contained soldiers and scribes.
Soldiers could become rich when they captured treasure from enemies, and might be given
land for service to their country.
Scribes were highly educated people whose job was to read and write - some of the only
Egyptians able to do so.
Next were skilled craftsmen - painters, weavers, sculptors, people who made pottery, jewelry,
shoes and clothes.
Near the bottom were peasants and farmers, who worked land belonging to the nobles in
exchange for food, clothing, and a place to live.
During the floods, when no farming could be done, peasants might work on construction
projects until it was time to work the fields again.
The lowest rank in Egypt was that of slave.
Slaves were usually prisoners captured in war, and were often used as servants in temples
and the homes of nobles.
Slaves might also be sent to work in mines and quarry stone that was used in building
projects.
The Egyptians believed that after death a person's soul went on a journey to reach the
afterlife.
This journey was dangerous, and not everyone would be allowed in.
In the Hall of Truth, the jackal-headed guardian of the dead, Anubis, would weigh your heart.
If it was lighter than a feather, you would be allowed to enter the Field of Reeds, a
place where you could live eternally with no more sadness, sickness, or death.
If your heart was not pure, it would be devoured by the crocodile-headed demon Ammit instead
and you would die a second death.
Because the afterlife was thought to be so much like life on earth, the ancient Egyptians
believed that you would need to take things with you - including your body.
This is why they made mummies!
Mummification preserved bodies so that they kept a more lifelike appearance.
The process of mummification took up to 70 days.
The organs were removed and carefully placed in jars, except for the brain.
Egyptians did not consider the brain important, so it was removed and thrown away.
The body was dried out, stuffed, and carefully wrapped.
The wrapped body was placed in a special coffin called a sarcophagus, and the sarcophagus
was placed in a tomb.
Many items were placed into the tombs along with the mummies to help them in the afterlife.
Poor Egyptians were buried with small things like bowls, combs, and food.
Wealthy Egyptians might be buried with jewelry and furniture.
The pharaohs were buried in huge, elaborate tombs with many treasures, sometimes including
statues that were meant to be their servants in the afterlife.
The pyramids are examples of tombs that were built for pharaohs to be buried in.
There are rooms inside of them where the pharaohs' bodies would be placed, along with any treasures
or items that the pharaohs wanted to take with them to the afterlife.
Unfortunately, the treasures of most pyramids were stolen long ago, leaving the pyramids
empty.
About 2,000 years ago Egypt was conquered by the Romans, bringing its reign of power
to an end, but the pyramids, statues, mummies, and art the Ancient Egyptians left behind
ensured that they would never be forgotten.
One reason we know so much about Egyptian history is that they wrote it down.
The ancient Egyptians had their own form of writing called hieroglyphics.
Hieroglyphics were much more complicated than the alphabet we have, and used around 1,000
different characters.
Some symbols stood for words or ideas and others stood for sounds.
Hieroglyphics were so complicated to write that there were people who trained for years
to do it as their job.
These people were called scribes.
For many years, historians were unable to read hieroglyphics, but
in 1799 a stone tablet was found that had a message carved on it in both Greek and hieroglyphics.
Because the message was the same in both languages, the hieroglyphics could be translated.
This stone, called the Rosetta Stone, has allowed many records from ancient Egypt to
be read and translated, helping us to learn a great deal about this powerful culture from
so long ago.
I hope you enjoyed learning about ancient Egypt today.
Goodbye till next time!