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ANCIENT EGYPT
GRADE 7 UNIT 6 NOTES
UNIT OVERVIEW & QUESTIONS
 Video/ Reading with notes
 Discuss your text with your group. Come up with knowledge you have
about ancient Egypt and questions you have.
 Write your current knowledge on one post it and your questions on
another. Be ready to share your group’s best.
 Sign up to answer one of the questions on the anchor chart. At least one
of your projects must answer this question.
UNIT 6 NOTEBOOK SETUP
 Take standards and activity log
handouts. Glue in to pp. 92 & 93.
 Take14 left hand pages. Glue in to
even pages 94-120.
 Note due dates: Festival Day Feb
10, Presentation Day Feb 11,
Reflection/ Revision Day Feb 12.
 Update your table of contents:
Date
Topic
1/5 Unit 6 Standards
1/5 Unit 6 Activity Log
1/7 Egyptian Maps
1/8 Geography of the Nile
1/12 Relationship between Egypt & Kush
1/13 Role of Pharaohs
1/14 Dynasties
1/19 Influential Rulers
1/20 Role of Slaves
1/21 Egyptian Gods
1/25 Afterlife
1/26 Mummification
2/1 Pyramids
2/2 Hieroglyphs
2/3 Papyrus
2/4 Agricultural System
Pages
92
93
94-95
96-97
98-99
100-101
102-103
104-105
106-107
108-109
110-111
112-113
114-115
116-117
118-119
120-121
EGYPTIAN MAPS
EQ: WHAT WAS THE LAND AROUND THE NILE RIVER LIKE?
Recall column help:
Find important places on the
map like the Nile River Delta,
Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, Kush,
cataracts, etc. and write them
with arrows pointing to their
locations on the map.
Group Activity:
Which way does the Nile River flow?
How do you know?
What are three defining
characteristics of the Nile? Give
details about each.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE NILE
EQ: WHAT MAKES THE NILE UNIQUE?
• Starts from mountains and lakes in modern day Uganda and flows north to
the Mediterranean Sea.
• Sailors could float north with the current or sail south against the current.
• Annual flooding deposits nutrient rich silt, making the flood plains around the
river incredibly fertile.
• Common crops along the river are sorghum (a type of grass that can provide
grain or syrup) and millet
• The longest river in the world – 4258 miles.
• The Nile has six distinct cataracts, which are white water areas (sometimes
waterfalls), not generally navigable by boat.
• Ancient settlements sprang up around these cataracts as important trade
centers (as anyone passing by boat would be forced to bypass the cataract).
• Cataracts have historically served as boundaries between the Upper and
Lower Egypt.
Group discussion:
How do the cataracts and flooding of
the Nile affect the type of society the
grew along the river?
EGYPT DBQ DAY 1
 Do Now:You do not need your notebook. There are no notes today.
Have something to write with and be ready to work in randomlyselected groups of 2-3.
 We will be working on a document based question, a type of open
response that you will encounter on your midterm. In it, you will read
one or more texts and answer a question in open response or essay
form, using what you read for evidence to support a thesis statement.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EGYPT & KUSH
EQ: WHAT WAS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EGYPT & KUSH LIKE & WHY?

Archaeologists have found similar styles of pottery and art work inside the Tombs of both Egyptian and Nubian Pharaohs. Sketches carved
into the tombs tell archaeologists that the Nubians and Egyptians borrowed ideas from each other. For example, The White Crown that
both rulers wore.

Historians have found traces of existing trade between the two kingdoms, including Nubia trading gold, silver, ivory, and rare feathers, in
exchange
for grain,
papyrus sheets, horses, and cedar wood from Egypt.
Group
activity:

This
whole-class
simulation
to show
howRival
trade
worked
between
Kush,
Egypt,
andfighting
Central
Read
After the
ruleisofa Ramses
II, Egypt’s
government
collapsed.
leaders
in different
cities
were
so busy
oneAfrica.
another
that they
forgot about
maintaining
Egypt’s
control
of Kush.
Left on its own,
Kush
becameand
an independent
and the
directions
for your
group
as described
on the
handout
in class. kingdom ruled by Nubian kings.

Discussion
area
should
be used
to record
your
initial inventory
and ending
anyempire
strategy
In the mid-700s
b.c.,notes
a Nubian
king
conquered
the Egyptian
town
of Thebes.
The next ruler
of Kush inventory,
expanded the
by conquering
your
group
comes
up
with,
and
notes
from
the
whole
class
debrief
discussion
after
the
simulation.
one Egyptian city after another. The city of Hermopolis, however, refused to surrender. For five months Hermopolis held out against Piye’s
army. But when the city’s food supply ran out, its people began to starve. Only then did Hermopolis surrender. Piye declared himself the
new pharaoh of a united Egypt and Kush.

Pharaohs from Kush ruled Egypt for almost a century. The rulers from the south encouraged an Egyptian-style culture. They built temples
to honor Nubian and Egyptian gods. They dotted the desert with hundreds of tombs. Like earlier pharaohs, they encouraged trade
between Africa and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea.

The rulers from Kush then tried to expand their power. They went to war with the Assyrians, skillful warriors who had recently
conquered the Fertile Crescent. This error in judgment led to the Nubians’ downfall. Assyrian troops invaded Egypt in 663 b.c.After
suffering many losses in battle, the Nubians retreated from Egypt to Kush. Egypt was free to rule itself again.
ROLE OF PHARAOHS
EQ: WHY WERE PHARAOHS SO IMPORTANT TO EGYPTIAN SOCIETY?
 Pharaohs were responsible for preserving the “right order of society”. These responsibilities included the following:
 Preserving peace and political stability
 Performing all necessary religious rituals
 Addressing the economic needs of the people
 Providing justice
 Protecting the country from internal and external threats
 Pharaohs were also believed to be divine. However, it was the power of kingship itself that the pharaoh represented,
Group Discussion Question:
Was being pharaoh an easy or
difficult job? Give evidence.




the individual king himself that was divine.
Pharaohs had absolute power in theory, but in practice this was not the case. By the 4th dynasty there was an
established bureaucracy. Egypt was divided into provinces (nomes)—each of which had a governor (nomarch) who was
responsible to the king. Pharaohs were polygamous, but only had 1 principal queen (the wife whose male children
were acknowledged as the pharaoh’s heirs).
Queens had little power until the New Kingdom period, when they became an essential part of their husbands’ reign.
It was viewed as a disruption of the divine order of society for a king to rule without input from his queen.
Queens were also given estates, which provided them with financial independence.
DYNASTIES
EQ: WHAT IS A DYNASTY AND HOW DID THEY HELP EGYPTIAN SOCIETY?
A dynasty is a system in which ruling power is passed down within the same family—usually from father to son. However,
women’s roles as mothers and queens were also important. The role of the queen as the mother of the next king lent royal
women status and influence as symbols of creation and rebirth. Queens occasionally assumed the kingship of political or
dynastic reasons, but their reigns were usually quite brief. Hatshepsut was an exception to this.
Egyptian Kingdoms
 Old Kingdom: 2686-2125 BCE

Pharaoh was an inaccessible God/King. People had no choice but to obey or they risked causing a breakdown in the cosmic structure of
life.
 Middle Kingdom 2055-1650 BCE (Egypt’s Golden Age)
 Pharaoh was now concerned about public welfare. Domestic improvements, including draining swamp lands and digging a canal that
connected the Nile to the Red Sea, took place.
 Pharaoh also sent traders to Kush, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Crete during this time.
 New Kingdom: 1550-1085 BCE
 Warfare (using better weapons) was used to gain wealth and land.
Group Discussion Question:
 Egypt occupied parts of Palestine, Syria and Libya during this time.
How did the role of the pharaoh change
throughout the course of Egyptian civilization?
Did it help or hurt society?
INFLUENTIAL RULERS
EQ: WHAT WAS THE LASTING INFLUENCE OF A SPECIFIC EGYPTIAN
PHARAOH? (CHOOSE ONE)
TODAY’S AGENDA IS DIFFERENT:You will take notes on
all of these rulers. You will get in-depth information about
one ruler that you will use to present to the rest of the
class (with a group).
 Cleopatra
 Akhenaten
 Hatshepsut
 Ramses II
 Tutankhamen
Warning: There may not be much workshop time today.
Group Activity:
• Read and discuss the info sheet on your
ruler.
• List 5 significant facts that your
classmates should know about him/her.
Write these on a piece of chart paper.
• Prepare a very short presentation to
show your poster and answer questions
from your audience.
ROLE OF SLAVES
EQ: WHY DID THE EGYPTIANS KEEP SLAVES?
Above slaves on the social hierarchy (in descending
order: Pharaoh; viziers (tax collector), nobles &
priests; scribes, craftsmen, artisans, and traders;
farmers.
Slaves were people that may have been war prisoners
or criminals. Slavery became a major part of the Group discussion:
ancient Egyptian community and they were forcedWhat
to function did slaves have in Egyptian
Why was this function not fulfilled
do whatever labor that was needed by the nobles society?
and
by farmers and/or free workers?
the pharaoh.
In your notes: Draw a pyramid and list the
social classes in their correct order.
A son or daughter took on the social class or
‘hierarchy’ of their parents.
EGYPTIAN GODS
EQ: WHO WERE THE EGYPTIAN GODS AND WHAT ROLE DID THEY PLAY IN
EGYPTIAN RELIGION?
 The Egyptians were polytheistic – they believed in many gods. Some gods, or deities,
were more important than others.
 The main deities were Atum, Ra, Chnum, Amun, Ptah. Each ruled over specific
regions at specific times.
 Atum was the god of sun, ruler of gods. Atum is illustrated as a black bull or golden
crown. He was considered the father of gods/pharaohs.
 Ra was the god of heaven/power/light. Ra was illustrated with a sun disk on his head.
He is too old to rule from Earth, so he watches over from the heavens.
 Chnum was the "ram god" who made the Nile fertile for agriculture. Chnum was the
creator of humans by making babies out of clay and putting them in women's
Group activity:
wombs.
Use the handouts to take brief notes on each of the gods. Useful
 Amun was the
god of wind/sun,and
later
deity.ruled
Amun
was(e.g.
illustrated
information
to have is the
areathe
ofhead
life each
over
writing,as a
man with beard
and feathered
crown/sun
disk. Amun
joined with
to become main
children,
the sun, etc.),
their animals
and symbols,
and Ra
relationship
deity.
to other gods.
 Ptah was the god of creation/artisans. He was shown as man with beard, wrapped
like a mummy except for his hands.
AFTER LIFE
EQ: WHAT DID THE EGYPTIANS BELIEVE HAPPENED TO THEIR SOULS AFTER
THEY DIED?

Death

Death is not the end; it's a natural step in
the life cycle.

Death is really a "rebirth."

After death, you enter a new world like
the current one, so you are buried with
everything you will need.

Belief that the human soul were
comprised of five elements:


Ka is the vital spark; Ba is the
personality of the individual;
Akh refers to the individual's
immortality; Sheut is the shadow;
Ren is the individual's name
The Ba could leave the deceased's tomb
during the day and do as it pleased, but
had to remain in the tomb when the
deceased wanted it to.
Underworld
Before the dead could reach the Afterlife,
they first had to pass judgement in the
Underworld.
Anubis, the guardian of the Underworld,
would greet the dead in the Hall of Maat
where their soul would be judged.
Anubis would then weigh the dead's
heart against the feather on the scales of
Maat to see if they are worthy of
crossing over into the Afterlife.
If the dead's heart proved unworthy, it
would be fed to the demon dog, Ammut,
and the dead's body and soul would be
left vulnerable to the demons of the
Underworld.
Afterlife
Life is a preliminary stage to get to the
afterlife.
Afterlife is ensured through a three step
process:
Mummification of the body
Placing the mummified body in a tomb
with the deceased's name on it
Having a funeral.
Food or drink was then offered to those
who were not able to attend the funeral.
To make sure the dead had material comfort
in their afterlife, ancient Egyptians would
place jewelry, furniture, and clothes, etc., in
the tombs.
Group discussion: If these were your beliefs about what would
happen after you died, what actions would you take in life to ensure
a successful entrance to the afterlife?
MUMMIFICATION
EQ: WHAT HAPPENED WHEN IMPORTANT PEOPLE DIED?

· Mummification placed soft tissue in salt for preservation. Major
organs were removed and placed in jars then the body was dressed
in linens and buried. The process took about 70 days to complete.
Group discussion question (pick one):
o Do
you think
the Egyptians'

· Mummification
was originally
reserved for kings, but throughout
time became a common practice for everyone.
preoccupation with death was morbid
 · It was believed that the physical body must be preserved by
mummification
in order for
soul to remain
in the
afterlife.
or
depressing
forthethem?
Dothere
you
think
 · Bodies were mummified so the soul could get food and water in
their
obsession with the afterlife was a
the afterlife.
expressing
a belove
of stored
life?in jars, and
 way
· First, of
the internal
organs would
removed,
placed at the burial site. The brain had no importance to the
o Why
you
think
Egyptian
Egyptians,do
so they
removed
and disposed
of it. tombs
 became
· The second step
was letting
body dryelaborate
in the sun for 40-50
more
andthemore
as days
after being wrapped in cloth and soaked in natron (drying mixture of
salt).
time
went on?

· Next, the
bodywe
was still
stuffed fascinated
with material, suchwith
as resin and linen,
o Why
are
and formed into the person's original size and shape.
and pyramids?
 mummies
· The last stage consisted
of wrapping the body in linen while priests
said prayers. Jewelry was often placed within the linens.
HIEROGLYPHS
EQ: WHAT WAS THE EGYPTIAN SYSTEM OF WRITING LIKE?
 Believed writing was created by the gods and
called it the “the words of God”.
 The term hieroglyphic comes from the Greek
word hieros (sacred) & glypho (inscriptions).
 Dates back to 3400 BC.
 Hieroglyphic script was used mostly on tombs
and temple walls
 Hieratic script was used in everyday writing
Group discussion:
Why were there two different kinds of writing?
PYRAMIDS
EQ: WHY AND HOW WERE PYRAMIDS BUILT?
The Sphinx:
The Sphinx at Giza is a half lion and half human statue built in 3rd
Group
activity:
millennium
BCE.
It is among the largest single-stone statues on earth,
carved
from limestone
bedrock.and
It facestomb
due east.
“Riddle of the
Design
a
pyramid
(burial
Sphinx”: no one knows for sure who built it, when, or what it was
chamber)
really
modeled after.for a pharaoh. What decisions
did you have to make and why?
The Pyramids:
Pyramids
were builtin
to the
housetextbook:
dead pharaohs p.
and154-155.
queens. 80 pyramids
Pyramids
still stand today, while 3 of the largest and best preserved are found at
Giza. The most well-known pyramid is the “Great Pyramid” was built
for pharaoh Khufu. The second best-known is the pyramid built for
Khufu’s son, pharaoh Khafra. The sphinx guards Khafra’s pyramid. The
largest was built for pharaoh Menkaure. Pyramids were shaped the way
they were so the dead could climb up to heaven and the sloping sides
represented the rays of the sun.
PAPYRUS
EQ: WHAT WAS PAPYRUS AND HOW WAS IT MADE & USED?
Group discussion:
needed something to write on
Look at the handout
 harvested a triangular reed found in lower
about
papyrus.
Egypt that
was light-weight, strong and
durable 2-3
that dates
back to 4000
Which
pictures
or BC
 papyrus plant was used for paper, food,
quotes
would
you
use
to
medicine, perfume, making baskets, ropes,
show
importance
ofchairs
boats,the
sandals,
utensils, tables and

standard size
cm long & 22 cm
papyrus
to was
the47Egyptians?
 after developing a way to write, they
wide
AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM
EQ: HOW DID EGYPTIANS GROW FOOD?
Link to irrigation video:
 Egyptians formatted tools to aid with agriculture including plows, sickles, hoes, forks,
scoops, baskets, and sieves.
 Created irrigation to get water to reach lands which were not adjacent to the Nile.
 Catch basins: collected excess water during floods and stored it for later use.
 The growing seasons were dependent on the the flooding of the Nile River.
 Floods started in June and ended in October.
 Harvest time started in February and ended with a new flood in June.
Group
 Sirius (aactivity:
star) appeared within a few weeks of these occurrences - defined exact
lengthaofdiagram
the earth’s to
tripshow
around the
Draw
thesun.
agricultural year.
 After Sirius disappeared, the first new moon appeared after 70 days, marking the
Include
names
seasons,
start of months,
the new calendar
year.for
Onethe
moon
month wasand
29 ½the
days.farming
 The calendar
washappened
short by ¼ day
which added up, so Augustus
activities
that
in every
that year,
time.
introduced the “leap year” in 30 BC.
Graphics
are
recommended
but
not
required.
 When Egypt was taken over by the Macedonians and, eventually, by the Romans, the
Egyptian calendar months translated into the Macedonian and Roman calendars.
FESTIVAL DAY
 Take a grading sheet and put your name on it.
 Set up your projects at your desk.
 If you have a presentation for tomorrow, sign up on the board. You will NOT have a chance to sign up tomorrow!
 When it is your turn to look at the other projects, take your grading sheet and fill it out. You must evaluate at
least 5 people’s projects. Write down what the projects did well and ONE thing they might want to try differently
next time.
 At the end of class, turn in your grading sheets and any project work that Ms. Larke did not speak to you directly
about.
PRESENTATION DAY
 Take a grading sheet.
 Sit at your assigned seat and fill in the parts of the grading sheet that you can (your name, presentation names &
topics)
 If you are presenting, get your materials ready.
 During the presentations, take notes and give feedback about what they presenters did well and ONE thing they
might want to try during their next presentation. Fill out the rubric.
 If you are caught working on your own projects instead of being a respectful audience member, your project
materials will be taken away until the end of class.
 At the end of class, turn in your grading sheet.