Lesson 4.2: The Old Kingdom

• What did ancient Egyptians believe about their kings?

• Describe the earliest uses of Egyptian writing.

• How did the burial of Egyptians and the use of pyramids relate to ancient Egyptian religion?

• Upper Egypt wanted to control ALL of Egypt. 

• King Narmer conquered Lower Egypt and united the two kingdoms.

• Ladies and gents, we have the world's first nation-state!

• King Namar's rule also marked Egypt's first dynasty (series of rulers from the same family)

• Living gods, connecting the people to their gods.

• Never wrong.

• Able to control the flooding of the Nile and food supply

• These beliefs unified Egypt and helped the kings maintain power!

• Picture symbols – borrowed from the Sumerians

• Each glyph represented a sound or an object.

• Originally hieroglyphs were only used by scribes, who carved the symbols into the walls of temples, tombs and palaces. 

  
  

• Invented to allow Egyptians to keep more records.

• Papyrus plant grows in marshy areas along the Nile.

• Wrote with sharpened papyrus stalks and ink made of soot.

• Books = scrolls

Papyrus

• Tombs for Egyptian rulers

• No one knows exactly how or why pyramids were built. 

• Kings were considered “godlike rulers” and used huge amounts of resources and the whole society to build their burial sites. 

• Believed people would need their bodies in the afterlife, so they found a way to preserve them.

• Part of the mummification process involved removing all organs except the heart.

• The heart = the home of the soul

• Pharaoh's were buried with everything they might need in the afterlife (i.e. clothing, jewelry, furniture, games, pets and servants)

• A series of written spells that the Ancient Egyptians believed helped them journey to the afterlife.

• They were not actually in a book. They were written on papyrus scrolls or on tomb walls.

• The discovery of the Rosetta Stone allowed scholars to first interpret it.

• One of the most important trials depicted in the Book of the Dead

• A persons heart is weighed against a feather, which represents truth.

• If the two balance, the person earns eternal life.

• If the soul is heavier, they are fed to a monster.

• What did ancient Egyptians believe about their kings?

• Describe the earliest uses of Egyptian writing.

• How did the burial of Egyptians and the use of pyramids relate to ancient Egyptian religion?