Notes

Chapter 5.1 (Egypt)

Africa
Second largest continent
Home of the world’s largest desert- Sahara
Home of the world’s largest river – The Nile
Egypt
In northeast corner of Africa
Called “the seedbed of African culture”
Mizraim
Most ancient name of Egypt
Name of one of Ham’s son
Genesis 10:6
Bible calls Egypt the Land of Ham
Nomes
Early on, Egypt consist of a number of small states called nomes
Pharaohs
Pharaohs = strong rulers
Divided nomes into:
Lower Egypt
Upper Egypt
Menes
The first Pharaoh of Egypt
United Upper and Lower Egypt
Egypt became known as: “Kingdom of the Two Lands”
The Nile River
The longest river in the world
Herodotus
Greek Father of History
Lived 485-425BC
Called Egypt: ”The Gift of The Nile”
The Nile Delta
At the mouth of the Nile



Chapter 5.2 (Egypt)
Language and Literature
Writing system: Hieroglyphics
Contains over 700 characters
The Book of the Dead
Most important Egyptian work
Contained prayers, hymns, spells, and other information to guide souls through the afterlife
Placed in tombs
Important Egyptian Cities
Memphis (12 miles south of Cairo)
Thebes (450 miles south of Cairo)
Memphis
Known as Noph in the Hebrew Bible
Nothing remains of the city except 2 granite colossi and one alabaster sphinx
Thebes
ü Nothing remains of Thebes except the vast necropolis
ü Means “City of the Dead” (one big cemetery)
Government
ü The pyramid best symbolizes Egyptian government
Pyramid
ü At top: Pharaoh
ü Sides: Priests and officials
ü Base: Everyone else

Note:
ü Ancient Egypt was an absolute monarchy and a theocracy dominated by the “god-king” Pharaoh



5.3 (Egypt)

Egyptian Religion
ü Humanistic
ü Naturalistic
ü Polytheistic
Humanistic
ü They worshiped man (Pharaoh)
Naturalistic
ü They worshiped nature
Polytheistic
ü They believed in thousands of Gods and goddesses
Egyptian Tombs
ü A man spent as much as time preparing his tomb for the afterlife as he did on the affairs of this life
ü Early Pharaohs built huge stone pyramids to serve as “house of eternity” for their mortal remains
Great Pyramid of Cheops
ü One of the wonders of the world
ü Took 100,000 workers nearly 20 years to construct his pyramid
Cheops Pyramid
ü Once finished, it:
ü Covered 13 acres
ü Contained 2.3 million blocks of stone!
ü Was 480 feet high!

Tomb of Tutankhamen
ü One of the world’s greatest archaeological discoveries
Howard Carter (archaeologist)
ü Discovered tomb in 1922
Tutankhamen
ü He was a teenage pharaoh who died at the age of 18
ü His tomb was filled with exquisite treasures!
What is mummification?
ü The preservation of bodies of the dead
ü Huge tombs and pyramids were used as caskets