Ancient Egypt. Gift of the Nile. catalog # Published & Distributed by AGC/UNITED LEARNING

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1 Ancient Egypt Gift of the Nile catalog # 2290 Published & Distributed by AGC/UNITED LEARNING 1560 Sherman Avenue Suite 100 Evanston, IL Hour Fax No Website: info@agcunited.com 1

2 ANCIENT EGYPT: Gift of the Nile Grades 5-8 Viewing Tme: 28:30 PROGRAM SUMMARY This two-part video for fifth through eighth grades explores the history and culture of ancient Egypt. This program was filmed on location in Egypt. Students learn about the geography of Egypt and how the Nile River provided the unifying element that gave rise to one of the greatest of the ancient civilizations. Scenes from contemporary Egyptian life are skillfully blended with imagery from the past to paint a fascinating picture of ancient life. Students learn about the Egyptian religion, how mummies were preserved and how the first pyramid came to be built. With the help of computer animation, students discover how hieroglyphic writing relates to picture symbols and learn how to read a simple phrase in this ancient script. The program ends by explaining how the control of Egypt passed into the hands of first Greek and then Roman conquerors. STANDARDS-BASED CORRELATION For your information, we are providing you with Standard 1 taken from the 1996 World Standards for Grades 5-12, National Center for History in the Schools, UCLA, as it relates to the study of ancient Egypt. This video-based programs will help you meet this standard. Standard 1: The major characteristics of civilization and how civilization emerged in Egypt. a) How Egypt became a center of dense population, urbanization, and cultural innovation b) How commercial and cultural interactions contributed to change in the Nile region. c) How agrarian societies spread. d) How the natural environment of the Nile Valley shaped the early development of civilization. e) Character of urban development in Egypt i) social hierarchy ii) occupational specialization iii) men and women's roles 2

3 f) Forms of writing, how written records shaped civilization. g) Development of religious and ethical belief systems and how they legitimized political and social order. h) Character of government and military institutions and ways in which central authorities commanded labor services and tax payments. i) Architectural, artisitc, literary, technological, and scientific achievements. STUDENT OBJECTIVES After viewing this video and participating in the lesson activities, students should be able to: Find Egypt on a world map and describe its climate and geographic features. Describe what the ancient Egyptians looked like. Explain the role of the Nile River in the development of civilization in ancient Egypt. Describe some of the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Compare and contrast writing in modern English to writing in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Describe the government of ancient Egypt. Identify the architectural and spiritual importance of the pyramids. TEACHER PREPARATION It is suggested that you preview the video and review this teacher's guide and the accompanying blackline masters in order to familiarize yourself with their content. Duplicate the blackline masters you intend to use and distribute copies to your students so they can reference them before viewing the video. See page 5 for a description of the blackline masters. The answer key is also provided there. As you review the instructional materials outlined in this guide and the accompanying blackline masters, you may find it necessary to make some changes, additions or deletions to fit the specific needs of your class. We encourage you to do so, for only by tailoring this program to your students will they obtain the maximum benefits offered by these materials. 3

4 INTRODUCING THE VIDEO Map Activity: On a large wall map, point out Egypt on the continent of Africa or ask for a volunteer to locate it. Introduce the program by talking about any or all of these topics: The Nile River s role in shaping Egyptian civilization The pyramids and other famous monuments of ancient Egypt Pharaohs and mummies VIEWING THE VIDEO This program is presented in two parts. You may choose to stop for discussion at the mid-point break and watch the second half the following day, or watch the entire program on the same day. Present the video. The viewing time for part I is 14:15 and the viewing time for part II is 14:15. FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSION Conduct a class discussion after the video presentation using the following questions. The answers appear in italics. 1. How has Egypt's geography (topography, climate, precipitation) and location affected its development as a civilization? Answer: Egypt's location in the Nile valley provided flat land appropriate for farming. Because it is surrounded by the Sahara Desert and the Red and Mediterranean Seas, Egypt was difficult to invade. Its dry, warm, sunny climate and accessability to the water of the Nile made the valley very fertile. 2. What did the ancient Egyptians look like? How do we know? Answer: Ancient Egyptians were around five feet tall with light to dark brown skin. Men and women wore dark makeup around their eyes. Often they shaved their heads and wore braided wigs. We know how they looked because they left us pictures of themselves. 3. What roles did the Nile River play in the development of civilization in ancient Egypt? Answer: The Nile provided water for irrigation; flood waters left behind fresh, fertile soil for farming; the river provided a route for boats and wildlife for hunting. The agrarian civilization of ancient Egypt was built on the riches of the Nile River. 4

5 4. What kind of gods and goddesses did the ancient Egyptians worship? Answer: The Eqyptians worshipped gods such as Hathor, Re, Horus, and Sobek. Many gods were in the forms of important wildlife, such as the falcon and the crocodile. Re was the sun god. 5. How did the ancient Egyptians treat their dead? Answer: The dead were often mummified and buried with food and favorite belongings so that the person's soul, or ka, would not be hungry in the afterlife. Mummies of royalty were buried under stone monuments or pyramids. All dead were buried on the west side of the Nile, then their soul might enter the underworld and live with the gods. 6. How did hieroglyphic writing contribute to ancient Egyptian civilization? How is hieroglyphic writing similar and different from modern written language? Answer: Hieroglyphics helped Egyptians communicate with each other about important ideas in their culture. Both hieroglyphics and modern written language are based on visual symbols to portray ideas, words, and sounds. Hieroglyphics tend to be more pictoral than the more phonetic modern written language. 7. Describe the government of ancient Egypt. Answer: Ancient Egypt was ruled by the Pharaohs, who had absolute -power over their subjects and were considered to be the children of the gods, or actual gods. 8. What is the architectural significance of the pyramids? Why were they built? Answer: Some of the pyramids are among the biggest structures ever built. It took thousands of workers years to build them. Each stone block, about two and one-half tons, was cut out of the ground by hand, shaped square, and dragged to the construction site. Each pyramid contains more than two million stone blocks. They were built to house the mummies and the possessions of the pharaohs. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY From Blackline Masters 4 and 5, Timeline, have the students compile a list of some of the most important scientific advances that took place during the time of the ancient Egyptian civilization. 5

6 EXTENDED LEARNING ACTIVITY You may choose to assign students or groups of students to research and prepare written or oral reports on the following topics: Papyrus and how paper changed civilization Hieroglyphics and the Rosetta stone The gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt; religious practices of the ancient Egyptians Burial practices of the ancient Egyptians Agricultural developments and their impact on ancient Egyptian civilization The role of women in ancient Egypt INTERNET ACTIVITIES 1. Visit a 3-D reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian mummy at Services/BrightonHealthCare/ mummy.htm This fascinating site links you to the step-by-step process of the actual reconstruction of a mummy from the British museum. 2. Visit the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities at This site has links to photos of Egyptian artifacts. 3. Check out the Extended Library at This software program is a hieroglphic computer fount of more than 4700 signs. 4. Go to Secret of the Lost Tomb at magazine/ domestic/1995/ cover.html to visit the mausoleum of Ramses the Great. A fabulous multimedia site. BLACKLINE MASTERS /ANSWER KEY Blackline Masters 1-3, VOCABULARY LIST, will help students with unfamiliar words used in the program or pertaining to the subject of this program. 6

7 Blackline Masters 4-5, TIMELINE from 3,000 B.C. to 30 B.C., emphasizes events in Egypt. Blackline Master 6, CROSSWORD PUZZLE, challenges students to use new ideas and vocabulary from this program. It can be used as an in-class activity or as a take-home assignment. The following is the solution to the puzzle: Blackline Master 7 is the QUIZ for this video presentation. The quiz is also provided below, along with the answers in italics, for your teaching convenience. PART 1 1. Write a paragraph giving three ways the Nile River was important and useful to the ancient Egyptians. A. The Nile River was important to the ancient Egyptians because it gave them water for their crops. It also gave them water to drink in the desert they lived in. It provided an easy means of transportation by boat and it carried silt to their fields, greatly enriching the fertility of the soil. 2. Write a paragraph describing some of the gods worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. A. The god Hathor had the horns of a cow on her head. Other gods had the heads of animals or birds. One was Horus, the falcon god, who had the head of a falcon. Horus was the special protector of pharaohs. Another god was Sobek, 7

8 the crocodile god, who had the head of a crocodile. The sun was also a god, and pharaohs were considered to be the children of the sun. 3. Write a paragraph describing how the tombs of the pharaohs gradually changed during the history of ancient Egypt. A. At first, bodies were buried under flat-topped buildings called mastabas. Then a king named Zoser ordered that a series of mastabas be built, one on top of another, until a pyramid was formed. This was the first pyramid. Pyramids were difficult to build, and they were always broken into and robbed, so in later years, the pharaohs had their mummies hidden in tombs under ground. 4. Write a paragraph explaining some of the things modern-day people know about the ancient Egyptians and how these things are known. A. Modern people have been able to understand the ancient Egyptians by reading the written hieroglyphic records they left behind. From looking at their paintings, they have been able to see how they dressed, how they wore their hair and how they made up their faces. Their paintings also depict some of the daily activities of their lives. PART 2 True or False 1. The rulers of ancient Egypt were always men. A. False. Egypt had several female rulers. 2. Re was the name of the sun god in ancient Egypt. A. True 3. The land on each side of the Nile Valley is dense jungle. A. False. Most of Egypt is desert. 4. Egypt was conquered by the forces of Alexander the Great of Macedonia over three centuries before the birth of Christ. A. True 5. The papyrus plant helped improve communication in ancient Egypt. A. True 6. Hathor and Isis were both ancient Egyptian goddesses. A. True 7. Pharaoh Ramses the Great hated to have images made of himself. A. False. He had huge statues of himself made at Abu Simbel. 8. The pyramids were built to be the palaces of the pharaohs. A. False. The pyramids were built to be tombs. 9. Horus was the crocodile god of ancient Egypt. A. False. Sobek was the crocodile god. 10. As is still true today, the ancient Egyptians wrote in Arabic A. False. They wrote in hieroglyphics. Blackline Master 8, FACTS ABOUT ANCIENT EGYPT, is provided for student information. 8

9 Blackline Master 9, ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION, lists the gods and goddesses and beliefs and practices. SCRIPT OF RECORDED NARRATION A very long time ago, before the beginning of history, people began to live along the banks of a great river. The land by the river was green and beautiful, for it was blessed with sunshine and life-giving water. The people learned how to live from the land. They learned how to raise crops and keep animals. At first the river people lived in many different tribes; but over the years, the tribes united one with another until a great nation was formed, and in this way, three thousand years before the birth of Christ, the Nile River gave birth to one of the most wondrous civilizations ever to grace the earth ancient Egypt. Today we are truly amazed by what the ancient Egyptians did 45 centuries ago. We re amazed that anyone could build these mountains of stone perfectly laid out to the exact inch. We re amazed that anyone could carve the giant sphinx 66 feet tall, chiseled from solid rock, using only simple copper tools. Who were these amazing people? No one knows for sure where the ancient Egyptians came from, but we do know what they looked like and how they lived, because they left us pictures of themselves. We know that the Egyptians were small around five feet tall and that their skin was light to dark brown. We know they wore simple but beautiful clothing made of linen. Both men and women wore dark makeup around their eyes, which they applied using a narrow stick. Both men and women often shaved their heads and they liked to wear braided wigs. Although some of their habits might seem strange to us, the ancient Egyptians were a civilized people, not too different from ourselves. Here we see a wealthy Egyptian sitting comfortably with his wife play- 9

10 ing a board game. Of course, not all of the people were so wealthy and well dressed. Most were simple farmers like these modern Egyptians. They lived a life toiling in the fields and caring for their animals. Yet these people created a great civilization with fantastic pyramids and temples, with commerce, art and science. How did this civilization arise? To understand the roots of ancient Egypt, we must begin by looking at the river. THE GIFT OF THE NILE In ancient times, the land of Egypt was called The Gift of the Nile, for without this great river, Egyptian civilization would not have existed. The Nile is born deep within the African continent. It begins its journey from tropical lakes and snowy mountains far to the south of Egypt. From there it flows 4,000 miles northward to the Mediterrsanean Sea. It is one of the world's biggest rivers. After plunging from the mountains, it spreads out to begin its graceful journey through Egypt. Here it passes through a timeless landscape, for life along the Nile has changed very little since the beginning of history. The river flows past fields which today are worked just as they were thousands of years ago. It flows past shepherds driving their sheep along the river bank, and past farmers working together in the fields within sight of the silent water. Occasionally the river glides by magnificent temples from the distant past, or past lush groves of palm trees, a reminder of the time when forests filled with flowers and wildlife cloaked much of the land along the Nile. In ancient times, water lilies grew along the river banks. The people living in the Nile valley chose this beautiful flower as a symbol of their land. Yet, throughout its journey to the sea, the Nile actually flows through a vast desert, called the Sahara. The Sahara extends for hundreds of miles across the north of Africa. 10

11 It is difficult to travel through the Sahara. Large distances must be crossed without water, and the temperature reaches 115 degrees. The ancient Egyptians did travel here, but only when necessary. Mainly they traveled up and down the river by boat, just as people do today. The ancient Egyptians could row or even sail downriver, aided by the river current. To return upriver, they simply filled their sails with wind, which usually blows from the north. The river carried almost everything. Even the heavy stones they used to build their temples were carried on the river in sailing ships; and at cities along the Nile, they unloaded precious cargo from foreign lands, for Egyptian sailors ventured out across the Mediterranean Sea to trade with their neighbors. Luckily for the Egyptians, the burning desert on both sides of the Nile protected the valley from invasion by foreign armies. In ancient times, this protected valley, the valley of the upper Nile, was called Upper Egypt. In the north, the river divides and follows many different channels to the sea, forming a fan-shaped delta. The delta was called Lower Egypt. FARMING ALONG THE NILE Every summer, far to the south in Africa, tropical rains and melting snow sent a flood of water down the Nile. The people in Egypt would watch the river slowly rise until it spilled out of its banks and flooded across the land. Only the hills were left above the flood. After the flood was over, the land began to dry out, but the flood water left behind a thick layer of mud, or silt. This fresh soil was very fertile just what the Egyptian farmers needed to raise their crops. The farmers let the new soil dry out for about a week and then they began the yearly task of preparing the soil for planting. Under the warm desert sun, the land was quickly transformed into a beautiful garden with vegetables sprouting near fields of barley. As the soil continued to dry out, water was brought from the river. They used a system of canals and ditches to bring water to the fields. 11

12 Of course, in a desert, water is precious and it was considered a great evil to take water that did not belong to you. Water was shared among the people and in a place where it almost never rains, the Egyptian people created one of most lush and productive lands on earth. By the end of the year, as the water level in the Nile continued to drop, the land finally dried out. This was the time of harvest. Grain was cut and stored, and fodder was collected for the animals. In most years, the land produced enough food for everyone. The delta was very different from Upper Egypt, for much of it was flooded marshlands. This was the home of the sacred papyrus plant a symbol of Lower Egypt. This delicate looking plant helped to build Egyptian civilization, for seemingly everything was made from it. Thick mats for the floors and roofs of houses were made from the strong stems of the papyrus. Baskets and even boats were made from it, but the most important use was in making paper. The Egyptians invented a paper that they could write on. They were able to record important events, write down laws, or even write poetry. The invention of paper was a giant step on the way to modern civilization; in fact our word paper comes from the word papyrus. THE BIRTH OF A NATION As we have learned, in the very early centuries of Egyptian civilization, the people living along the Nile belonged to many different tribes and they were divided into two kingdoms Upper and Lower Egypt. However, in about the year 3100 B.C., Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt, so finally the two lands were united under one ruler, a man called Menes. Menes wore the white crown of Upper Egypt, which looked like this.after he conquered Lower Egypt, Menes also wore the red crown of Lower Egypt, which looked like this. After that time, Egyptian rulers often wore the double crown, which was a combination of both crowns and symbolized their dominion over both lands. 12

13 So began the world s first nation the first country with a government strong enough to unite thousands of people spread over hundreds of miles. After the white crown of Upper Egypt was combined with the red crown of Lower Egypt, the nation flourished for most of the next 27 centuries. The ruler was called the pharaoh, a word which means great house. The pharaohs, such as king Khafre seen here, had absolute power over their subjects. They were considered to be the children of gods, or even gods themselves. The Egyptians built enormous stone temples to glorify the pharaohs and the gods, such as this great temple built for Queen Hatshepsut. Only a few pharaohs were as powerful as she. This is King Ramses the Great, one of the most powerful of all the pharaohs. Soon after Ramses became pharaoh, he ordered the construction of the huge temple at Abu Simbel, carved from a sandstone cliff overlooking the Nile. Here, four gigantic statues of Ramses, eight stories tall, stare out across the river. Other statues showing some of his favorite wives and children stand between his legs. His many wives bore him more than 90 children. The door we see leads into his great temple. Inside, several large rooms have been hollowed out from the solid rock. They, too, contain giant statues and their walls are decorated with ancient Egyptian writing. In all his many statues, Ramses is made to appear large and powerful, while all those around him look small and insignificant. But one of his wives did reach a high position. She was his favorite wife, Nofretari, seen here. Ramses liked her so much, he ordered another temple built next to his and dedicated it to her. On the front of her temple, six giant people, thirty feet tall, seem to step out of the rock cliff. Even though the temple was dedicated to Nofretari, it appears that Ramses could not miss an opportunity to have more statues made of himself. Of the six statues, four are of Ramses. 13

14 Here he is, standing guard on each side of the door. The writing on the wall between the statues talks about Ramses. It says that he was chosen to be king by one of the gods. But the statues of Nofretari also show her greatness, for they portray her as a goddess the goddess Hathor. Hathor was just one of many gods and goddesses we find carved on temple walls throughout Egypt. Hathor always has the horns of a cow on her head and between the horns is a round disk which represents the sun. The sun itself was a very important god, for the Egyptians knew that without the sun, life would not be possible. Here at the ruined temple of Kom Ombo, the sun disk has been carved high on a wall facing the river. It is adorned with the wings of the sacred falcon and guarded on each side by a cobra snake. The sun god was called Re, and ordinary Egyptians called themselves the cattle of Re, while the pharaoh claimed to be his child. Most of the other gods had the heads of animals or birds because from the earliest times, certain animals and birds were sacred to the Egyptians. The falcon was sacred to the Egyptians even before the beginning of history. Then, during historic times, he was worshipped as Horus, the special protector of kings. Here we see him wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. This great temple at Edfu was dedicated to Horus, while many of the other animal gods had their own special temples. The crocodile god Sobek appears on the walls of a temple built in his honor and in a city called Crocodilopolis, a live crocodile was kept in the temple in a special pool. END OF PART ONE 14

15 PART TWO We have seen that tribes of people living along the Nile River learned how to use water from the river to farm the land. At first their land was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, but in about 3100 B.C., the two lands were united under a king called Menes. An Egyptian ruler was called a pharaoh. He was considered to be the child of a god, or even a god himself. The people worshipped Re, the sun god. They also worshipped certain birds and animals as gods. That was thousands of years ago, so how do we know so many things about the ancient Egyptians? How do we know, for example, that a live crocodile was kept in the temple pool at Crocodilopolis? We know these things because it was all written down. The ancient Egyptians had a language, which they wrote using little pictures. Writing using pictures is called hieroglyphic writing. These are a few of the pictures used in hieroglyphic writing: For example, here we see a little picture of the sun. This is water and this is a piece of cloth which has been folded. They also used a goose, the leaf of marsh plant, a shape like a mouth, and the strap from a sandal. Some of the pictures meant exactly what you might think. For example, this picture of an eye with tears meant to cry. This bee meant bee or honey, while these wavy hills meant hill country. But most of the pictures were actually used to represent sounds, just like the letters of our alphabet. For example, a mouth represented the sound "rrrr," like our letter R, while the water symbol stood for a sound like our letter N. A mouth plus water spelled a word, the word "name." Finally, some of the pictures represented more than one letter or sound. For example, the goose stood for two sounds, S and A, and sounded something like "saaa." 15

16 The sandal strap had an even longer sound. The word for sandal strap sounded something like A-N-K-H, or "ankh." When sounds like these were put together, they could make longer words or even parts of sentences. For example, a folded cloth plus a sandal strap meant "causes to live." Now when we see ancient Egyptian writing, we can recognize some of the pictures. This oval frame is called a cartouche. Names of important people were always placed inside of cartouches. These two cartouches contain the royal names of Ramses the Great. And remember the sandal strap, the ankh? We find it everywhere on temple walls. It had a special meaning to the Egyptians, for the ankh was the symbol for life. THE AFTERLIFE The ancient Egyptians believed that the sun, after traveling across the heavens, went down in the west to begin a nightly journey through the underworld. They believed that after a person died, their body should be buried on the west side of the river, then their soul might enter the underworld and live with the gods. So it became customary to bury the bodies of the dead on the west side of the Nile, in the searing desert beyond the river. At first the bodies were simply buried. The desert sand dried the body and preserved it. Jars of food were placed in the grave so that the soul, known as the ka, would not be hungry in the afterlife. After a time the Egyptians began to treat the body in ways to preserve it better. They wrapped the body and soaked it in natural chemicals. A body which has been preserved is called a mummy. This mummy still has hair and skin. It was very important to preserve the body after death because the ka needed a body to live in. Sometimes the mummies of kings, and the most wealthy Egyptians, were buried under stone monuments like this one. This building is called a mastaba. "Mastaba"means "bench," because it looks like a flat bench with sloped sides. Buried in the ground under the mastaba was a tomb a burial chamber to hold the mummy. One pharaoh was not satisfied to be buried under a simple mastaba. 16

17 The powerful King Zoser ordered that a great stack of mastabas be placed, one on top of another, until they formed a huge pyramid. The result was a mammoth structure that dwarfed all others. It stood 200 feet tall. This was the first pyramid ever built and it started a building revolution in ancient Egypt. Over the next 800 years, at least 80 pyramids were built in Egypt beautiful monuments of smooth stone rising evenly to a point. Some of these pyramids are among the biggest structures ever built anywhere in the world. It took thousands of workers many years to build them. The largest, when complete, was 481 feet tall. Enormous stone blocks were used. They had to be cut out of the ground by hand, shaped perfectly square, and dragged to the site. Each block weighs about two and a half tons, and each pyramid contains more than two million of these blocks. A pyramid would have a hidden door. From here a secret tunnel would lead to the burial chamber. Besides the mummy, the burial chamber would hold the treasure of the pharaoh. The coffin might be covered with pure gold. Riches almost beyond description filled the burial rooms. But we will never know exactly what was left in the pharaohs tombs because almost all of them were broken into thousands of years ago, and the robbers stole everything. Eventually the pharaohs abandoned the practice of building pyramids. They were terribly difficult to make, and in the end, they were not even safe against robbers. In later centuries, the pharaohs were buried farther up the Nile in the desert beyond the river. Here, in the Valley of the Kings, are the hidden tombs of many powerful pharaohs like Ramses the Great. It is hard to tell that under these mountains are dozens of secret tunnels and royal burial chambers, for all the doors were hidden. But, as with the pyramids, all of the doors were found and the tombs were robbed except one tomb the lost tomb of King Tutankhamon. This golden mask was found covering the face of the mummy when 17

18 the tomb was finally discovered in Mystery still surrounds this pharaoh whom we usually call "King Tut." We know that he took the throne when he was only about ten years old. He married a girl of 12, and he died when he was about 19. This gold-covered lion was among hundreds of beautiful items discovered in his tomb, as was this cedarwood chest inlaid with ivory. Even his gold covered throne was found. On the backrest we see the king attended by his young wife, Ankhesnamun. These and other treasures show us the beauty, wealth and grandeur of ancient Egypt. THE DECLINE OF THE NATION The magnificent civilization of ancient Egypt would not last forever. After living together by the river for more than two thousand years, the Egyptian nation began to come apart. Beginning around 1100 B.C., wars broke out between different princes wanting to rule the country. The pharaoh could not control them, and even foreign armies marched against Egypt. Then, in 332 B.C. Egypt was conquered by this man, Alexander the Great, the famous Greek warrior-king. Greece had a culture as rich and deeply rooted as that of Egypt and Alexander brought that culture to the Nile Valley. Greek pharaohs ruled Egypt until 30 B.C. when it became a province of the Roman Empire. When the Romans entered Egypt, the pyramids were already 25 centuries old. Even then this land was cloaked in antiquity and mystery. The pharaohs passed into history, but the land and the people remain, living almost unchanged for 5,000 years. Their sacred river, as it always has, glides silently past them to the sea. 18