Egypt

By:Gregory Halikman

John ThomasVincent RienziDylan Mitchell

Social Classes

The five social classes of the Egyptian society. The way that this was divided up was into a pyramid.

Slaves, unskilled workers

Pharaohs

Priests, nobles

Traders, artisans, shop keepers, and scribes

Farmers, herders

Role of a slave in Egyptian society

The people that were slaves were either, captured in battle, they were criminals, and also unskilled workers, or someone that owed another person money/goods/work.

Some slaves were sent into battle, some were sent to rebuild Thebes, they also helped farmers with their work, and they built the pyramids.

They could own land, marry, and gain freedom eventually, but had harsher punishments then all the other social classes.

Role of the lower middle class

Farmers in Egyptian society they rented land from their ruler, paying him with some of their crops, they built irrigation systems, lived along the Nile, and had poor diets.

Herders had the same conditions as the farmers, but handled animals instead of crops.

Role of the middle class The role of the artisan in early Egyptian

life, was to produce pottery, jewelry, linen, and metal goods.

Shopkeepers ran businesses, and produced goods.

Scribes wrote down everything the king wanted to be recorded about him, and created stories.

Traders they went to different cities/places and received items that were not available in Egypt and then sold them in Egypt.

Role of the upper middle class

Priests nobles had a very big impact on the Egyptian way of life.

Wealthy Egyptians worked as government officials (nobles). They lived in estates along the Nile river.

The priests ran the churches and conducted ceremonies dealing with their gods.

The role of the Pharaoh

The pharaoh was the king, he was considered to be a god king, or a descendent of a god.

He ran his kingdom, and controlled all the traders, farmers, nobles, slaves, etc.

He sought out advice from the priests and nobles, on religious matters.

HOW EGYPT WAS PROTECTED

To the west, and east of Egypt there was a vast amount of desert.

To the north they had the Mediterranean Sea to protect them from intruders.

To the south they had the cataracts that didn't allow ships to enter. Cataracts are waterfalls.

None of their protection was man-made.

Inside of a Pyramid

There were air shafts which gave the pharaoh air. The king’s burial chamber was where the king would be buried because it is in center. Grand Gallery tall sloping hall held large granted blocks and that is ceiled the tomb.

the other things inside of a tomb are the Queen's Burial Chamber. This chamber held a statue of the king, not the queen's body. there was also the entrance. also the Underground Burial Chamber. Sometimes kings were buried instead. the Queen's pyramids were these smaller pyramids and are believed to be tomb's for the king's wives. the Mastaba were tombs surrounding the pyramids and held royal family members and other nobles. the valley temple may have been used for rituals before the king was buried.

Life After Death

The Egyptians believed that life in the next world would be even better than life on Earth. after a long journey, the dead would reach a place of peace and plenty. A book called Book of the Dead was a collection of spells and prayers that Egyptians studied to obtain life after death. They believed that the God Osiris would meet newcomers at the entrance to the next world. if they had been good in life and knew the spell, he would grant them life after death.

Cities In Egypt

Some of the cities that were located in Egypt were: Giza

Cairo Memphis Thebes

The Government

Egypt was ruled by a Pharaoh that was just like a king

As we said before he was believed to be a descendent of the gods

Writing

There system of writing was called Hieroglyphics.

There were thousands of symbols for the language

It took years and years to learn how to do the writing

It was held as a high job because of the intense training to learn them all

Reasons Why Writing was Important

They were able to write things down for future reference

It makes first hand accounts for Historians to study

Inventions Worth Remembering

365 day calendar Number system based on 10 (metric) Fractions Medicine First medical books