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Chapter 3

Ancient Egypt

and Nubia

Section 1

The Geography of the Nile

Section 2

The Rulers of Egypt

Section 3

Egyptian Religion

Section 4

Ancient Egyptian Culture

Mr. Graver Name _____________________

Old World Cultures Period ____________________

Get ready for a VERY exciting chapter! We’re about to travel

along the world’s longest river to explore some of the most

Notebook

Number

_________

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fascinating cultures of the ancient world! We’re headed along

the Nile River to Egypt and Nubia!

In this chapter, you’ll get to meet some of Egypt’s pharaohs,

you’ll learn about Egyptian religion, see how a mummy was

prepared and how the pyramids were built, you’ll find out

what hieroglyphics are, and we’ll search for gold in Nubia!

This is Old World Cultures at its best!

Section 1

The Geography of the Nile

In this section, we’ll find out exactly where ancient Egypt was located

and what the geography was like in the area. We’ll learn about the Nile

River and see how it helped to create one of the largest civilizations of

the ancient world!

1. What did the Greek historian named HERODOTUS mean when he called

Egypt “The Gift of the Nile”?

The Course of the Nile

2. What are some interesting facts about the NILE RIVER?

3. What two rivers come together to create the Nile River?

The Nile Through Ancient Nubia

4. Where was ancient NUBIA located along the Nile River?

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5. What was the geography like in LOWER NUBIA? How did this effect

people?

6. What is a CATARACT?

7. What was the geography like in UPPER NUBIA? How did this effect

people?

The Nile Through Ancient Egypt

8. Where was UPPER and LOWER EGYPT located?

9. Define Nile DELTA –

The Gifts of the Nile

10. What happened every spring in Egypt? Why was this important?

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11. Define SILT –

Black Land and Red Land

12. What does KEMET mean in Egyptian?

13. What could happen to the people of Egypt if the Nile River did not flood?

14. What was RED LAND in Egypt? What was the geography like in this area?

Desert Protection

15. Why was it a good thing that deserts surrounded Egypt? How did the

Egyptians trade with other people?

The Growth of Communities and trade Along the Nile Living Along the Nile

16. Where did the first Egyptians settle? Why did they settle there?

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17. What did Nubians add to their diet because they didn’t have enough

farmland?

A Highway For Trade

18. How did Egyptians trade goods back and forth?

19. What were some goods the Egyptians and Nubians traded?

Section 2

The Rulers of Egypt

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Our tour of the Nile continues! In this section, we’ll learn about some of

the leaders of Egypt and how they were able to build a magnificent

civilization. The names of some of the Pharaohs like Hatshepsut,

Thutmose, and Tutankhamen might sounds strange to us… But to the

Egyptians, they were treated like gods!

1. Define PHARAOH –

2. What made the Pharaoh Hatshepsut special?

3. What was a SPHINX? What did it represent to the Egyptians?

Egyptian Kinship

4. What does the book mean when it states “Egypt’s fortunes rested on the

strength of its pharaohs”?

From Dynasty to Dynasty

5. Define DYNASTY –

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6. How do historians divide Egypt’s history?

7. What was going on in Egypt between kingdoms?

Egypt is Unified

8. What did KING MENES do that was so important for Egypt?

9. What symbol shows that Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt?

All-Powerful Pharaohs

10. What is ABSOLUTE POWER?

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11. Who could the Pharaohs turn to for advice?

12. What is one example of something a pharaoh would decide?

13. What was something the Egyptians believed about their pharaohs?

The Three Kingdoms

The Old Kingdom

14. What were some good things that happened in Egypt during the OLD

KINGDOM?

The Middle Kingdom

15. During the Middle Kingdom, what did pharaohs spend money on rather

than fighting wars?

The New Kingdom

16. What did the first pharaohs of the New Kingdom do to build an empire?

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17. Who is the most famous pharaoh of the New Kingdom? Why is he so

famous?

Rule During the New Kingdom

18. What is a REGENT?

19. Who was appointed Regent for Thutmose III? Why is she important?

The Pharaoh Queen

20. What did Hatshepsut do for Egypt?

21. Who may have killed Queen Hatshepsut? Why?

22. What did Thutmose do after Queen Hatshepsut was dead?

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Thutmose III Rules

23. What made Thutmose III one of the greatest pharaohs of the New Kingdom?

Ancient Egypt After the New Kingdom

24. Why did Egypt go down hill at the end of the New Kingdom?

25. Who conquered Egypt after the New Kingdom?

26. Who was the last Macedonian leader of Egypt?

27. What group of people defeated Queen CleopatraVII? (We’ll learn about this

in an upcoming chapter!)

28. What did Cleopatra do rather than be humiliated by the Romans?

Section 3

Egyptian Religion

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Wow! Those Egyptian pharaohs were powerful rulers! In fact,

Egyptians would have considered them gods that lived on earth!

In this section, we’ll learn about Egyptian religion and find out how

important their gods were to them. Without their religion, Egyptians

never would have built the pyramids or embalmed a mummy!

1. Define AFTERLIFE –

2. Who was the Egyptian god of the dead?

Egyptian gods and goddesses

3. What was the most important part of an Egyptian’s life?

4. What did the Egyptians believe their god and goddesses controlled?

Regional Differences

5. How did Egyptian religion change over time?

Important gods

6. Who was the chief god in Egyptian religion? What did the Egyptians believe

about him?

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7. What did the Egyptians believe about OSIRIS, ISIS, and HORUS?

Belief In an Afterlife Journey to the Afterlife

8. How did an Egyptian spirit make its way to the afterlife?

9. What did the dead do in the afterlife?

10. Why were people buried with food, clothing, and other items from life?

11. How did the ideas of the afterlife change between the Old and Middle

Kingdoms?

Preparing the Dead

12. How did people become “naturally mummified” in Egypt?

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13. Define MUMMY –

14. How did the Egyptians mummify a person’s body?

The Pharaohs’ Tombs The Pyramids

15. Define PYRAMIDS –

16. During which Kingdom were the pyramids built? What pharaoh had the

largest pyramid?

17. In what city were the great pyramids built?

18. What is the Great Sphinx?

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The Building Process

19. How many stones were used to build the Great Pyramid? How much did the

average stone weigh?

20. How long did it take to build a pyramid?

21. Why were pyramids built on the WEST side of the Nile River?

22. How did workers get the huge blocks from the quarries

to the pyramids?

Teamwork

23. How did workers get the huge blocks to the top of the pyramids?

24. Even though it was dangerous work, why did workers continue to build the

pyramids?

Section 4

Ancient Egyptian Culture

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The ancient Egyptians were amazing people, weren’t they? They had to

be to build those enormous pyramids!

In this section, we’ll learn more about the people of Egypt and what

their daily lives were like. We’ll find out what it was like to live in each

social class and how life was different for men and women.

We’ll even find out why writing was so important to the Egyptians and

why we should be thankful they recorded their history. It’s sure going

to be tough to crack the code of hieroglyphics!

1. In the opening paragraph of this section, why do you think we know so much

about Uni?

The Lives of the Egyptians Social Classes

2. How did Egyptian society resemble a pyramid? What jobs might people

have in each social class?

3. Who were made slaves in Egypt? What rights did they have?

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4. What job did peasants do for most of the year? What did they do when the

Nile was flooding?

Women of Egypt

5. What rights did Egyptian women have? What could NOBLE women do in

Egypt?

Writing In Ancient Egypt A New System of Writing

6. Define HIEROGLYPHICS –

7. What two things do the pictures stand for?

Writing Materials

8. Define PAPYRUS –

9. How was papyrus paper made?

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Unlocking a Mystery

10. Why didn’t we understand a lot of Egypt’s history for about 1500 years?

11. What is the ROSETTA STONE? Why is it so important?

12. How did Jean Champollion crack the code of Hieroglyphics?

Science and Medicine Keeping Track of Time

13. Define ASTRONOMER –

14. What did Egyptian astronomers figure out?

Mathematics

15. How do we know Egyptians were very good at math?

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Medicine

16. How did Egyptian doctors learn things about the human body?

17. What were some things Egyptian doctors could do?