Ancient Egypt ASPIRE Mind Map
Area
click to edit
Flooding
The Nile
Social Structure 
The Middle Class
The Lowest Class
Nobles
Afternoon
Viziers and Scribes
The Highest Class
A Day in the Life of a Woman
Inventions
People of Egypt believed that their pharaohs were gods.
All law or rules were ran checked by the pharaohs or made by them
The farmers payed grain taxes to the pharaohs
The pharaohs must go to war in it is needed.
Viziers made sure the taxes are payed
they also appointed as chief minister
scribes work with the Viziers but the help with the government records
Nile floods every spring
the flood left silt
They also need a high level of skill and need to know how to read and write
They are right under the pharaohs .
They are the only people able to hold the government posts.
Silt was used as farming soil
They called the water the "Natures Gift"
Some middle class people are Soldiers that watch the peasants and other low class people.
The other middle class people are skilled people like doctors and craftspersons.
They are poor farmer and slaves
The farmer gave 60% of there crops to the pharaohs
They wear a rough linen dress and has a reed necklace with an amulet to help with the danger of childbirth.
The start the day by make breakfast for the family.
They do the laundry with a rock and soap and let it dry
Longest river at 4000 miles long
This gift gave them drinking and bathing water
Then she waits for it to dry and her kids to go look for some reeds, straw and dried dung to help the fire.
Also supported trade/transportation, gave materials for building, paper, and cloths
After keeping the laundry she makes food for her kids.
Once every thing is quiet she start to get to cook for dinner
Politics
Upper and Lower Egypt United
System of Government
Prominent Pharaohs
Yearly Nile flood that cuts through desert leaves behind rich black soi
used in their fields
Flood would kill plants
They made a canal
Used for irrigation
They used a shaduf to lift water
They put in the canals
Irrigation
"The Two Lands"
Upper Egypt
Lower Egypt
Southern, bordering on Nubia
Northern, boarding sea
Wetter more fertile part
Papyrus grew here
Very much alike
Drier, more mountains
No papyrus, father from river
Same gods, same language
Research says they were never separate
Hieroglyphics
People used pictures to communicate before including Egyptians
Recorded ideas this way too
Later pictures became ideas and were called ideograms
At the end they represented ideas, appearance, objects and even sound
Math
Every civilization has rules and need rules
Used symbols
each # had own symbol
Invented decimals
System mostly based 10
Higher number = in front lower number and when there is 2+ row of numbers the writer starts top
Building Pyramids
Burial tomb of Pharaoh Khufu
Known as "Great Pyramid"
Compiled by ancient Greeks
2 mil blocks large
each block was 3+ tons
450 feet tall
20 years to make
20,000-30,000 workers making tower of Giza
80 years, not slaves
mixture of residents and craftsmen
Religion
Gods
Most civilizations were afraid of the gods
Egypt was not one of them, they liked their gods
Everyone feared god Ammut
Afterlife
Ammut played big part in weighing heart
They believe that there was a afterlife where you would spend the rest of eternity in a heavenly place
Had to live a life that followed their rules to enter
Weighing of heart
Light heart is good heavy heart is bad
If you did good deeds during your life and followed their rules your heart would be light, if not it would be heavy
To test all these things, your soul has to enter the hall of Maat to see if your heart qualifies to enter or not
God Anubis weighed your heart
The god Thoth recorded findings though your life
Finally your heart was tested, if it was lighter than a feather you could enter the afterlife
If it was heavier then the god Ammut would pop up and eat your soul
Mummification
They believed the sun died and then was reborn
they also thought that the afterlife would be a farm land that would be very peaceful, where you could enjoy life
In order to go there you must've lived a good life and preserve the body properly as well
Egyptians also thought everyone had a "ka" which is like a soul
the soul would live forever in the afterlife, depending if you made it there or not, and if the body was properly preserved
The aim was to dry the body completely while looking human
after one died they were taken to a embalming area
first the body was washed in antiseptic salt solution
organs were removed and dried including brain through the nose
they believed the heart had the emotions and intellect in them and the brain wasn't important to the persons personality
so they left the heart inside the body
Some vital organs once removed were kept in canopic jars and buried with the body itself
body filled with saw dust or sand to keep shape
covered with natron salt to completely dry out the body
40 days later the natron was removed and embalmers made the body as life like as possible
body further filled with linen more natron and sawdust
Ears, nostrils, the mouth and eyes were sewn shut.
while all this goes on, priest reads "The Book of the Dead
to help the soul's judgement
Creation Myth
Once upon a time the world was covered in "nun"
Nun is a horrible, dark, chaotic water
A chunk of earth came out of the dark water and a lotus appeared
Akhenaten the pharaoh that pushed people to an new religion were they believe in one God
out the lotus came the 1st god, the sun god Ra
Created humans life and the other gods
he created shu, and tefnut
who then created geb and nut
and they created Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys.
Ra
most important god, sun god
he had many forms like a falcon-headed man with a sun disk on top of his head or a scarab beetle pushing a sun disk, he was also shown as a human man.
In ancient Egypt there government was mostly the pharaoh
Osiris
god of underworld
Popular myth of his life: once king of egypt
This type of government is called an theocracy.
upper Egypt took over the lower Egypt and they became one
Form then in you were the king you would be the king of upper and lower Egypt.
King Menes found and made the first dynasty, or royal family that including 330 kings
Khufu the pharaoh who want to build the largest pyramid in Egypt.
Economy
A Day in the Life of a Farmer
Agriculture
Trade
Out of all of them Agriculture was the most economic activity
They mostly grew wheat, barley, as well as lettuce, beans, onions, figs, dates, grapes, melons and cucumbers.
Flax was grew by many of the farmers
First the wash up and get dressed
After breakfast he and his wife to work and grind the wheat for bread.
Some of the wheat is given to the temple
On the way to work they stop for food to eat.
Then they work in the heat .
when they see the sun go down they go home,
When they get home supper is almost done for them.
they eat the same food they eat for lunch bread, meat and beer
Then the sun goes down they light a little oil and go to sleep.
There was no money system in Egypt
so things were traded in exchange For other things
Trades were important because that how they got goods in and out
They receive different things from Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea and the Red Sea
the things that they received from there Silver, iron, cedar logs
Seth, his brother, God of chaos killed him out of jealousy
Osiris' wife, Isis, and her sister Nephthys wandered all over Egypt collecting the pieces of Osiris
Brought back to life with help of the gods Anubis, Ra and Thoth
He now only ruled the underworld
He was associated with corn, the color green and the regeneration that followed the destructive waters of the Nile flood.
Horus
Falcon god, sun god
Pharaoh was a living incarnation of him
His mother protected him from Seth after Seth killed Osiris
Later on, he got revenge of Seth
Horus won a long fight against him, and Seth was forced to live in the deserts
Meaning the deserts were places of chaos and despair
Seth lost his eye in battle
Thoth healed him and his eye became a symbol of healing and a amulet of good health
Once Seth was vanquished, he became the next ruler of Egypt
Seth
Jealous brother of Osiris
Killer of Osiris
He lived in the deserts, making them a dangerous horrible place
associated with destructive and wild forces of nature, such as wind, rains, lightning, thunder and storms.
Anibus
Jackal-headed god of embalming and mummification
Head of jackel because western desert was used as a burial place for the Egyptians
Jackels roamed around that area giving Anibus that indemnification
BECAME the god presiding over the art of mummification and protecting the dead
Crafts
colors
The crafts were made in small shops
White was made out of Powdered Limestone
Black was made out of Charcoal
Red was made out of Ochre
Yellow was made out of Iron Oxide
Blue was made out of Copper
Green was made out of Malachite
the shops made pottery, bricks, tools, glass, weapons, furniture, jewelry, perfume, rope, baskets, mats and writing material
Thing like king tut mask were made by craftsman
Carvings of god showed respect and they worshipped it
craftsman usually work for richer people
sometimes the craftsman traded artwork for food and grain.