An ancient African society: Egypt

Good morning. Today we are going to learn about an ancient African society, Egypt. We are going to learn today about the Nile River and what it provided, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, the pyramids of Egypt, the Sphinx and the reasons for it, and the temples of Egypt. Today we are going to look at the Nile River. It is the world's longest river. The length of the Nile is 6,700 kilometers long. The Nile River was important to the ancient Egyptians for many reasons. The river is located in Africa and flows through the countries Kenya, Eritrea, Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. As we said in the previous slideshow, the Nile provided many things for the ancient Egyptians. It provided food, reeds, water and building materials. They used it for food. They used the spears and the nets to catch fish. They used the water and the thick rich mud to grow crops in. The reeds growed alongside the Nile and is also called papyrus. They used it to make paper and boats. As you can see in the pictures provided, there is a boat made of reeds and there is a picture of the papyrus. The water they used the Nile to travel on so they can trade. They used the Nile also for drinking water. They used the mud and water for building their temples and pyramids. Okay, next is the pharaohs. The pharaohs was the kings of Egypt. The pharaohs ruled with absolute power and they received power from mud who was the goddess of the universe, so they believed. The Egyptians believed when a man becomes a pharaoh he also becomes a god. The oldest son of the pharaoh was to become the next ruler. There are nine main pharaohs of ancient Egypt we are going to look at. First one is Menes. He was the first pharaoh to unify Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom. He developed commercial trade links. Khufu. He was a ruthless ruler who enslaved people and sold his daughter. He built the great pyramid of Giza. Hatshepsut was the first great woman ruler. She was the wife of the deceased Themosis II. She wears a false beard and garments of a pharaoh, Themosis III. He took revenge on Hatshepsut by destroying most of her Akhenaten. He built a new city called Akhenaten which contained a new priest and a government. Tutankhamun, known as the boy king of Egypt, he started ruling at the age of eight or nine. Ramses II. He was the second longest ruler of Egypt, the last ruler bringing peace and stability to Egypt. He built the two temples of Abu Simbel. Cleopatra was the last independent ruler of Egypt, known for her beauty. She committed suicide by letting herself get bitten by a snake. Nefertiti was the queen of Egypt, married to Akhenaten. She held the position of a priest and was devoted to god Aten. The pyramids of Egypt. The pyramids are stone tombs for the pharaohs. The pyramids were built on the western side of the Nile river. It was built in the desert so the pharaoh's body and belongings weren't decomposed and brought away. The pyramids of Egypt helped us today to learn more about ancient Egypt, from their belongings to the paintings on the walls. The paintings are from scenes of the dead person's life. Inside of the pyramids. As you can see on the picture below the pyramids, at H is the entrance to the pyramid, at D is the king's chamber, B the queen's chamber and A is the pit. I is a new place they have found with their scanning machines so they still don't know what is inside them. The temples of Egypt. The ancient Egyptians believed the temple was the home of gods and goddesses. The temples were built from stone. The inside was carved with scenes and brightly painted. The scenes was of the pharaoh fighting in battles and performing rituals with the gods and goddesses. The three temples we are going to learn today about is Karnak, home of the god Amun. He was an insignificant local god. The temple of Laxor, home of the god Amun-Ra. It is still used as a place to worship. Kom-Ombo, home of the gods Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus, the falcon-headed god. It is a double temple, each side having its own gateway and chapel. Okay, so we learned today about the Nile river, the pharaoh, the pyramids, the sphinx and the temples of ancient Egypt. The Nile river was an important part of the ancient Egyptians' life. It provided water and food resources as well as helped them with transport so that they could trade. The pharaohs was the rulers of ancient Egypt and ruled with absolute power. The pyramids is the place where they buried the pharaohs with their treasures. The sphinx is the guardian of the pyramids with a lion body and a pharaoh head. The temples was believed to be the homes of the gods and goddesses.