S: Ancient Egypt
FC: Ancient Egypt By Maheen Chranya Jan. 3,2010
1: Table of Contents | Pages 2-3- Egyptian clothing Pages 4-5- The Egyptian Diet Pages 6-11- The Three Kingdoms Pages 12-13- Women's Rights Pages 14-17- Accomplishments Pages 18-20- Bibliography
2: Egyptian Clothing | Egyptians made clothes from what the environment and nature gave to them. Egypt was very hot, so they used lightweight fabric to make clothes so they would be comfortable.It was called linen. Men wore short skirts called kilts. Women wore straight fitted dresses with strapped shoulders. While doing hard work, men wore lion cloths and women wore short skirts.Children generally went nude.
3: Linen was made out of a plant fiber from Flax,a plant grown abundantly along the Nile river.Flax was pulled out of the ground by the men. | Fashion did not change much in Egypt. People mostly prided themselves in keeping clean. Clothes were scrubbed with soap and beat on rocks to make them soft.
4: The Egyptian Diet | Considering the fact that Egypt was very dry, the Nile river was the main water source for the crops Egyptians grew. Because of this, Egyptians could only grow certain kinds of plants, so they grew barley and wheat. They made wheat into bread, soup, and porridge.Barley was made into beer. Experts believe that the real reason Egyptians grew barley was to make beer. | Barley
5: Egyptians also ate meat. You could go to a butcher shop and buy meat, just like we do today. Since it barely rains over there, they could set the meat outside in the store's courtyard. However, Egyptians did not eat pork because they thought it was impure, like many people in the Eastern Mediterranean. | Beer-maker
6: The Old Kingdom | At the beginning, Egypt was made up of two kingdoms, the Upper Egypt, which lay in the southern part of the Nile valley, and the Lower Egypt, which lay on the north delta. Narmar, or Menes, was the king of Upper Egypt, and he led armies down to Lower Egypt and conquered it. He then married the princess of Lower Egypt, uniting the two kingdoms. He wore a double crown with a high white one for Upper Egypt and a low red one for Lower Egypt. there.
7: The Old Kingdom lasted about 500 years, 2600 B.C.-2100 B.C. during this period, cities became centers of government and religion. Priest,kings,artisans, and government officials lived and worked there, but most Egyptians lived in large estates along the Nile. Rich people who owned these estates lived in big brick houses with gorgeous gardens and pools. Walls were colorfully decorated with paintings containing scenes from everyday life.
8: The Middle Kingdom | At around, 2300 B.C.,government officials got jealous of the Pharaoh's power and took control of Egypt. For almost 200 years there was confusion, and then new pharaohs finally took over and bought peace and a new kingdom called The Middle kingdom. Pharaohs had a lot less power in the Middle Kingdom, like they were buried in cliffs cut into tombs, not pyramids. Then they began to trade with other countries that were beyond the Nile valley. The Middle kingdom had come to and end when the Hyksos, people from western Asia,
9: invaded Egypt on horse drawn chariots and used weapons made out of bronze and iron. Egyptians, who usually came on foot and fought with weapons made of copper and stone, were easily defeated. The Hyksos ruled Egypt for 150 years and although they used some Egyptian customs, the Egyptians despised them. In 1550 B.C., Ahmose, an Egyptian prince,used the Hyksos's own weapons and drove them out of Egypt.
10: The New Kingdom | Ahmose created a new line of pharaohs and began a new period which is known as the New Kingdom, where Egypt was richer and cities were more powerful.Pharaohs got greedier and were no longer content with the Nile valley, so they marched their armies east. In this period the Egyptian empire was found. Thutmose III, a warrior-pharaoh, with an army of 20,000 archers, spear throwers, and charioteers, extended Egyptian control all the way to Palestine and Syria.
11: Thutmose III's step-mother, Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled before him, was not at all interested with war. During her reign, Egyptian traders sailed along the coast of east Africa to Punt, where Egyptians traded goods like beads and metal tools for things like monkey, leopord skin, ivory, ebony, and incense.
12: Women's rights | Although women were expected to obey their husbands and fathers, they did have some rights. They could participate in business deals, own land, and were expected to represent themselves in court cases. They also faced the same penalties as men. Sometimes, the wives and mothers of the Pharaoh was the real ruler, thought they ruled unknowingly to the common people. Queen Hatshepsut was the only women who ever ruled by going out and declaring herself pharaoh. An Egyptian wife and mother were highly respected in society.
13: Divorce was an option, although it was not very common. If a husband was treating his wife badly, she would go to her family for help. her family would then talk to her spouse and try to persuade him to change his behavior. If there was no improvement, there was a divorce. The wife was given custody of her kids and free to remarry.
14: Accomplishments | Here's a list of the many things that Egyptians have brought to the world. *They made the first 365 day calendar. It didn't cover leap years, but it made everything a whole lot more simple because they would know when the Nile flooded. *Paper originally came from papyrus, a reed grown in Egypt. Along with paper, Egyptians invented ink. Egypt is so dry that even today some of the written pieces have been preserved. *They used a number system based on ten, and came up with fraction and whole numbers. Now we know who gets what of the pie!
15: *Also in mathematics, they used to survey land using geometry and other measurement to mark the other territories. * Egyptians were the first specialists in medicine. Masters at sewing up cuts and other gross things like that, they also had remedies for things like hair loss and/or indigestion issues. *They created a shaduf, which helped them to raise water from the Nile. It was made of a long suspended rod with a bucket on one end and a weight on the other. *They made the first obelisk, which is a tapering monument with a pyramid like shape at the top.
16: *A cartouche was something that Egyptians put on their coffins. It was an oval circle with the name of the person on it. *Egyptians came up with the mummification process as well. They preserved the bodies so well that even now you can find mummies fully intact. Egyptians were great artists and they were actually the ones who introduced realistic painting. | These are some other works of art. To the far left there is a sculpted face. Those were put on top of mummy bodies.
17: These two pictures are only some of the great works of Egyptian art. | to the right- cartouche
18: Bibliography | essaysbyekowa.com talariaenterprises.com library.thinkquest.org http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/ egypttourinfo.com hotel.com.au iacmusic.com
19: maxim-tours.com http://www.kingtutshop.com ukrainians.ca artyfactory.com ehow.com ascendingpassage.com all-about-egypt.com historylink101.net http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/egypt/food/egyptfood.htm.
20: http://qwickstep.com | quickstep.com iceblueberries.com info101.org egypt'slife.com historyonthenet.com egyptartsite.com mummyswrap.com