RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS

(Egypt)

 

 I.  How do we know?

         A.  Hieroglyphic writing

                  1.  Rosette Stone (1799)

                           -- hieroglyphic, demotic, Greek

                  2.  Jean-Francois Champollion (1822)

                  3.  types of writing (i.e nomes & kings)

         B.  Archaeological Excavations (1858)

                   -- King Tutankhamen (Howard Carter, 1922)

II.  What do we know?

         A. Geography

                  1.  "Gift of the Nile"

                  2.  relatively self-sufficient

                  3.  shielded from invasion

         B.  Chronology

                  1.  indigenous rule

á      unification (3100-2660 B.C.E)

á      Old Kingdom (2660-2180 B.C.E.)

á      "intermediate" periods

á      2nd Inter. = Hyksos "invasion"

á      New Kingdom (1570-1075 B.C.E.)

                  2.  invasions & foreign rule

á      "Sea Peoples" (1200s B.C.E)

á      Assyrians (800s B.C.E)

á      Persians (525 B.C.E.)

á      Greeks (332 B.C.E)

á      Romans (30 B.C.E)

         C.  Egyptian Culture

                  1.  cities

                           a) formation

                                    -- "central place theory"

                                    -- shrine locations

                           b) political capitals

                           c) trade centers

                           d) no walls

                  2.  politics & religion

                           a) pharaoh

                                    -- Legend of Isis, Osiris, Horus

                                    -- ma'at = justice & order

                                    --  Akhenaten (example or exception?)

                           b) pyramids

                                    -- tombs for the pharaoh

                                    -- evidence of organization & control

                                    -- How were they built? (some theories)

                                             -- use of wood as leverage

                                             -- dried limestone + water

                                             -- levitation

                                             -- long extended ramp

                                             -- wrap around ramp

                           c) mummification

                                    -- to preserve the body for the ka

                                    -- How was it done?

                                             -- brain is removed

                                             -- canopic jars for organs

                                             -- myrrh in cavity

                                             -- placed in natron