Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors: An Activity Guide

The Egyptians

The Nile River cuts through a valley in northeast Africa. Seen from the sky, the river is surrounded by a narrow band of blazing green on both sides. Beyond the green is dry desert. Stark red cliffs rise on either side of the valley.

The ancient Egyptians called their land Kemet, which meant black land—the rich black earth watered yearly when the Nile flooded. Crops grew only where the floodwaters moistened the land. Farmers learned to irrigate, so they could grow two or three crops a year before the flood waters retreated completely. Crops could not be grown in the desert, called the red land. There was very little rain. Over most of Egypt the sun blazed down day after day, and only in the evenings did the air grow cool.

Ancient Egyptians believed that people could return to life after death, just as plants grew back each year with the Nile’s flood. They believed that bodies, if preserved and reunited with their spirits, could enter afterlife (the life people led after leaving this world). They buried their dead with the supplies they would need for eternal life. They soaked pharaohs’ bodies in a mineral called natron to preserve them as mummies. They buried the pharaohs in pyramids or rock-cut tombs meant to last forever.

The Egyptians spent much time preparing for the afterlife. They loved this life and they believed something quite like it would continue after they died. Tomb paintings show vivid pictures of people feasting and playing, as well as working hard in fields, workshops, and homes. Both rich and poor Egyptians played board games and enjoyed singing and dancing. They owed their lives and their pleasures to the gifts of the Nile—food, water, and transportation.

Nature made the Nile a wonderful means of travel. This huge river is the largest in the world running from south to north. While the current rushes one way, the wind blows the other. Nature helped ancient Egyptian travelers go in either direction. Boats could float with the current down the river to the north, and sail up the river to the south.

It was fairly easy to get from one end of Egypt to the other, but it was hard to get into Egypt from other countries. The desert, the sea, and fierce river rapids isolated Egypt from cultures on all sides. Its geography protected Egypt from most invaders. It also kept other cultures from greatly changing the Egyptian way of life.

Over the 3,000 years covered in this book, Egyptian culture changed in many ways—but not nearly as much as our own has changed in a shorter period of time. An Egyptian from 2800 B.C. would still recognize many ways of living in 300 B.C. Do you think a Native American or European from 500 B.C.—long before the beginning of the English language, many religions, electricity, or computers—would recognize anything in the modern United States?

Our book begins in 3100 B.C., the start of the first Egyptian dynasty (DIE-nus-tee), or family of kings. (Some scholars give that date as 3000 B.C., or even 2675 B.C.) Ancient Egyptians believed their civilization began when Upper Egypt united with Lower Egypt under a king named Menes (MEN-aze).

Egyptian history is usually sorted into periods of time called kingdoms. There were three kingdoms in ancient Egypt: old, middle, and new. The Old Kingdom began around 2675 B.C. In between the kingdoms were periods of conflict called intermediate periods. Sometimes during the intermediate periods more than one king claimed to be pharaoh. In two of the intermediate periods, foreigners ruled Egypt. People called Hyksos (HEEK-sose) ruled Egypt during one of them, and Nubians ruled Egypt during part of another.

After the New Kingdom came the Third Intermediate Period, followed by a Late Period. The Late Period ended in 332 B.C. when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt.

After Alexander’s death, his general Ptolemy (TALL-uh-mee) and Ptolemy’s descendents ruled, during a time called the Ptolemaic (tall-uh-MAY-ik) Period. The Ptolemies formed the last dynasty in Egypt. In 30 B.C. the Romans defeated the Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra, beginning Roman rule of Egypt. Cleopatra’s death marks the endpoint of this book.

Jutting into the sky, the pyramids look as if they will endure forever. The Egyptians meant the pyramids to inspire awe, both among the pharaoh’s subjects and among foreign visitors. The builders strove to make the pyramids grand and glorious because they were meant for gods. The Egyptians believed their kings were gods. They wanted the tombs, like the gods, to last for eternity.

In fact these pyramids, especially the early ones, have held up remarkably well. The Great Pyramid of Giza was called one of the Seven Wonders of the World by an ancient Greek traveler Herodotus (her-ODD-o-tus) because it was one of the biggest man-made structures of the time. (The other six wonders were the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Garden of Babylon, and the Pharos at Alexandria.) Many of the pyramid’s outer blocks were removed to build the modern city of Cairo. Even without its smooth limestone exterior, the pyramid still inspires awe.

The earliest Egyptian pharaohs were buried in mud-brick tombs called mastabas (ma-STA-bas), until a brilliant man named Imhotep (im-HO-tep) designed the first pyramid for King Djoser (JOE-sir), around 2660 B.C. Imhotep was the king’s architect, as well as an astronomer, priest, physician, and scribe. He was called the eyes, ears, and hands of the pharaoh and was appointed the king’s vizier (prime minister). He was such an amazing man that thousands of years later Imhotep was worshipped as a minor god. This first pyramid was later called the Step Pyramid because it looked like a staircase. In fact, the Egyptians believed the king would climb the steps to heaven when he died.

This pyramid is remarkable for many reasons. It was the first time people in Egypt used stone for building. Before then they used mud brick. Also, the architect kept changing his mind while building it. First Imhotep built a large mastaba. But that seemed too small, so he added two more levels. Even that was too small, so he enlarged the base and added more levels. In the end he built a pyramid that had six levels.

Imhotep did other things that were new and strange. He built many buildings surrounding the pyramid, including a temple for the king’s statue and a temple where the king’s body would be prepared for burial. But some buildings were fake. The outer walls were carefully carved and decorated, but inside the buildings were filled with rubble.

Imhotep built a huge stone wall surrounding the pyramid and all these buildings. He made what appeared to be 14 entrances to the stone wall, but only one was the real entrance. The other 13 were fake. We don’t know why Imhotep built so many fake entrances. Maybe it was to fool grave robbers. But more likely it was for magical or religious purposes. He built the entire building complex to look like the pharaoh’s palace and surrounding buildings. The Egyptians may have thought that the real palace buildings would go with the king into the next world if they built models of them near his tomb.

Simple Step Pyramid

You can make a model step pyramid out of sugar cubes. Be careful of the ants!

Materials

Newspapers

1-pound box (95 or

more) sugar cubes (The

cubes must be shaped

like squares, not bricks.)

Heavy paper plate

Pencil

Glue

Small paintbrush

Directions

Spread out newspapers on your work surface. Arrange 36 sugar cubes in the middle of the plate. Make a square of six rows of six cubes each. Carefully trace around the outside of the square with the pencil. Remove the sugar cubes from the plate. Drizzle some glue within the outline, being careful not to get too close to the edges. With your paintbrush, spread the glue inside this box. Starting at one corner, replace the sugar cubes in the glue-filled square. Drizzle and brush more glue across the top of the sugar cubes, covering the inner 16 cubes completely. Arrange 25 more cubes on top of your square (five rows of five).They should cover the part you glued. Make another square of glue on top of this layer. Arrange four rows of four cubes on top of this second layer. Repeat this process for squares made of nine cubes and then four cubes. Finish with a single cube on top. To make a temple, place four cubes (two rows of two) next to one side of the pyramid base. Trace around them with a pencil, then glue them in place.

The Egyptian sun beats down almost ceaselessly. Ancient Egyptians built their homes to avoid the heat. They used bricks made of mud, which helped keep the inside of the homes cool. They often made the main room taller than the others, with tiny windows high up in the wall. The heat rose during the day. The small windows, called clerestory (CLEER-story) windows today, let the hot air