The Gift of the Nile

1. Delta goes right below the Mediterranean Sea.

2. North
An ancient Greek historian named Herodotus called Egypt the Gift of the Nile because the Egyptian
people have depended on the great river for more than five thousand years. Until 1970, the Nile would
overflow its bank every year. When the flood subsided, it left behind bits of soil and plant life called silt.
The silt was rich in nutrients that allowed the people of ancient Egypt to grow crops on land that would
have otherwise been dry desert. The Nile no longer overflows its banks because Egypt constructed a
huge dam in Aswan. While the Nile no longer provides topsoil, the predictable flow of the river supplies
the Egyptian people with a renewable source of electricity.
3. comparing two things using like or as
4. bits of soil and plant life rich in nutrients
5. Your paragraph needs to include the delta in the North, cataracts to the South, Eastern desert to
the East, and Sahara to the West. Also be able to explain how each of these protected Egypt.
6. A great dam was built in Aswan

Isis, Osiris, and the Egyptian Afterlife
The people of ancient Egypt believed in many gods and goddesses. They believed that Ra, their god of
the sun, came to Earth as the first ruler of Egypt. When the Egyptian people began to disregard Ra, the
sun god unleashed a terrible lioness god named Sekhmet on the people, but when the Egyptians showed
their appreciation to Ra, the sun god used his magic to turn Sekhmet into Hathor, the goddess of love.
Osiris, Isis, and Set were children of Ra. Set tricked Osiris into climbing into a giant chest and then threw
the chest into the Nile river. Isis retrieved the chest, so the enraged Set tore his brothers body into
fourteen pieces. Isis recovered the pieces of Osiris body because Egyptians believed their gods had to
be buried in one piece in order to travel to the afterlife.
Set was finally defeated in a great battle with Horus. Horus was Sets nephew and the god of the sky.
The legends say that Horus would take the form of a falcon and fly across the sky each day. The eyes of
Horus were the sun and the moon, but the moon was not as bright as the sun because it had been
damaged in Horus battle with Set.
1. He was the first god; he was also the god of the sun which provided light, warmth, and allowed for
food to grow.
2. Egyptians believed that the body had to be in one piece in order to reach the afterlife.
3. Underworld was dangerous and the afterlife was pleasant.
4. Horus was never able to kill his uncle.

Pharaohs
1. To signify the unification of upper and lower Egypt
2. To keep the pharaohs blood line pure
3. Instead of having a young, inexperienced pharaoh, a regent was elected to rule until the rightful
pharaoh reached a mature age.
4. No, they got rid of the old gods and changed the religious beliefs.
5. King Tuts tomb; it had never been found before and was completely intact.
6. He thought they were unworthy of being called Egyptians because he felt Egyptians were
superior; he wanted tribute
7. Build palaces and temples

The Pyramids
The ancient Egyptians believed that their prosperity depended upon the generosity of the pharaoh after
he made a successful journey to the afterlife. It was necessary for the pharaoh to be buried in Egypt and
that the body of the pharaoh be intact.
The tombs of the early pharaohs were covered in a mud brick slab called mastaba. Imhotep was an
architect who placed one mastaba on top of another to create the first step pyramid. Later pyramids were
more elaborate. The Great Pyramid at Giza stands as high as a building with fifty floors. This is
particularly amazing because the Great Pyramid was constructed without the use of large animals, iron
tools, or wheeled vehicles.
1. They worshipped many gods.
4. So that the pharaoh would keep looking after the people of Egypt

Mummies
1. Mummification means embalming the dead bodies. The bodies needed to be mummified to be
preserved for the afterlife.
2. They believed only pharaohs would enter the afterlife. They also wanted the pharaoh to keep
looking out for them after they were dead. Their closest advisors were buried too in case the
pharaoh needed them in the afterlife.
3. They believed the heart held the pharaohs soul. They also didnt know what the brain did.

Alexandria
Egypt remained safe from foreign invasions for many years due to its natural borders, but by the sixth
century before the common era, the civilization had been conquered by armies from Assyria, Kush, and
Persia. A warrior named Alexander rescued Egypt from Persian rule in 332 B.C. Alexander established
a new capital in a city he called Alexandria, where his successors later constructed the greatest library of
the ancient world.
The Royal Library at Alexandria attempted to gather all of the worlds knowledge in one place. Legends
say books were confiscated from ships sailing into Alexandrias ports. The library lasted almost a
millennium before it was destroyed. A new library was constructed in Alexandria in 2002. The
Bibliotheca Alexandrina houses a collection of nearly every Internet website ever created.
1. Assyria, Kush, and Persia
2. It is a library that held ancient records, and it was destroyed. Its a library that held all knowledge
in the world, but it was destroyed.

The Rosetta Stone
Hieroglyphics is a misnamed word. It is a Greek word that means sacred carved letters. Today we
know that hieroglyphic writing was used for both secular and religious matters. We know this because of
the Rosetta Stone, a large stone found by French soldiers near the city of Rosetta 1215 years ago. The
stone was inscribed with a law written 196 years before the common era. A French scholar named Jean
Champollion spent more than twenty five years deciphering the mysterious text. Champollion concluded
that hieroglyphics were originally pictographs but later represented sounds.
1. The city of Rosetta.
2. The Greek lettering made it possible to decipher the hieroglyphics; he made educated guesses.
3. hieroglyphics had originally been pictographs, but they stood for sound later in time.