Honors World

Section 3 Assessment, p. 48

 

1)    Key Terms

2)  How did the Nile influence the rise of the powerful civilization of Egypt?

A) The Nile provided fertile land on which people could farm. For people to control the floods, they needed to cooperate, which led to an organized government.  The river also connected Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt and served as a trade route.

3)  How did the Nile play a crucial role in uniting Egypt?

A) The Nile served as a link between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt as well as a trade route by which Egyptians could exchange products with other regions.

4)  What knowledge did Egyptians gain from their conquerors the Hyksos?

A) Egyptians gained knowledge of a new military technology, the horse-drawn chariot.  This probably helped them make their own conquests later on.

5)   What types of information about ancient Egypt can we learn from colossal monuments such as the Great Pyramids or the building projects of Hatshepsut and Ramses II?

A) From such monuments we can learn about Egyptian beliefs, crafts, construction capabilities, organizational capabilities, resources, and historical events.

 

 

 

Section 4, p. 56

1)    Key Terms

2)  How did religion and learning play important roles in ancient Egyptian civilization?

A) Religion shaped people’s daily worship practices, behavior, and social status.  Learning shaped people’s ability to communicate and create records, their social status, their health, and their ability to construct large buildings.

3)  How do you think replacing him with the god Aton would have affected the authority of the pharaohs?

A) The pharaohs would have had to find some other way to establish their authority or the people would no longer have believed in them as divine.

4)  How do the Book of the Dead and the tomb of Tutankhamen offer different types of information about Egyptian views of the afterlife?

A) The Book of the Dead offers firsthand information on Egyptian views of the afterlife, whereas the tomb offers objects whose meaning must be interpreted.

5)   What jobs were Egyptian women allowed to hold?  What jobs were they not allowed to hold?

A) They were allowed to work in manufacturing, manage farming estates, be doctors and priestesses.  They were not allowed to be scribes or work in government.

 

 

 

Focus Questions

14)    How did the presence of the Nile help people farm successfully?

It provided water and rich soil.

15)    What other aspects of life did the Nile affect?

Travel, trade, political borders, government-organized projects

16)    How did the pharaoh’s religious role affect his role as head of government?

Because the Egyptians believed the pharaoh was a god, he was able to hold absolute power over the people and the government bureaucracy.

17)    What challenges caused the pharaohs to lose control of Egypt at the end of the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom?

Power struggles, crop failures, the expense of building pyramids, and invasion.

18)    With which neighbors did Egypt trade?

Egypt traded with people in lands along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, along the Red Sea coast  of Africa, and in Nubia.

19)    With which neighbors did Egypt engage in warfare?

Hittites and Nubians

 

20)   How do you think these alliances and conflicts helped Egypt reach its greatest extent by 1450 BCE?

Trade alliances probably helped build Egypt’s wealth, while winning conflicts helped build Egypt’s prestige and power.

21)    Besides construction workers, what types of workers played a key role in building the pyramids?

Scribes, water carriers, etc.

22)   Why would cooks, bakers, butchers, physicians, and priests be important to the construction?

The workforce needed to eat, etc.

23)   Given the enormity of the task of building a single pyramid, what does it tell you about Egypt that pharaoh after pharaoh had them built?

Egypt had extensive resources, and the pharaohs considered the afterlife or their reputations to be very important.

24)   Which god ruled over the dead?

Osiris

25)   Which god was associated with the sun?

Re

26)   Which one was associated with the daily lives of women?

Isis

27)   Given that Egyptians associated each god with separate aspects of life, why do you think Akhenaton failed to replace all gods with just one, Aton?

Egyptians were probably used to each god playing a separate role, so the concept of having one god play all roles must have seemed quite foreign.

28)   What does the structure of Egypt’s class system tell you about the importance of religion in that society?

Since priests and priestesses were near the top of society, clearly religion was regarded highly.

29)   What does the much greater size of the lowest class tell you about the need for laborers in Egyptian society?

Many of them were needed, probably for building pyramids and working in the fields.

30)   How did the social structure change because of increased warfare and trade?

Merchants and artisans had more economic opportunities, so their social class rose.

31)    What does this indicate about the connection between economic opportunity and social structure?

That social structure is greatly influenced by economic opportunity.

 

32)   For what purpose did the Egyptians use hieroglyphs?

A)     To record important economic, administrative, royal, and official historical information.

33)   Why did they also use hieratic and demotic?

A)     Because these scripts were simple, they were more suitable for everyday use.

34)   What subject matters were common in Egyptian art? In literature?

A)     Everyday scenes, battles, gods, and pharaohs.

B)     Gods, proverbs, love, battles, practical advice, and folk stories.

35)   How can studying these remnants today help us learn more about Egyptian values and culture?

A)     Their choice of subjects can show us what Egyptians were interested in or valued, and the ways they present these subjects can tell us about their viewpoints.

Vocabulary

19)    Delta – triangular area of marshland formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of some rivers

20)   Dynasty – ruling family

21)    Bureaucracy – system of government that includes different job functions and levels of authority

22)   Vizier – chief minister who supervised the business of government in ancient Egypt

23)   Hatshepsut – performed the job of pharaoh although a woman; established trade routes; Egypt prospered under her leadership

24)   Thutmose III – stepson of Hatshepsut; known as the “Napoleon of Egypt” to historians; stretched Egyptian borders to their greatest extent

25)   Ramses II – last of the great pharaohs; ruled 66 years; died at age 90; extended Egypt to Syria again

26)   Old Kingdom – oldest period of Egyptian history; pyramid building; mummification began for the King; Egyptians felt a stronger sense of stability than those in Mesopotamia; all power centered in King

27)   Middle Kingdom – Kings gain control; completed projects to help the downtrodden; gained agricultural land through drainage projects; came into contact with other peoples; ended with the invasion of the Hyksos, who introduced the horse and chariot

28)   New Kingdom – time of conquest; last period of Egyptian history; ended with a Period of Decline

29)   Amon-Re – Egyptian lord of the gods; pharaoh received authority to rule from him

30)   Osiris – Egyptian god of the dead

31)    Isis – Egyptian god of women

32)   Akhenaton – attempted to shift Egypt from polytheistic to a monotheistic religion; attempt failed

33)   Mummification – the preservation of dead bodies by embalming and wrapping them in cloth

34)   Hieroglyphics – system of writing in which pictures called hieroglyphs represent objects, concepts, or sounds

35)   Papyrus – plant used in ancient Egypt for paper, clothing, furniture, etc.

36)   Decipher – figuring out the meaning of something

37)   Rosetta Stone – stone monument that includes the same passage carved in hieroglyphics, demotic script, and Greek and that was used to decipher the meanings of many hieroglyphs