Egypt (Ch3)

Egypt

1) River usage- Egyptians used the Nile River to keep their crops alive, relying on the annual flooding (or rebirth as they believed) of the river to maintain their agricultural lifestyle (irrigation). The river was also used for drinking (obviously), bathing, sailed down the river, and did the washing various objects (clothing, pots, pans, etc.)
                                                                   Egypt: Nile River

2) Government- Egypt was ruled by pharaohs, whom were believed to be gods in human form. Pharaohs had access to the afterlife and their bodies were buried in (or near) the pyramid built for him (or her in a few rare instances).


3) Interactions with Pastoralists- Egyptians traded with pastoralists and were invaded in 1650 B.C.E by the Hyksos.

 4) Architecture- Egyptians built pyramids to honor the ruling pharaoh, acting as a tomb. Once that pharaoh died he was buried within or near the pyramid, (which led to grave robbers raiding the tombs of the pharaohs for their riches).


5) Writing- Egypt used hieroglyphs, which were a series of signs to denote words or consonants.


6) Laws- (woman's aspect is under gender roles.) There were also laws on regulation of female sexuality.Woman-Submission to authority of men while giving paternalistic protection. 

 7) Religion- Their beliefs were polytheistic (aka they believed in many gods, i.e. Osiris the god of the dead) and in the afterlife, and also believing that if they were buried with their riches that they would carry them with them into the afterlife. (Only pharaohs or other high ranking officials could make the journey to the afterlife)


8) Trade- They drew upon wheat and barley from Mesopotamia; gourds, watermelon, domesticated donkeys and cattle from Sudan. Egypt also traded their resources within the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Africa. not only were goods traded, but so was cultural influences.


9) Literature- They wrote important stuff down in scrolls. Their writing was Hieroglyphs which were series of signs to denote words or consonants. 


10) Gender Roles- Woman had greater opportunities than other first civilizations. Legally, they were equal to men, they were able to own their own properties and slaves, they could administer and sell land, make their own wills, sign their own marriage contracts, and initiate divorces. Royal Woman could act as regents for their young sons, occasionally they had significant power, and rarrely but still happened, a woman could queen in her own right. The most famous queen was Hatshepsut, although sometimes her statues were as a man. Married woman were not veiled. Statues and paintings showed both genders as equals. Marriage was arranged by parents.


Because i chose to talk about Egypt, I decided to put a video about Mesopotamia up instead.

Never mind, there's an Egypt video, i'll toss it in anyways :)