Study Guide for Ancient Egypt Unit Test

  1. Ancient Egypt developed along the banks of the Nile River and was even called The Gift of the Nile. It was important to the people because it provided them with many advantageslike water for crops, transportation, food, and building materials.
  2. Egypt became a successful civilization in part because of thesurrounding desert that acted as a protective border keeping the kingdom from being invaded.
  3. The “Rosetta Stone” was a stone slab with the same story carved in 3 different languages. It allowed historians to read/ understand hieroglyphs.
  4. The Egyptians had many achievements including the Pyramids, papyrus paper, the hieroglyphic writing system and the mummification process.
  5. Special pictures call hieroglyphs which mean holy writing stood for sounds or named objects.
  6. An obelisk was monument shaped like a rectangular prism with a pyramid on top. It was covered in hieroglyphic writing.
  7. Osiris was the god of the Under World. He was married to his sister Isis. He was killed by his brother Seth and Isis andThoth brought him back to life. This is part of the Egyptian belief in the afterlife.
  8. Egyptians mummified there dead because they believed the soul would need the body in the afterlife. You need to know the steps that the priest followed to make a mummy. (SEE Mummification Process in your notes) Anubis was the protector of the dead and priest often wore a mask of Anubis during the embalming process.
  9. A sarcophagus was a specially shaped container that held a whole mummified body. The liver, lungs, intestines and stomach of a mummy were placed in special containers called canopic jars.
  10. The Egyptians believed a person thought with their heart and that they would need it in the After-Life.
  11. The king of Egypt was called the pharaoh. His people believed he was a god.
  12. The building of the pyramids was a difficult and dangerous process. It could not have been possible without Egypt’s natural resources of stone and the Nile River. It required organization and lots of man power. The Egyptian builders used simple tools like sledges, levers, ramps, chisels, mallets and drills.

The pharaohs eventually stopped building pyramids because robbers began to break in and steal their treasures.Next they used hidden underground tombs cut of rock in the desert in The Valley of the Kings.

  1. The Ancient Egyptian religion was about more than just worshippingit allowed the Priest to have great wealth and power. It also allowed common people to make money making from selling idols and amulets of the gods.
  2. One pharaoh, Akhenaten, tried to change the way the Egyptians worshipped by getting rid of all the gods except the Sun god, Aten.
  3. Tutankhamun was a young pharaoh who is only famous today because his tomb was forgotten and found undisturbed with most of the treasure.
  4. The Judeo-Christian Old Testament Bible is primary source which gives us information about Egypt. Other primary sources are the hieroglyphic writings and objects found in the tombs and the mummies.
  5. Women were honored in Egypt and treated very well. Some even helped they husband the pharaoh to rule. Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh of ancient Egypt.