Mr. Liotta's Ancient Egypt Notes
Silt- thick bed of mud, usually left after a river overflows
Irrigation- the bringing of water to crop fields by means of canals and ditches
City-State- a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit
Dynasty- a series of rulers from a single family
Cultural Diffusion- the spreading of ideas or products from one culture to another
Polytheism- a belief in many gods
Empire-a political unit in which a number of peoples or countries are controlled by a single ruler
Hammurabi- a Babylon Emperor from 1792 BC to 1750 BC, made the Hammurabi Code: an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth…
Cataract- a waterfall or stretch of rapids in a river
Delta-a marshy region formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of a river
Menes-a strong-willed king of Upper Egypt
Pharaoh-a king of ancient Egypt, considered a god as well as a political or military leader
Theocracy-a government in which the ruler is viewed as a divine figure, a government controlled by religious leaders
Pyramid-a massive structure with a rectangular base and four triangular sides, like those that were built in Egypt as burial places for old Kingdom pharaohs
Mummification-a process of embalming and drying corpses to prevent them from decaying
Hieroglyphics-an ancient Egyptian writing system in which pictures were used to represent ideas and sounds
Papyrus-a tall reed that grows in the Nile delta, used by the ancient Egyptians to make a paper-like material for writing on
Monsoon- seasonal winds
Dynastic Cycle- the pattern of the rise, decline, and the replacement of dynasties
The NileRiver flows northward for over 4100 miles
The change from fertile soil to desert (Black land to RedLand) was extremely abrupt. You could put one foot in each color
It rains in July. The rain melts the snow from the mountains of east central Africa. That makes the NileRiver rise and spill over its banks. When the river calms down again, it leaves behind a thick deposit of silt.
The Egyptian farming lifestyle was flood, plant harvest; flood, plant, harvest…
The Nile was so great, the Egyptians worshiped it as a god who gave life and seldom turned against them.
The Sumerians and Egyptians traded.
The Egyptians blended the cultures of the Nile Valley people with the cultures of peoples who migrated into the valley from other parts of Africa.