Bell Ringer Use your notes on Egyptian Religion

Bell Ringer • Use your notes on Egyptian Religion to answer the following question: • What evidence suggests the afterlife was important to the ancient Egyptians?

Note - Taking 1. Copy down the chart on p. 88 into your classroom notebook 2. Make sure it is titled, “Ancient Egyptian Culture”

Everyday Life • Most of what we know about the ancient Egyptians is based on paintings from walls of tombs/temples and written records. Pharaoh • Social Classes: Small Upper Class: Priests, Court Members, Nobles with large estates Middle Class: Merchants, Skilled Workers Peasants Slaves

Everyday Life • A person could rise up to a higher social class usually through service to the Pharaoh. • Slavery: • Prisoners captured in war • Slaves had rights – could own items, inherit land be set free • Peasants: • Most worked the land of wealthier people • Lives were greatly affected by the seasons for farming • Women: • Looked upon as living models of the goddess Isis • Had most rights that men had – own property, run businesses, enter legal contracts

Achievements • Writing in Ancient Egypt • Hieroglyphs: pictures and other written symbols that stand for ideas, things, or sounds. • Began to use hieroglyphs because they needed a way to keep track of the kingdom’s growing wealth. • Writing Materials • Papyrus: an early form of paper made from a reed found in the marshy area of the Nile delta.

The Mystery of Hieroglyphics Revealed • The ability to read Egypt’s hieroglyphic writing was lost after the 400’s A. D. – in 1799 an important discovery allowed scholars to translate the mysterious pictures • Rosetta Stone: large black stone discovered near the Nile River with hieroglyphs, another Egyptian script, and Greek letters that all had the same meaning allowing the translation of hieroglyphics.

Achievements • Astronomers: scientists who study the stars and other objects in the sky. • Figured out when the Nile River would flood based on star movements and the length of a year. • Mathmatics: • Used geometry along with adding, subtracting, fractions, etc. • Medicine: • Religion and medicine were closely connected • Performed surgery and used plants to create medicines

RACE Rubric Exercise • Use the rubric that was provided to you in order to answer the following question using the RACE writing strategy – you MUST use the text (p. 88 -93) in order to complete the assignment. • How did the learning achievements of the Egyptians affect later civilizations?