Outline: Egypt

I. Importance of the Nile River
   A. other features of Egyptian geography
       and its effects on culture
   B. historical evidence for the study of
       Egypt
II. Major periods of Egyptian History
   A. Archaic  3100-2686 B. C.
   B. Old Kingdom  2686-2181 B. C.
    Pyramid Building Begins        
   C. Middle Kingdom  2133-1603 B.C. --
        Civil War
   D. New Kingdom  1567-1085 B. C.  --
        Prosperity and Warfare
   E. Late Period  1085-525 B.C. --
        Egypt incorporated into the Assyrian
        and Persian Empire, and later
        fell to Alexander the Great.
   F. Thirty total Dynasties
      i. first dynasty -- Narmer (Menes)
        unified Upper (south) and
        Lower Egypt (north)
III. Old Kingdom Egypt
     (third - sixth dynasties)
    Dynasties -- The Old Kingdom
   A. rigid bureaucracy headed by kings
      i. Pharaoh seen as Divine ruler of all
         Egypt
      ii.  Osiris of the underworld, living Horus
           on earth
      iii. The Book of the Dead
           at Cornell University
  B. power of kings led to building pyramids  and the cult of the pharaoh
      i.  the importance of the afterlife
      ii.  mumification
     Mummies of Ancient Egypt
     The Mummy Tombs
     Inside Egyptian Mummies     
  C. Pyramids
      i. Step Pyramid Complex of Djoser
     (King Zoser) at Sakkarah --
      ii. The great pyramids at Giza
         a. Why did Egyptians build the
             pyramids?
         b. current research on the pyramids
Possible Methods of Pyramid Construction
         c. inner construction
         d. cost of pyramids to Egyptian
             society
            i. rising power of the priests
            ii. collapse of Old kingdom
           Life in Ancient Egypt    
           The Rosetta Stone    
           Hieroglyphs      
           Egyptian mathematics
IV. The Middle Kingdom
      (6 - 18th dynasties) -
      pharaohs restored order
   A. Civil War:
       i. Memphis
   B. reunited by 12th dynasty
       i. expansion
       ii. dominance of Thebes
         a. development of Amon-Re
   C. Hyksos invasion
V.  The New Kingdom --
      began with the 18th dynasty
   A. adoption of Hyksos weapons &
        the defeat of the Hyksos
    B. reunification of Upper and Lower
        Egypt
    C. Characterized by military conquest
       i. Thutmose I
       ii. Queen Hatshepsut  
          first female ruler of Egypt
          (daughter of Thutmose I,
            wife of Thutmose II )
       Hatshepsut
       iii. The Napoleon of Ancient Egypt
           expanded empire -- 17 successful
           military campaigns
       Thutmose III
   D. Amenhotep IV ( Akhenaton )
       i. appraisal of his reign
       ii.  loss of frontiers to Hittites
       iii. The Amarna Period :     
         a. monotheism in the ancient world
         b. his capital at Akhetaton
         c. The aftermath:
          image, temples, & religion destroyed
         iv. Tutankhamon
            i. his original name
            ii.  tomb discovered in 1922
    Howard Carter     Flinders Petrie
    At the Tomb of Tutanhkamon
 E.    Ramses II
       i. The Great Temple of Abu Simbel
       ii. warrior: the conquest of Asia
       iii. pharaoh of the exodus
VI. The collapse of Egypt
       A.  The People of the Sea -- 1200 B.C.
       B.  The Assyrians -- 7th B.C.
       C.  The Persians -- 525 B.C.
       D.  Alexander the Great -- 331 B.C.

 

      Egyptian Hieroglyphs      

        The World of Ancient Egypt

        Akhet Internet
          Akhenaton and Amarna, Clickable Mummy, Art, Sculpture

        Cybermuseum Egyptian Links

        The Encyclopedia of the Orient

       Mark Millmore's Ancient Egypt

       Hyper History Online

       Tour of Egypt at The University of Memphis

        Visit Egyptian Kings for information on specific rulers.