5.2

What kind of religion did the ancient Egyptians practice?

A theocracy is a form of government in which the same person is the political and religious leader of the people

How were the pyramids built?

Farmers, surveyors, engineers, carpenters, stonecutters, and enslaved people worked together. Some people cut rocks. Others moved the rocks with sleds and barges. Others unloaded the stones and set them in place using ramps.

Examples of Egyptian achievements

astronomy, a 365-day calendar, geometry/mathematics a system of written numbers, fractions

Why did Egyptians protect a person's body after death?

because the soul needed a body to reach the afterlife

What rights did Egyptian women have?

own property, buy and sell goods, and get divorced

pharaoh

ruler of ancient Egypt

embalming

the process of preserving dead bodies

Why did the Egyptians build the pyramids?

to hold the bodies of the pharaohs.

theocracy

a government in which the same person is the political and religious leader

List three ways that religion affected life in ancient Egypt.

Egyptians thought they could not grow crops without help from the gods; thought that even after the pharaohs died they protected Egypt after death, so they helped their bodies travel through the afterlife. Egyptians spent their lives studying prayers and spells in the Book of the Dead.

How was ancient Egypt governed?

The Pharaoh had total power; bureaucrats were appointed by the Pharaoh to help oversee canals, irrigation, crops, and trade

How was Egyptian society organized?

The pharaoh and his family were at the very top. The upper class lived in cities and on large estates along the Nile. Servants waited on them. The middle class ran businesses or made goods. They lived in smaller homes. Egypt's lower class was its largest class. Most farmers lived in one-room mud homes. Unskilled workers lived in small homes with dirt floors.

How was the pharaoh both a political leader and a religious leader?

The pharaoh had total political power and appointed bureaucrats to carry out commands; also participated in ceremonies as the religious leader. People believed that the pharaoh protected them.

bureaucrat

a government official

pyramid

a great stone tomb built for an Egyptian pharaoh