social studies week 5
In what ways did location influence Kush during this time period?
Kush's society became Egypt ionized while under Egyptian control.
sickle
Large curved knife with a handle used to cut grass or tall grains
How did location and natural resources help Kush?
Location and natural resources made Kush an important center because the kingdom was located on the Nile River, Kush linked central and southern Africa to Egypt.
What did the Peasants do for the Opet festival?
Members of the peasant class lined the streets to witness the festival and to pay tribute to the god.
What is the sixth or bottom level of the pyramid?
Peasants
What is the top level of the pyramid?
Pharaoh
write a sentence with dynasty
Piye and his family were the 25th dynasty of Egypt because they were called the black pharaohs.
What is the third level of the pyramid?
Priests
What did the Priests do for the Opet festival?
Priests decorated the statue of the god with jewelry and placed the statue in a shrine then on a barque (special boat). They also held ceremonies in temples that the statue stopped in along the route of the festival.
What is the fourth level of the pyramid?
Scribes
What did the Scribes do for the Opet festival?
Scribes kept written records of the festival and all the activities as well as who participated.
What is the Opet Festival?
The Pharaoh led the festival honoring the god Amon-Re. Every social class took part in the Festival.
life in egypt's social classes
the social ladder was very rigid. most people belonged to the same social class as their parents. There was very little chance of moving up.
Why did it take so long to become a scribe?
there were so many hieroglyphics to learn.
peasant work
they often worked for farmers, and helped gather the crops and maintained the fields.
What is the order for the classes from highest to lowest?
pharaoh, government officials, priests, scribes, artisans, and peasants.
hieroglyphs
pictures, characters, or symbols standing for words, ideas, or sounds; ancient Egyptians used instead of an alphabet like ours
women priests
priestesses who oversaw the temples of gods of music and dance
scribes
recorders of information.
Pharaoh
ruler of egypt, believed to be a god, at the top of the social pyramid, they lived a lavish lifestyle
Why did ancient Egyptians believe having social classes was a good idea?
society worked when people knew their roles.
stone carver
the most skilled artisan. played a hug role in tomb building. they also made artwork to decorate the walls of the tomb
embalming
the process of preventing a body from decaying. the organs were removed, the brain was removed, the body was washed in oils, dried, wrapped in linen and finally given protective amulets.
Bonus: Which south American country is the only one that borders both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean?
Colombia
Bonus: which country is the largest island in the Caribbean Sea?
Cuba
How did Egypt's upper class treat artisans?
like common laborers
noble
of high birth or rank
chief treasurer
oversaw the governments wealth and collected taxes (grain, cloth etc)
Scribes are the fourth highest level:
1) Boys start scribe school at about age 5 and spent 12 or more years there. 2) Life in scribe school was difficult; students studied for many hours teachers were very strict and often beat the students. 3) There were different types of scribes, including religious, military, and legal.
Artisans are the fifth highest level:
1) Egyptian Artisans included carpenters, jewelers, leather and metal workers, painters, potters (people who make pottery) sculptors, and weavers. 2) Artisans made beautiful works of art, furniture, and jeweler
In what ways did Egyptian women enjoy more freedom and rights than most women in the ancient world?
1) Egyptian women enjoyed greater freedom and more rights than most women in the ancient world as they could own land and businesses. 2) They could also ask for divorces and represent themselves in legal matters. 3) Some women in upper classes worked as doctors, government officials or priestesses.
What did the priests and Egyptian's think about the afterlife?
1) Egyptians believed that a person's body stayed with them in the afterlife. 2) During embalming, the heart was left in the body so the gods could judge the person's soul. 3) The organs were removed and dried, then placed in jars and buried with the person. 4) The bodies were buried with things they would need in the afterlife including food, drink, furniture, statues jewelry clothes and even games.
Priests are the third highest level:
1) High Priest advises the pharaoh and oversaw all religious ceremonies. 2) Temple priests were in charge of the many temples throughout Egypt. 3) Other priests handled the more common concerns and requests such as giving advice, performing healings, etc. 4) Women priestesses oversaw temples that were devoted to dancing and music
How did the status of peasant affect the daily lives of the people in this social class?
1) Peasants were the lowest and largest social class in ancient Egypt. 2) Although society depended on their work, they were seen as unskilled laborers (workers). 3) They had the fewest comforts. They lived in plain houses of mud bricks and had few pieces of furniture. 4) Their diet was simple and they spent most of their lives working , there was very little time for leisure.
How did the status of priest affect the daily lives of people in this social class?
1) Priests had to purify themselves because they were the only ones who could enter the sanctuaries of the temples. 2) To purify themselves, they had to avoid certain foods, cleanse their bodies, shave off all body hair and wear clothes made of linen cloth.
How did religion affect the organization of the social pyramid?
1) Religion affected the organization of social pyramid because at the top of the pyramid was the pharaoh who had the most power. 2) Religion strengthened the pharaoh's authority, they were thought of as gods and their word was law. 3) Priests were a powerful group because they were in charge of religious ceremonies and rituals. 4) Religion influenced everyday life of all Egyptians.
What did scribes do?
1) Scribes also kept records of grain and food supplies, trading records 2) Some calculated taxes and recorded census results 3) Records of how many people lived in the kingdom: Where they lived What social class they were Number of slaves, etc.
How did the daily lives of scribes affect the daily lives of people in this social class?
1) Scribes were the official writers and record keepers of the kingdom. 2) They were highly respected and well paid. 3) Only men could be scribes 4) Becoming a scribe was one of the few ways that men could rise above their parents social class and become a more important person.
Why Is Ancient Egypt society structured like a pyramid?
1) There are six different levels of social classes. 2) Classes near the top of the pyramid have fewer people and enjoy higher status and wealth. 3) Classes near the bottom of the pyramid have more people and lower status.
How did the status of artisans affect the daily lives of people in this social class?
1) Though artisans were highly skilled, they were seen by the upper class as common laborers (workers). 2) Therefore, artisans rarely received recognition for their work. 3) Artisans lived in modest rectangular homes that were barely 10 yards long, 4) They worked side by side for up to 10 days in a row without a day off, 5) They depended completely on their employer for food and water.
The second highest level was Government Officials:
1) Vizier advised the pharaoh, appointed and supervised other officials and served as chief judge. 2) Chief Treasurer collected taxes in the forms of grains, cows, cloth, silver, jewelry 3) General of the armies advised the pharaoh in matters of war and national security such as protection from invaders. 4) He also made alliances (friends) with other kingdoms.
Why do you think that the social pyramid in ancient Egypt was rigid?
1)The social pyramid in ancient Egypt was rigid because there was little chance of moving up to a higher class. 2) People usually stayed in the same class as their parents. 3) Each group had its role to fulfill. 4) Egyptians believed their system provided a stable well-ordered society.
Describe the jobs of a government official.
1. collected taxes, 2. led the army 3. decided difficult court cases.
Sarcophagus
A large stone coffin.
census
A periodic and official count of a country's population.
sanctuary
A sacred or holy place
sarcophagus
A stone coffin
alliance
An agreement between nations to work together for common interests
What is the fifth level of the pyramid?
Artisans
What did artisans do?
Artisans also included people who made things like tools, chariots, etc. The most skilled artisans were stone carvers who produced statues, engravings, and reliefs found on and in ancient Egyptian tombs, temples, monuments, and the free standing statues.
What did the Artisans do for the Opet festival?
Artisans created the statue of the god, the barque,shrine and the jewelry used to decorate the god.
write a sentence with afterlife
Egyptians believed in a life after death because they thought in the afterlife, a person's body remained with his or her dead spirit.
True or False? Everyone in Egyptian society took part in the Opet Festival.
False. Almost everyone in Egyptian society took part in the Opet Festival.
What did the Government Officials do for the Opet festival?
Government Officials competed for the chance to carry the barque through the city on poles.
What is the second level of the pyramid?
Government officials
How did the status of government officials affect the daily lives of people in this social class?
Government officials led lives of luxury. Most were nobles who had great wealth, fine homes and plenty of time to socialize. They attended lavish banquets and dressed in fine clothing and jewelry.
vizier
High ranking government official - second command to the pharaoh. He appointed and supervised other government officials. Served as chief judge
write a sentence with status
The classes near the top of the social pyramid had fewer people and enjoyed higher status because the classes near the bottom of the pyramid had more people and lower status.
What does the social pyramid show about Egypt's social classes?
The fewest number of people were in the highest classes.
The sixth and lowest level was peasants:
The sixth and lowest level was peasants: 1) During the flooding season and while waiting for the Nile River water to go down, farmers labored (worked) on royal projects such as building temples, pyramids, statues, etc. 2) During the planting season, farmers sowed (planted) their fields with seeds and irrigated the land. 3) The main crops were wheat and barley.
Why did Eygptian priest embalm bodies?
They believed people needed their bodies in the afterlife.
What is one important fact about scribe schools and the types of work they did?
They made wood, flakes of stone, broken bits of pottery, tablet, reed, paperus, and ink.
What is one important fact about the work of peasants during the flooding season?
They worked on royal projects.
What route might a peasant take to raise their social status?
To become a scribe.
Identify the social class in ancient Egypt that belongs on each level of the social pyramid.
Top level: Pharaoh Second level: Government officials Third level: Priests Fourth level: Scribes Fifth level: Artisans Sixth level: Peasants
Compare the social pyramid of the ancient Egypt with your school's social pyramid.
Top: principal Second: assistant principal Third: office staff Fourth: teachers Fifth: student council Sixth: students
meroe
a city on the Nile River that became the center of Kushite culture and industry
dynasty
a family or group that rules for several generations
Opet festival
a festival celebrated when the nile flooded. It brought people from all social classes together to celebrate the the patron god of the pharaoh, Amon-Re. a boat was ridden down the Nile during the festival.
river game
a game played by men in which they rode papyrus rafts and tried to knock the others off
social class
a group in a society that is ranked by factors such as wealth, property, and rights
artisan
a highly skilled laborer who received little to no respect from nobles
vizier
a hight-ranking government official.
peasant
a person who does farmwork for wealthy landowners
kandake
a powerful female leader who co-ruled Kush with her husband or sons
social pyramid
a pyramid outline showing the positions of social classes according to their status in a society
famine
a servere shortage of food.
famine
a severe shortage of food (as through crop failure) resulting in violent hunger and starvation and death
hieroglyph
a symbol used in hieroglyphics, a system of writing developed around 3000 B.C.E.
hieroglyph
a system of writing.
writing tablet
a tablet used and carried by scribes
high priest
adviser of the pharaoh and oversaw all religious ceremonies.
general of the armies
after the pharaoh he was the top military commander, advised the pharaoh on how to protect egypt, and make treaties with neighboring countries.
afterlife
an existence after death
Why do you think that the social pyramid in ancient Egypt was rigid?
because children followed what they're parents did.
Why was ancient Egyptian society structured like a pyramid?
because the higher you are, the fewer the people and because the higher you are, the more important you are.
government officials
belonged to the second highest social class. they lived lives of luxury, throwing massive banquets and parties. for entertainment there were dancers, musicians and acrobats.
types of artisans
carpenters, jewelers, leatherworkers, metalworkers, painters, potters etc.
peasant
common laborer
scribes
egypt's official record keepers. highly respected and well payed. they had to go to school for twelve years, learning hieroglyphics and writing them. if you were a scribe you could have a variety of jobs (census keeper, writing down the amount of grain harvested, calculating taxes, recording court cases and the provisions and number of people killed in the army)
What did Kush trade with its neighbor, Egypt?
gold, ivory, leather, and tember that was coming from Kush, Egypt gave grain and lening to Kush.
types of rocks that stone carvers worked with
granite and other hard rocks
priests
handled common concerns and requests, gave advice, and preformed healing. had a special role in the burial ceremonies.
temple
home to a god or gods
status
importance
What did scribes do?
kept official records