Ancient EgyptSocial and Cultural Aspects

Social Stratification – Hierarchy- Status

• Based on wealth and power • 1) Upper Classes- Nobles, Priests, and Government Officials• 2) Middle Class – Merchants and Artisans- Skilled Workers • 3) Lower Classes:

• Farmers and Herders– made up the majority of the people • Unskilled workers- “did all the physical work”• Slaves

Job Specialization

Determined wealth and social status

Majority of people were unskilled peasants who farmed or worked on

construction of buildings

Gender roles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bYRy_wZEJI

Role of Women• Higher role in society compared to other

river valley civilizations • Domestic chores- reared children • Owned businesses• Worked as musicians and entertainers at

court• Had equal rights as men in their class • Wealthy women could become priestesses• Own property- legal rights- divorce rights

Role of Men • Patriarchal society • Father was the head of the house• Provided for the family • Son inherited father’s skill or position

Religion – Polytheistic worship of many gods- built

temples- had priests

• Unlike Mesopotamia’s pessimistic view of death and the after life, Egypt had a positive view of the afterlife –

• Book of the Dead- a collection of spells to enable people to pass successfully from this life to the next

• Ra- Sun god• Isis – goddess of nature

and magic• Horus- god of war• Osiris- god of the dead• Anubis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yv_MXNYbAo

Take the TestWhich god are you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIBLxIvVKAo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9u1vafW3gk

Valued the Afterlife

• Egyptians believed that life in the Next World would be better than life on Earth. They believed in life after death.

• In order for the Egyptians to obtain life after death, they had to study a book of spells and prayers, called The Book of the Dead.

• They also needed to go through a series of difficult challenges on their way to the Next World which was overseen by Osiris, the god of the dead.

Mummification Prepared the body for

the after life

Elaborate BurialsAmulets and personal

items were buried along with servants, food, pets, weapons

for the afterlife

Writing- Record Keeping

Hieroglyphics • Used on stone monuments,

temples, tombs • Records deeds of the gods, men,

poetry, spells, instructional and medical texts, myths and legends

• Written from right to left • Demotic (later used by elites) –

phonetic script

Cultural and Technological Achievements

• Writing- Hieroglyphics • Literature• Architecture- Pyramids• Papyrus• Pottery

• Engineering- Pyramid construction• Mathematics- Number system based on

10- use of fractions to add, subtract, and divide

• Astronomy- 365 day calendar with 12 months grouped into 3 seasons

• Medicine- surgery, first medical books• Shipbuilding