Down to Egypt

_ ~~~.~~ = _!ljghlig~t_s~ _ ments of Mesopotamia. Unlike Hammurabi's

Babylonian Empire, Egypt was not an empire
• Egyptian Civilization • Hebrew Exodus of cities. The Egyptians thought of themselves
as one people, calling themselves by the same
name regardless of the particular cities in which
they lived. For more than a thousand years,
Egypt ruled an empire that extended all the way
Egypt in World History to the Euphrates River. Even after 1000 B.e.,
when one foreign conqueror after another ruled
Impressions of Andent E~ the land, many massive ruins remained as evi-
Herodotus. Soon after Ham's son Miz- dence of Egypt's former greatness.
raim settled in Egypt, this land in northeastern The Greek historian Herodotus [hí-ród/a-tas]
Africa became the site of a people that in many viewed the ruins of Egypt in the 5th century
respects equaled or excelled the accomplish- B.e. and wrote of rus impressions. He mar-

Pyramid after Pyrámid: Many pyramiqs~ti" stand in Egypt today.

Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom NewKingdom

Dates based on U55her~ (hronology

--~------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18 Ch.~~ to Egypt
e\eo. at tne nuge tomos ca\\eo. p)1Tmn'u:\s anO. 1n Bis o.e\iverance, Goo. gave Ysr e\ amp\e
me mysterious sphinxes [sfíngk/séz: large stone evidence that she was indeed H· chosen
statues with the heads of men, rams, or hawks nation and demonstrated His ower to a11
and the bodies oflions]. He also saw the the world in His judgment of mighty and
hieroglyphics [hl(dr d gl1f'lks: sacred carvingsJ,
o o impressive Egypt.
the strange writing of the ancient Egyptians.
The Bible. Impressive Egypt also Hieroglyphics-the Riddle of Egypt
played an important role in Bible history. For a long time, almost everything
God planned that Israel, before it became a known about ancient Egypt carne from the
nation-state, would first spend many years works of Herodotus and from the Bible,
down in Egypt. During this time, Israel grew because knowledge of how to read the
from a large family of 70 persons to a nation Egyptian hieroglyphics had been lost. For
of over 2 million. Two Israelites held posi- about fifteen centuries (until the 19th cen-
tions of great power in Egypt. tury A.D.), these puzzling pictures of birds,
Joseph became the chief assistant to an snakes, bottles, jugs, and other things were
Egyptian king when he interpreted the king's believed to be a part of Egyptian religion.
dreams. Under Joseph's leadership, Egypt In A.D. 1799, French soldiers in Egypt
prepared for a seven-year worldwide fam- accidenta11y uncovered a broken slab of
ine, foretold in the king's dreams, by storing black basalt (a fine-grained rock) near the
enough grain to feed a11of Egypt and even town of Rosetta. This stone, later dubbed
Canaan during the famine. It was during this the Rosetta Stone, contained a message
famine that Jacob sent some of his sons from carved in three languages: hieroglyphics,
Canaan to Egypt to buy grain, beginning a demotic (another ancient Egyptian lan-
chain of events which reconciled Joseph to guage), and Greek. It soon became obvious
his brothers, who had sold him into slavery, that the hieroglyphics were indeed writ-
and brought Jacob with a11of his family to ings and that the Greek carvings could b~
live in Egypt. used to decipher them. The French schola
Sometime after Joseph's death, a new Jean Francis Champollion [shan' pó -Iyórr']
Egyptian king began to fear the Israelite worked for fourteen years until he had
foreigners because of their rapid increase solved the riddle of the Rosetta Stone.
in numbers. He enslaved them with hard After the results of Champollion's work
construction and field work. The Israelite were announced in 1822, scholars were
population continued to increase, however, able to read other hieroglyphics that the
and suffering together as slaves only made ancient Egyptians had left behind.
, them more aware of themselves as a distinct
nation with a special relationship to God. In A Storehouse of Relics
desperation, the king commanded that a11 Many ancient Egyptian artifacts sur-
of the male infants born to the Israelites be vive today after thousands of years, includ-
drowned. ing delicate fabrics and wooden objects
The story of how one of these male that ordinarily would have decayed. We
infants, Moses, was saved from drowning now know much about ancient Egypt
is perhaps one of the most familiar parts of beca use so many perishable things have
the Bible. As the adopted son of the king's survived the centuries. Egypt has been a
daughter, Moses probably received the best storehouse for relics of the past because
education available in Egypt and might the land is so hot and dry and almost never
even have become an Egyptian king himself. receives any rain. Except for the great
Instead, he became the leader of the Israel- river that flows through it, Egypt would be
ites as God delivered the nation from slavery. a desert wasteland.

3. 1 Egypt in World History 19

 Archaeology ~.
W :." .,, &',1 •• ,a, e": M' lé4I D' "c LA I~'~MJ ni -'1' me·' H'-I.' . -Ar-'- "1 _ -1

Much of what we know about the rather than as something to be proved,

ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and resulting in many one-sided, questionable,
Egypt has been learned through archae- and even fanciful interpretations of rel-
ology [ar'ke-ól/o-je], the study ofthe relics ics. Actually, the more that archaeologists
and ruins of ancient cultures. Using these discover about ancient people, the less
clues, archaeologists try to reconstruct how crude, primitive, or simple they appear to
the people of the past lived. have been-just the opposite of what the
Archaeology can be useful in the study evolutionist expects.
of world history. It is sometimes neces- Archaeology is at its best when it puts
sary, however, to sift out the influence away pottery chunks and lets ancient men
of evolutionary thought. Archaeologists speak for themselves through the remains
often take the idea of evolution for granted of their writing.

Section 3.1 Review

1. What are the huge tombs of ancient Egypt called? 4. Why have so many relics of ancient Egypt
2. Why did the king of Egypt fear tzheIsraelites and survived for thousands of years?
eventually enslave them? Identify: Mizraim, Herodotus, sphinxes,
3. What discovery led to the decip ering of hieroglyphícs, Joseph, Moses, archaeology
hieroglyphics? Who deciphered them?

Eg¿et's Great River

The Nile River and Its Gifts
An oasis in the deserto The Nile River,
the longest river in the world and one of the
few that flow south to north, made ancient
Egypt an oasis in a deserto Every year in
June, the Nile began to rise and flood the SAHARA
valley. The water level peaked in the middle DESERT

of September, and the floodwaters began to

recede. By December, the life-giving waters
had returned to their normal channels, leaving Abydos.'
behind more than 10,000 square miles of cul-
tivable soil. An approximately 650-mile strip
·'hebes
of rich and moist soil two to thirty miles wide (J(arnak, luxor)

began in the south and stretched northward.

For the last 100 miles or so of its course
through Egypt toward the Mediterranean Sea, -Kom Ombo
First
the Nile fanned out into many streams to form Cataracr
the delta region, named for its resemblance
to the Greek letter delta CM. The strip, and

20 Ch. 3 Down to Egypt

 from the Nile to make bricks, with which they
built dwellings ranging from huts to palaces.
The valley through which the Nile flowed
was surrounded by natural barriers to foreign
invasion. Desert sands lay to the east, west,
and south. Rapids called cataracts in the south
prevented the Nile from being used to invade
Egypt. Invaders could come into the north
from the Mediterranean Sea, but this area was
easy to defend. The only real weaknesses were
to the northeast from the direction of Canaan.

Section 3.2 Review

Egypt's Fertile Strip: Thisphotograph shows the Ni/e River in modern Egypt. 1. How did the Nile make Egypt fertile?
2. Name some gifts of the Nile. What was the
especially the delta, was one of the most fertile most important gift? Why?
areas in the world-more so than even Meso- 3. What natural barriers helped to prevent
foreign invasions of Egypt?
potamia, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
made what was otherwise a desert into part of Identify: delta, papyrus
the Fertile Crescent.
Irrigation (canals, dikes, reservoirs) played
an important role in Egypt just as in Mesopo-
tamia. But rather than redirect the Nile, the
Egyptians simply adapted to its natural flood Egypt's Confusion
cycle. They saw the Nile as more of a friend
than a foe and eagerly received the "gífts" it False Beliefs about Creation
brought to Egypt each year. Herodotus, in The ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile
fact, called Egypt the "gíft of the Nile." gushed up from an underground sea at the first
The gifts of the Nile. The greatest gift set of rapids. They explained the rivers flood
of the Nile to Egypt was the fertile soil it left cycle with stories about their gods. They alS(Y-~
behind. Agriculture provided a solid founda- had myths for the sun's daily cycle of rising and
tion for great wealth in Egypt, making the land setting. The Egyptians' belief in false gods pre-
a breadbasket for the ancient world. Even vented them from seeing nature as it really is.
when the Nile failed to follow its cycle during Ancient Egypt confused the Creator with
the time of Joseph, the Egyptians had stored His creation. Although "that which may be
enough grain to carry them through the seven- known of God is manifest in them; for God
year famine. hath shewed it unto them" (Rom. 1:19), the
The Nile also provided transportation for Egyptians did not recognize the one true God.
trade and communication. Boats could move They did not see that nature operates according
northward with the current and return south to basic laws of matter and energy established
by raising sails to catch the winds that almost by God. Neither did they see that nature is sub-
always blew out of the north. ject to miracles when God chooses to interrupt
The Nile was a plentiful source for building the routine operation of the basic laws.
materials. From the papyrus [pa-pí/rcs] plants Forgetting that nature is not God, the
that grew along the river banks, the Egyptians Egyptians were overly impressed with it.
made boats, baskets, boxes, mats, sandals, and Everywhere they looked, they saw awesome
furniture, as well as paper. They used mud powers and forces to be worshiped as gods.

3.3 Egypt' Confusion 21

Results of Egypt's Confusion idea of the important differences between man
Medical advances. Their concern for and animals. In a sense, Egyptian beliefs low-
practical things led the Egyptians to make ered men to the level of animals and elevated
great advances in medicine. Egyptian doctors animal s to the level of gods.
were famous in the ancient world, particularly
for their treatment of physical injuries. For The Egyptians' Belief in the Afterlife
many ailments, however, Egyptian doctors Assurance of an afterlife. From the ear-
tried to use magic. Belief that evil spirits liest times, Egyptians believed with certainty in
cause disease naturally accompanied the belief life after death but were very confused about
that the powers of nature are gods. what this afterlife would be like. It suppos-
Strict guidelines in arto Egypt also edly resembled this life in many ways. The
excelled in the arts. The beauty of Egyptian soul, they thought, could leave the body at
architecture and sculpture has impressed men death, but it had to be able to return to the
for centuries. Egyptian painters had no rivals body periodically.
in the ancient world. Unfortunately, Egypt's This belief in an
artists were hindered by their belief in natu- afterlife explains why
ral cycles. Egyptian art was beautiful, but the Egyptians were
because change was not acceptable, it was all so concerned about
very much alike. building tombs to
protect their bodies.
The Confusing Gods of the Egyptians A well-equipped tomb
The Egyptia~hiped many gods, pos- had such articles as
sibly hundreds. Some of their most interesting food, sandals, and
gods were animals such as cats, crocodiles, jewels. It might also
cows, and frogs. They were so serious about be decorated with
their worship of animals that they even buried paintings and wooden
some animals in the same elaborate manner in models relating to the
which they buried their own people. Accord- afterlife.
ing to an old story, some Egyptians once killed
a foreigner because he had killed one of their Horus: Thisgod, with the head of a
sacred cats. fafcon and the body of aman, well illus-
trates the confusing Egyptian religion.
Other Egyptian gods were pictured as
men or as combinations of animals and men.
Horus, for example, had the
body of aman and the head
of a falcon. The Egyptians
also worshiped their kings,
called pharaohs [fár/oz], as
gods. In making gods of aman,
and to birds, and four-footed
beasts, and creeping things"
(Rom. 1:23), the Egyptians
showed that they had no clear

Sacred Anima/s: TheEgyptians worshiped

cats and other animafs as gods.

Papyrus Painting: Weafthy Egyptians offer gifts to the god Osiris.

22 Ch. 3 Down to Egypt

 Mummification. The Egyptians' belief
in an afterlife also led them to preserve bodies
through a process known as murnmification. The God-Kings ofEgypt
First, they would soak a dead body in mixtures
of salts, spices, and resins to preserve it. After The First Pharaoh and the Dynasties
the body had dried into a shriveled shape, they Two kingdoms. Early Egypt was divided
stuffed it and wrapped it with linen. The entire into two main parts: Lower Egypt (in the
process could take as long as seventy days. north) included the delta area, and Upper
Cycle of the god-kings. At first, the afterlife Egypt (in the south) extended to the first
was limited to the pharaohs and their families. cataract. Both parts of Egypt were divided
The Egyptians believed that every pharaoh ruled into what the Greeks later called nomes. Each
on the earth as the god Horus and in the under- no me probably had a king. First, the nomes of
world after death as his father, Osiris. Later, Lower Egypt united under one king, and then
access to the afterlife the nomes of Upper Egypt united under another
was extended to all king. Menes [me' néz] united the two kingdoms
Egyptians. The cycle and became the [irst pharaoh of all Egypt. He
of the god-kings had the city of Memphis built as his capital
gave the Egyptians near where Lower and Upper Egypt met.
great incentive The dynasties of Egypt. Beginning with
to obey their Menes, Egypt was ruled by a series of dynasties
pharaohs. (jamilies within which the right to be king passed
[rom one member to the other). So important
were these dynasties that many people divide
ancient Egypts history into three parts: the Old
Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New
Kingdom. This division reflects the fact that
before 1000 B.e. the dynasties were interrupted
twice for periods of several hundred years.
Internal turmoil caused the first interruption
and marked the end of the Old Kingdom and
the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. The sec-
ond interruption was due to foreign conquest
by the Hyksos [hík/ sós], a people from the east
A Mummified Head: Mummification: /n the process of mummifi- about whom little is known. The Hyksos were
This is the shrive/ed head cation, the body was emba/med, wrapped in finally driven out, and the New Kingdom began.
of the mummy of the linen, and p/aced inside a coffin, such as the one Egypt ceased to be a major world power
pharaoh Ramses 1/. shown here open. Often these coffins were then after about 1000 B.e. Other pharaohs ruled,
p/aced in other more e/aborate containers.
but many foreign conquerors also carne to the
throne. Foreign powers ruled Egypt from the
Section 3.3 Review 4th century BiC. to the 20th century A.D.
1. In what areas did the Egyptians make great
advances? The Building Projects of the Pharaohs
2. What did the Egyptians believe about life Irrigation and flood control. The pha-
after death? raohs used their power over the Egyptians
3. Why were Egyptian tombs well stocked to command great building projects. Some
with everyday household items? projects were of practical value. Canals, dikes,
Identify: pharaohs, mummification and reservoirs, for example, enhanced the
Nile's gift of fertility and helped eliminate the

3.4 The God -Kings of Egypt 23

Great Sphinx: This huge statue guards the
pyramids at Giza.

disadvantages of yearly flooding. However, the that stand s near his pyramid. The Great
building projects most important to the phar- Sphinx, a gigantic statue carved in limestone,
aohs were their eternal homes, their tombs. has a lion's body 240 feet long and 66 feet high,
Royal tombs. The earliest tombs the phar- with a 13-foot-wide human face in the likeness
aohs had built for themselves were simple brick of a pharaoh-possibly Khafre.
structures called mas tabas [más/ta-boz] with fla)t The third pyramid at Giza was built for the
tops and sloping sides. Over time, larger and pharaoh Menkaure [mon-kou/rá]. AlI three
larger mastabas were built until the pharaoh pyramids, as well as the Great Sphinx, can still
Djoser [d'jó/sor] had six mastabas stacked to- be seen at Giza today.
agether, each smaller than the one beneath it. Temples. Severallarge pyramids were built
This Step Pyramid may have been the first struc- during the Old Kingdom, followed by the con-
ture in world history made entirely of stone. struction of many smaller pyramids, until phar-
Less than two centuries later, the first true aohs began to show a preference for mortuary
pyramids were built. These massive structures temples. Many mortuary temples were built
were made of large stone blocks arranged to rise when Egypt ruled an empire. One of the most
evenly to a point. The three most famous pyra- famous and beautiful belonged to Hatshepsut
mids were built in the area of Giza [gel za: also [hát-shépsóót], a female pharaoh. Since it was
spelled Gizeh). The first and largest pyramid, rare to be a female pharaoh, Hatshepsut wore
called the Great Pyramid, was built for the phar- men's clothes and a false beard.
aoh Khufu (also known as Cheops [ke/apsj). Many ancient structures
Khufu's pyramid covered thirteen acres. More still standing in Egypt were
than 2,300,000 stone blocks were used, for a total built under the direction
estimated weight of 5,700,000 tons. The average of Ramses 11 [rám/séz].
weight of each block was two and one-half tons, Ramses preferred large
but some of the blocks weighed 60 tons each. The structures, particularly
pyramid originally stood 480 feet high. No one images of himself. At
knows for certain how this or any of the other pyr- his mortuary temple
amids were constructed, except that much human in Thebes, he had a
muscle power was used. One guess is that it took 57-foot-high statue of
100,000 men twenty years (probably laboring himself that weighed
while the Nile was flooded, when it was impos- 1,000 tons. At another
sible to farm the land) to build Khufus pyramid. temple, he had four
The second largest pyramid at Giza was statues of himself,
built for the pharaoh Khafre [kaf/ ra). Of more each more than Ramses 11:Thispharaoh loved large
interest, however, is the mysterious structure 60 feet tallo stiuautes, especially images of himself.

24 Ch. 3 Down to Egypt

The Empire of the Pharaohs
Motives. The building projects of the
pharaohs required an enormous number of
laborers. The pharaohs also desired ever
greater amounts of material wealth. The desire
for more laborers and more wealth through
tribute (a payment from one nation to another)
gave the pharaohs strong motives for building
an empire.
Peak of Egyptian power. Under Thut-
mose 111 [thóót-mó/so], the Egyptian Empire
reached its greatest extent-to the Euphrates
River in the north and deep into Africa in
the south. Egypt held this territory for 150
years, making her the strongest power in the
world.
Egypt's military power consisted mainly
of chariots. The pharaohs learned the impor-

Tut"

Over the centuries, most of the ancient tombs of Egypt were

plundered by robbers, but some remained hidde~. ne of the
few tombs that were little disturbed was that of t teenage
pharaoh Tutankhamen [tóót/angk-a/rncn], better own as
"King Tut." Discovered in A.D. 1922 by two English-
men, Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, 'Iut's
tomb revealed a wealth of beautiful treasures,
some of which are pictured here.
Funeral Mask: Thisdetail ofTutankhamen's
funeral mask gives a dose-up of the young king's
face. Themask is of gold inlaid with lapislazuli,
a rich blue stone.

Model Boat: Thismodel boat of painted

wood was buried with Tutankhamen.
Tut and His Queen: Thisscene from the back
(hild's (hair: A small chair, decorated of King Iut': throne gives a picture of the king
with ivory and gold, was buried with and his wife. Notice how the sun is beaming
Tutankhamen in his tomb. down on them.

3.4 The God-Kings ofEgypt 25

 tance of chariots from the con-
quest of Egypt by the Hyksos.
The advantage of the Hyksos,
11 who had chariots while the Egyp-
~! tians did not, was something like
the advantage a tank force has
today against a field of foot sol-
diers. Only when the Egyptians
had mastered the art of chariot
warfare were they able to drive
the Hyksos out. The pharaohs
of the empire made certain that
Egypt possessed a large supply of
chariots and professional chariot
fighters.
The pharaohs eventually lost
their empire because the terri-
tory was too vast and cum ber-
some to maintain. Egypt could
not match the ambitious military Working the Fields: Mast Egyptians were farmers. They warked the
powers arising in the north and land far the pharaah and gave the greater part af their craps ta him.
east. Also, like almost everything
else about Egypt, the success of the empire jewelry-makers, painters, sculptors, and
depended on the pharaoh. Only the most many other kinds of craftsmen. These men
able men could manage the difficult tasks made the many objects of beauty that the
of holding on to such an empire; to rule pharaohs enjoyed and took with them to
Egypt alone was a challenge. their tombs. Scribes kept written records
for the pharaoh and other government offi-
Egyptian Society cials. Soldiers protected Egypt from inva-
The pharaoh of Egypt had many sion and maintained order within the realm.

jaSsistants. His chief assistant, the vizier

[ví-zér"], acted in the name of the pharaoh
and supervised the administration of jus-
As we move down the organization of the
pharaoh's assistants to the vast majority, we
find that really all Egyptians were in a sense
tice, tax collection, military excursions, and the pharaoh's assistants. Egypt was one huge
construction projects. The Israelite slave bureaucracy.
Joseph became a vizier. Various governors At the bottom of the social scale were
and other officials also assisted the pharaoh the farmers and slaves. Most Egyptians
with the responsibilities of government. were tenant farmers. They worked the land
Priests had much influence in the govern- for the pharaoh and gave the greater part of
ment because they controlled the tremen- their crops to him. During the flood sea-
dous amount of wealth provided for the son, the farmers were drafted to work on
gods of Egypt. This ruling class of nobles the pharaoh's construction projects. Below
and priests made up the upper class of the tenant farmers were the slaves. Some
Egyptian society. worked in gold and copper mines, while
The middle class consisted of craftsmen, others performed menial services directly
scribes, and soldiers. The pharaohs (and for the pharaohs and those of the ruling
their more important assistants) employed class. The Israelite slaves were forced to
brick masons, chariot-makers, boat-builders, build cities.

26 Ch.3 Down to Egypt

 s Judgment of Egypt disaster, the pharaoh still had not learned bis
-'foses. When God answered the Isra- lesson. Perhaps he could see no alternative
. cry for freedom from Egypt, Be first for rebuilding his kingdom after the plagues
aman to lead Bis people. except through slave labor. Confident in his
hen he was forty years old, Moses, the army of chariots, and still convinced that he
ed son of a pharaoh's daughter, felt pity was a god, the pharaoh led the mighty armies
. people. Be killed an Egyptian who was of Egypt into the wilderness after the Israelites.
ting an Israelite. Fearing that the phar- There, the pharaoh met his final humilia-
. might punish him for what he had done, tion. Just when he had the Israelites backed
es fled from Egypt to a wilderness. against a sea, God parted the sea with a great
Forty years later, God appeared to Moses wind, allowing the Israelites to pass through
directed him to return to Egypt. The on dry ground. When the Egyptians followed,
_ ty-year-old Moses went back to face the the waters of the sea returned and crashed
araoh and all the might of Egypt as the down upon them. Though Egypt was not
er of the Israelites in their exodus from completely destroyed by these disasters, it had
gypt. experienced God's judgment in one of world
The ten plagues and Egyptian religion. history's most dramatic moments.
use the pharaoh refused to let Israel go,
od brought a series of ten calamities upon
=. 'Pt. Each brought increased destruction,
Section 3.4 Review
rt the pharaoh continued to refuse to let 1. Who united Upper and Lower Egypt?
oses' people go until the last plague. When 2. What are the three main divisions of
the first-born sons of Egypt (including the ancient Egyptian history?
. araoh's own son) died, the pharaoh finally 3. When did Egypt c~be a major
aanged his mind. power?
These plagues demonstrated the ridicu- 4. Which three pharaohs built pyramids at
ness of the Egyptian religion. The one Giza? Whose is the largest?
e God turned the powers of nature against 5. What type of tomb became popular after
the pyramids?
_ people that had worshiped them. The
6. Who was the female pharaoh that built one
_-ile became a river of blood. Animals that
of the most beautiful mortuary temples?
e Egyptians held in awe brought horrible
7. What were the pharaohs' main motives for
. truction as the land was filled with swarm- building an empire?
g frogs, lice, and flies. Animal gods such as 8. Under what pharaoh did the Egyptian
ws were struck with a deadly disease. Boils Empire reach its greatest extent? What
rame upon animals, men, and even priests, were the boundaries of the empire at that
. especial servants of the gods. The "powers time?
f the sky" brought bone-crushing hail and 9. Explain how Egypt was one huge
zlouds of ravenous locusts. The mighty sun bureaucracy.
ceased to shine for three days. Through these 10. How did Moses become the leader of the
Israelite slaves?
miracles, God showed that Bis power knows
11. What did the ten plagues demonstrate
o limit and can interrupt any natural cycle at
about Egyptian religion?
any time to work Bis will.
12. Why did the pharaoh chase the Israelites?
The stubborn pharaoh. Well before What happened to the Egyptians in the
rhe tenth plague, everyone in Egypt except wilderness?
rhe pharaoh seemed to have been convinced
Identify: nomes, Memphis, dynasties, Hyksos,
of God's power and the awful consequences mastabas, Step Pyramid, Great Sphinx,
of risking Bis wrathful judgment. But even Ramses Il, tribute, vizier
after he had let the Israelites go after the tenth

3.4 The God-Kings ofE~"pt 27

 ew
- ~

PEOPLE Know the following individuals and 12. Old, Middle, New Kingdoms of Egypt
be able to explain their importance to world 13. mas tabas
history. 14. Step Pyramid
1. Mizraim 15. Great Pyramid
2. Herodotus 16. Great Sphinx
3. Joseph 17. tribute
4. Moses 18. vizier
5. Jean Francis Champollion 19. scribes
6. Menes
7. Hatshepsut MAP SKILLS Use the map on p. 20 to answer the
[ollowing questions.
8. Ramses II
9. Thutmose III 1. What sea formed the northern border
of Egypt? The eastern border?
TERMS Define the [ollowing terms. 2. In which part of Egypt, Upper or
1. pyramids Lower, was Giza located?
2. sphinxes 3. What desert lay to the west of Egypt?
3. hieroglyphics
CONCEPTS TO CONSIDER On a separate sheet
4. Rosetta Stone
of paper, answer the following questions using
5. archaeology complete sentences.
6. IjJile River
7.,.papyrus 1. Explain how Egyptian society could be
considered a bureaucracy.
8. cataracts
2. How did the ten plagues demonstrate
9. pharaohs
the ridiculousness of Egyptian religion?
10. mummification
11. dynasties

28 Ch. 3 Down to Egypt