Objective:
Using TimeMaps Interactive map of World History students will understand that:
- Ancient Egyptian civilization was amongst the very first civilizations to occur in recorded history
- Ancient Egyptian history lasted for a long period of time (as long as the present day is from the Ancient Greeks and Romans)
- The world in which the Ancient Egyptians lived was a very different world from ours.
At the end of these session suggestions you will find some background notes, which may be useful in teaching this topic.
Session 1
Look at Egypt in Key Map 3500 BC
- What was the world map like then? Investigate what was happening in different parts of the world. (It was a very different place from today’s world map!)
- What was happening in Britain?
- What other civilizations were there at the time?
- How long had they being going? (only one – the Sumerians – and they were only just beginning)
- What are the differences between “civilized” and “non-civilized” societies.
- Mark this date on your timeline, labelled “Start of Egyptian civilization”
(If your more able students want to investigate the beginnings of civilization a little more, they can view the Interactive Module, The Spread of Farming, 1000-2500 BC. Then they can look at the Modules, The Spread of Civilization, 3500-2500 BC and The First Empires 2500-2000 BC, to see how Egypt fitted into the wider Middle East during the early part of its recorded history. It can be quite hard for children to understand that the topic they are studying fits into a broader framework, but the more able children should manage to grasp this, and their skills as young historians will benefit.)
Now go to Key Map 2500 BC.
- What’s changed from 3500 BC? Egypt is now a united kingdom. You can ask the children to find the date of this from Interactive Map –in the module “First Empires”. This might be helpful in introducing them to the modules in the program.
- Click on the info bubble for Egypt - the Great Pyramids have already been built!
- Mark on the timeline when they were built (this will need a little research).
- How much time has passed since the Pyramids were built– how many generations? (Assume each generation is 25 years long.)
- Choose a date when a fictional Egyptian was born – say, 2500 BC. When were his or her grandparents born? Is it a long time on the timeline?
Session 2
Whiteboard exercise
- Why did the Egyptian civilisation last such a long time?
Using the Interactive Whiteboard drawing tools, highlight (rough shading?) the desert on both sides of the river Nile, the sea to the north, and the cataracts in the south (at the southern border of Egypt): point out how isolated Egypt was. Traders could go to and fro using small ships, but large armies would have difficulty crossing the deserts, or invading by sea before sea-going ships were developed; and the narrow valley where the cataracts were, were easily defended. The result: the Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted a long time without being conquered.
Session 3
Go to 1500 BC.
Note that the info bubble refers to the New Kingdom. See background notes.
- What does this mean?
- Egypt has conquered an empire. Why?
- How long ago was it from 1500 BC that the Pyramids were built?
- Mark 1500 BC on the timeline, labelled “The New Kingdom”.
Go to 1000 BC
- What is the situation in Ancient Egypt?(Weak, invaded, divided)
- Mark this on your timeline – label it “Decline”.
Go forward to 500 BC
- Mark it on the timeline. What has happened in Egypt? (If you want to find out a little more about the last centuries of Ancient Egypt, this is one of the things shown in the Module: Middle Eastern Empires, 900-500 BC.)
- What is the world map like at this date? Compare it with the world in 3500 BC – what has changed? What is the same?
- Egyptian civilization has lasted how long, by now? (About 3000 years. If we were to go back the same length of time from the present date, at what time in history would we be?)
Additional suggestion (for more able students):
- Whatever Happened to the Ancient Egyptians? Briefly track Egypt’s history from 500 BC to the present day. (The Egyptians got conquered by other nations, and their civilization was gradually changed to that of their conquerors, especially after the coming of Islam.)
(N.B. If you develop any new ways of using this software on the topic Ancient Egyptians, which are not covered here, we would like to hear from you: feedback@timemaps.com. If we include any of your suggestions on our website, we will pay you for them.)
Background Notes
These notes refer directly to the lessons for each map.
- How did Egyptian civilization come about?
(Key Map 3500 BC)
The slide show in the info bubble on Egypt helps to explain the irrigation system that fed the large population in the Nile valley. Organising and controlling this irrigation system called for a class of scribes and overseers, and over them powerful priest and chiefs (the very first records seem to refer to “Water Chiefs”, a possible indication of the importance of the irrigation system in bringing about organized states in Egypt). This ruling class needed to be able to read, write, do complicated mathematics, and know the movement of the stars (to tell the seasons accurately, and so when to plant and sow). As a result, they adopted a system of writing and numerals from Mesopotamian traders, which they adapted to create their own script. These developments marked the beginnings of Egyptian civilization.
The scant historical records suggest that the chiefs fought with one another until one had conquered the entire Nile valley north of the First Cataract. This king, by tradition called Menes, started the long sequence of Egyptian pharaohs in about 3100 BC.
- Why and how were the Pyramids built?
(Key Map 2500 BC)
Your other resources will deal with the fact that the Pyramids were enormous burial structures for the Pharaohs, whose continued life-after-death was regarded as important for the welfare of the whole country.
But the building of these huge structures involved thousands of workers over a long period of time. How did the Egyptian rulers manage to force or persuade so many of their subjects to work in this way?
The answer is almost certainly related to the irrigation system. This involved the people co-operating together in keeping the dykes and irrigation channels in good order. It also involved a high level of organization, on a nation-wide scale, to arrange for the flow of water to be properly channelled throughout the Nile valley at the right time (it would have been possible for the people up river to prevent people lower down from getting their fare share of water when they needed it). In this organization, scribes and overseers received orders from ministers and senior officials, and gave orders to the people. The whole society became used to being managed in this way.
As a result of all this, the Pharaoh and his ministers had at their disposal an entire people accustomed to obeying orders, and a disciplined class of scribes and overseers who had the capability to organize the population to achieve specific tasks. Add to that a class of priests who had developed the idea that the Pharaoh’s welfare in the afterlife was of great importance to the whole nation – and hey presto, you have the Pyramids!
(Note that, unlike in 3500 BC, Egypt is now a united kingdom. In order for the children to learn this for themselves, you might like to ask them the simple question, how has Egypt changed from the last map? You may also like to ask some of the more able children to track down the date at which the unification took place from Interactive Map. This information is not in one of the Key Maps, but in the module “First Empires”.)
(Key Map 1500 BC)
Ancient Egyptian history is traditionally divided into three periods, or kingdoms, with short periods of disorder and weakness separating them:
Pre-dynastic period (up to c. 2900)
The Old Kingdom (c. 2900 – c. 2150)
The First Intermediate period (c. 2150 – c. 1994)
The Middle Kingdom (c. 1994 – c. 1759)
The Second Intermediate period (c. 1759 – c. 1539)
The New Kingdom (c. 1539-1209)
The New Kingdom is followed by centuries of decline, punctuated by short periods of revival, but ending in the conquest and occupation of Egypt by foreign powers.
(Note: the “c”, or “circa”, stands for “about”. This looks rather odd, given the precise dates; but it is there because there is more than one way of dating events in Egyptian history, and the other systems show slightly different dates.)
In 1500 BC Egypt was no longer isolated from other powers. Neighbouring states had become powerful, with the capability of organizing major invasions, even across the desert. This was helped by the fact that the chariot had by now become a weapon of war. This allowed for higher-speed, more mobile warfare.
Before the rise of the New Kingdom, Egypt had been invaded from Asia. The pharaohs were now determined this would not happen again, so they conquered the neighbouring countries to make sure that Egypt was safe. This brought them into contact (and conflict) with other great powers in the Middle East, such as the Hittites and Assyria, so there was a continuing need to have a strong army.
(Key map 1000 BC)
The capabilities of the peoples surrounding Egypt – even “barbarians” – has increased. They now have iron weapons and better ships, and this gives them an edge over the Egyptians. The Egyptians are slow to adopt new techniques. This is often the case with civilizations which have a long history behind them, and a glorious past. They are slow to realise when the world about them changes.
The Egyptian kingdom has become weaker for other reasons. The priesthood, which for centuries supported the power of the pharaoh, has become very wealthy and powerful. It has become a “state-within-a-state” – a dangerous state of affairs. It sometimes opposes the pharaohs. Also, for some centuries divisions have been growing between the priests of the different gods. This means that sometimes one group of priests supports one pharaoh, and another group supports a rival. Civil war has become common in Egypt, and the country has tended to break into different parts.
Look back at the section on the Pyramids in 2500 BC – can you see how, when Egypt breaks into different parts, the nation suffers?
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