Wednesday, September 5th Notes

The Old Kingdom
Huge construction projects took place during this time.
The Sphinx and the early pyramids
Egyptian people were split into two social classes.
Lower Class (Peasants & Farmers)
Required to serve in the army and work on construction projects
Upper Class (Pharoah, Royal Family, Priests, Scribes, and Government Officials)
The Old Kingdom
The Upper Class controlled all the decision-making for the Egyptian people, even though they were only a small percentage of the total population.


The Old Kingdom
By the end of the Old Kingdom, the Pharaoh began to lose power to the nobles.
This lead to a series of civil wars between Egyptians loyal to the Pharaoh and those loyal to the nobles.

The Middle Kingdom
After the civil wars, a new line of Pharaohs came to power and re-united Egypt.
This is called the “Golden Age of Egypt”

The Middle Kingdom
During this time, the Hyksos people from Asia invaded Egypt.
They fought with chariots and other tools of war.
Their victory over the Egyptians marked the end of the Middle Kingdom.

The New Kingdom
Eventually, the Egyptians were able to regroup and drive out the Hyksos people.
They created a powerful army using the technology brought by the Hyksos.
Acquired large amounts of new land-expanding the Empire.

Empire
Form of government in which an individual or small ruling class rules over many people and their territories.

Hatshepsut
1st Female Pharaoh
Shared power with her young son.

Amenhotep IV
Brought monotheism to Egypt.
Believed in only the sun god.
People heavily resisted this practice and quickly return to polytheism.

Decline of Egypt
A series of weak Pharaohs signaled the end of the Egyptian Empire.
Eventually the Assyrians, Nubians, and Persians conquered them.