Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

Egypt, Ancient 178-

179

FARMING AND FISHING

Most Egyptians were farmers

who worked for priests, wealthy

landowners, or the pharaoh. They

were paid in crops. They watered

the lands with floodwaters trapped in

lagoons or with water-lifting machines

called shadoofs. Crops grown included

wheat for bread, barley for beer, beans,

onions, dates, melons, and

cucumbers. People also fished

from the Nile.

MEDICINE AND MAGIC

Egyptian doctors were the first to study the

body scientifically. They also carried out some

effective dentistry. However, many “cures” were

based on magic.

HIEROGLYPHICS

The Egyptians developed

picture writing, or

hieroglyphics, around

3000 bce. At first each object

was shown exactly by its picture,

or pictograph. Gradually the

pictures came to stand for

sounds. Groups of “sound

hieroglyphs,” or phonograms,

were used to spell words.

NEFERTITI

Nefertiti was the wife of the pharaoh

Ikhnaton, who ruled from 1367 to

1355 bce. She had great influence

over her husband’s policies. Usually,

however, the only women who held

important titles were priestesses.

ANCIENT EGYPT

c. 10,000-5000 bce First

villages on the banks of the

Nile. Slow growth of the two

kingdoms of Upper and

Lower Egypt.

c. 2630 bce First step

pyramid built at Saqqara.

c. 2575 bce During Old

Kingdom period, bronze

replaces copper. Pyramids

built at Giza. Dead bodies

are embalmed.

c. 2134 bce Old Kingdom

ends with power struggles.

c. 2040 bce Middle Kingdom

begins. Nobles from Thebes

reunite the country.

Nubia conquered.

c. 1640 bce Middle

Kingdom ends.

1550 bce New Kingdom

begins. Permanent army.

1400 bce Egypt reaches

height of its power.

1070 bce Egyptian power

begins to decline.

332 bce Alexander the Great

conquers Egypt.

51 bce Cleopatra rules.

30 bce Egypt becomes

a Roman province.

Scarab

beetles were

sacred to the

Egyptians,

who used

them as

charms to

ward off illness.

Headrest amulet

Relief of

the time

showing

Ancient

Egyptian

medical

tools.

The Egyptians fished from

papyrus-reed boats using

baskets, nets, spears, and

lines with hooks.

The Egyptians used
wooden plows
drawn by oxen.

Water was drawn from

ponds or lagoons with

a shadoof.

Seed was scattered by

hand, then trodden in

by animals and watered.

The royal name

of Tutankhamun

Find out more

Africa, history of

Alphabets

Archaeology

Cats

People carried

it to the land

on their backs.

The internal organs

were wrapped in

linen and placed in

canopic jars.

Coffin was richly

decorated with hieroglyphs

of spells to help the dead

person in the afterlife.

MUMMIES

The Egyptians thought that if they

preserved their bodies after death,

they would “live” forever.

So they made

“mummies”

—corpses

that did

not decay.

Embalmers

removed the

liver, lungs, and

brain from the dead

body, leaving the heart

inside. They then coated the body

with saltlike natron crystals to preserve it, and

finally wrapped the whole package in bandages.

Linen

protected

the body.

An idealized portrait of the dead

person was painted on the coffin.