The Nile River

The Nile and the two lands:

Upper Egypt was a 500-mile-long strip of fertile land along the Nile river. Lower Egypt was the wide land of the Nile delta that emptied into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile was the major provider of life for the Egyptians and was much revered in writings. Around 3100 BC the two lands were united all under a single king also known as the Pharaoh. Pharaoh was all powerful, worshiped as a god, and intimately connected to the other major Egyptian gods and goddesses. Egyptians relied on a harmony and balance of the universe, which they called “Maat”, personified by the goddess Maat; ideological opposite of the goddess Islet. Pharaohs had multiple wives. All routes to financial of social success were through the palace. Women could inherit money and land and then divorce their husbands after that. 

            God were often portrayed with animal head or bodies. Egyptians believed in an afterlife known as the ka. They mummified the bodies to preserve them for the post- death journey. All souls would need to justify themselves at the point of death and they were wither sent to the afterlife paradise (what we would call heaven) or would be sent to be with monsters.

            Early Egyptian writings formed c 3100 BC and were small pictures known as hieroglyphics. Egyptian script was usually written in ink on papyrus, which was made from mashed Nile reeds. Egyptian astronomers created a calendar with 12 months and 365 days to make better sense of the seasonal cycles. Due to their excellent knowledge of human astronomy, Egyptian doctors wrote extensively on health issues and created patients and cures for common ailments. Wooden sailboats were constructed to increase transportation ability for traveling on and along the Nile River, being mindful of the Cateracts.