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Ancient Egypt: Gift of the Nile

The Nile flooded each year and left rich soil, so Egypt could grow plenty of food. Pharaohs ruled for about 3,000 years; Egyptians built pyramids, wrote in hieroglyphs and made mummies.

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Every summer, the Nile River rose and spread over its banks. When the water went down, it left a layer of thick black mud on the fields. Farmers planted in it and grew wheat, barley and flax. The Greek writer Herodotus called Egypt "the gift of the river."

Key idea

Ancient Egypt grew up along the Nile. About 3100 BC, a king joined Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom. Kings called pharaohs ruled for about 3,000 years. Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphs, built pyramids as tombs for their kings and preserved the dead as mummies.
Almost all Egyptians lived close to the Nile. Beyond it lay desert.
A pharaoh in a striped headcloth, a scribe and a farmer.

The Great Pyramid at Giza was built for the pharaoh Khufu about 2560 BC. It was the tallest building in the world for almost 4,000 years. Workers moved more than two million stone blocks with copper tools, wooden sledges, ramps and a great deal of teamwork.

Egyptians believed in many gods and in a life after death. They hoped a person's spirit would live on, so they preserved bodies and filled tombs with things for the next life. Those tombs are a treasure for archaeologists today.

Three thousand years of pharaohs.

Worked example: Closer in time

Cleopatra died in 30 BC. The Great Pyramid was built about 2560 BC. Was Cleopatra closer in time to the pyramid builders or to us (AD 2000)?
  1. Cleopatra to the pyramid: 2,560 − 30 = 2,530 years.
  2. Cleopatra to AD 2000: 30 + 2,000 − 1 = 2,029 years.

Answer: Closer to us! The pyramid was already ancient in her day.

Common mistake

Thinking all the famous Egyptians lived at about the same time. Egypt's history is so long that the Great Pyramid was older to Cleopatra than Cleopatra is to us.

Try it at home

  • Write your name in hieroglyphs, using sound signs, with the Egyptology course's cartouche lesson.
  • Make a small pyramid from sugar cubes or building blocks. How many blocks does each layer need?
Going further. A whole course for young readers: Ancient Egypt for Young Explorers (try Your Name in a Cartouche). See the Great Pyramid and Hatshepsut on the Timeline, and read about Herodotus on the young readers' path of Herodotus: The Histories.
More on Teddy Rook BookTimeline of the Ancient World

Practice

Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 1 XP.

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