1.7 The Egyptian people

• History
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

1. The Time of Hunters and Farmers

7. The Egyptian people

ANCIENT EGYPT

What you will learn in 

this lesson

• Why there were social differences in Egypt
• what a social pyramid is.
• What the tasks of the pharaoh were
• what officials are and what they did
• why scribes were important in Egypt
• how the writing system developed in Egypt

click here for Wrts word list of this lesson

Social differences in Egypt

The ancient Egyptians lived in towns and villages, with farmland around them. People specialised in one job. 

They could not move from job to job. Boys did the same work as their fathers. Some jobs were more important than others, and gave more status. The pharaoh had the most status. Slaves had the least status. In between came everyone else. 

Each job had a level of importance, based on the skill you needed to do the job. So craftspeople were more important than the men who washed clothes in the River Nile. 

The picture on the right is a so-called "social pyramid". It shows the different layers of people based on their status, wealth and power.

Egyptian society was based on equality.

1. true
2. false

The pharaoh

The pharaoh ruled Egypt. He ran the country as 'Lord of the Two Lands' (Upper and Lower Egypt, joined in 3100 BC). He also ran its religion as 'High Priest of all the Temples'. He could not do this alone; he had officials to help him. These officials had to be able to read and write, so that they could send written instructions all over Egypt and read the replies. Therefore they all trained as scribes. 

Why did officials need to train as scribes?

Which of these functions was probably NOT a function of the pharaoh himself?

1. leader of the army
2. highest priest
3. collector of taxes
4. highest judge

Officials

By the Middle Kingdom, all towns had at least one scribe school. Scribes were the only people who could work as officials or priests. Most ordinary people did not need to read or write. 

The most important officials were the governors who ran different parts of Egypt for the pharaoh.They lived in towns all along the Nile. They were rich and powerful. Less important officials measured fields and crops or counted animals so the pharaoh could tax the owner.

click this text for more information about the picture

Who is the person in the previous picture?

1. a pharaoh
2. a governor
3. a priest
4. a scribe

When did he live?

1. 8th century BC
2. 7th century BC
3. 6th century BC
4. 8th century

Who is the small figure standing in a shrine
on the front of the statue?

Write down two reasons why you think the man in the picture had a high status

Writing System

The earliest ancient Egyptian writing was pictographs: pictures showing what you want to say. 

By 3200 BC this had become more complicated hieroglyphs. 

Hieroglyphs showed the sounds of 26 letters and 150 groups of letters (such as 'pt' or 'pth'). 

Hieroglyphs, even when written simply in ink, took a long time to write. By 2500 BC scribes were doing most of their ordinary work in a new, simplified, kind of writing called hieratic. Hieroglyphs were still used in tombs and on temple walls and monuments. 

Do we still communicate with pictographs today?
If so, give an example of a modern pictograph.

Using pictographs is not enough if you want to have a proper writing system.
Give two words that can not be written as a pictograph.

A writing system gives historians today many advantages over historians who study prehistoric people.
Write down two examples of something that historians can learn about Egyptian people, but not about prehistoric people.

Why was writing important to the development of Egypt?
Give as many reasons as you can.

Source A: An Egyptian wall painting of scribes at work

Source A shows scribes and field workers.
Give two ways of telling which is which.

write your 

own name in

hieroglyphs

in your

notebook

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Glossary

Lesson 1.7

status: a person's importance in the place they live.
slave: a person who is somebody's property. A slave can be bought and sold and does not have any freedom.
officials: a person chosen to work for the government (Dutch: ambtenaar)
scribes: a person who can read and write and who does all the record keeping.
governors: a person who rules part of the country in the name of the king.
tax: a payment that people living in a country must pay to the government.
hieroglyphs: the Egyptian writing system (in which a picture shows a sound)
monument: a building (or special stone) built to commemorate a special person

Copy this in your notebook and fill in the gaps.

Summary ch 2.2

In Egypt, some jobs were more __________ than others, and gave more ___________.

The __________ had the most status. __________ had the least status.

A diagram that shows the different layers of people is called a _____________________.

The pharaoh had ____________ to help him. They all trained as _____________ so they could send __________ instructions all over Egypt and read the ___________.

Only scribes could work as _________ or as __________.

The most important officials were the ____________ who ran different parts of Egypt for the pharaoh.

The earliest form of writing was ____________. By 3200 BC this had turned into ______________.

A simplified form of hieroglyphs is called _____________.

What you learned in 

this lesson

• why there were social differences in Egypt
• what a social pyramid is.
• what the tasks of the pharaoh were
• what officials are and what they did
• why scribes were important in Egypt
• how the writing system developed in Egypt

Do you think that this lesson was enough for you to understand the learning goals?

1. yes, I got it.
2. no, I still do not understand everything

Was your answer in the previous question "A"?
Then you can fill in "OK".

Was your answer in the previous question "B"?
Then write down what part of the lesson you do not understand and (if you can) what can help you.

congratulations