Middle School History: Ancient Civilizations—Semester A

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 3.10: Seems Like Old Times

We can't help but wonder if the people who worked on tombs all day every day were kind of a gloomy bunch.
(Source)

Do you remember how we said a few lessons ago that the word "intermediate" refers to a thing that's between two other things? If you kept that in mind, you already knew that the Second Intermediate Period wouldn't go on and on forever. It had to be sandwiched between the Middle Kingdom and some other thing.

Today, we'll be talking about that other thing, i.e. the New Kingdom. All in all, it was a pretty great time to be an Egyptian, given that it's known for being a peaceful and prosperous age. Those pesky Hyksos invaders from the Second Intermediate Period were finally given the boot, and the new generations of Egyptian royals were back to building elaborate monuments.

Building huge pyramids to serve as the burial places of the pharaohs became a thing of the past, though. (But if you're into the whole retro trend of bringing old, cool things back into fashion, you could check into pyramids as an option for your eventual final resting place.) The pharaohs of the New Kingdom were usually buried in tombs cut into the rock on the side of cliffs. This was such a common practice that there was a whole town for the people who did all of the tomb-building to live in. It was called Deir el-Medina.

Luckily for the Egyptians, the New Kingdom wasn't just a flash in the pan before another decline and period of confusion. It lasted for almost 500 years, which is such a long time that it can be hard to get our heads around it. We're talking over twice as long as the United States has been a country. We're talking more than 50 times as long as we sometimes have to wait between Star Wars movies.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 3.3.10: Let's Build Stuff

Even though the Hyksos did make some positive and lasting contributions to Egyptian life and culture, the Egyptian people didn't exactly nail down the welcome mat for them. The Theban kings of the 17th dynasty drove the Hyksos rulers out of Egypt around the end of the Second Intermediate Period.

The Egyptian king who was in charge when the last of the Hyksos left was Ahmose I. That's why he's the guy who gets the credit for yet again unifying Egypt and officially kicking off the New Kingdom (Source).

We should mention, again, that the New kingdom lasted for almost 500 years, from 1567 BCE to 1085 BCE. So it was kind of a big deal.

Rolling In It

The kings who followed Ahmose I during the rest of the 18th dynasty weren't exactly slouches, either. Through a series of military battles, Egypt expanded its influence throughout the region and gained control of parts of Nubia. Due to all of this control, the kings of the New Kingdom oversaw a lot of wealth. A lot of that money was used in worship of the gods, in particular the Theban god Amun-Re, for whom a temple was built in Karnak (Source).

Shmoop would've just spent it all on cheeseburgers and pretty stationery. (Source)

Really, if you can have just one takeaway to tuck into your memory about the New Kingdom, it should probably be that the time period was all about statues and monuments built in honor of pharaohs and gods. But don't forget that there was a lot of money floating around during the New Kingdom, so there was even a lot of additional artwork for other non-king, non-god Egyptians, too.

Once the 19th dynasty rolled around, the pharaohs set up a capital in the Nile Delta, but Thebes wasn't totally left out in the cold. (Well, it does get kind of cold there during the cooler months, but you know what we meant.) Thebes continued to be an important city from a religious and cultural perspective.

Pharaohs were no longer buried in pyramids during the New Kingdom, as we mentioned in the intro. Instead, they were buried in tombs cut into the rock at the base of cliffs. Don't feel bad for these kings who didn't get to be buried in pyramids, though, as these new tombs were pretty cool, with colorful paintings on the walls and illustrations from religious texts portraying the afterlife (Source).

A lot of these tombs were in what's called the Valley of the Kings, which is located on the west bank of the Nile, near Thebes. Researchers who've explored the tombs in the Valley of the Kings have found thorough preparations for the afterlife. The Egyptians believed that the pharaohs would live on after death and be with the gods. This was why ancient Egyptians made mummies of the dead. It was so the body of the dead person could be preserved for the afterlife (Source). Because the gods didn't want to party with decomposing corpses…or something like that.

Swanky.
(Source)

She's In Charge

You've probably noticed that there's been an awful lot of talk about King This and King That in these past few lessons. Well, during the New Kingdom there was a notable queen. Queen Hatshepsut was a daughter of King Thutmose I who became one of Egypt's leaders around 1473 BCE. She expanded Egypt's trade and led the way on a lot of major construction projects. One big one was the Temple of Deir el-Bahri, where she was eventually buried (Source).

If you see any paintings or sculptures of her as a male, don't be fooled. She ordered some artwork to be made depicting her as a man, and it was only in the last couple hundred years that historians figured out much more about her (Source).

That's her.
(Source)

What a Great Guy

No discussion of the New Kingdom would be complete without a shout-out to Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great. He ruled as pharaoh from 1292 BCE to 1186 BCE during the 19th dynasty. Ramesses was known as a great warrior due to his claims of a big victory in the Battle of Kadesh over the Hittites…even though that battle actually ended in more of a tie, really. But hey, who hasn't exaggerated their accomplishments every now and then?

We tend to assume that no one lived very long in ancient times, but that wasn't the case for Ramesses, who died at a whopping (for the time) 96. At the time of his death, most of his subjects had known only him as pharaoh, so there was a lot of panic that the entire world was coming to an end when he died. Even after he met his end, there was no chance that he'd be forgotten, as almost every site and structure in Egypt had his name inscribed on it (Source).

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 3.10a: Mummy Dearest

Way back in 1903, Howard Carter, a famous British archaeologist, found Hatshepsut's stone coffin, also called a sarcophagus. Below is a photo of a sarcophagus that was originally intended for Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut apparently had a few of these at the ready. You can never be too prepared.
(Source)

Unfortunately for both Carter and Hatshepsut, the sarcophagus that he found was empty. Her mummy was later found and finally positively identified in 2007, though, and can now be seen in all its glory in Cairo's Egyptian Museum (Source).

It's your lucky day, though, because unlike famous British archaeologist Howard Carter, you can take a look at Hatshepsut's mummy any time you want. 

As far as how burials were done, the ancient Egyptians didn't just stick a pharaoh's mummified corpse in a tomb and call it a day. As you've read, artisans painted paintings and placed a great deal of religious significance on these final resting places. The mummies were typically buried with quite a few objects so they'd be ready for the afterlife. A lot of the stuff was practical, like pots, tools, and other everyday items. They were also often given some religious objects so that they would be protected in the afterlife.

Keeping all you've read about ancient Egyptian burial practices in mind, we want you to draw the inside of a pharaoh's tomb within the Valley of the Kings. Don't worry if you're not too artistically inclined; we're also gonna ask that you label each item, so even if you can't draw a mummy to save your life, people will still be able to tell what they heck you just drew.

Here are a couple of ideas of what you could include in your drawing:

• a mummy (duh)
• a sarcophagus (Don't forget inscriptions!)
• paintings on the walls of the tomb
• objects to help the dead pharaoh in the afterlife

After you've finished your drawing, write a short description—just 80 to 100 words long—in which you describe what you've drawn, explaining the significance of each element.

Here's an example of how Shmoop might get started with that:

Inside the tomb, I've drawn a mummy. The ancient Egyptians mummified pharaohs after they died by drying out their bodies so that they would be preserved for the afterlife.

Take it away, Shmoop artists! When you're done, upload your drawings and descriptions below.

Sample Lesson - Activity