Who were the key individuals, and how did they mold how the society thought/acted?
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Two key individuals were Amenhotep IV, who organized a religious revolution, and Ramses II, who was the most productive Egyptian pharaoh ever.
Amenhotep IV tried to make everyone believe in the Aten, a singular deity representing the sun, which angered everyone because the traditional Egyptian belief system is polytheism, or the worship of multiple gods. (see below.) Ramses II was probably the single most productive pharaoh Egypt has ever had. He made the world's first peace treaty with the Hittites, after a long war which taxed both armies very much. He also conquered Nubia, and defeated Sherdan sea pirates. |
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This picture represents the pharaoh's supreme power in two ways: First, the divine radiance on the sun disk itself shows that Akhenaten changed who the Egyptians worshipped, which only a pharaoh can do. Also, he changed how people were portrayed in art, making them have grotesque looking heads and strangely shaped bodies. Again, only a pharaoh can do that. This proves how much power the pharaoh had and how much they meant to the people of Egypt.
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Interviewer: What have you achieved in your time as pharaoh?
Akhenaten: Well, I did build a temple dedicated to the Aten. All hail the Aten!
Interviewer: All right. When?
Akhenaten: In my first year as pharaoh.
Akhenaten: And in my third year as pharaoh, I celebrated the Sed-festival, which a pharaoh only does in their thirtieth year.
Interviewer: Okay, what do people know about you?
Akhenaten: I tried to change everyone's religion to the all-knowing Aten!
Interviewer: Why?
Akhenaten: Because the Aten is the one true god!
Interviewer: Are you sure that's the only reason?
Akhenaten: I felt threatened by the priests' power. They had too much!
Interviewer: Ah. Didn't they protest? Didn't everyone protest?
Akhenaten: Yes, but when I took away their land and positions, they shut up.
Interviewer: Tell me about your personal life.
Akhenaten: My chief wife is named Nefertiti, and she has helped me rule a lot. I totally broke the rules not letting a girl help rule. Ah, and my son was King Tut!
Interviewer: What do you think will become of your last years?
Akhenaten: I'm not telling. (blows raspberry)
Interviewer: All right folks, this has been Aditi Pauls for aditittaylor.weebly.com. Back to you, Taylor.
Now, an interview with the great Ramses II!
Interviewer: That was great, Aditi. Back at the studio, we have Ramses II, live for interview! Let's check it out. Hello!
Ramses: Hello.
Interviewer: If you don't mind, I'm going to ask you the exact same questions.
Ramses: Go ahead.
Interviewer: What have you achieved in your time as pharaoh?
Ramses: Ooh, that's a long list. I made a peace treaty with the Hittites, conquered Nubia, and defeated some weird sea pirate dudes. Not to mention building temples and monuments.
Interviewer: Wow, has anyone ever done more things for Egypt than you?
Ramses: Nope.
Interviewer: Nice. What do people know about you?
Ramses: Well, all the monuments I made were all about myself, so people should probably be able to tell what I looked like, but I-
Interviewer: Wait, you made all of them about you?
Ramses: Yup. Why?
Interviewer: That's not conceited...
Ramses: I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.
Interviewer: Sounds good. Tell me about your personal life.
Ramses: Hmm... I had a lot of wives, but my first queen was Nefertari. Man, was she awesome. She's got memorials everywhere, too.
Interviewer: That's great, King Ramses. How about children?
Ramses: (scoffs) How about children? I had over 150 kids, young lady.
Interviewer: Oh. Well then.
Ramses: Anything else?
Interviewer: Oh, yeah. What do you think will become of your last years?
Ramses: What kind of question is that? How am I supposed to know?
Interviewer: Take a guess.
Ramses: If I must. I will die Egypt's greatest pharaoh, and all that come after me shall remember my name!!
Interviewer: Okay, this has been Taylor Wang for adititaylor.weebly.com!
Akhenaten: Well, I did build a temple dedicated to the Aten. All hail the Aten!
Interviewer: All right. When?
Akhenaten: In my first year as pharaoh.
Akhenaten: And in my third year as pharaoh, I celebrated the Sed-festival, which a pharaoh only does in their thirtieth year.
Interviewer: Okay, what do people know about you?
Akhenaten: I tried to change everyone's religion to the all-knowing Aten!
Interviewer: Why?
Akhenaten: Because the Aten is the one true god!
Interviewer: Are you sure that's the only reason?
Akhenaten: I felt threatened by the priests' power. They had too much!
Interviewer: Ah. Didn't they protest? Didn't everyone protest?
Akhenaten: Yes, but when I took away their land and positions, they shut up.
Interviewer: Tell me about your personal life.
Akhenaten: My chief wife is named Nefertiti, and she has helped me rule a lot. I totally broke the rules not letting a girl help rule. Ah, and my son was King Tut!
Interviewer: What do you think will become of your last years?
Akhenaten: I'm not telling. (blows raspberry)
Interviewer: All right folks, this has been Aditi Pauls for aditittaylor.weebly.com. Back to you, Taylor.
Now, an interview with the great Ramses II!
Interviewer: That was great, Aditi. Back at the studio, we have Ramses II, live for interview! Let's check it out. Hello!
Ramses: Hello.
Interviewer: If you don't mind, I'm going to ask you the exact same questions.
Ramses: Go ahead.
Interviewer: What have you achieved in your time as pharaoh?
Ramses: Ooh, that's a long list. I made a peace treaty with the Hittites, conquered Nubia, and defeated some weird sea pirate dudes. Not to mention building temples and monuments.
Interviewer: Wow, has anyone ever done more things for Egypt than you?
Ramses: Nope.
Interviewer: Nice. What do people know about you?
Ramses: Well, all the monuments I made were all about myself, so people should probably be able to tell what I looked like, but I-
Interviewer: Wait, you made all of them about you?
Ramses: Yup. Why?
Interviewer: That's not conceited...
Ramses: I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.
Interviewer: Sounds good. Tell me about your personal life.
Ramses: Hmm... I had a lot of wives, but my first queen was Nefertari. Man, was she awesome. She's got memorials everywhere, too.
Interviewer: That's great, King Ramses. How about children?
Ramses: (scoffs) How about children? I had over 150 kids, young lady.
Interviewer: Oh. Well then.
Ramses: Anything else?
Interviewer: Oh, yeah. What do you think will become of your last years?
Ramses: What kind of question is that? How am I supposed to know?
Interviewer: Take a guess.
Ramses: If I must. I will die Egypt's greatest pharaoh, and all that come after me shall remember my name!!
Interviewer: Okay, this has been Taylor Wang for adititaylor.weebly.com!
These are some FAQs asked about Ancient Egypt's government over the years:
Egypt became united when Narmer, the current king or Upper Egypt, conquered Lower Egypt. He then married one of Lower Egypt's princesses, uniting the two kingdoms. (Social Studies Textbook) He proclaimed himself ruler of both kingdoms, and made a new capitol at Memphis, which was on the border of the two, from which he could rule both kingdoms.
Leadership affected the uniting of ancient Egypt because only a pharaoh can do it. A common man can't just marry a common woman and the kingdoms are supposed to unite. Only a pharaoh can do that, because they are in a position where everyone looks up to them. They have to do something really extreme to have it be considered wrong. So when Narmer married that Lower kingdom princess, the pharaoh had united with his eternal companion, and therefore the kingdoms had to do the same.
Ancient Egypt was governed in a way called a theocracy. This is where the ruler governs both political and religious matters. (Social Studies Textbook) In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh had absolute power. His word was law, because the ancient Egyptians thought that their pharaoh was the son of Ra, the sun god, and was put upon the earth to protect them. In this way, the pharaoh had the peoples' loyalty and trust.
Religion and politics were two separate things in ancient Egypt, but they were interconnected. One example of this is that the priests were considered in the high class. They were the ones who tended the temples, washed the statues of the gods, and brought them food. (Social Studies Textbook) So why were they the high class? They were the high class because they were the ones closest to the gods.
Ancient Egyptian rulers affected trade, because they had to maintain good diplomatic ties with other countries to trade with. They affected business, or the economy because they had to commission temples, which were the centers of the economy, and they influenced conflict because the Egyptian pharaoh was the head of the army, and made important war decisions.
An advantage of power are that if something is unfair, you, as pharaoh, have the power to change it. You can do good or bad things with that power, like how Akhenaten changed the religion of ancient Egypt to the Aten because he thought it was unfair to him. If we're talking about good things, though, Tutankhamen restored the worship of all the deities the Egyptians normally worshipped. That was something 90% of the Egyptians wanted to do, but only the pharaoh could do. Tutankhamen used his status to do good. However, there are some disadvantages to it too. A disadvantage is that a lot of people want the throne, and some of them are willing to kill for it. Queen Hatshepsut mysteriously died after a twenty-year reign, and her nephew, Thutmose III, is strongly suspected to have murdered her. That proves that even your own relatives won't hesitate to kill you for the throne.
- How did Ancient Egypt become united?
Egypt became united when Narmer, the current king or Upper Egypt, conquered Lower Egypt. He then married one of Lower Egypt's princesses, uniting the two kingdoms. (Social Studies Textbook) He proclaimed himself ruler of both kingdoms, and made a new capitol at Memphis, which was on the border of the two, from which he could rule both kingdoms.
- How did leadership affect the uniting of ancient Egypt?
Leadership affected the uniting of ancient Egypt because only a pharaoh can do it. A common man can't just marry a common woman and the kingdoms are supposed to unite. Only a pharaoh can do that, because they are in a position where everyone looks up to them. They have to do something really extreme to have it be considered wrong. So when Narmer married that Lower kingdom princess, the pharaoh had united with his eternal companion, and therefore the kingdoms had to do the same.
- How was ancient Egypt governed?
Ancient Egypt was governed in a way called a theocracy. This is where the ruler governs both political and religious matters. (Social Studies Textbook) In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh had absolute power. His word was law, because the ancient Egyptians thought that their pharaoh was the son of Ra, the sun god, and was put upon the earth to protect them. In this way, the pharaoh had the peoples' loyalty and trust.
- How were religion and politics connected?
Religion and politics were two separate things in ancient Egypt, but they were interconnected. One example of this is that the priests were considered in the high class. They were the ones who tended the temples, washed the statues of the gods, and brought them food. (Social Studies Textbook) So why were they the high class? They were the high class because they were the ones closest to the gods.
- How did ancient Egyptian rulers affect trade, business, and conflict?
Ancient Egyptian rulers affected trade, because they had to maintain good diplomatic ties with other countries to trade with. They affected business, or the economy because they had to commission temples, which were the centers of the economy, and they influenced conflict because the Egyptian pharaoh was the head of the army, and made important war decisions.
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of power?
An advantage of power are that if something is unfair, you, as pharaoh, have the power to change it. You can do good or bad things with that power, like how Akhenaten changed the religion of ancient Egypt to the Aten because he thought it was unfair to him. If we're talking about good things, though, Tutankhamen restored the worship of all the deities the Egyptians normally worshipped. That was something 90% of the Egyptians wanted to do, but only the pharaoh could do. Tutankhamen used his status to do good. However, there are some disadvantages to it too. A disadvantage is that a lot of people want the throne, and some of them are willing to kill for it. Queen Hatshepsut mysteriously died after a twenty-year reign, and her nephew, Thutmose III, is strongly suspected to have murdered her. That proves that even your own relatives won't hesitate to kill you for the throne.