Lesson 4: Ancient Egypt
Wrapping Up
Conclusion
This lesson has provided you with an overview of Egyptian history from its beginnings to the end of the New Kingdom. In the next two lessons, you'll examine life in ancient Egypt more thoroughly, first exploring Egypt's religious life and mythology and then, in the following lesson, exploring daily life for Egyptian people.
Life Application
Materials: Ancient Civilizations by Joseph Fullman (DK Eyewitness), sketch book
Visit a local art gallery or art museum, and bring along your copy of Ancient Civilizations. Compare ancient Egyptian representations of the human form to portraits and other paintings showing people in art from different times and places. Bring along a sketch book to sketch some of the main differences you see.
Questions to Discuss
- Where were most of the Egyptian cities located? (Egyptian cities were typically located along the Nile River and in its delta.) Why do you think that might be? (The Nile provided fertile land for agriculture and easy routes for transportation.)
- Why did Egyptian rulers have pyramids built? (The pharaohs wanted to honor themselves, and the pyramids served as tombs after they died.)
- What was the result of Akhenaten's attempt to move away from the traditional gods to the worship of one god, Aten? (It was upsetting to the Egyptian people, and they returned to their previous religion after Akhenaten's death.)
- What did you learn about ancient Egypt that you did not know before?
Things to Review
- Review your child's map from the "Geography of Ancient Egypt" activity page for accuracy.
- Review your child's timeline.
- Review your child's Egyptian ruler trading cards for accuracy.
- Talk to your child about his Egyptian-styled portrait of your family, and ask questions about why he chose to show the activities that he did, his use of color, or other elements of his artwork that you find interesting.