Essay for Test 2/13/14

            Ancient Egypt was a time of hierarchies, technology, and new ways to help their society grow. In early time, there were social hierarches. Hierarchy is when people or a group of people are ranked higher than others. During ancient Egypt, this was very present. The highest ranked person in this society was the pharaoh. A pharaoh is an all-powerful person that was worshipped as a god and is connected to other Egyptian gods and goddesses. Next, in line were the people in the official government like nobles and priest. These people were often known as the “white kilt class.” Next, were the soldiers and they used wooden weapons such as bows and arrows and spears. Next, were the scribes and they kept records, told stories, and wrote poems. Merchants are people who make a living by selling things. Then, it was the artisans. These were people who carved statues. Next, are the farmers. Last were the servants and slaves. This group of people would help wealthy people with household and child raising duties.   

In ancient Egypt, people’s lives revolved around the Nile River. The Nile River is an unusual river that flows from south to north and at the end of the river they had a delta. It gave them fertile land, water, and transportation. The people learned how to control and get used to the water. They learned that every July it would flood and every October it would leave behind rich soil. This helps them know when it is a good time to plant crops. Because of the Nile, it gave them rich soil so they always had a plenty of food. They invented the wooden sail boat to increase transportation too. This also helped them to trade with other people in its area.

The Nile helped produce permanent settlements around the river. These settlements could be as big as 40,000 people. They also used to river for irrigation. Irrigation is when a water area like a river supplies dry land with water. From the Nile, they made papyrus by mashing Nile reeds. Papyrus is a paper like material people used to write on. The Nile River was one of the main suppliers for the people in ancient Egypt.

Ancient Egypt brought so many new technologies to its era. It was a time of creativity and wealth. This was one of the first times that people were placed into social classes. They also learned how to work with their environment. One of the biggest inventions they made was the sailboat that people still use to this day. Another big thing they invented was irrigation that many people still use today too. As we can see the Egyptians gave us the start of many things we use this present day.