The achievement of ancient civilization, simplicity

In northeast Africa, the 5646-kilometer Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea from south to north. At the beginning of July every year, heavy rains and flash floods are generated in the upper reaches, and the river roared down, devouring the valley and forming Zeguo. At the end of October, the rainy season passed and the falling river flowed into the river bed. During the flood, a thick layer of swimming mud was accumulated and became an excellent fertilizer for grain growth. This famous river not only brings abundant water and fertile land to the downstream, but also brings vitality and prosperity here. Egyptians gradually settled down here, relying on the collective strength to remove thorns and weeds with rough tools, open canals and build dams, divert river water to irrigate land and plant crops, which became one of the blue shakes of ancient civilizations in the world.

(Projection 1 Ode to the Nile. )

"Oh, Nile, I praise you. You flowed out of the land to feed Egypt. Once your water flow decreases, people stop breathing. " This is a famous poem of ancient Egyptians praising the Nile, which shows the close relationship between ancient Egypt and the Nile. The Nile gave birth to ancient Egyptian civilization.

With the development of economy, ancient Egypt slowly entered slave society from primitive society. Around 3500 BC, many small slave countries 10 appeared in ancient Egypt.

After hundreds of years of war and annexation, these small slave countries formed two slave countries, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. (Mark the position on the wall chart. )

1. The emergence of slave countries in the Nile valley in Africa (3500 BC) (blackboard writing)

There are frequent wars between upper and lower Egypt. Around 3000 BC, Upper Egypt became stronger, and King menes personally led an army to attack Lower Egypt. The two armies fought a decisive battle in the Nile Delta. Menes wore a white crown decorated with condors and personally supervised the battle before it started. After fierce fighting, the lower Egyptian army was defeated, and for the first time in history, menes established a preliminarily unified slave country in ancient Egypt. He calls himself "the King of IV". Legend has it that he established Baicheng where he won the decisive battle. This is Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt, not far south of Cairo today.

2. Establish Memphis, the capital of the original unified country (3000 BC). (blackboard writing)

(Question) What are the two opposing classes in slave society? (The student answers).

(Projection II "Diagram of Class Relations in Egyptian Slave Society" points out that the slave society in ancient Egypt is like a pyramid, with the apex being the king and the apex being the slave owners, and they are the ruling class; Under the tower are slaves and peasants, not the ruled class. )

After the reunification of Egypt, a set of autocratic ruling institutions was established. The supreme ruler of the country is the king and the biggest slave owner. The king holds the political, economic, military and judicial power of the country, claiming to be the incarnation of God and the son of the sun, and his words are the law. He regards the land of the whole country as his own property and the people as his own slaves. The king is inviolable. Later, people could no longer call the king by his first name, but called him "Pharaoh" (meaning "Palace", which was equivalent to calling the emperor "Your Majesty" in ancient China). When ministers appear in front of the king, they should first make a eulogy, crawl forward, stick their chests out and kiss the land under the king's feet, but not just look up.

(Show slide 3 "Pyramids and the Sphinx")

(Question) What is drawn on this slide? What is this for? What is the shape of the pyramid (for example, Khufu)? Height? Side length? How many boulders and labor were used? How long will it take?

3. Pyramid-the huge tomb of the Egyptian king (the largest in pyramid of khufu) (blackboard writing)

In Egypt, the earliest burial was to dig a hole in the ground and pile it into a sand pile. Later, the tomb was dug deeper and deeper, becoming a basement, and a stone wall was built around the sand pile on the ground. This tomb is called "Mastaba" (meaning stone bench). In the 27th century BC, Egyptian Pharaoh Jessel of the third dynasty found an architect to build a huge stone "Mastaba", on which five pieces of "Mastaba" smaller than one floor were added, making it as high as 6 1 meter. This is the first pagoda-shaped mausoleum in Egypt. Because it looks like the Chinese character "Jin", we call it "Pyramid" in China.

Later, all the pharaohs built pyramids for themselves as if possessed, and the more they built, the more magnificent they became. After the fourth dynasty Pharaoh Khufu ascended the throne, he was determined to build the largest pyramid for himself and forced all Egyptians to accept this labor. Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, has a passage describing the construction of pyramids. Please read it.