Ancient Egypt

Many current beliefs and ideals, as well as much of mans knowledge, had

It's origin in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians developed the world's first national government. Their religion was one of the first to emphasize a life after death. They produced an expressive art and literature. The Egyptians introduced stone architecture and made the first convenient writing material, papyrus. They developed a 365-day year and set up the basic methods of geometry and surgery.

The black-haired, dark-skinned ancient Egyptians were short and slender.

They belong to the Mediterranean race of the Caucasoid (white) stock. As time went on, the Egyptians mixed with people from Asia, Negroes from other parts of Africa, and people from lands around the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptians were divided into four social classes. They were from most important: the royalty and nobles; artisans, craftsmen, and merchants; workers; and slaves. The professional army gradually became almost a separate class. Egypt had no fixed caste system. A person of the poorest class could rise to the highest offices in the land. The ancient Egyptians spoke a mixed language. It included words from the Semitic language group of southwestern Asia and the languages of northeastern Africa. No one knows just how the spoken language of ancient Egypt sounded. The Egyptian's developed from picture writing into an elaborate system of symbols called hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics consisted of 24 alphabetic characters for consonants and semi-consonants.

Religion appeared in every part of life in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians believed that gods and goddesses took part in every human activity from birth to death. For the Egyptian, the good life depended on obeying the commands of the gods. After someone died, the gods would judge how well the person had obeyed their directions. The Egyptians believed that their king was a god who could keep the country prosperous by his divine powers. In the earliest period, the Egyptians worshipped the forces of nature, such as wind and fire. As towns grew up, each adopted its own special god. In one part of the delta, the people worshipped Horus, the god of heaven. In another district, the people worshipped Osiris, the god of vegetation, who later became the god of the dead. The people of ancient Egypt took great care in preparing for life after death. They denied