Lesson video

Hello everyone, and welcome to your second lesson on Ancient Egypt.

My name is Mrs. Tipping and in this lesson we are going to tackle the following question, "What was ancient Egyptian society like?" In this lesson, we will learn about the different groups of people in ancient Egypt and the different roles they had.

So let's begin.

Now, for this lesson, it's a good idea to be sat somewhere comfortable, without any distractions so that you can capture all the knowledge from this lesson.

You're going to need three things.

The first thing is an exercise book or paper, a pencil or pen, and finally your fantastic brains.

So if you haven't got any of those things, quickly go and get them.

Okay, good job.

That was quick.

So let's have a little look at the lesson structure.

First, I'm going to talk through some key words and then we're going to talk about the Ancient Egyptian people.

And the next question explores the different jobs that they did and their role in society.

And we'll finish with our end of lesson quiz.

So let's get started with some key words.

The first word is vizier.

My turn, your turn, vizier.

A vizier was an official with a lot of power who served the Pharaoh.

Artisans, my turn, your turn, artisans.

Artisans are people that specialise in crafts, such as stone carving and carpentry, which is working with wood.

And the third word is hieroglyphs, my turn, your turn, hieroglyphs.

Hieroglyphs are the pictures and symbols that make up the Egyptian system of writing.

So let's start with who the Ancient Egyptians were? So the ancient Egyptian society was structured like a pyramid.

This meant that at the top of the pyramid was the most important person or group of people.

And then at the bottom of the pyramid was the least important person or group of people.

Ancient Egyptian society can be split into about five groups.

At the top there was the Pharaoh.

Just below the Pharaoh there were two groups, the officials and the priests.

Below the priests and officials were the scribes and below them were the artisans.

And finally at the bottom of the pyramid were the peasants.

so who was the most important person or group of people in Ancient Egyptian society? Is it A, peasants, B, priests, C, Pharaoh or D, scribes? Say your answer out loud or point to the screen or even write it down.

What do you think? Who was the most important person or group of people in Ancient Egyptian society? Think about that pyramid.

The answer is C, the Pharaoh.

The Pharaoh is at the top of the pyramid.

He was the most important person in Ancient Egyptian society, or she sometimes.

So I'd like you to pause your video now to complete this task.

Use the words below to complete the pyramid to show Ancient Egyptian society.

Now remember two groups are equal, so two groups go into one of the sections.

So use those six words and then restart the video once you're finished.

So here is the complete pyramid of the Ancient Egyptian society.

So have a look at what you wrote down.

Did you get it in the correct order? And hopefully you did.

If not, just pop them in the correct order.

So let's take a look at what the jobs were that the Ancient Egyptians did.

The word "Pharaoh" means great house.

Early Egyptian rulers were called kings but over time this changed to Pharaoh.

Pharaohs were believed to be gods.

They were the religious leaders of the Egyptian people and they believe the Pharaoh was the link between the gods and the Egyptian people.

The Pharaoh created and decided all of Egypt's laws.

They also waged war, collected taxes and oversaw all the land in Egypt, which belonged to them.

Officials carried out the orders of the Pharaoh.

Most officials came from noble families or were often members of the Pharaoh's family.

They were powerful and wealthy and they enjoyed a high quality of life.

Their job was to assist the Pharaoh in his or her role as ruler of Egypt.

Three important officials were the vizier, the chief treasurer, and the general of armies.

The vizier had more power than anyone except the Pharaoh.

The vizier advised the Pharaoh and carried out his commands.

He appointed and supervised many of the other officials.

The vizier was also a kind of chief judge.

All the judges would bring him their toughest cases.

A vizier was expected to be fair and neutral, showing no special favour to either side.

The chief treasurer oversaw Egypt's wealth.

Their main duty was to collect taxes.

Egypt's economy was based on goods rather than money.

People pay their taxes in grain, cows, cloth and silver.

The general of armies advise the Pharaoh around war and national security.

He helped the Pharaoh protect Egypt from invaders and make alliances with other kingdoms. So let's just have a look at this question, Which of these officials had the most power? Was it A, the vizier, B, the general of armies or see the chief treasurer, which one had the most power.

Either point to the screen or say your answer out loud.

Was it A, B or C.

The answer was A, the vizier had the most power except from the Pharaoh.

Imhotep was chief architect to the Egyptian Pharaoh Djoser, and his most trusted vizier, advising him well.

He designed the Pharaohs tomb, the step pyramid at Saqqara.

When completed, the step pyramid rose 62 metres high and was the tallest structure of its time.

The surrounding area included a temple, courtyards, shrines and living quarters for the priests.

This was all surrounded by a wall that had 13 false doors cut into it, with only one true entrance in the SouthEast corner.

Djoser was so impressed by Imhotep's creation that he was the first pharaoh to have another person's name on his monuments, as he had Imhotep's name inscribed.

Imhotep was well remembered after his death.

He was remembered for his skills as an architect in creating the step pyramid.

He was also worshipped because of his skills in medicine.

You can see a picture of the pyramid here, or the remains of it.

So I'd like you to pause your video now to complete this task.

Why was Imhotep remembered many years after his death? And give two examples.

You could start your answer with, "Imhotep was remembered after his death, because.

." So pause your video now and restart when you're finished.

Okay, so hopefully you've written an answer and it might look a little bit like this, "Imhotep was remembered after his death, because he was a great architect who designed the step pyramid.

He was also remembered because of his skills in medicine." Let's continue on now along the pyramid and look at the priests.

Priests were a powerful group, because religion was a really important part of people's lives in ancient Egypt.

Priests were in charge of the temples and the religious rituals.

They oversaw all ceremonies.

Temple priests were in charge of the temple, scattered throughout Egypt.

Every temple was home to one or more Egyptian gods.

A temple priest's main job was to take care of his temple special god, in a variety of ways.

All the priests gave advice and performed healings.

Let's take a little pause now and look at this statement, "The priests were as important as the officials in Ancient Egyptian society." Is this true or is it false? Have a little think.

You need to say your answer out loud or point to the screen.

What do you think? Okay, hopefully you put that it was true.

Both groups are just below the Pharaoh in the pyramid of Egyptian society so both are equally important.

Let's look at the scribes now.

The scribes were Egypt's official record keepers.

They were the only ones who could read or write in Egypt.

They wrote down what was happening in Ancient Egypt at the time and wrote letters for the pharaoh.

We can even read some of those records today.

They were highly respected and well paid.

Most scribes worked for the government.

Others worked for priests or Nobles.

Only men were allowed to be scribes.

Boys who wanted to become scribes had to attend scribe school.

The schools were run by priests.

Most students came from artisan families.

Very few boys came from the peasant families.

Students typically spent 12 years or more learning hieroglyphs, the symbols used in the Egyptian system of writing.

So I'd like you to pause the video now to complete this task.

Use the words below to complete this passage.

So you use those four words to fill in the gaps.

So pause your video now to have a go at this task.

Okay, hopefully you've had a good go at that and have been able to write out this passage and fill in the gaps.

So scribes were Egypt's official record-keepers.

Only boys could be scribes.

They had to spend 12 years at scribes school learning hieroglyphs, and most students came from artisan families.

Well done if you've got all of those correct.

So now let's take a look at the artisans.

Artisans were highly skilled but they were not seen as important.

Artisans specialised in a variety of crafts.

They were carpenters, people who worked with wood, doulas, leather workers, metal workers, painters, potters and sculptors.

Artisans made many beautiful objects including jewellery and furniture.

Painters created scenes of Egyptian daily life.

Most artisans were men, but some women wove fabric, beaded clothing and made perfume.

The most skilled artisans were the stone carvers.

They produce the statues' and engravings found in Egyptian temples, tombs, and monuments.

And finally, there were the peasants at the bottom of the social pyramid.

They were the lowest and largest group of Egyptians.

Peasants worked on the fields, growing crops that supplied everyone with food.

When not farming, peasants worked on the Pharaoh's major building projects, sometimes even the pyramids themselves.

So I'd like you to pause the video now to complete this task.

Which member of society do you think had the most important job to do? And I'd like you to give two reasons.

And your answer could start with, "I think the.

." And you could put scribes, peasants, pharaoh, had the most important job to do and because.

Why did they have the most important job? Please pause your video and have a go and restart when you're finished.

Okay, so society was fairly fixed.

Most people belong to the same part of the pyramid as their parents.

There was little chance of moving to a high position.

So the scribes would remain scribes and the peasants would remain peasants, just like that.

So I'd like you to pause the video now, again, to complete this final task.

Which member of society would you have most liked to have been? Which member of society would you have least like to have been? And give at least one reason for each.

And there at the bottom there are each of the members of society.

So you can choose which one you'd most like to be and the one you'd least like to be.

Write those down in sentences.

And that's the end of our lesson today.

We covered a lot, so well done for working so hard and thank you for joining me, and I hope to see you in our next lesson on Ancient Egypt, really soon.

Goodbye, everyone.