Worksheet

Down the Nile from Napata: A Map Journey, About 1450 BCE

Grade 6 history: follow a described map and an imagined scribe's journal down the Nile from Kush to Thebes to study rulers, beliefs and daily life.

Grade 6Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toHIS.6.3

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1 C3 Framework standard
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11 questions
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Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 6
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use a described map of the Nile to explain how travel and trade linked Egypt and Kush.
Students describe rulers, beliefs, achievements and daily life in Egypt and Kush about 1450 BCE.

How to use

Have students sketch the six places from the map description before reading the journal, then trace the fleet's route as they read. Discuss the two points of view in question 5 together.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

HIS.6.3

Describe the rulers, beliefs, achievements and daily life of ancient Egypt and its neighbor Kush along the Nile.

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Down the Nile from Napata: A Map Journey, About 1450 BCE

Follow a described map and a scribe's journal from Kush to Thebes.

Read the map

Read the note and the map description. Then answer the questions.

About this journey: The trip below is imagined, and so is its scribe, Senu. Its places, goods and customs come from what historians know about Egypt's rule over Kush in the New Kingdom, about 1450 BCE, when Thutmose III was king of Egypt.

Map of the Middle Nile, about 1450 BCE
1. The Nile flows from south to north on this map, so going downriver means going north.
2. Napata, the southernmost place on the map, lies near the Fourth Cataract (a stretch of rocky rapids), beside a flat-topped mountain called Gebel Barkal.
3. Kerma lies northwest of Napata, a short way south of the Third Cataract.
4. The fort of Buhen lies north of Kerma, at the Second Cataract.
5. Aswan lies north of Buhen, at the First Cataract. For centuries this was Egypt's southern border.
6. Thebes lies about 130 miles downriver from Aswan. Giza, with its pyramids, lies about 400 miles farther downriver from Thebes.
Map key: Along this part of the Nile, the wind usually blows from the north.

A messenger walks straight overland from Kerma to Napata. In which general direction does he travel?

A. Northwest
B. Southeast
C. Southwest
D. Northeast

After the journey, the empty boats go back south from Thebes to Aswan, against the current. Using the map, how will they most likely move?

A. With sails raised to catch the wind from the north
B. With sails lowered, since the wind blows to the north
C. Dragged with ropes along the bank the whole way
D. Drifting with the current, which flows to the south

Senu's journal

Read the journal and the note after it. Then answer the questions.

From the Journal of Senu, Scribe of the Tribute Fleet

1Napata. Our fleet loads beneath Gebel Barkal. We Egyptians believe the god Amun lives inside this mountain, and builders sent by our king are raising a temple to him here. Into the boats go gold rings, ebony logs, elephant tusks, leopard skins and bundles of ostrich feathers, while herds of cattle walk along the bank. This is the yearly tribute of Kush, the goods a ruled land must send to its ruler. Ary, the young son of a local chief, travels with us. Like many sons of Kushite chiefs, he will be raised at the king's court beside Egyptian boys and taught our language and ways.

2Kerma. For centuries this town was the capital of a powerful Kushite kingdom that rivaled Egypt. Its kings lie buried under great round mounds of earth, and a huge mud-brick temple still towers over the town. In my grandfather's time, the armies of King Thutmose I conquered Kerma. Potters here still make thin, polished red cups with black rims, finer than many I have seen at home.

3The Second Cataract. Here the river breaks over black rocks for miles. We unload every boat. Porters carry the cargo along the shore while crews drag the empty boats past the worst rapids with ropes. It takes days. Soldiers watch us from the thick brick walls and towers of Buhen fort, which guards this stretch of the river.

4Aswan. Below the First Cataract, quarry workers cut red granite from the riverbank. One crew is shaping an obelisk, a tall, four-sided stone pillar, which will be floated downriver to Amun's great temple at Karnak in Thebes. On an island in the river stands the temple of Khnum, the god who, we believe, sends the Nile's yearly flood.

5Thebes. At Karnak the vizier Rekhmire, the king's highest official, inspects the cargo while his scribes count and record each load. In the fields, farmers cut wheat, and in the town women grind grain and brew beer. Across the river, men from a walled village of craftsmen cut tombs into the cliffs of the Valley of the Kings. Our kings are no longer buried under pyramids but in these hidden tombs cut deep into the rock. Each king is buried with food, furniture and treasure that we believe he will need in the life after death.

6Thebes, evening. Ary asks about the pyramids at Giza, far downriver, which I have never seen. I tell him what my teacher told me: they were built about 2550 BCE for kings of long ago, who were buried inside them with goods for the next life.

Note: In the real tomb of Rekhmire at Thebes, painted scenes show people from Kush bringing gold, ebony, elephant tusks, leopard skins, cattle and even a giraffe to Egypt. Rekhmire had these scenes painted for his own tomb. About 700 years after the time of this journey, kings from Napata conquered Egypt and ruled it as pharaohs, and they were buried under pyramids near Napata.

Underline the sentence from paragraph 3 that describes the work crews did to get past the rapids.

Here the river breaks over black rocks for miles.Porters carry the cargo along the shore while crews drag the empty boats past the worst rapids with ropes.Soldiers watch us from the thick brick walls and towers of Buhen fort, which guards this stretch of the river.

Why would Egypt's king most likely want sons of Kushite chiefs raised at his court?

A. So they could help Rekhmire count the tribute
B. To teach Egyptian boys the language of Kush
C. So future leaders of Kush would be loyal to him
D. To train them to build new pyramids at Giza

Senu calls the cargo "tribute." How would a chief at Napata most likely describe the same cargo?

A. As goods his people buy from Egyptian traders
B. As wealth that a foreign ruler takes from his land
C. As offerings that stay with Amun at Gebel Barkal
D. As gifts his people are glad to give a friend

Use the map and paragraph 4. Workers at Aswan shape a granite obelisk to be floated about 130 miles downriver to Karnak. What does this best show about the Egyptians?

A. They carved obelisks to mark their border with Kush.
B. They built their great temples mostly out of mud brick.
C. They moved stone by land because their boats were small.
D. They could plan and move huge stones over long distances.

Sort each detail from the journal. Does it tell historians mostly about beliefs, about rule and government, or about daily life?

Egyptians say Amun lives inside Gebel Barkal.The vizier's scribes count and record each load.Women in Thebes grind grain and brew beer.Egyptians say Khnum sends the yearly flood.Soldiers at Buhen fort guard the river.Farmers near Thebes cut wheat in the fields.

Beliefs	Rule and government	Daily life

Use paragraphs 5 and 6. Which shows continuity, something that stayed the same, from the age of the pyramids to Senu's time?

A. Kings were still buried with goods for the next life.
B. Kings were still buried under pyramids at Giza.
C. Egypt's southern border was still at Aswan.
D. Kerma still ruled a kingdom that rivaled Egypt.

Use paragraph 6. Subtract the years.

When Senu traveled, about 1450 BCE, the pyramids at Giza were already about years old.

Weigh the evidence

Use the map, the journal and the note.

10.

Why should a historian use the paintings in Rekhmire's tomb with care?

A. They were painted in Kush, far away from Thebes.
B. They were made after Kushite kings ruled Egypt.
C. They show Egypt's view, made for an Egyptian official.
D. They show goods that Egypt sent south to Kush.

11.

Claim: In about 1450 BCE, the Nile tied Egypt and Kush together more than it kept them apart. Do you agree, disagree or partly agree? Use at least two pieces of evidence from the map, the journal or the note, and explain your reasoning.