Thutmose III: The
Ancient Egypt Game Created by Ruth Paget for AP Students
Objectives:
1-Learn
to break down large books for group reading to learn information quickly
2-Learn
about Queen Hatshepsut, the stepmother and co-regent of Thutmose III until he
was 22
3-Learn
about the Egyptian God Thoth, God of writing and wisdom
4-Learn
about Egyptian scribes, the Pharaoh’s writers, in ancient Egypt
5-Learn
about the importance of Egyptian tombs for the development of writing
6-Learn
about hieroglyphics and decipher some elementary tomb inscriptions and names of
pharaohs
7-Learn
about Egyptian society through three millennia focusing on the royal families
and Egypt’s foreign relations that protected the country
8-Learn
about the rise and fall of Egypt’s dynasties, ruling families, to identify why
governments fail
9-Learn
to play the ancient strategy games of mancala and senet
10-Sample
Egyptian foods
Historical Background
Pharaoh
Thutmose III (1481 BC – 1425 BC) did not rule Egypt for the first 22 years of
his life, because his step-mother Queen Hatshepsut (1479 BC – 1458 BC) and
co-regent administered the kingdom while Thutmose III served as a military
commander.
Thutmose
III is important in Egyptian and world history, because he was the first
pharaoh to have scribes, bureaucratic writers, record in detail his military
successes and social achievements to firmly establish historic writing.
Historic
writing provided detail about Egyptian society and maybe even knowledge
management for successive Egyptian rulers that kept ancient Egyptian society
alive for 3000 years.
Tasks
There
are 5 tasks to complete in this game to achieve the 10 objectives listed above.
The
first four tasks involve reading by two teams.
The books I have suggested go from easier to harder. There is a group meeting at the end with
suggestions for a party.
Managing Group Reading
I
will use the book Ancient Egypt: A
Social History by B. G. Trigger et al as an example. This book has 33 chapters covered in 364
pages.
If
you break down reading this book into several chapters per person, you can
reduce reading time and learn the material quickly. The method for doing this follows:
-8
team members with 33 chapters to read – Divide the number of chapters by 8 to
start:
33
chapters ÷ 8 team members = 4 chapters to read per
team member plus 1 remaining chapter
-For
each chapter you have to read, write down 5 to 10 of the chapter’s main points
-Type
up your main points by chapter and send them to the group scribe who knows how
to combine attachments of e-mail documents into a single document to send back
to the team before the combined meeting in Task 5
-The
team can decide who should read the leftover chapter to complete the book
reading. A suggestion could be for a
member with a short chapter to read the leftover one.
-Note:
If you do not want to use chapters, you can use page numbers to do team reading
assignments. However, authors organize
material to facilitate learning, and you might miss out on some of the material
if you just go by page number.
Team Set-Up
-Break
a group up into two teams
-Both
teams will complete Tasks 1 – 4 in their group
-For
Task 5, the teams will come together to do a data analysis meeting of lessons
learned from their study of ancient Egypt, play the ancient Egyptian strategy
games of mancala and senet, and sample Egyptian food.
Task 1:
-Read
about Pharaoh Thutmose III in encyclopedias and books and on websites. Compare the information you find to see if
there are any differences. Note sources.
-Read
about Queen Hatshepsut in encyclopedias and books and on websites. Compare the information you find to see if
there are any differences. Note sources.
-As
a group, read Tales of Ancient Egypt by
Roger Lancelyn Green. For your assigned
chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter
-For
everyone in the group, read the chapter “The Book of Thoth” in Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger
Lancelyn Green
-Thoth
was the Egyptian God of writing and wisdom.
How are writing and wisdom linked?
-As
a group, read Red Land, Black Land:
Daily Life in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz. For your assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main
points for each chapter
-For
everyone in the group, read the chapter “Be a Scribe, Put it in thy Heart” in Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient
Egypt by Barbara Mertz.
-Can
you think of any other trades that people performed in ancient Egypt besides
that of being a scribe?
-For
everyone in the group, read the chapter “A Goodly Burial in the Necropolis” in Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient
Egypt by Barbara Mertz
-Why
are tombs so important for writing in ancient Egyptian culture?
Task 2: Introduction to
Hieroglyphs
-As
a group, read Egyptian Hieroglyphs for
Complete Beginners by Bill Manley and note 5 to 10 main points for each of
your assigned chapters
-Try
to do the writing exercises in your assigned chapters
-Why
did the ancient Egyptians consider writing an art?
-Are
hieroglyphics an alphabetic system?
Task 3: Introduction to
Ancient Egyptian Society
People
often say that the Nile River made ancient civilization possible in Egypt. Any disruption to the River’s irrigation
system would make Egypt vulnerable to encroaching desert sands. For this reason, the ancient Egyptians placed
great importance on engineering, international affairs, and defending their
country.
-As
a group, read Ancient Egypt: A Social
History by B. G. Trigger et al and note 5 to 10 main points for each of
your assigned chapters
-Discuss
how international relations helped with defending ancient Egypt.
Task 4: Introduction to
Ancient Egyptian Politics
-As
a group, read The Oxford History of
Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw. For your
assigned chapters, note 5 to 10 main points for each chapter
This
particular book focuses on ancient Egypt’s different dynasties, ruling
families, throughout Egypt’s 3000 years of existence.
As
you read this book, some questions to keep in mind and discuss with your team
include:
-Why
do dynasties fall?
-What
kept Egypt together despite the fall of dynasties?
-How
are new dynasties formed?
-How
did the Greek Ptolemy family take control of Egypt?
Task 5: Data Analysis
Meeting and Party
-Before
the meeting, the scribes of each team will compile the main points of each book
chapter read and put them in order. The
scribe will email the reports to their team and members of the other team in
the group. Team members are responsible
for printing their own copies of the main points in each book read as a group.
-At
the meeting, the combined group will list 20 to 30 lessons learned from their
study of ancient Egypt. Team members
will take their own notes of lessons learned.
This activity should take 30 to 40 minutes to complete.
-After
the meeting, the teams will play the ancient Egyptian games of mancala and
senet. Thutmose III undoubtedly learned
to play these strategy games as a young boy.
These
games sell for $22 - $32 as of 3/3/2020 on Amazon.
The
following book provides strategy on how to win board games:
-Board Games of the World: The History, Boards, Rules, and Strategies of
Board Games by H. L. Fourie
-Sample
some Egyptian food at your party.
Appetizers (mezze) are a great introduction to Egyptian food:
1-Egyptian Cookbook: Enjoy Authentic Egyptian Cooking with 50
Delicious Egyptian Recipes by BookSumo Press
2-Egyptian Food Made Easy by Shama Faraz
3-My Egyptian Grandmother’s Kitchen:
Traditional Dishes Sweet and Savory by Magida Mehdawy
4-The New Middle Eastern Cookbook by
Claudia Roden
5-Nile Style: Egyptian Cuisine and Culture by
Amy Riolo
6-The Pharaoh’s Kitchen: Recipes for Ancient
Egypt’s Enduring Food Traditions by Magda Mehdawy
Have
fun!
Thutmose
III Game created by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
