Transcript Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt
The gift of the Nile
Nile River
• The Nile is surrounded by deserts.
• But the land near the river is perfect for
farming.
• The Nile also was used for trading and
for the Pharaoh to move his soldiers.
Pharaohs
• Pharaohs were the rulers of Egypt.
• They were considered god-kings: they
were part human part god.
Egyptian Buildings
• Egyptians are famous for the pyramids they
built as tombs for their pharaohs.
• Egyptians also built many other famous things
like the sphinx.
Writing and Paper
• The Egyptian form of writing was called
hieroglyphics and was based on symbols.
• Hieroglyphic writing is like a picture
puzzle.
• Egyptians wrote on the world’s first paper,
made from papyrus plant stems.
Egyptian Religion
• The Egyptians were polytheistic
(belief in many gods).
• Ra, the sun god was the most
important god.
Egyptian Beliefs about the Afterlife
• Ancient Egyptians believed their pharaoh would
continue living in the afterlife.
• They wanted to preserve the pharaoh’s body for
the afterlife.
Mummies
• Mummification is the process of
preserving the body.
• It takes about 70 days to
complete the process.
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Making a Mummy!
 Take a dead body and remove all
internal organs, except for the
heart…save the organs in separate
clay jars, called canopic jars. These
will be put into the tomb with the
mummy.
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Making a Mummy!
Rub down the body with salt and
leave for about 70 days
Then rub with oils and perfumes
and wrap in linen bandages
Now place your mummy in a
coffin and put it in a tomb!
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Egyptian beliefs about death
• Osiris was the Ruler of the Dead and
lived in the Land of the Dead
• He weighed your heart against a
feather of Ma-at. If your heart was
lighter, you were allowed to live in
the Land of the Dead forever.
Anubis
• Anubis was a jackal headed god and
priests wore a mask of his head as they
made the mummy. He is the god
associated with mummification.
Upper and Lower Egypt
• Egypt was once two separate
kingdoms.
• Lower Egypt was in the north,
upper Egypt was in the south.
• King Menes unified the two
kingdoms, which made Egypt
more powerful.