Ancient Egypt
By Horton
History of Egypt
The ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for more than 3000 years, longer than
any other civilization in human history. Although we are talking about a period
that began more than 5000 years ago, we know a great deal about ancient
Egypt. Ancient Egypt depended on the waters of the River Nile, which flows
through harsh and arid desert. Only the land on the banks of the Nile could be
cultivated to support life. The rest of Egypt was, and is, desert.
Every year rain further south in Africa and melting snow in the highlands of
Ethiopia caused the Nile in Egypt to flood. When the floods went down, the rich
soil which the water had brought down from the mountainsides was left on the
fields and caused them to be extremely fertile. The Nile gave the civilization of
Egypt its life.
Ancient Egyptian Gods
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Ancient Egyptians worshipped so many gods and goddesses that it would
certainly be hard to count all of them.
Canopic Jars
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The ancient Egyptians had a strong religious
belief that when a person died they would
return to an ‘afterlife’ that was almost the
same as the life they had when they were
alive. In their belief, the body needed to be
preserved so that the person could return.
This is why the Egyptians created mummies.
The process required that not only the outside
of the person’s body be mummified, but also
all of the internal organs. Canopic jars were
created to contain all of the organs, so that
upon entering the afterlife, the person would
be complete.
Egyptian Amulets
An amulet is an item that someone might wear or carry around with them in the
belief that it will bring them good luck or protect them. People in today’s world
often carry amulets like a good luck coin. In the times of ancient Egypt, part of their
religious beliefs included that amulets were very important in bringing protection to
them in their lives.
Ancient Egyptian Artifacts
The ancient Egyptian civilization lasted over 3,000 years and
during that time they created many items that we can still
see today. Their culture was wrapped around a religion
based on gods and goddesses and they had the ability to live
their lives in a desert, thanks to the River Nile.
It became a habit of most of the visitors from other
countries to take many of the artifacts back with
them to their home country. This is one of the
reasons that you will see museums around the
world that contain important artifacts. During a
particular time in English history, it was a trend to
bring mummies back and the wealthy would have
‘mummy parties’ where they invited guests to watch
as they unwrapped the mummy.
Ancient Egyptian Games
Civilizations and cultures around the world seem to share in the love of playing games.
Some of the games in ancient Egypt were designed just for adults, but others were played
by people of all ages. Archeologists have discovered many games that were played in
ancient Egypt but in a lot of cases they never found any rules for the games, so they are
unsure how they were played. There is no doubt that throughout the 3,000 years of ancient
Egypt, playing games was a big part of their lives. The Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo has
indicated that the oldest game from ancient Egypt was called “Senet”. It is a board game
that was played by many of the members of the royal families, including Tutankhamun. The
way the game was played is that each player rolled dice and, using sticks would try to move
the board pieces around and eventually off the board, while at the same time keeping the
opposite person playing from accomplishing the same thing. There is a copy of this game at
the British Museum in London with a sign that states it was first played 5500-3100 B.C.,
which was the Predynastic period (before the age of the pharaohs).
Egyptian Food
When you look at the country of Egypt, you see large areas of dry hot desert. The
Egyptians did have one thing going for them: The River Nile. Each year, the river
would flood, covering areas with rich thick silt and mud. This was necessary for them
because it brought fertilizers to the land. The Nile water was used for the water
needed for farmlands, and this meant that the ancient Egyptians had a lot of food to
grow and eat.
Evidence from pictures and hieroglyphs show that Egyptians used their
farmland to grow a number of crops. The most important was wheat.
They grew wheat and then ground it up into flour to make bread. All of
the people of Egypt ate bread, whether poor or rich. The second most
important crop was barley. It might surprise you to know that the
ancient Egyptians drank a lot of beer and that is made of barley. One
of the main reasons they drank beer was because fresh water was not
as easy to come by as it is now. The Egyptians grew pomegranates,
grapes and plums for both eating and making wine.
Ancient Egyptian Mummies
To understand Egyptian mummies you have to first know about their religious beliefs.
Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods and that when a person died they passed into an
‘afterlife’. The thought that the individual would have a life that was very close to the
one that they lived in with everyone else. In order to have that kind of life, their body
needed to be preserved and they needed to be buried with all of the possessions that
they would take with them on their journey into the afterlife.
1} The body must be purified and washed.
2} All internal organs were removed, however, they left the heart in place.
3} They filled in the body with a kind of stuffing so that it would look normal.
4} They had to ‘dry’ the body out, so they placed it in a naturally found substance called
‘natron’. This was almost like salt and it drew out all of the moisture in the body.
5} In about 40-50 days, they removed the body from natron and then replaced the
original stuffing with new stuffing made out of sawdust or linen.
6} The body was then carefully wrapped in layers of linen that covered every area of the
body. Some special oils were placed on the body to help in the preservation. A final
covering was placed on it called a ‘shroud’
7}The finished mummy was placed in a stone or wooden container called a ‘sarcophagu
The Mummy ‘s Curse
There are a few areas in ancient Egypt that actually have a ‘curse’ written
on them for anyone that disturbs the tomb of the person buried there. The
curses are supposed to scare anyone that might think of robbing the tomb
and usually involve revenge by the Egyptian gods, or death by lions,
snakes, crocodiles or scorpions. These curses have been found in the tombs
that were built before the time of the pyramids.
In 19th Century England, anything Egyptian was the trend. A stage show that was
developed created a story about the mummy’s curse. In 1922 when King Tut’s tomb
was opened, the news information was promised to only one newspaper. When
people that had visited the tomb and participated in the excavation started
dying, competitive newspapers created the story of the mummy’s curse. In reality,
there were logical explanations for each of the deaths. Howard Carter, who
discovered and opened the tomb of King Tut lived to be 65 years old.
The Pyramids
The ancient Egyptians are famous for the building of the Pyramids. The pyramids
were built as the burial places of the Egyptian kings from before the start of the Old
Kingdom until the end of the Middle Kingdom.
Because the Egyptians kept religious and government records, we are able to read
about the building of some of these pyramids.
•The Step Pyramid was built in 2630 B.C.
•It was the burial place of King Djoser.
•The architect of the Step Pyramid was Imhotep.
•Imhotep was the High Priest of Ra, the sun-god.
He became famous for his great wisdom and
knowledge. The Egyptians later worshipped
Imhotep as a god.
•The Step Pyramid at Saqqara is the earliest
pyramid that is still there today.
•The Pyramid rose in six giant steps.
•These steps were meant as a huge stairway for
King Djoser to climb up to join Ra, the sun-god.
Egyptian Families
Ancient Egyptians placed high value on their family life. They considered their children to be a
blessing from the gods and so they took exceptional care of them. All people wanted to have
children and they would pray to their gods and goddesses so that they could have more children.
Marriage in ancient Egypt was very different than we have today. For
peasant girls, they married at around 12 years old and the boys were just
a bit older than the girls when they got married. Girls of higher ranking
family had the choice to marry when they were older, but these
marriages were usually arranged by the parents of the boy and girl. The
parents created a pre-nuptial agreement that included the fact that the
new wife would get an allowance paid by her new husband. These
contracts also said that anything the wife brought to the marriage would
always belong to her, even if the marriage ended. Both husband and wife
had the right to own land on their own, but usually the wife let the
husband take care of the land. Egyptians allowed divorce, and it was done
with a statement in front of witnesses. The wife was given the children
and the freedom to remarry if she chose.
Egyptian Families 2
Young girls usually wore their hair in what we would call pigtails, while it
was common for the boys to have their heads shaved, except for one lock of
long hair that was braided. Men and women both wore a variety of wigs to
represent the latest styles. The Egyptian style of clothing seemed to remain
the same all through the years, with very little that changed. The type of
clothing depended upon how much money the family had. The wealthy
families wore linens of a fine texture while those that were poor could only
afford a coarsely woven linen. In both the Old Kingdom and the Middle
Kingdom, men wore kilts. Younger men wore a shorter version, while older
men had a longer kilt. When men worked, they wore a loin cloth. Women of
higher ranking wore beaded dresses. During the summer months, most
children didn’t wear any clothes at all, due to the extreme heat.
Egyptian Families 3
Egyptian boys learned the craft or trade from their fathers and the girls from their
mothers. If they had the money, families sent the boys to school at around the age of
7. There isn’t any evidence showing that the girls were educated in a school situation
but there are some that did learn to read and write and occasionally even became
doctors. When parents passed away, the land would belong to the sons and the
household items and jewelry were given to the daughters. If the family did not have
any sons, the daughters would inherit everything.
The Egyptian Ankh
The ancient Egyptians used symbols to represent many words and ideas. Their writing, known as
hieroglyphs, have a lot of symbols that represent their gods and their lives. One of the most
cherished symbols of ancient Egypt is the “Ankh’. This is their symbol for the key of life.
Ankhs were made out of just about everything that the ancient Egyptians could
craft. From metals such as bronze and gold to glazed ceramics, stone and wood. In
many cases they would add inscriptions on them for amulets. The symbol was
included as decoration for the furniture of the wealthy as well as the pharaoh. Since
it meant the key of life, it was thought to bring good luck to the owner. Jewelry has
been found that contain the image of the ankh.
The ankh was used in so many of the religious rituals
and combined in so many ways that some
archeologists believe it might have grown to be a kind
of general symbol to add life and power to another
symbol.
Researched through
www.google.com
www.historyforkids.net/ancient-egypt.html
www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_egypt.php
www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/Egypt.htm