Ancient Egypt Many years ADBC Content The River

Ancient Egypt Many years … AD…BC

Content • • The River Nile Tutankhamen Pyramid Pharaohs Rosetta stone Mummies Egyptian gods Hieroglyphics 1 -2 3 4 -5 6 9 10 -11 12 13

The River Nile is about 6, 670 km (4, 160 miles) in length and is the longest river in Africa and in the world. Although it is generally associated with Egypt, only 22% of the Nile’s course runs through Egypt. In Egypt, the River Nile creates a fertile green valley across the desert. It was by the banks of the river that one of the oldest civilizations in the world began. The ancient Egyptians lived and farmed along the Nile, using the soil to produce food for themselves and their animals.

The River Nile • The River Nile is formed from the White Nile, which originates at Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile, which originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. These rivers meet in Sudan and then go on their long journey northwards towards the sea. • The White Nile is a lot bigger than the Blue Nile, but because of losses along the way the it only contributes about 15% to the flow of the combined Nile. The Blue Nile, rising in Ethiopia, contributes about 85% to the flow of the Nile that passes through Egypt to the Mediterranean

Tutankhamun Tutankhamen was probably born at Akhenaten which was the capital city of Egypt. He was born in about the year 1346 BC. He became pharaoh at the tender age of nine in 1337 BC and reigned during the 18 th Dynasty when the Egyptian Empire was at its height. He reigned from about 1337 to 1328 BC. His tomb was discovered by a team of British archaeologists in 1922, nearly 3000 years after his death. Tutankhamun reigned for around 9 years, making him about 18 when he died

Pyramid • The pyramids are the stone tombs of Egypt's kings - the Pharaohs and one of the world's greatest historical mysteries. They have stood for thousands of years, filled with many hidden secrets: clues about what life (and death) was like in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians believed that if the pharaoh's body could be mummified after death the pharaoh would live forever. The tombs were designed to protect the buried Pharaoh's body and his belongings. • The Great Pyramid is the largest and most famous of the pyramids. It was built for the Pharaoh Khuf. It is over 140 metres high and took 20 years to build • The dry desert heat worked to keep the Pharaohs's body and his belongings from decomposing and rotting away.

Pyramid • Most of the pyramids can be found on the western side of the Nile River, just into the dry desert • The Egyptians believed that when they died, they would make a journey to another world where they would lead a new life. They would need all the things they had used when they were alive, so their families would put those things in their graves. Egyptians paid vast amounts of money to have their bodies properly preserved. Egyptians who were poor were buried in the sand whilst the rich ones were buried in a tomb.

Pharaohs were the king or Queen of Egypt. Most pharaohs were men but some wellknown pharaohs, such as Nefertiti and Cleopatra, were women. A Pharaoh was the most important and powerful person in the kingdom. He was the head of the government and high priest of every temple. The people of Egypt considered the pharaoh to be a half-man, half-god. The Pharaoh owned all of Egypt. Interesting fact The ancient Egyptians did not refer to their Kings as Pharaohs. The word Pharaoh comes from the Greek language and was used by the Greeks and Hebrews to refer to the Kings of Egypt. Today, we also use the word Pharaoh when referring to the kings of Egypt.

Rosetta stone • The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it. It was created in 196 BC… • The Stone is 114. 4 centimeters (45 in) high at its tallest point, 72. 3 centimeters (28. 5 in) wide, and 27. 9 centimeters (11 in) thick. It weighs approximately 760 kilograms (1, 676 lb), • The Rosetta Stone is named after the town it was discovered in, a town called Rosetta, on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt

Mummies • • It was very important to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that the human body was preserved. A method of artificial preservation, called mummification was developed by the ancient Egyptians. Mummification was a complicated and lengthy process which lasted up to 70 days. A mummy is the body of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death.

Mummies • How were mummies made? • It took a very long time, from start to finish, it took about 70 days to embalm a body. The priest in charge would wear the mask of a jackal representing the god Anubis. • • 1. The body washed and purified. 2. Organs were removed. Only the heart remained. 3. The body was filled with stuffing. 4. The body was dried by covering it with a substance called natron*. This substance absorbed all the moisture from the body. 5. After 40 - 50 days the stuffing was removed and replaced with linen or sawdust. 6. The body was wrapped in strands of linen and covered in a sheet called a shroud. 7. The body was placed in a stone coffin called a sarcophagus. • The mummy was now ready for its journey to the afterlife.

Egyptian gods • There were over 2, 000 names of gods in Ancient Egypt. • Some images of Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses show them with a human body and the head of a bird or an animal. • Animals were chosen to represent the powers of the god. • Click here fo a larger picture. Bastet was the Goddess of Protection of joy, love, pleasure and pregnant woman. • In Egyptian mythology, the sacred cat is the animal incarnation of the goddess Bast or Bastet. She was the protector of women and childbirth, as well as a loving goddess who enjoyed music and dance. Find out more • Anubis the God of Mummification • He guided the dead to the next life via the court of Osiris in the Underworld. He was the one who looked after the mummification process

Hieroglyphics • The Egyptian writing called hieroglyphics used pictures to represent different objects, actions, sound or ideas. There were more than 700 hieroglyphs. Some pictures stood for whole words. • Hieroglyphs is made from two Greek words: • hieros meaning holy • glyphe meaning writing • So hieroglyph means holy writing.