Coach Parrish OMS Chapter 3, Section 3 Egyptian Religion Coach Parrish OMS Chapter 3, Section 3

A Quote “You will live again. You will live forever. Behold, you will be young again.” One hundred days had passed since the pharaoh died. Royal officials had been preparing his body. They wrapped him in fine linen, and placed it in a gold coffin decorated to resemble the king.

Afterlife Egyptians believed in the afterlife – life after death. Pharaohs would be carried to their royal tomb with mourners following. Once the tomb was sealed, the mourners would go home and the pharaoh would begin his journey into the afterlife.

Important Gods The chief god of the Egyptians was Amon-Re. He protected the rich and the poor. The Egyptians believed that Amon-Re was born every morning in the east with the sunrise. This is why the desert to the west was considered the land of the dead. Other powerful gods include Osiris (God of the living and dead), Isis (Osiris’s wife)

Amon-Re Horus

Journey to the Afterlife The Egyptians believed that the spirits of the dead made their way to the afterlife in heavenly boats. If they had pleased the gods, they would be with Osiris in heaven. During the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians thought that only pharaohs had an afterlife. In the Middle Kingdom, every dead person was included.

The Judgement

Preparing the Dead Before the building of pyramids, everyone was buried in the desert. Mummy – preserved body of a dead person. Mummification was expensive and took 2 or 3 months. Workers removed the organs, and poured salt in the body. Once dry, the body was washed in spices, and bandaged.

Mummification

The Pyramids Pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty built the largest and most famous tombs, the pyramids – tomb buildings with four sloping triangle shaped sides. The Great Pyramid at Giza was built for Khufu – Second king of the 4th Dynasty.

Great Pyramid

Building Process The Great Pyramid is made up of over 2 million stones. The average weight of each stone was over 5000 pounds. It typically took slaves 20 years to build a pyramid. They built on the west side of the Nile because it was considered the land of the dead.

Teamwork To get the stone blocks into place, workers used sleds, wooden rollers, and levers. Building pyramids was dangerous work, and every year, hundreds of men lost their lives to falling bricks.