The Pyramids 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 best way the ancient Egyptians knew how to preserve a body was to mummify it. The poor placed the bodies of their dead relatives out in the sun, in the desert sand. The bodies mummified naturally. Anyone who could afford it went to a professional mummy maker. People wanted to look their best in their afterlife.

MY NAME IN HIEROGLYPHICS

The ancient Egyptians built homes of sun- dried bricks, made of mud and straw. Their homes were huge. Homes had flat roofs. People often sat outside on their roofs in the evening to watch the sunset and catch the evening breeze.

Daily Life The ancient Egyptians were fascinating people, and thanks to the movies, are often misunderstood. The ancient Egyptians were not in love with death, but with life! They enjoyed their life to the fullest. They worked very hard, but saved time to enjoy family, friends, music, parties, swimming, fishing, hunting, sailing, and especially their children, all of which were very important to the ancient Egyptians. In ancient Egypt, children were the heart of the family. If a couple could not have a child, they adopted a child.

Papyrus One of the many "Gifts of the Nile" was a weed called papyrus. This weed grew wildly along the shores of the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians used papyrus to make many things, such as baskets, sandals, mats, rope, and paper!

Canopic jars Canopic jars were an important part of the mummification process. The body's internal organs were carefully stored in these jars. There were always four jars, representing the four sons of the god Horus - four protective spirits - human, baboon, falcon, and jackal.

MATHS The Egyptians invented a decimal system. They used 7 different symbols. This Is very Different Than Math Today. The Egyptians invented a decimal system. They used 7 different symbols. 1 was represented by a single stroke. 10 was shown by drawing one hobble. 100 was shown with a drawing one coil of rope. 1,000 was represented by a drawing of one lotus plant. 10,000 was shown as one finger. 100,000 was represented by a drawing of one frog. (A hieroglyphic of six frogs in a row would mean 600,000) 1,000,000 was represented by the figure of a god with raised arms

Temples were the heart of the community. Kids went to school at the temple. The women came every day with temple offerings of food and goods they had made. They stayed to chat and to market. The temples acted as hotels for important visitors from other towns. Grain was stored in the temples so that it could be shared with whomever needed it. People prayed to the temple gods for whatever they needed. If their request was not granted, they might give the temple statue a whack with a sturdy reed to let the temple god know how they felt about it. For the most part, the ancient Egyptians were not afraid of their gods at all.

GRAVE GOODS People in ancient Egypt fully expected to be assigned jobs to do in their afterlife, just as they were assigned jobs to do in their daily life. So nearly everybody made little statues of people as part of their grave goods. To the ancient Egyptians, it made perfect sense to create little statues that would do the work for them. It was believed that when the deceased was called on to do their share of the work in the afterlife, they could send their little workers instead. That would leave them free to sail the heavenly Nile or visit with friends who had entered the afterlife.

Hers is one of the most recognizable names in all of human history. She was a female ruler in a time of male kings. Her beauty was said to have brought the world's most powerful men to their knees. She was Cleopatra. Cleopatra was the name of several women in ancient Egypt. The most famous one was Cleopatra VII, born in 69 B.C. in Alexandria. Her father was Ptolemy XII, who was pharaoh when Cleopatra was born.

Grave robbing was the most horrible crime in Ancient Egypt. Grave Robbers not only stole some-ones Wealth But took their Chance To live happily In The After- Life. When grave robbers broke into a tomb, they often broke the cartouche when they opened the coffin. They nearly always damaged the mummified body in their haste to find treasures buried within the fabric that wrapped it. This put the Ba and the Ka at risk.

Artists & Craftsmen Craftsmen were appreciated rather than respected in ancient Egypt. Craftsmen were not allowed to sign their work. That's because several craftsmen might work on one object. But even when only one artist worked on something, they still could not sign it. A craftsman with skill usually enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle. Although their work was not signed, word did get around. The Egyptians had a unique way of drawing people. They drew heads, eyes, legs and feet positioned as if you were looking at them from the side. They drew the shoulders and the chest as if you were looking at them from the front. Men were usually drawn with dark colours. Women were usually drawn with light colours.

MAPS OF EGYPT

Important jobs in ancient Egypt included soldiers, scribes, artists, and peasants. Most jobs were inherited. If your father was a farmer, so were you. But there were some exceptions to the inherited job tradition. Anyone, for example, could become an artist if they had exceptional talent. But most artists inherited their job from their father. Another exception was a scribe. Anyone could learn to be a scribe if they had the talent. Learning to be a script was a complicated process. Scribes went to scribe school. Most who attended did not pass the course.

Legends have been told for many years about the Great Sphinx. These stories tell about the powers and mysteries of this sphinx. Some people even believe that there are hidden passageways or rooms underneath the Great Sphinx, but nothing has been found yet. The beginning of one story about the Great Sphinx is written on a stele between the sphinx's paws.

Tut was only nine years old when he became Pharaoh. He was only 18 years old when he died. The people did not have a lot of time to build Tut's tomb. Tut's tomb was very small compared to the tombs of other pharaohs. Because his tomb was so small, it was overlooked for thousands of years. In 1922, a British archaeologist named Howard Carter entered King Tut's tomb. It was almost like entering a time machine.

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