1. Ancient Egypt Did You Know??

2. DYK The Egyptian sphinx, a mythical creature, had a head of a man and the body, legs, feet and tail of a lion. The lion’s body represented the connection between the sun god and the pharaoh’s role as the son of Re. Egyptian sculptors made the face resemble the current Pharaoh. The Great Sphinx stands in the desert at Giza near the Great Pyramid in Egypt. It is thought to have been built about 4,500 years ago for the pharaoh Kafre to guard the way to his pyramid. It is 240 feet long and 66 feet high. Its head and body are carved from solid rock and the paws and legs are built of stone blocks.

3. DYK Egyptian society can be compared to a pyramid. At the top of the social pyramid is the pharaoh. Just below the pharaoh were the royal family and the priests and nobles. Below them were the scribes, craftworkers, and merchants. Egyptian farmers were the next level below and at the very bottom were slaves. Pharaoh Royal family and priest Merchants, craftworkers, scribes Farmers Slaves

4. DYK Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for about 3,000 years. Divided into 3 kingdoms or periods: –Old Kingdom 2686 B.C. to 2186 B.C. –Middle Kingdom 2055 B.C. to 1650 B.C. –New Kingdom 1550 B.C. to 1069 B.C. Gods and Goddess influenced every part of daily life. Lived in towns and villages along the Nile River.

5. DYK The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death and made elaborate preparations for death and burial. They spent centuries developing a process known as mummification, which prevented the body from decaying and preserved it for its role in the afterlife. The process could take as long as 70 days. First, the vital organs were taken out of the corpse and put into jars. The body was dried for 40 days, then treated with a molten resin and wrapped in many layers of linen material. The bound head was covered with a portrait mask and the entire mummy was wrapped in one more linen layer and coated with resin.

6. DYK Most Egyptian children never went to school. As soon as they were old enough to work, the boys went to work with their fathers and the girls learned how to run a home. Boys of royal or wealthy families were trained to work as scribes. They spent their days memorizing classic text and learning the characters of Egyptian hieroglyphics. These students practiced their writing by copying proverbs. Archeologist have found the copybooks that these boys practiced on.

7. DYK By 1600 B.C. robbers had ransacked many of the pyramids. Later pharaohs decided that their bodies would be safer in hidden tombs cut from solid rock. Many of these pharaohs chose to have their tombs built in the isolated cliffs of the Valley of the Kings. Pharaoh Tutankhamun, King Tut, was buried here. The young king died when he was only 19 years old. His tomb contained jewelry, weapons, furniture, musical instruments and many artifacts made of precious stones and gold. One of the most famous and beautiful articles found was the magnificent gold death mask which was placed on Tutankhamun’s mummy.

8. DYK The great pyramids of Egypt are the oldest stone buildings in the world. These ancient structures were built as tombs for their kings. The kings, who were called pharaohs, had pyramids built to preserve their bodies for their life after death. They were built to house not only the pharaoh’s body but all his treasures and the goods he would need in his next life. These ancient tombs were gigantic; the largest is as big as a 40-story building and covers the area of ten football fields. Thousands of men were needed to build these huge structures. It took up to 20 years to build one pyramid.

9. DYK The ancient Egyptian civilization would never have existed without the Nile River. Egypt is a very dry land and it seldom rains. Without the yearly flooding of the Nile, Egypt would be a dry desert. Every year with the flooding the river would rise and spread over the land leaving a thick layer of black mud that the Egyptians used for growing their crops. This land was called the “black land”. The Nile is the longest river in the world and flows from south to north originating in the mountains of Central Africa. Besides farmland, the Nile also provided the Egyptians with water, fish, game, and transportation.

10. World Studies DYK Look around you and you'll witness examples of ancient Egyptian inventions. Many of today's household objects were invented or used by the ancient Egyptians, including the lock and keys, combs, scissors, wigs, makeup, deodorants, toothbrush and toothpaste.household objects Some other interesting facts about Ancient Egypt and their amazing feats: Egyptians were among the very first people to invent writing, along with ink and paper.writing The 365 days calendar and the 24-Hour division of the day are Egyptian inventions. Cement was first invented by the Egyptians. Pharaoh Akhenaten established the first official monotheistic religious state.Pharaoh Akhenaten

11. DYK The Rosetta Stone has been the key to unlocking Egyptian hieroglyphics. This piece of black basalt was discovered in 1799 A.D. near a town called Rosetta. The inscriptions on the stone were written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Demotic, a simpler form of hieroglyphics. A French scholar named Jean Champollion studied the text.

12. DYK Hieroglyphics is a form of writing in which picture symbols represent ideas and sounds. This script is made out of 750 signs, which include people, animals, plants, and objects. Hieroglyphics can be written left to right, right to left, or top to bottom. The clue is to start from the end the figures are facing. This was done on purpose, so few could master it and only scribes were able to write it.