The Egyptians

Find Egypt on the map.

Egypt is in Africa.

Egypt is at the top of Africa.

This is a view of Egypt from outer space. You can see the Nile River snaking through the whole country; it is very green around the river, isn’t it? Only around the Nile is there fertile land; the rest of Egypt is desert.

Ancient Egyptians had a highly developed civilization. Their art reflected the complex nature of their culture, especially their religious beliefs.

The Egyptians made amazing buildings and pyramids.

Tomb of Queen Hatshepsut, the only female pharaoh.

Tomb at Elkab

Pyramid and sphinx at Giza

It’s amazing how an ancient culture could build huge structures like pyramids and temples without using machines like we do today.

How could they build these huge columns?

How do you think the ancient Egyptians put the pyramids into place?

Egyptians were ruled by kings called pharaohs.

A lot of Egyptian art is about pharaohs, because they were

considered to be not only kings, but gods.

There are paintings found in tombs and temples, telling stories about pharaohs and

their lives.

Notice the symbols at the top of this painting.

There are also many relief carvings on the walls of tombs.

The paintings and carvings were not only about the life of the pharaoh, but about the Egyptians’ religious

beliefs, as well.

Did you notice any odd looking “people”?

Is this a pharaoh?

Nope; it’s a god called Horus.

Bastet was the god who protected cats, which were considered sacred. People worshiped cats!

Thoth was the god of wisdom. He also is given the credit for inventing the writing form Egyptians used: Hieroglyphics.

We’re going to look at that type of writing very soon.

Baba, the pet baboon of Thoth.

Baboons were sacred, just like cats.

This is Ra, the god of the sun.

A falcon, he has the sun on his head.

This is Osiris, the god of the dead.

Anubis was a god who helped the dead.

Anubis is preparing a pharaoh for the afterlife.

What???? We’d better talk about this.

The Egyptians had really big ideas about dying. They felt that you passed

into an afterlife, a world just like the one we live in now, only made just for

people who’d died in this world.

How did you get to the afterlife?

First, you had to…die. Your life in the afterworld was going to be

long, so you needed a good body that was in good shape.

So they made you into a mummy!

Mummification meant that your body would last for thousands of years in the after life. Your body organs were removed, and you were embalmed with fancy herbs and wrapped up with all kinds of spices and amulets.

Your organs were put into pottery called canopic jars.

Then they wrapped you up.

Just sleeping??

People even mummified pets and animals to be there with them in the

afterlife.

Mummified ox

Cat mummies

They took some pretty amazing things with them, too.

These things are all from the tomb of King Tutankhamen.

It was a journey. You would go by boat. So since you needed to make your way there down the river, you got buried with a boat. (And maybe even the guys to row it for you.)

To make it easier, pharaohs had fancy books made of papyrus to show the way, and how to get there. It wasn’t like anybody

came back to tell you how to get to the afterlife; better have a

handbook!

Anubis holds the dead person’s hand to take him to the afterlife. The heart gets weighed; those whose hearts are light enough get to enter. Thoth writes down your name in hieroglyphics, and Horus takes you to meet Osiris. Better hope you had a nice heart! Do you think you’d be scared to meet Osiris? He looks kind of spooky.

That book was called The Book of the Dead,

or The Book of Going Forth by Day.

It told you everything you needed to know about how to make it to

the afterlife and find a happy new life in your new land.

There was an awful lot to know! Good thing the gods could help

you out.

It’s always good to have someone who knows what to expect, so you can get where you need to go or

do what you need to do.

It can be hard when you don’t know what to do, when you are new. What if you got lost? You

might feel scared.

It’s good to have someone to hold your hand when you’re trying to find your

way.

How could you let new kids know what to do when they get to

Roswell North Elementary School?

What if you had a book for them…not a book of the dead, but a Book

of the School?

Your own Book of Going Forth by Day?

Choose a school situation that you can illustrate, to show a new

student how to go about his or her day at

Roswell North.

What are the rules? Who will they see?

Where should they go?

Your job is to make it easy for a new student to find their way

around the school, so they don’t feel lost in a new place.

Look at the Book of the Dead for examples of what to put in your

Book of the School.