What can you find out about Egypt

1
What can you find out about Egypt ?

• How do we know about the Ancient Egyptians?
• Why was the river Nile so important?
• What were their houses like?
• What are hieroglyphs?
• Did the Egyptians believe in God?
• How did they bury their dead?
• What do we know about the pyramids?
• Who was Tutankhamun?

2
How do we know about the Ancient Egyptians ?

• Historians search for evidence or clues to help
  them find out about how people lived long ago.
• Evidence can be
• a drawing on a wall
• A model or statue
• Artefacts from an archaeological dig
• A piece of writing

3
Why was the river Nile so important ?

• The Nile is the longest river in the world.
• Without it, Egypt would be a desert.
• Once a year the river overflows and floods the
  land this is called inundation.
• The black mud left behind is very fertile.Now the
  farmer can plant his crops.

4
What were their houses like?

• All Egyptian houses were made of mud bricks with
  wooden roofs covered with plaster or palm
  branches.
• Most people had one or two rooms, but rich
  people had villas with gardens and pools inside.
• Even rich people didnt have a lot of furniture.
• They used oil lamps to light their houses.

5
What are hieroglyphs ?

• Egyptian writing looked like pictures or signs
  which we call hieroglyphs.
• There are over 700 of them.
• Not everyone was taught how to write.
• They believed writing had special magic powers.
• Hieroglyph means holy writing in Greek. The
  Egyptian name for it was words of the gods.

6
Did the Egyptians believe in God?

• The Egyptians believed in many gods.
• They built temples and had statues made of them.
• Some gods were gentle and some were fierce.
• Each one was linked with a special animal or
  bird.
• Some of the well-known ones are
• Osiris, God of the Next World
• Anubis, God of the Dead
• Re, God of the Sun

7
How did they bury their dead ?

• They used the process of mummification to
  preserve the body.
• The main organs were removed and placed in
  canopic jars.
• The heart remained since they believed that it
  stored all our thoughts and memories.
• The body was placed in natron and later wrapped
  in linen bandages.

8
What do we know about the pyramids?

• The pyramids were built nearly 5000 years ago.
• Most of the pyramids are on the West Bank of the
  Nile.
• The first pyramids were step pyramids.
• Later they were built with sloping sides.
• Pharaohs were buried in them.
• The Great Pyramid would have taken about 20 years
  to build.

9
Who was Tutankhamun ?

• Tutankhamun reigned for a very short time.
• He died in his late teens.
• His tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.
• He is still buried in the Valley of the Kings.