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Gifts of the Nile

The ancient Egyptians enjoyed many natural barriers. There were deserts to
the east and west of the Nile River, and mountains to the south. This isolated
the ancient Egyptians and allowed them to develop a truly distinctive culture.

The Nile is the world's longest river. It is over 4000 miles long! It is shaped like
the lotus flower so often seen in ancient Egyptian art. Each spring, water would
run off the mountains and the Nile would flood. As the flood waters receded,
black rich fertile soil was left behind. The ancient Egyptian called this rich soil
The Gift of the Nile.

Fertile soil for crops was not the Nile's only gift. The Nile gave the ancient
Egyptians many gifts. Thanks to the Nile, these ancient people had fresh water
for drinking and bathing. The Nile supported transportation and trade. It
provided materials for building, for making cloth for clothes, and even for
making paper - made from the wild papyrus weed, that grew along the shores of
the Nile.

Because of the annual flooding of the Nile, the ancient Egyptians enjoyed a high
standard of living compared to other ancient civilizations. Without the Nile,
Egypt would be a desert.

The Two Lands & King Menes

The early people who settled along the Nile River banded together into two main
groups.

One group lived around the mouth of Nile River, near the Mediterranean Sea.
Their king wore a Red Crown. Their land was called Lower Egypt.

The other group lived near the mountains to the South. Their king wore a White
Crown. Their land was called Upper Egypt.

These two groups had much in common. They spoke the same language. They
worshipped the same gods. They had the same culture. But, they did not get
along. They were always fighting.

Around 3000 BCE, King Menes (also known as King Namer) ruled Upper Egypt.
He conquered Lower Egypt. These two groups continued to fight. One day, King
Menes had an idea. If the colour of a crown was so important, why not invent a
new crown?! King Menes created the Double Crown, a mix of white and red.
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His idea worked. Both Lower and Upper Egypt respected the Double Crown.
They called their land "The Two Lands".

Over time, The Two Lands became known as Egypt.

The Three Kingdoms

Egypt's ancient history covers a huge block of time. Archaeologists noticed

something very interesting. They realized that much Egypt's ancient history
could be divided into three big blocks of time. In each block, all of the pharaohs
behaved in a certain way.

Scientists have named these blocks "The Old Kingdom", "The Middle Kingdom",
and "The New Kingdom".

The Old Kingdom (2700 BCE-2200 BCE): Pharaohs had absolute power and
were considered gods on earth. But that's not why this kingdom is nicknamed
"The Pyramid Age". Pharaohs were buried in pyramids only during this time
period in history.

After building a few pyramids, at great expense to the state, it occurred to

pharaohs that pyramids were rather easy to spot, and thus, much easier to rob
than a hidden tomb. Things changed during the middle kingdom.

The Middle Kingdom (2100 BCE-1800 BCE): The middle kingdom was Egypt's
Golden Age. Trade flourished, arts and literature flourished. Egypt built strong
armies to defend herself against her neighbours. During the time period of the
middle kingdom, pharaohs were expected to be good kings and wise rulers.

Instead of building huge expensive pyramids, when pharaohs died, they were
buried in hidden tombs. These tombs were all over ancient Egypt. Most
probably, there are tombs yet to be discovered by modern archaeologists
because they were hidden so well.

The New Kingdom (1500 BCE-1000 BCE): The new kingdom was Egypt's
expansion period. Egypt expanded her borders through military conquest and
became a world power.

During the time period of the new kingdom, pharaohs were all powerful, and
pharaohs were all buried in the same geographic area called the Valley of the
Kings.

Hieroglyphics
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Over 5000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians wrote things down using a picture
writing called hieroglyphics. The people who did the actual writing were called
scribes.

The scribes had a problem. The ancient Egyptians wrote everything down,
absolutely everything! Although hieroglyphics were very pretty, it took time to
write in pictures.

Scribes needed a faster way to write things down. They created a new form of
writing called Demotic script. The new scribes did not study the old language of
hieroglyphics. They could write much more rapidly with some of the new scripts
they created.

Hundreds of years later, archaeologists discovered beautiful hieroglyphic

writing on the walls of ancient Egyptian pyramids and tombs. The archaeologists
had a problem. They knew hieroglyphics had meanings. Although lots of
archaeologists could read Demotic script, there was no one left in the world who
remembered what the ancient hieroglyphics meant.

It was most frustrating!

It was not until quite recently, a mere 200 years ago, that a stone was found in
Egypt. This stone had the same short story written on it in Greek, in Demotic,
and in hieroglyphics. Scientists could read Greek. Scientists could read Demotic.
And now, scientists could begin to read hieroglyphics. They named this famous
stone the Rosetta stone.

Today, the Rosetta stone is on display for everyone to see. Currently, it makes
its home in the famous British Museum in London.

Obelisk

The ancient Egyptians believed if you did not have your name written down
somewhere, that after your death, you would disappear. Everyone made sure
their name was written somewhere, including inside their tombs and graves.

The pharaohs ordered monuments built so they would be remembered. These

monuments provided places to write their name down in a very public way. Some
monuments were temples. Others were obelisks.

Obelisks were made of stone, and often built in pairs. Each obelisk was at least
70 feet tall and most was taller. Each was decorated with writing telling of the
great achievements of the person each obelisk honoured.
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This information has told us a great deal about ancient Egyptian life.

What is the Great Sphinx?

The Great Sphinx is a large human-headed lion that was carved from a mound of
natural rock. It is located in Giza where it guards the front of Khafra's
pyramid.

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.

The story reads that one day; a young prince fell asleep next to the Great
Sphinx. He had been hunting all day, and was very tired. He dreamt that the
Great Sphinx promised that he would become the ruler of Upper and Lower
Egypt if he cleared away the sand covering its body (the Great Sphinx was
covered up to its neck).

The rest of the story is gone, so you will have to use your imagination to work
out the ending. This stele was put up by the pharaoh Thutmosis IV who lived
around 1400 B.C.
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This is part of the beard of the Great Sphinx. The beard was added during
the New Kingdom- hundreds of years after the Great Sphinx was first carved.

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.

Children were taught to be kind and honest, to respect their parents, to help
with the family business, and to care for the elder members of their family.

It was important that children learn to be caring. The ancient Egyptians

believed in "ma'at" - order and justice. They spent a lifetime trying to be fair
and just at all times.

The ancient Egyptians believed that you could only reach your afterlife if your
heart was light. The only way your heart would be light is if you had spent a
lifetime being kind and honest.

Anyone and everyone, from the pharaoh on down, who made a mistake or lost
their temper made up for it by doing good deeds to balance the scale.

We think you'll be truly amazed at what you will discover about those creative,
clever, curious, hardworking, life-loving, game-creating, light-hearted people -
the ancient Egyptians. We think you'll like them!
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Homes

The ancient Egyptians built homes of sun-dried bricks, made of mud and straw.

To make the bricks, the ancient Egyptians invented brick molds. A mix of mud
and straw was placed into the moulds. Then, the moulds were left out in the sun
to dry. The desert heat dried the bricks for them. They could make a huge
number of bricks easily.

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.

Nobles Homes: Nobles lived in huge villas along the Nile. Some were front with
white limestone, which made the walls sparkle. A few homes were even built with
stone. But stone was difficult to cut and use. Most homes were made of sun
dried brick.

Each villa had 25-30 rooms. Most rooms had a purpose. They had family rooms,
guest rooms, storage rooms, kid’s rooms, and even bathrooms!

Homes had front and back doors. Each door was built about 4 feet off the
ground to reduce the amount of sand and dust. Each door was reached by a
ramp. Rather than stairs, ramps led from one level to another inside the house.

Peasants Homes: A peasant's home was tiny by comparison. Still, it was very
nice. Each peasant family had their own home. When you opened the door, you
entered a courtyard. Inside the courtyard, a ramp led up to the front door of
the house. Some homes had two stories, some had three or more. Ramps were
used to move from level to level. One ramp led up to the flat roof. People often
slept on their roofs. It was cooler and quite lovely sleeping under the stars.

Some peasant’s homes were huge, especially in the country. Nobody cared how
big you built your home as long as you did it yourself in your own spare time.
Since bricks were easy to make, and materials needed to make the bricks were
freely found along the shores of the Nile, it was really up to each individual how
big of a home they wished to have, especially in the country, where people had
more room to build.

Gods & Goddesses

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The ancient Egyptians worshiped over 2000 gods and goddesses. Unlike other
ancient cultures, whose gods looked somewhat like people, most ancient Egyptian
gods had animal heads.

The ancient Egyptians built temples to honour their gods. Each temple was home
to one or more temple gods.

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.

The Afterlife

The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife. The afterlife was a heavenly

place, complete with a heavenly Nile River. The ancient Egyptians called this
heavenly place the land of the Two Fields.

In the beginning, only pharaohs could board Ra's magical boat and travel to the
land of the Two Fields, to dwell forever in the afterlife. But the god Osiris
changed that. One of the reasons that Osiris was such a famous and important
god in ancient Egypt is that Osiris opened the door to the afterlife to
everyone.

Just dying would not get to you the land of the Two Fields. You had to earn a
place in Ra's boat. To board Ra's boat, your heart had to be light.

To keep your heart light, the ancient Egyptians believed you had to spend a
lifetime doing good deeds.

Crime was very low in ancient Egypt because someday, after a good life spent by
the Nile, everyone wanted to board Ra's boat and travel to the land of the Two
Fields to enjoy their afterlife.

There were a couple of other requirements you had to satisfy before you could
spend eternity in the afterlife.

1. First, you had to pass the test of heart in the Hall of Maat. That got
you on board Ra's boat.
2. But you also had to have down somewhere.

3. And you had to have a preserved body.

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Why? Because the ancient Egyptians believed that everyone had a soul. They
called the soul by two names - the Ba and the Ka. As the story goes, the Ba
returned during the day to watch over the living family, while the Ka flew off to
enjoy life in the land of the Two Fields. At night, both the Ba and the Ka flew
home to their tomb, to rest and prepare for the next heavenly day.

If something happened to your preserved body, or if your name was not written
down somewhere, the Ba and Ka would get lost and you would disappear, no
longer able to reach your afterlife.

That's why grave robbing was the most horrible crime in ancient Egypt. Grave
robbers not only stole someone's wealth, they stole their chance to live happily
ever after in the land of the Two Fields.

Mummies

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.

Pyramids & Tombs

It was only during the time of the Old Kingdom that the ancient Egyptians built
pyramids to hold the royal tombs of their kings. Pyramids were huge structures.
Pyramids had storage rooms, courtyards, secret passageways, and all kinds of
fancy traps designed to catch robbers who tried to break into the pyramid to
rob it.

Pyramids were full of treasures. The average person created grave goods to
take with them to their afterlife. Imagine the treasures a pharaoh might feel
were necessary to bring along!

The first pyramid, the Step Pyramid, was built around 2700 BCE, nearly 5000
years ago! Pyramid construction was abandoned after the time of the Old
Kingdom. It was simply too easy to find a pyramid. Grave robbers knew exactly
where the pharaohs were buried, and thus knew exactly where to find riches
and wealth. If you were caught, the penalty for grave robbing was death.
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The ancient Egyptians did not simply build a pyramid, bury a pharaoh, and walk
away. A whole city grew up around a pyramid during its construction. These
cities were called pyramid cities.

The pharaoh provided homes for everyone who worked on the pyramid
construction. People were paid for their work in goods and food and homes.

After a pyramid was finished, the pyramid city continued to exist. Some of the
people who stayed had jobs maintaining and guarding the pyramid. Others, like
bakers and basket weavers, were merchants who created needed goods.