The Great Pyramids

One of the greatest pyramids was made by King Khufu. One of the pyramids from this time covers 13 acres and is about as tall as a 40 story building. This was built by human hands and camels, with no help of tractors, cranes or any other modern day machinery.

The first pyramid was built in 2700 B.C. The designer was Imhoptep, he did it so he could please King Joser. King Joser had wanted his body to be safe from the tomb robbers. After deep thought Imhoptep came up with the step pyramid. Imhoptep thought it would work, but after King Joser was buried the robbers still found a way into his tomb.

The Great Pyramid of Cheops

After that the Egyptians tried many other things like making the pyramids bigger. Then there was King Cheops when the Great Pyramid was built. It was designed around magic because Cheops believed in magic. It had secret passage ways and was called the giant house of mystery.

They say it took twenty years to make and over 100,000 men, women, and children spent some time on the pyramid. They had to cut the stone and carry the pieces to the Nile River. On the way to the Nile they had to cross a desert where thousands of workers died. Some of the stones were taller than the people carrying them. Then they were put on rafts and boats and floated down the river to the Valley of the Pyramids. The Pyramid was basically a giant maze. There were long and short passage ways, and walks and staircases led to rooms. There were also ones that led nowhere for the grave robbers. The King's tomb was not at the bottom but towards the top with the Queen's chamber below. There were also rooms for the priests and Cheop's riches. The pyramids that came after that were not as great and didn't last because they were made of sand and stone unlike the beautiful limestone that was used on Cheop's pyramid.

Tombs
Much of our knowledge about ancient Egyptian culture comes from archaeological evidence uncovered in tombs. Objects, inscriptions, and paintings from tombs have led Egyptologists to conclude that what appeared to be a preoccupation with death was in actuality an overwhelming desire to secure and perpetuate in the afterlife the "good life" enjoyed on earth. Over the more than three thousand years of ancient Egypt's history, traditional beliefs about the transition to eternal life persisted, with new ideas being incorporated from time to time. Most important for full participation in the afterlife was the need for an individual's identity to be preserved. Consequently, the body had to remain intact and receive regular offerings of food and drink. The afterlife was assured by (1) preserving the body through mummification; (2) protecting the body in a tomb in which the name of the deceased was inscribed; and (3) providing the deceased with food and drink or illustrations of it in case no one was available to make the offerings.

To protect the spirit of the deceased, scenes and inscriptions were written on coffins and the walls of tombs. These texts included such writings as adaptations of the myth about the death of Osiris and spells to protect the deceased on his or her dangerous journey to the underworld. Figures known as shabtis functioned as servants for the deceased. All ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife and spent their lives preparing for it. Pharaohs built the finest tombs, collected the most elaborate funerary equipment, and were mummified in the most expensive way. Others were able to provide for their afterlives according to their earthly means. Regardless of their wealth, however, they all expected the afterlife to be an idealized version of their earthly existence.

Mummies
The Process of Mummification In order to go to the underworld, you had to be mummified or embalmed. First, they would crack the skull and take out the brains through the nose. Then they would put in a liquid and let it dry. Then they would take out all of the organs, except the heart, and put them in special jars. After that, they would replace the real organs with fake ones that were put inside the body where the the old ones use to be. They would wash the body in natron (natron was a salty liquid) and they would dry it with tree sap liquid, so it would be flexible. The priest or mummifiers would then wash the body and oil or perfume the body to make it smell good. They would wrap the pharaoh with 400 yards of linen strips. The priest would chant hymns and add charms and trinkets for good luck. They also would mummify cats, dogs, or any beloved pets. Animals were very sacred to the Egyptians and if you killed one, the sentence was death.

Afterlife
Many Egyptians believed that when someone died, the spirit would go to the afterlife. Usually the relatives would place food, water, and other kinds of precious belongings in the coffin for pharaohs to use in their afterlife. After you died, your heart would be weighed against the feather of truth. All the gods would line up and say a great sin such as: "Did you ever kill a man?" The pharaoh or person would deny any wrongs and Anubis would weigh it. If the heart was light with purity and love, the soul, the person would cross a river where he was greeted by Osiris in the underworld. If it was heavy with sin, Anubis would throw it to a god with the head of a crocodile, and he would gobble it up. This would be a second death that you couldn't escape. In Osiris' world, you

would have joy and never feel pain or sorrow. Also, all the possessions you owned in the other world would be in the underworld.

Rituals
The priest would chant rituals and give trinkets and charms in the tomb to give him good luck on the trial. One charm was a scarab or a winged scarab. It was the nickname of the dung beetle. Also, another charm was an ankh. An ankh symbolized life and prosperity. Other symbols are the steps leading to Osiris, a lotus plant, Horus' eye, and the shen. The priest would then chant hymns or prayers to the gods to ask them to let the pharaoh go into the land. One hymn they would chant would be "Gates of sky, open for Tut, Gates of heaven, open for Tut, Tut comes to you, make him live. The priest could use the name of any pharaoh that died. Hymns and prayers or spells were found in the Book of the Dead. One thing in the book was a trial in which the soul meets the jury of the dead. The hieroglyphics would protect the pharaoh from harm. A good hieroglyphics would be a cat crown with a solar disk. To protect the pharaoh from Apophis, they would show a snake being cut or stabbed which would keep away evil.

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