Pyramids, Mummies and Daily Life

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Pyramids
Mummies & Mummification
Hieroglyphs
Papyrus
Book of the Dead
Pharaohs
Ra
Daily Life:
Food
Clothing

Pyramids

A pyramid is a massive structure built as a tomb or grave to house and protect the body of a pharaoh for the afterlife and as a monument to honor the pharaoh. It has four triangular sides that meet at a point. Pyramids were made from huge blocks of stone. The largest surviving pyramid is the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Cheops, (located near present-day Cairo). It covers an area of thirteen acres and is made up of two and a quarter million blocks, which each weigh five-thousand pounds on average. Before pyramids were constructed with smooth sides, the sides of the earliest pyramids looked like steps. These stepped pyramids might have symbolized a stairway to heaven which during some periods might have been seen as a way for the dead king to climb up into the sky to become a star.

The stones of the pyramid were cut from rock quarries with tools such as chisels, saws, mallets, hammers, and wedges. Much of the stone used in the construction of the pyramids came from areas very close to the building site so that it did not need to be transported long distances. To make it easier to move the stones to the pyramid they were placed on wooden sleds that were pulled through canals of water leading to the building. No one knows exactly how the large, incredibly heavy blocks were first lifted and then put into place. Some of the different methods that have been suggested are the use of cranes or the use of a complicated system of levers and rockers which were most probably used to position the large blocks. It also seems certain that ramps were used to make it easier to move the blocks. These would have been a great technical achievement in themselves. As the pyramid grew taller the ramps would be extended. Remains of long straight ramps have been discovered, but it is also believed that a series of smaller ramps, forming a type of scaffolding, would also have been used and later discarded.

Mummies and Mummification

A mummy is a dead body or corpse that has been preserved so that it does not rot or decay. The process of preserving the body is called mummification. The Egyptians were extremely interested in mummification because they believed that the dead would need their bodies in the afterlife. They did not believe that death was final. Instead, they viewed it as a prelude to the afterlife. They also believed that everlasting life could be ensured by being pious to the gods, by mummifying the dead, and by providing equipment in tombs for the afterlife. They believed that each person had a life-force or ka, (a word that cannot be translated into English), that continued to live after a person died. It was important to preserve the body so that the ka could still recognize it. The ka needed to return to the body because it was still dependent on food to keep living. Food offerings were left in the tombs which the ka would inhale and the priests would then eat.

The process of mummification involved cleaning the body, inside and out. The organs and intestines had to be removed before the body could be preserved. Using one method, the brain was removed through the nose with an iron hook and the other organs and the intestines were taken out through a cut made in the side of the body. Then the inside of the body was cleaned and the cut was sewn up again. The removed liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines were placed in containers called canopic jars which were placed inside the body cavity or with the body in the tomb. Some of these jars had stoppers shaped like human or animal heads representing funerary gods. It was believed that these gods would ward off evil forces. A natural substance called natron which is mostly made up of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate was used to preserve the body. The corpse was covered with natron for seventy days, then rinsed and washed again, and finally wrapped in several meters of linen bandages. After this process was completed the mummy was placed in a wooden coffin shaped like either a box or a person.

The process of mummification was a ritual with specific steps that had to be repeated each time. The Egyptians believed that one of their most important gods, Osiris, the god of death and resurrection, was the first to be mummified. Because of this tradition the people that oversaw the process of mummification held the title of priests.

Hieroglyphs

The Egyptians wrote with signs called hieroglyphs instead of letters like ours. They were written in lines straight across or up and down without spaces or punctuation marks such as periods or commas. Many hieroglyphs were a kind of picture of what they represented. For example, a bird would be represented by a picture of a bird or the verb "to answer" would be represented by a man with his hand near his mouth. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone about two hundred years ago (1799) was an extremely important clue for our understanding of hieroglyphs. It is a slab of black granite with the same inscription written in three different scripts: Hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek, which helped to translate the hieroglyphs.
One of the keys to unlocking the secrets of ancient Egyptian writing was the 'Rosetta Stone'. Visit the British Museum to read all about the real Rosetta Stone.

Papyrus

Papyrus is a plant that was common in areas of Egypt. The stems of the plant were used to make a writing material similar to paper which is also called papyrus. Papyrus was formed by soaking the stems in water and then cutting them into fairly thin strips. The strips were then beaten flat with a hammer. The flattened strips were placed one on top of the other (not woven together) at right angles and pounded down so that they fused together. These sheets were allowed to dry under a weight before they were attached together to form a roll which was written on. Sometimes the word papyrus indicates a document. Some of these documents are identified by the name of their current or past owner, "Papyrus John Smith," for example.

Book of the Dead

Pharaohs

Pharaoh is the name we use for an Egyptian king. It comes from the Egyptian per-aa or "great house" which in the Bible came out as "pharaoh." The pharaoh was the most important and powerful person in the kingdom. Most pharaohs were men but some well-known pharaohs, such as Nefertiti and Cleopatra, were women. Because the pharaoh was considered a god, one of his most important roles was as a representative between humans and the gods. Religion was not separated from government in Egypt. The pharaoh not only ruled the kingdom, but was also believed to maintain order in the universe. Each pharaoh was given five names that were listed in a specific order: Horus name, Two Ladies name, Golden Horus name, throne name, and birth name. At different times, the most important were the Horus name and throne name or Horus name, throne name, and birth name. Birth names typically ran in families and were repeated. When an individual was made ruler he assumed the other four names.

Pharaohs wore different kinds of crowns. The cone-shaped "white crown" of Upper Egypt and the "red crown" of Lower Egypt, (that looks like a chair from the side with a coil sticking out), could be worn together to signify unification. The pharaoh has also been depicted wearing the nemes head cloth. It is a piece of striped cloth worn tight across the forehead and tied in the back with two strands hanging down at the sides. He would also wear the uraeus, or serpent-shaped image, on his forehead. In addition to a crown the Pharaoh would carry a shepherd's crook and flail that symbolized authority.

Ra

Ra was the sun-god. He was the most important god in ancient Egypt. The sun was believed to be reborn every morning and to change from morning, to noon, to night. He was worshipped under many aspects as the scarab beetle, a falcon, a ram, etc... However, under the Pharaoh Akhenaten he was worshipped only in the form of the sun-disc itself.

Daily Life: Food

We know what the Egyptians ate from pictures painted on tomb walls of food being prepared and eaten and from the remains of food left as offerings in tombs. Bread and beer were the main foods for many people in Egypt. Bread was made from a grain called emmer-wheat. As the wheat was ground into a flour, small bits of stone and sand often got mixed in and made the bread hard to chew. The teeth of many skeletons that remain from the time are worn down from eating the bread. Beer was made from a grain called barley. It was much thicker and more nutritious than the beer that is made now and was considered more of a food than a drink. Workers were paid with food rations. Emmer-wheat and barley were the most important items, but workers also received many of the vegetables that we eat today such as beans, onions, garlic, lettuce, and cucumbers. For all but the most wealthy Egyptians meat was a luxury that was only enjoyed at festivals and on special occasions. (Animals were also used as a source of fat and milk used in making cheeses.) The wealthy also drank wine made from grapes. The Egyptians used honey instead of sugar to make cakes and to sweeten beer.

Daily Life: Clothing

The Egyptians wore very simple clothing made from linen. Linen is made from the fibers of the flax plant which the Egyptians grew. Men of the working classes wore a loincloth or short kilt and sometimes a type of shirt. Women wore straight dresses with one or two shoulder straps. In later periods, the wealthy wore rich, finely woven linen garments. Both men and women used perfumes and oils and wore cosmetics, such as green or black eye-paints. These made the eyes look larger, helped to ward-off eye infections, and also protected them from the glare of the bright sun. They also used ochre for lipstick and as a rouge to color their cheeks and henna to color their hair.

The Egyptians were very concerned with maintaining their hair not only as part of their personal appearance, but also as a sign of their social status. They devised remedies for baldness and graying and washed and scented their hair. Children's hair was shaven except for one or two braids or "sidelocks" worn at the side of the head. Adults sometimes wore hairpieces or full wigs made of real human hair which were frequently elaborately styled.