Some questions we can now answer from our trip and a textbook about Egypt:
Page by Emma
Questions: Answers:
-How did religion influence every aspect of ancient Egyptian life?
In this papyrus scroll, you can see this scene where Anubis is weighing the dead person’s (inside scale, small) heart to see if the heart’s sins are heavier than an ostrich feather. If it is, the heart is thrown to Ammit, the frightening beast-dog god, where he devours it. It the heart is lighter; the soul of the dead person is let into the Afterlife.
-What are 3-5 characteristics of the ancient Egyptian religion/belief system?
-Why and how where the pyramids built, and how does it connect to the Egyptian religion/belief system?
As Elaine and I (Emma) stayed in Egypt, we saw how daily life worked in Egypt and noticed that religion influenced a lot of things. First of all, the pharaoh was thought of to be a god on Earth that was protecting Egypt, and so the Egyptians treated him with extreme respect. Also, Egyptians worshipped many gods to help them throughout their day, as they worshiped Re and Hapi (sun and river gods) for good crops, etc. Another thing that Egyptians did was bury their royal dead exquisitely. They buried their royal dead in HUGE pyramids and with all of the dead’s stuff for the afterlife where their soul was thought to live after they died. Egyptian life was based apon their religion.
This is Ra the sun god
Anubis the god that guards the gate to the Afterlife
5 characteristics are……. -Complex rituals -Polytheistic beliefs -Respected gods -Precise afterlife –Myths/legends
Pyramids where built to be a resting place for the pharaoh’s souls, or their “house of eternity”. Their personal belongings were placed in the tomb as the Egyptians believed that the pharaoh’s soul would be happier with its worldly belongings. Pyramids were also great places to bury pharaohs because they protected the body from floods, storms, robbers, etc. Pyramids where built by farmers (only when the river was flooded and no farming could be done), surveyors, carpenters, engineers, and stonecutters. There are many steps to building a pyramid, starting with finding the perfect spot for the structure. Then the workers found stone to make into stone blocks to build with. The stone blocks were then moved to the building site by barges. The blocks where then placed on each level of the pyramid, until the very top where there was a special golden block that looked like the pyramid. Each pyramid took years to build, but the Egyptians certainly felt that it was necessary for their pharaoh as her was considered a “god on Earth”.
Pyramid Diagram
-How do you make a mummy?
There are easy steps to making a mummy below, or you can watch this awesome video that Elaine and I (Emma) reenacted from what we saw in Egypt! Press the button to go to the video, scroll down to see the steps.
1. Wash the body.
2. Pull brain out through nose using a hook (The Egyptians considered brain unimportant).
3. Make a cut in the left side of the body.
4. Remove all internal organs. Let them dry out.
5. Place the lungs, the intestines, the liver, and the stomach in canopic jars to preserve them. Place them in the tomb for the pharaoh to use later in the Afterlife.
6. Place the heart back inside the body, as the heart was thought to be needed in the Afterlife.
7. Rinse the inside of the body with wines and spices.
8. Cover the body in natron or salt for 70 days.
9. After 40 of those 70 days, stuff the inside of the body with linen or sand to give it a more human-shape.
10. Wrap the body from head to toe in bandages when the 70 days are up.
11. Place amulets anywhere on the body to assist the pharaohs soul in the Afterlife.
12. Finally, place your newly made mummy in a beautiful sarcophagus and place the sarcophagus in the pharaoh's tomb.
