Pyramid of Khafre
Pyramid of Khufu
“The Great Pyramid”
Pyramid of Menkaure

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Old Kingdom – Period from about 2600 BC – 2200 BC
Time of growth, religion and when the Great Pyramid was built. Pyramids were only built during the Old
Kingdom.

 Memphis was the capital during the Old
Kingdom

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Egyptians believed in many gods/goddesses (deities)
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Polytheism – the belief in many gods
 Re – main Egyptian god = sun god
 Isis – goddess who represents the loyal wife and mother & ruled the underworld with her husband Osiris
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Hapi – ruled the Nile River
Osiris – husband of Isis – ruled the underworld

 Built as tombs for the pharaohs
 All entrances faced north
 Farmers did most of the building during the flood season
 Built without the use of the wheel or iron tools
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Were meant to protect the pharaoh's body, however, attracted robbers and all pyramids were raided and robbed. This is why they stopped building them after the Old Kingdom.

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Imhotep, King Zoser’s chief advisor, designed the first pyramid . This was the first large stone structure in the world. Because of its shape, it is called the Step
Pyramid
The Step Pyramid of Zoser
Imhotep – Architect of the Step
Pyramid. So influential that he was declared a god

 Pyramids were built as tombs for the pharaohs after they died. They were not palaces where the king lived
Explore the Great Pyramid

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Built for King Khufu
Largest of all the pyramids (there are 118 pyramids discovered so far)
Tallest building in the world for over 4,000 years
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Was 481 feet tall, but now only 456 due to erosion and the removal of stone.
Only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing

Boston Custom House

How were the pyramids built?

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365-day calendar with 12 months (basis for modern calendar
Written numbers based on 10 fractions

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Egyptians believed that if the body decayed, the spirit would die.
In order to prevent this from happening, the body is “mummified”

 The body is cleaned with good smelling oils and water from the Nile

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The organs are removed. The heart is not removed because it is the center of intelligence and is needed in the afterlife
The brain is removed and thrown away, its use was not known to the
Egyptians

 The body is covered and filled with natron (salt) which dries the body out

 After 40 days, the body is cleaned and rubbed with oils

 The dehydrated internal organs are wrapped in linen and returned to the body. The body is stuffed with dry materials such as sawdust, leaves and linen so that it looks lifelike

 In early mummies, organs were not returned to the body, but keep in canopic jars
Imsety the human-headed god looks after the liver.
Hapi the baboon-headed god looks after the lungs
Duamutef the jackal-headed god looks after the stomach
Qebehsenuef the falcon-headed god looks after the intestines.

 The arms and legs are wrapped separately. Between the layers of wrapping, the embalmers place amulets to protect the body in its journey through the underworld.

 The arms and legs are tied together. A papyrus scroll with spells from the Book of the Dead is placed between the wrapped hands.

 Finally, a large cloth is wrapped around the entire mummy.
 The mummy is lowered into its coffin. The first coffin is then put inside a second coffin

 It is finally place in the final sarcophagus and placed in a tomb with the person’s favorite possessions. Why?
To have them in the afterlife

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Contained prayers, hymns, and magic spells
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Was buried with a person to help them get to the afterlife
Sections from the Book of the Dead

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Weighing of the Souls
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After a person died, a god (Anubis) would weight the person’s
 soul against the “feather of truth”
If the soul was heavy with sin (heavier than the feather), the person would die a 2 nd death with no afterlife. A soul that was lighter would live a happy afterlife
Anubis weighing a persons heart (soul) against the “feather of truth”

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Some Egyptian gods had the head of an animal and the body of a human

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Amon (Amun) King of the Gods
Anubis
Bast
God of Mummification
Head of a ram
Head of a jackal
Goddess of Protection Head of a cat
Geb
Hathor
Sekmet
Earth God
Sky Goddess
Head of a goose
Head of a cow
Goddess of war and battle Head of a lioness
Horus
Heket
Tefnut
Thoth
Sebek
God of the Egyptians
Goddess of childbirth
Goddess of the rain
Head of a falcon
Head of frog
Head of lioness
God of wisdom Head of an ibis bird
God of swift action Head of a crocodile

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Found, by accident, by French soldiers who were rebuilding a fort in Egypt in 1799.
Had three different languages written on it: Greek, hieroglyphics, and a cursive form of Egyptian writing
Decoded by Jean Champollion who compared the words in
Greek, which we knew, to the hieroglyphics. Took him 20 years!
** Important because before this, no one knew hieroglyphics, it was a lost language. We could now learn much more about Ancient
Egypt