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The Pyramids
The Egyptians believed that their ruler, the pharaoh, was both a king and a god. The Egyptians believed they would not continue to benefit from the powerful sun and the mysterious Nile River unless their pharaoh made the same successful journey to the afterlife as Osiris. Pharaohs were buried with food and their most treasured objects. The Egyptians believed the spiritual essence of the objects would comfort the pharaoh as he traveled through the underworld. In time, the Egyptians developed a special process call mummification to preserve the bodies of the pharaohs, and constructed huge pyramids to protect the pharaoh once he reached the afterlife. The first pharaohs were buried in the Egyptian sand, but their bodies were easy prey for jackals. Jackals were wolf-like creatures that prowled the desert for decayed flesh. At first, the Egyptian people protected the bodies of the pharaohs by surrounding the pharaoh's graves with mud pits. Later pharaohs were preserved in an elaborate ritual known as mummification and their bodies were placed in great burial chambers called pyramids.
Only the pharaoh and his closest advisors were mummified, because the ancient Egyptians believed only gods could live in the afterlife. Everyone else would live in the underworld where they would be protected by Osiris. Egyptian mummification took about 70 days. The priests who preserved the mummies were required to perform special rituals or ceremonies during the process. The body was cut on the side to remove the intestines, liver, stomach, and lungs. The organs were then wrapped in linen and stored in jars. The Egyptians did not understand the importance of the brain, so priests removed the brain by inserting a special hook through the nostrils to the skull. The hook was swished around, turning the brain to liquid. The brain was then poured out of the skull through the nose.
The body was stuffed for about forty days to drain any fluids. When the stuffing was removed, the body was very dry and smaller than in life. The body was again stuffed with packing, covered in jewels and then wrapped in about twenty layers of linen.
Many of the pharaohs were buried in a set of nesting mummy cases and elaborate stone coffins called sarcophagi. When a pharaoh's mummy was complete, a priest would touch the mouth of the mummy with a stick so that the pharaoh could breathe and speak in the afterlife.
Only the pharaoh and his closest advisors were mummified, because the ancient Egyptians believed only gods could live in the afterlife. Everyone else would live in the underworld where they would be protected by Osiris. Egyptian mummification took about 70 days. The priests who preserved the mummies were required to perform special rituals or ceremonies during the process. The body was cut on the side to remove the intestines, liver, stomach, and lungs. The organs were then wrapped in linen and stored in jars. The Egyptians did not understand the importance of the brain, so priests removed the brain by inserting a special hook through the nostrils to the skull. The hook was swished around, turning the brain to liquid. The brain was then poured out of the skull through the nose.
The body was stuffed for about forty days to drain any fluids. When the stuffing was removed, the body was very dry and smaller than in life. The body was again stuffed with packing, covered in jewels and then wrapped in about twenty layers of linen.
Many of the pharaohs were buried in a set of nesting mummy cases and elaborate stone coffins called sarcophagi. When a pharaoh's mummy was complete, a priest would touch the mouth of the mummy with a stick so that the pharaoh could breathe and speak in the afterlife.
A Final Resting Place
The layout inside of the Great Pyramid of Khufu
The tombs of the early pharaohs were covered with a mud brick slab called a mastaba. The mastaba was a landmark that identified the burial place and allowed the Egyptian people a place to pay their respects to the body of the pharaoh. Imhotep was a brilliant architect who built an elaborate monument for his pharaoh, Zoser, more than 26 centuries before the Common Era. Imhotep placed six mastabas over Zoser's grave. Each mastaba was smaller than the one below it. Imhotep then covered the mastabas with polished white limestone. The result was the Step Pyramid of Zoser, a structure that rose 203 feet into the sky.
The Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, standing almost 500 feet tall, covering an area larger than ninety football fields and containing more than two million stones. The largest of the stones weigh 160,000 pounds and had to be transported more than 500 miles to Giza. Historians estimate that it took over 100,000 workers more than twenty years to build the Great Pyramid. The ancient Egyptians did not have large animals to help them carry the massive stones, and at the time of the construction of the Great Pyramid, the Egyptians had not yet discovered the wheel. The Great Pyramid was probably built by Egyptian farmers who were idle during the season when their farmland was flooded by the Nile River.
The Great Pyramid at Giza is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, standing almost 500 feet tall, covering an area larger than ninety football fields and containing more than two million stones. The largest of the stones weigh 160,000 pounds and had to be transported more than 500 miles to Giza. Historians estimate that it took over 100,000 workers more than twenty years to build the Great Pyramid. The ancient Egyptians did not have large animals to help them carry the massive stones, and at the time of the construction of the Great Pyramid, the Egyptians had not yet discovered the wheel. The Great Pyramid was probably built by Egyptian farmers who were idle during the season when their farmland was flooded by the Nile River.