Ancient Egypt

                                                               
  Pyramids
The ancient egyptians built pyramids as tombs for the pharaohs and their queens.The pharaohs were buried in pyramids of many different shapes and sizes.

There are about eighty pyramids known today from ancient Egypt.

The most well-known of these pyramids was built for the pharaoh Khufu, It is known as the Great Pyramid. It it the only one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world still in existence.


Mummies and gods
Ordinary people were not mummified because it was too expensive only the royal family or top officials could afford it. But archeologists have found millions of animal mummies. These were animals that represented a particular god or goddess. These animals included cats, dogs, birds, baboons and crocodiles.

Osiris
god of the dead
osiris ruled over egyptians and taught them what fruit were ok and what would kill them and how to plant crops and bury seeds. He would wear mummy wrappings to suit his role of being a god and he had green skin to show he was a vegetarian. Osiris was not evil and would not use his powers to get his own way.





Thoth
god of wisdom, time, writing, knowledge
Thoth invented hieroglyphs, the picture writing of Ancient Egypt. He was the person that measured the earth and counted the stars he held all the knowledge and recorded it all in a book.




hieroglyphics used pictures to represent different objects, actions, sound or ideas. There were more than 700 hieroglyphs. Some pictures stood for whole words.

The Egyptians did not write vowels and did not use any punctuation.

Bastet
daughter of Ra, protector of cats
Bastet is the goddess of cats. She has the head of a cat, but originally she had the head of a lion.

The Ancient Egyptians respected cats because they protected the grain from mice and rats. Killing a cat was horrible and you would be truly punished by death



Egyptian buildings

Although ancient Egyptians built their pyramids (tombs) and temples out of stone, they build their palaces and houses out of mud brick. Mud brick is cheap and kept the ancient egyptians warm in winter. Almost all the houses have crumbled to the ground or vanished.