The Egyptians

Mummification  The Egyptians believed in life after death and in order for the person to live after death their body needed to be preserved.  The best way to preserve a body is through mummification. Only the pharaohs (Kings) bodies were mummified.  The Egyptians believed that the pharaohs became gods after they died and needed their bodies for all eternity.

Mummification cont. Priests were the people who preserved the pharaohs body. They would remove the organs and place them in canopic jars. The body was then left to dry for forty days, then wrapped with cloth strips.

Mummification cont. The head of the mummy was covered with a death mask which had the pharaohs face painted on it. The body was then place in a series of coffins called sarcophaguses. The whole process took about seventy days.

The Pyramids Pharaohs built giant pyramids for their bodies to be put in after they died.

The Afterlife Egyptians placed many different items in the pyramids with the pharaoh like: Food and drink, gold, statues, furniture, clothing and the body of the king. They believed the dead king would need all those things while he waited to be sent to heaven.

Tomb Robbers The pyramids were like big signs telling robbers exactly were treasure could be found. The pyramids were robbed and much that was buried with the king was stolen.

Hidden Tombs After all the pyramids were robbed the Egyptians stopped making them. They tried to hide the tombs from the robbers in the Valley of the Kings.

King Tut King Tut was a young boy when he became pharaoh, who died at a young age. King Tut’s tomb is one reason we know so much about the ancient Egyptians. Tut’s tomb was not in a giant pyramid but well hidden in a secret room inside another pharaoh’s tomb. His tomb was never robbed because it was well hidden.