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Ancient Egypt For Kids-- What is needed to reach the afterlife?

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Ancient Egypt For Kids-- What is needed to reach the afterlife?

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To the ancient Egyptians, the Land of Two Fields was a real place. It was a heavenly place. It was the place you went after you died. One of the reasons the god Osiris was so honored in ancient Egypt is because it was Osiris who opened the door to the afterlife for everyone.

It took more than dying to enter the Land of Two Fields. You had to earn your way into your afterlife by doing good deeds while you were alive. The more good deeds you did, the lighter your heart became. If your heart was not light, you could not board Ra's board and sail away into your Afterlife. To avoid any chance of trickery, the goddess Maat weighed your heart after you died. If your heart was not light enough, you were stuck in your tomb forever. But once you were in, you were in. You only had to sail away in Ra's boat once. After that, you had a free pass, and your soul could come and go. There was not a lot of crime in ancient Egypt. Everyone wanted their heart to be light.

There were two other requirements you had to satisfy before you could enter the Land of Two Fields. Not only did your heart have to be light, you also had to have your name written down somewhere, and you had to have a preserved body. That's because the ancient Egyptians believed in a soul. They believed your soul split into two parts after you died. One part, the Ba, flew off every morning to keep watch over your living family. The other part, the Ka, flew off every morning to the Land of Two Fields, to enjoy your Afterlife. Both the Ba and the Ka returned each night to your tomb, so you could get some sleep. In the morning, the cycle started again.

If something happened to your preserved body, or if your name was not written down somewhere, the Ba and Ka would get lost on their way home. You would disappear. You would never again be able to watch over your family, or be able to enjoy your afterlife.

Here what ancient Egyptians needed to do to get to their afterlife:

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Ancient Egypt for Kids - What ancient Egyptians needed to do to reach their afterlife or the Magical Land of Two Fields - Ancient Egypt for Kids

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To the ancient Egyptians, the Land of Two Fields was a real place. It was a heavenly place. It was the place you went after you died. One of the reasons the god Osiris was so honored in ancient Egypt is because it was Osiris who opened the door to the afterlife for everyone.

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The methods of embalming, or treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used is called mummification. Using special processes, the Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay. It was important in their religion to preserve the dead body in as life-like a manner as possible. So successful were they that today we can view the mummified body of an Egyptian and have a good idea of what he or she looked like in life, 3,000 years ago.

Mummification was practiced throughout most of early Egyptian history. The earliest mummies from prehistoric times probably were accidental. By chance, dry sand and air (since Egypt has almost no measurable rainfall) preserved some bodies buried in shallow pits dug into the sand. About 2600 BCE, during the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties, Egyptians probably began to mummify the dead intentionally. The practice continued and developed for well over 2,000 years, into the Roman Period (ca. 30 BCE-CE 364). Within any one period the quality of the mummification varied, depending on the price paid for it. The best prepared and preserved mummies are from the Eighteenth through the Twentieth Dynasties of the New Kingdom (ca. 1570-1075 BCE) and include those of Tutankhamen and other well-known pharaohs. It is the general process of this period that shall be described here.

Mummification Process

The mummification process took seventy days. Special priests worked as embalmers, treating and wrapping the body. Beyond knowing the correct rituals and prayers to be performed at various stages, the priests also needed a detailed knowledge of human anatomy. The first step in the process was the removal of all internal parts that might decay rapidly. The brain was removed by carefully inserting special hooked instruments up through the nostrils in order to pull out bits of brain tissue. It was a delicate operation, one which could easily disfigure the face. The embalmers then removed the organs of the abdomen and chest through a cut usually made on the left side of the abdomen. They left only the heart in place, believing it to be the center of a person's being and intelligence. The other organs were preserved separately, with the stomach, liver, lungs, and intestines placed in special boxes or jars today called canopic jars. These were buried with the mummy. In later mummies, the organs were treated, wrapped, and replaced within the body. Even so, unused canopic jars continued to be part of the burial ritual.

The embalmers next removed all moisture from the body. This they did by covering the body with natron, a type of salt which has great drying properties, and by placing additional natron packets inside the body. When the body had dried out completely, embalmers removed the internal packets and lightly washed the natron off the body. The result was a very dried-out but recognizable human form. To make the mummy seem even more life-like, sunken areas of the body were filled out with linen and other materials and false eyes were added.

Next the wrapping began. Each mummy needed hundreds of yards of linen. The priests carefully wound the long strips of linen around the body, sometimes even wrapping each finger and toe separately before wrapping the entire hand or foot. In order to protect the dead from mishap, amulets were placed among the wrappings and prayers and magical words written on some of the linen strips. Often the priests placed a mask of the person's face between the layers of head bandages. At several stages the form was coated with warm resin and the wrapping resumed once again. At last, the priests wrapped the final cloth or shroud in place and secured it with linen strips. The mummy was complete. The priests preparing the mummy were not the only ones busy during this time. Although the tomb preparation usually had begun long before the person's actual death, now there was a deadline, and craftsmen, workers, and artists worked quickly. There was much to be placed in the tomb that a person would need in the Afterlife. Furniture and statuettes were readied; wall paintings of religious or daily scenes were prepared; and lists of food or prayers finished. Through a magical process, these models, pictures, and lists would become the real thing when needed in the Afterlife. Everything was now ready for the funeral.

As part of the funeral, priests performed special religious rites at the tomb's entrance. The most important part of the ceremony was called the "Opening of the Mouth." A priest touched various parts of the mummy with a special instrument to "open" those parts of the body to the senses enjoyed in life and needed in the Afterlife. By touching the instrument to the mouth, the dead person could now speak and eat. He was now ready for his journey to the Afterlife. The mummy was placed in his coffin, or coffins, in the burial chamber and the entrance sealed up.

Such elaborate burial practices might suggest that the Egyptians were preoccupied with thoughts of death. On the contrary, they began early to make plans for their death because of their great love of life. They could think of no life better than the present, and they wanted to be sure it would continue after death.

But why preserve the body? The Egyptians believed that the mummified body was the home for this soul or spirit. If the body was destroyed, the spirit might be lost. The idea of "spirit" was complex involving really three spirits: the ka, ba, and akh. The ka, a "double" of the person, would remain in the tomb and needed the offerings and objects there. The ba, or "soul", was free to fly out of the tomb and return to it. And it was the akh, perhaps translated as "spirit", which had to travel through the Underworld to the Final Judgment and entrance to the Afterlife. To the Egyptian, all three were essential.

Who Was Mummified

After death, the pharaohs of Egypt usually were mummified and buried in elaborate tombs. Members of the nobility and officials also often received the same treatment, and occasionally, common people. However, the process was an expensive one, beyond the means of many.

For religious reasons, some animals were also mummified. The sacred bulls from the early dynasties had their own cemetery at Sakkara. Baboons, cats, birds, and crocodiles, which also had great religious significance, were sometimes mummified, especially in the later dynasties.

The Study of Mummies Today

Ancient writers, modern scientists, and the mummies themselves all help us better understand the Egyptian mummification process and the culture in which it existed. Much of what we know about the actual process is based on the writings of early historians such as Herodotus who carefully recorded the process during his travels to Egypt around 450 BCE. Present-day archaeologists and other specialists are adding to this knowledge. The development of x-rays now makes it possible to x-ray mummies without destroying the elaborate outer wrappings. By studying the x-rays or performing autopsies on unwrapped bodies, experts are learning more about diseases suffered by the Egyptians and their medical treatment. A better idea of average height and life span comes from studying the bones. By learning their age at death, the order and dates of the Egyptian kings becomes a little clearer. Even ties of kinship in the royal line can be suggested by the striking similarities or dissimilarities in the skulls of pharaohs that followed one another. Dead now for thousands of years, the mummy continues to speak to us.
Websites and Books on Ancient Egypt, 2012 (PDF)
Anthropology Outreach Office, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

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Egyptian Mummies | Smithsonian Institution

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The methods of embalming, or treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used is called mummification.... Learn more

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Originally published in 1991, this popular best-seller has been out of print for many years. With bold graphics, charming, rhyming text, and solid educational content, Hieroglyphs from A to Z explains the hieroglyphic code while imparting important facts about ancient Egypt.

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Ancient Egypt: Old Kingdom: Learn about the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egyptian history, also known as the Pyramid Age. This page has a list of the kings of the Old Kingdom, as well an many of the queens, princesses and princes.

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Hatshepsut was the longest reigning female pharaoh. Under her reign, Egypt prospered. Known as "The Woman Who Was King," the Egyptian economy flourished during her time as pharaoh. She directed the construction and repairs of many buildings, memorials, and temples. However, upon her death, her successors tried to erase any memory of her. While the goal may have been to eradicate her from memory, these attempts only fueled the desire of modern civilizations to know more about her. More than 3,000 years after her death, archaeologists were intrigued and mystified as they attempted to locate and identify her remains.

Born in 1508 BC, Hatshepsut was the only child born to Egyptian king Thutmose I and his principal wife and queen, Ahmose. When Hatshepsut was twelve years old, her father passed away. She married her half-brother Thutmose II, and assumed the role of principal wife and queen. She remained Thutmose II's queen until he passed away fifteen years later, leaving Hatshepsut a widow at age 27. Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had one child together - a daughter named Neferure. Thutmose II also had a son, Thutmose III, born to a concubine. Thutmose III was an infant upon Thutmose II's death, so Hatshepsut served as his regent. Eventually, she stepped up and assumed the role of pharaoh.

This was highly unusual at the time. Egypt's gods had supposedly decreed that the king's role could never be fulfilled by a woman ruling on her own. But Hatshepsut refused to submit to this and in around 1437 BC, she had herself crowned as pharaoh, changing her name from the female version Hatshepsut - which means Foremost of the Noble Ladies - to the male version, Hatshepsu.
Relief of Hatshepsut and her husband, Thutmose II. Photo Credit: Kenneth Garrett
During her reign as pharaoh, Hatshepsut was often depicted in a male form, with a beard, male body, and wearing the traditional king's kilt and crown. This was likely due to a lack of words or symbols to portray a woman with a pharaoh's status, and not due to a desire to trick people into thinking she was a man.
The Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. Image source:
As pharaoh, Hatshepsut reestablished trade routes that had been disrupted Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC). She was also responsible for the first recorded attempt to transplant foreign trees, when she brought thirty-one live myrrh trees from Punt. She commissioned hundreds of building projects throughout Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Her buildings were considered to be much grander than those of her predecessors, and many of her successors attempted to claim them as their own. Hatshepsut's greatest building accomplishment was a mortuary temple built in a complex at Deir el-Bahri, located on the West bank of the Nile. This is considered one of the architectural marvels of ancient Egypt.
Hatshepsut's son, Thutmose III, tried to have all traces of her wiped from history. Image source: Wikipedia
Twenty-two years after taking her reign as pharaoh, in around 1458 BC, Hatshepsut died, aged in her late 40s. She was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, in the hills behind Deir el-Bahri. She had her father's sarcophagus relocated into her tomb as well, so they could lie together in death. After her passing, Thutmose III, Hatshepsut's stepson, claimed the role of pharaoh, ruling for 30 years beyond Hatshepsut's death. It was Thutmose III who demanded that evidence of Hatshepsut's rule be eradicated. He arranged for her image as pharaoh to be removed from temples and monuments. It is likely that Thutmose III wanted to remove any evidence that they had been led by a strong female ruler. For this reason, scholars knew very little of Hatshepsut's existence prior to 1822 AD, when the hieroglyphics on the walls of Deir el-Bahri were decoded.

Upon discovery of her existence, there was much speculation and wonder as to the location of her remains. In 1902, archeologist Howard Carter discovered Hatshepsut's sarcophagus, but it was empty. Many years later, Dr. Zahi Hawass began searching for Hatshepsut's mummy. First, he searched her tomb in the Valley of the Kings, known as KV20. This is the same tomb that had been cleared many years earlier by Howard Carter. When he did not find anything, he moved onto another tomb, located at Deir el-Bahari, near Hatshepsut's famous mortuary temple, known as DB320. While this tomb did not date back to Hatshepsut's reign, it was a tomb where many royal mummies had been reburied after their tombs had been ransacked during the 21 st and 22 nd Dynasties. While Thutmose I, II, and III were all discovered at DB320, Hatshepsut was nowhere to be found.
Remains of Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut Identified (28/05/07): A DNA test of a single tooth was key to solving one of the greatest mysteries of ancient Egypt. Image source Featured image: Hatshepsut by Sources: catch22/deviantart .
Dr. Hawass visited one final tomb within the Valley of the Kings, known as KV60, where two mummies had been discovered by Howard Carter. After several tests and scans, with no answers, Dr. Hawass was unsure how to proceed with identifying the mummies. He then remembered a small box which he thought might contain a decomposed internal organ. Upon scanning the box, he discovered the organ was accompanied by a tooth. The researchers reviewed the scans of the female mummies and discovered that one of the mummies had an empty tooth socket, to which the discovered tooth was a perfect match. Further testing was conducted, and through the power of modern forensic science, the mummy was positively identified as Hatshepsut in 2007.

The identification of Hatshepsut's mummy was an archaeological wonder. While her son had gone to great lengths to erase Hatshepsut from memory and from the pages of history, modern science has ensured that this did not happen.

Hatshepsut's ascent to power - Biography.com. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/hatshepsut-9331094#ascent-to-power

Hatshepsut - History.com. Available from: http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/hatshepsut

Hatshepsut - Discovering Egypt. Available from: http://discoveringegypt.com/ancient-egyptian-kings-queens/hatshepsut/

Tooth solves Hatshepsut mummy mystery - The Guardian. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/27/egypt.science

Hatshepsut - Encyclopedia Britannica. Available from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/256896/Hatshepsut

The Quest for Hatshepsut - Zahi Hawass. Available from: http://www.drhawass.com/events/quest-hatshepsut-discovering-mummy-egypts-greatest-female-pharaoh

Hatshepsut - Wikipedia. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut

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Hatshepsut was the longest reigning female pharaoh. Under her reign, Egypt prospered. Known as "The Woman Who Was King," the Egyptian economy flourished during her time as pharaoh. She directed the construction and repairs of many buildings, memorials, and temples. However, upon her death, her successors tried to erase any memory of her.

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Ancient Egypt History - First Dynasty - 04

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Pharaoh is a city-building game set in Ancient Egypt and is now classed as Abandonware (see below). The player begins by constructing a settlement and then building progressively grander cities until attaining the rank of Pharaoh. There are 38 missions in total including monument building and military exploits. I've run this game on my Windows 7 laptop without any problems
http://www.gameswin.org/gameen.php?id=173
Abandonware is computer software such as an operating system , word processor, interactive game that is no longer marketed or distributed by the company that created. Copyright holders rarely enforce their abandonware copyrights for a number of reasons - chiefly among which the software is technologically obsolete and therefore has no commercial value.

Bringing Ancient Egypt to Life

My talk at Nature in Art was great fun, with a marvellous audience of over 50 people and we all had a good time. Must do it again sometime.

A History of the World in 100 Objects

Statue of Ramesses II
Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, considers the achievements of Ramesses II, a ruler who built monuments all over Egypt, inspired a line of future pharaohs and was worshipped as a god a thousand years later. He looks at how this statue helped define the image of imperial Egypt and talks to sculptor Antony Gormley about creating monumental works of art.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/ahow/ahow_20100212-1000a.mp3

King Tut and Sacred Scarabs

The San Diego Natural History Museum - Dr. Michael Wall says ancient Egypt isn't the only culture to incorporate bugs into religion.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB-MUvIObJM&w=560&h=315]

More than 1000 glyphs including 400 Egyptian word examples and over 500 hieroglyphs from the Gardiner list. The history of Egyptian writing and mathematics, the use of the different types of symbols, how to write your name, how to recognize kings names and the story of the scribe.

All content can be printed including typewriter and calculator functions. There are also navagation and search text functions. You can quickly write names and short secret messages and then select print from the menu.

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#41 The Game Pharaoh - Discovering Ancient Egypt

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Pharaoh is a city-building game set in Ancient Egypt and is now classed as Abandonware (see below). The player begins by constructing a settlement and then building progressively grander cities until attaining the rank of Pharaoh. There are 38 missions in total including monument building and military exploits.

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Kids Section - Life in Ancient Egypt - Work - Nobles and Priests

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Kids Section - Life in Ancient Egypt - Work

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Facts About the Ancient Egyptian Nile Delta Area

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The Nile River in ancient times emptied into the Mediterranean through several distributaries, which helped deposit the river's sediment over a broad area, allowing the ancient Egyptians to farm. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus recorded seven main distributaries around 484 to 424 B.C.

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How to Build a Pyramid for a School Project | Book Fair | Pinterest | School projects, Pyramid school project and School

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How to Build a Pyramid for a School Project