Explore Egypt Online

Transcription

1 Name: KEY Date: Period: World History Mrs. Schenck Explore Egypt Online Focus Question: What is the role of religion in ancient civilizations? Part 1: Creation Myth in Ancient Egypt Go to The British Museum Website on Egypt: Click on Gods and Goddesses, and then click on Story. Go through the Egyptian creation story and answer the following questions: 1. Where did ancient Egyptians think all life began? Nun or Nu the dark waters of chaos 2. Who was the first god in ancient Egypt? Atum 3. How is this creation myth similar and different from the Mesopotamian creation myth? (Remember darkness, clay, flood, etc?) Similar: began in darkness and chaos, polytheism, war, gods created humans, gods explain nature Different: no flood story in Egypt myth, purpose of human (E: children of gods, M: slaves of gods), creation of humans (E: tears of Atum, M: clay) Part 2: Worshipping the Gods many possible answers Go back to Gods and Goddesses, and this time click on Explore. Pick one god to draw a picture of and describe below: God: Thoth What was this god s job?: God of writing and scribes Picture:

2 Part 3: The Journey to the Afterlife Now go to and click on Preparing for the Afterlife. Read the article there and fill in the blanks below. 4. Osiris was such a famous and important god in ancient Egypt because he opened the door of the afterlife to everyone. 5. First, you had to earn a place in Ra s (the sun god) boat to get to the afterlife. To board Ra s boat, your heart had to be light. To keep your heart light, the Egyptians believed you had to spend a lifetime doing good deeds. 6. To earn a place on the boat and travel to the afterlife you had to do three things: a. Enter the hall of Maat b. Write your name down c. Preserve your body 7. What did the Egyptians believe about their two souls? KA life force Day: flies off to enjoy life in the land of the Two Fields afterlife Night: Flies home to the tomb BA personality Day: returns during the day to watch over the living family Night: flies home to the tomb ANKH 8. If something happened to your preserved body, or if your name was not written down somewhere, the Ba and Ka would get lost. They would not come home to your tomb at night and you would disappear forever and not be able to live in the afterlife! This would be the worst punishment to an ancient Egyptian!

3 Now go back to and click on Weighing of the Heart 9. To earn your ride on Ra s boat to the afterlife your spirit had to enter the Hall of Maat. Here the god Anubis weighed your heart. The god Thoth recorded the findings. If your heart was lighter than a feather, you passed the test and entered the afterlife. But, if your heart was heavy because your deeds were dreadful, the god Ammut would suddenly appear and eat your soul! 10. To help Egyptians reach the afterlife safely, many people relied on THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. The Book of the Dead is NOT a book, but a nickname for a bunch of different magical spells written down in tombs or on papyrus to help the soul travel safely to the afterlife. Here is a picture of what the ancient Egyptians thought happened when you died. Based on what you just read, see if you can label the different gods in the picture. The god, Anubis, weighs your heart against a feather. Thoth, god of scribes, records what happens. Your soul, ba. The beast named, Ammut, waits to devour your heart if you are unworthy. Osiris and his wife welcome you to the afterlife!

4 Part 4: Preserving the Body - Mummification Now go to Click on Mummification, and then Mummy Maker. Play the game there to learn more about mummification, and answer the following questions. 11. Why was it important for the body to look as it had in real life? So your soul will recognize your body when it returns to the afterlife 12. Define embalmer: prepared the body for the afterlife mummy: embalmed body 13. The organs were stored in canopic jars, except for the heart, which remained in the body. Put the following steps in the mummification process in order from 1-5: 3 The body is then attended to by the make-up artist who redoes the person s face and fits their wig. Then sacred oils and protective resin are rubbed on the body. Next the wrapping with linen begins. 1 The body is washed in the Nile, and then all organs except the heart are removed from the body. The Egyptians thought the heart was the center of intelligence and not the brain. The brain is thrown away, but the other organs are placed in natron salt to dry out and then put in canopic jars. 5 Final layers of linen and perhaps a mask that resembles the person are placed on the mummy and it is placed in a protective coffin or coffins and finally a sarcophagus. 2 The entire body is covered in natron salt and placed on a slanted board for 40 days until the body has completely dried out. 4 Jewelry and charms are placed within the protective linen wrappings of the mummy to protect them in the afterlife.

5 Part 5: Building a Tomb to keep the body safe! (Pyramids were reserved for pharaohs only, but let s pretend that you are lucky enough to be a part of the royal family!) Click on Back to Ancient History in-depth at the bottom of the page. Now click on Pyramids and Monuments, and then Pyramid Challenge. Play the game, and answer the following questions: 14. Who is the head of the state in Egypt, and what is their job? Vizier oversee the affairs of state, like building the king s pyramid 15. What is the correct combination for building a pyramid? Location: Plateau West of the Nile Slope and Angle: 52 degrees Building Materials: limestone Building Materials: god with the STAR in her head % of Workers: no slaves, 10% craftsmen, 5% officials, 85% farmers Food: potatoes, fish, bread Feed Workers: twice a day Worker s Living Supplies: eye makeup (kohl), pillows, games Days of Rest: one day off every ten days Incentives: extra beer, time off, compete in gangs Part 6 : Plan for your Afterlife! Answers will vary! (If you wish to do the bonus and don t have internet, let me know because I have a hard copy.) You now are ready to Plan Your Afterlife in Ancient Egypt! Go to For each step, write what you purchased, the cost, and why you chose this/these items on the next page. Use what you have learned so far to make wise choices and prove to me what you know!

6 Step 1 Tombs: I chose the, Step 2 Mummification: I chose the, Step 3 Mummy Cases: I chose the, Step 4 Eternity Extras: I chose the, Afterlife Appraisal: How did they rate the items you chose? What would you do differently next time? (At least 4 sentences)

7 Name: Period: World History Mrs. Schenck Use EVIDENCE/INFERENCE STATEMENTS Explore Egypt Online Summary Use what you learned about Egyptian religion from the online activities to answer the following focus questions from this week. Use complete sentences and specific examples from the packet and websites! 1. What do the Egyptian Creation Myth and gods/goddesses tell us about the role of religion in ancient Egypt? Example for this whole page: Based on the evidence that many gods dealt with nature, I can infer that the role of religion in ancient Egypt was to explain why things happened in the world. Egyptians did not have the same science we do today, so they used the sun god to explain why the sun moved across the sky each day. Religion helped them explain the unexplainable. - Helped them explain nature and the world around them - Provided them comfort and meaning - Looked to the gods to control all aspects of their lives 2. How would Egyptian afterlife views have influenced an ancient Egyptians daily life? - Weighing of the heart would have influenced most people to live good lives to get into the afterlife (heart needs to be lighter than a feather) - Mummies and tombs were expensive, might have saved to get a good afterlife - need to have preserved body and name written down 3. How could the Egyptian government use religion to control people? - People thought the pharaoh was a god would have been the chief priest and had to do what he says - Weighing of the heart would have influenced most people to live good lives to get into the afterlife 4. What insights do the mummification and tomb building procedures give us into what was important to an ancient Egyptian? - Your body and second life were just as important as your first life - Body health and well being - Items they took to the afterlife in tombs tell us what was important to them at the time: pleasing the gods, having servants to do work, looking good, money, etc