Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Part THREE = The Egyptians


The Egyptians.

Okay, lets whizz forward a few, well about 50,000 years to Ancient Egypt. You know what that is right?!?
It's where the pyramids are (which are the square pointy buildings in the middle of the desert)... Did you know that the deserts are the remains of seabeds from long, long ago?.. Well they are!


So, what are the pyramids exactly?

Well, they were tombs for the pharoh's kings when they died.

In fact they are very BIG TOMBS, if you ever manage to get to see them!
But why were they SO BIG you ask?

Well, the reason that the pharoh's were put in such an EN-OR-MOUS structure, was that the pharoh's were considered to be gods by their people... so ONLY the BIGGEST would do!

And it WASN'T JUST the pharohs, who were put in the tombs. Along with their bodies, there was put loads of gold, food and wine to feed the pharoh's and to help them when they travelled to the afterlife.

Mummified animals were also put in. This was to keep the pharohs company - so that they wouldn't get lonely! Aaaaaah...

Cats were a very popular animal to be put in, as these were believed to be the embodiment of Bastet, who was the goddess of the sun's warmth and life-giving power. (The Egyptians had an awful lot of gods... Check them out for yourself if you've got a spare hour or so.)

Like the pharohs, the cats bodies were also mummified and put into their own little (aaaaarghhhh) sarcophagus's (coffins) in the pyramids. The most famous mummified cat was found in King Tutankhamun's tomb and was called Tiddles (well, as close as it could be in Egyptian hieroglyphics...)


ALSO, did you know that Tutankhamun is more commonly known as King Tut? Now that name is much easier to say and spell don't you think? (I blame the parents myself!)

Not that long ago, in 1922, King Tut's tomb, which has remained hidden for over 3,000 years, was discovered by Howard Carter and his sponser (and bestist mate... probably...) Lord Carnarvon.

They were very lucky to find it though, as everyone else thought that there was nothing else to find in the Valley of the Kings...

Did they prove everyone wrong or what?!

The amount of treasure that was found totally AMAZED everyone then and since. A lot of this treasure has since travelled the world in mannnnny exhibitions.

Until this time, stories passed through the generations changed with each telling = just like 'Chinese Whispers' really. So the Egyptians invented HIEROGLYPHICS, which is a pictorial alphabet. This became essential to communication as it helped to STOP the embellishment and changing of stories through time.


When first discovered in modern times, the hieroglyphics were thought to be JUST pictures (as if!) But the discovery of the ROSETTA STONE, which had THREE (not just one or two...) different languages on it, which enabled the hyroglyphics to be translated for the very first time!

Stories were also started to be written down on papyrus, a paper like material made from plants. In fact that's where the word paper originates from, papyrus. These written down stories enabled text and pictures to be shared with others = basic communication.