Friday, February 11th, 2011

  Today in class we began researching Egypt. We split into groups of 3 or 4 people to do this. Mr. Schick said that he only graded the scantron portions of our tests so he gave us our grades for that part. We also created gadgets on our blogs to help us get to the websites we often use more easily.

  My partners and I researched the Egyptians pyramids. Ancient Egyptians believed that when the pharaoh died, he became Osiris, king of the dead. Some part of a dead pharaoh's spirit, called his ka, was believed to remain with his body. And they thought that if the corpse did not have proper care, the pharaoh would not be able to carry out his new duties as king of the dead. If this happened, the cycle would be broken and it would bring disaster to Egypt. 


  To prevent this from happening, each dead pharaoh was mummified, which preserved his body. Everything the king would need in his afterlife was provided in his grave-such as vessels made of clay, stone, and gold, furniture, and food. His body would continue to receive food offerings long after his death. To shelter the part of a pharaoh's soul that remained with his corpse, Egyptians built massive tombs. Before the pyramids, tombs were carved into rocks and topped by flat-roofed structures called mastabas.

  There are 138 pyramids, and obviously built by the Egyptian people. It's estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 people worked on the pyramids at Giza over a span of 80 years, and that much of the work probably happened while the River Nile was flooded. The Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence.