I heard a rumour on the 10th of November that a new Pyramid was discovered In "Sakkara" area, on the next day the rumour was confirmed by the Egyptian press & media, the BBC, and yahoo news.Now Egypt has 118 revealed Pyramids and lots more hidden ones, The Egyptian Antiques Chief thought it to belong to the mother of a Pharaoh who ruled more than 4,000 years ago who is said to be Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti, founder of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom.

For ancient Egyptians, appearance was an important issue. Appearance indicated a persons status, role in a society or political significance. Egyptian hairstyles and our hairstyles today have many things in common. Like modern hairstyles Egyptian hairstyles varied with age, gender and social status.
Children had unique hairstyles in ancient Egypt. Their hair was shaved off or cut short except for a long lock of hair left on the side of the head, the so-called side-lock of youth. This s-shaped lock was depicted by the hieroglyphic symbol of a child or youth. Both girls and boys wore this style until the onset of puberty. Young boys often shaved their heads, while young girls wore their hair in plaits or sometimes did up their hair in a ponytail style, hanging down the center of the back. Young girl dancers used to wear long thick braided ponytails. The edge of the tail was either naturally curled or was enhanced to do so. If the ponytail was not curled at the end, it was weighted down by adornments or metal discs.
Egyptian men typically wore their hair short, leaving their ears visible. Men often kept these hairstyles until their hair began to thin with advancing age. Another hairstyle for men was distinctive short curls covering the ears shaping a bend from temple to nape. It is doubtful that this hairstyle was natural. It was more likely a result of a process of hair curling that was done occasionally.
Women's hairstyles were more unique than those of men. Women generally preferred a smooth, close coiffure, a natural wave and long curl. Women in the Old Kingdom preferred to have short cuts or chin length bobs. However, women in the New Kingdom wore their hair long or touted a wig. Women tied and decorated their hair with flowers and linen ribbons. A stylized lotus blossom was the preferred adornment for the head. This developed into using coronets and diadems. Diadems made of gold, turquoise, garnet, and malachite beads were discovered on an ancient Egyptian body dating to 3200 BC. Poorer people used more simple and inexpensive ornaments of petals and berries to hold their hair at the back. Children decorated their hair with amulets of small fish, presumably to protect from the dangers of the Nile. Children sometimes used hair-rings or clasps. Egyptians wore headbands around their heads or held their hair in place with ivory and metal hairpins. Beads might be used to attach wigs or hair extensions in place.
Egyptians threaded gold tubes on each tress, or strung inlaid gold rosettes between vertical ribs of small beads to form full head covers. The also used combs, tweezers, shavers and hair curlers. Combs were either single or double sided combs and made from wood or bone. Some of them were very finely made with a long grip. Combs were found from early tomb goods, even from predynastic times. Egyptians shaved with a stone blade at first, later with a copper, and during the Middle Kingdom with a bronze razor.
Slaves and servants were not able to dress the same as Egyptian nobility. The way that they adorned their hair was quite different. Commonly, they tied their hair at the back of the head into a kind of loop. Another type of hairstyle was to tie it in eight or nine long plaits at the back of the head and to dangled them together at one side of the neck and face.
In ancient Egypt, men and women used to shave their heads bald replacing their natural hair with wigs. Egyptian women did not walk around showing their bald heads, they always wore the wigs. Head shaving had a number of benefits. First, removing their hair made it much more comfortable in the hot Egyptian climate. Second, it was easy to maintain a high degree of cleanliness avoiding danger of lice infestation. In addition, people wore wigs when their natural hair was gone due to old age. However, even though the Egyptians shaved their heads, they did not think the bald look was preferable to having hair.
Priests were required to keep their entire bodies cleanly shaved. They shaved every third day because they needed to avoid the danger of lice or any other uncleanness to conduct rituals. This is the reason why priests are illustrated bald-headed with no eyebrows or lashes.
There is evidence of influence from other cultures on Egyptian hairstyles. One example is the cultural union of the Roman Empire and the Egyptian empire. There is evidence of a female mummy wearing a typically Roman hairstyle yet the iconography on her death mask was plainly Egyptian. At Tell el-Daba in Egypt, there was a statue portrayed wearing a mushroom hairstyle that was typical of Asiatic males. There is a statue of young woman in the Ptolemaic periods exhibiting a typical Nubian hairstyle consisting of five small clumps of hair.
Wigs were very popular and worn by men, women and children. They were adorned both inside and outside of the house. Egyptians put on a new wig each day and wigs were greatly varied in styles. The primary function of the wig was as a headdress for special occasions, such as ceremonies and banquets.
Wigs were curled or sometimes made with a succession of plaits. Only queens or noble ladies could wear wigs of long hair separated into three parts, the so-called goddress. However, they were worn by commoners in later times. During the Old and Middle Kingdom, there were basically two kinds of wig styles; wigs made of short or long hair. The former was made of small curls arranged in horizontal lines lapping over each other resembling roof tiles. The forehead was partially visible and the ears and back of the neck were fully covered. Those small curls were either triangular or square. The hair could be cut straight across the forehead or cut rounded.
On the contrary, the hair from a long-haired wig hung down heavily from the top of the head to the shoulders forming a frame for the face. The hair was slightly waved and occasionally tresses were twisted into spirals. In the New Kingdom, people preferred wigs with several long tassel-ended tails, while shorter and simpler wigs became popular in the Amarna period.
Wigs were very expensive. People who could not afford to buy wigs had to use the cheaper hair extensions. Hair extensions were often preferred because they could be tied up in the back. Egyptians considered thicker hair as ideal, so hair extensions were also attached to the wigs to enhance ones appearance.
Wigs were meticulously cared for using emollients and oils made from vegetables or animal fats. Those wigs that were properly cared for lasted longer than those without proper care. Although Egyptians preferred to wear wigs and took care of them, they also did take care of their natural hair. Washing their hair regularly was a routine for Egyptians. However, it is not known how frequently Egyptians washed their hair. Wigs were scented with petals or piece of wood chips such as cinnamon. When wigs were not used, they were kept in special boxes on a stand or in special chests. When it was needed, it could be worn without tiresome combing. Wig boxes were found in tombs and the remnants of ancient wig factories have been located. Since it is believed that wigs were also needed for the afterlife, the dead were buried in the tombs with their wigs.
Wigs were usually made from human hair, sheep's wool or vegetable fibers. The more it looked like real hair, the more expensive it was and the more it was sought after. Wigs of high quality were made only from human hair, while wigs for the middle class were made with a mix of human hair and vegetable fibers. The cheapest wigs were made fully from vegetable fibers. Both wig making specialists and barbers made the wigs and wig making was considered to be a respectable profession. It was one of the jobs available to women. People cut or shaved their hair by themselves or went to the barbers. A barbershop scene is depicted in the tomb of Userhet at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, where young men are forming a waiting line, sitting on the folding chairs and tripods while the barber is working.
Egyptians used a material called henna (used for nails and lips, too) to dye their hair red. Scientific studies show that people used henna to conceal their gray hair from as early as 3400 BC. Henna is still used today. There is a body of evidence from paintings that depict the existence of people with red hair, such as the 18th Dynasty Hunutmehet. She had distinctive red hair mentioned by Grafton Smith.
Like today, ancient Egyptians were also facing the same problem of hair loss, and they wanted to maintain their youthful appearance as long as possible. There were many kinds of suggested remedies targeting primarily men. In 1150 BC, Egyptian men applied fats from ibex, lions, crocodiles, serpents, geese, and hippopotami to their scalps. The fat of cats and goats was also recommended. Chopped lettuce patches were used to smear the bald spots to encourage hair growth.
Ancient Egyptians also made use of something similar to modern aromatherapy. Fir oil, rosemary oil, (sweet) almond oil and castor oil were often used to stimulate hair growth. The seeds of fenugreek, that plant herbalists and pharmacologists still use today, was another remedy.
Bibliography
Strouhal, Eugen. Life of the Ancient Egyptians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
Wilkinson, John Gardner, Sir. A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians. New York: Crescent Books, 1988.http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us/challeng/4th/bsfaegy.htm October 19, 2000.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CLOTHING. Dragonstrike Systems Ancient Egyptian Fashion Unity Point School. (1999).
http://www.up140.jacksn.k12.il.us/Egypt99/Wiggs/michelle.htm October 19, 2000. Ancient Egyptian Thematic. Dakota State University Course Material.
http://courses.dsu.edu/ed370/Crispage.htm October 19, 2000. Beauty Secrets of the Ancient Egyptians (Volume I, Number 1). Tour Egypt. (June 1, 2000).
http://egyptmonth.com/mag06012000/index.htm October 19, 2000.http://touregypt.net/mag07012000/mag4.htm October 19, 2000.). Tour Egypt. (July 1, 2000).
http://community-1.webtv.net/Xoxana/DirectEvidenceof/ Direct Evidence of Fair Hair and Blue Eyes Xuxa Thorson. October 19, 2000.
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibitions/egypt/discover/hairstyle.htm Discover Egypt. Seattle Art Museum.October 19, 2000.
Joseph -ChristianAnswers.Net. Christian Answers Network. (1996) Mummies The University of Texas. (December 13, 1999) October 19, 2000.
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/clubmed/mummies.html October 19, 2000. Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum - Hairpin, Comb, and Hair Extensions. Rosicrucian Order, AMORC. (September 13, 1999)
http://www.rosicrucian.org/mus-plan/museum/woncatalog/wighair.html October 19, 2000.
http://pages.ancientsites.com/~Nesnut Hatshepsut/QQ/QQ8/qq.jewelery.html October 19, 2000.
The Social Dimension of Hair Loss. Internet health Library. (1996) They Walked in Beauty -Rotunda Royal Ontario Museum. (1999) 19, 2000.
http://romlx6.rom.on.ca/rotunda/beauty.html October 19, 2000.Picture of a woman wearing headband and wig
http://www.touregypt.net/mag07012000/mag4.htm
http://www.rosicrucian.org/mus-plan/museum/woncatalog/wighair.htm
By Kozue Takahashi

Ancient Egypt had games of all kinds, some for fun and entertainment and the others for fitness. Samples of these games have been found in drawings located in the tombs at Saqqara, plus many others. These pyramids were built nearly 2600b.c.e. and believe it or not we still play some of these games to this day. As well as pictures, board games have also been found in tombs from the same time period. Many of the fitness type games depicted in paintings are of common games such as hockey, which used long palm tree branches for sticks and a puck made from stuffed papyrus in between two pieces of leather. There are also pictures of various types of games that use handballs.
Various types of board games have been discovered such as Dogs and Jackals, Senet or Seega, and others such as 20-squares a similar type of game called 30 and 50 squares. Dogs and Jackals games and pieces have been found in tomb of Reny-Seneb. It’s board was made of wood, ebony and ivory and shaped like a piece of furniture and roughly measuring 15x10cm. It had 4 animal carved legs and the board was made of ivory with a palm tree carved into it with fifty five holes. There were drawers that held the ebony pawns that looked like a jackal and a dog’s head on a stick. Three coins were used to determine movements of the pieces on the board and the first person with all pieces at the end won the game.
Senet is another board game that has been found. One of these games was found in the tomb of Hesy along with painting of it and how to play. The rules of this game were very complex. It consisted of a board with 30 holes, 3 rows and 10 columns. Most of the games used 7 pawns, sticks or knucklebones for each of the two players but some only had 5. During the New Kingdom, the game of Senet had acquired a religious and magical meaning which symbolized the passage of the deceased through the netherworld with his resurrection dependant upon his/her ability to win the game. Since boards games of all quality have been discovered it is needless to say that the games were played by all classes of people in Ancient Egypt.
Bibliography
The Game of Senent, and, Dogs and Jackals by Catherine Soubeyrand www.gamecabinet.com
Ancient Egyptian Sportswww.sis.gov.eg/egyptinf/history/html/sport001.htm
Games of Egyptwww.ipl.org/youth/cquest/middle-east/eggames.html
Shareware computer games of Senet and Hounds & Jackals can be found at www.zdnet.com/downloads
by Casey Boone

In ancient Egypt there were no known words for midwife, obstetrician, or gynecologist. But because ancient Egyptians did not have words for these things does not mean that they did not exist. In Ancient Egypt the midwife came in many forms. For peasants the midwife was a friend, neighbor, and/or family member who helped deliver the baby. For noblewomen and wealthier classes the midwife was usually a maidservant or nurse who already lived in the household. Midwives at this time did not have formal training to learn their trade. Instead they learned by apprenticeships where the knowledge was passed down from family member to family member or from friend to friend. The work of the midwife included providing emotional support, encouragement, medical care, and religious help and protection to women during their lives. The areas that midwives focused on were pregnancy, labor, fertility, and contraception.
Most ancient Egyptian women labored and delivered their babies on the ?cool roof of the house or in an arbor or confinement pavilion, which was a structure of papyrus-stalk columns decorated with vines? (Parsons p. 2). In Ptolemaic times, women from the noble class gave birth in birth houses that were attached to temples. The positions that these women took when they delivered their babies were standing, kneeling, squatting, or sitting on their heels on birthing bricks, or sitting on a birthing chair. The midwife would then be positioned in front of the mother to help the delivery and catch the baby. Two other women or midwives would be placed on either side of the mother to hold her hands and arms while she was pushing and to give encouragement. Sometimes the midwife would place a dish of hot water under the birthing chair so that steam could help ease delivery. The birthing bricks that ancient Egyptian women used were 14 by 7 inches long and decorated with colorful painted scenes and figures of the birth process. Birthing chairs were made of brick and had a hole in the center. They were decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions of the owner and painted scenes of the mother, baby, and goddesses.
Since birth and delivery could be dangerous for both the mother and child, ancient Egyptian midwives used many goddesses and gods for help and protection. Goddesses and gods which ancient Egyptian midwives and women thought would help during pregnancy and birth were Hathor, Bes, Taweret, Meskhenet, Khnum, Thoth, and Amun. Hathor was the guardian-goddess of women and domestic bliss and watched over women giving birth. She took the shape of a cow. Bes was a dwarf-goddess who vanquished any evil things hovering around the mother and baby. Taweret was the pregnant hippopotamus-goddess and the chief deity of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. She carried a magic knife or the knot of Isis. Meskhenet was depicted in the shape of a birthing brick with a human head and gave strength and support to the laboring mother. Khnum was the creator-god who gave health to newborn babies after birth. The god Thoth helped the delivery along and the god Amun helped sooth severe labor pains by blowing in a cool northern breeze (Parsons, p. 3). Statues and pictures of these goddesses and gods were placed throughout room and painted on the walls, birthing bricks and chairs that the laboring women used. Another way that midwives called on divine help and protection during labor was to ?place a magic ivory crescent-shaped wand, decorated with carvings of deities, snakes, lions, and crocodiles, on the stomach of the women giving birth? (Parsons, p. 3).
On the Ebers, Kahun, Berlin, and Carlsberg papyri there are many tests and methods described for fertility, pregnancy, and contraception that ancient Egyptian midwives and women used.
Birth Control:
-Silphium, honey, and natron used for their contraceptive properties.
-Soak cotton in a paste of dates and acacia bark and insert into vagina.
-Acacia, carob, dates, all to be ground with honey and placed in the vagina.
Fertility Treatment:
-A woman should squat over a hot mixture of frankincense, oil, dates, and beer and allow the vapors to enter her.
Pregnancy Tests:
-Emmer and barley seeds, the lady should moisten with her urine every day, like dates, and like sand in two bags. If they all grow, she will bear a child. If the barley grows it will be a male, if the emmer grows it will be a female, if neither grow she will not bear a child.
-Examine the blood vessels over the breasts. Smear the breasts, arms, and shoulders with new oil. Early in the morning if her blood vessels look fresh and good, bearing children will occur. If the vessels are green and dark, she will bear children late.
-Give a women milk from one who had already borne a male child mixed with melon puree. If it made the women sick she was pregnant.
Induce Delivery:
-Place on the woman's abdomen a plaster of sea salt, emmer wheat, and rushes from the Nile River.
Contracting the Uterus:
-Mix the kheper-wer plant, honey, water of carob, and milk. Strain and place in the vagina.
Spells to Assist the Birth Process:
?Come down, placenta, come down! I am Horus who conjures in order that she who is giving birth becomes better than she was, as if she was already delivered...Look, Hathor will lay her hand on her with an amulet of health! I am Horus who saves her!? Repeat four times over a Bes-amulet, placed on the brow of the woman in labor.
?Make the heart of the deliverer strong, and keep alive the one that is coming.?
References:
?Archaeologists uncover 3700-year-old `magical' birth brick in Egypt.? Eurekalert http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-07/uop-au3072502.php 30 Nov. 2002.
Parsons, Marie. ?Childbirth and Children in Ancient Egypt.? Tour Egypt http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mothers.htm 30 Nov. 2002.
?Ancient childbirth seat found in Egypt.? Blueyonder http://www.ancienthistory.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/enter/news/272.htmlhttp 04 Nov. 2002.
?Women's Health and Obstetrics in Ancient Egypt.? Geocities http://www.geocities.com/honda841/Egypt.html 04 Nov. 2002.
?Health?Egyptian Approach to Illness, Pregnancy and Childbirth.? Members http://members.rogers.com/jasthompson/healthinegypt.htm 04 Nov. 2002.
?Ancient Egypt: Medicine-Pregnancy and childbirth.? Reshafim http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad.egypt/timelines.topics/medicine.htm
For an image of Cleopatra giving birth go to http://www.geocities.com/honda841/Egypt.html

Written by Alison Thiele, 2002

The Egyptians believed that disease and death were caused by a god, a spirit, or some other supernatural force. They had shaman-physicians, who would discover the particular entity causing the disease and then drive it out with magic rituals or talismans, as well as medicines. The duties of Egyptian physicians included creating medications, providing magic spells and prayers to provide healing, mending broken bones, dentistry, embalming, surgery, and autopsy. Physicians were often very specialized. ?From the tombstone of Iry, chief physician to a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty, we learn that he was also "palace eye physician" and "palace stomach bowel physician" and bore the titles "one understanding the internal fluids" and "guardian of the anus." (Ead)
A common diseases among the Egyptians was the parasitic disease Schistosomiasis, an infection by the larval worm of a snail. Humans are infected when they come into contact with the free swimming worm, which is released by the snail into water. The worm burrows into the skin and enters the veins of the human host and causes anemia, loss of appetite, urinary infection, and loss of resistance to other diseases.
The commoners also suffered from the injuries and deformities caused by hard labor. They suffered from insect born diseases such as malaria and trachoma, an eye disease, small pox, measles, tuberculosis, and cholera. It is believed that there were occasional outbreaks of the bubonic plague spread along trade routes from the east. They contracted diseases such as trichinae, parasitic worms, and tuberculosis from their livestock. Leprosy, which had originated in Egypt, was relatively rare, possibly because of the immunity that tuberculosis sufferers have. Silicosis of the lungs, caused by breathing in sand particles was a common cause of pneumonia for the ancient Egyptians. The ancient Egyptians also suffered from diet-related ailments such as malnutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, dental abrasion, and ailments normal to all humans such as arthritis.
A great deal of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian medicine comes from the Edwin Smith Papyrus, the Ebers Papyrus and the Kahun Papyrus. The Edwin Smith Papyrus and the Ebers Papyrus date from the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries BCE. These manuscripts are believed to be derived from earlier sources. They contain recipes and spells for the treatment of a great variety of diseases or symptoms. They discuss the diagnosis of diseases and provide information of an anatomy. They detail the ancient Egyptian concept of medicine, anatomy, and physiology. The Kahun Papyrus is a gynecological text that deals with topics such as the reproductive organs, conception, testing for pregnancy, birth, and contraception. Among those materials prescribed for contraception are crocodile dung, honey, and sour milk.
Thanks to the medical papyri, we know of many of the ancient Egyptian treatments and prescriptions for diseases. They call for the treatment of many disorders and the use of a variety of substances, plant, animal, mineral, as well as the droppings and urine of a number of animals. They knew how to use suppositories, herbal dressings and enemas and widely used castor oil.
Honey and milk were used for the respiratory system as well as throat irritations.
Honey, a natural antibiotic, was also widely used to dress wounds.
Aloe Vera was used to treat worms, relieve headaches, soothe chest pains, burns, ulcers and for skin diseases.
Frankincense was used to treat throat and larynx infections, stop bleeding, as well as treating asthma.
Dill was used to sooth flatulence, also for its laxative and diuretic properties.
Caraway was used to treat flatulence and as a breath freshener.
Balsam Apple or Apple of Jerusalem was used as a laxative.
Garlic was believed to provide vitality, sooth flatulence and aids digestion, shrinks hemorrhoids, rids body of spirits.
Camphor tree was used to reduce fevers, sooth gums, and treat epilepsy.
Juniper tree was utilized to treat digestive ailments, sooth chest pains, sooth stomach cramps.
Mustard seeds were used to induce vomiting and relieve chest pains.
Onions could be used to induce perspiration, prevents colds, and as a diuretic.
Parsley was used as a diuretic.
Mint was used to sooth flatulence, aids digestion, stop vomiting, and as a breath freshener.
Sandalwood was used to aid digestion, stop diarrhea, and to treat gout.
Sesame was used to sooth asthma.
Poppy seeds were used to relieve insomnia, headaches, and as an anesthetic.
Thyme was also used as a pain reliever.
Resources:
Majno, Guido. The Healing Hand. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 1975.
Silverburg, Robert. The Dawn of Medicine. Putnam Publishing, New York. 1966.
Dawson, Warren R. The Beginnings, Egypt & Assyria. Hafner Publishing Company, New York. 1964.
Sanders, J. B. Transitions from Ancient Egyptian to Greek medicine. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence. 1963.
Medicine In Old Egypt. Edited and prepared by Prof. Hamed A. Ead.

Geography and Agriculture
The geography of Egypt is deeply important in understanding why the Egyptians centered their lives around the Nile. Both before and during the use of canal irrigation in Egypt, the Nile Valley could be separated into two parts, the River Basin or the flat alluvial (or black land soil), and the Red Land or red desert land. The River basin of the Nile was in sharp contrast to the rest of the land of Egypt and was rich with wild life and water fowl, depending on the waxing and waning cycles of the Nile. In contrast, the red desert was a flat dry area which was devoid of most life and water, regardless of any seasonal cycle.
The Nile in it's natural state goes through periods of inundation and relinquishment. The inundation of the Nile-a slightly unpredictable event- was the time of greatest fertility for Egypt. As the banks rose, the water would fill the man-made canals and canal basins and would water the crops for the coming year. However, if the inundation was even twenty inches above or below normal, it could have massive consequences upon the Egyptian agricultural economy. Even with this variability, the Egyptians were able to easily grow tree crops and vegetable gardens in the lower part of the Nile Valley, while at higher elevations, usually near levees, the Nile Valley was sparsely planted.
Agricultural crops were not the mainstay of the ancient Egyptian diet. Rather, the Nile supplied a constant influx of fish which were cultivated year around. In addition to fish, water fowl and cattle were also kept by the Egyptians. Flocks of geese were raised from the earliest times and supplied eggs, meat and fat. However, the domestic fowl didn't make its appearance until Ramesside times, and then in only very isolated places. The Egyptian farmers, in their early experimental phase, also tried to domesticate other animals such as hyenas, gazelles and cranes but gave up after the Old Kingdom. Cattle were also part of the staple diet of the Egyptians, suggesting that grazing land was available for the Egyptians during the times when the Nile receded. However, during the inundation, cattle were brought to the higher levels of the flood plain area and were often fed the grains harvested from the previous year.
The Egyptian diet was by no means limited to tree crops and vegetables, nor was it limited to an animal or fish diet. The Egyptians cultivated barley, emmer wheat, beans, chickpeas, flax, and other types of vegetables. In addition, the cultivation of grains was not entirely for consumption. One of the most prized products of the Nile and of Egyptian agriculture was oil. Oil was customarily used as a payment to workmen employed by the state, and depending on the type, was highly prized. The most common oil (kiki) was obtained from the castor oil plant. Sesame oil from the New Kingdom was also cultivated and was highly prized during the later Hellenistic Period.

In Ancient Egypt, there were no tools to build with or trucks to move things with. The Egyptians had to use their hands to make big blocks out of different kinds of sand, clay, and stone. After they made the blocks, they pulled them up big ramps onto the pyramid. The largest pyramid ever built was over 450 feet high!! It is called Khufu, but most people just call it the Great Pyramid. It is taller than the Statue of Liberty!! Take a look...

The pyramids are the last wonder of the ancient world - the only ones that haven't been destroyed by time. We can learn a lot about the Ancient Egyptians from what we find in the pyramids.

Pyramids were built in Ancient Egypt as tombs, or burial places, for Egyptian pharaohs, or kings. The Ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife, so it was very important to them to protect the bodies of their pharaohs. In order to keep the body of the pharaoh safe, the insides of the pyramids were like mazes with secret doors and dead-end passages. The pharaoh would be near the bottom or even underground. Other rooms contained things like jewelry and furniture that the pharaoh might want in his next life.

The Ancient Egyptians lived in a narrow strip of land along the Nile River (see picture) because the rest of the land in the region was desert. The Nile River, therefore, was a central part of everyday life in Ancient Egypt. They used it to water the land for farming and to take baths. While you're reading, see if you can find some of the other ways that the Ancient Egyptians used the Nile River.