The Pharaohs

Of Egypt

By: Henry Wolf

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Table of Contents

Introduction: Page 3

Life as a Pharaoh: Page 3

Clothing, Makeup, and Jewelry: Page 4

Religion: Page 5

The Egyptian Creation of the World: Page 5

Death and Burial: Page 6

Pharaoh Burial Sites: Page 6

Conclusion: Page 7

Glossary: 8

Bibliography: 9

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Did you know pharaohs weren’t called pharaohs until the

18th dynasty? The word pharaoh means “great house”. In this paper

you’re going to learn many different facts about pharaohs. The

main topics of this paper are life as a pharaoh, clothing, jewelry,

make-up, religion, death, and burial. While you’re reading this paper

it might not a bad idea to sit back, put your feet on the table, and

grab a cup of coffee (or any other drink you enjoy).

If you were a pharaoh what do you think it would be like?

Here is a paragraph explaining that. A pharaoh got to live in a

giant and finely decorated palace. The pharaoh was the ruler of

both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Though, the pharaohs

always had to watch out, because there was always the threat of

assassination. Luckily, he had officials, servants, and slaves to

make sure he was safe at all times. The pharaoh’s slaves were

generally prisoners of war. The pharaoh had to run the

government, military, and religion. He (or she) was also in charge

of charging taxes. Since the pharaohs were military leaders they could attack another

country in an attempt to conquer it. If they won the battle, the people of the land had to give

them their finest goods, along with the land, and all the people of the land. It sure wasn’t easy

being pharaoh, but they sure had an awesome life.

Fun Fact:

A pharaoh’s full title was actually

five different titles: Horus, Two

Ladies, Golden Horus, King of

Upper and Lower Egypt, and

Son of Re.

Fun Fact:

Pharaohs could be boys or girls.

Most pharaohs were boys, but

some girls, like Hatshepsut (who

ruled in the 18th dynasty), have

ruled Egypt.

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Do you ever wonder what a pharaoh wears every day? They must have had awesome

robes. Well, let’s find out. They wore a great deal of make-up, and both male and female

pharaohs would wear false beards. There were many different types of jewelry they could

wear. Often, they wore lots of jewelry at the same time. A pharaoh often wore a white linen

kilt to cover up the bottom part of his body. He didn’t usually wear anything on the top.

Some pharaohs had their foes painted on their sandals so that they crushed them with every

step. The pharaohs also had a great selection of crowns like the red crown of Upper Egypt,

the white crown of Lower Egypt, the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, the

Feathered Crown, the Atef crown, and the blue war crown. A pharaoh would also wear an

ureaus (cobra) on his crown to symbolize power. It showed he was ready to strike at his

enemies. He would also hold a flail and a crook in his hands to symbolize power. Pharaoh’s

sure did have a large selection of clothing.

http://orford.tased.edu.au/ancient_egypt2.htm

Uraeus Some of a pharaoh’s crowns Flail & Crook

www.ancient-egypt.org

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You may not like church or temple, but a pharaoh’s life depended on it. The first

Egyptian pharaoh was either the god Re or Narmer (also known as Menes). A pharaoh was

thought to be a human form of the god, Horus. The pharaoh was the high priest of every

temple. He made sacrifices, ran rituals, constructed new temples, and really did anything else

that would please the gods (it was his job to please the gods). Egyptians didn’t really

sacrifice much except cattle (rams, cows, bulls, etc.). Pharaohs were worshiped like gods.

Since, they were worshiped like god’s people often blamed them for a bad harvest, drought,

or disease. The Egyptians life was based off of religion; their job was to please the gods.

There were temples everywhere. The temples were where the gods dwelled. The pharaoh

Amenhotep IV got rid of all the Egyptian gods except Aten (the sun). He changed his name

to Akhenaten which meant Aten is satisfied. After Akhenaten’s death, Tutankhamun

restored the original beliefs (both Akhenaten and Tutankhamun ruled in the 18th dynasty). It

was probably hard for pharaoh’s to please all the gods, because there were thousands of

them.

The Egyptian Creation of the World

At first, there was only Nun. Nun was the dark waters of chaos.

One day, a hill rose up out of the waters. This hill was called Ben-Ben.

On this hill stood Atum, the first god.

Atum coughed and spat out Shu, the god of the air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture.

Shu and Tefnut had two children. First, there was Geb, the god of the earth.

Then, there was Nut, the goddess of the sky.

Shu lifted Nut up so that she became a canopy over Geb.

Nut and Geb had four children named Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys.

Osiris was the king of the earth and Isis was the queen. Osiris was a good king, and he ruled over the earth for many years.

However, everything was not well. Seth was jealous of Osiris because he wanted to be the ruler of the earth. He grew

angrier and angrier until one day he killed Osiris.

Osiris went down into the underworld and Seth remained on earth and became king.

Osiris and Isis had one son called Horus. Horus battled against Seth and regained the throne.

After that, Horus was the king of the earth and Osiris was the king of the underworld.

The End Story from http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/gods/story/main.html

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You may not be excited to die, but pharaohs were. They got to go to the afterlife.

When a pharaoh died he was mummified and buried in a tomb (whether the tomb was a

pyramid, a rock outcrop in the Valley of the Kings, or a tomb someplace else). He (or she)

was buried with everything he (or she) would need in the afterlife. All pharaohs were

mummified because they could afford the process. When a pharaoh was mummified, pretty

much the same thing happened in the embalming process except that amulets were wrapped in

the linen, and the pharaoh was given a death mask to wear. The more money a pharaoh had,

the more decorated his mummy would be. Not all pharaohs were buried in pyramids. The first

pyramid was built for the pharaoh Djoser (from the 3rd dynasty). They stopped building

pyramids at the end of the Middle Kingdom. Many pharaohs (after the Middle Kingdom)

were buried in the Valley of the Kings). Some pharaohs had ships in their tombs. The early

pharaohs likely had their servants and animals executed and buried in their tombs with them.

Don’t you wish you could go to the afterlife? It’s probably awesome!

Map from Google Earth

(I added the Key, Pyramids, etc.)

Some popular burial sites for pharaohs

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Wow! Aren’t pharaohs interesting? I hope you liked learning about pharaohs as much

as I did. The main topics of this paper were life as a pharaoh, clothing, jewelry, make-up,

religion, death, and burial. For further reading check out my bibliography page!

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Glossary

Conquer - take over

Dynasty – A sequence of rulers from the same family. Every time a new family

comes to the throne there is a new dynasty.

Executed – murdered, assassinated, or killed

False – fake

Flail & Crook – Flail – used to separate grains from their husks

Crook – helps to gather and move flocks of

sheep

Together they showed that a pharaoh watched over and cared for his people.

Foe – an enemy

Horus – An Egyptian god

Re – An Egyptian god

Restored – brought back into existence

Slave – a person who is owned by another person

Tomb – an excavation in the ground for the burial of a corpse

Uraeus – A cobra pharaohs wore on their crowns. It showed he was ready to

strike at his enemies.

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Bibliography

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://school.eb.com/comptons/article-9574422query=pharaoh&ct=

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pharaoh/home.html

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/special/lifeas/pharaoh.html

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/egyptianpharaohs/

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.historyonthenet.com/Egyptians/pyramids.htm

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.siumich.edu/chico/mummy/who.html

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptCredit.4.3.html

Davis, K. C. (2005). Don't Know Much About Mummies. Harper Collins Publishers.

Edwards, R. (2006). Who Was King Tut? New York: Grosset & Dunlap.

Nardo, D. (2005). King Tut's Tomb. Farmington Hills: KidHaven Press.

Powell, J. (2011). The Gruesome Truth About The Egyptians. New York: Windmill Books LLC.

Putnam, J. (2011). Pyramid. New York: DK Publishers.

Smith, M. (2010). Ancient Egypt. New York: Kingfisher.

Tyldesley, J. (2007). Egypt. New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

Weitzman, D. (2009). Pharaoh's Boat. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Williams, M. (2011). Ancient Egypt Tales of Gods and Pharaohs. Somerville: Candlewick Press.