THE ART AND - Google Groups
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THE ART AND
SCIENCE
ANCIENT EGPYT
O
F
ZACHARY KING
ASHLEIGH PANAGIOTOU
TABLET OF CONTENTS
EGYPT
THE NILE RIVER
GEOGRAPHY
PYRAMIDS
HIEROGLYPHS
SPHINX
TOMBS
GRAVE ROBBERS
BUILDING THE PYRAMIDS
MUMMIES
BURRIED TREASURE
ANIMALS
MUMMY PAPER
SARCOPHAGI
EGYPTIAN RELIGION
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
TOMB ART
EMBALMING
PAPYRUS
ARCHAEOLOGY
IMAGE CREDITS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
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For three thousand years, the
power of the pharaohs
stretched from the Mediterra-
nean Sea to Lake Victoria, and
the conquests of the Egyptian
people kept a steady stream of
gold, slaves, knowledge, and
goods flowing into Cairo, Nai-
robi, Thebes, Memphis, and Al-
exandria. Each of these cities
blossomed into fountains of a
rich culture that not even a mil-
lennium of nature’s wrath could
destroy. Every year, new dis-
coveries crop up along the Nile
River that astound scientists:
new exam-
ples of ancient script, tombs
full of sophisticated ritual im-
plements, incredibly accurate
lunar calendars, and countless
other pieces of evidence that
show the artistic and scientific
brilliance of the Egyptian race.
This book will discuss the his-
tory of the Old, Mid-
dle, and New king-
doms, and how
they connect
the great leaps
of scholarly
and aesthetic
prowess in
Ancient Egypt.
An Introduction to Background Information
E G Y P T
~1~
The Nile River is the longest river in the world. It flows through
Egypt and into the Mediterranean Sea. The tributary of Lake Vic-
toria in Africa, the Kagera River is considered the water source for
the Nile River.
Most ancient Egyptians lived near the banks on the river. It allowed
them to fish and find food while providing them with fertile soil to
grow food. Because of the desert areas of Egypt, rainfall was very
rare. Every year during the summer, because of huge amounts of
rainfall in other areas of Egypt, the Nile River flooded. After the
floods were gone, black silt lines the sides of the river. The only
place the Egyptians could grow crops was in the fertile soil.
The Egyptians used the river for many other purposes. Reeds,
called papyrus, grew on the banks and were used to build boats
and make paper. Many archaeologists believe that the people used
the Nile to transport the huge stones that make up the pyramids.
The oceans, rivers and other water sources are still widely used to-
day for some of the same rea-
sons the Egyptians used them
The Nile River
This artifact was found in a
tomb inside one of the pyra-
mids. Many of the Egyptians’
boats looked a lot like this one.
They were used to fish, trans-
port goods, and many other
things.
~2~
Egypt is located in Northern Africa, but also includes the Sinai Pen-
insula which connects it to Asia. The Gaza Strip, Libya, Israel, Su-
dan and the Red and Mediterranean seas border the republic.
Egypt is about 386,659 square miles. That’s about 37 times the
size of Massachusetts!
Most land in Egypt is desert, which caused periods of drought,
heat, wind and sandstorms. The Nile River runs through the mid-
dle of Egypt and was a huge part of Egyptian Civilization.
Geography
~3~
PYRAMIDS
~4~
If you were a pharaoh in ancient Egypt, chances are that you would be
buried in a pyramid. When a pharaoh died, the people of Ancient Egypt
believed that awful things would happen to Egypt if they did not care for
the body properly. Ancient Egyptians thought that part of a king’s spirit
stayed in his body for ever after death. To ensure that the spirit would be
cared for, the people built huge tombs, often in the shape of mounds or
pyramids. The kings and queens were buried with valuable possessions
like furniture, jewelry and pottery. Food was given to them as offerings
long after their deaths. Some people were even buried with dolls that rep-
resented their servants.
Some archaeologists today believe
that the Egyptians thought the
shape of the pyramids represented
the rays of the sun. Most of the
118 pyramids that have been dis-
covered had very smooth and re-
flective limestone coverings so that
they would appear to shine from a
distance. All of the pyramids were
built on the West side of the Nile
River. The sun sets in the West so
many Egyptians connected the sun-
set to a place of the dead.
The Great Pyramid of Giza has a
few names, but is the largest and
the oldest of the pyramids of Giza.
Hieroglyphics The English language only uses 26 letters to write every
word in the language. The Egyptians had over 2,000 hiero-
glyphics to write with. Unlike in English where letters are
used to make words for objects, each object in Egyptian life
had a hieroglyphic character. Many of the characters are
easy to figure out because they look like what they are.
For everything else in Egypt that didn’t have a particular
character, the alphabet was used. Characters were used to
spell out any word the person needed. When you were
younger, you may have learned about pairs of letters that
are commonly seen with each other. The Egyptians com-
bined some symbols to create new symbols for pairs of let-
ters. For numbers, the people of Egypt used units of 10,
but each unit of 10 had a special symbol.
Doesn’t the English alphabet seem easy now?
Try writing your
name in hiero-
glyphics! How
did you do?
~5~
The Sphinx “What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the after-
noon, and three legs in the evening? “~The Riddle of the Sphinx
The answer is a human being!
The only image more Egyptian than the pyramids is the serene and
monolithic face of the great Sphinx. Constructed in 2535 BCE by
the great pharaoh Khafra, this great sculpture has been an enigma
as far back as modern history can go. Some scientists hypothesize
that it was constructed in honor of a very old solar goddess, and
others seem to agree that it was simply a gigantic stone guardian
meant to protect the sacred land around Giza. What we do know
about the Great Sphinx is very intriguing—the entirety of the great
body and face were once covered in paint made from local plants
and minerals. Trace elements of the key ingredients in modern day
paints (like ochre, tan, and bright red) have been found using
highly intricate surveying techniques, and evidence even suggests
that the Sphinx was once inside a great temple! Another interesting
fact is that another pharaoh, Thutmose IV, had the statue rededi-
cated to the sun god, Ra, when he was attempting to conform
Egyptian religion under one god (Ra). Scientists discovered this
when they analyzed the tool tracks on several more modern steles
on the site and found them to be much more advanced than the
tools used on the rest of the Sphinx and Pyramids. Ironically, as
guardian of one of the most famous riddles in history, the statue its
self is remarkably adept at keeping is secrets...
~6~
Building the Pyramids
Contrary to popular belief, the people who built the pyramids were not
always slaves. Many of the builders were regular people like yourself
or your parents! They worked for the king and his supervisors for a
period of time, or as their regular day to day job.
Each block in a pyramid weighs from 2-5 tons! Since the people
weren’t super-strong humans, they needed a way to move them.
Many people think that the blocks were moved by placing them on
lengths of wood which were then pulled by the workers. Some of the
blocks were transported along the Nile River. When the time came lift
the blocks up when they were
building the pyramids, ar-
chaeologists believe that the
people used ramps to slide
them up.
Look how small
this man looks
next to some
blocks of a pyra-
mid!
~7~
Mummies The Ancient Egyptian art mummification is probably the best known characteristic of that society, and it has puzzled ar-chaeologists since before the time of Howard Carter. Carter
may have unearthed one of the most famous mummies of all time, but he did not know exactly what he had discovered. In fact, none of the hundreds of people who have found mum-mies know just what is keeping the corpse inside the wrap-pings together. Scientists may have some idea, but we will never know exactly how the Egyptians made mummies.
The first thing that anyone
who knows anything
about mummies knows
is that they are all fa-
mous kings. Wrong!
Back in the 1800s and even 1700s,
there were mummies
everywhere! The only
famous dead bodies
you ever hear about
are the kings be-
cause of the lavish
ways in which they
were decorated—
golden ships, scep-
ters made from
rare woods, and even gem encrusted
headgear. In this section,
we will talk about the
decoration on sar-
cophaguses, buried
treasures, King Tut,
and even some fun facts about mum-
mies that you may
have never heard!
Q: What was paper
made from during short-
ages in the 1800s?
~8~
SARCOPHAGI
Sarcophagus is simply a word
derived from the Greek word for
“flesh eater,” but today it is
taken to mean a box rather like
a coffin, and it is most often
found in the shape of the body
inside it. The Egyptians used
these as a part of their complex
embalming process, and, for
the most part, the glorified
coffins of pharaohs were
encrusted with blue gems
and with gold.
These two materi-
als were very rare in
ancient Egypt, and
they also played and
important symbolic
role by symbolizing
the Nile River and
royalty. Over the
course of Egypt’s
long history, these
boxes were con-
structed from ce-
ramics, metals,
wood, and even
stone, and the decision to con-
struct the sarcophagus from one
of these materials was not
purely aesthetic. Coffin builders
needed to have a great deal of
data to build the perfect
eternal resting place—the acidity
of the burial soil, the relative
moisture in the area, and how
long the coffin would have to
last before it was used. Clearly,
the funeral planners of old were
very scientific when it came to
the details. The special clay that
priests used to seal the sar-
cophagi also served a dou-
ble purpose. It held the
intricate runes that the
mystics believed would
keep the body from
crumbling to dust, and
it also formed a seal
that moisture could
not penetrate. Ironi-
cally, it did exactly
what the Egyptians
thought that it
would, but for the
wrong reasons! Fur-
thermore, none of
the objects sur-
rounding the de-
ceased are meaning-
less: the crossed cane and reed
whip (flail and crook) for maj-
esty; the eagle and eye on the
crown for healing; the eagle
wings for rebirth and the god
Ra; the false beard for
The golden sarcophagus of the most
famous pharaoh of all time—
Tutankhamen.
~9~
~10~
TOMBS The mastaba was the earliest form of Egyptian tombs. These were sin-
gle level structures built with bricks made from mud. Years later, the
people started to build pyramids. These mammoth structures were the
burial places of kings. One of these pyramids contains more than
2,300,000 stones and is 754 feet on each side– the equivalent of 2
football fields! The pyramids were made to last forever to protect the
spirit of the kind buried inside. These early pyramids had no decora-
tions despite their mammoth size.
Pyramids lost popularity in later kingdoms. Underground tombs soon
become the normal burial place of kings. They were decorated with
paintings on the walls, most of which were scenes from the Book of the
Dead. Each tomb looked different and was unique to the individual
buried there. The underground tombs gained in popularity after many
pyramids and other above ground tombs were attractions for grave
robbers.
Noblemen and kings were not the only people in Egypt to be buried in
tombs. Even the working class built decorated tombs for their people
with their varying skills.
The Pyramids of Ghiza were built
as tombs for kings. They were
built by workers in the kingdom
and were made to last forever so
the king’s spirit could live on for-
ever.
Egyptian gods and religion were what
motivated this ancient race to per-
form all of the great deeds they did,
and, surprisingly, the entire system of
religion is based in science. The
power of the pharaoh came from his
supposed connection to the gods, and
first among his ―powers‖ was his abil-
ity to make the Nile River flood every
year. In fact, the basis of all of the re-
birth, life, death, and burial traditions
all have their roots in this annual
flood of the river. Also, the fact that
local wildlife that was reflected in
their gods shows that the Egyptians
knew that the animals and the water
they lived near held the key to the
existence of their civilization. Many
people will remark that Egyptian cul-
ture and religion were very symbolic,
and it is these symbols that tell ar-
chaeologists just how advanced the
ancients were. Without a proper un-
derstanding of the natural world
around them, why would they have
attributed so much power to Ra, the
god of the Sun, and to the pharaoh,
flooder of the Nile, if they did not un-
derstand the very real power behind
both of these unstoppable natural
forces.
Egyptian Religion
~11~
The Book of the Dead is a land-
mark in the cultural history of an-
cient Egypt. Not only is it a huge
compilation of mythical literature,
but it is also the pinnacle of the
Egyptian written language. Each
section is meticulously transcribed
in a long-lasting ink derived from
plants along the Nile, and the
color has likewise been taken
from native plants. Not only were
both the parchment
and the inks engi-
neered to last as long
as possible (because
the deceased were go-
ing to be dead for a
long time), but the pic-
tures show an ex-
tremely detailed ac-
count of one of the
only ancient Egyptian
stories that exist to-
day. The weighing of
the heart against a
feather, the demons
threatening to eat the
soul of the dead, and
the personal interview with Anu-
bis, god of the underworld are all
depicted in a variety of different
styles throughout the Old, Middle,
and New Kingdoms. This work is
not only valuable to art historians,
but it is also very telling of the
state of Egyptian technology. Sci-
entists can trace the development
of the written language by com-
paring different editions of the
text found in the
pyramids at Giza, the
great tomb of Ramses
III, and even the
tombs of minor noble-
men and peasants.
The medium of the
text is also useful to
scholars as it also
shows the rapid de-
velopment of material
science in the ancient
world: clay, stone,
and then papyrus—
one of the most im-
portant scientific ad-
vances pioneered by The book of the dead found in
the tombs of Luxor, Egypt. Paint
on clay tablet.
~12~
For the Egyptians, embalming was their
crowning glory. Without this technique,
they would have been unable to make
their mummies, and we would know very
little about the Egyptian people. However,
this way of preserving corpses shows us a
great deal about the advances in medicine
the ancients made. First of all, the organs
were removed from the body and the blood
was replaced with preservatives, some-
thing that modern-day embalmers learned
from the Egyptians! The fleshy parts of the body
like the intestines and other ―useless‖ things
were all tossed out and replaced with straw.
They did all of these things to make sure that
there was hardly anything left to rot away
other than the skin, which they could coat
in layers of resin and chemicals—a process
that tanners would be familiar with. As you
can see, the Egyptians tell us a huge amount
with their embalming, like how to preserve
meat, preserve the structure of once living
things, and even make sweet-smelling leather!
EMBALMING
The clay jars pictures above, canopic jars, were used to store the organs of the pharaoh so that he
would be able to have fresh, preserved, and whole organs once he reached the afterlife.
~13~
Most of the ancient relics we have from ancient
Egypt come from tombs, and this is a testament to
the technology of the era. For the most part, the
decorations were colored with gold or gems be-
cause paints could not stand the test of time. The
primary building material was stone for very much
the same reason; mediums like wood or clay
tended to break down. The Egyptian priests were
very concerned about the durability of the gifts
their charges were taking into the afterlife with
them, and so they expended a great deal of time
methodically searching for the materials that were
best suited for the 3000 year jour-
ney to paradise and beyond.
The best examples that ar-
chaeologist have today of
buried Egyptian treasure is
from the tomb of King Tutankhamen be-
cause his tomb was relatively undis-
turbed. This means that many of the
beautifully crafted arti-
facts from this snapshot
in time are in pristine
condition and we can
still marvel at the detail
This stele, recovered
from King Tut’s tomb, is
coated in gold and bears
several regal symbols
Another relic from Tut’s
tomb, this chair is a rep-
lica of the throne for Tut
in the afterlife.
~14~
PAPYRUS A HISTORY OF PAPER
Prehistor ic hunter -
gathers use marks on
bone to track the phases
of the moon
Cuneiform, invented by
the Assyrians, is first
written on clay and stone
tablets
Ancient Egyptians invent
papyrus, a paper made
from a Nile reed called
papyrus
Ancient Chinese invent
paper from wood pulp
Indus Valley civilizations
use elephant droppings
and grass to make crude
paper
Parchment, dried animal
skin, makes its debut in
Europe
The printing press makes
written works more
available
Disposal of rags (the ma-
terial used fro paper) is
made illegal in the US
due to shortages
And now, WB Mason can
deliver thousands of
years worth of science on
your doorstep by the
crate full!
Although it is never given as much press
(ha ha) as it should, papyrus was a scien-
tific revolution unto its self. Before it was
invented, everything written was written
on either clay tablets or hunks of stone.
Both of those two mediums are extremely
time consuming to make and write on,
and so official dispatches could be quite a
hassle. Papyrus signaled the birth of
cheap writing materials, and so it could
be used for simple messages from person
to person instead of either relying on a
messenger to get the whole message cor-
rect or a patient and expensive-to-train
mason. This crude form of paper also al-
lowed the privilege of writing to some-
what enter the mainstream. Whether a
language is easy to learn or not does not
matter when the public has to hire a
stonemason whenever it wants to write
something down.
All things considered, the invention of pa-
pyrus was one of the things that made
Egypt great: its people could communi-
cate with relative ease, its scribes could
produce written works in a much more
timely manner, and its scientists could
(and still can) be renowned for the birth
of one of the things that makes it so soci-
ety can function every day.
~15~
Animals
The Egyptians kept pets like cats, dogs,
monkeys and various birds. Many of the
paintings inside tombs in Egypt depict the
animals and creatures of the land. Many
pets are depicted near their deceased own-
ers or at times statues of pets were buried
with the person. Pets were preserved so
that, like humans, they could live on in the
afterlife.
Not only did animals exist in tombs in the
form of art, but also in mummy form.
Mummification was not reserved to people
and some animals have been found mum-
mified in the tombs with their owners.
Some pets were given funerals and burials
that rivaled those of humans.
This dog was mummi-
fied and buried in a
tomb!
~16~
~17~
Egyptian Medicine
If you could choose an ancient civilization to fall ill in, Egypt
wouldn’t be a bad place to do so. Many of the healers in Egypt
were actually quite skilled in comparison to others practicing
medicine at the same time. Because the Egyptians were very reli-
gious, any medicine that was administered was also accompanied
with prayers to the goddess of healing. Their medicines normally
consisted of herbs and other things from their surroundings.
Preventative medicine was popular with the ancient people in
Egypt. Along with prayers and food, amulets were worn to pre-
vent certain diseases and ailments. The amulets were commonly
small statues of animals worn as rings, bracelets and necklaces.
Archaeologists have been romanticized by
such works of fiction as Indiana Jones and
Jurassic Park, but the reality is, archae-
ology is extremely scientific and time-
consuming. If you have your heart set on
becoming an archaeologist, you’ve got to
be able to work with the latest in scientific
breakthroughs like ground-penetrating ra-
dar, pollen analysis, and radio-argon dat-
ing as well as the most basic of tools, like
the shovel, pic, and brush. In the days of
Howard Carter, people could hack away at sandstone in search of gold, but
nowadays, it takes a qualified professional to do a scientific survey of both
sites and recovered artifacts. Using
some of the techniques mentioned
above, scientists can pinpoint ex-
actly when a papyrus scroll was
made or where a mysterious
wooden anchor originated. All of
these clues form an image of an-
cient Egyptian society in which we
can see the true artistic and scien-
tific might of this old, prolific, and
proud civilization. ~18~
Mummy Paper
Around 1855, America was experiencing a
paper shortage because they could not
find enough linen to make the amount
they needed. Americans knew about
mummies in Egypt and a few were parts
of exhibits in museums. Cargo records of
ships around that time started to show
large amounts of rags from Egypt being
imported. Articles even appeared in periodicals
about business men in Egypt exporting mum-
mies from the catacombs to be converted to
pulp for paper.
There are even some reports that the rags from
mummies were not always ideal because of the
oils they were treated with. The paper could
become discolored because of this.
Thankfully, paper is not made of wood pulp.
Fear not, that math paper you just finished has
never been near a dead body! What kind of underwear does a mummy wear?
Fruit of the Tombs!
~19~
~20~
Mummies in America
Around the 1850s, people started im-
porting mummies into America. Now,
mummies appear in many museums so
most people have seen one in their
lives, but to the people in America they
were seeing them for the first time ever.
They were displayed in museums, li-
braries and other public places, includ-
ing storefronts where some people were
allowed to touch them.
New evidence has shown that mummies
were used for paper, brown paint known
as ―mummy brown‖, and that some
were even ground up and used as fertil-
izer.
The tombs of the rich pharaohs were
filled with their treasures and jewelry.
The artifacts in the tombs were ex-
ported to America and sold to the rich.
Now, mummies are still imported to
America but are used for different pur-
poses. Archaeologists are finding out
more about ancient civilizations using
new scientific techniques.
Scientists are using mummies,
like this one, to find out morea
bout people of the past. They use
new techniques like this CT scan
machine to look at mummies in
ways they could not years ago.
Image Credits
Egypt
http://kingtut.org
http://www.travelegypt.com
The Nile River
http://www.sfsu.edu/
http://www.sciencephoto.com
Geography
http://mappery.com/
http://6cancientegypt1.pbworks.com/
Pyramids
http://totalfreewallpapers.co.cc/
Hieroglyphs
http://www.virtual-egypt.com/
http://www.sciencephoto.
The Sphinx
http://openerofways.com
Building the Pyramids
http://www.worldtravelattractions.com
http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/
Mummies
http://kingtut.org
Sarcophagi
http://kingtut.org
Tombs
http://sciencephoto.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Egyptian Religion
http://faqs.org
The Book of the Dead
http://multi.stanford.edu
Embalming
http://democraticunderground.org
http://www.sciencephotolibrary.org
Buried Treasure
http://www.travelegypt.com
http://democraticunderground.org
Papyrus
http://legacy.earlham.edu/
Animals
http://sciencephoto.com/
Egyptian Medicine
http://www.bahariyaoasis.com/
Archaeology
http://historicjamestowne.org
http://www.archaeologydiscoveries.com
Mummy paper
http://sciencephoto.com
Mummies in America
http://sciencephoto.com
~21~
About the Authors
Zachary King
Ashleigh Panagiotou
Ashleigh is also a Junior at the Mass
Academy for Math and Science. In her
free time, she likes to ski, read, and
hang out with her friends.
Zachary is a Junior at the Mass Acad-
emy for Math and Science, and when
he is not constructing FIRST Team
467’s robot, he is probably playing ul-
timate Frisbee or trying to rid the
world of really awful fan fiction.