Reading ＆ Writing

Pharaoh Tutankhamun was the most

famous of all pharaohs but very

unimportant as a ruler as his rule was so

short. He ruled for about 8 or 9 years

from 1334 to 1325 BC. So we know more

about him after his death than we do

Reading Task (P82)

NOTE: Pharaoh Tutankhamun

about his rule when he was alive.

The Egyptians believed in life after death.

So they got all the goods they wanted to

have with them in the next life buried in

their tomb. The richer the person, the

greater the number of goods. As

Tutankhamun was a pharaoh, his tomb

was filled with many wonderful treasures.

It also contained statues of gods that

would protect his tomb from evil spirits

or thieves who might steal his treasures.

The walls of the tomb, too, were covered

with spells to preserve the pharaoh till he

got safely to the Hall of Judgement. In

the same way his body inside its three

coffins was protected by four goddesses

of the dead.

By the tomb was a box containing four

jars. They held the internal organs of the

dead pharaoh, which were removed

when he was turned into a mummy. First

his brain was taken out of his head

through his nose. Then his organs were

removed and put into the jars. Only

his heart was left inside the body. Finally

his body was covered in a special salt and

left for forty days to “dry”. After this

time the body was a mummy and was

ready to be wrapped up and buried.

As well as the body there were

instructions in the coffin on how to make

the journey to the afterlife.

Answer key for Exercise 1Answer key for Exercise 1

Object Material Colour Decoration

Boxes Beautifully painted

Two statues / Black

Wearing gold shoes and carrying royal insignia

Chairs Gold Golden With heads of animals and gods

/ /

Flowers / / /Vases / / With beautiful

flower designs

Boxes / Black /Chests / White /Seat / Golden /Cart Gold Golden /

1. How did they know whose tomb it was?

They read his name on a black box.

2. Why do you think they thought these

things came from another civilization?

Because they were so strange and

wonderful---more wonderful than

anyone could imagine.

Answer key for Exercise 2

3. Why did Carter get excited when he

noticed the door to the tomb was still

fastened?

Because it meant that the tomb had

not been opened by thieves.

1. I would have to lock the tomb securely

so that thieves could not steal the finds.

2. I would have to lock the tomb securely

so that the sunlight and temperature

would not affect the finds in the tomb.

Otherwise the finds may be spoiled.

Suggested answers to Exercise 3

3. I would have to lock the tomb securely

so that I could record all the finds

carefully, and I would not want any of

the finds to be moved.

Look at the pictures on P85 and

discuss the questions below them.

The order should be BAC.

The earliest pyramid is B, which is

called step pyramid. It was built during

the Third Dynasty (2800 BC). Step

pyramid is generally considered the

Writing

first tomb in Egypt to be built entirely

of stone anywhere in the world.

The second is A. It was built in about

2,550 B. C., King Khufu, the second

pharaoh of the fourth dynasty,

commissioned the building of his tomb

at Giza. According to archaeologists,

the top of the Khufu pyramid is in a

way ripped off, which is in common with

the first picture. Then the third one is

the third picture. It is called bent

pyramid, which was built for Khafre,

the fourth pharaoh of the fourth

dynasty. The bent pyramid at Dahshur

shows us that the ancient Egyptians

experimented a lot with the slope of the

pyramids. In the middle of construction

the builders must have decided that the

slope of the building was too steep to

continue. Thus, the top half of the

pyramid has a different slope.

The pyramid had sloping sides so that

the dead pharaoh could climb to the sky

and live forever.

The pyramid represented the rays of

the sun.

The first to be built was Pyramid No B.

It has steps up the side, and it looks as if

it was an attempt to build something

that we now call a pyramid shape. The

steps were a way of organizing the

building and making sure that it was

safe. The steps look as if smaller and

A sample version:

smaller boxes were placed one on top of

the other to make the step design. I

think the second to be built was

Pyramid No C, which bends at the top.

It has smooth sides which the architects

could have learned from building the

step pyramid. But the design is clearly

not finished as the curve at the top of the

pyramid is not smooth.

The Egyptian architects have not yet

completely mastered the art of building

pyramids with smoothly sloping sides. I

think the third to be built was Pyramid

No A, which has smooth and evenly

sloping sides. It is the shape that we call

“a pyramid shape” today, so it must be

the final one in this serious of buildings.

From the pictures we can see that the

three pyramids all come to a point at the

top. It is reasonable to assume that the

pharaoh/god was close to the other gods.

The pharaoh’s spirit could escape from

the top of the pyramid and fly up to the

sky, where the gods were thought to live.