Egypt’s Pyramids: Monuments with a Message
The word "pyramid" actually comes from the Greek word "pyramis,"
which means "wheat cake." The word "pyramis" was used to describe the ancient
Egyptian buildings because they reminded the Greeks of pointy-topped wheat cakes.
The ancient Egyptian word for the pyramids was "Mer." —the
British Museum IntroductionWhat
we know about ancient civilizations comes from what those civilizations left behind.
Sometimes it's a shard of pottery, part of a tool, a piece of jewelry. Archaeologists
scour the earth for such remnants of ancient civilizations to piece together a
picture of the past. But in Egypt there are clues to the past that are hard to
miss: they're six and a half million tons, taller than the Statue of Liberty,
and as wide as 10 football fields. You don't need a trowel and a brush to discover
these artifacts; you can see them from space! Guiding Questions:What
purposes do the Egyptian pyramids serve? (Historically, they house and protect
the pharaoh and his belongings after his death; presently, they lead archaeologists
to evidences and understandings of ancient Egyptian culture.) How do the pyramids
tell us about the peoples of ancient Egypt? Learning ObjectivesAfter
completing this lesson, students will be able to: - Explain the meaning
of the word artifact
- Explain an example of size and scale of the pyramids
- Discuss the purpose of pyramids
Preparing
to Teach this LessonThis lesson plan consists of
three learning activities that build upon one another and should, therefore, be
used sequentially. Activity 1 introduces the students to artifacts and archaeology.
Activity 2 considers pyramids as artifacts and examines the scale of these great
structures. Activity 3 asks students what clues pyramids give us about the ancient
Egyptians. The lesson can be extended by considering other aspects of ancient
Egyptian culture. Review the suggested activities,
then download and duplicate any online materials you will need. For optimal student
engagement, bookmark specific web pages so that students can access relevant online
materials directly; if a computer with Internet access is unavailable, print out
required pages and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing. (See Selected
EDSITEment websites for a guide to locating online materials.) Suggested
Activities 1. That's
an Artifact? 2. Scale of the
Structures 3. Messages in Stone Extending
the Lesson: Messages in Other Media 1.
That's an Artifact? Tell the
students that today they are going to dig into the past to find clues about lost
civilizations. People who do this kind of job have a special name. Does anyone
know what they are called? (Archaeologists, from the Greek word, arkhaio
meaning ancient.) Archaeologists search the
earth for evidence of past civilizations. Like digging detectives, they try to
find clues about how people used to live. Clues can come in all shapes and sizes.
Show the students these artifacts from the following EDSITEment-reviewed websites:
- From Odyssey
Online:
- Carved
wall relief,
Palette,
Sculpture
- From Metropolitan
Museum of Art:
- Haremhab
statue,
Coffin,
Jewelry,
Building
(tomb)
Mention
that all of these things are called artifacts. Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary, a link available from the EDSITEment-reviewed Internet
Public Library, defines "artifact" this way: "something created by humans
usually for a practical purpose . . . an object remaining from a particular period."
Have the class use this definition to give
examples of artifacts familiar to them. Ask students, "When and where have you
seen or heard of these particular artifacts? Where and when did the objects originally
exist?" Then lead students to online examples
of the "artifacts" at the EDSITEment-reviewed African
Studies WWW—beside an automobile
and beside a group of tourists.
Additional Egyptian artifacts may be seen at the Metropolitan Museum site, http://metmuseum.org/explore/newegypt/htm/wk_frame.htm
Ask if anyone knows where we would find the
pyramids. Arrange for the students to locate
Egypt on a map. Have them go to the map
site on the EDSITEment-reviewed resource National
Geographic Xpeditions. On the world map, click on Africa, then click on Egypt
in the northeastern corner of the continent. This will orient them to Africa's
place in the world, as well as Egypt's place in Africa. Odyssey Online also has
a map of Egypt
locating Giza and the Nile Valley. Hand out
to the students blackline printouts of the Xpeditions Africa map and have them
color in Egypt. Have them circle the words El Giza. That's where the pyramids
are that we are going to examine—the Giza plateau. Now
that students have located the pyramids, let them be classroom virtual archaeologists
and find out what the pyramids tell us about the ancient Egyptians. 2.
Scale of the Structures We're going
to look in particular at the Great Pyramid, which was built from about 2589 to
2566 B.C. The largest of the Giza pyramids is Khufu's Pyramid, after the pharaoh—or
ruler—for whom it was built. (Khufu is sometimes known by his Greek name, Cheops.)
The Great Pyramid is the last survivor of
the Seven Wonders of the World, and until the early 20th century was the tallest
building in the world. This pyramid dominates
the plateau of Giza. Students can get an excellent sense of the scale and magnificence
of the pyramids from virtual reality views available through a number of EDSITEment
linked websites. Have the students take a flyby of the plateau by visiting Pyramids:
The Inside Story, on the EDSITEment-reviewed Nova:
Pyramids website. No one is allowed to climb to the top of the Great Pyramid,
but at the Nova site the students can enjoy the 360-degree
view from the top. Building the Great
Pyramid was a huge task. The students can learn about it by watching the flash
animation at the British Museum's Ancient
Egypt site, a link available from the EDSITEment-reviewed Odyssey
Online. To illustrate the size of the Great Pyramid, have the students examine
the dimensions
at the Nova site and at its interactive
photograph: - height—taller than the
Statue of Liberty
- weight—more than 2 million blocks of stone, each about
2.5 tons—the weight of about 25 refrigerators
- steepness of the sides
- width at the base—about 10 football fields.
3.
Messages in Stone Now that the students
know where the pyramids are and how big they are, ask them what these great structures
tell us about the ancient Egyptians by observing and analyzing the following tomb
artifacts from: - University
of Memphis Museum:
- Mummy
case,
Mummy mask,
Mummy
-
- Detroit
Institute of Arts:
- Peasants
Driving Cattle and Fishing,
Ka
aper with Funerary Offerings, Papyrus
of Nes-min, Weighing heart of the dead man
-
- Odyssey
Online:
- Mummy
mask,
Chantress
Mummy coffin
Remind the
students that the ancient Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for their pharaohs.
But what kind of a person would have such a great structure built? (Proud? Self-important?
Powerful? Wanting to be remembered?) See examples
of pharaohs and court dynastic figures available through the EDSITEment reviewed
website, Exploring Ancient World
Cultures, from the Cleveland Museum of Art: Amenhotep
IV , Amenemhat
III, Torso
of Queen Sebekneferu, Tuthmosis
IV, Sestostris
III The pyramids contained rooms
that were filled with expensive objects that were buried with the pharaohs—furniture,
jewelry, games, even food! Why did the pharaohs need such things? (For use in
the afterlife, the world the pharaoh went to after he died.) To
see examples, visit the Objects section from the Metropolitan
Museum's Art of Ancient Egypt, a Web Resource: click
on page 1,Section from a Book of the Dead and page 2, Menna and His Family
Fishing and Fowling, Statue of an Offering Bearer, River boat The
ancient Egyptians had no cranes or machines to help them move and cut the stone
blocks used in the pyramids. They had to do it all by hand. Many of the blocks
weighed the same as 25 refrigerators. Normally it takes two adults to move a refrigerator
around in a kitchen. So your students can guess how big a job it was to move one
of these blocks up onto the pyramid. What does this tell us about the ancient
Egyptians? Ask your students, how do they suppose they were able to move these
huge blocks? The fact that pyramids pointed
upward to the sky delivered another message about the ancient Egyptians. (Explain
that the Egyptians believed that their pharaoh was a god and that he would rise
up and join the other gods after his death. He would symbolically climb the pyramid's
sloping sides to the sky, where he would live forever.) Whether
or not the pharaohs lived forever, their stone structures endure. More than 4,000
years after they were built, the pyramids of the ancient Egyptians continue to
be monuments with a message.
Student Activities
You can now turn back to the guiding questions for this unit: What
do the pyramids and the artifacts found in and around them tell us about ancient
Egyptians' attitudes toward death? What do they tell us about life in ancient
Egypt? You can assign the following activities to individual students or to small
groups to research and present findings to their classmates or to another class.
PDF files provide the questions and basic resources for each group.
- Geographer:
Researches the geographic location of the pyramids, and determines the general
climatic, environmental, and geologic conditions.
- Architect:
Determines the general measurements, material and construction methods used to
build the pyramids.
- Archaeologist:
Identifies objects and artifacts found within and around pyramids. Through careful
observation, description, comparison, and context, determines the function of
these artifacts.
- Historian:
Creates a timeline for the period when pyramids were created. Records rulers,
their dynasty, and identifies other positions held by Egyptians during the time.
Assessment and Wrap-upHave
your students construct an Ancient Egypt timeline. For information and examples
see the chronology
provided by the Exploring Ancient World Cultures site, and the timeline
for the Metropolitan Museum's "The Art of Ancient Egypt" As
a whole class exercise or to assess each group or each student's knowledge, have
students try the following online interactive exercises. If done as a whole class
exercise, you may want to ask your student experts from each group to note any
incorrect answers and to offer their explanations for the correct answer.
British Museum:
Archaeologist:
Pharaoh, Lord
of the Two Lands Challenge [http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pharaoh/activity/main.html]
Architect: How
Big is the Great Pyramid? Challenge [http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pyramids/activity/main.html]
Historian: Shuffling
Time Challenge [http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/time/activity/main.html]
Historian or Whole Class: Underworld
Challenge [http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/mummies/activity/main.html]
Geographer:
The Jeweler
of Memphis Challenge [http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/geography/activity/main.html] Odyssey
Online: Archaeologist: The
Lotus Game [http://www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/EGYPT/daily.html]
Historian: Find
the Pharaoh's Fragment Game [http://www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/EGYPT/people.html]
Whole Class (Mythology): Amulet
Matching Game [http://www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/EGYPT/myth.html]
Extending the Lesson: Messages in Other MediaFor
introducing your students to other aspects of ancient Egyptian culture, see the
lesson plans: Egyptian
Symbols and Figures: Scroll Paintings and Egyptian
Symbols and Figures: Hieroglyphs. Selected
EDSITEment Websites
Standards Alignment
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