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Year 3

Death and the Ancient Egyptians

I can explain how some aspects of the way Ancient Egyptians treated dead bodies changed, whilst others stayed the same.

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New
New
Year 3

Death and the Ancient Egyptians

I can explain how some aspects of the way Ancient Egyptians treated dead bodies changed, whilst others stayed the same.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods; one of these was Anubis, who guided the souls of the dead to the afterlife.
  2. The Ancient Egyptians believed that when they died they would go to the afterlife if they had pleased the gods.
  3. They believed that everybody had a soul, and that when somone was dead, their soul returned to their body each night.
  4. This led them to try and preserve dead bodies with linen and by drying them in sand but with only partial success.
  5. By the end of the Old Kingdom they had started to embalm and mummify the bodies, placing the organs in canopic jars.

Common misconception

That mummification is just a case of wrapping a body in bandages and burying it.

There are several stages in the mummification process, each of which must be done precisely and carefully in order to be successful.

Keywords

  • Afterlife - Ancient Egyptians believed that there was life after death which they called the afterlife

  • Soul - Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul is a part of a human, that it is separate from the body and that it is the centre of feeling and thought

  • Ba - the Ancient Egyptians used the word ba for someone's soul

  • Mummification - preserving a dead body through embalming and cloth wrapping is known as mummification

  • Canopic jars - the Ancient Egyptians placed a dead person's organs inside canopic jars during the mummification process

Pupils will quite likely be familiar with the idea of mummies from halloween costumes, spooky stories, cartoons or movies. Ask them to share their experiences, ideas and opinions on what they already know about mummies and where they have seen them before getting into the detail of the lesson.
Teacher tip

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
If you lived in Ancient Egypt, and you understood how to write hieroglyphs, what job would you most likely have?
Correct Answer: scribe, Scribe
Q2.
What was found near Rosetta in 1799?
an ancient ruin
Correct answer: a basalt stele
a recent shipwreck
an old diary
Q3.
What did archaeologists spend their time doing for more than 20 years after finding the Rosetta stone?
polishing it
photographing it
Correct answer: translating it
displaying it
Q4.
Put these events in the order that they happened, starting with the earliest.
1 - Ancient Egyptians carved text into a stele.
2 - French soldiers went to inspect an old fort.
3 - A chunk of carved rock was discovered in a wall.
4 - The rock was removed and studied by archaeologists.
5 - The rock was part of a stele which became known as the Rosetta Stone.
6 - The text on the stele was translated.
7 - The Rosetta Stone was put on display in a museum.
Q5.
As time passed, why did scribes change the writing system in Ancient Egypt?
They wanted to use less ink.
There were too many different hieroglyphs to remember.
The pharaoh demanded that they changed it.
Correct answer: They wanted to make it quicker and easier to write down information.
Q6.
In Ancient Egypt, what type of writing always used traditional, detailed hieroglyphs?
Correct answer: religious messages
numbers and counting
maps and directions

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What was the Ancient Egyptian word for the soul?
Correct Answer: ba, Ba
Q2.
Which Egyptian god led souls to the afterlife?
Ra
Toth
Correct answer: Anubis
Shu
Q3.
What would you expect to find in a canopic jar?
fruit and vegetables
insects and bugs
gold coins
Correct answer: internal organs
Q4.
Match the words to their definitions.
Correct Answer:pharaoh,a ruler and god in human form

a ruler and god in human form

Correct Answer:mummification,process of the preservation of dead bodies

process of the preservation of dead bodies

Correct Answer:soul,centre of human thought and feeling

centre of human thought and feeling

Correct Answer:hieroglyph,an Egyptian symbol used for writing

an Egyptian symbol used for writing

Q5.
When a dead body is treated with salts, oils and herbs, what is this process called?
Correct answer: embalming
mummifying
burying
entombing
Q6.
What type of cloth were bodies wrapped in in Ancient Egypt?
cotton
Correct answer: linen
silk
wool

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