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.
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.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods; one of these was Anubis, who guided the souls of the dead to the afterlife.
- The Ancient Egyptians believed that when they died they would go to the afterlife if they had pleased the gods.
- They believed that everybody had a soul, and that when somone was dead, their soul returned to their body each night.
- This led them to try and preserve dead bodies with linen and by drying them in sand but with only partial success.
- By the end of the Old Kingdom they had started to embalm and mummify the bodies, placing the organs in canopic jars.
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
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.
To help you plan your year 3 history lesson on: Death and the Ancient Egyptians, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 3 history lesson on: Death and the Ancient Egyptians, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 history lessons from the Ancient Egypt: what stayed the same across 3,000 years? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Starter quiz
6 Questions
Exit quiz
6 Questions
a ruler and god in human form
process of the preservation of dead bodies
centre of human thought and feeling
an Egyptian symbol used for writing