The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt

The pyramids of ancient Egypt are probably the best known landmarks on earth. The Great Pyramids of Giza are undoubtedly the most famous and most visited but there are a number of other pyramids dotted around Egypt.

The first pyramid structure was built by King Djoser, a pharaoh of the third dynasty at a place called Saqqara. It is not classed as a true pyramid because the sides are stepped rather than true slopes as in the Great Pyramids. The stepped pyramid of King Djoser was, in a way, the prototype for the real thing. It had an enormous complex that surrounded it that included ceremonial rooms, courtyards, a temple with an altar, and what experts think was a dummy tomb. The complex represented ancient Egypt’s capital city of Memphis so that even in death King Djoser had his beloved city to govern.

The pyramid itself was, and still is, a solid structure that had distinctive stepped sides. These are thought to represent a symbolic ladder to the heavens so that the dead king could join the famous gods of ancient Egypt. The coffin was lowered into its resting place through a shaft under the actual pyramid although when the complex was excavated no coffin or body was found.

The fourth dynasty saw the progression to the more common pyramid form with straight sides. The three major pyramids of ancient Egypt stand on the plateau of Giza and were commissioned by the fourth dynasty pharaohs Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu

This is the largest of all the pyramids within Egypt. When it was in its prime it stood an astonishing 140m (460ft) high with the length of each side at the base also being 140m. These dimensions were probably very significant to the kings of ancient Egypt although their exact meaning has now been lost. Today the pyramid is slightly smaller because the wonderful limestone casing that once enshrouded the pyramid has been stripped away over time.

Khufu’s pyramid differs from those built before it and those that came after it in that his burial chamber was actually in the body of the pyramid as apposed to underneath it. This may have been because Khufu realised that tomb robbers had managed to plunder the burial sites of the pharaohs before him and so wanted to encase himself in an impenetrable fortress. Unfortunately he underestimated the ingeniousness of the tomb robbers!

The Pyramid of Khafre

This is the second largest of ancient Egypt’s pyramids and is built on the same lines as the earlier Great Pyramid although the burial chamber is located just below ground level and not in the actual pyramid. The builder of this pyramid, Khafre, is thought to be the king responsible for the other famous landmark from ancient Egypt, the Sphinx, as it is seen to be a part of his burial complex.

The Pyramid of Menkaure

Although still large compared to the pyramids in other complexes around Egypt, Menkaure’s pyramid is only half the size of the other two. The reason for this is still unclear although it has been suggested that the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre used up much of the available building material and much of the royal wealth. Menkaure still managed to make his pyramid unique though by adding elaborate decoration to the walls of the burial chamber and the corridors leading to it.

There are many other pyramids from ancient Egypt still standing today but the Giza Pyramids show the building process at its pinnacle. Shortly after the end of the fourth dynasty the pharaohs changed from pyramids to rock-cut tombs, many of which have been discovered in the Valley of the Kings.

It has often been said that the pharaohs of ancient Egypt used thousands upon thousands of slaves to build the pyramids. However it is now generally accepted that the ‘slaves’ were in fact willing volunteers that worked at the pyramid complex for around 6 months to a year before returning to their families and former professions. When they left and returned home a new set of volunteers took over their roles. However, you may well ask why anybody would volunteer for such demanding work!

One of the most important things to an ancient Egyptian was being granted access to the Afterlife where everything was perfect and you never had to struggle. However in the Old Kingdom, which was the pyramid building age, only the pharaoh was able to converse with the gods and so being in favour with the pharaoh meant being in favour with the gods. Thus by volunteering to help build the pharaohs burial complex they were hopefully guaranteeing their own entry into the Afterlife.

For more information concerning the pyramid texts of Ancient Egypt check out Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts:

Myth and Magic in Ancient Egypt

Myth and magic were always linked throughout the history of ancient Egypt. The majority of the myths associated with ancient Egypt involve the pantheon of gods that the people truly believed existed. The myths and stories were still being told when the Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt at some time around 450BCE, even though they first appeared written in ancient hieroglyphs in the tomb of the first pharaoh Menes in 3200BCE.

The stories of magic are contained in the written literature of ancient Egypt and are generally intertwined with the myths of the gods. The Egyptians used magic to harness the natural laws and forces of the universe to promote their own personal end. The magic started with the gods who were considered to be the workers of wonder.

So by believing in the myths of the gods and their activities, the ancient Egyptians embraced the divine magic to improve their lives and their Afterlife when it came. The aim was to gain the ability to command their deities to appear when they desired them to and then to work for them. This was thought to be achieved when:

• A priest-magician incanted a specific set of words.
• A certain precious stone was carried on the person.
• A precise word or sentence was written on papyrus.

Another way that was very popular was to charge a small figure or image of the god you wished to invoke with magical power, by means of an oral rite recited over the figure to ensure the magic would be effective. In this way you could make certain that you benefited from the luck of the mythical god you had specifically summoned.

So for example, pregnant women who were due to give birth would summon the hippopotamus goddess Taweret, who provided protection during pregnancy and labour. This would have been done either by channelling the power of the goddess into a clay figure of a hippopotamus, or by drawing a hippopotamus on the pregnant woman’s hand that she then licked off!

Nearly everything in ancient Egypt revolved around the mythological gods, and so anything that an individual could do to win their favour was done without hesitation. They obviously believed that magic rituals and incantations could get the attention of the gods because the Book of the Dead contains hundreds of magical verses that could be copied to your tomb walls if you were wealthy enough to have a tomb, or on to a bit of papyrus that was buried with you if you weren’t wealthy. The chosen verses would help you to pass the tests of the gods and gain entrance to the mythological Afterlife that every single Egyptian believed in.

Even when the line of Egyptian pharaohs came to an end, the people still believed that they had to be mummified and buried properly with magic incantations and rituals in order to make it to the Afterlife and the realm of their mythical gods.

Egyptian magic and mythology was rooted in the complete reliance of the Egyptian people on the waters of the River Nile and on the sun. The stories and legends are still alive, and the practice of magic to invoke the gods is still relevant today.

Akhenaten the Pharaoh

Akhenaten ruled over ancient Egypt for a total of 17 years (1350-1334 BCE) during the 18^th Dynasty. He was the third pharaoh of the dynasty and is known by many today as the Rebel King.

Akhenaten was born with the name Amenophis IV but changed it during the 6^th year of his reign in honour of his chosen religion, the Aten. From the fourth year of his reign until he died and the power of ancient Egypt passed to his only son Tutankhamun, Akhenaten dictated to his country as an all powerful pharaoh. He outlawed reference to all other religions except that of the Aten and even went as far as destroying temples dedicated to other gods and disbanding the priesthood of Amun, the major religion of the time.

Was Akhenaten really a monotheist?

Ancient Egypt is famous for its pantheon of gods, however Akhenaten was only seen to worship one, the Aten. There are hieroglyphs that suggest he believed in others though, even if he didn’t openly worship them. He often compared himself and his royal wife Nefertiti to the gods Shun and Tefnut, the children of the sun-god which would suggest that he believed these gods actually existed.

Then why did he enforce a monotheist religion on the people of ancient Egypt?

There are several theories regarding why Akhenaten changed the religion of ancient Egypt so drastically.

• Some say that Akhenaten wanted to revert back to the ways of the Old Kingdom Pharaohs who were seen as divine intermediaries between the gods and the people. This status would have given him more power and respect in the eyes of his people as he would have been recognised as the son of god.

• A second theory suggests that Akhenaten was doing nothing more than playing a political game. Many of the rulers before him used the priesthood and administrative powers to rule the country and the priesthood in particular became wealthy and powerful enough to challenge Akhenaten’s position as ruler of ancient Egypt. By moving Egypt’s religious centre from Thebes to his own city of Akhetaten in Amarna and outlawing the worship of every other god including that of Amun, Akhenaten undermined the priesthood of Amun and took away any power they had. They had the choice of converting and worshipping the sun-god Aten or leaving the religious service altogether. In this way Akhenaten gained control over the only force that could threaten him.

The man

Akhenaten’s radical changes to the established religion and the fact that he built himself a virgin city away far from the major cities of ancient Egypt did nothing to help his popularity. His people saw him as a distant king who was more concerned with himself and his relatively small band of followers than the country in general and he soon lost their confidence.

He was a very family orientated man and is often seen in relief’s with his royal wife Nefertiti and their six daughters. Nefertiti is often shown as being the same size as Akhenaten which would suggest he saw her as his equal; another first in the history of ancient Egypt. Akhenaten had a number of wives but only Nefertiti and his second wife Kiya, who was the mother of Tutankhamun were ever shown.

It is thought that Akhenaten spent most of his reign in the city of Akhetaten rather than travelling around his own country and abroad. Because of this, his relations with his own people suffered as did his relations with the people of foreign lands. In addition, a number of the lands that had been captured by pharaohs before him were lost because Akhenaten spent more money on the building of his city than on the army and the defence of the land and so ancient Egypt lost its reputation as a nation to be feared.

Akhenaten damaged the foundations at the heart of ancient Egypt and it took a number of years for the nation to recover. He left it with unhappy subjects, a huge financial debt, a poorly equipped army and a magnificent city that nobody wanted!

What actually happened to Akhenaten’s body still remains a mystery. Some say it was found in the coffin belonging to his mother in tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings but others dispute this. It may be that we never know what happened to the rebel king.

Akhenaten’s city – Akhetaten

When Akhenaten began his reign as Pharaoh of Egypt, his administrative centre and his government were based in the city Memphis is the north of the country - whereas his religious centre was at Thebes in the south. This is how things had been throughout the 18^th Dynasty up until Akhenaten took power.

However, within four years of Akhenaten becoming Pharaoh, he had started work on a virgin city that was to become the centre for both his government and his alternative religion, and it was this dramatic change that gave this famous individual the name of ‘the rebel king’.

Akhenaten’s city was named Akhetaten, which is thought to mean ‘the horizon of the Aten’. It was based on the eastern shore of the Nile virtually equidistant from Memphis and Thebes, in the area called Tel-el-Amarna. Building began at the end of Akhenaten’s fourth year in power, and the proposed boundaries were marked with three commemorative stelae that were clearly inscribed with Akhenaten’s original birth name Amenophis IV. By year 6 the centre of the city was complete, as was the Great Temple of Aten, and it was at this point that Akhenaten officially changed his name in honour of the religion that was to become the principle religion of Egypt – the Aten.

Even though the centre of the city was finished and the royal living quarters were habitable, Akhenaten and his family did not make Akhetaten their official residence until year 8 of the rebel king’s reign.

Akhetaten itself was semicircular, with a length of around 7 miles. It was bounded by the Nile in front and desert cliffs around its sides, which made it an ideal location for a capital city. The centre of the city consisted of the lavish royal residence, the administrative buildings and other official quarters and of course the Great Temple of Aten. There was also a smaller temple for the use of the royal family, and this was connected to the main temple by the ‘house of the King’ – the Pharaoh’s state office.

It is thought that Akhenaten pushed for the building work on his new city to be completed so quickly that a lot of it was substandard and had to be constantly repaired and altered over the next few years. After the central section of Akhetaten was complete, work was started on the houses of the important officials such as the vizier (prime minister) and the army commander.

These houses, like every house in Akhetaten, would have been square in plan and they would have had an average of 40 rooms - including a huge main hall, living quarters, sleeping quarters, bathrooms, a courtyard and extensive gardens. Each house would also have had separate living quarters for the servants and other household help. The main houses would have been incredibly luxurious, with only the best furnishings and linen. Each of these houses was enclosed by a high wall, making them into individual estates; however as the city grew less important, people began to build houses in between the estates so that the plan of the city was ruined.

The rest of Akhetaten gradually spread out from the central section with a mixture of houses, the size of which depended on the wealth of the owner. Akhetaten had very little structure, and looked like the hastily built city that it was. The whole city only took around 8 years to complete, and the standard of building was poor throughout. This did not trouble the Pharaoh however, because (it is thought) he knew his city would be abandoned when his reign came to an end.

Both the north and south ends of the city had a private residential palace with gardens, pools and shrines to the Aten. These abodes were mainly ceremonial, and had the effect of projecting the presence of Akhenaten all around the huge city.

In the east of the city was the workmen’s village that housed the state workers commissioned to build and decorate the Pharaohs tomb. Today there is still a lot of uncertainty about the location of Akhenaten’s burial place; some say it has been found in the Valley of the Kings while others dispute this. It may be that the mystery is never solved with certainty, and so the exact fate of the rebel king may never be known.

His city, however, was quickly abandoned and dismantled in the reign of his son Tutankhamen, and most of the building materials were ironically used to rebuild temples dedicated to the religions he tried so hard to destroy.

Religion in the Time of Akhenaten

Akhenaten was the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt for a total of 17 years, from 1350-1334 BCE. Before his reign the main religion and god of Egypt was Amun although each district within the country would also worship their own chosen lesser gods. The main temples of each city were the Temples of Amun and the priesthood worshipped the god Amun exclusively.

However this all changed early in the reign of Amenophis IV, later to be called Akhenaten because he chose to elevate the little known form of the sun-god Ra, the Aten, to the divine status of King of Gods. This was done by placing the name ‘Aten’ in a double cartouche which gave the identity ‘king’ and ‘god’ however Akhenaten also put his own name into a double cartouche which suggests he thought of himself as both a king and god.

Akhenaten believed that the Aten, which was a physical expression of the sun-god Ra and was symbolised by a sun disc, was the king of gods and that he was the divine son and living image of Ra and Aten. This made him a very unique person in his own eyes as he was the sole mediator between the gods and the mortals of ancient Egypt that he ruled over.

Akhenaten’s worship of the Aten was extreme. He not only built new temples in which to physically worship his god, he built a whole new city that he named Akhetaten – the horizon of the Aten. He also officially changed his name so that he was no longer known by his birth name of Amenophis IV but rather by the religious name of Akhenaten – son of the Aten.

The religion of Amun was forbidden and the magnificent temples in the cities of ancient Egypt were torn down. The building materials that were salvaged from the old temples were then used to construct the new city of Akhetaten. Although the people of ancient Egypt were not allowed to publicly worship any other god they continued to do so in the privacy of their own homes, however this was probably done under the threat of punishment if they were caught.

The priesthood of Amun was disbanded. This one act helped Akhenaten more than anything else he did during his reign because the priesthood of Amun had become a very powerful force during the reigns of Akhenaten’s ancestors and they were the only thing that really posed a threat to the Pharaohs reign. By forcing the priesthood to worship the new and only god, the Aten, or to leave the priesthood altogether Akhenaten was taking control back in a very subtle way.

The religion of the Aten flourished while Akhenaten was in power however the vizier and the commander of the army secretly apposed the change as they thought it weakened the country and left it open to attack. With this in mind it seems an obvious progression that the religion of ancient Egypt would quickly revert back to that of Amun with Akhenaten’s death, especially since the next Pharaoh, Tutankhamen was only a young boy when he took power and all major decisions were made by the vizier.

The reign of Akhenaten is the only time in the history of ancient Egypt when the religion and overall balance of the country changed. Amun and Ra were always the gods to whom the large temples were dedicated although there were many smaller temples dedicated to the lesser gods. It was quite normal for people of a particular district to worship a different lesser god to the people in the neighbouring district. Egypt is famous for its pantheon of gods that lasted throughout its history and so it is no wonder that any attempt to change things would not last long.

The True Descendants of Ancient Egypt

There are several theories regarding who exactly are the true descendants of the ancient Egyptians. Any one of the following theories might hold the key to the mystery but as yet nobody can say for sure.

• One theory suggests that the modern Egyptian Christians who are commonly known as Copts (and which make up around 10% of the population) are the true descendants of ancient Egypt. They claim that when the Arabs invaded Egypt in 664 CE they segregated themselves and never mixed with the newcomers. If this is true (and it may very well be) then the bloodline would still be pure and they could be classed as the true descendants of ancient Egypt.

• A second theory suggests that the ancient Egyptian race is dead or so diluted that it is no longer detectable. It has been around 1400 years since the Arab nations invaded and conquered the land of ancient Egypt so it is understandable why certain scholars believe that the bloodlines of the ancient Egyptian people must be dead.

• Others believe that a band of ancient Egyptian people either fled the country and the foreign invaders or were exiled by the conquerors and so settled in the neighbouring country of Africa. They supposedly reconstructed their lives in the foreign land with the same economical, political, social and religious systems so that Egypt in effect became a colony of Africa. Today there are several African tribes who profess to be the descendants of specific pharaohs; for example, the Binis of the Benin Empire claim to be descended from Ahmose I while the Dogons say they descend from Ramesses II. Whether these claims are true or not will probably never be confirmed with any certainty. It is compelling though how some societies in other parts of Africa seem to have been influenced by the practices of ancient Egypt.

• Another theory puts the true descendants of the ancient Egyptians all over the world including America. It is suggested that the Islamic invaders began the first known trans-Atlantic slave trade and that Egyptian inhabitants were captured and sold into slavery. An expert in Afro-American history and culture claims that many of the traditions that the Afro-American community celebrate are very similar to those of the Egyptians and he doesn’t think this is a coincidence.

The ancient Egyptians were humanity’s first true civilisation along with Mesopotamia who developed at around the same time. The ancient Egyptians thrived for more than 3000 years and so it seems implausible that they could have been wiped out without a trace. Whether they fled to the safety of Africa, got sold into slavery by the invading Arabs or just integrated with the foreigner so much that they are no longer a true race is a matter of opinion and a final answer may never be agreed upon.

For more information regarding the true descendants of Ancient Egypt I recommend Among the Copts

The True Love of Akhenaten – Nefertiti

Akhenaten, like every other pharaoh of ancient Egypt, had more than one wife throughout his 17 year reign; however it was always Nefertiti that was his one true love.

Busts that have been found in the remains of Akhenaten’s city depict Nefertiti as an incredibly beautiful and regal woman. From around year 3 of Akhenaten’s reign, Nefertiti is described as ‘the Great Royal Wife’ and is shown in virtually every relief with Akhenaten from then until she disappeared around year 12. Paintings of the royal couple show them as being alike in terms of size, which would suggest that Akhenaten regarded his wife as an equal rather than as a subordinate which was the norm for kings.

The parentage of Nefertiti is unknown, although many experts say that she was very probably connected to the royal family in some way. Family relationships were very complex in ancient Egypt and it may be that Nefertiti was in fact a blood relation to Akhenaten although distantly, possibly through their grandparents. Nefertiti’s parents are never mentioned in any of the writing found to mention her and so the mystery remains.

Pictures that depict Akhenaten, Nefertiti and their children show them as a close and happy family. Nefertiti bore Akhenaten at least 6 daughters although 2 of them died at a very young age. The children are regularly shown in both family and ceremonial murals dating from the Armana period which is another break with convention as the royal children were very rarely acknowledged in the art work of ancient Egypt.

Nefertiti however did not produce a son to carry on the royal line and so Akhenaten took a second wife, Kiya. It is thought that Kiya gave birth to at least one girl and very probably a boy, Tutankhamun, and so was given the title ‘greatly beloved wife of the king’. This does not mean to say that Kiya was the beloved of Akhenaten; she had simply given birth to royal children and so warranted a title to set her apart from the rest of the royal harem.

It is not known whether Nefertiti saw Kiya as a threat but around year 11 of Akhenaten’s reign Kiya was effectively erased from history. Not only did she disappear, she was removed from all monuments; her name was removed and replaced with the names of Nefertiti’s daughters and all representations of her were altered to resemble other people. Some experts believe that Kiya somehow fell from grace and was demoted back to the obscurity of the harem however others suggest a more sinister end for Kiya at the hands of Nefertiti. This is another mystery from the Amarna period that remains unsolved.

The biggest mystery surrounding Nefertiti however is exactly what happened to her. There are a number of theories regarding the fate of ‘the Great Royal Wife’ although as yet none have been proved with any certainty. Two of these theories seem to be more popular than the others and are thus outlined below.

Theory 1 – Nefertiti simply died. From wall paintings and hieroglyphics of the time it would seem that the last of Nefertiti’s children died shortly before she disappeared, possibly in childbirth or in very early life. It could be that Nefertiti had a medical problem during childbirth that she never recovered from. This, like any theory, is speculation and as yet there is very little evidence to support the theory.

Theory 2 – Nefertiti became co-regent with Akhenaten and changed her name to Neferneferuaten with the throne name Ankhkheperura. It was very uncommon for a pharaoh to appoint a co-regent and experts can see no reason for Akhenaten taking one other than to have a second person who could act as king outside of Amarna. It is suggested that opposition to his new way of life and religion was getting out of control, especially in Thebes, and so a co-regent could reside at Thebes to show the presence of the royal family. Even if this theory is true it still doesn’t explain what happened to Nefertiti.

Her body and her tomb have never been found although the wastelands that were Akhetaten have been thoroughly explored throughout the ages. This means that Egypt still holds the key to one of the most debated topics in its history.

For more information regarding Nefertiti and her role in Ancient Egypt I recommend Nefertiti

Ancient Egypt – Hieroglyphs and Art

The art of ancient Egypt reaches back to the very first pharaohs, as does the hieroglyphic writing that is generally associated with it.

Hieroglyphs

Hieroglyphs were a form of writing used by the ancient Egyptians throughout their long history. They were a combination of pictograms and symbols that, when put together, produced one of the earliest forms of writing in the world.

It was not until the early 1800s that hieroglyphs first began to be understood though. The discovery of the famous Rosetta stone during Napoleon’s Egyptian expeditions allowed the world renowned French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion to make the breakthrough that various scholars had been searching for.

The Rosetta stone contains a tract of writing that is repeated three times, once in hieroglyphs, once in demotic and once in Greek. By comparing the Greek version to the unknown hieroglyphs, Champollion came to realise that the names of the kings were contained in what he called cartouches. When he later compared the hieroglyphs that formed the names of the separate kings he was able to figure out what they meant.

His biggest discovery that helped him to decipher all hieroglyphs however was when he realised that one hieroglyph could have two meanings; it could convey an idea, i.e. when the hieroglyph of a hand actually represented a hand, or it could also be used to spell a sound i.e. the ‘hand’ hieroglyph could also be used to spell the sound ‘d’.

Hieroglyphs were not used in everyday life in ancient Egypt though. Normal writing of letters, accounts and other such documents were written in a simpler form - hieratic. These symbols were more stylized and cursive than hieroglyphs and so they could be written more easily and a lot quicker.

Hieroglyphs were written specifically to accompany sacred art and to dictate the portions of the Book of the Dead that an individual wanted on the walls of his tomb or on his coffin. There were very few scribes in ancient Egypt that were competent in writing hieroglyphic forms and so the title of ‘scribe’ was one of great importance.

Art

The first examples of art in ancient Egypt come from Pre-dynastic caves and show simple line diagrams of animals and the sport of hunting. However the first true art dates back to the Old Kingdom when it was painted onto or sculpted into a rock face using an established grid system. This guaranteed that figures and other objects that were commonly used were universal in their appearance and the images of the gods and the pharaoh remained constant.

The tombs of the pharaohs and the royal family, and also those of important people such as the vizier and the chief commander of the army were richly decorated with scenes from the Book of the Dead that showed the owner of the tomb in the Afterlife. These scenes were accompanied by spells and incantations that helped the tomb owner to gain access to the Afterlife.

The art forms stayed constant throughout most of the history of ancient Egypt and only changed in the Amarna Period when Akhenaten is thought to have personalized the grid system to make the figures of him and his family look less perfect and more human-like. Prior to this period and similarly after it, art never showed a person’s defects and so always depicted the people in scenes as being perfect specimens of the Egyptian race, even the servants and lower classes.

Art was the ancient Egyptians’ way of showing their ideal world with perfect people, especially in regards to the Afterlife. When combined with the words of hieroglyphs they believed they could write and draw what they wanted to happen in their Afterlife and with the magic of the gods it would come true. This train of thought lasted throughout the dynastic period and only ended with the line of the Egyptian pharaohs.

For more information regarding hieroglyphs in Ancient Egypt I recommend An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were seen by their people as God incarnate, that is they were thought of as the living son of the all powerful God Re. They were the privileged intermediary between the divine gods and the mortal humans and it was their responsibility to maintain the strict observance of Ma’at; the unchanging order of the universe which was based on trust, justice and above all truth.

Apart from being the son and servant of god, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt also had a number of other responsibilities. They were the head of the government but all of the important decisions regarding the country were made by their appointed vizier who was a bit like the Prime Minister of today. Many of the pharaohs did very little to govern their country although when the land and people prospered the pharaoh was credited with the success.

The pharaoh was also the head of the religious community and was often seen as the only intermediary between the pantheon of gods and the mortal subjects of ancient Egypt. Because he was thought to be the son of the gods and their representative on earth, only he was allowed to approach them. This was especially true in the Amarna Period when the rebel king Akhenaten outlawed all religions and gods that weren’t Aten. Only he could converse with Aten and the people of ancient Egypt had to worship a statue of Akhenaten as he saw himself as the living Aten.

The third title that was bestowed on the pharaohs of ancient Egypt was Supreme Commander of the Armies. This office was especially important during and after the 18^th Dynasty when Egypt embarked on a long war campaign to capture the foreign lands. The pharaoh was seen as an individual of heroic proportions that led the army into battle and always came out victorious, even when this wasn’t exactly true!

There were over 30 Dynasties throughout Ancient Egypt’s history and each individual Dynasty had anywhere up to 10 Pharaohs that ruled one after the other. The names of many of the Pharaohs have been lost through the course of time however some have become world famous i.e. Akhenaten, Ramesses and Tutankhamun.

Many of the famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt lived in times of upheaval and so much was written about their activities. For example, Akhenaten caused tremendous upheaval within the country by completely changing the established religions and the political basis of Egypt.

Ramesses II was one of six pharaohs with the name Ramesses but he is by far the most well known because his exploits into foreign lands and the battle campaigns he waged are described on various landmarks throughout Egypt. Ramesses is often shown as being a gigantic figure that kills a handful of his enemies with one swipe of his axe while clutching them by the hair. This and the descriptive writing that accompanies the incredible pictures make the pharaoh out to be invincible and he is sometimes seen being helped in his quest by the gods.

Tutankhamun is different in this respect. He only really became a well known pharaoh of ancient Egypt when his burial tomb was found in the early 1900s totally intact. It was the first royal tomb to be discovered that had not been plundered in earlier times and so brought the name of the little known ‘boy king’ firmly into the limelight.

The pharaohs of ancient Egypt numbered over a hundred but only a few are known to the layperson of today. They all must have done their job well though as the history of Egyptspans over 3000 years which in itself is an incredible feat.

For additional information on pharaohs of Ancient Egypt I recommended The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt – Burial of the Kings

The Kings of ancient Egypt were understandably buried with more grandeur than the average man however the way in which they were buried changed throughout the ages.

Pre-dynastic Egypt

Technically the title ‘pharaoh’ did not exist in Pre-dynastic Egypt because until the country was unified at the beginning of the first dynasty every separate nome, or district, had their own leader or King. These Kings were buried in the same manner as everybody else; that is in a shallow pit grave at the edge of the desert. The difference was that they were normally wrapped in an animal skin or a length of reed matting as opposed to just a simple cloth wrapping and they would have had many more funerary objects placed in the pit grave with them. The funerary objects were believed to travel to the Afterlife with the dead person’s spirit where they could be used to aid them in eternal life.

Mastaba Tombs

The first and second dynasties saw a development from the simple pit grave. Now the pharaohs of ancient Egypt were buried in an underground room or even a complex of rooms with a bench-like square, stone structure marking the spot above ground. This type of tomb was called a Mastaba and it had the actual burial chamber at the heart of the structure with several rooms around it that served as store rooms for the mass of funerary goods.

The King’s body would have been placed in a wooden coffin rather than on the floor and the first attempts at mummification would have been apparent. Unfortunately many of the Mastaba tombs were plundered shortly after they were sealed and so the next set of pharaohs tried to make the structures safer.

The Pyramids

The Step Pyramid of King Djoser is one of the earliest known pyramids. It was formed by building six Mastaba superstructures one on top of the other. King Djoser thought this huge structure would deter tomb robbers from trying to plunder his tomb but he was wrong. When the pyramid complex was excavated nothing of value was found and so it would seem that the Step Pyramid was not as impenetrable as Djoser thought it was. The pyramid did reveal his sarcophagus and from this it could be deduced that the art of mummification was certainly being developed by that time.

The true pyramids of ancient Egypt were the natural development of the Step Pyramid. As well as acting as a burial tomb for the pharaohs that built them, it is thought that they symbolised the ascent to the Afterlife that the Kings spirit would travel along in order to join the gods. The mummies of the pharaohs that commissioned the pyramid tombs were not actually found in the pyramids themselves and so some experts argue that the pyramids were not true burial tombs but were just a visual representation of the King’s uniqueness and his intended path that would take him to the Afterlife.

Rock-cut Tombs

Although the subterranean chambers of both Mastaba tombs and the pyramids were cut into rock the best-known real rock-cut tombs are found in the famous Valley of the Kings. This major royal burial site is situated on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes (modern day Luxor) and contains the tombs of some of ancient Egypt’s most legendary Kings. The tombs themselves are all quite similar in design in that they travel backwards and downwards into the rock. Some of the tombs have a relatively simple design, such as that of Tutankhamun, whereas others like tomb KV55 are a mass of interconnecting corridors with a multitude of chambers at seemingly random spots.

Many of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings have yielded coffins, sarcophagi and even the mummified bodies of some pharaohs and their close family members. Recently a new tomb has been discovered in the valley close to the position of Tutankhamun’s tomb. It, along with other sections of the valley is presently being excavated in an attempt to uncover the bodies of the Kings of ancient Egypt that unfortunately remain hidden.

For more information regarding Ancient Egyptian burials click on the recommended title below.