Ancient Egypt for Kids

Pyramids of Giza in Egypt

  • Egyptian men and women wore makeup. It was thought to have healing powers, plus it helped protect their skin from the sun.
  • They used moldy bread to help with infections.
  • They were one of the first civilizations to invent writing. They also used ink to write and paper called papyrus.
  • The ancient Egyptians were scientists and mathematicians. They had numerous inventions including ways to build buildings, medicine, cosmetics, the calendar, the plow for farming, musical instruments, and even toothpaste.
  • Ancient Egypt plays a major role in the Bible. The Israelites were held captive there as slaves for many years. Moses helped them escape and led them to the Promised Land.
  • The pharaoh usually kept his or her hair covered. It was not to be seen by regular people.
  • Cats were considered sacred in ancient Egypt.
  • Sightseers: A guide to Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs by Sally Tagholm. 1999.
  • Eyewitness Books: Ancient Egypt written by George Hart. 2008.
  • Mummies, Pyramids, and Pharaohs by Gail Gibbons. 2004.
  • The Penguin Historical Atlas of Egypt by Bill Manley. 1996.
  • What Life Was Like on the Banks of the Nile by the Editors of Time-Life Books. 1997.
  • Ancient Civilizations: The Illustrated Guide to Belief, Mythology, and Art . Edited by Professor Greg Wolf. 2005.

Back to History




























































Display Settings

Welcome to the display settings! Click the "Get Started" button below or use the buttons above to choose which setting(s) you want to change.

Get Started

Select your preferred typeface/font from the list below.

Next Setting

Colour Theme

Select your preferred colour theme.

Select the text size that you find the easiest to read.

Letter Spacing

Line height.

The Great Fire of London was a fire that was so big that it burned nearly all of the buildings in London, with the exception of the Tower of London as that was made from stone, and stone doesn't burn up easily.

All settings are saved automatically and can be changed at any time. What do you think of this feature?

6th May 2020

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was a civilisation that is known for it’s pyramids and pharaohs but life for ordinary people in Ancient Egypt wasn’t all about that.

Life in Ancient Egypt

In early Ancient Egypt, houses were made of mud and papyrus (a thick paper-like material) but they realised this wouldn’t work: the River Nile flooded every 3 months and washed the houses away.

The Egyptians then discovered that bricks could be made out of clay and mud from the riverbank. To make these bricks, they poured a clay/mud mixture into moulds and allowed them to dry in the sun. They lasted a lot longer than the old houses!

homework help ancient egypt

There were many jobs you could do in Ancient Egypt. Most people worked as farmers or labourers, but there were also other jobs, such as brewers and scribes. Workers would be paid in goods rather than in money, something known as a “barter economy.”

The pharaoh was fairly relaxed on what Egyptians could eat. Apart from a few sacred animals, there were no restrictions on what people could grow or kill.

The most common animals that Egyptians ate included pigeon, ducks, geese, pork and fish. They avoided beef because cows were thought to be sacred, although researchers have found workers building the Great Pyramid may have been fed beef.

An Egyptian mural of hunting birds (top) and plowing a field (bottom.)

Fruit and vegetables

The Ancient Egyptians ate many types of fruit and vegetables, most of which we still eat today. Peas, chickpeas and lentils were sources of protein. Grapes and raisins were also eaten, as well as palm nuts, which were processed to make juice.

Bread and beer

Egyptian bread was made of a species of wheat that was harder to make into flour than other types of wheat. The way that they made bread changed over the centuries. In early Ancient Egypt, they used pottery moulds, but in later years they used a topless clay oven to bake the bread.

Beer was drunk in Ancient Egypt because it was nutritious (it’s different to the beer that you find today.) Sometimes, it was even used as a currency! Egyptian beer was made by making a special type of bread, called “beer bread”. The bread was then crumbled, washed and left to ferment.

homework help ancient egypt

  • DIGITAL MAGAZINE

homework help ancient egypt

MOST POPULAR

homework help ancient egypt

Ancient Egyptians primary resource

Discover some of the ancient egyptians’ greatest achievements.

This primary resource introduces children to the lives and beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians. Discover when the Ancient Egyptian civilisation began and what their great achievements were. What were the Ancient Egyptians known for? Why did they build the ancient pyramids? How do you make a mummy?

Pupils will learn about the famous pharaohs that ruled the land, the gods and goddesses they worshipped and how to decode Egyptian hieroglyphics in our National Geographic Kids’ Ancient Egyptians primary resource sheet.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for examining different aspects of ancient civilisations, as a printed handout for each pupil to review and highlight key information, or for display on the interactive whiteboard for class discussion. The resource includes information on: Tutankhamun, Tutankhamun’s tomb, Howard Carter, mummification, pyramids, hieroglyphics, Egyptian gods and goddesses and Ancient Egyptian pharaohs.

Nat-geo-kids-school-subscription

Activity: Ask children to write their names in hieroglyphics using the ‘crack the code’ section of the resource. Can they decode the sentence provided? Extend more able pupils by asking them to write their own simple sentence in hieroglyphics. Pupils could use the resource as a starting point for a project about the Ancient Egyptians. They could carry out their own research as a homework task, using the ‘scan here’ QR codes to lead them to further information.

N.B. The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the English National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum for Excellence . We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including South Africa , Australia and New Zealand . If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email: [email protected]

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following History objectives from the National Curriculum :

  • Know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisations; the expansion and dissolution of empires; characteristic features of past non-European societies; achievements and follies of mankind.  

National Curriculum Key Stage 2 History objective :

  • Pupils should be taught about: the achievements of the earliest civilisations – an overview of where and when the first civilisations appeared and a depth study of one of the following: Ancient Sumer; The Indus Valley; Ancient Egypt; The Shang Dynasty of Ancient China

This History primary resource assists with teaching the following Social Studies First level objective from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

  • Having selected a significant individual from the past, I can contribute to a discussion on the influence of their actions, then and since

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Second level Social Studies objective :

  • I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence.

Download primary resource

Leave a comment.

Your comment will be checked and approved shortly.

WELL DONE, YOUR COMMENT HAS BEEN ADDED!

It is the first time that I visit your page. I hope to find interesting materials to work with my students.They are 9 and 10 years old . They are always ready to learn something new if it is intersting.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR AVATAR

homework help ancient egypt

Light Dancer!

homework help ancient egypt

Ireland facts: all about the Emerald Isle!

homework help ancient egypt

Formula E facts

homework help ancient egypt

‘Rainbow dinosaur’ fossil discovered!

National Geographic Kids Logo

Sign up to our newsletter

Get uplifting news, exclusive offers, inspiring stories and activities to help you and your family explore and learn delivered straight to your inbox.

You will receive our UK newsletter. Change region

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?

COUNTRY * Australia Ireland New Zealand United Kingdom Other

By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and will receive emails from us about news, offers, activities and partner offers.

You're all signed up! Back to subscription site

Type whatever you want to search

More Results

homework help ancient egypt

You’re leaving natgeokids.com to visit another website!

Ask a parent or guardian to check it out first and remember to stay safe online.

homework help ancient egypt

You're leaving our kids' pages to visit a page for grown-ups!

Be sure to check if your parent or guardian is okay with this first.

Home

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy .

Sign Up for our FREE Newsletter!

Lesson plans.

  • Lesson Templates
  • Certificates
  • Find Grants
  • Fundraising

Search for Resources

You are here

Egypt - ancient.

For almost 30 centuries—from its unification around 3100 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.—ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world. From the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military conquests of the New Kingdom, Egypt’s majesty has long entranced archaeologists and historians and created a vibrant field of study all its own: Egyptology. The main sources of information about ancient Egypt are the many monuments, objects and artifacts that have been recovered from archaeological sites, covered with hieroglyphs that have only recently been deciphered. The picture that emerges is of a culture with few equals in the beauty of its art, the accomplishment of its architecture or the richness of its religious traditions.

Coloring Pages

Copyright © 2001 - 2024 TeacherPlanet.com ®. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement and Disclaimer Notice

Close

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter and receive

top education news, lesson ideas, teaching tips, and more!

No thanks, I don't need to stay current on what works in education!

  • Create new account
  • Reset your password

Register and get FREE resources and activities

Ready to unlock all our resources?

Egyptian life and culture

homework help ancient egypt

Who were the Egyptians?

Egypt is a country in Africa. People have lived in that region for thousands and thousands of years. The Ancient Egyptians settled around the Nile River, and built pyramids that you can still see there today.

The Ancient Egyptians knew a lot about maths, medicine and farming. They also made their own paper out of reeds called papyrus, and wrote using pictures called hieroglyphics.

Top 10 facts

  • The Egyptians settled in northeast Africa, and that’s where the country of Egypt is today.
  • They lived in a very dry area, but they got water from the Nile River (the longest river in the world!) so they could grow crops.
  • Farming techniques to water crops included using machines like the sakia and the shaduf – these are still used in Egypt today.
  • The Egyptians created paper using reeds, called papyrus. They wrote using pictures called hieroglyphics that stood for different words.
  • Only certain people studied how to write, and they worked as scribes.
  • Scribes were ranked in the middle of the order of social groups in Egypt – the pharaoh was at the very top of this list, and slaves were at the very bottom.
  • The Egyptians built pyramids as places to bury their kings and queens, who were called pharaohs.
  • The Egyptians were very good at maths – they had to be, to work out how to build pyramids so perfectly!
  • Both men and women wore make-up. The wealthier people were, the more make-up they’d wear.
  • Egypt was conquered by Rome and became part of the Roman Empire .

Egyptian timeline

  • c7500 BC People began to build homes and farm in the Nile Valley
  • c3000 BC Hieroglyphics started to be used
  • c2950 BC Upper and Lower Egypt were united into one kingdom by King Narmer (or Menes), and Memphis became the capital

homework help ancient egypt

  • 2600-2150 BC The Old Kingdom
  • 2181-2055 BC First Intermediate Period
  • 2055-1650 BC Middle Kingdom
  • 1650-1500 BC Second Intermediate Period
  • 1500-1070 BC The New Kingdom
  • 1473-1458 BC Queen Hatshepsut ruled

homework help ancient egypt

  • 1279-1213 BC King Rameses II ruled
  • 1069-664 BC Third Intermediate Period
  • 669 BC Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians
  • 664-332 BC Late Period
  • 525 BC Egypt was conquered by the Persians
  • 332 BC Alexander the Great from Greece conquered Egypt and founded Alexandria
  • 196 BC The writings on the Rosetta Stone were carved
  • 51-30 BC Cleopatra VII ruled; she was the last pharaoh

homework help ancient egypt

Boost Your Child's Maths & English Skills!

  • Weekly resources delivered to your dashboard
  • Keep your child's learning on track

Did you know?

  • The Egyptians made paper from reeds called papyrus – it’s where we get the word ‘paper’ from! It took a long time to make papyrus, but it was easier than carrying around heavy clay tablets, which is what they did before.
  • They wrote in pictures called hieroglyphics . Each picture means something so when you see a few different kinds of pictures in a row, you know what the writer is trying to say.
  • The Egyptians used pictures for writing numbers too – different pictures stood for units, tens and hundreds.
  • The Egyptians were very advanced at maths – they figured out how to work out tricky problems that helped other people after them understand more about maths. In fact, people who lived in other countries even knew that the Egyptians were the best at maths!
  • The Egyptians made most of their clothes from linen, which is fabric that’s made from plants. They’d use different things to colour it, such as saffron to make it yellow and indigo to make it blue.
  • Egyptians would shave their heads and wear wigs instead!
  • Ancient Egyptians had a huge amount of respect for cats, and for a type of dog called a jackal. They also thought scarab beetles were very important; they represented rebirth and life after death.
  • Egyptians loved perfume, and would wear it in solid cones on their head – the cones would melt during the day and keep them smelling nice when the weather was very hot.
  • Both men and women wore make-up, black and green on their eyes and eyelashes, and red rouge for their cheeks.

Egyptian gallery:

  • The Rosetta stone
  • The Egyptian pharaoh Ramses
  • An Egyptian tomb
  • An image of the pharaoh Tutankhamen
  • An engraving from the temple at Luxor
  • The pyramid at Giza
  • Amun-her-khepeshef, the son of Pharaoh Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari
  • Hieroglyphs
  • Illustrations of Egyptian figures
  • Can you spot the Sphinx?
  • Edfu Temple
  • An Egyptian pharaoh design

homework help ancient egypt

The Egyptians were very good farmers . Over the centuries, they learned the best ways to grow crops in the dry land around the Nile River – but, they’d use different kinds of machines to get water from the river to their crops so the plants would grow. Some of the machines they used are:

  • sakia – a type of water wheel that has buckets to scoop water out
  • shaduf – a long stick that had a bucket on a rope on one end, and a heavy weight on the other; to water a field, the farmer would pull down on the weighted end so the bucket would come up, then swing the whole thing around to water a field next to the river.

Because farmers grew crops near the Nile, they had to schedule their growing season around times when the Nile flooded. This happened every year during June to September, so they’d plant new crops in October that would be ready to harvest in March. By the end of May, all of the crops would have been harvested in time for the Nile to flood again.

Egyptian farmers also had oxen pull ploughs through fields. We know about their farming techniques because of the paintings that archaeologists have found that the Egyptians made. The paintings show all sorts of things that the Egyptians did, such as tending livestock and harvesting the crops.

Make-up wasn’t always worn to dress up. Some make-up had practical uses as well, like black kohl used around the eyes. It shielded eyes from the sun, and it was also a kind of disinfectant that protected against eye diseases.

The papyrus that Egyptians made came from reeds that grew along the Nile River, which were called papyrus. To make paper, they would cut papyrus reeds into strips and spend quite a few days soaking them, rolling them out and repeating that process until the reeds were very thin. All of the thin reeds would be pounded together and clamped down to dry, then polished to smooth it out – the result was a thin yet very strong sheet that was ready to be written or drawn on.

The papyrus reeds were actually used for a lot of things besides paper. It was good for making mats to put on the floor, twisting into rope, plaiting together to make boats, and weaving to make baskets and sandals. The Egyptians also ate it, and used it to make different medicines.

The Egyptians made a lot of discoveries about medicine. We know this from reading what they wrote on papyrus, discovered later by archaeologists. They understood about heartbeats and listening for a healthy pulse, and knew how the body and organs worked because of the process of making mummies . They also learned about the ways that different plants healed different illnesses and injuries, such as aloe vera being good for healing burns.

Egyptian society was ranked into different classes, called a hierarchy. You couldn’t really move up the ranks, and people would usually stay around the rank that they were born into:

  • Pharaoh – The pharaoh was at the top of the order, and thought to be a god.
  • Vizier – Every pharaoh had a vizier; they were an advisor, they ran the pharaoh’s household, they acted as a judge, and they made sure that the Egyptians had enough food.
  • Nobles and priests – Nobles included doctors, lawyers and military leaders. Priests were the ones who made sure the god in their temple was happy, and that they understood any messages the god was trying to say to them.
  • Scribes and soldiers – Scribes were the only ones who were taught how to write; people in other professions (like priests) may have studied to be a scribe as well, but they could also have just hired someone to write things down for them. Being a soldier was a choice; they were given land to live on after they finished serving in the army.
  • Craftsmen – This was a large group that included anyone who had a trade, such as potters, tailors, painters and blacksmiths.
  • Farmers and slaves – The pharaoh and nobles hired farmers to work for them, and grow crops on their land; as payment, the farmers had a place to live, clothes to wear and food to eat. Slaves were people who were captured in battles with other civilisations, and they worked in the homes of the pharaoh and nobles or in temples.

Related Videos

Just for fun...

  • Explore Ancient Egypt with an interactive exploration tool from the Children's University
  • Walk around the Sphinx, clamber inside the Great Pyramid of Giza and seek out the pharaoh's burial chamber!
  • Are you fit to rule as a pharaoh? Put your knowledge of Ancient Egypt to the test with a quiz !
  • Take an Ancient Egyptian art lesson
  • Use an interactive timeline of the Ancient Egyptian period
  • Try some Ancient Egyptian number puzzles
  • Write using a hieroglyphic typerwriter !
  • Complete an Ancient Egypt online jigsaw puzzle
  • Make your own Egyptian amulet , Egyptian mask and Egyptian costume with step-by-step guides from Hobbycraft
  • Learn how to sound out your name in hieroglyphs , just like a scribe in Ancient Egypt
  • Make a miniature cartonnage mummy case to discover how the Ancient Egyptians prepared for the journey to the afterlife
  • Write your name in hieroglyphs in a cartouche and learn some Egyptian Maths with King Khasekhem
  • Discover different aspects of life in Ancient Egypt with BBC Teach songs

Children's books about Ancient Egypt

homework help ancient egypt

See for yourself

  • At the British Museum , you can see the Rosetta Stone and a statue of King Rameses II
  • See Ancient Egyptian artefacts  from the Art Institute Chicago's collection
  • Browse through a huge collection of Egyptian artefacts at the Manchester Museum
  • Look closely at Egyptian statues  in the Brooklyn Museum
  • See games from Ancient Egypt: a senet board game and a wooden toy cat

Find out more about Egyptian life and culture 

  • Watch BBC Bitesize animations about Ancient Egypt and new animations about life in Ancient Egypt on BBC Teach
  • A DKfindout! children's introduction to Ancient Egypt , with lots of diagrams and illustrations
  • Scan through an interactive timeline of Ancient Egypt
  • Read some historical fiction for kids about Ancient Egypt
  • Print out Ancient Egypt resources from the British Museum
  • Find out more about Egyptian myths
  • The history of papyrus paper
  • Join historian Greg Jenner for a  BBC Sounds kids' homeschool history lesson about Cleopatra  or a homeschool history podcast about Ancient Egyptian religion
  • Read about Ancient Egyptian inventions
  • Understand more about Ancient Egyptian gods and see Egyptian gods' animal heads
  • Explore the Ancient Egyptian number system and writing system (hieroglyphics)
  • The Egyptians' society
  • Find out about everyday life in Ancient Egypt
  • Experience a day in the life of ordinary Egyptians

homework help ancient egypt

Give your child a headstart

  • FREE articles & expert information
  • FREE resources & activities
  • FREE homework help

homework help ancient egypt

  • Fundamentals NEW

Britannica Kids logo

  • Biographies
  • Compare Countries
  • World Atlas

Introduction

    Egypt profile

Flag of Egypt

The Nile divides Egypt into the Western Desert and the Eastern Desert. The Western Desert is low-lying and generally flat. The Eastern Desert has rolling hills and mountains in the southeast. To the northeast is the Sinai Peninsula , the only land bridge between Africa and Asia. The Suez Canal separates Sinai from the rest of Egypt.

Egypt has basically only two seasons: cool, mild winters and hot summers. The climate is very dry and sunny.

Plants and Animals

The Western Desert has very few plants. The Eastern Desert and Sinai have thorny shrubs, small desert plants, and herbs. The acacia is one of the few native trees. Around the Nile are date palms and many water plants, including reeds and grasses.

Egypt’s wild animals include mountain sheep and goats, gazelles, miniature desert foxes, hares, jackals, and mongooses. Rodents, insects, lizards, and snakes are also common. Many types of birds live in Egypt year-round or pass through on their migrations.

Muslims kneel in prayer on a street in Cairo.

Mining and manufacturing are important parts of Egypt’s economy. The country mines petroleum (oil) and natural gas. It produces valuable crude oil, cotton goods, processed foods, chemicals, iron, and steel.

About one-fourth of workers are farmers. Much of Egypt’s farming income comes from cotton and rice, which it sells to other countries. Other crops include sugarcane, corn, tomatoes, wheat, potatoes, oranges, dates, and grapes.

Tourism is also very important to the economy. Visitors come to see the Great Pyramids at Giza, the Sphinx , and other monuments of ancient Egypt.

Native kings and queens ruled in ancient Egypt for most of the country’s first 2,500 years, from about 2925 bce until 332 bce . In 332 bce Alexander the Great , the king of Macedonia, invaded Egypt. Macedonians ruled Egypt until 30 bce , when it fell to the Romans. (For more information about Egypt’s early history, see Egypt, Ancient .)

Arabs conquered Egypt in 642 ce . Within a few hundred years, Egypt was transformed into an Arabic state. The people gradually converted from Christianity to Islam.

Ottoman Rule and British Control

In 1517 the Turkish Ottoman Empire took control. Future emperor Napoleon I of France invaded in 1798, but the Ottomans soon regained power. Muhammad ʿAli, an officer in the Ottoman army, became governor of Egypt in 1805. He introduced many reforms in order to modernize the country. Members of ʿAli’s family governed Egypt for more than 100 years.

Egypt allowed a French company to build the Suez Canal in 1859–69. British troops occupied Egypt in 1882, and in 1914 the British made Egypt a British protectorate, or dependent state.

Independence

In 1922 Egypt gained independence. In the 1940s it helped to found the Arab League , a union of several Arab countries. The league became involved in the growing disputes between Arabs and Jews in neighboring Palestine. In 1948, after part of Palestine became the country of Israel, Egypt and its Arab allies attacked Israel but were defeated.

A military group overthrew Egypt’s king in 1952. Gamal Abdel Nasser became the first native Egyptian ruler in more than 2,000 years. In 1953 Egypt became a republic. Nasser wanted Egypt to be a leader in the Arab world. During this period tensions increased between Egypt and Israel.

Anwar el-Sadat became president in 1970. In 1973 Egypt fought another brief war with Israel, but in 1978 Sadat met with the Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin , in the United States. The meeting led to a historic peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979. Most other Arab countries were unhappy with the treaty. Muslim radicals assassinated Sadat in 1981. His vice president, Hosni Mubarak , then became president.

At first Mubarak enjoyed support at home and abroad. He continued Egypt’s commitment to peace in the Middle East. He slowly improved the country’s relationships with other Arab states. However, Mubarak ruled with a strong hand. He remained in power for many years. He did not allow much opposition to his government. The economy of the country suffered.

In January 2011 protesters in the nearby country of Tunisia forced the president there to give up power. The protests led to similar protests in nearby countries. This became known as the Arab Spring . Thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo to protest against their own president. In February 2011 President Mubarak handed over power to a group of military leaders.

In 2012 Egyptians elected Mohammed Morsi as president. Morsi had many supporters, especially conservative Muslims. Others—including many Christians and nonreligious people—were unhappy with the new government. Huge demonstrations led the military to remove Morsi from power in mid-2013. Morsi’s supporters then held their own protests. Military forces killed hundreds of protesters over the next few months. Elections were held in May 2014. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former military officer and defense minister, was elected as president.

It’s here: the NEW Britannica Kids website!

We’ve been busy, working hard to bring you new features and an updated design. We hope you and your family enjoy the NEW Britannica Kids. Take a minute to check out all the enhancements!

  • The same safe and trusted content for explorers of all ages.
  • Accessible across all of today's devices: phones, tablets, and desktops.
  • Improved homework resources designed to support a variety of curriculum subjects and standards.
  • A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the advanced needs of the sophisticated scholar.
  • And so much more!

inspire icon

Want to see it in action?

subscribe icon

Start a free trial

To share with more than one person, separate addresses with a comma

Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Britannica does not review the converted text.

After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar.

  • Privacy Notice
  • Terms of Use

The best free cultural &

educational media on the web

  • Online Courses
  • Certificates
  • Degrees & Mini-Degrees
  • Audio Books

An Ancient Egyptian Homework Assignment from 1800 Years Ago: Some Things Are Truly Timeless

in Education , History , Writing | January 16th, 2019 Leave a Comment

homework help ancient egypt

Every gen­er­a­tion of school­child­ren no doubt first assumes home­work to be a his­tor­i­cal­ly dis­tinct form of pun­ish­ment, devel­oped express­ly to be inflict­ed on them. But the par­ents of today’s mis­er­able home­work-doers also, of course, had to do home­work them­selves, as did their par­ents’ par­ents. It turns out that you can go back sur­pris­ing­ly far in his­to­ry and still find exam­ples of the men­ace of home­work, as far back as ancient Egypt, a civ­i­liza­tion from which one exam­ple of an out-of-class­room assign­ment will go on dis­play at the British Library’s exhi­bi­tion  Writ­ing: Mak­ing Your Mark , which opens this spring.

“Begin­ning with the ori­gins of writ­ing in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Chi­na and the Amer­i­c­as, the exhi­bi­tion will explore the many man­i­fes­ta­tions, pur­pos­es and forms of writ­ing, demon­strat­ing how writ­ing has con­tin­u­al­ly enabled human progress and ques­tion­ing the role it plays in an increas­ing­ly dig­i­tal world,” says the British Library’s press release .

“From an ancient wax tablet con­tain­ing a schoolchild’s home­work as they strug­gle to learn their Greek let­ters to a Chi­nese type­writer from the 1970s,  Writ­ing: Mak­ing Your Mark  will show­case over 30 dif­fer­ent writ­ing sys­tems to reveal that every mark made – whether on paper or on a screen – is the con­tin­u­a­tion of a 5,000 year sto­ry and is a step towards deter­min­ing how writ­ing will be used in the future.”

That wax tablet, pre­served since the sec­ond cen­tu­ry A.D., bears Greek words that Live­science’s Mindy Weis­berg­er describes as “famil­iar to any kid whose par­ents wor­ry about them falling in with a bad crowd”: “You should accept advice from a wise man only” and “You can­not trust all your friends.” First acquired by the British Library in 1892 but not pub­licly dis­played since the 1970s, the tablet’s sur­face pre­serves “a two-part les­son in Greek that pro­vides a snap­shot of dai­ly life for a pupil attend­ing pri­ma­ry school in Egypt about 1,800 years ago.” Its lines, “copied by this  long-ago stu­dent  were not just for prac­tic­ing pen­man­ship; they were also intend­ed to impart moral lessons.”

But why Greek? “In the 2nd cen­tu­ry A.D., when this les­son was writ­ten,” writes Smithsonian.com’s Jason Daley , “Egypt had been under Roman rule for almost 200 years fol­low­ing 300 years of Greek and Mace­don­ian rule under the Ptole­my dynasty. Greeks in Egypt held a spe­cial sta­tus below Roman cit­i­zens but high­er than those of Egypt­ian descent. Any edu­cat­ed per­son in the Roman world, how­ev­er, would be expect­ed to know Latin, Greek and — depend­ing on where they lived — local or region­al lan­guages.” It was a bit like the sit­u­a­tion today with the Eng­lish lan­guage, which has become a require­ment for edu­cat­ed peo­ple in a vari­ety of cul­tures — and a sub­ject espe­cial­ly loathed by many a home­work-bur­dened stu­dent the world over.

via  Live­science

Relat­ed Con­tent:

You Could Soon Be Able to Text with 2,000 Ancient Egypt­ian Hiero­glyphs

Try the Old­est Known Recipe For Tooth­paste: From Ancient Egypt, Cir­ca the 4th Cen­tu­ry BC

The Turin Erot­ic Papyrus: The Old­est Known Depic­tion of Human Sex­u­al­i­ty (Cir­ca 1150 B.C.E.)

The Ancient Egyp­tians Wore Fash­ion­able Striped Socks, New Pio­neer­ing Imag­ing Tech­nol­o­gy Imag­ing Reveals

Muse­um Dis­cov­ers Math Note­book of an 18th-Cen­tu­ry Eng­lish Farm Boy, Adorned with Doo­dles of Chick­ens Wear­ing Pants

Based in Seoul,  Col­in Mar­shall  writes and broad­casts on cities, lan­guage, and cul­ture. His projects include the book  The State­less City: a Walk through 21st-Cen­tu­ry Los Ange­les  and the video series  The City in Cin­e­ma . Fol­low him on Twit­ter at  @colinmarshall  or on  Face­boo k .

by Colin Marshall | Permalink | Comments (0) |

homework help ancient egypt

Related posts:

Comments (0).

Be the first to comment.

Add a comment

Leave a reply.

Name (required)

Email (required)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Click here to cancel reply.

  • 1,700 Free Online Courses
  • 200 Online Certificate Programs
  • 100+ Online Degree & Mini-Degree Programs
  • 1,150 Free Movies
  • 1,000 Free Audio Books
  • 150+ Best Podcasts
  • 800 Free eBooks
  • 200 Free Textbooks
  • 300 Free Language Lessons
  • 150 Free Business Courses
  • Free K-12 Education
  • Get Our Daily Email

homework help ancient egypt

Free Courses

  • Art & Art History
  • Classics/Ancient World
  • Computer Science
  • Data Science
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Political Science
  • Writing & Journalism
  • All 1700 Free Courses

Receive our Daily Email

Free updates, get our daily email.

Get the best cultural and educational resources on the web curated for you in a daily email. We never spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Free Movies

  • 1150 Free Movies Online
  • Free Film Noir
  • Silent Films
  • Documentaries
  • Martial Arts/Kung Fu
  • Free Hitchcock Films
  • Free Charlie Chaplin
  • Free John Wayne Movies
  • Free Tarkovsky Films
  • Free Dziga Vertov
  • Free Oscar Winners
  • Free Language Lessons
  • All Languages

Free eBooks

  • 700 Free eBooks
  • Free Philosophy eBooks
  • The Harvard Classics
  • Philip K. Dick Stories
  • Neil Gaiman Stories
  • David Foster Wallace Stories & Essays
  • Hemingway Stories
  • Great Gatsby & Other Fitzgerald Novels
  • HP Lovecraft
  • Edgar Allan Poe
  • Free Alice Munro Stories
  • Jennifer Egan Stories
  • George Saunders Stories
  • Hunter S. Thompson Essays
  • Joan Didion Essays
  • Gabriel Garcia Marquez Stories
  • David Sedaris Stories
  • Stephen King
  • Golden Age Comics
  • Free Books by UC Press
  • Life Changing Books

Free Audio Books

  • 700 Free Audio Books
  • Free Audio Books: Fiction
  • Free Audio Books: Poetry
  • Free Audio Books: Non-Fiction

Free Textbooks

  • Free Physics Textbooks
  • Free Computer Science Textbooks
  • Free Math Textbooks

K-12 Resources

  • Free Video Lessons
  • Web Resources by Subject
  • Quality YouTube Channels
  • Teacher Resources
  • All Free Kids Resources

Free Art & Images

  • All Art Images & Books
  • The Rijksmuseum
  • Smithsonian
  • The Guggenheim
  • The National Gallery
  • The Whitney
  • LA County Museum
  • Stanford University
  • British Library
  • Google Art Project
  • French Revolution
  • Getty Images
  • Guggenheim Art Books
  • Met Art Books
  • Getty Art Books
  • New York Public Library Maps
  • Museum of New Zealand
  • Smarthistory
  • Coloring Books
  • All Bach Organ Works
  • All of Bach
  • 80,000 Classical Music Scores
  • Free Classical Music
  • Live Classical Music
  • 9,000 Grateful Dead Concerts
  • Alan Lomax Blues & Folk Archive

Writing Tips

  • William Zinsser
  • Kurt Vonnegut
  • Toni Morrison
  • Margaret Atwood
  • David Ogilvy
  • Billy Wilder
  • All posts by date

Personal Finance

  • Open Personal Finance
  • Amazon Kindle
  • Architecture
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Comics/Cartoons
  • Current Affairs
  • English Language
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Food & Drink
  • Graduation Speech
  • How to Learn for Free
  • Internet Archive
  • Language Lessons
  • Most Popular
  • Neuroscience
  • Photography
  • Pretty Much Pop
  • Productivity
  • UC Berkeley
  • Uncategorized
  • Video - Arts & Culture
  • Video - Politics/Society
  • Video - Science
  • Video Games

Great Lectures

  • Michel Foucault
  • Sun Ra at UC Berkeley
  • Richard Feynman
  • Joseph Campbell
  • Jorge Luis Borges
  • Leonard Bernstein
  • Richard Dawkins
  • Buckminster Fuller
  • Walter Kaufmann on Existentialism
  • Jacques Lacan
  • Roland Barthes
  • Nobel Lectures by Writers
  • Bertrand Russell
  • Oxford Philosophy Lectures

Sign up for Newsletter

homework help ancient egypt

Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.

Great Recordings

  • T.S. Eliot Reads Waste Land
  • Sylvia Plath - Ariel
  • Joyce Reads Ulysses
  • Joyce - Finnegans Wake
  • Patti Smith Reads Virginia Woolf
  • Albert Einstein
  • Charles Bukowski
  • Bill Murray
  • Fitzgerald Reads Shakespeare
  • William Faulkner
  • Flannery O'Connor
  • Tolkien - The Hobbit
  • Allen Ginsberg - Howl
  • Dylan Thomas
  • Anne Sexton
  • John Cheever
  • David Foster Wallace

Book Lists By

  • Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • Ernest Hemingway
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Allen Ginsberg
  • Patti Smith
  • Henry Miller
  • Christopher Hitchens
  • Joseph Brodsky
  • Donald Barthelme
  • David Bowie
  • Samuel Beckett
  • Art Garfunkel
  • Marilyn Monroe
  • Picks by Female Creatives
  • Zadie Smith & Gary Shteyngart
  • Lynda Barry

Favorite Movies

  • Kurosawa's 100
  • David Lynch
  • Werner Herzog
  • Woody Allen
  • Wes Anderson
  • Luis Buñuel
  • Roger Ebert
  • Susan Sontag
  • Scorsese Foreign Films
  • Philosophy Films
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006

©2006-2024 Open Culture, LLC. All rights reserved.

  • Advertise with Us
  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

openculture logo

Ancient Egypt

by Mandy Barrow

 
 
     for information  

 

What are mummies?

A mummy is the body of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death.

Who were the mummies?

They were any Egyptian who could afford to pay for the expensive process of preserving their bodies for the afterlife.

Why did the Egyptians make mummies?

The Egyptians believed in life after death. They believed that they had to preserve their bodies so they could use them in the afterlife.

What is the afterlife?

The Egyptians believed that when they died, they would make a journey to another world where they would lead a new life. They would need all the things they had used when they were alive, so their families would put those things in their graves. Egyptians paid vast amounts of money to have their bodies properly preserved. Egyptians who were poor were buried in the sand whilst the rich ones were buried in a tomb.

What was the name of the process the Egyptians used to preserve their bodies?

It was called mummification.

How were mummies made?

It took a very long time, from start to finish, it took about 70 days to embalm a body. The priest in charge would wear the mask of a jackal representing the god Anubis.

The mummy was now ready for its journey to the afterlife.

*What is natron?

Natron is a natural salt, composed of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate with traces of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. It was used by the ancient egyptians to dry out the bodies.

Why did they leave the heart in the body?

The Egyptians thought the heart was the centre of intelligence and emotion.

Who was the god of mummification?

Anubis was the god of mummification. He had a human body and the head of a jackal. His job was to prepare the bodies of the dead to be received by Osiris.

What objects did they put in Egyptian Tombs?

Ancient Egyptians were buried with their belongings and the tomb walls were painted with scenes from the dead persons life. The objects included furniture, games and even food was placed in the tombs for the long After Life journey!

What are canopic jars?

Canopic Jars were used by ancient Egyptians to hold mummified remains.

Where were Egyptians who were poor buried?

The poor Egyptians were buried in the sand. Only the rich ones were buried in a tomb

Where were the pharaohs buried?

In the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2628-1638 BC), Egyptian kings were buried in pyramids. About 50 royal pyramids have survived. They were built on the desert edge, west of the ancient capital of Memphis.

What are pyramids?

The pyramids are the stone tombs of Egypt's kings - the Pharaohs.
Find out more about pyramids

Why did the Ancient Egyptians build pyramids?

The Egyptians believed that if the pharaoh's body could be mummified after death the pharaoh would live forever. The tombs were designed to protect the buried Pharaoh's body and his belongings.


A fun interactive online activity.


Learn to make a mummy and prepare the pharaoh for his tomb.s

-
Disgusting things you'd rather not know!

See the pictures of the materials and tools used in mummification.

- Compass Site ( The British Museum )
Why did the ancient Egyptians mummify their cats, dogs, crocodiles, birds, even eels? Follow this tour to find out.

by Mark Telford, Aged 8yrs

The Egyptians believed that when they died they would make a journey to another world where they would lead a new life. They would need all the things they had used when they were alive, so their families would put those things in their graves. Egyptians paid vast amounts of money to have their bodies properly preserved - trained undertakers treated the body with chemicals and wrapped it in tight bandages to keep it in shape. ....


Click on different parts of the Mummy you will see, to view interesting facts and information about the mummification process.


In order to go to the underworld, you had to be mummified......


Instructions on how to make your own Mummy.


What are mummies?
How are mummies made?
Who were the mummies?

 

- please read
All the materials on these pages are free for homework and classroom use only. You may not redistribute, sell or place the content of this page on or without written permission from the author Mandy Barrow.

©Copyright Mandy Barrow 2013 primaryhomeworkhelp.com

Follow me on Twitter @mbarrow

I teach computers at The Granville School and St. John's Primary School in Sevenoaks Kent.

Woodlands Junior School, Hunt Road Tonbridge Kent TN10 4BB UK

IMAGES

  1. Ancient Egyptian Activities

    homework help ancient egypt

  2. Year 4 Egyptian Homework Grid

    homework help ancient egypt

  3. Ancient Egypt Facts Homework Help. Year 3 Autumn Term 2 Homework

    homework help ancient egypt

  4. Egyptian Homework Complete one homework task each week in

    homework help ancient egypt

  5. Ancient Egypt Primary Homework Help! Primary Homework Help Egyptian

    homework help ancient egypt

  6. Ancient Egypt Homework sheet

    homework help ancient egypt

VIDEO

  1. شرح درس jobs in ancient Egypt وحل تمارين المعاصر

  2. homework lesson two part one ∣ Ch.1 ∣ Mr.Abdelmasseh Isaak ∣ 2nd Secondary 2025

  3. Learn to talk like an Egyptian

  4. the social blazer: the Ancient Egyptian Empire Fun #Facts

  5. the social blazer: the Ancient Egyptian Empire Fun #Facts

  6. Ancient Egyptians Did Homework, Too

COMMENTS

  1. Ancient Egypt for Kids

    In about 3200 B. C. the pharaoh of the north conquered the south and Egypt became united. The pharaoh's name was King Narmer or Menes. Menes built a new capital city called Memphis. In the Greek language the word Memphis meant "Balance of the Two Lands." Ancient Egypt - Map of famous sites. Explore Ancient Egypt on an Interactive Map.

  2. ancient Egypt

    Introduction. About 5,000 years ago, the civilization of ancient Egypt began in the Nile River valley of northeastern Africa. Ancient Egypt was one of the world's first civilizations. It is also one of the most famous civilizations in history. The ancient Egyptians built huge pyramids, temples, palaces, and tombs.

  3. ancient Egypt

    This period, the New Kingdom, was the age of empire. The once-peaceful Egyptians, having learned new techniques of warfare, embarked on foreign conquest on a large scale. The empire reached its peak under Thutmose III, one of the first great generals in history. He reigned from 1479 to 1426 bc, in the 18th dynasty.

  4. World History: Ancient Egypt for Kids

    Back to History Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest and most powerful civilizations in the history of the world. It lasted for over 3000 years from 3150 BC to 30 BC. The Nile River The civilization of ancient Egypt was located along the Nile River in northeast Africa. The Nile was the source of much of ancient Egypt's wealth.

  5. Ancient Egypt for Kids

    Ancient Egypt. A British Museum site exploring Egyptian daily life, religion, pyramids and other buildings, and mummification. Ancient Egyptian. Learn about the gods they worshiped, the Pharaohs they followed and the tombs and statues they left behind. Find out about famous people like Tutankhamun, the elaborate preparations they made for an ...

  6. Pyramids in Egypt

    By examining the objects (artifacts) and paintings in the tombs, we have been able to understand a lot more about life in Ancient Egypt. We can learn about how the Egyptians lived by looking at the objects stored in pyramids ready to be used in the afterlife. We can learn about how the Egyptians lived by looking at the walls of pyramids.

  7. Ancient Egypt

    Ancient Egypt was a civilisation that is known for it's pyramids and pharaohs but life for ordinary people in Ancient Egypt wasn't all about that. ... Homework Help For Kids is a website that provides information to help you with your piles of homework. We've been doing this since 2013, with this website and an app created in 2016.

  8. Ancient Egyptians primary resource

    The resource includes information on: Tutankhamun, Tutankhamun's tomb, Howard Carter, mummification, pyramids, hieroglyphics, Egyptian gods and goddesses and Ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Activity: Ask children to write their names in hieroglyphics using the 'crack the code' section of the resource. Can they decode the sentence provided?

  9. History of Ancient Egypt

    It is thought that ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for around 3000 years - from 3100 BC until 332 BC - when Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire. Continue flicking through our fantastic Ancient Egyptian Homework Help article for more great facts, or check out our wonderful Ancient Egypt for Kids song below!

  10. History Homework Help

    Welcome to our Homework Help guide all about Ancient Egypt. Click through the chapters on the left-hand side to learn more about this famous period of time! As well as help with your homework, these guides contain lots of exciting activities that you can try at home and plenty of fun facts that you can impress your family and friends with ...

  11. Egypt

    Egypt - Ancient. For almost 30 centuries—from its unification around 3100 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.—ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world. From the great pyramids of the Old Kingdom through the military conquests of the New Kingdom, Egypt's majesty has long entranced ...

  12. Egyptian life and culture

    Egypt is a country in Africa. People have lived in that region for thousands and thousands of years. The Ancient Egyptians settled around the Nile River, and built pyramids that you can still see there today. The Ancient Egyptians knew a lot about maths, medicine and farming. They also made their own paper out of reeds called papyrus, and wrote ...

  13. Egypt

    Native kings and queens ruled in ancient Egypt for most of the country's first 2,500 years, from about 2925 bce until 332 bce. In 332 bce Alexander the Great, the king of Macedonia, ... Improved homework resources designed to support a variety of curriculum subjects and standards. A new, third level of content, designed specially to meet the ...

  14. Ancient Egyptians CfE Homework Grid (teacher made)

    This homework grid is bursting with ideas for those studying ancient Egyptians at Second Level. There are homework ideas for a range of curricular areas, to deepen understanding of ancient Egypt and compare it to life today. Learners can choose a selection of tasks as extension activities in class or as homework tasks over the weeks that you are studying ancient Egypt. Try out this fantastic ...

  15. Eight Resources for Teaching Ancient Egypt to Children

    Suitable for kids in year 4, this pack contains an array of activities to help pupils master their times tables, all while feeling immersed in the ancient Egypt theme. With a fun set of reward stickers to keep children motivated, teaching ancient Egypt to children while covering a key area of maths has never been so much fun.

  16. Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

    Horus was the Ancient Egyptian god of the sky. During a fight with his cousin, Seth, he lost his eye. The eye of Horus then became one of the most important symbols in Egyptian culture. Many people used the Eye of Horus symbol in their homes, as a symbol of protection. Instantly access Twinkl's printable and digital K-12 teaching resources ...

  17. Top 10 Ancient Egyptians Facts for Kids

    The most famous scribe was Imhotep, he became the high priest to the sun god Ra and later became a god himself. Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh and ruled Egypt for 15 years. She was referred to as the King of Egypt. The ancient Egyptians invented the 365-day calendar. Mummification was only for the wealthy.

  18. Farming in Ancient Egypt for kids

    Ancient Egyptians had simple farming tools such as winnowing scoops, hoes, rakes, flint-bladed sickles and ploughs. They had both hand ploughs and ones pulled by oxen. The ploughs were used to turn the soil. Another piece of equipment used by farmers was the Shaduf. See further down the page.

  19. An Ancient Egyptian Homework Assignment from 1800 Years Ago: Some

    "From an ancient wax tablet con­tain­ing a schoolchild's home­work as they strug­gle to learn their Greek let­ters to a Chi­nese type­writer from the 1970s, Writ­ing: Mak­ing Your Mark will show­case over 30 dif­fer­ent writ­ing sys­tems to reveal that every mark made - whether on paper or on a screen - is the con­tin­u­a­tion of a 5,000 year sto­ry and is ...

  20. Ancient Egypt Mummies and the Afterlife for Kids

    This substance absorbed all the moisture from the body. 5. After 40 - 50 days the stuffing was removed and replaced with linen or sawdust. 6. The body was wrapped in strands of linen and covered in a sheet called a shroud. 7. The body was placed in a stone coffin called a sarcophagus. The mummy was now ready for its journey to the afterlife.