Monday's Class

John Greene's Crash Course

Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted from 3000 BCE to 332 BCE.  The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers shaped the world of the Mesopotamians, but the Nile River shaped the world of the Egyptians.  The Nile was regular, navigable, and benign making for one of the safest and richest agricultural areas in the world.  Every summer, the Nile would flood at the right time leaving behind very rich soil. Egyptian communities only existed along the Nile.  It was navigable for people to travel and get resources.  The Nile was also very easily tamed.  farmers would use a system called basin to take care of the river that was very easy.  The Old Kingdom lasted from 2649 to 2152 BCE.  The Middle Kingdom lasted from 2040 to 1640 BCE.  Last, the New Kingdom lasted from 1550 to 1070 BCE. The Egyptians had two forms of writing: hieroglyphic for sacred writing and demotic scripts for recording contracts and agreements.  The pyramids were built around 2500 BCE during the Old Kingdom.  King Tut died in 1300 BCE, 1200 years later.

Pyramid Quest

In 802 AD, the youngest son of Harun Rasheed set camp at the base of the pyramid of Kiops.  The great pyramid of Kiops was the pinnacle of which touched the sky as it was described in his time.  He came with hundreds of stone masons, engineers, and architects.  His quest was to find the pharaoh's treasure and to discover the secret of the weapon that does not rust from blood and water and glass that bends and dos not break.  Scribes said that all of this lied in the pyramid guarded by the Beast, which has the head of a sage and the body of a lion.  Back then, the pyramids were very different then they are today.  The pyramid was bigger and a different shape then.  The interior of the pyramid has been studied very deeply.  There was a pharaoh chamber in the pyramid, also with a queen chamber. The original entrance is still sealed to this very day.

Mummification

The video is about a young man named Herecletes.  He dies at about age 20.  In the video, they show a virtual way on making a mummy and they use Herecletes as the example.  Mummification was developed by the Egyptians to preserve the body for the afterlife.  Typically, all internal organs were removed before the mummification with the exception of the heart.  For this mummification, the heart was removed and the lungs were kept.  After that, the body is covered with salt and left for about 40 days until all moisture is eliminated.  Perfumed oils and plant resines were rubbed on the body.  Thick layers of resine were applied to glue the strips of linen that were wrapped around the body.  The mummy was then placed on a wooden board and more wrappings bound them together.  A mysterious pouch possibly of religious significance,  was placed on the chest.  A mummified ibis, a waiting bird with a slendered down bill was placed on the abdomen.  Long linen strips then secured the wrappings.  A portrait pannel of Herecletes was placed over the face.  A large linen cloth was wrapped around the mummy.  The shroud was painted rede with an imported led-based pigment.  This treatment is rare, there are very few red shrouded mummies that are known of. Egyptian symbols of rebirth and protection were painted on the mummy.