The Sphinx

The Sphinx of Ancient Egypt
What is the Sphinx? It is an ancient monument in the land of Egypt. It was made by the Ancient Egyptians and is still recognised as a magnificent object in the world. To be presice it is known as the Great Sphinx of Giza. It was made around the 2500 BC to represent the Egyptian god, Horus. The body of the Sphinx measures to about 75 metres long, 6 metres wide, 20 metres tall and has a body of a lion and a head of a man. It is situated on the west bank of the Nile quite close to the Great Pyramid. Though some of us may never get to see it, it will still be something everyone will know.


The Gods of Ancient Egypt
The four most well known gods of ancient Egypt were probably:

Horus, the falcon headed god who looks after the pharaoh.

Osiris, god of death and rebirth, the Underworld and Earth. Long ago he taught the people how to farm.

Isis, wife of Osiris. She took special care of women and children.

Re, the sun god. Some said he made people. The Egyptians called themselves, ‘the cattle of Re'.

I Bet You Never Knew That………..
· The Sphinx has a temple right beneath it.
· It went under reconstruction for it look a bit uh…... strange after a couple of thousand years.
· It lost its beard.
· The remains of the beard is now shown in the Cairo Museum.


This is the information on the worksheet and there are some other pictures to go with it as well as a map of its location.

The Pyramids

The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt
What were the pyramids? They were great big tombs for great kings to be preserved in after their death. In the Ancient Egyptian culture, people who died went to the afterlife which was considered a better place than the land they lived on. Some of the pyramids were made more than 4000 years ago. One of the most famous pyramids of history was the Great Pyramid of Giza made by the pharaoh Cheops. It is found in Giza on the west bank of the river Nile. Nevertheless, that though it is bigger than other pyramids, all pyramids of Egypt are great.


Did you know………..
· That the Ancient Egyptians used the pyramids as a huge sundial to record time and dates of the year?
· They were more than large graves. They were granaries and treasure houses?
· If you weighed the average pyramid it would equal up to 5,400,00 tons?
· If you cut up the Great Pyramid into rods about 6cm square—join them together and you could have enough to reach the Moon?


Mummification
Part of the pyramid was mummies. This was when the dead bodies went to a place called the Beautiful House to get their guts cleaned out and put into canopic jars and then, rapped in millions of layers of linen. Only the important people, such as the pharaohs, were placed in a pyramid with their riches, pets and servants (the servant thing was when the people thought that the pharaoh needed their servants in the afterlife. This would mean the servants had to die with him. This tradition soon died out). The peasants were buried on the ground instead of being placed in a pyramid.

This is the information I have put on the worksheet about pyramids and there are some other pictures and a map of its location to go with it.

Cloze Exercise

As I was walking along the dusty _ _ _ _ _ of the River Nile, I saw the great pyramids of Egypt. I walked beside them and thought how the
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ pharaohs would feel that they were used as a tourist attraction and what they would think the pyramids would be in the future.

I leave the pyramids and find the Great Sphinx of Egypt. Its body looked so magnificent while crouching like a _ _ _ _. No nose. Napoleon blew it off and it has been the same flat, rough nose ever since. No beard. It
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ off and is now shown in a nearby museum. The Cairo Museum.

I keep on walking. I see the vast _ _ _ _ _ plains of the desert and wish I had brought a scarf with me for the strong winds of the desert are too much for me.


lion
awesome
dropped
banks
dusty

The Sphinx of Ancient Egypt

The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt