Study Guides

Unit Summary

This unit evaluates the degree of change and continuity over 3,000 years. It also introduces pupils to the key features of ancient Egyptian civilisation, such as its location, religion, writing, burial practices and rulers.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to explain how some aspects of the way Ancient Egyptians treated dead bodies changed, whilst others stayed the same.

Key Notes

• The Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods; one of these was Anubis, who guided the souls of the dead to the afterlife.
• The Ancient Egyptians believed that when they died they would go to the afterlife if they had pleased the gods.
• They believed that everybody had a soul, and that when somone was dead, their soul returned to their body each night.
• This led them to try and preserve dead bodies with linen and by drying them in sand but with only partial success.
• By the end of the Old Kingdom they had started to embalm and mummify the bodies, placing the organs in canopic jars.

Vocabulary To Learn

• afterlife: Ancient Egyptians believed that there was life after death which they called the afterlife
• soul: Ancient Egyptians believed that the soul is a part of a human, that it is separate from the body and that it is the centre of feeling and thought
• ba: the Ancient Egyptians used the word ba for someone's soul
• mummification: preserving a dead body through embalming and cloth wrapping is known as mummification
• canopic jars: the Ancient Egyptians placed a dead person's organs inside canopic jars during the mummification process

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• That mummification is just a case of wrapping a body in bandages and burying it.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• Change and continuity in Ancient Egypt Study Guide
• Howard Carter and the Valley of the Kings Study Guide
• The River Nile Study Guide
• The Rosetta Stone and Egyptian writing Study Guide
• The three kingdoms of Egypt Study Guide