Museum of Science logo Ancient Egypt Science & Technology MosTIX logo
Mummies Excavation Egyptian Afterlife Activities Teaching Links

Teaching Egypt
 
Hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphs represent both phonetically spelled words and pictographs. This means that symbols can stand for a concept, but to a large extent, they are phonetic sounds. So it is possible to refer to a hieroglyphic alphabet, and write your own name in hieroglyphic. Try it!

a b c d e f g
A B C D E F G
h i j k l m n
H I J K L M N
o p q r s t u
O P Q R S T U
v w x y z
V W X Y Z

If you wrote your name in a cartouche, it meant you were a Pharaoh.

   Why not try your own name in a cartouche?
Pharoah's Cartouche Your Cartouche

Note: You didn't have to be a man to be a Pharaoh. After her husband Thutmose II died, Queen Hatshepsut declared herself Pharaoh. In order to rule effectively, the country needed a Pharaoh, someone who could link the world of the humans to the world of the gods. The Pharaoh was both God and human, and Hatshepsut (rightly) assumed that she would be much more powerful as Pharaoh.


Mummy Activities

Our MummyA Life
Visit our mummy section and try to come up with the life (and death) story of our mummy.
  1. What did he do for a living?
  2. Was he married?
  3. How did he break his thumb and left toe?
  4. How did he lose his right big toe?
  5. Where in Egypt did he live? Where did he die?
  6. How did he die?
  7. Where was his mummy buried?
  8. How did the Theology Professor find this mummy when he traveled to Egypt in 1920?
A Name
Names were very important in ancient Egypt. Your name had to be preserved for you to have an afterlife. We don't know the name of our mummy, because it came to us without any information.
  • Try to come up with a name that would be appropriate for the mummy so he can be secure in his next life.

Accessorize for the Afterlife

UshebtisThe Afterlife was just like life on earth, only better. In order to prepare for this better life, you would be buried with Ushebtis, like the one on the left, who would be responsible for doing the work that was required of you in death, such as plowing the fields, so that you wouldn't have to.

  1. What kind of Ushebtis would you want buried with you today, to save you from having to do your work in the Afterlife?
  2. What kind of ornaments, furniture, jewelry, or other things would want in your tomb with you, so you didn't get caught short on the other side?


Acknowledgements | Send Comments | Copyright 2003 Museum of Science