An introduction to Ancient Egypt

How did the ancient Egyptian civilisation start?

The ancient Egyptian civilisation began 5,000 years ago when people started building villages next to the River Nile in north-east Africa. It lasted for around 3,000 years.

The river was an important source of water in a hot and dry desert landscape.

The ancient Egyptians were able to grow lots of crops like wheat, barley, fruit and vegetables. They also grew flax to make clothes and papyrus to make paper.

Watch: Introducing the ancient Egyptians

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What’s known about the ancient Egyptians?

The ancient Egyptians were experts at farming and construction because they were very inventive.

They invented a solar calendar (a calendar based on the sun) and a writing system called hieroglyphs.

The ancient Egyptians were ruled by kings and queens were called pharaohs. Religion was an important part of their civilisation. They worshipped over 2,000 gods and goddesses!

The ancient Egyptians also believed in a never-ending afterlife. They thought it was more important than their life on Earth, so they spent a lot of time planning for their death.

The ancient Egyptians preserved the bodies of important people through mummification. They built special tombs to be buried in, which they filled with all their favourite things. Some pharaohs built their tombs in the shape of giant pyramids.

What were the pyramids?

The pyramids are giant tombs. Each side is triangular, and they meet in a point at the top. The most famous is the Great Pyramid of Giza at 480 feet high made from 2.3 million large blocks.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is around 4,600 years old. It was the tallest human-made structure in the world for 3,800 years.

After it was finished, it was covered in white limestone. There were three chambers and two entrances. However, the inside was looted (robbed) and nothing remains except for some large sarcophagi (coffins) of the early pharaohs.

The Great Pyramid was part of a group of pyramids outside Giza, which also included the Great Sphinx.

What was happening in Britain?

Illustration showing that during Ancient Egypt (3100BC - 332BC) the Late Stone Age to Mid Iron Age was taking place in Britain.

Activities

Activity 1: Explore ancient Egyptian artefacts

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Image source, The Trustees of the British Museum
Image caption,
Mummified cats
Ancient Egyptians thought cats were very special. They wanted to take their cats with them into the afterlife so they often mummified them and put them in their tombs.
Image source, The Trustees of the British Museum
Image caption,
The Great Harris Papyrus
This piece of papyrus (ancient Egyptian paper) shows Pharaoh Ramesses III standing in front of the three Gods of Memphis: Ptah, Sekhmet and Nfertum.
Image source, The Trustees of the British Museum
Image caption,
Beaded collar necklace
Ancient Egyptians decorated themselves with as much jewellery as they could afford. This is a ceramic glazed wide collar necklace. The seven little blue beads hanging down are made in the shape of mummies.
Image source, The Trustees of the British Museum
Image caption,
Gold leaf mummy mask
This mummy mask is coated in gold leaf. It is a mask for a rich ancient Egyptian. This mask was put on top of a mummy's bandages to protect the head.
Image source, The Trustees of the British Museum
Image caption,
Shabti figure
This is a blue glazed shabti figure of a pharaoh called Sety I. A shabti is a little doll that ancient Egyptians would make and put in their tombs to keep them company when they died. They often had tools so that they could do work for people in the afterlife. This one is holding a farming tool called a hoe in each hand.
Image source, Getty
Image caption,
Ancient mummy
This ancient mummified body was found in a tomb in Luxor. This is the real mummy of a pharaoh from around 1500BC.
Image source, The Trustees of the British Museum
Image caption,
Human mummy case
This is a painted cartonnage (mummy case) for a woman. It has a gilded face and a scarab beetle pendant. Scarab beetles were very important to ancient Egyptians - they symbolised the restoration of life.
Image source, The Trustees of the British Museum
Image caption,
The Rosetta Stone
This is the Rosetta Stone. It is made from granite and it has three sets of inscriptions carved into it: Demotic, Hieroglyphs and ancient Greek. The broken top and bottom edges suggest it was part of a much bigger piece of stone.

Activity 2: Quiz – Introduction to Ancient Egypt

Activity 3: Make your own pyramid treasure tomb

Make your own pyramid treasure tomb

Activity 4: History Explorer game

Play this game to test your knowledge and learn even more facts about Ancient Egypt.

Teaching resources

There are more teaching resources available on BBC Teach. These short animated videos explore Ancient Egypt. There are five films devoted to key themes - such as the River Nile and Gods and goddesses.

BBC Teach has thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources to help deliver lessons - all arranged by subject and age group.