Pharaohs

By Emelia Suljic

Welcome to the Pharaohs and Their Burial website! This is a chance to learn all about Egyptian pharaohs and their unique burial ceremony from thousands of years ago. We begin our journey back in time with a closer look at pharaohs.

Pharaohs were considered “gods on earth”.

Back then the Egyptians worshiped many gods and goddesses such as: Re-Harakhte (the sun god), Horus, the sky god, Hathor, the great mother, Ptah, the craftsman that created the universe, Osiris, the ruler of the underworld or god of the dead, and his wife, Isis. (Pyramids by Anne Millard).

Please click below to see all the gods and goddesses.

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/gods/explore/main.html

The Pharaoh had many servants.

They did domestic and non-domestic chores, such as: cooking, taking care of the pharaoh and his family, and cleaning. The servants were beaten regularly because of an old saying: “A servant, who does not get beaten, will have angry thoughts in his heart.” This means that beating a servant rid the servant of all mean, angry, or evil thoughts from their head, such as: “I am going to rob the Pharaoh’s treasury and become rich!” If you were a servant you would try to please the pharaoh as much as possible and would try not to be the one to bring him bad news. You wanted to please him because if you were one of the Pharaoh’s favorite servants you would be buried in a special tomb called a Mastaba. This was an honor because it was right in front of the pharaoh’s tomb (in the pyramid) and the gods were thought to visit the pharaoh’s tomb often.

What the pharaoh wore:

The pharaoh was considered a great leader and the “shepherd” of his people. As a symbol of this he carried a beautifully decorated miniature gold shepherd staff called the Sekhem Scepter. They wore a fine white linen, pleated skirt, jeweled and leather belt, jeweled leather sandals and they had many crowns and head-dresses.

The Blue Crown: the pharaoh’s helmet.
The Diadem: They wore this for special occasions.
The Nems: Also called the Sphinx headdress, worn on less special occasions.
The Atef Crown: The Crown of Osiris (the god of the underworld). This was not worn often, only on a few religious occasions.
The Uraeus: This had a snake coming out of the forehead. They thought a snake on the king’s forehead, called the great of magic, spat fire at enemys.
The Sekhem Scepter: This was the symbol of royal power and carried at any ceremony.

These items were buried with the Pharaoh in his tomb. Other important items he was buried with include; jewelry, precious stones and metals. The most important item a dead pharaoh was buried with was a boat. This was the dead pharaoh’s transportation to the afterlife. When the pharaoh’s burial ceremony was over, his first wife’s oldest son became the next pharaoh. As soon as the new pharaoh was selected, he started making plans to make his burial tomb…his pyramid.