Egypt was one of the first civilizations—a society with a large population—that used writing, lived in cities, had a system of religious beliefs, and was ruled by a government. In 2700 BCE, the Egyptians built their first pyramid. (BCE means “before the common era.” Historians study time in BCE and CE—"common era." BCE refers to the years before year 1, and CE refers to year 1 and later.) That was almost 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians built many pyramids as tombs for their kings, whom they called pharaohs (fair-ohz).

This short video that asks an important question about the pyramids: Why did the Egyptians build them? Click "View" on the left to watch the video.

In this lesson, you will learn about Egyptian society and the pyramids that the Egyptians built, as well as how historians believe the Egyptians were able to build these enormous structures.

Goals
Here are the big ideas you will learn about in this lesson:

• The pyramids represent a great achievement of the ancient Egyptians.
• The ancient Egyptian government used farmers to build the pyramids.

Strategies
You will be using many reading and writing strategies to complete this lesson. The key strategies that you will focus on are:

• Making inferences
• Determining important information
• Constructing summaries

• pharaoh
• pyramid
• society

The pyramids are huge: the largest one is the Great Pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu. It contains 2.5 million stone blocks, weighs over six million tons, and is as tall as a 40-story skyscraper.

People used to think that the pyramids were built by slaves. They didn't think that thousands of people could have been organized to work on such big projects without someone forcing them to do it. After studying more ancient Egyptian records, historians—people who study things that have happened in the past—believe that free Egyptians, not slaves, built the pyramids.

The pyramids were built by farmers during the season when the Nile flooded their fields, so there was no farm work. These farmers were conscripted [con-SCRIPT-ed], which means they were called in to work by the officials in charge of the pyramid project. Unlike slaves, who might be forced to work for someone else for their entire lives, conscripted farmers worked on a pyramid for a set time, then returned to their farms. The proud workers signed their names on the pyramids next to the name of their pharaoh. They wrote them in sets of symbols called a cartouche [car-TOOSH]. You will now watch a video to learn more about how the pyramids were built.

Click "View" on the left to watch the video. After watching the video, answer the question below.

Why was the building of the pyramids such a great achievement for the ancient Egyptians?

The pyramids must have looked impressive when they were first finished. They were covered with a patina (or layer) of limestone, a white stone that was dazzling in the sun. Historians believe that the pyramids were designed by master craftsmen. To the Egyptians, the pyramids were not just monuments, they were doorways to the afterlife that safely led the pharaoh from this world to the next. After a pharaoh had died and was buried inside a pyramid, he could travel up through the pyramid to reach the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians also believed that once the pharaoh did this, he would become a god and help them reach the afterlife, too.

Click "View" on the left to watch the video and learn more about why the pyramids were built. After watching the video, answer the question below.

Why do historians think the pharaoh got the biggest tomb of all?

The pharaoh was the leader of ancient Egyptian society. He ruled Egypt with the help of a small group of officials and priests, who were usually members of the richest families in Egypt. These officials came up with political plans and presented them to the pharaoh. If the pharaoh liked the plans, he would make them law. The pharaoh also made up his own laws.

The pharaoh was at the top of Egyptian society, with his officials and high priests just below him. Scribes—people who could write—made up the next level of society. They kept records of laws and other government activities, including information about the lives of the pharaohs. Soldiers, craftsmen, and traders were just below them.

At the bottom of society were average Egyptians. Most of them were farmers. Tens of thousands of those average Egyptians were willing to work on the pyramids because they believed that the pharaoh needed the pyramid to travel to the afterlife. They all wanted to go to the afterlife, too, and they thought the pyramids made that possible.

The videos you have seen and the text you have read show how historians believe the pyramids were built and why.

Now show what you have learned so far about pyramids and the ancient Egyptian social structure by answering these three questions. Be sure to save all your answers before you go to the next screen.

In this lesson, you have learned about the size of the pyramids and why they were built. Now you will read more about why the ancient Egyptians built them.

Click "View" on the left to open the reading passage.

How was the ancient Egyptian social structure important for building the pyramids?

You will now check your understanding of the vocabulary words for this lesson by placing them in sentences. Click "View" on the left to begin the activity.

Before moving to the next screen, choose two words from the vocabulary list and write a new sentence for each word.

Vocabulary words: afterlife, craftsmanship, historian, monuments, pharaoh, pyramid, society

As the videos and the reading have shown, it took a lot of cooperation and organization to build the pyramids. Think about what you have learned about why the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids, and how they felt about the pharaoh. In this activity, you will read more about how the pyramids were actually built, and highlight answers to two questions.

Click "View" on the left to begin the activity. Your teacher will review the answers with you.

Then, before moving on to the final assignment, you may want to watch this lesson's videos again or reread the passage.

Egyptian Pyramids

Video: 0m 30s

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Building the Pyramids

Video: 3m 12s

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What Were the Pyramids For?

Video: 1m 59s

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Pyramids and Society

Document

View

In this lesson, you have learned about the pyramids of Egypt and how and why historians believe that the ancient Egyptians built them. You will now write an essay that demonstrates what you have learned.

Begin by reviewing your notes. Click "review my work" above and view or print out the screen that pops up.

Final Assignment Instructions

• Click Building the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt—Final Assignment (PDF).
• Choose one of the topics in the PDF and write an essay.
• Organize your response so that it includes at least three supporting details that you have learned from the reading passage, videos, and other materials in this lesson.
• Use at least three vocabulary words (or a form of the words) as part of your supporting details. For example, for the word jump, you could use jumps, jumped, or jumping.