Lesson 7
The Pyramids & Pharaohs of Egypt
Why do people build monuments?Egyptian pyramids were royal tombs shaped by beliefs about pharaohs and the afterlife. Their construction brings together engineering, resources, and organized labor, with comparisons to monuments built in Kush, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica.
KEY IDEAS
SUGGESTED PICTURE BOOK
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum Illustrated by Jessie Hartland
HANDS-ON PROJECT
Design your own monument.
VOCABULARY
TIMELINE
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Pyramids were built as tombs to protect and honor pharaohs after death.
- Ancient Egyptians strongly believed in an afterlife, and pyramids helped prepare for that journey.
- Building pyramids required enormous planning, resources, and skilled, likely paid labor.
- Pyramids show how important honoring leaders and the afterlife was to ancient Egyptians.
- Cultures from Nubia to Mesoamerica to Mesopotamia independently built their own pyramid shaped monuments.
SUGGESTED PICTURE BOOK
How the Sphinx Got to the Museum Illustrated by Jessie Hartland
HANDS-ON PROJECT
Design your own monument.
VOCABULARY
- Pyramid – a large structure with a square base and triangular sides, built as a tomb
- Pharaoh – the ruler of ancient Egypt
- Monument – a large structure built to honor a person or event
- Tomb – a place where a body is buried
- Afterlife – a belief in life continuing after death
TIMELINE
- c. 2670 BCE – The Step Pyramid of Djoser, an early pyramid, is built at Saqqara
- c. 2560 BCE – The Great Pyramid of Giza is built for the pharaoh Khufu
- c. 1550 BCE – Later pharaohs are buried in the Valley of the Kings instead of pyramids
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Why do you think ancient Egyptians spent so much effort preparing for the afterlife?
- Does learning that pyramid workers were likely paid, organized laborers change how you think about the pyramids?
- What monument today do you think future people will still be talking about?
- If you were building a monument to be remembered by, what would you want it to look like?