Pyramids of Egypt

Ancient Egyptians were famous for almost everything they did worth being noticed for and they also happened to be experts in doing such things. They had a bunch of Gods, infamous kings and queens and they were pretty good at extracting, consuming and using knowledge…..of any kind. But none of these can beat their dedicated fascination with life. So it isn’t much of a wonder that they came up with ways to prolong life……..after death. It was believed by Egyptians that death was just another beginning, after death another lifetime begins, an eternal life. But for this to happen, the dead is supposed to be well preserved and provided with what they would need for their next life. And this is how the pyramids we see today came in to the picture.

Pyramids are like monuments for the dead. They hold the body of the dead along with things like gold, jewellery, food and whatever that was important in life. The pyramids of Egypt are looked upon as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and in fact they happen to be the only one that has survived….so far. For centuries architects, journalists, scientists plus a great number of explorers and seekers of different kinds of knowledge were all dwelling on what was inside the pyramids and why they were built but it wasn’t until recently that the wonder was really accepted for the wonder it is and people began to understand its true nature.

The bodies in the pyramids are preserved by mummification. For mummification, the dead body is taken to embalmers and it under goes a purification process which lasts for seventy days. After wards, the embalming process begins. All the vital organ in the body were removed and placed in a jar (in the late centuries it was placed between the mummy’s legs) and the body was dried in salt. When dry the salt was washed off and the body was stuffed to its normal size, rubbed with perfume oil and painted. And then, it was wrapped up from head to toe until completely covered. After mummification, the mummy was covered with a death mask that is made of either gold, papyrus or linen depending on the status of the dead person. Now the mummy is ready and so it is put in to its tomb along with its possessions. They also include statues which are supposed to be guards or servants of the dead who will help them with anything when the need arises. Of course the ritual of mummification varies according to the class of person. Scrolls are placed in the pyramids with inscriptions that are supposed to wake the dead; also known as the book of the dead.

It’s known that many Egyptians, specially the royals and the nobles, do make their tombs while they are still alive, so that it would be as they want it with what they want in it.

They also do fear that their pyramids might be raided by thieves, which do happen. So they made sure that they find a well hidden point for their pyramids. And they also seemed to have used micro organisms in the names of curses to keep the tomb raiders away. These seem to have worked pretty well for some cases if not for all because the pyramids that are unearthed now are either untouched or raided.

And coming back to wonders, the last wonder of the world, The Pyramids of Giza were once occupied by the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu, Pharaoh Khafre and Pharaoh Menkaure. There are also valleys for pyramids; Valley of The Kings, Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Nobles.