You gotta hand it to the Pharaohs. They may have lived in ancient history from our perspective, but they understood immortality. How to live forever, or as close as anyone has got since the dawn of time, or at least how to make it feel that way. You have to plan for the long term right from the start. Here's some of the things that helped the ancient Egyptians preserve themselves for three or four millennia.
1. Think BIG. Huge, even. You know how they say don't sweat the small stuff? Because it doesn't matter. Big stuff matters. It feels important and makes you look like you were important. It is also harder to hide and/or more likely to be found by people later in history even if some enemy or earthquake messes around with it in the meantime. The Karnak temple in Luxor covers two square kms, and was linked to the Luxor temple by a 3km avenue lined on both sides with sphinxes. Probably you could have seen it from space back in the day.
1. Think BIG. Huge, even. You know how they say don't sweat the small stuff? Because it doesn't matter. Big stuff matters. It feels important and makes you look like you were important. It is also harder to hide and/or more likely to be found by people later in history even if some enemy or earthquake messes around with it in the meantime. The Karnak temple in Luxor covers two square kms, and was linked to the Luxor temple by a 3km avenue lined on both sides with sphinxes. Probably you could have seen it from space back in the day.
2. Have STAFF, or lots of loyal subjects, or even slaves. If you are thinking really big, it is obviously a good idea to have a lot of people working for you, voluntarily or involuntarily. The Obelisk of Hatshepsut at Karnak (the one on the right in the picture below) is 30m tall, weighs over 300 tons, and was built in a quarry in Aswan over 200 kms away. You try moving that without cranes. Boats help, but you still need a lot of people pulling and pushing. Definitely it helps to be King (which she was). Or think about the great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza, 146m high, which Egyptologists believe were constructed by a workforce of more than 20,000 people, probably farmers. Each of the blocks is as tall as me, and longer. And there are about 2,800,000 blocks just for that one pyramid.
3. Live in a VERY DRY PLACE. A desert is perfect. The Valley of the Kings has to be one of the most arid places on the planet. Sand can bury things and also preserve them. We saw amazing statues in the Luxor museum that were only uncovered in 1989 from the grounds of the Luxor Temple. The detail was incredible even though they were made in something like 1500 BC. Lack of moisture means stuff doesn't rot, like your papyrus, or yourself. The deterioration of the murals inside the tombs has mostly been caused by humidity introduced by people. They must have looked perfect when they were first discovered!
4. Don't be squeamish, love your MUMMY. If you want a body to last forever you have to get rid of all the messy bits. There is a Museum of Mummification in Luxor my friends. Check it out. If you really want details, do a search on mummification while on YouTube. Seriously. Feel free to try this at home.
We saw Tutankhamen's mummy, displayed in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings (discovered by Howard Carter in 1922), and Ahmose I and what they think is Ramses I. Interestingly, the Ramses I mummy used to be held in a small museum in Niagara Falls, Canada (near where my dad grew up) until the late 1990s, when someone recognized the signs of potential royalty. After some research at a museum in Atlanta, the mummy was returned to Egypt in 2003. So you could say he's the Canadian mummy.
You aren't allowed to take photos in either of these places, so the images below come from the internet.
We saw Tutankhamen's mummy, displayed in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings (discovered by Howard Carter in 1922), and Ahmose I and what they think is Ramses I. Interestingly, the Ramses I mummy used to be held in a small museum in Niagara Falls, Canada (near where my dad grew up) until the late 1990s, when someone recognized the signs of potential royalty. After some research at a museum in Atlanta, the mummy was returned to Egypt in 2003. So you could say he's the Canadian mummy.
You aren't allowed to take photos in either of these places, so the images below come from the internet.
5. Have help from the GODS. The Egyptians had lots of gods, and the gods could take many forms, and could co-inhabit mortal bodies. I learned a lot from reading Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles, which I really recommend to all my friends.
Pharaohs usually claimed to be descended directly from the gods, and since the gods were known to be immortal, that boosted their claims also. Maybe that did help with preservation over all the centuries. The murals below showing Pharaos making offerings to the gods are all over 3500 years old. I guess someone was happy with the offerings.
Pharaohs usually claimed to be descended directly from the gods, and since the gods were known to be immortal, that boosted their claims also. Maybe that did help with preservation over all the centuries. The murals below showing Pharaos making offerings to the gods are all over 3500 years old. I guess someone was happy with the offerings.