Egypt Research Paper | Teen Ink

Egypt Research Paper

November 5, 2008
By Anonymous

For this research paper, my topic is on the country of Egypt. I have divided it into three different sections. The first section is just about the people and their lives. The second is on the well know King Tut. And the third section is on the religion of Ancient Egypt.

The most popular language is Arabic. The most practiced religion is Muslim. All educational facilities are free, and the Al-Azhar University in Cairo is the oldest school in Egypt.
For the rural life, most country people live in villages, which lie along the long Nile River, because it provided water and excellent soil for growing crops. Each village has a mosque, a few shops, and at least one religious school. Most homes are usually one story with two rooms, which consisted of a mud brick fireplace that is used for cooking and is the main source of heat. For work both the men and women usually work in the fields, while the children tend to the animals. For the urban life, most people will live in apartments or in crowed districts.
It is custom that their main meal is eaten at 2pm, which is right after work. That meal usually includes rice, vegetables, lamb, pigeons, fish, or a form of poultry. The most favorite type of dessert is usually a kind of fruit. To top of the meal a cup of strong, black Turkish coffee will always be served.
Egypt consists of 4 different regions. Those regions are the Nile River valley, the Libyan Desert, the Arabian Desert, and the Sinai Peninsula. The Nile River flows through Egypt for about 930 miles before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. The Sinai Peninsular is the site of the highest mountain, Mount Catherine, which rises to a height of 8,651 feet. The second most important waterway in Egypt is the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez.
Egypt is one of the hottest and sunniest countries in the world. The summers are always hot, and temperatures can reach up to 110 degrees. There is very little rainfall. For the economy cotton is the major export crop in Egypt. One of the country’s major attractions is the Ancient city of Luxor. Both men and women in Egypt wore tunics. These tunics were like a T-shirt, which went to their knees for men, and to their ankles for women. They were usually made from linen and were always white. Most children until the age of six went around completely naked. At that time they began to wear clothes in order to protect them from the intense dry heat. Most of the time the people went barefoot, but at times they wore leather sandals. Both the men and women wore green eye shadow and black eyeliner when dressed up fancy. For hair on men it stayed short, and for women it went to their shoulders. Also both wore gold jewelry if they could afford it. The Egyptians wore make-up and jewelry to honor the gods.
My second topic I chose is on the well-known King Tut. King Tut was the 12th pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1334 to 1323 BC. His name meant, “Living image of Amun.” He began his reign at the age of 9. His father was probably Amenhotep III but it isn’t known for sure. King Tut ruled Egypt for eight to ten years. Research had shown that the king had been in good health, and there were no signs of any disease. He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall. He died when he was 19. King Tut was married to Ankhesenpaaten. They had two known children who were both discovered in tombs.
King Tut died at an early age because of a head injury. Many suspect that he was murdered. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings. In 1922 Howard Carter discovered King Tut’s tomb. For a long time the cause of Tutankhamun’s death was unknown, but a 2005 CT scan helped resolve some questions. Howard Carter’s team originally inspected the body in the 1920’s but they were only after the jewelry and amulets from the body. To remove the items from the body Carter’s team cut up the body. Hot knives were used to remove the head from the golden mask.
Before the 2005 scan, x-rays of the skull had revealed a dense part at the lower back of the skull. It was thought a blow to the head would cause that. This could have happened by accident, but it also could be from murder. The number one suspect was King Tut’s immediate successor Ay. The CT scan also showed the Tut had a curved spine but it was from the mummification process. After all the research was looked over and over, it was confirmed the he had broke his leg and died a few days later. The research also showed no damage to the head.
King Tut has entered popular culture for example he was commemorated in the song “King Tut” by comedian Steve Martin. In 2005 three teams partnered together to create a face to show the features that was on his original face. The model shows a wide-faced young man with high cheekbones, smaller eyes and a heavy brow.
The tomb was discovered under a pile of rubble. The entire casket of King Tut weighed over 2,900 pounds. Some items in his tomb included carved chairs, beds, chariots thrown and stacked next to one another, and Tut's famous golden throne. Most famous in this room were the three couches that were carved into animals. Howard Carter described the room "everywhere the glint of gold". This room was left almost untouched. It assumed the tomb had been broken into more than once, because everything was posed unorganized. Or many archaeologists said the robbers thrashed about the chariots in search of gold.

My third topic I chose was on religion of ancient Egypt. As most of us know the religion of ancient Egypt is a very difficult topic to learn about. With modern books and teachers it helps us to learn about modern religion, but with no teachers and very few books it makes it very hard to understand Ancient Egyptian religion.

In Egypt, religion was in everybody’s lives. Their religion was influenced by tradition, which caused them to resist change. Egyptians had no desire to change their society. Their main belief was mainly polytheism, which is believing many gods. In order to have a good life, Egyptians would have to obey their gods. Egyptians had as many as 2,000 gods and goddesses. As with all civilizations, religion was linked to spiritual revelations and mythology. Most of the beliefs centered around the Nile River. Some of the practices were also linked to celestial movements like constellations, the moon, the sun, and the planets, which guided their mythologies.

Some Egyptian gods and goddesses were shown with a human body but had a head of an animal. Animals were chosen to represent the powers of the god. Throughout my research I have come to the conclusion that there are 10 major gods. The first one is Amun. He was the king of the gods. He had a head of a ram. The second god is Anubis. He was the god of embalming. He had the head of a jackal. The third god was Aten. He was the god of the sun. The fourth goddess was Bastet. She was the goddess of the east and fire. She had the head of a cat. The fifth goddess was Hathor. She was the goddess of love and joy. She had the head of a cow. The sixth god was Horus. He was the god of the sky. He had the head of a falcon. The seventh goddess was Isis. She was the goddess of Magic. The eighth god was Osiris. He was the king of the underworld. The ninth god was Re. He was another sun god. And the last god was Thorth. He was the god of writing and knowledge. He had the head of and ibis bird.

A cult center in Egypt is usually referred to as a temple. But this building had a different purpose than our modern churches, mosques, and temples. These ancient temples were considered as a home belonging to one or two gods. In these temples priests took care of the gods. Only priests were allowed into many parts of the temples, but they only served the gods, rather than helping common people.


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on Sep. 18 2009 at 5:24 pm
NorthernWriter, Fargo, North Dakota
0 articles 0 photos 326 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Only dead fish swim with the stream"

Very informative and interesting. However, I wish you'd include a time range for yours because you go from talking about the present to randomly about the past, but you can't really tell. This stood out for me because I'm Egyptian and there are people today that think we still live like that...Egypt now is different than it was then. Otherwise, wonderful info...you explain it with simplicity, yet it's good. may be a better intro?