Ancient Egypt was one of the world's oldest civilisations. Its
kings were called the (1), and when they died they became gods. The
(2) Egyptians believed there was a life after death. They built (3) of
stone for their dead (4) and placed a lot of gold, jewels and other
(5) possessions into the pyramids to (6) the Pharaohs into
another world. The shape of the pyramids, with four (7) sides,
represented the rays of the sun (8) Ra, the god of the sun, with the
dead ruler. At Giza, the ancient Egyptians built the greatest tomb of all:
the Great Pyramid of King Cheops. Cheops' pyramid was 147 metres high. It
(9) 2.3 million blocks of stone, each (10) about 2.5 tonnes. Some
people believe that visitors from another planet helped the ancient
Egyptians to build the pyramids. Most pyramids were built (11) 2700 BC
and 1750 BC. Pyramids were also built (12) the Mayas and the Aztecs in Central
America (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras), and by the Incas in South America
(Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina). |