your gold.”
“We can walk,” said Karoya.
“Walk?” Hapu looked at her as if she was suffering from sunstroke.
“It’ll take a while, but we’ll get there. My people think nothing of walking such distances.”
“What will we eat? Where will we sleep?”
“We’ll sleep under the stars as before.”
“If we keep to the edge of the desert like this, no one will bother us.”
“We can go back to the river every so often to fish,” said Karoya. “There are dates and wild grains. We won’t go hungry.”
Ramose smiled at his friends. He’d come a long way since he’d been the spoilt prince in the palace. He could walk to Thebes. He had friends to help him. He also knew that his sister and tutor were waiting for him at the palace. He felt sure he could face whatever his future held.
“The gods will provide,” said Ramose.
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
It might seem to us that the ancient Egyptians were a strange lot. They spent a lot of their time thinking about death. They weren’t a solemn or unhappy people though. They believed that when they died they would live on in an afterlife. During their lives they prepared their own tomb, making sure it contained everything they would need in the afterlife.
Thanks to these beliefs and the fact that many of the tombs were underground, a lot have survived. Even though tombs are all about death, they provide us with a lot of knowledge about the way ancient Egyptians lived.
The ancient Egyptians lived around three thousand years ago. I find it fascinating that we know so much detail about life so long ago.
Ramose was a real person. His father, Pharaoh Tuthmosis I, lived from 1504–1492 BCE . Some historians believe that his “chief” wife bore him three sons who all died before the pharaoh. A son of a lesser wife therefore became the next pharaoh. No one knows what happened to Ramose and his brothers. I thought it would be interesting to imagine the reasons for the early deaths of the princes. That is how the Ramose stories came about.
GLOSSARY
amulet
Good luck charms worn by ancient Egyptians to protect them against disease and evil. Amulets were also wrapped inside a mummy’s bandages to give good luck to the dead person as they travelled through the underworld.
Canopic chest
When the ancient Egyptians mummified bodies, they removed most of the insides (except for the heart). They put the insides in jars and they were in turn put in a chest. This chest, called a Canopic chest after a town called Canopus, was placed in the tomb with the coffin.
carnelian
A red stone used in jewellery.
cowry shell
An oval-shaped sea shell. The ancient Egyptians used them as good luck charms.
cubit
The cubit was the main measurement of distance in ancient Egypt. It was the average length of a man’s arm from his elbow to the tips of his fingers, 52.5 cm.
deben
A unit of weight somewhere between 90 and 100 grams.
Horus eye
Horus was the hawk-god of ancient Egypt. Horus lost an eye in a battle, but the goddess Hathor restored it. His eye became a symbol of healing and is used in many paintings and sculptures.
lapis lazuli
A dark blue semi-precious stone which the Egyptians considered to be more valuable than any other stone because it was the same colour as the heavens.
niche
A space or recess cut back into a wall, usually made to store something or to display a statue or a vase.
palm-width
The average width of the palm of an Egyptian man’s hand, 7.5 cm.
papyrus
A plant with tall, triangular-shaped stems that grows in marshy ground. Ancient Egyptians made a kind of paper from the dried stems of this plant.
sarcophagus
A large stone container, usually rectangular, made to house a coffin.
senet
A board game played by ancient Egyptians. It involved two players each with seven pieces and was played on a rectangular board divided into thirty squares. Archaeologists have found many senet boards in tombs, but haven’t been able to work out what the rules of
“We can walk,” said Karoya.
“Walk?” Hapu looked at her as if she was suffering from sunstroke.
“It’ll take a while, but we’ll get there. My people think nothing of walking such distances.”
“What will we eat? Where will we sleep?”
“We’ll sleep under the stars as before.”
“If we keep to the edge of the desert like this, no one will bother us.”
“We can go back to the river every so often to fish,” said Karoya. “There are dates and wild grains. We won’t go hungry.”
Ramose smiled at his friends. He’d come a long way since he’d been the spoilt prince in the palace. He could walk to Thebes. He had friends to help him. He also knew that his sister and tutor were waiting for him at the palace. He felt sure he could face whatever his future held.
“The gods will provide,” said Ramose.
A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR
It might seem to us that the ancient Egyptians were a strange lot. They spent a lot of their time thinking about death. They weren’t a solemn or unhappy people though. They believed that when they died they would live on in an afterlife. During their lives they prepared their own tomb, making sure it contained everything they would need in the afterlife.
Thanks to these beliefs and the fact that many of the tombs were underground, a lot have survived. Even though tombs are all about death, they provide us with a lot of knowledge about the way ancient Egyptians lived.
The ancient Egyptians lived around three thousand years ago. I find it fascinating that we know so much detail about life so long ago.
Ramose was a real person. His father, Pharaoh Tuthmosis I, lived from 1504–1492 BCE . Some historians believe that his “chief” wife bore him three sons who all died before the pharaoh. A son of a lesser wife therefore became the next pharaoh. No one knows what happened to Ramose and his brothers. I thought it would be interesting to imagine the reasons for the early deaths of the princes. That is how the Ramose stories came about.
GLOSSARY
amulet
Good luck charms worn by ancient Egyptians to protect them against disease and evil. Amulets were also wrapped inside a mummy’s bandages to give good luck to the dead person as they travelled through the underworld.
Canopic chest
When the ancient Egyptians mummified bodies, they removed most of the insides (except for the heart). They put the insides in jars and they were in turn put in a chest. This chest, called a Canopic chest after a town called Canopus, was placed in the tomb with the coffin.
carnelian
A red stone used in jewellery.
cowry shell
An oval-shaped sea shell. The ancient Egyptians used them as good luck charms.
cubit
The cubit was the main measurement of distance in ancient Egypt. It was the average length of a man’s arm from his elbow to the tips of his fingers, 52.5 cm.
deben
A unit of weight somewhere between 90 and 100 grams.
Horus eye
Horus was the hawk-god of ancient Egypt. Horus lost an eye in a battle, but the goddess Hathor restored it. His eye became a symbol of healing and is used in many paintings and sculptures.
lapis lazuli
A dark blue semi-precious stone which the Egyptians considered to be more valuable than any other stone because it was the same colour as the heavens.
niche
A space or recess cut back into a wall, usually made to store something or to display a statue or a vase.
palm-width
The average width of the palm of an Egyptian man’s hand, 7.5 cm.
papyrus
A plant with tall, triangular-shaped stems that grows in marshy ground. Ancient Egyptians made a kind of paper from the dried stems of this plant.
sarcophagus
A large stone container, usually rectangular, made to house a coffin.
senet
A board game played by ancient Egyptians. It involved two players each with seven pieces and was played on a rectangular board divided into thirty squares. Archaeologists have found many senet boards in tombs, but haven’t been able to work out what the rules of
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