Acrostic Poem About Ancient Egypt? Best 75 Answer

What is an acrostic?

Acrostic is a fun poetic form that anyone can write. You only have a few simple rules, and this lesson will teach you how to create your own acrostic poems.

First of all, an acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of each line form a word or sentence. The word or phrase can be a name, a thing, or whatever you like. When children write acrostics, they often use their own first name, or sometimes a friend’s first name.

Usually the first letter of each line is capitalized. This makes it easier to see the word spelled vertically on the page.

Acrostics are easy to write because they don’t have to rhyme and you don’t have to worry about the rhythm of the lines. Each line can be as long or as short as you want.

Creating an acrostic in five easy steps

To create an acrostic, follow these five simple steps:

Decide what you want to write about. Write your word vertically. Think of words or phrases that describe your idea. Place your brainstorming words or phrases on the lines that start with the same letters. Fill in the remaining lines to create a poem.

Now let me show you how to follow these steps.

The first step is to decide what you want to write an acrostic about. I recommend you start by writing an acrostic based on your name or your favorite activity, whatever that might be. It doesn’t matter if your favorite activity is soccer, video games, chocolate, music, pizza, movies or anything else.

An ice cream acrostic

For example, I’m particularly fond of ice cream, so I decided to write an acrostic about ice cream. Start by writing the word “ICE CREAM” on the side like this:

I

C

E

C

R

E

A

M

Next, in each line, you want to say something about ice cream. A good way to do this is to brainstorm lots of ideas. I wrote down a list of all the ice cream flavors I could think of, including Chocolate Chip, Strawberry, Rocky Road, and others. Then I put them in a list wherever they would fit, like this:

ice cream

I

Cookies & Cream.

English toffee.

chocolate chip.

rocky road.

E

Almond Fudge.

M

You will notice that I didn’t fill in all the lines. That’s because I couldn’t think of any flavors that started with “I” and I could only think of one flavor that started with “E”. Also, I thought I’d do something different with the last line to make it an ending for the poem and not just another flavor.

Finally, I filled in the missing lines as follows:

ice cream

I love every taste.

Cookies & Cream.

English toffee.

chocolate chip.

rocky road.

Even strawberry and

Almond Fudge.

Mmmmmmm.

Well, just as you can write acrostics about things you like, you can also write them about things you don’t like, like chores, homework, and so on. Here is a sample acrostic about homework.

A homework acrostic

You can’t just write about things you like, such as B. ice cream, but also about things you don’t like. For example, if you don’t like homework, you could try writing a poem about it. Start by writing the word “HOMEWORK” down the page:

H

O

M

E

W

O

R

K

Next, brainstorm as many words and phrases as you can think of. Here are a few that came to mind:

read for hours. Write. Not my favourite. Every day. I would rather watch TV. Makes me mad. Overwhelming. difficult to do.

Notice that some of these words and phrases begin with the letters of the word “homework.” I pasted these where I saw they would go:

homework

difficult to do

Overwhelming,

M

Every day

Write

O

read for hours.

K

Eventually I found a way to fill in the rest of the words and even give it an ending. Here is the finished acrostic:

homework

Difficult to do and sometimes

Overwhelming,

My teacher gives us homework

Every single day!

Write for hours

or

read for hours.

Children need a break!

A Minecraft acrostic

Here’s another acrostic I recently created with the help of kids from across the country during an online author visit:

Minecraft

Minecraft.

I love it.

There is no doubt about it.

Explore, build, fight

Creepers, zombies and skeletons.

walking around for hours.

A

fun

time for everyone!

things to remember

Here are a few things to think about as you start writing your own acrostics:

Acrostic can be anything! Names are a common theme. Try writing one with your best friend’s name and giving it to him or her as a gift. You can use single words, phrases, or even entire sentences in your acrostic.

Finally, remember that acrostic poems are one of the easiest and most fun ways to create your own poetry. Give it a try and see what you can come up with.

worksheet

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Where is Egypt?

What is the capital of Egypt?

What are the main cities in Egypt?

What is the official currency in Egypt?

What is the dominant religion in Egypt?

Egyptian geography

Egyptian Civilization

Egyptian cuisine

Egyptian art

Egyptian sports

Is Egypt safe?

What is the best time to travel to Egypt?

Interesting facts about Egypt

A few things you should know before visiting Egypt

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is one of the most magnificent and interesting countries you will ever see. With all its history, culture, cuisine, religion and diverse geography, Egypt has a special place for everyone who visits this great place. Egyptian history is infinite and one of the greatest legacies of human civilization, but Egypt is much more than just its millennia-old pyramids and monuments, Egypt is life itself and certainly a place that every person who can should visit once in their lifetime Visit.

Where is Egypt? Egypt lies mainly in the northern part of the African continent, with part of the Sinai desert lying on the Asian continent. It has a total area of ​​1,002,450 square kilometers, making it the 31st largest country in the world; measured from the far north to the far south you have a total of 1,024 km.

What is the capital of Egypt? Cairo, pronounced Al-Qahirah, meaning the victors, is the capital of Egypt. A city built around the Nile Cairo is one of the largest cities on the African continent. Cairo is a great diverse city of 9.5 million people and unique.

What are the main cities in Egypt? Cairo is the capital, but other cities such as Alexandria, Aswan, Luxor, Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Gouna and Hurghada are also capitals for tourist attractions and business.

What is the official currency in Egypt? Egypt’s currency is called the Egyptian pound. Egyptian money is beautiful, but its monetary value is very small compared to the British Pound, Euro and US Dollar. Egyptian currency can be abbreviated as EGP.

What is the dominant religion in Egypt? The dominant religion is Islam, making the Egyptian population 90% Muslim and around 10% Christian, with Muslims being mostly Sunni and the Coptic Orthodox Church being the largest Christians.

Egyptian Geography Due to its strategic location in the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt has coastlines on the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and the Nile River flows through its entire length. It borders Libya, the Gaza Strip, Sudan and Israel. The Western Desert covers about two-thirds of Egypt’s land area. The western desert is part of the Sahara and lies on the western side of the Nile bank.

Egyptian Civilization Egypt is very famous for its ancient civilization and the monuments of the majestic pharaohs such as the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, the Egyptian Museum, the GEM (The Great Egyptian Museum), Saqqara and Dahshur. In the south there are famous monuments such as Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, Abu Simbel, Temple of Hatshepsut, Valley of the Kings focusing on Tutankhamun’s tomb, Temple of Edfu (Horus), High Dam of Aswan and the Philae Temple. This is just a simple summary of what’s out there; There are many other emblematic attractions across the country.

Egyptian cuisine Egyptian gastronomy is very authentic and although it has some influences from the Greeks, as on the north coast, the national food is quite ‘full’ and consists of beans, lentils, noodles, rice and bread. A famous and traditional dish is koshary; a dish that includes rice, lentils, pasta, tomato sauce, chickpeas, crispy onions and a garlic sauce. One of the greatest Egyptian foods is tamiya, which is made from a bean paste. Molokhia is also a very common food in Egypt and consists of a soup made from a very healthy green leaf that is packed with antioxidants. Molokhia is a hallmark of Egyptian cuisine. Egyptian famous meat and poultry dishes are stuffed pigeon, kebabs and kofta. Egypt’s cuisine also features a lot of seafood as you have access to some of the best fresh seafood in the world.

Egyptian Art During the Old Kingdom, Egypt had the first references to art in the history of ancient Egyptian civilization, and since then art has been one of the most important aspects of Egyptian culture, second only to religion. Egyptian art is divided into many categories such as: Literature In Egyptian literature, Naguib Mahfouz was the first Egyptian writer to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in Arabic. Other famous names in Egyptian literature include Muhammad Husayn Haykal, Nawa El Saadawi, Alifa Rifaat, Ahmed Fouad Negm, Salah Jaheen and Abdel Rahman El-Abnudi. Cinema Every year the presence of Egyptian cinema increases with the launch of several new films. A number of series and shows are produced for the Ramadan season as there is a strong tradition of watching Egyptian series during Ramadan. The El Gouna International Film Festival takes place every year and has become a powerful catalyst for creative minds both inside and outside of Egypt in the film industry. Music Egypt is a huge music country and the people of the country appreciate music very much. Some of the legends in Egyptian music names are Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sayed Darwish and Abdul al-Hamuli. Contemporary music is now gaining a big place in the Egyptian music market and names like Amr Diab, Mohamed Mounir, Tamer Hosny, Mohamed Ramadan and others are the new faces of Egyptian music. Dance The world famous belly dance style of dance was born in Egypt and to this day is a very strong tradition across the country and around the world. It is common at Egyptian weddings that they always have a belly dancer dancing with the bride and groom at their wedding reception.

Egyptian Sport Egyptians are fascinated by sport and almost every restaurant or café has a screen for competitions and games. The number one sport in Egypt is soccer and although the Egyptian national soccer team didn’t have much success in the World Cup, the Egyptian national soccer team is very successful in the Africa Cup of Nations and the fans are just so passionate about the sport that they don’t give up hope and still do believe that one day Egypt will win the World Cup. Although not the best at football, Egyptian squash players are among the best in the world and the sport is played heavily in the country along with tennis and water polo.

Is Egypt safe? Egypt is safe to travel to. The new government has introduced very strict rules on sexual harassment and the crime rate is very low and although you will feel safe traveling alone, for language reasons, Egypt is best enjoyed with the presence of a tour guide who knows the area and can speak Egyptian Arabic.

What is the best time to travel to Egypt? As summer in Egypt can get very hot with temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius, the best time of the year to visit Egypt is between September and May, where you can enjoy Egypt’s nature with a nice cool breeze and not too much can heat, just enough of it.

Interesting Facts About Egypt ● There are a total of 80 pyramids in Egypt; and the most famous and best preserved are the Great Pyramid of Giza in the Giza Pyramid Complex. ● According to UNESCO, Egypt hosts 7 World Heritage Sites, including six cultural sites and one natural site: Abu Mena, Luxor, Old Cairo, the Pyramids of Giza, many temples under Philae and Abu Simbel Temple, St. Catherine’s Monastery and Wadi al-Hitan. ● In 2020, Egypt’s population will have passed the 100 million mark. ● Egypt is home to the world’s fourth highest paid footballer in 2020, Mo Salah, who currently plays for England team Liverpool and has won multiple awards in the English and Champions Leagues.

A Few Things You Should Know Before Visiting Egypt ● Summer in Egypt is REALLY hot and temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius. ● Egyptians are very friendly and great to be with. ● Having a tour guide is a great option when visiting Egypt as you will get much more out of your trip and people will respect you more if you have an Egyptian with you. ● Learning some Egyptian Arabic is a great way to integrate into the Egyptian community. ● Egypt is BEAUTIFUL and is definitely one of the top ten travel destinations in the world.

Idea for use in the classroom

The world of ancient Egypt differs in many ways from the life of students today. The Ancient Egypt 101 video (above) is an ideal place to start exploring this civilization. Before watching the video, ask the student volunteers to share with them any information they already know about Ancient Egypt. Ask: What do you know about the pyramids? Do you know any Egyptian pharaohs? After watching the video once as a whole class, watch it a second time, section by section, and make a list of topics that reflect the main themes of the video. Discuss how the students’ prior knowledge fits into this scheme. Your class list might look something like this:

Events

Locations

development to empire

Key executives and their roles

Religious views

Practices related to religious beliefs

STEM innovations and their uses

Writing system innovations and their use

How the empire ended

For each topic, discuss how thoroughly students assess their knowledge after watching the video. Divide the class into three groups to brainstorm ancient Egyptian topics they want to know more about. Ask: Which topics were not or only slightly covered in the video? For example, students may comment that they would like to know about the ancient Egyptian economy, relations with neighboring states, social structures, or the arts beyond pyramids and tombs. Have each group make a list of the results of their brainstorming. After each group has presented their list to the class, have each student use the discussion to create a research question to be explored while studying ancient Egypt.

1. Cleopatra was not Egyptian.

Universal History Archives/Getty Images

Aside from King Tut, perhaps no character is more well-known associated with ancient Egypt than Cleopatra VII. But while she was born in Alexandria, Cleopatra was actually part of a long line of Greek Macedonians originally descended from Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the most trusted lieutenants Huge. The Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 BC. and most of its leaders remained largely Greek in culture and sensibility. In fact, Cleopatra was famous for being one of the first members of the Ptolemaic dynasty to actually speak the Egyptian language.

2. The ancient Egyptians forged one of the earliest peace treaties in existence.

Giovanni Dall’Orto/Wikimedia Commons

For more than two centuries, the Egyptians fought the Hittite Empire for control of lands in present-day Syria. The conflict led to bloody engagements such as the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC. but by the time of Pharaoh Ramses II neither side had emerged as a clear victor. When both the Egyptians and the Hittites in 1259 B.C. Chr. were exposed to threats from other peoples. Ramses II and the Hittite king Hattusili III. negotiated a famous peace treaty. This agreement ended the conflict and decreed that the two kingdoms would aid each other in the event of a third party invasion. The Egyptian-Hittite treaty is now considered one of the earliest surviving peace agreements, and a copy can even be seen above the entrance to the United Nations Security Council Chamber in New York.

3. The ancient Egyptians loved board games.

Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis

After a long day’s work on the Nile, Egyptians often relaxed with board games. Various games were played including ‘Mehen’ and ‘Dogs and Jackals’ but perhaps the most popular was a game of chance called ‘Senet’. This pastime dates back to 3500 BC. back. and was played on a long board painted with 30 squares. Each player had a set of stones that were moved across the board according to the rolls of the dice or throwing sticks. Historians still debate the exact rules of Senet, but there is little doubt about the game’s popularity. Paintings show Queen Nefertari playing Senet, and pharaohs like Tutankhamun even had game boards buried in their tombs.

4. Egyptian women had a wide range of rights and freedoms.

DEA/A. Dagli Orti/De Agostini/Getty Images

Despite being viewed as inferior to men in public and society, Egyptian women enjoyed a high degree of legal and financial independence. They could buy and sell property, serve on juries, make wills, and even enter into legal contracts. Egyptian women did not typically work outside the home, but those who did were typically paid the same wages as men for the same work. Unlike the women of ancient Greece, who effectively belonged to their husbands, Egyptian women also had the right to divorce and remarry. Egyptian couples were even known to negotiate an ancient marriage contract. These contracts listed all the goods and fortunes brought into the marriage by the woman and guaranteed that she would be compensated for them in the event of a divorce.

5. Egyptian workers were known to organize labor strikes.

Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Although they saw the pharaoh as a kind of living god, Egyptian workers were not afraid to protest for better working conditions. The most famous example dates from the 12th century BC. during the reign of the new kingdom of Pharaoh Ramesses III. When workers busy building the royal necropolis at Deir el-Medina did not receive their usual grain payment, they organized one of the first recorded strikes in history. The protest took the form of a sit-in: the workers simply entered nearby mortuary temples and refused to leave until their complaints were heard. The gambling worked, and the workers eventually received their overdue rations.

6. Egyptian pharaohs were often overweight.

Rob Koopman/Wikimedia Commons

In Egyptian art, pharaohs are usually depicted as well-groomed and statuesque, but this was most likely not the case. The Egyptian diet of beer, wine, bread and honey was high in sugar and studies show that this may have had a number of effects on royal waistlines. Mummy research has shown that many Egyptian rulers were ill, overweight and even suffering from diabetes. A notable example is the legendary Queen Hatshepsut, who died in the 15th century BC. While her sarcophagus depicts her as slim and athletic, historians believe she was actually obese and bald.

7. The pyramids were not built by slaves.

Peter M. Wilson/Corbis

The life of a pyramid builder was certainly not easy – skeletons of workers often show signs of arthritis and other ailments – but evidence suggests that the massive tombs were not built by slaves but by paid laborers. These ancient builders were a mix of skilled craftsmen and laborers, and some seem to have taken great pride in their craft. Graffiti found near the monuments suggest they often gave their crews humorous names like the “Druncards of Menkaure” or the “Friends of Khufu”. The idea that slaves built the pyramids with a crack of a whip was first put forward in the fifth century BC. by the Greek historian Herodotus, but most historians today dismiss it as myth. While the ancient Egyptians were certainly not averse to keeping slaves, they appear to have used them primarily as field hands and domestic servants.

8. King Tut may have been killed by a hippopotamus.

Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis

Surprisingly little is known about the life of the young pharaoh Tutankhamen, but some historians believe they know how he died. Scans of the young king’s body show he was embalmed without his heart or chest wall. This drastic departure from traditional Egyptian burial practice suggests that he may have suffered a horrific injury before his death. According to a handful of Egyptologists, one of the most likely causes of this wound would have been a bite from a hippopotamus. Evidence suggests the Egyptians hunted the beasts for sport, and statues found in King Tut’s tomb even show him throwing a harpoon. If the young pharaoh really liked chasing dangerous game, then his death could have been the result of a failed hunt.

9. Some Egyptian doctors had specialized fields of study.

Blaine Harrington III/Corbis

An ancient doctor was usually a jack of all trades, but evidence shows that Egyptian doctors sometimes focused on healing only part of the human body. This early form of medical specialization was first developed in 450 BC. mentioned. of the traveler and historian Herodotus. Of Egyptian medicine he wrote: “Every doctor is a healer of a disease and no more… part of the eye, part of the teeth, part of what concerns the abdomen.” These specialists even had specific names. Dentists were known as “dentists,” while the term for proctologists literally means “shepherd of the anus.”

10. Egyptians kept many animals as pets.

The Art Archives/Corbis

The Egyptians saw animals as incarnations of the gods and were one of the first civilizations to keep pets. The Egyptians were particularly fond of cats, associated with the goddess Bastet, but they also worshiped hawks, ibises, dogs, lions and baboons. Many of these animals held a special place in the Egyptian home, and they were often mummified and buried with their owners after they died. Other creatures have been specially trained to work as helper animals. Egyptian police officers, for example, were known to use dogs and even trained monkeys to help them with their patrols.

11. Egyptians of both sexes wore makeup.

The Art Archives/Corbis

Vanity is as old as civilization, and the ancient Egyptians were no exception. Both men and women were known to wear copious amounts of makeup, which they believed gave them the protection of the gods Horus and Ra. These cosmetics were made by grinding ores such as malachite and galena into a substance called kale. It was then applied liberally around the eyes using utensils made of wood, bone and ivory. Women also dyed their cheeks red and used henna to color their hands and fingernails, and both sexes wore perfumes made from oil, myrrh and cinnamon. The Egyptians believed their makeup had magical healing powers, and they weren’t entirely wrong: research has shown that the lead-based cosmetics worn along the Nile actually helped ward off eye infections.

I believe ancient Egypt is a civilization because it has all seven indicators! It has a complex religion, social classes, specialized workers such as artisans and artisans, organized government, long-distance trade, cities, and methods of record-keeping. In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh ruled the country. The pharaoh was not only the political leader, he was also the religious leader. The pharaoh bore the title “Lord of the Two Lands”. Judges and tax collectors abused their powers and were still punished. The Ma’at concept kept everyone in order and represented truth and justice. No matter who you are, you can be punished if you do something wrong, whether you are a scribe or a slave. Most Egyptians worked in the fields on the banks of the Nile, growing crops for themselves and paying taxes. They owned neither their land nor their house. Everything belonged to the pharaoh. The Egyptians accepted this for 3000 years because it was part of their religion. Pharaoh was a god and it was important not to upset the gods. The people of ancient Egypt developed their religion based on gods and goddesses and the powers they had. In ancient Egypt there were two kingdoms called Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt. Both kingdoms had their own religions. Many of the ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses were believed to look like humans and animals. Some of their gods and goddesses proved to be more powerful than others. They varied throughout Egyptian history as some were elevated above others.

Ancient Egyptian culture flourished between c. 6000 BC with the rise of technology (as evidenced by faience glasswork) and 30 B.C. with the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. It is famous today for the grand monuments that celebrated the triumphs of rulers and honored the gods of the land.

The culture is often misunderstood as obsessed with death, but if that were so, it probably would not have made the significant impression it made on other ancient cultures such as Greece and Rome. In fact, Egyptian culture was life-affirming, as scholar Salima Ikram writes:

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Judging by the number of tombs and mummies left behind by the ancient Egyptians, one might think they were obsessed with death. However, this is not the case. The Egyptians were more obsessed with life and its continuance than with a morbid fascination with death. The tombs, mortuary temples, and mummies they made were a celebration of life and a means of continuing it for eternity… For the Egyptians, as for other cultures, death was part of life’s journey, with death marking a transition or transformation thereafter marked what life went on in a different form, more spiritual than physical. (ix)

This passion for life instilled in the ancient Egyptians a great love for their country, as it was thought that there could not be a better place on earth to enjoy life. While the lower classes in Egypt, as elsewhere, lived on much less than the wealthier, they nonetheless seem to have valued life just as much as the wealthier citizens. This is illustrated through the concept of gratitude and the ritual known as The Five Gifts of Hathor, in which the poor laborers were encouraged to look at the fingers of their left hand (the hand they used to reach out to harvest crops daily) and the five things to consider for which they were most grateful in their lives. Ingratitude was considered a “sin of ingenuity” because it led to all other types of negative thinking and resulting behavior. Once one felt ungrateful, it was observed, one tended to indulge in even more bad behavior. The Hathor cult was very popular among all classes in Egypt and embodies the paramount importance of gratitude in Egyptian culture.

Religion in Ancient Egypt

Religion was an integral part of every Egyptian’s daily life. Like the people of Mesopotamia, the Egyptians considered themselves collaborators of the gods, but with one important difference: while the Mesopotamian peoples believed they had to work with their gods to prevent the original state of chaos from recurring, the Egyptians understood their gods, to have already fulfilled that purpose, and it was a man’s duty to celebrate and give thanks for that fact. So-called “Egyptian mythology” was as valid a belief structure in ancient times as any accepted religion is today.

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Ptah Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA)

Egyptian religion taught people that in the beginning there was nothing but chaotically eddying waters from which rose a small hill known as Ben-Ben. On this hill stood the great god Atum, who brought creation into being, drawing on the power of Heka, the god of magic. It was believed that Heka predates creation and was the energy that enabled the gods to perform their duties. Magic informed all civilization, and Heka was the source of that creative, sustaining, eternal power.

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A person’s name was considered so important that an Egyptian’s real name was kept secret throughout his life and he was known by a nickname.

In another version of the myth, Atum creates the world by first molding Ptah, the creator god, who then does the actual work. Another variation of this story is that Ptah appeared first and created Atum. In another, more elaborate version of the creation story, Atum mates with his shadow to create Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), who then give birth to the world and the other gods.

From this original act of creative energy, the entire known world and universe arose. It was understood that humans were an important aspect of the gods’ creation and that every human soul was as eternal as that of the deities they worshipped. Death was not an end of life, but a reunion of the individual soul with the eternal realm from which it came.

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The Egyptian concept of the soul saw it as having nine parts:

Khat was the physical body

Ka One’s dual form

Ba was a human-headed bird aspect that could race between earth and sky

Shuyet was the shadow self

Akh was the immortal, transformed self

Sahu and Sechem aspects belonged to the Akh

Ab was the heart, the source of good and evil

Ren was his secret name.

A person’s name was considered so important that an Egyptian’s real name was kept secret throughout his life and he was known by a nickname. Knowing a person’s true name conferred magical powers over that person, and this is one of the reasons why the rulers of Egypt adopted a different name when ascending the throne; it should not only symbolically associate with another successful pharaoh, but also be a form of protection to ensure one’s safety and help ensure a smooth journey into eternity when one’s life on earth is complete. According to historian Margaret Bunson:

Eternity was an endless period of existence that no Egyptian had to fear. The term “going to his ka” (astral being) has been used in every age to express dying. The hieroglyph for a corpse was translated as “participate in eternal life.” The tomb was the “mansion of eternity” and the dead was an akh, a transformed spirit. (86)

The famous Egyptian mummy (whose name derives from the Persian and Arabic words for “wax” and “bitumen”, muum and mumia) was created to preserve the physical body (khat) of the individual, without which the soul could not attain immortality . Since the khat and the ka were created at the same time, the ka would not be able to travel to the reed field if it lacked the physical component on earth. The gods who shaped the soul and created the world consistently watched over the people of Egypt and heard and answered their requests. A famous example of this is when Ramses II was surrounded by his enemies at the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC) and called on the god Amun for help and found the strength to work his way to safety. However, there are many far less dramatic examples recorded on temple walls, stelae, and papyrus fragments.

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Mummy of a child Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (Copyright)

Cultural progress & everyday life

Papyrus (hence the English word “paper”) was just one of the technological achievements of ancient Egyptian culture. The Egyptians were also responsible for the development of the ramp and lever and geometry for construction purposes, advances in mathematics and astronomy (also used in construction, as shown by the positions and locations of the pyramids and certain temples such as Abu Simbel), improvements in irrigation and Agriculture (perhaps learned from the Mesopotamians), shipbuilding and aerodynamics (possibly introduced by the Phoenicians), the wheel (brought to Egypt by the Hyksos), and medicine.

The Kahun Gynecological Papyrus (circa 1800 BC) is an early treatise on women’s health and contraception, and the Edwin Smith Papyrus (circa 1600 BC) is the oldest work on surgical techniques. Dentistry was widespread and the Egyptians are credited with inventing toothpaste, toothbrushes, toothpicks and even mints. They created the sport of bowling and improved the brewing of beer, first practiced in Mesopotamia. However, the Egyptians did not invent beer. This popular fiction of Egyptians as the first brewers stems from the fact that Egyptian beer more closely resembled modern-day beer than that of the Mesopotamians.

Edwin Smith Papyrus Jeff Dahl (public domain)

Glassworking, metallurgy in bronze and gold, and furniture were other advances in culture, and Egyptian art and architecture are renowned throughout the world for their precision and beauty. Personal hygiene and appearance were highly valued, and the Egyptians bathed regularly, perfumed themselves with perfume and incense, and made cosmetics used by both men and women. The practice of shaving was invented by the Egyptians, as were the wig and hairbrush.

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Around 1600 BC the water clock was in use in Egypt, as was the calendar. Some have even indicated that they understood the principle of electricity as shown in the famous Dendera Light engraving on the wall of Hathor’s Temple in Dendera. The pictures on the wall have been interpreted by some to represent a lightbulb and figures attaching that lightbulb to a power source. However, this interpretation has been widely discredited by the academic community.

In daily life, the Egyptians seem to differ little from other ancient cultures. Like the people of Mesopotamia, India, China, and Greece, they mostly lived in modest homes, raised families, and enjoyed their free time. However, a significant difference between Egyptian culture and that of other countries was that the Egyptians believed that the land was closely related to their personal salvation and that they had a deep fear of dying beyond Egypt’s borders. Those who served their country in the army or traveled for a living arranged for their bodies to be returned to Egypt if killed. It was believed that the fertile, dark soil of the Nile Delta was the only area consecrated by the gods for the soul’s rebirth in the afterlife, and burial elsewhere was doomed to non-existence.

Ancient Egyptian Music and Dance Jan van der Crabben (CC BY-NC-SA)

Because of this attachment to their homeland, the Egyptians were not great world travelers, and there is no “Egyptian Herodotus” who could leave impressions of the ancient world beyond the Egyptian borders. Even in negotiations and treaties with other countries, the Egyptian preference for remaining in Egypt dominated. The historian Nardo writes:

Although Amenhotep III. Having happily added two Mitanni princesses to his harem, he refused to send an Egyptian princess to the sovereign of Mitanni because “never before has a royal daughter been given from Egypt”. This is not only an expression of the Egyptians’ feeling of superiority over the foreigners, but also an indication of the care of female relatives, for whom life among “barbarians” should not be uncomfortable. (31)

Furthermore, within the country’s borders, people did not travel far from their birthplaces, and most lived and died in the same place, except in times of war, famine, or other upheaval. Since one believed that the afterlife would be a continuation of the present (only better since there was no illness, disappointment or of course death), the place one spent one’s life would represent one’s eternal landscape.

The yard, the tree, and the creek that one saw outside one’s window every day would be exactly replicated in the afterlife. Because of this, Egyptians were encouraged to enjoy and deeply appreciate their immediate surroundings and live gratefully within their means. The concept of ma’at (harmony and balance) dominated Egyptian culture, and Egyptians, whether upper or lower class, strove to live at peace with their surroundings and with one another.

Class Differences in Egyptian Culture

Among the lower classes, houses were built of adobe bricks baked in the sun. The wealthier a citizen, the thicker the house; Wealthier people had houses built of a double layer or more bricks, while poorer people’s houses were only one brick wide. Timber was scarce, used only for doors and window sills (again in wealthier homes), and the roof was considered another room in the home where meetings were routinely held, as the interiors of homes were often dimly lit.

It was believed that the goddess Isis had given men and women equal rights and men had no right to dictate how a woman should dress.

Clothing was simple, undyed linen, with men wearing a knee-length skirt (or loincloth) and women wearing light, ankle-length dresses or robes that covered or exposed their breasts, depending on the fashion of a particular period. However, it seems that throughout much of Egyptian history, a woman’s degree of undress was indicative of her social status. Dancing girls, musicians and servants and slaves are routinely shown nude or nearly so, while a lady of the house is fully clothed, even in the days when bare breasts were a fashion statement.

Despite this, women were free to dress as they pleased, and at no time in Egyptian history was there a ban on female fashion. A woman’s bare breasts were considered a natural, normal fashion choice and were in no way considered immodest or provocative. It was believed that the goddess Isis had granted equal rights to men and women and therefore men had no right to dictate how a woman, not even one’s own wife, should dress. Children wore little or no clothing until puberty.

Marriages were not arranged among the lower classes, and no formal marriage ceremony seems to have taken place. A man would carry gifts to his intended bride’s house, and if the gifts were accepted, she would move in with him. The average age of a bride was 13 and that of a groom between 18 and 21. A treaty would be drawn up dividing a man’s property between his wife and children, and this allocation could only be revoked on the basis of adultery (defined as having sex with a married woman, not a married man). Egyptian women could own lands and houses, run businesses and preside over temples, and even be pharaohs (as in the example of Queen Hatshepsut, r. 1479-1458 BC) or earlier Queen Sobeknofru, r. c. 1767-1759 BC BC).

Isis Nursing Horus Georges Perrot and Charles Chipiez (1883) (Public Domain)

Historian Thompson writes: “Egypt treated its women better than any other great civilization of antiquity. Because of this belief, women were held in higher esteem in Egypt than in any other ancient culture.

While the man was considered the head of the house, the woman was the mistress of the house. She raised the children of both sexes until boys were taken under the care and tutelage of their fathers at the age of four or five to learn their trade (or go to school if the father’s trade was that of a scribe, priest, or doctor was). ). Girls remained under the care of their mothers and learned how to run a household until they married. Women could also become scribes, priestesses or doctors, but this was unusual because education was expensive and tradition held that the son should follow the father’s profession, not the daughter. Marriage was the usual post-puberty state of Egyptians, and a single man or woman was considered abnormal.

The higher classes, or nobility, lived in ornate houses with greater material wealth, but seem to have followed the same rules as those lower in the social hierarchy. All Egyptians enjoyed playing games like the game of Senet (a board game popular since the predynastic period in Egypt, c.6000-c.3150 BC), but only those with money could afford a quality board. However, this didn’t seem to stop poorer people from playing the game; They were just playing with a less elaborate set.

Game by Senet Tjflex2 (CC BY-NC-ND)

Watching wrestling matches and races and participating in other sporting events such as hunting, archery and sailing were popular with the nobility and upper class, but were also enjoyed by all Egyptians as much as they could afford (except for great animal hunts, which was the sole origin of the ruler and those elected by him). Feasting at banquets was only an upper-class pastime, although the lower-class could indulge in similar (though less lavish) ways at the many religious festivals that took place throughout the year.

Sports & Freetime

Swimming and rowing were very popular in all classes. The Roman writer Seneca observed ordinary Egyptians exercising on the Nile and described the scene:

People board small boats, two in a boat, and one rows while the other draws water. Then they are thrown around violently in the torrential rapids. They finally reach the narrowest canals… and, swept along by all the force of the river, they control the rushing boat with their hands and throw themselves head down, to the great horror of the onlookers. You would sadly think that they have now been drowned and overwhelmed by such a mass of water, when they shoot out far from where they fell, as if from a still-sailing catapult, and the sinking wave does not overwhelm them, but wears them down to smooth Water. (Nardo, 18)

Swimming was an important part of Egyptian culture and children were taught to swim from an early age. Water sports played a significant role in Egyptian entertainment as the Nile was such an important aspect of their daily lives. The sport of water gymnastics, in which two small boats, each with one or two rowers and a jouster, competed against each other, seems to have been very popular. The rower (or rowers) in the boat tried to maneuver strategically while the fighter tried to knock his opponent out of the craft. However, they also enjoyed games unrelated to the river and similar to modern games of catch and handball.

Egyptian Hunt in the Marshes Jan van der Crabben (CC BY-NC-SA)

Gardens and simple house decorations were highly valued by the Egyptians. A home garden was important for nutrition, but also brought joy in tending to one’s own harvest. The laborers in the fields never worked their own crops, and so their own garden was a place of pride in producing something of their own, grown on their own soil. This ground would in turn be their eternal home after they left their bodies and was therefore held in high esteem. An epitaph from 1400 BC. B.C. reads: “May I walk every day by the water’s edge, may my soul rest on the branches of the trees I have planted, may I refresh myself in the shade of my plane tree” to indicate the eternal aspect of the daily environment every Egyptian. After death, one would still enjoy one’s own special plane tree, one’s own daily walk by the water, in an everlasting land of peace granted to the Egyptians by the gods they gratefully worshiped.

Ancient Egypt was a highly advanced civilization because it showed evidence of the seven indicators of civilization and had a surplus of resources to start its power growth. One of the most important indicators of civilization that the Egyptians showed was record keeping. Record keeping is the most important indicator because the language they invented allowed them to keep detailed records of life. This writing system was called hieroglyphs. The wealthy families sent boys to writing schools to learn the language. Women were not allowed to attend writing schools. A scribe’s job was to write messages for people who couldn’t, teach other scribes, and count animals. Scribes write on a plant called papyrus reed, walls, tablets of stone and wood. The Egyptian language is very complex, at first no one knew what the drawings meant until the Rosetta Stone answered these questions. The Egyptians created images for words or letters. This really shows how much of a complex civilization Egypt was. The Egyptian government was a major turning point for humanity, declaring how Egypt was a civilization of great strength. The laws were made by the pharaoh. However, the pharaoh had leaders under him who could make decisions about the law. Some penalties for stealing something would have been paying double the amount to the owner of the property. If someone had stolen from someone more important, the punishment would have been harsher. Some

The ancient Egyptians were one of the first civilizations to form in ancient times. These people traded with each other in peace and war, birth and death. The Egyptians influenced us in many ways. The Egyptians influenced us in our inventions, mathematics, writing, medicine, religion, sports and music. The ancient Egyptians were capable of building massive movements, pyramids and temples. Few of the architectural skills of the Egyptians are still used today. They built huge tombs for their pharaohs called pyramids. It was really important that these pyramids were done right. The ancient Egyptians were masters at what they built. Most of these pyramids and inventions are still standing today. But building these architectural landmarks was not easy, there was a requirement for advanced mathematics and geometry. But they also used math for other things, like numbers to keep track of business transactions. The first were the ancient Egyptians

Ancient Egypt in North Africa was over 3,000 years long, from about 3,100 B.C. to 30 BC BC, one of the most powerful and influential civilizations in the region. She left numerous monuments, documents and works of art that are still being researched by scientists today.

However, Egyptian civilization existed long before this time and has survived and thrived ever since. While the rulers, language, script, climate, religion and frontiers of civilization have changed many times over the millennia, Egypt still exists as a modern country.

Ancient Egypt was closely connected to other parts of the world, bringing in and out of goods, religions, food, people and ideas. For a time, ancient Egypt ruled outside of what is now the country’s borders and controlled areas in modern-day Sudan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Palestine.

The country was also occupied by other powers in ancient times – the Persians, Nubians, Greeks and Romans conquered Egypt at various points.

A number of names have been used for Egypt. A popular ancient name for Egypt was ‘Kemet’, meaning ‘black land’. Scholars generally believe that this name comes from the fertile soil that was left when the Nile floods receded in August.

The Nile flooded between June and August each year, and the fertile soil it created was vital to the survival of ancient Egypt, with fertility playing an important role in Egyptian religion. Tutankhamen’s funeral – at which his penis was mummified – is just one example of how important fertility was in the rituals and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.

The country’s ancient rulers are now referred to as “pharaohs,” though in ancient times they each used a set of names as part of a royal title, wrote Ronald Leprohon, an Egyptology professor at the University of Toronto, in his book The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary (opens in new tab)” (Society of Biblical Literature, 2013). The word pharaoh comes from the Egyptian term “per-aa,” meaning “the great house,” Leprohon wrote. The term was first used during the reign of Thutmose III. (Reign ca. 1479 to 1425 BC) Incorporated into a royal title, Leprohon wrote.

prehistory

(Credit: John Zada ​​/ Alamy)

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Exactly when early hominids first came to Egypt is unclear. The earliest migration of hominids from Africa occurred almost 2 million years ago, with modern humans spreading out of Africa around 100,000 years ago. Egypt may have been used in some of these migrations to reach Asia.

Villages dependent on agriculture arose in Egypt around 7,000 years ago. The civilization’s earliest written inscriptions date back about 5,200 years and reveal information about Egypt’s early rulers, Live Science previously reported. Among these early rulers is Iry-Hor, who according to the inscriptions founded Memphis, a city that served as the capital of Egypt for much of its history. The inscriptions also record a queen named Neith-Hotep who ruled as regent for a young pharaoh named Djer. sometime in the late Predynastic period.

How and when ancient Egypt was united into one kingdom is a matter of debate among archaeologists and historians. One possibility is that a number of smaller states merged into two kingdoms – Upper and Lower Egypt – and these two kingdoms were then united. After the unification of Egypt, pharaohs were often depicted with two crowns – one for Lower Egypt and one for Upper Egypt.

The climate of Egypt was much wetter in prehistoric times than it is today, and some areas that are now barren desert were once fertile. A famous archeological site where this can be seen is in the “Cave of the Swimmers” as it is now known, on the Gilf Kebir Plateau in southwestern Egypt. The cave is now surrounded by miles of barren desert; However, there are rock paintings that show what some scholars interpret as human beings swimming. The exact date of the rock painting is unclear, although scholars believe it was created in prehistoric times.

Here is one of the papyri in the old logbook documenting the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. (Photo credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)

Egypt’s 30 Dynasties

The history of ancient Egypt has traditionally been divided into 30 (or sometimes 31) dynasties. This tradition began with the Egyptian priest Manetho, who lived in the third century BC. lived. His accounts of ancient Egyptian history were preserved by ancient Greek writers and were among the few historical accounts that scholars could read until the decipherment of hieroglyphic writing in the 19th century.

Modern scholars often group these dynasties into multiple periods. Dynasties one and two date back about 5,000 years and are often referred to as the “early dynastic” or “archaic” period. The first pharaoh of the first dynasty was a ruler named Menes (or Narmer as he is called in Greek). He lived over 5,000 years ago, and while ancient writers sometimes referred to him as the first pharaoh of a unified Egypt, archaeological research suggests this is not true. Recently found inscriptions tell of rulers — like Djer and Iry-Hor — who appear to have ruled earlier, and other finds have been made that suggest there were pharaohs before Menes who ruled a unified Egypt, Live Science previously reported. Scholars sometimes refer to these pre-Menes rulers as part of a “Dynasty Zero.”

A Bedouin on a camel at the Pyramids of Chephren and Menkaure in the Giza Necropolis in Egypt. (Image credit: Adrian Pope)

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Dynasties three through six date from approximately 2650 to 2150 BC. and are often grouped together by modern scholars into a period referred to as the “Old Kingdom”. During this time, pyramid building techniques were developed and the Pyramids of Giza were built. Papyri, which are still being deciphered, suggest that groups of professional workers – sometimes translated as “labor groups” – played an important role in the construction of the pyramids, as well as other structures.

From 2150 to 2030 BC (a period spanning dynasties 7 through 10 and part of the 11) central government in Egypt was weak and the country was often controlled by different regional leaders. Why the Old Kingdom collapsed is a matter of debate among scientists, with research suggesting that drought and climate change played significant roles. Cities and civilizations in the Middle East also collapsed during this period, with evidence at archaeological sites suggesting that a period of drought and arid climate hit locations across the region.

Often referred to by scholars as the “Middle Kingdom,” the 12th, 13th, and parts of the 11th Dynasties lasted from about 2030 to 1640 BC. At the beginning of this dynasty, a ruler named Mentuhotep II (who reigned until about 2000 BC) regained control of the whole country. The building of pyramids resumed in Egypt and a considerable body of literary and scientific texts were produced. Among the surviving texts is a document now known as the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, which records a variety of medical treatments that modern physicians have described as advanced for their time.

Dynasties 14 through 17 are often grouped together as the “Second Intermediate Period” by modern scholars. During this time, the central government in Egypt collapsed again, and a group called the “Hyksos” rose to power and controlled much of northern Egypt. While the Hyksos were originally from the Levant (an area that includes modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria), research suggests they were already in Egypt by the time the government collapsed. A gruesome find from this period is a set of severed hands found in a palace in the city of Avaris, the capital of Hyksos-controlled Egypt. The severed hands may have been presented by soldiers to a ruler in exchange for gold.

Scholars often refer to Dynasties 18-20 as the “New Kingdom,” a period spanning about 1550-1070 B.C. This period took place after the Hyksos were defeated by a series of Egyptian rulers and the country was reunited. Perhaps the most famous archaeological site of the New Kingdom is the Valley of the Kings, which contains the tombs of many Egyptian rulers from this period, including Tutankhamun (reigned ca. 1336–1327 BC), whose rich tomb was found intact in 1922. The pharaohs stopped building pyramids during the New Kingdom for a variety of reasons, one of which was to provide better security against tomb robbers.

The 21st to 24th Dynasties (a period from about 1070 to 713 BC) is often referred to by modern scholars as the “Third Intermediate Period”. The central government was sometimes weak during this period and the country was not always united. During this time, cities and civilizations in the Middle East were destroyed by people from the Aegean, sometimes referred to as “sea peoples” by modern scholars. While Egyptian rulers claimed to have defeated the Sea Peoples in battle, this did not prevent the collapse of Egyptian civilization. The loss of trade routes and revenue may have played a role in weakening Egypt’s central government.

(Image credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

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Dynasties 25 to 31 (from about 712 to 332 BC) are often referred to by scholars as the “Late Period”. Egypt was sometimes under the control of foreign powers during this period. The rulers of the 25th dynasty came from Nubia, an area in what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan. The Persians and Assyrians also controlled Egypt at various times during the Late Period.

In the year 332 BC Alexander the Great expelled the Persians from Egypt and incorporated the country into the Macedonian Empire. After the death of Alexander the Great, a succession of rulers descended from Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander’s generals, came to power. The last of these “Ptolemaic” rulers (as scholars often call them) was Cleopatra VII, who died in 30 BC. After her death, Egypt was incorporated into the Roman Empire.

Although the Roman emperors were based in Rome, the Egyptians treated them like pharaohs. An unearthed carving shows the Emperor Claudius (reigned AD 41 to 54) dressed as a pharaoh, Live Science reported. The carving has hieroglyphic inscriptions stating that Claudius is the “Son of Ra, Lord of the Crowns” and “King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands”.

Neither the Ptolemaic nor the Roman rulers are considered part of a numbered dynasty.

religion

A whole avenue of ram-headed statues connected the Temple of Karnak with the Temple of Luxor. (Photo credit: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)

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For much of Egypt’s ancient history, people followed a polytheistic religion in which a large number of gods and goddesses were worshiped. One of the most important was Osiris, the god of the underworld. Abydos was an important cult center for him, and numerous temples and shrines were built in his honor at the site.

Amun-Ra – a god associated with the sun – became particularly important during the New Kingdom and was associated with the city of Luxor (ancient Thebes). The Karnak temple complex was built in honor of this god near Luxor.

Navigating the underworld was vital to the ancient Egyptians, who believed that the dead could reach some kind of paradise where they could live forever. Egyptian dead were sometimes mummified to preserve the body and sometimes buried with spells to help them navigate the underworld. These spells contained excerpts from the so-called “Book of the Dead” – a 4-metre-long copy of which was recently found in an ancient burial shaft, Live Science reported.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, one of the first steps in navigating the underworld was to weigh a person’s actions against the Pen of Maat, who was a god associated with truth, justice, and order. If the person had done much wrong, the person’s heart would be heavier than the pen and the person’s soul would be extinguished. On the other hand, if their deeds were generally good, they moved on and had the opportunity to successfully navigate the underworld.

Figures called shabti were often buried with the deceased. Their purpose was to do the deceased’s work for him in the afterlife.

Egyptian religion did not remain static but changed over time. A major change occurred during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten (c. 1353 to 1335 BC), a ruler who sparked a religious revolution in which Egyptian religion centered on the worship of the sun disc, “Aten.” Akhenaten built an entirely new capital in the desert near Amarna and ordered the names of some Egyptian deities to be erased. After Akhenaten’s death, his son Tutankhamun denounced him and restored ancient Egypt to its former polytheistic religion.

When Egypt came under Greek and Roman rule, the gods and goddesses of the new rulers were incorporated into Egyptian religion. Another great change occurred after the first century AD when Christianity spread throughout Egypt. Gnosticism, a religion that included some Christian beliefs, was also spreading throughout Egypt at this time, and in 1945 a large collection of Gnostic texts was discovered in southern Egypt near the town of Nag Hammadi.

Islam spread throughout the country after 641 AD when the country was conquered by a Muslim army. Today, Islam is practiced by the majority of Egypt’s residents, while a minority are Christians, many of whom belong to the Coptic Church.

Egyptian writing

The earliest inscriptions are about 5,200 years old and were written in hieroglyphic script.

“Ancient Egyptian was a living oral language, and most hieroglyphs represent the sounds of consonants and certain stressed vowels,” wrote Barry Kemp, professor of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge, England, in his book 100 Hieroglyphs: Think Like an Egyptian (opens in new tab)” (Granta Books, 2005). Kemp noted that the ancient Egyptians also “developed an abbreviated ‘long-handed’ spelling which we call ‘hieratic’.”

The Egyptian language changed over the millennia, with scholars often dividing the surviving writings into categories such as “Ancient Egyptian”, “Middle Egyptian” and “Late Egyptian”.

The Greek language became widespread in the period following the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. In the late 19th century, at the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus in southern Egypt, archaeologists unearthed half a million papyri fragments, most of which were written in Greek and dated to the early centuries AD.

Coptic, an Egyptian language using the Greek alphabet, became widespread after Christianity spread throughout Egypt. As Greek and Coptic became more popular, the use of hieroglyphic writing declined and died out by the 5th century AD. After 641 AD, the Arabic language spread in Egypt and is widely spoken in the country today.

Additional Resources

Current examples on the web

All in all, every enjoyable aspect of solving an acrostic is well represented. — Caitlin Lovinger, New York Times, March 3, 2020

Each country contains a group of puzzles ranging from crosswords and acrostics to cryptograms and technical problems. —Andrew Hetherington, Popular Mechanics, March 12, 2020

An acrostic is typically a literary technique in which the first letters of the lines of a poem express a message. – BostonGlobe.com, November 6, 2019

The new acrostic is one of many scattered throughout Milton’s text. — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, September 19, 2019

Drew, a Florida-based educator in his 20s, did just that, charming his matches with poems that were also acrostics and spelled out such Tinder favorites as SEND NUDES and WANNA SMASH. — Casey Newton, The Verge, August 11, 2018

Some contained intricate puzzles, acrostics, and rebuses (pictures representing words or parts of words). — Marilyn Yalom, Time, February 14, 2018

Second, the acrostic is a distraction and overshadows the main message of the letters. — Dino Grandoni, Washington Post, August 24, 2017

Second, the acrostic is a distraction and overshadows the main message of the letters. — Dino Grandoni, Washington Post, August 24, 2017

See more

Writing a poem isn’t about stitching a few words together into charming sentences. It’s so much deeper than that. Writing poetry is a bridge that allows people to express their feelings and makes others live every single word they read. Poetry should educate people, lead them away from hate to love, from violence to mercy and compassion. Poetry writing aims to help this community understand life better and live it more passionately. PoemHunter.com contains an enormous number of famous poems from around the world, by both classical and modern poets. You can read as many as you like and also submit your own poems to share your writings with all our poets, members and visitors.

Fiction Book Reflection: These books are so much fun to write and offer students a change from the traditional summaries or reading reflection activities. Example: If you are studying characters, have students write the name of a character from their book and fill in each acrostic line of poetry with character traits, feelings, and actions—all supported by examples from the text. It’s an engaging way for students to show what they know! This also works well with the settings. Have students write the name of an important setting from a book and write the acrostic with a focus on how the setting influenced the story.

How are acrostics different from acronyms?

Students are familiar with using acronyms to remember facts or words in a specific order. An acronym is a mnemonic strategy that creates an abbreviation using the first letter of each word in the list, for example ROY G BIV, a name and abbreviation for the colors of the rainbow. Another mnemonic strategy that uses the first letter to remember words is the acrostic strategy. However, the acrostic strategy differs from acronyms in that instead of an abbreviation, the initial letters are used to form a sentence or poem. So, in order to remember the order of the mathematical operations, the student can recall the acrostic phrase “Excuse me dear Aunt Sally”, i.e. parentheses, exponents, multiply and divide before adding and subtracting.

Long-term memorization and recall of facts and words is made easier by learning with the acrostic method. Here’s how:

Meaningful Information: The acrostic sentence makes the disjointed list of words or facts more meaningful and easier to remember. Isn’t it easier to remember the order of taxonomic classification of organisms by using the acrostic “King Philip can only find his green slippers” instead of kingdom, tribe, class, order, family, genus, species?

Chunking of information: Rather than remembering each individual word, students primarily need to remember the chunks or sentence, which in turn serves as a cue for retrieving the information. Also, the words in the sentence serve as a guide to the number of words the student needs to remember.

Teach acrostic strategy:

As you teach your students the strategy, it’s important that you instruct them to create the verse using common, familiar words. For example, “My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas” to remember the order of the planets. Also, encourage them to actively create fun or interactive phrases as these are easier to remember.

To teach the strategy, first select the words you want to create an acrostic for. Write the first letter of each word on the board and have the students suggest a common word next to it. Thus, the activity encourages active student participation and learning that goes hand in hand.

You can then have the same activity done in pairs or groups and help students choose words to use in their verses. To help students master acrostic learning, provide opportunities to practice and create their own verses to remember the information.

Activities for the class:

Acrostic: Encourage the budding writer in each student by asking them to write an acrostic within a given time limit. The poems reflect the nature of the students and can range from witty to serious. When finished, encourage students to read their poems and have students vote for the best poet.

Acrostic Features: Students are given a specific word and instructed to create an acrostic for each letter by focusing on its features, e.g. FOSSIL.

Acrostic Names: Create an acrostic for your name, ie. H. MIKE will be powerful, intelligent, friendly and energetic. You can extend this activity to create an acrostic to remember the students in a group, the teachers’ names, the school mascot, and so on.

Discuss here: What acrostics have you used or created when teaching students?

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