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 the game were.
underworld, afterlife
The ancient Egyptians believed that the earth was a flat disc. Beneath the earth was the underworld, a dangerous place. Egyptians believed that after they died they had to first pass through the underworld before they could live forever in the afterlife.
vizier
A very important person. He was the pharaoh’s chief minister. He made sure that Egypt was run exactly the way the pharaoh wanted it.
First published in 2001
by
an imprint of Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd
Locked Bag 22, Newtown
NSW 2042 Australia
www.walkerbooks.com.au
This ebook edition published in 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Text © 2001 Carole Wilkinson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Wilkinson, Carole, 1950– author.
Ramose and the tomb robbers / Carole Wilkinson.
Series: Wilkinson, Carole, 1950– Ramose series; bk. 2.
For primary school age.
Subjects: Princes – Juvenile fiction.
Egypt – Juvenile fiction.
A823.3
ISBN: 978-1-925081-61-9 (ePub)
ISBN: 978-1-925081-60-2 (e-PDF)
ISBN: 978-1-925081-62-6 (.PRC)
Cover image (Luxor Museum Statue) © GettyImages.com/Hisham Ibrahim
Cover image (hieroglyphs) © GettyImages.com/Adam Crowley
Map by Mini Goss
Other books by Carole Wilkinson
Ramose: Prince in Exile
Ramose: Sting of the Scorpion
Ramose: Wrath of Ra
The Dragon Companion
The Dragonkeeper series
Dragonkeeper
Garden of the Purple Dragon
Dragon Moon
Dragon Dawn (prequel)
Blood Brothers
Shadow Sister
Young Adult
Sugar Sugar
Stagefright
Picture Book
The Night We Made the Flag
True Tales series
Ned Kelly’s Jerilderie Letter
The Drum series
Black Snake
The Games
Alexander the Great
Fromelles: Australia’s Bloodiest Day at War
The Beat series
Hatshepsut: The Lost Pharaoh of Egypt
Find out about Carole’s books on her website www.carolewilkinson.com.au
Ramose and the Tomb Robbers Page 9
