08-ANCIENT EGYPT

ANCIENT EGYPT THE NILE Egyptian civilization developed along the Nile River. During periodic flooding, the waters of this river left precious mud along its banks. containing lime. Which made the land very fertile.

THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA The plains of Giza are dominated by three pyramids, which were built by the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure about 4,500 years ago. The Great Pyramid, built by Khufu. Is approximately 4132 feet tall, and the base is immense—each side is 756 feet long. It took more than twenty years to construct THE SPHINX The Sphinx is 240 feet long and 66 feet tall. It may be the largest statue ever carved from a single block of limestone. Pharaoh Khafre had it sculpted (around 2620 B.C.). Thutrnoses (V, who ruled from 1412 to 1402 B.C., freed the Sphinx from the encroaching sand and gave it a face-lift. Legend blames Napoleon and his troops for shooting off the nose around 1798, but this story isn't true. In Greek mythology. the Sphinx was a monster with the body of a lion and the head of a human. It lived near the city of thebes. It would devour all those who, when passing through, did not know how to solve its extremely difficult riddles or enigmas.

The professor gave a deep sigh and turned to me. "This room is soundproof from any eavesdroppers. Now we can talk without being heard, dear friend," he said, smiling. I smiled back, but I must admit the whole soundproof room thing made me a little panicky. I mean, what if the door got stuck and we couldn't get out? No one would be able to hear our screams! We'd end up just like the mummies in this place—very OLD and very DEAD. Well, except for the one I saw walking around. I shivered. I introduced Professor Sandsnout to Benjamin and Bugsy to take my mind off of things. The professor talked to the little mice about MUMMIES.

SARCOPHAGI. and PYRAMIDS. Then he made them his official assistants. Cheesecake! WOW!