In ancient Egypt, the most powerful person of all was called the pharaoh. A pharaoh was like a king, but the Egyptians believed he was also chosen by the gods, so people obeyed him and treated him with great respect.

The pharaoh made the laws, led the army, and made sure food from the harvest was shared. Both men and women could be pharaohs. One famous woman pharaoh was Hatshepsut, and a famous young pharaoh was Tutankhamun, often called King Tut.

The Egyptians believed in a life after death. They thought a pharaoh would need his body and his treasures in the next life, so they took great care to protect them after he died.

To keep a pharaoh safe forever, the Egyptians built giant stone tombs called pyramids. The largest one, the Great Pyramid at Giza, was made of more than two million heavy stone blocks, all moved and stacked by hand.

Building a pyramid took thousands of workers many years. They cut huge blocks of stone, pulled them on sleds, and piled them higher and higher until the pyramid pointed up toward the sky.

Today the pyramids still stand in the desert. They tell us that the Egyptians were amazing builders and planners, and they help us understand what those people believed and cared about long ago.