Indoor Games
The ancient Egyptians were also
imaginative in their indoor recreation. A favourite game appears to have
been similar to draughts, played on a rectangular board divided into
thirty or thirty-three squares. Carved black and white pawns were used.
Though the Egyptian players have been depicted facing each other, there
is no indication of the rules of the game. The earliest gaming piece
(in the shape of a house with sloping roof) was found in the tomb of
the 1st-dynasty pharaoh Udimu (Den). Pre-dynastic (Before Egyptian
Dynasty) ‘pieces’ of clay coated with wax were, however, found with a
checker-board table of unbaked clay held up by four thick short legs
and divided into 19 squares on the surface.
A game
which appears to have been popular in the Egyptian...
October 30, 2012
The Noblemen in Ancient Egypt Part 2/4
A wealthy nobleman drew up lists of food items to be inscribed in his
Egyptian tomb. One such list comprised ‘Ten different kinds of meat,
five kinds of poultry, sixteen kinds of bread and cakes, six kinds of
wine, four kinds of beer, eleven kinds of fruit, in addition to all
sorts of sweets and many other good things . . Beer, the national
drink, was made from barley or wheat, sweetened with dates if desired,
and stored in pottery jars. Wine was also produced from very early
times.
All rich landowners possessed monkeys, gazelle,
ibex and other animals of the desert which they caught, tamed and kept
on their estates. They had long learned that the dog was man’s best
friend as well as his hunting companion, sheepdogs, greyhounds (often
on a leash) and salukis were favourites....
October 29, 2012
The Noblemen in Ancient Egypt Part 1/4
Enjoyment of Life
Most of the buildings of ancient
Egypt, including the royal palace, were built of wood and brick. Stone
was reserved for tombs and temples, and most of the surviving structures
are therefore of a funerary nature, which gives the erroneous
impression that the ancient Egyptians were preoccupied with thoughts of
the afterlife. Evidence to the contrary is abundant. The ancient
Egyptians thought of the afterlife simply as an inevitable extension of
their earthly experience, and decorated their tombs with aspects of
their lives they wished to repeat. These graphic murals in fact provide
clear indication of how conscientiously they channelled their energies
to the service of the living and to achieving comfort and pleasure on
earth. Since our knowledge of life...
October 28, 2012
The Noblemen in Ancient Egypt Part 4/4
Human relations were regarded as among a man’s most valuable
possessions. Ptahhotep stressed the togetherness of a husband and wife,
the closeness of brothers and sisters. The basic unit of society was
the family. In this context the pictorial reliefs take on new meaning.
In the Egyptian tomb of Mereruka, for example, are several scenes
showing family devotion. One is an intimate and delightful bedroom
scene with Mereruka and his wife watching their bed being prepared. In
another he watches her as she sits on a large couch playing a harp.
Family outings were encouraged: in Mereruka’s tomb he can be seen
affectionately holding his son by the hand (the boy holds a hoopoe bird
in the other hand), and behind them are his wife and a row of
attendants. In Ti’s tomb he is depicted...
October 27, 2012
The Noblemen in Ancient Egypt Part 3/4
The ancient Egyptians controlled insect pests by washing their houses
and homes with a solution of natron, and appear to have had
well-developed drainage systems. In the mortuary temple of the
5th-dynasty pharaoh Sahure, this consisted of a stone tray-like basin
in the base of which was a metal plug on a chain leading to a
subterranean copper pipe. The drainage pipe, placed at an angle for the
water to flow downwards, extended the whole length of the causeway,
some 331 yards. The temple had several such basins, probably for personal washing.
A
nobleman had one legal wife who was always Mistress of the House. A
wealthy landowner might have concubines, but his wife held a special
position and was treated with the utmost deference, and his heirs were
her offspring. She...
October 26, 2012
Stories and Festivals in Ancient Egypt
Stories and Festivals
Story-telling played an important
part in the lives of the ancient Egyptians. Their oral tradition must
be set apart from the Teachings or ‘Wisdom’ literature and the Egyptian religious texts.
The deeds of gods and kings were not written in early times and only
found their way through verbal tradition into the literature of a later
date. This treasury of popular tale was based on an ageless tradition
in ancient Egypt. As we have seen the people, their society and their
institutions were moulded by the environment and by nature’s changeless
cycles. This stability of the physical environment resulted in the
lives of the rural Egyptians remaining changeless. For, while the
priestly politicians were striving for political control and the sages
were teaching...
October 25, 2012
The Peasant Farmers and Workmen in Ancient Egypt
The Peasant Farmers and Workmen
The peasant farmers on
the estates lived in houses of sun- dried brick or wattle daubed with
clay, not much different from the neolithic houses of their ancestors,
with a single room (oblong or square), one door and no windows.
Furnishings comprised no more than a rough stool, a box or chest, and
perhaps a headrest. Reed mats were hung from the ancient egyptian
walls, and baskets and earthenware pots were used for storage.
The
peasants, who rose with the sun and retired early, wore a loincloth
which they frequently cast off during the day. The smaller statues of
the Egyptian Old Kingdom depict an array of good- natured folk: a
naked peasant going to market with his sandals in his hand and his
shoulder slightly bent beneath the weight of...
October 24, 2012
The Royal Family in Ancient Egypt
The Royal Family
The Ancient Egyptian pharaohs did not
live like a lazy despot. As vizier he had supervised mining operations,
superintended quarrying operations, controlled the Court of Law and
had been in charge of the Treasury. As pharaoh he was equally active.
He received his advisers and officials, discussed funerary monuments
with his chief architect, and accompanied by his attendants took
inspection tours in his carrying-chair.
Apart from the
royal insignia and the richly encrusted jewelled collars, the royal
family dressed little differently from the landed noblemen. The
insignia included the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt (of which
no examples have been found) and the artificial beard attached to it
(many of these are in the museums of the world). The...
October 23, 2012
Medicine in Ancient Egypt
How Ancient Egyptian Worked ?
The working classes can
be divided into three categories: the intellectual literates (from whom
came physicians, architects and landed noblemen), the Egyptian
craftsmen (including the artists and sculptors) and the peasant farmers
and labourers.
Medicine
The Egyptian
temples of Heliopolis, Sais and Memphis were centres of learning from
earliest times. Here physicians were trained. Such titles as ‘Chief of
the Dental Physicians’ (Hesi-Ra), ‘Palace Eye Expert, Physician of the
Belly, One Comprehending Internal Fluids and Guardian of the Anus’
(Iri), or ‘Chief Oculist of the Royal Court’ (Wah-Dwa), support
Herodotus’ observation that there were specialists in ancient Egypt for
the different branches of medicine. The Ministry of Health, if one...
October 22, 2012
Art and Sculpture in Ancient Egypt
Art and Sculpture
Mural decoration and sculpture,
largely required to fulfil funerary purposes, developed into a highly
active industry. Though the sharp, clear outlines of the murals were
chiselled with extraordinary delicacy and many of the statues are
clearly the work of skilled hands, those that fashioned them were
artisans rather than artists and part of a team. Unfinished tombs
provide evidence of the method of mural decoration. A chief artist
prepared each surface by separating the different registers with the aid
of cords dipped in red paint, subdividing these further into rows or
squares. The sections were then filled with figures of men, animals and
hieroglyphic characters, each row representing a single activity. It
seems probable that there was a common stock...
October 21, 2012
Shipbuilding in Ancient Egypt
Shipbuilding
Egyptians were accomplished sailors, and
shipbuilding was one of the most important and oldest industries, the
result of the need to travel both within the country, along the Nile,
across the Mediterranean and down the Red Sea. The Egyptian tomb of Ti
contains two shipbuilding scenes, Ti presiding over them both,
inspecting every stage of the work being carried out. One shows the
entire shipbuilding process, from the early stages of shaping and
sawing the wooden planks to the last stages of completion, with workmen
milling over the curving hulls, carving, hammering, sawing and
drilling. Seafaring vessels usually had a curved prow and high stern,
each decorated in the form of a papyrus bud. The centre of the ship
often had an awning. All hinges, nails and...
October 20, 2012
Lesser Industries in Ancient Egypt
Lesser Industries
Other industries produced leather,
papyrus, bricks, glass, pottery, jewellery and copperware. The
coppersmith, who supplied the tools necessary for shipbuilding,
quarrying stone for funerary monuments and for fashioning murals and
statues, had a busy workshop. It was also his responsibility to make
copper drains for the earliest plumbing and the various implements
required for Egyptian agriculture. Craftsmen of high order developed
from early times and there was a tendency for children to ply the
trades of their fathers, at first making themselves useful around the
workshops and then working as apprentices.
The
Egyptian tomb of Ti records the goldsmith’s factory and the different
stages of the production of jewellery. Ti himself watches the head
goldsmith...
October 19, 2012
Entertainment in Ancient Egypt
Entertainment
Leisure was made possible by the economy,
exceptional opportunities and favourable climate. Almost all the tombs
of the noblemen at Saqqara and Giza contain scenes of the deceased
with his family seated beneath an arbour enjoying the mild north
breeze, or with friends or relatives being entertained by musicians,
dancers and singers. Moreover the panorama of everyday life indicates
how vitally conscious the people were of the animal and bird life
teeming around them and how much they esteemed the great outdoors. It
seems that among the greatest pleasures were venturing into the marshes
in search of aquatic birds, hunting in the undulating plains of the
desert and fishing in small canals and lakes.
The
ancient Egyptians had a great sense of rhythm and love...
October 18, 2012
Outdoor Sport in Ancient Egypt
Outdoor Sport
Hunting was popular among all
classes. The pharaoh Sahure is depicted hunting gazelle, antelope, deer
and other animals. Most of the noblemen may be seen pursuing wild
Egyptian game and capturing different species. And the working classes
chased gazelle, oryx, wild oxen, hares and ostrich with equal
enthusiasm. Long bow and arrow, lasso, throwing sticks and bola were
the most common hunting weapons. The bow was no more than 3 feet in
length and the arrows, carried in leather quivers, came in several
varieties; the one preferred for hunting (which survived into the
Egyptian New Kingdom) had an agate arrowhead cemented to a sturdy,
usually ebony, stick which was fitted into a hollow reed shaft. The
latter was decorated with two feathers and notched for the...
October 17, 2012
Dendera and Temple of Dendera
Dendera
This is a very ancient religious site and the seat of the worship of Egyptian Hathor Goddess,
the cow-goddess. During the New Kingdom, Thutmose II, Ramses II and
Ramses III Pharaohs all contributed to the building of the temple of
Hathor. The wall reliefs, however, date to a much later period. In fact
most of the inscriptions and decorations date from Greco/Roman times
and do not compare with the finer work of the earlier periods. Though
the temple is constructed in fine symmetry the figures are coarse.
Among the Roman Emperors dressed as pharaohs and sacrificing to the
gods of Egypt are Augustus, Caligula, Tiberius, Nero...
October 14, 2012
What Survives from the Ancient Egyptian World
What Survives from the Ancient Egyptian World
NOWHERE on earth are there more plentifully preserved monuments and relics of an ancient Egyptian civilization.
They have sustained the ravages of time, vandalism, invasions,
conquests and grave-robbers. The tombs and temples were built on such a
grand scale, the murals and statues executed with such artistic skill,
and craftsmanship had reached such a degree of perfection, that they
will ever lure man to a realisation of his heritage. ‘Egypt contains
more wonders than any other land in the world, and is pre-eminent above
all the countries in the world for works that one can hardly...
October 13, 2012
Great Giza Egypt
Giza
On the western bank of the Nile, about 6.5 miles
south-west of Cairo are the greatest monuments of the Old Kingdom: the
Pyramids of Giza. That of Khufu has the distinction of being the
largest single building ever constructed. The Solar Boat has been
reassembled in a special museum on the southern flank of the pyramid
(not yet open to the public). The pyramid of Khafre, the second pyramid,
is the most complete example of a royal tomb complex in the Egyptian Old Kingdom.
It comprises the pyramid itself, its mortuary temple and a causeway of
white limestone connecting it to a valley temple, sometimes known as
the Granite...
October 12, 2012
Saqqara and Memphis Facts
Saqqara
This is one of the richest archaeological sites
in Egypt. It preserves ancient relics from all periods of ancient
Egyptian history. Those described in this book include the royal tombs
of the 1st dynasty , Zoser’s Step Pyramid Complex, 5th and 6th
dynasty tombs of noblemen decorated in painted relief, and the pyramids
of the 6th-dynasty pharaohs which contain columns of inscribed
hieroglyphics painted in blue and known as the Egyptian Pyramid Texts.
Saqqara Egypt
Another highlight at Saqqara is
the Serapeum, or Apis Tombs. These are a series of subterranean
galleries, hewn out of solid rock containing the remains of...
October 11, 2012
Beni Hassan and Tombs Facts
Beni Hassan
Approaching ‘Middle Egypt’ one comes, appropriately, to a famous burial ground of the Middle Kingdom in ancient Egypt . Beni Hassan is famous for the Egyptian rock-hewn tombs
of the 12th-dynasty princes and noblemen. They rank among the most
fascinating monuments in Egypt, both for their architectural
characteristics (the mastaba form had almost entirely disappeared and
these tombs were hewn in a row out of the cliffs, sometimes with
rock-cut colonnade at the entrance), and also for the fine
representations of domestic life in the Middle Kingdom. Though many of
the scenes (such as baking, pottery-making, carpentry,...
October 10, 2012
Tel el Amarna Facts
Tel el Amarna
This was the site chosen by Ikhnaton (Amenhotep IV King) for his new capital when he rebelled against the priests of Amon in the 18th dynasty, abandoned Thebes and promoted the sole worship of the Aten, the sun-disc. The site was occupied for only about 21 years
before the priests of Amon reasserted control and returned the court
to Thebes. They regarded Ikhnaton’s monotheism as a religious
revolution and endeavoured to obliterate all evidence of his reign from
the land, razing the temples and palaces in Tel el Amarna; but some of
the main streets may still be discerned, as well as the ground- plan of
the Aten temple...
October 9, 2012
Abydos in Ancient Egypt
Abydos
This was one of the most ancient cities in Egypt, which became the centre of the Osiris God cult. It was believed that here Isis found the head of Osiris, and buried it (though another version of the myth has her finding the whole body at Abydos City with the exception of the phallus which had been eaten by a crocodile).
Abydos
The earliest tombs at Abydos are pre-dynastic (Before Egyptian Dynasties). There are also the royal tombs of the first dynasty.
After the fall of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt and the rise of the
cult of Osiris the dead, the city grew and the solemn annual religious
festivals included a passion...
