Life in Ancient Egypt. Egyptian Social Hierarchy 1.Pharaoh 2.Viziers & High Priests 3.Royal Overseers 4.District Governors 5.Scribes 6.Artisans 7.Farmers.

Life in Ancient EgyptLife in Ancient Egypt

Egyptian Social HierarchyEgyptian Social Hierarchy

1. Pharaoh

2. Viziers & High Priests

3. Royal Overseers

4. District Governors

5. Scribes

6. Artisans

7. Farmers & Laborers

A Few Famous Egyptian PharaohsA Few Famous Egyptian PharaohsA Few Famous Egyptian PharaohsA Few Famous Egyptian Pharaohs

Thutmose IIIThutmose III1504-1450 B. C. E.1504-1450 B. C. E.

Thutmose IIIThutmose III1504-1450 B. C. E.1504-1450 B. C. E.

Ramses IIRamses II1279-1212 B. C. E.1279-1212 B. C. E.Ramses IIRamses II

1279-1212 B. C. E.1279-1212 B. C. E.TutankhamenTutankhamen

1336-1327 B. C. E.1336-1327 B. C. E.TutankhamenTutankhamen

1336-1327 B. C. E.1336-1327 B. C. E.

Egyptian PharaohsEgyptian Pharaohs• The title of "Pharaoh" actually comes to us

from the Greek language and its use in the Old Testament.

• It originates in the Egyptian Per-aa, meaning "Great House", a designation of the palace, which first came to be used as a label for the king around 1450 B.C.E., though it only became common usage some centuries later.

• For most of the time, the usual word for the king of ancient Egypt was nesu, but a whole range of titles were applicable to any full statement of a king's names and titulary.

• Menes (Narmer) was the first pharaoh of Egypt & unified Egypt.

• Kings were not only males, and unlike in modern monarchies, the ruler of ancient Egypt, whether male or female, was always called a king.

• In fact, Egypt had some very noteworthy female rulers such as Hatshepsut and others.

Egyptian PharaohsEgyptian Pharaohs

• In ancient (Pharaonic) Egypt, the pinnacle of Egyptian society, and indeed of religion, was the king. Below him were the layers of the educated bureaucracy which consisted of nobles, priests and civil servants, and under them were the great mass of common people, usually living very poor, agricultural based lives.

• Except during the earliest of themes, when the highest official was apparently a Chancellor, for most of Egyptian history, the man or men just under the king were Viziers, (tjaty), a position that was roughly similar to a modern Prime Minister.

Duties of an Egyptian PharaohDuties of an Egyptian Pharaoh• The king himself (or herself) was the

figure upon whom the whole administrative structure of the state rested.

• These god-kings usually commanded tremendous resources.

• The Pharaoh was the head of the civil administration, the supreme warlord and the chief priest of every god in the kingdom.

• All offerings were made in his name and the entire priesthood acted in his stead.

• In fact, he was himself a divine being, considered the physical offspring of a god.– The myth of the ruler's divine birth

centered on the god assuming the form of (or becoming incarnate in) the king's father, who then impregnated his wife, who accordingly bore the divine ruler.

• Of course, the king was also subject to some rather grave responsibilities.

• Through his dealings with the gods, he was tasked with keeping the order, or ma'at of the land, and therefore keeping out chaos, often in the form of the enemies of Egypt from foreign lands.

• But he was also responsible for making sufficient offerings and otherwise satisfying the gods so that they would bless Egypt with a bountiful Nile flood, and therefore a good enough harvest to feed his people.

• When he failed at these tasks, he could bear not only blame, but a weakening of the state and thus his power.

• In drastic cases, such as at the end of the Old Kingdom, this could actually lead to a complete collapse of the Egyptian state.

Egyptian NobilityEgyptian NobilityEgyptian NobilityEgyptian Nobility• The elite ruling class was called

paat, and the rest of the people were called rekhyt. – At first all high officials were royal

relatives, especially princes, sons of the king.

– Much of the evidence detailing the administration comes from inscriptions on vessels and seal-impressions.

– Egyptian nobility had more privileges, served in government, had free time, & ate better than lower classes

Egyptian NobilityEgyptian NobilityEgyptian NobilityEgyptian Nobility• A census of the country took

place every other year, called the "following of Horus," wherein the king would supervise gathering of tribute.

• The treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, or sedjauty bity, was in charge, and the biennual census eventually turned into more or less regular dispatches of produce to the royal palace.

ViziersViziers• The position of vizier (tjati)

existed since the Old Kingdom. – The office insignia was a

figure of Ma’at carried on a chain.

– His job was to carry out the orders and decisions of the pharaoh, and he acted as a diplomat in the royal court, was in charge of tax collection and public works.

– It was therefore often filled by close relatives of the king.

• Viziers were civil servants. – On the whole, they wielded the real

power as long as the pharaohs were too weak to wrest it from them.

– In theory everybody was equal before maat which was expected to guide the administrators. • This set the king apart from everybody

else, be they commoner or noble, and protected his position. Towards the end of the 18th dynasty, maat lost at least part of its importance as the guiding principle and personal loyalty towards the king became paramount.

Egyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly Class•Priests in ancient Egypt had a role different to the role of a priest in modern society. •Though the Egyptians had close associations with their gods, they did not practice any form of organized religion, as modern times would define it.•The priests did not preach, proselytize, or care for a congregation. •They were not messengers of any "divinely revealed truth." •There was no single Holy Book on which the religious system of Egypt was based.

Egyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly Class• The most common title for priest was hem netjer, meaning servant

of the god.• Career priests were appointed to each temple, their numbers

depending on the importance of the deity and the wealth of the temple.

• The King was the chief priest of every cult of Egypt, though to be practical he delegated his authority to his appointees.

• Though there was no Sacred Holy Book of Scripture, there were ritual and religious texts, applicable to temple practices, which the priests used. – The phraseology of spoken ritual must have been transmitted by word of

mouth for generations before the written language could deal with it. – The surviving religious literature of the Old Kingdom suggests the

existence of priestly colleges or centers of religious learning where the mythologies were developed.

– The largest body of religious literature from this time is the Pyramid Texts. • Priests had to learn writing and reading, and learn certain religious

manuals by heart to understand some theology. – Ritual texts however, were often read directly from scrolls, not said by

heart, since even one word out of place would negate the powerful ritual act in progress.

• The highest-ranking priests also attended councils of state in the royal palace, and accompanied the king during his jubilee celebrations or on his trips abroad.

• In fact, the various cosmogonies developed at Heliopolis, Memphis and Hermopolis are each different and even contradictory.

• The various myths and legends surrounding the gods were totally incompatible with the development of one coherent system of belief.

• One version of how the sun traveled across the sky described how Ra was ferried in his sacred boat, the Solar barque, whose divine crew the deceased King hoped to join upon his resurrection.

• According to another myth, the sun was born each morning on the eastern horizon to the sky-goddess Nut and traveled across the vault of heaven, which was her body, to be swallowed by her at sunset on the western horizon.

• A third explanation was that a giant scarab beetle, the god Khepri, pushed the fiery ball up through the horizon at dawn and rolled it across the sky.

Egyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly Class

Egyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassEgyptian Priestly ClassNo preaching was required because every Egyptian accepted the validity of the traditional religious theology, i.e. the world was created, ordered and governed by the gods, through the intermediary the king, the only actual priest in Egypt.

It was accepted that people tried to live good lives in the hope of earning merit for the life to come; they didn’t need to be "converted" to a way that was already considered to be theirs. The authors of religious works had no responsibility for instructing the people as a whole in the ways of the gods. The same was true for the ritual priests.

Egyptian priests did have a vital role in the religious ritual of daily and festival life. Whereas today a god may be worshipped who is believed to bestow his grace upon his followers, the Egyptian priest offered and performed material and ritually magic services to the god of his temple, to ensure that god’s presence would continue on earth, and thus maintain the harmony and order of the world as it had been created.

That was why the priests were called "servants of the god," or hem-netjer, the traditional title for a priest.

Royal OverseersRoyal Overseers• The key areas of

administration were the Treasury, the Department of Agriculture, the Ministry of Works, the judiciary and the army. The most prestigious title, the chief advisor and administrator of the king, was the tjaty, the vizier or prime minister.

• Appointments of officials were generally the viziers' privilege, but kings often granted favorites placed loyal retainers in some positions. – The reasons given for promotions of

officials differed under the various kings.

– Keeping the administration efficient was a constant concern.

– Officials at times arrogated privileges, embezzled payments and extorted forced labor for their own benefit.

Royal OverseersRoyal Overseers• Little seems to have been

achieved without its involvement. – Civil servants, which included

judges, were answerable directly to the vizier or to his representative

– Each vizier had a treasurer under him, a superintendent of cattle, the mayors of the cities (Pi-Ramesse and Memphis in the north, Thebes in the south), the village chiefs and a whole army of minor officials.

Three men carrying luxury items characteristic of their country: gold rings, jasper, ebony logs, giraffe tails, a leopard skin, a live baboon and a monkey.

Sebekhotep was a senior treasury official Sebekhotep was a senior treasury official of the reign of Thutmose IV (1400-1390 of the reign of Thutmose IV (1400-1390 B.C.E.). B.C.E.).

District GovernorsDistrict Governors

Rekhmire was a governor of Thebes during the reigns of Tuthmosis III, 18th dynasty

• District Governors controlled the local nomes into which Egypt was divided

• At the local level, Egypt’s government was composed of a series of administrative districts called sepat, known by the Greek term, nome.

District GovernorsDistrict Governors• The nomarch, or governor, the chief of the

provincial administration, was originally a royal appointee or member of the royal family. – He also bore titles such as judge and overseer

of priests. By the 6th dynasty, it is evident that nomes were grouped administratively into larger units, and an overseer interacted with the respective nomarchs.

– Nomarchs were given titles and estates, and as the greatest Old Kingdom reward, some were granted the right to build their own tomb in the royal necropolis.

Djehutihotep, a governor who ruled during the 12th dynasty of Amenemhet II,  about 1850 B.C.E.

Egyptian ScribesEgyptian ScribesEgyptian ScribesEgyptian Scribes

• Scribes belonged to a well-defined and rather exclusive caste, standing out from the surrounding illiteracy by his command of the secret skills of reading and writing.

• These qualifications were considered a privilege, and perhaps a mystery, shared only with the rulers and the gods. 

• Writing things down was only one aspect of the scribe's profession. – He was in effect a civil servant of the

king, dignitary or temple institution, fully competent in his particular field, equipped for independent thought, decision-making and management.

– The records he kept enabled him to make judgments designed to bring order into every field, to ensure that things ran smoothly and would continue to do so. 

Egyptian ScribesEgyptian ScribesEgyptian ScribesEgyptian Scribes

• Along with the higher-ranking priests and some of the educated dignitaries, the scribes constituted the intelligentsia of ancient Egypt.

• They occupied the upper rungs of the social ladder to the very top, and enjoyed due recognition accordingly. – We are indebted to their industry in leaving behind a

wealth of documentation, from everyday reports to literary texts ofhigh merit. 

• The scribes were well aware of their status and guarded their professional secrets jealously.

• Free from physical labor, they had soft hands, clean clothes and minds unencumbered by bodily fatigue.– They were the managers who gave orders, checked

results, took records, granted or withheld permission. • The ordinary Egyptian turned to them for all

kinds of help, from drawing up a will or a marriage contract to simply reading and writing letters. 

• Scribes were usually the sons of scribes and few members of other professions, or even their offspring, managed to penetrate the group.

Egyptian ScribesEgyptian ScribesEgyptian ScribesEgyptian Scribes

Papyrus Papyrus Paper PaperPapyrus Papyrus Paper Paper

Papyrus PlantPapyrus PlantPapyrus PlantPapyrus Plant

Hieratic Scroll Hieratic Scroll PiecePiece

Hieratic Scroll Hieratic Scroll PiecePiece

Making Papyrus Making Papyrus • To make writing material the Egyptians

had to slit the papyrus stem into thin strips which were laid close together and then covered with a second layer running at right-angles to the first.

• These were sprinkled with water and beaten hard with stone hammers, not only to flatten them but to release the natural viscous juices that bonded them together into a strong but pliant sheet, usually between 15cm and 50cm wide. 

• Once dry, the white surface could be written on without the ink running or fading for a very long time.

• The sheets were finally glued together in strips and wound cylindrically on wooden rods.

• The resultant scrolls were often of considerable length, as much as 40m and more for literary texts. 

Scribes & Record KeepingScribes & Record Keeping• For short records and notes, accounts,

certificates and draft texts the scribes also resorted to a cheaper material - fragments of broken pottery or limestone sherds, ostraca. – These were sometimes used for more

permanent records too, such as inventories, but even private legal records and contracts. 

• From texts and from numerous tomb-wall illustrations we can visualize how the managerial and auditing functions of the scribes entered into people's daily life.

• All kinds of routine records, for the most part lists and summaries, were their doing. – Everything, it seems, had to be noted down,

from the number of bags of grain harvested to the size of herds, amounts of seed-grain and materials issued from store, types and quantities of objects manufactured, building supplies, tools and artisans' requisites.

• Records were kept of:– work attendance, wages paid, kinds and quantities of

booty seized, numbers of hands and phalluses cut from the bodies of fallen enemies all as punctiliously as the inventories of gifts that followed the deceased into the next world or were daily sacrificed in his honor by the funerary priests. 

• Other documents from the scribe's pen included:– regulations issued by various bodies, court

proceedings and records of private contracts dealing with sale and purchase, loans, hire, financial arrangements between spouses, inheritance, receipts, taxes, accounts and so on. 

• We also find many documents of a private character, such as letters. Where the writer is the scribe himself his own name appears on them. – We possess for example a set of 54 letters,

in whole or part, exchanged between the scribe Butehamun in the artisans' village of Deir el-Medina and his father Djehutimose in far-off Nubia. Scribes also penned letters, in return for payment, on behalf of illiterate clients. 

Champollion & the Rosetta Champollion & the Rosetta StoneStone

Champollion & the Rosetta Champollion & the Rosetta StoneStone

Hieroglyphic Hieroglyphic “Cartouche”“Cartouche”

Hieroglyphic Hieroglyphic “Cartouche”“Cartouche”

Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”Hieroglyphics “Alphabet” 24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols 24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols

Egyptian Math & DraftsmanshipEgyptian Math & DraftsmanshipEgyptian Math & DraftsmanshipEgyptian Math & Draftsmanship

11 1010 100100 10001000 10,00010,000 100,000100,000 1,000,0001,000,000

What number is this?What number is this?

ArtisansArtisans

• The materials Egyptian craftsmen worked with since prehistoric times were stone, clay, plant matter such as wood and fibers, animal matter i.e. bone, ivory, feathers etc.

    Later metals were added: gold which was found in its metallic state, silver, at first as an adjunct of gold and ores which had to be smelted - copper and tin, their alloy bronze and finally iron.    

ArtisansArtisans

• The uses for clay were discovered very early. Enamel pearls were found in tombs of the early 4th millennium. Quartzite sand was made into glass on a significant scale since about the 16th century.     

ArtisansArtisans

• To produce their artifacts they had to fashion tools which became evermore sophisticated.

• Every trade had its own set of implements

• Types of Artisans:– Carpenters

– sculptors

– stonemasons and builders

– gold- and silversmiths & other metal workers such as iron smiths and foundry workers

– weavers, spinners, and dressmakers

– Potters & basket makers

– glass-blowers

– Surgeons

– scribes.

The Egyptian MarketThe Egyptian Market

• Ancient Egypt had a barter economy.

• There was no coinage until the latter half of the first millennium B.C.E., but people may have used pieces of metal of given weights as a kind of proto-currency, though no such standardized metal pieces have been found.

The Egyptian MarketThe Egyptian Market

• The woman on the left is showing two white vessels containing some liquid to the crouching man.

• Woman: "This is nemsit (nmsT) essence to please you."Man: "msx.t (?)"

The Egyptian MarketThe Egyptian Market

• The buyer (on the left) wants to exchange a pair of red sandals for a vessel full of some liquid. A second client is holding a little casket.

• Vendor: "Here's sweet sat beverage for you."Buyer: "Here's a pair of sturdy sandals for you."

The Egyptian MarketThe Egyptian Market

A seller of vegetables is in conversation with a buyer. A second buyer is holding a fan in his hand.

Buyer: "Here's a bracelet for you, excellent for your arm. Here's what's your due (?)."Greengrocer: "Let's see! Give the equivalent."Second buyer: "Here's a fan for you. Fan yourself (?) ...."

Farmers & LaborersFarmers & Laborers

FFIIsshhIInngg

• The ancient Egyptian civilization was among the first to regard hunting and fishing as both a sport and a source of food.

• While many professional hunters and fishermen lived from their trade, sportsmen enjoyed leaving the towns behind– They would spend a few days

in the company of other men and measure their hunting skills with those of professionals, as they still do today.

Builders & Pyramid ConstructionBuilders & Pyramid Construction• The planning of Egyptian architects and

stone-masons was meticulous. – It included ground-plans, sections and

contours drawn on surfaces covered with grid lines.

• The administrators had to plan too. – While they interfered little in the way

residential districts of towns grew, they were responsible for the erection of public buildings, among them temples built of stone.

– Expeditions to the quarries were complicated enterprises.

Builders & Pyramid ConstructionBuilders & Pyramid Construction

• Hundreds, at times thousands, of workers, soldiers and scribes had to be fed and housed in inhospitable areas, the quarried rock moved to the Nile and barges built just before the beginning of the inundation. – Timing was crucial. The rocks had to be loaded onto barges and shipped

downriver.

– This generally had to happen during inundation, as moving heavy loads on boats was much easier than dragging them on sledges and one could go farther by boat when the Nile was covering large tracts of land.

Corporal Punishment for WorkersCorporal Punishment for Workers

• Corporal punishment of workers was commonplace and seen, at least by some employers, as an inevitable part of existence and likely to be part of the next life as well, just as the decorator of Menna's tomb depicted it.

• Foremen and supervisors did not escape being beaten either, if they were seen to have been slack in their duties.

Worker being punished, from the tomb of MennaWorker being punished, from the tomb of Menna

Farming: Plowing, Planting, & SowingFarming: Plowing, Planting, & SowingFarming: Plowing, Planting, & SowingFarming: Plowing, Planting, & Sowing

In most countries heavy plows have to be used to turn over the soil, so that the growing plants get enough nutrients, but in Egypt the Nile flood deposited the nutrients on top, and the plowing served just to break up the top soil before sowing or for covering the seed afterwards.

The Egyptian plough was lightly built and tied to the horns of the cattle. Cows were generally used for plowing, which caused their milk production to decrease during plowing time. A helper, often a child, led the animals, sometimes urging them on with a stick. When draft animals were unavailable, humans would pull the plow.

The sower walked back and forth over the still moist field, a bag in one hand and spreading the seed with the other, or having a two handled woven basket tied around his neck, both his hands free for sowing. Sometimes a plow covered the seeds with earth. Driving hogs or sheep over the field served the same purpose.

Farming in Ancient Egypt: HarvestingFarming in Ancient Egypt: Harvesting• Harvest time was a time of

intense labor. People worked from sun-up to sun-down, taking occasional breaks for drinking and eating. – If they were working for

somebody else, an overseer would see to it they didn't dawdle.

– The payment for the harvest season's work was generally the amount of grain a worker could reap in one day.

Farming in Ancient Egypt: HarvestingFarming in Ancient Egypt: Harvesting• The harvest generally took

place shortly before the beginning of the next flooding, about in May or June, at times in April. – The whole population took

part and on big estates journeying harvesting teams were employed.

– These itinerant reapers began the season in the southern part of the country and followed the ripening crops downriver.

Ship Building & Ship Building & TransportationTransportation

• The slow flowing Nile was ideal for transportation and from earliest times Egyptians built boats for transportation, fishing and enjoyment.

• Their importance in every day life is reflected in the role they played in mythology and religion.

The river ships were propelled either by oar or sail, sometimes they were towed or just left to drift downstream.

Ship BuildingShip Building• As there was very little wood available, the

first vessels were made of bundled papyrus reeds. Simple rafts in the beginning, they grew into sizable 'ships‘

• Transportation of heavy loads, international trade and war required stronger ships than could be built from papyrus. – These wooden vessels were similar in form to

the old reed boats, had a flat bottom and a square stern.

– As they were without a keel onto which it could be stepped, the mast was often bipod, fastened to the gunwale.

Ship Building & the Egyptian NavyShip Building & the Egyptian Navy• A number of pharaohs saw the need for a

strong navy

• The royal fleet was supervised by the Chief of the Royal Ships, an important administrative rather than military position– Responsible for the taxation of merchandise

transported on the Nile.

• Egyptian seagoing ships were inferior to those used by other peoples, despite remarkable feats achieved, among them the expeditions along the eastern coast of Africa

Food: Menu of Food: Menu of the Richthe Rich

• While the food of the common people was barely adequate at best, and during the recurring corn dearths sadly lacking, the affluent certainly knew how to live it up: – Meat, water fowls, vegetables, fruit

and wine were part of their diet, as was the ubiquitous bread in one of its many guises.

– On the whole, Egyptians don't seem to have overindulged; according to the testimonies we have, they looked remarkably fit.

Cooking in Ancient EgyptCooking in Ancient Egypt• The kitchen was often a

corner of the courtyard or on the flat roof; at any rate it was open to the air and generally just lightly roofed with branches.

• Cooking was done in clay ovens as well as over open fires. – Wood was burnt as fuel,

and sometimes charcoal, even though it was scarce.

• The quantities of charcoal mentioned in the Harris papyrus or the diary of Medinet Habu were small. It was transported in baskets or sacks. • For lighting the fire a special kind of wood

was imported from the south. It was very precious and even an important temple such as the one at Karnak was allotted only sixty pieces a month

The Egyptian Diet: What did they eat?The Egyptian Diet: What did they eat?• Meat & Fish:

– While daily fare on the tables of the rich, was eaten by the poor on festive occasions only if at all.

– Apart from game hunted in the Delta or desert, people kept various kinds of domesticated animals, some exclusively as sources of meat, such as geese, some breeds of cattle and, until the New Kingdom, Oryx antelopes for temple offerings.

•    

• Fruits & Vegetables:– Many Egyptians had a garden

adjacent to their house, where they grew vegetables and fruit.• Vegetables - the "crop of the year" -

were grown all year round, irrigated by hand and formed an important part of their diet.

• Bread:– Bread was often used as a synonym

for food and hospitality & used daily as a sacrifice to gods • Made out of Barley, durah, a kind of

millet, and wheat

Making Ancient Egyptian BeerMaking Ancient Egyptian BeerMaking Ancient Egyptian BeerMaking Ancient Egyptian Beer

Bread and beer were the basic foodstuffs, and while most people had some difficulty making ends meet, there was—among the better-off at least—the danger of overindulging, and educators were aware of it.

Beer, together with bread, oil and vegetables, was an important part of the wages workers received from their employers. The standard daily ration during pharaonic times was two jars containing somewhat more than two liters each. It was a healthier drink than water drawn from the river or some canal, which was often polluted.

According to Strabo, a geographer living in the 1st century C.E., only the Egyptians brewed beer from barley.

Slavery in Ancient EgyptSlavery in Ancient Egypt• Debt: Some Egyptians

were sold into slavery because of debts or sold themselves to escape poverty. – As indentured slaves they

did not lose all their civil rights; and sometimes the economic security they gained through their new status might seem to be worth giving up some freedoms for.

• By Birth: In the Roman empire the offspring of slaves inherited their parents' status – At times, similar circumstances

seem to have ruled the destinies of Egyptian slaves

• Capture: There were apparently times when order was barely enforced and people, above all women, were abducted and enslaved (including foreigners)

Slavery in Ancient EgyptSlavery in Ancient Egypt• Punishment: It has been

proposed that the vizier had the right to impose perpetual forced labor on a convicted criminal, which would put him in a position of virtual slavery. 

• Voluntary Servitude: A woman paid a temple to be accepted as a servant 

Slavery in Ancient EgyptSlavery in Ancient Egypt

• Prisoners of War: Egyptians enslaved people they captures in the course of wars in places such as Nubia, Canaan and Syria – They brought in many

prisoners of war, seqer-ankh, who were enslaved, at times branded with the sign ki and were given to those loyal to the pharaoh

Treatment of SlavesTreatment of Slaves• The least fortunate captives were

sent to work as slaves in the dreadful gold and copper mines of Nubia and Sinai– According to the Greeks, water was

rationed and men died in great numbers from exhaustion and dehydration in the desert heat.

– On the other hand not all the prisoners were enslaved:• some were absorbed into the army,

where Sherden for instance constituted a large part of the bodyguard of Ramses II.

• Slaves were near the bottom of Egyptian society& weren’t treated as bad as in other societies. – As servants in a temple or in the

household of a rich family it was often better than that of the "free"

– Treating a slave well was a moral precept, but the very fact that decent treatment of slaves was a moral duty means that they must have been treated badly quite often.

““Falling in Love” in Falling in Love” in Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt

• Ancient Egyptians fell in love, and there were times when they made their feelings known in – at times merely literary – outpourings of love songs, some celebrating mutual attraction, others hoping to make the object of their yearning respond.

Marriage & Family in Ancient EgyptMarriage & Family in Ancient Egypt• Family was very important

to Ancient Egyptians. – Many love poems have been

found that are very similar to a modern idea of love.

• Marriages for the commoner were not arranged. – A man made his intentions

known by taking gifts to the girl’s home, and then marriage arrangements followed. The average age for a girl to marry was thirteen.

Marriage in Ancient EgyptMarriage in Ancient Egypt• An agreement was drawn up at

the start of a marriage, assigning a portion of the man's wealth to the wife and any children to provide for them should a divorce occur at a later time. – The woman also brought items into

the marriage, but they remained her property to be passed on her children.

– In addition, the wife and children were protected by a law that forbade transfer of a valuable object to another person without the wife’s and the eldest son’s consent.

Marriage & Divorce in Ancient EgyptMarriage & Divorce in Ancient Egypt• The literature of the day,

known as “wisdom literature,” encouraged the man to treat his wife well.

• Egyptian marriages were monogamous, meaning the custom of being married to just one person at a time.

• A divorce was basically easy to attain, but it was costly. – If a woman committed adultery,

it was considered grounds for a divorce and could also bring a punishment of burning or stoning. It is unclear if the same punishments were applied to men.

Marriage in Marriage in Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt

• For people of nobility and royalty, a different set of marriage customs applied. Multiple wives were common.

• A pharaoh was married to a queen with a distinct title of the “Great Royal Wife.”• He was also married to several minor wives that were quite often arranged for

political reasons. • The male heir to the throne was often married to the oldest daughter (often his sister

or stepsister) of the Great Royal Wife. • The Egyptians believed that a male heir was the result of a major god mating with

the “Great Royal Wife.” • This idea led to the belief that the pharaoh was a descendent of the gods.

Ancient Egyptian WomenAncient Egyptian Women

• In the ancient world, Egypt stood out as a land where women were treated differently:

“ ...but the Egyptians themselves, in most of their manners and customs, exactly the reverse the common practices of mankind. For example, the women attend the markets and trade, while the men sit at home and weave at the loom... The women likewise carry burdens upon their shoulders while the men carry them upon their heads... Sons need not support their parents unless they chose, but daughters must, whether they chose to or not.”

~Herodotus

Ancient Egyptian WomenAncient Egyptian Women

• In Egypt, women were much more free than their counterparts in other lands.

• Though they were not equal with men, both men and women in Egypt accepted that everyone had their roles in ma'at (the natural order of the universe), and that the roles of men and women were different.

• Women mostly wore white linens

Ancient Egyptian WomenAncient Egyptian Women• Egyptian women had a free life,

compared to her contemporaries in other lands.

• She wasn't a feminist, but she could have power and position if she was in the right class.

• Egyptian Women Could:– hold down a job, or be a mother if

she chose. – live by herself or with her family.– buy and sell to her hearts content. – follow the latest fashions or learn to

write if she had the chance.

•Women loved and laughed and ate and drank in which women:•partied and got sick. •helped her husband, she ran her household. •lived a similar life to that of her mother and grandmother in accordance with ma'at.

•Ancient Egyptian women had hopes & dreams of her own, which is not too much different from today's woman.

Ancient Egyptian Women:Ancient Egyptian Women:Women's Education and Career

• Despite this, due to the fundamental biology of a women, she only had a certain range of jobs available to her (though this can be disputed).

• Women typically married at the age when the males were starting their job training, and naturally became mother and housewife. – Though a wife could become her husband's official

representative from time to time. – For example, if a husband was absent, she could

take charge of his business for him. • When a high-class woman found little to

occupy her time, a religious position such as a priestess for a certain god or goddess, was encouraged. – She was expected to make contributions to the

temple - she was not just a "pretty face" for the particular temple she worked for.

Women with talent could enter jobs in the music (which has links to sexuality), weaving or mourning (the women hired to grieve at funerals) industries, while those well connected women could get professional positions such as domestic supervisors or domestic administrators.

Ancient Egyptian Women:Ancient Egyptian Women:Women's Education and Career

• Women who took people into their service took women, the men took men into their service. – Maids were for the mistress, man servants for the

master of the house. (Sexual segregation seems to be wide spread, even in the temples - it was mostly women who served goddesses, and men who served gods.)

– Some of the job titles women could hold were "Supervisor of the Cloth", "Supervisor of the Wig Workshop", "Supervisor to the Dancers of the Pharaoh" and "Supervisor of the Harem of the Pharaoh".

– From this, it is known that these were female-linked occupations, because females were in the managerial-type role.

• One woman, Lady Nebet, even managed to get to the powerful position as Vizier, the right hand 'man' of the pharaoh, but it is known that her husband performed the duties of this role. Other women managed to become 'stewards' and 'treasurers'.

Ancient Egyptian Women:Ancient Egyptian Women:Women's Education and Career

• Other than scribe god Thoth's wife Seshat, the goddess of writing, very few women were seen with a scribe's writing kit, let alone actually seen writing!

• These high ranking or royal women were often given a private tutor, who taught them reading and writing.

• The female pharaoh Hatshepsut's daughter, Neferura, had a private tutor, Senmut (one of Hatshepsut's favorite courtiers).

• Surprisingly, some ostraca suggest that some ordinary housewives were able to read and write. – There were laundry lists, female fashion

advice and other female concerns found! These women, though, would be the wives of educated men, so this was not common through the land of Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian Women:Ancient Egyptian Women:Health & DiseaseHealth & Disease

• Medical writings, though, show us what sort of problems the Egyptian woman faced. – Ailments, symptoms and suggestions for

cures for women were all recorded by the ancient Egyptian doctors.

• The modern study of the mummies also show these problems, and more general things about Egyptian women:– She was relatively short with dark hair

and eyes, and light brown skin. She lived to approximately forty years, if she survived past childhood and pregnancy.

• Life was hard to both women and men, even with the Egyptian doctors. – Most advice, though, was a mixture of

ancient medicine and magic spells, scientific knowledge combined with superstition!

– They believed that every medical problem (not caused by an accident) was the result of demons or parasitic worms.

• The way they dealt with that was to alleviate the symptoms, and use spells to get rid of the cause.

• It's not surprising that the life expectancy of the ancient Egyptian was pretty low!

• Women suffered from deadly diseases:– such as smallpox, leprosy, spina bifida,

polio and many, many more. – Even smaller problems, such as

diarrhea and cuts, could still prove fatal!

– Almost everyone suffered from rheumatism and abscessed teeth (the desert sands got into most Egyptian foods.)

• Doctors or scribes, other than giving advice for such conditions, occasionally even got into giving advice for such things as 'female troubles' and tips for the complexion!

Ancient Egyptian Women: Ancient Egyptian Women: Women's Beauty, Hygiene, and Fashion

• In Egypt, cosmetics was not a luxury, it was a way of life!

• Men and women followed the latest fashions in both hairstyles and make-up.

• Cosmetics, more so, was life or death in Egypt - kohl to rim the eyes was (almost) equal to sunglasses today! – Everyone, from the poor to the pharaohs, had

make-up... the difference being the range and quality of the products used.

• As for hair, rich Egyptians shaved their heads and used wigs to keep up with the latest styles - these wigs were even made of human hair! – Perfumed oils were used to rub into the scalp after

shampooing (if they had their own hair), and perfumed fat was placed on top of the head (seen in many party scenes), to melt into the hair and give off a pleasing scent.

• Due to the climate, Egyptians were fixated on cleanliness - so much so that foreigners (thought to be dirty) and those who didn't have access to much personal hygiene were despised.

Ancient Egyptian Men & Women: Ancient Egyptian Men & Women: Beauty, Hygiene, and Fashion

• Men and woman shaved and plucked off all of their body hair – using tweezers, knives and razors, be

them of flint or metal (they used oil as shaving lotion - moisturizing oils were also rubbed into the skin as protection against the harsh, hot climate).

– Not only was this for beauty, but it also rid the Egyptians of body lice.

• To clean themselves while bathing, the Egyptians used natron (which was also used when mummifying the dead, followed by linen towels for drying.

• The rich had facilities in their places of residence while the majority of Egyptians bathed in the Nile (which was also used for drinking, cooking water, laundry and sewerage) – water-bourn diseases were common

• The Egyptians even had deodorants!

• As for menstruation, there is very little written (men did not find this important enough to write about), but there is evidence that the Egyptian women used folded pieces of linen as sanitary towels that were laundered and reused.

• The term 'purification' and 'cleansing' were used to describe menstruation, and men tried to avoid contact with women at this time - it was seen as ritually unclean.

Ancient Egyptian Women: Ancient Egyptian Women: Women's Beauty, Hygiene, and Fashion

• Nudity in ancient Egypt, when in its correct place, was not offensive or uncomfortable.

• Various jobs required that people went nude, such as fishermen and other manual laborers for instance, as did ones social status.

• The very poor tended to go nude. – Female servant girls, dancers,

acrobats and prostitutes went around totally or semi-nude for their jobs.

• The high class, though, seemed to love showing off their clothing and the latest fashions which changed much over time. – However, there was always jewelry,

including necklaces, rings, anklets, bracelets.

– Even the poor wore jewelry (though not of gold or precious gems), but this was not only decorative, but usually a good-luck symbol or protective amulet.

Women’s Must-Haves: (Top) Perfume, (Bottom Right) Wigs, & (Bottom Left) Mirrors

Ancient Egyptian Women: Ancient Egyptian Women: Women & the Law

• When it comes to law, legal correspondences show that (in theory) women stood as equals to the men of the same class. – Egyptian women could inherit, she could

purchase and own property and slaves, and she could sell her property and slaves as she wished.

– She could make legal contracts, start law proceedings (and hence, be tried for crimes) and borrow and lend goods.

– She was allowed to live life as a single woman, without male guardians. (In the rest of the ancient world, men dominated women),

– One of the reasons that this freedom might have occurred, is because decent could be passed through either the male or female lines, a pharaoh could only become pharaoh if he married a woman of royal blood, as women carried the royal line!

Ancient Egyptian Women: Ancient Egyptian Women: Women & the Law

• In marriage, assets acquired together by the couple were shared: – a wife was entitled to a share of

these communal assets.– She could pass on her own assets,

and her share of the marital assets, to her children as she saw fit.

• A husband could even pass the full amount of his assets on to his wife (rather than his siblings or children) in his will.– He could even adopt his wife to

make sure that his siblings could not inherit his assets - she was then entitled to both the wifely portion of his goods, as well as the portion given to his children!

Children & Family LifeChildren & Family Life• What we know about children & their lives derives from descriptions and recollections of

grown-ups and the objects they equipped the children's tombs with for after-life.

• In contrast to our modern customs, Ancient Egyptian children became involved in the grown-up world of their parents early on and were regarded to some extent - and at times also portrayed - as diminutive adults fulfilling social and economic tasks which became ever more important and demanding as they grew older.

• The economic role of helpmate is reflected in one of the words used for child, khered (Xrd), which occasionally also refers to servants, and in stelae where children and servants are depicted together.

Family outing in the marshes Menna, his wife, and his children New Kingdom

Children & Family LifeChildren & Family Life• It was the duty of the

parents to educate their children, but little is known about how girls were treated.

• Most literary sources of this kind are instructions of fathers for their sons.

• Boys were often considered to be wayward and in need of a firm hand to guide them

• But children were also cherished for themselves and for the role they played in perpetuating their parents.

ChildbirthChildbirth• Beset by evil demons and

spirits, the woman in labor delivered her baby:– crouching on birth bricks

decorated with images of Hathor, invoked the dwarf-god Bes or Taweret who had the form of a hippo, an animal known for its fierce protectiveness of its young.

• The goddess Meshkenet who created the ka of the baby while it was still in the uterus, announced its destiny at birth.

Birth brickBirth brick

ChildbirthChildbirth• She was the personification

of the birth brick on which, according to the Rhind Papyrus, Thoth inscribed the end of the newly born.

• The chthonic frog goddess Heket, was worshipped as Khnum's female counterpart at Herur.

• Together with other goddesses she helped form the fetus and watched over its delivery.  Isis suckling HorusIsis suckling Horus

Ancient Egyptian ChildrenAncient Egyptian Children• Despite divine intervention complications at

delivery & during confinement remained the main cause of mortality among young women:– probably as many as one woman per 10 births.

• Infants too fell victim to accident and disease. – An estimate of about 30% mortality during the

first year of life probably reflects reality.

– Death toll might have been even higher but Egyptians didn’t practice infanticide or exposure of unwanted children

Royal with deformed foot, Royal with deformed foot, possibly Siptah, leaning on a possibly Siptah, leaning on a crutchcrutch

It has been proposed that the It has been proposed that the deformity was caused by deformity was caused by polio polio

Egyptian Children & Future JobsEgyptian Children & Future Jobs

• Most boys were destined to become laborers, peasants or craftsmen, the girls to become housewives.– They underwent a kind of

mostly informal apprenticeship, being taught their trade by working side by side with their fathers, mothers or other family members.

Naming Your ChildNaming Your Child• The name the newborn

received at birth would be used throughout his life for purposes of official identification– Sometimes given a nickname

(such as the name of his father, mother, profession, rank or. position.)

• Name of child reflected trends of popular name of the time

Children’s ToysChildren’s Toys• The oldest toys ever found in Egypt, little

toy boats carved from wood, as well as baked clay animals and rattles came from a child's tomb dating to the Predynastic Period.

• Toys were made by the ancient Egyptians from wood, bone, ivory, ceramics and stone.

• Little children played with dolls of Nubians, dolls with jointed limbs, toy animals, spinning tops and mechanical toys like crocodiles with moving jaws and Jumping Jacks.

Egyptian Board Games: SenetEgyptian Board Games: Senet• Senet is a racing board game from ancient Egypt.

• This game board is based on boards similar to ones found in the tombs of Egyptian kings.

• The movement of the pieces represent the wanderings of the souls in the Egyptian underworld.

• Hieroglyphics describe the wandering found in the game and replicate those found on a 3000 year old papyrus. Some researchers claim Senet to be a predecessor to Backgammon

Queen Nefertari playing Senet

Senet Board Game with pieces

Play & Sports in Play & Sports in Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt

• Play was important to Ancient Egyptians– A wide variety of games were played

testing strength, agility and dexterity.

– The equipment used was basic:• sticks, stones or pieces of clay given rough

forms, though sometimes toys were intricate and obviously made by skilled craftsmen.

• Poor children had little time for playing– they had to work to help support the

family

– sometimes they combined work & play

Games in Ancient Egypt

• Egyptians enjoyed the good life and playing was part of it. – Children and adults are often

depicted involved in games.

– Typically boys' games were rougher than those of the girls, but the latter were not above fighting and hair pulling, like the pair in the picture on the right fighting during the corn harvest

Games in Ancient Egypt• With rubber unknown, balls were made of

a leather skin filled with chaff, dry papyrus reeds tied tightly together, string or rags. – Boys again preferred team sports (like the

hockey) while girls apparently went in for games which were less fiercely competitive.    

– Marble games are very ancient & popular

– Tipcat, in which a piece of wood with tapered ends is struck at one end to make it spring up and is knocked away while still in the air, may have been played during the Middle Kingdom 

Education & Learning in Education & Learning in Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt

• These were not of course true schools in the sense of independent bodies with full-time teachers.

• All major offices such as the royal chancelleries, military headquarters and the 

• The ancient Egyptians nevertheless held education in high regard and saw it as a privilege.

• A few talented individuals without formal schooling still managed to acquire sufficient knowledge to shine in their own field.

• And there were of course plenty who tried, as everywhere, to compensate for their lack of education by intriguing or currying favor in high places - sometimes as high as royalty. 

Education & Learning in Ancient EgyptEducation & Learning in Ancient Egypt• In Ancient Egypt the child's world was not

as clearly separated from the adult's as it tends to be in modern Western society.

• As the years went by childish pastimes would give way to imitations of grown-up behavior.

• Children would more and more frequently be found lending a hand with the less onerous tasks and gradually acquiring practical skills and knowledge from their elders. 

• By precept and example, parents would instill into them various educational principles, moral attitudes and views of life. – Thus from a tender age they would receive

their basic education in the bosom of the family.

• For girls, this was usually all the schooling they would get, but for boys it would be supplemented by proper training in whatever line they chose, or was chosen for them. 

Education & Learning in Ancient EgyptEducation & Learning in Ancient Egypt• Education, of course, covers both the

general upbringing of a child and its training for a particular vocation.

• The upbringing of boys was left largely in the hands of their fathers, that of girls was entrusted to their mothers.

• Parents familiarized their children with their ideas about the world, with their religious outlook, with their ethical principles, with correct behavior toward others and toward the super-natural beings in whom everyone believed.

• They taught them about folk rituals and so forth. 

• Educational principles are summarized in a number of ancient Egyptian treatises now commonly called the Books of Instruction.

• The advice given in them was designed to ensure personal success consonant with the needs of the state and the moral norms of the day. 

Education & Learning in Ancient EgyptEducation & Learning in Ancient Egypt• Truth-telling and fair dealing were enjoined not

on any absolute grounds, but as socially desirable and at the same time more advantageous to the individual than lying and injustice, whose consequences would rebound against their perpetrator.

• The Books of Instruction contain rules for the well-ordered life and elements of morality that include justice, wisdom, obedience, humanity and restraint. – They mostly took the form of verses addressed by a

father to his son as he stepped into his shoes or started to help his aging parent.

– Similar admonitions were delivered by a king to his heir.

– Most of these books were compiled by senior officials: humbler scribes, like Ant, only played a part in later times. 

• Many copies were made of these Books of Instruction, since they also served as teaching texts in the schools for scribes. – Seven complete and five partial texts have survived,

while the existence of others is known from fragments. – The one which appears to be the oldest is by the

celebrated, vizier, architect and physician to the 3rd-dynasty pharaoh Djoser. 

Education & Learning in Ancient EgyptEducation & Learning in Ancient Egypt• From an early age they would be going out to the

fields, boys and girls alike, to lend a hand in simple tasks like gathering and winnowing the corn, tending poultry and in time cattle, and so forth.

• Fishermen, boatmen and others would also take their young folk along with them for practical experience. 

• Pictures of craftsmen at work, on the other hand, rarely show children present. – There is one of a boy handing a leg of meat to a

butcher; other examples show a lad helping an older man to smooth down a ceramic vessel, and a boy playing in a row of musicians.

– In the army youngsters were used as grooms and batmen. 

• Writings of the Roman Period contain some interesting data about the training of weavers and spinning-girls. – A test was probably given at the end of the

apprenticeship. At this time weavers usually sent their children to be taught by colleagues in the same trade.

– The master undertook, if he failed to get his pupil through the whole course, to return whatever payment the father had advanced for the apprenticeship. 

PetsPets• The ferret was domesticated and used to keep granaries free from rats and mice.

• Vervet monkeys were kept as pets, as were dogs, cats, ducks and geese.

• The Nile goose had often the run of the house and the garden in spite of its sometimes vile temper.

• Some people grew hoopoes, doves and falcons.

• Ponds, natural or artificial, were stocked with fish. Even gardens often had little pools with fish and water fowl in them.

• Ramses II had a tame lion and Sudanese cheetahs

Domesticated Domesticated AnimalsAnimals

• Sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, and geese were raised from earliest times.– They supplied milk, wool, meat, eggs,

leather, skins, horn and fat.

– Even the dung had its uses.

• There is little evidence that mutton was consumed, while domesticated pigs were eaten at least since the beginning of the 4th millennium B.C.E., – pork had no place in religious

ceremonies.

• Goat meat on the other hand was acceptable even to upper class Egyptians & their skins served as water containers and floating devices.

Domesticated Animals: Oxen

• The Egyptians grew a number of cattle varieties.

• Oxen of a horned African breed were fattened to immense proportions and, adorned with ostrich feathers, displayed in processions before slaughter

• Oxen also used for plowing and manual labor

Domesticated Animals: Oxen, Donkey’s, Sheep, & Goats

• The Egyptians domesticated animals for labor & food: – Horned African breed of oxen were fattened to immense proportions,

adorned with ostrich feathers, & displayed in processions before slaughter

– Oxen & donkey’s were also used for plowing and manual labor

– Sheep & Goats: Used for meat, wool, and goat milk

Domesticated Animals: Horses

• Horses were luxury animals, and only the very wealthy could afford to keep them and treat them according to their worth. – They were never used for plowing and only rarely ridden during the second

millennium B.C.E.

– For war and hunt alike they were harnessed to chariots.

– Pharaohs often supervised how their horses were treated

Sacrificial Sacrificial AnimalsAnimals

• There were special farms for the fattening of oxen and Oryx bulls, destined for slaughter & sacrificial offerings to the gods. – Animals grazed during the day and were driven back to the sheds in the evenings and fed with

pellets of corn mash.

– Apart from the cattle consumed, much livestock was sacrificed to the gods.

– Under Ramses III 16,000 cattle and 22,000 geese were sacrificed per year on the altars of Amen alone.

• In the countryside houses had just one story; and people surrounded them and their courtyards with mud brick walls, in the hope of preventing robbers from breaking in and stealing their belongings. The most valuable among these were their cattle, which were often branded, and their agricultural stores.

Ancient Egyptian Housing: Ancient Egyptian Housing: Peasant HomesPeasant Homes

Ancient Egyptian Housing: Ancient Egyptian Housing: Peasant HomesPeasant Homes

Ancient Egyptian Housing: Ancient Egyptian Housing: Middle Class HousingMiddle Class Housing

Ancient Egyptian Housing: Ancient Egyptian Housing: Middle Class HousingMiddle Class Housing

But at times, probably when they felt safe, they just erected an enclosure of branches to pen their animals in. In towns too, a large part of the houses had walled-in courtyards. Door jambs were let into stone lintels and thresholds, making breaking down the doors more difficult. Windows were small and placed high up close to the ceiling, which also improved ventilation. Walls were thick and often crenellated even if this was just for show.