Ancient Egypt
The people of ancient Egypt
The Egyptian population lived on both sides of the Nile valley and in the delta region. The ancient Egyptians had dark skin and dark hair. Most of them belonged to one of the three main classes. The upper class consisted of the pharaoh and his family, rich landowners, priests and doctors. Traders, merchants and craftsmen belonged to the middle class. Unskilled workers belonged to the lower class and worked on the fields of farms. Slaves were prisoners that the Egyptians took when they conquered foreign countries.
Daily life
Almost no other ancient culture gave women as many rights as Ancient Egypt. They could buy and sell land and goods, and even divorce their husbands. Still, the head of the family was the father. When he died his eldest son became its head.
Most Egyptians couldn’t read or write. Only a few upper class boys and girls went to special schools where they were taught to become scribes. Such scribes wrote
Most boys became farmers and craftsmen. They followed their fathers and took on the same jobs. Girls were trained to become mothers and to give birth to children. They learned household chores from their mothers.
Bread made from wheat was the main source of food in Ancient Egypt. Richer families also had vegetables, fish and meat to eat. Middle and lower class people drank beer, the upper classes drank wine. Food was prepared on clay stoves.
Almost all Egyptians wore white clothes. Men wore skirts or robes and women wore skirts or dresses with shoulder straps. While most people went barefoot, richer people wore sandals on their feet. Women were very fond of wearing makeup. They painted their fingernails and put red powder on their lips. They also dyed their hair in many colours. Men and women liked wearing rings and other jewellery.
Egyptian houses were made of dried mud and had flat roofs. Poor people lived in simple huts while the richer people in the cities lived in buildings that had up to three floors. The houses had small windows to keep out the sun and help the house stay cool.
Ancient Egyptians did many different things in their free time. They liked to go swimming and fishing in the Nile River. Hunting crocodiles, lions and other wild animals were popular sports among ancient Egyptians.
style='margin:5px 0;'>Religion
The ancient Egyptians believed in several gods and goddesses. The most important god was the sun god Re. People prayed to him for good harvests. The most famous goddess was Isis, who was seen as the ideal mother and wife. Her husband Osiris was the ruler of the dead.
Most Egyptians prayed at home. The gods and goddesses lived in great temples. One of the most famous is in Karnak. It consists of over 130 columns that are 25 meters high.
The Egyptians believed in life after death. They preserved people in mummies, so that their bodies would not decay. These mummies were then put into tombs or graves. Clothing, food and other items of their daily life were also put into the grave because the dead person might need them in their afterlife. Pictures of daily life were painted on the walls of such graves.
Work
Most ancient Egyptians were farmers. In a country that had almost no rainfall, Egyptian farmers depended on the Nile River. They built canals to bring water from the Nile River as far into their land as possible. They also prayed that the yearly floods would make their land fertile. The main crops were wheat and barley; some farmers produced dates, grapes and other fruits and vegetables.
Craftsmen had small shops and were very popular in Egypt. They made textiles, jewellery, bricks, pots and furniture. Building materials were limestone and sandstone that came from mines.
Travelling by boat on the Nile River was the main form of getting around. Early boats were made out of papyrus and moved by sticking poles into the water. Later on the Egyptians built sailing boats. On land people travelled with donkeys that could also carry food and other things.
Traders sailed to other neighbouring countries to get goods that they could not obtain in Egypt. They brought gold, ivory, skins, cattle and spices from Nubia, silver and wood from Syria and other areas of south-western Asia.
Architecture
Egypt’s pyramids are among the oldest buildings in the world. About 90 of them still stand on the Nile River. The three large pyramids at Giza belong to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Great Pyramid is about 140 metres high and was built with over 2 million blocks of limestone. Next to it is the Great Sphinx, a masterpiece of Egyptian sculptors. It is a stone statue with the head of a person and the body of a lion.
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