By Payton C

Map

Ancient Egyptian civilizations started around 3,500 BCE and lasted for more than three thousand years and life revolved around the Nile river. The river gave fertile soil for food, and was a good source for fresh water. Most of the styles of art and religion that were in ancient time remain in modern day Egypt.

Background

Ancient Egypt was a thriving civilization because of its location. The cities were made right by the Nile River on the fertile crescent. When the river flooded, the soil around absorbed all of the minerals and made it good for growing crops. They were most recognized for the basically indestructible pyramids to keep the dead pharaohs in, and the hieroglyphics. The people of Ancient Egyptian cities built their houses out of bricks made of mud.

Social Structure

Most of the people that lived in Ancient Egypt were

commoners that worked as farmers, scribes, field hands, or craft men. Farming in ancient Egypt progressed in a huge way with lots of workers and enormous farms. There was a small group of nobles, like the pharaoh. The slaves were at the bottom of this social structure pyramid underneath peasant farmers. The line kept going up with craftsmen merchants and other trade workers. Priests and scribes were above the trades because of their high education. Nobles and military leaders came next, underneath the countries leader, the pharaoh. Families taught the children how to behave, traditions beliefs and customs of their culture , and the laws of civilization.

Social Structure

Pyramid

Pharaohs

Craftspeople

Priests/Scribes

Nobles and

Military Leaders

Slaves

Peasant Farmers

This is a diagram

that shows how the

social structure was

in ancient Egypt

Most

Important

Least

Important

Housing

Housing in Egypt differed depending on your social structure. Slaves would live in the house of their owners, but commoners would live in simple houses with their families. These were made of adobe (sun dried mud bricks) because of the shortage of wood in Egypt. Most houses were two or three story town houses with a business on the bottom and two living floors on the top. Nobles’ homes were huge with private rooms for the man and woman of the house, and for the children. The were usually reception halls as well. These mansions were made with adobe and decorated beautifully with wall hangings.

Food

The type of food that ancient Egyptians ate was plentiful and healthy, even for ordinary people. Most common types of food were lots of vegetables, fruit, fish, and bread. Meat was expensive, but commoners sometimes ate pork. Raising animals just for the sake of meat is and was very expensive, therefore it was eaten scarcely and at special occasions. Ordinary people and nobles would drink beer made from barley. Meat, wine, and fowl were things added to the menu for the rich. The food was cooked over open fires as well as in pots made of clay.

Family Life

Ancient Egyptian family life was highly valued, and children were loved and thought of as blessings. Women traditionally raised the children, but in wealthy families, there were slaves and servants to do that. Young boys learned to work from their fathers and little girls learned how to cook, clean, and other house work by their mothers at home. When the mothers and fathers got older, the children were expected to take care of them. After parents death, the daughters would acquire the jewellery and furniture, while the son would get the land.

Marriage

Marriage in ancient Egypt was usually arranged for the girls around the age of twelve. The boys were generally a couple or few years older. Wealthy families’ daughters were married a bit older. Almost all of these marriages were arranged by the parents, though sometimes the spouses chose each other. Kings sometimes had several wives while the common man only had one. An agreement was signed by the pair before the wedding. Divorce was not common, but it did happen and could be issued by either side.

Childhood

Ancient Egyptians thought of children as blessings and they were treated well and loved. The average families’ children would be raised by both parents but predominantly the mother. Children would play with dolls, wooden horses and figures, and balls of clay. As they got older, they learned how to work from their parent of the same gender. Children that lived in ancient Egypt grew up fast in a very grown-up world. Boys were educated by their fathers, and even some families were wealthy enough to afford to send their son to school. Children entered the world onto birth bricks on which the mother would be kneeling on.

Education

Most of the children in ancient Egypt could not go to school. Children in rich families could afford to do it and were therefore better set up for living a richer life. These children were most likely to go to scribal school in hopes to become a famous scribe or pharaoh. If the family couldn’t send the children to scribal school, they would become an apprentice to a worker. An apprentice would work with a willing worker to learn how to do the job well and correctly.

Religion

In ancient Egypt, the people believed strongly in the Gods

and that impacted daily life in a huge way. The people believed this except for in the reign of the pharaoh Akenaton. Some of the 2000 Gods and Goddesses were worshiped through the whole country, while others were just worshiped in a few towns and cities. Some of the Goddesses and Gods were portrayed as half human, half animal. An example of one half animal God is Horus, the God of the sun, who had a hawk head. The religion believed in after life and people would spend lots of wealth and time to prepare for afterlife. They would put things that they needed for the second life in their tombs with them. They believed that everything that happened in a day, like the Nile river flooding, was influenced by the Gods and Goddesses.

Ra: Egyptian God of

the Sun

Ra was the ancient Egyptian God that ruled the sun. He was created when he rose from the Nun ocean and came onto the first land mound. The sun’s rays shone on Ra and the light ascended showed the way to heaven. The creation myth states that it was Ra who created the world. His symbols are always a scarab beetle and a sun disk, and sometimes, he is portrayedwith a falcon head and a man body. The sun disk is over his head, and he may sometimes be wearing a double crown.

Clothing

Almost all of the Ancient Egyptian clothes were made out a fabric created from flax. This fabric was linen. These clothes weren’t just wrapped around them, they were actually fit them well and were sewn. They were like long white t-shirts that went down to the ankles of women, and the knees of men. As for foot wear, they mostly went barefoot, but sometimes they wore sandals made of leather or straw. Dressing up fancy included makeup and jewellery. Kohl powder was used to rim eyes, darken eyelashes, and paint eyebrows. The rich and the poor wore jewellery such as earrings, rings, and necklaces made of beads or gold.

Art and Music

The ancient Egyptians were one of the first cultures to have design elements in art. Their wall paintings created for the pharaoh had to follow strict code of rules. These images weren’t created in what the artist saw, but what he knew, and the images didn’t have a lot of depth achieved with shading. People and objects were always drawn in profile. Distance wasn’t shown with size, but the farther away an object would be, the higher it was, yet it was the same size as closer ones. Music was played with instruments like flutes, harps, lutes, percussion instruments, lyres, double clarinets, and cymbals. People often danced along to music.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ancient Egypt was a developed civilization with their ways of daily life. The location was perfect because the Nile river provided what they need for fertile soil to grow food, and constant source of water. Religion was highly important in the influence of daily life. The Gods were thought to make everything happen because of something. This civilization was very advanced and they developed many technologies like papyrus, the great pyramids, and making clothing that was made out of linen. This ancient civilization was thriving.

Information

Bibliography

Books

See the World by World Book. Published in 2000 by World Book Inc., Chicago.

Ancient Peoples by Claire Forbes. Published in199 by Two-Can Publishing Ltd., USA

Ancient Worlds by Toutant, Arnold and Doyle, Susan. Published in 2000 by Oxford University Press, Canada.

Websites

Ancient Egypt by the British Museum @ http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/menu.html

Food: Bread, Beer, and all Good Things by André Dollinger; 2000 @ http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/food.htm#rem4

Egypt: Daily Life by St. Petersburg Times; 1999 @ http://www2.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptCredit.4.2.html

Childhood by André Dollinger; 2000 @ http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/people/childhood.htm

Ancient Egyptian Education by Bartlett Elementary School @ http://library.thinkquest.org/J002046F/education.htm

Ancient Egyptian Religion by St. Petersburg Times:1999 @ http://www2.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptCredit.4.3.html

Sun God Ra by Linda Alchin; 2009 @ http://www.king-tut.org.uk/egyptian-gods/sun-god-ra.htm

Ancient Egyptian Clothing by Jessie, Sarah, and Courtney @ http://www.islandnet.com/~kpotter/egypt/cloth.htm

Egyptian Clothing by Dr. Karen Carr; 2011 @ http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/egypt/clothing/’

Culture of Egypt by Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Egypt#Visual_art

Photo Credits

Title slide - Hieroglyphs by Daniel Racovitan @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/bebulaki/1457703975/

Title slide- purple pattern by “javaturtle” @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/javaturtle/135239502/

Slide 2 - map by Norman B Leventhal Map center at the BPL @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/normanbleventhalmapcenter/

Slide 3 - city by Adam Wood @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/adam_wood/1570358703/

Slide 4 - pharaoh by Richard Uzermans @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironmanixs/515926670/

Slide 6- ancient house by Ian W Scott @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian-w-scott/4099442192/

Slide 7 - hummus and pita bread by “Watch Mojo” @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/watchmojo/5424908257/

Slide 8 - family statues by Mary Harrsch @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/4119873309/

Slide 9 - married couple statue by Jim Forest @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/127063031/

Slide 10 - birth brick @ http://www.eartharchitecture.org/index.php?/categories/23-Egypt

Slide 11 - scribe statue by Wally Gobetz @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2434734289/

Slide 12 - scribe bird God by “jefka” @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefka/3815056107/

Slide 13 - Ra god by “Gravitywave” @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravitywave/388362374/

Slide 14 - Women’s dress by Soshana @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoshie/5156338028/

Slide15 - Egyptian art by “karioinfo4u” @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/4460302020/

Slide 16 - pyramids by Omar A. @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/oansari/2235706594/