Living in Ancient Egypt - Research Paper Example

?A fertile land flanked by the Arabian Desert on the east and the Libyan Desert Land and Resources” 5) on the west, the land where the ancient Egyptian civilization blossomed was one of the four great ancient civilizations that flourished near rivers. Situated near the Nile River, the early Egyptian settlers relied mainly on the river to subsist. The river traverses ancient Egypt from Central Africa and merges with the Mediterranean Sea at the triangular area called the Nile delta. The surrounding area near the delta was known as Lower Egypt while the area to the south is Upper Egypt (4). The two deserts bordering Egypt on both sides is seemingly a drawback in the lush land near the river banks but the two land types were ideal to nurture one of the oldest civilizations in history. The Egyptians regarded the two land types as two different regions. The first type, the Kemet or “black land” (6), is where the ancient Egyptians grow crops. The land is literally black as a result of the flooding of the Nile leaving silt deposits on the soil. Favorable amounts of silt in soil improve water retention and aeration which are the best conditions for growing crops. The second type is the “red land” or the Desheret (6) which is the vast stretch of desert on both sides of the Kemet. Unlike the “black land”, the sand and heat of the Desheret was not beneficial for crops. The “red land” instead yielded precious stones, copper, gold and other minerals that are made into jewelry and tools. The desert was also the hunting grounds for the ancient Egyptians, rabbits, gazelles and antelopes were the usual prey of the hunters. The Nile River with its fertile soils and desert lands rich in minerals and precious stones provided the ideal environment and adequate resources for a society to thrive. The earliest Egyptian settlers were nomadic hunters who decided to live permanently on the banks of the Nile. The beginning of the Nile River civilization started between 3300 B.C. and 332 B.C. (5) prior to the establishment of a recognized government system. Evidences of the existence of the early occupants were unearthed in tombs. Polished semi-precious stones crafted into jewelry, pottery, clay sculptures and copper ornaments were obtained from the excavations and found to date back to the Pre-dynastic era of the Egyptian civilization. Prior to the beginning of Dynastic Egypt, Nile-dwellers are classified into two cultures with separate government systems. The Upper Egypt situated in the south of the Delta occupying the strip of land between the deserts. The Badarian and Naqadan culture flourished in Upper Egypt cultivating the land and crafting pottery (Hayes 14) that later became important archaeological artifacts. The state head in Upper Egypt dons the white hedget and believed to be the personification of their god. Lower Egypt’s culture was also influenced by Upper Egypt the government form however, is more bureaucratic and ruled by families. Rulers of Lower Egypt wear the red deshret. Pre-dynastic settlers in Egypt were growing wheat, barley and flax (Bell, Quie 40). The sowing season starts in October when the floods subside leaving the silt-rich soil ready for planting. Harvest season is from March to May just before June when the flooding occurs due to the overflowing of the Nile caused by heavy rains and the melting snow from Ethiopia. The inundation period starts from June and lasts until September (Deady 14). Animals were also domesticated during the Pre-dynastic period. Cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs (Trigger 17) were among the animals the ancient Egyptians tamed. Donkeys were also domesticated and later utilized as a means of transportation. At the onset of the Early Dynastic Period in ancient Egypt, the unification of the two ancient Egyptian regions also brought on the maximized use of the entire stretch of the Nile for transportation and irrigation systems. Ancient Egypt had its first dynasty under the first pharaoh Narmer or Menes. Egypt became the largest nation under one ruler during Narmer’s time and it was also the first national government in the world. Since Narmer was from Upper Egypt, he implemented the monarchy form of government. Pharaohs were the head of the government and were believed to be the earthly representation of the god Horus, the son of their god Ra thus they were thought to possess deific powers. Some of these divine powers attributed to the pharaoh were the duties to perform rituals in temples, the ability to mediate between gods and men as wells as the control over the sun and the Nile. The Egyptian monarch also controls trade, the army, the economy, temples and directly oversees the officials in his government (“Politics and Government” 6). Next in command to the king was his vizier or the prime minister who serves as the chief royal architect, in charge of the judicial system and guardian of the state archives. The succeeding officials were governors and a hierarchy of bureaucrats assigned to manage the granaries, the burial center for the royalties, the temples, the armory, the treasuries, the expenditure and revenues as well as the public works. Women in the royal family were also highly regarded and played an important role in the government and religion. The daughter of the pharaoh as well as his wife and his mother were all highly regarded and were also believed to come from divine descent. Kingship was determined by the women in ancient Egypt in some conditions when the reigning Pharaoh bore a daughter with his principal wife instead of a son, his son born to his other wife will have to marry the principal wife’s daughter thus the Great Royal Daughter was also important in the continuation of the divine lineage. The Great Royal Wife and the Pharaoh’s mother serve as his companions during offerings and rituals. In some instances, the royal wife is also depicted to perform rituals alone as in the case of Nefertiti. The principal wife and the Pharaoh’s mother were revered as the earthly embodiment of the sky goddess who was the wife of the sun-god. Another indispensable fraction of the ancient Egyptian government was its militia. Before the rule of Egyptian dynasties, there was no established army in ancient Egypt and relied solely on its untrained people who were mostly farmers. In the Early Dynastic period, the only permanent security group was for the protection of the pharaoh and the rest of the royal family. The beginnings of the military unit started after the invasion of Hyksos. Aside from the military officers, the soldiers were differentiated into foot soldiers, charioteer, archers, trench diggers and combatants in charge of battering rams (Smith, Matthew). The structure was very similar to modern armies where units are headed by generals, commanders of battalion and lieutenants. The military and the government will not be formed if not for the basic unit of the society which is the family. In a typical family in ancient Egypt, a father, mother and four to five children. Some families include the grandmother if she is a widow and in some cases the wives or husbands of the children when they get married. Similar to modern-day families, the father is the head of the family and worked as farmers, tradesmen or carpenters. Egyptian women were treated with respect in the household. They usually perform all house chores such as sewing, cleaning, baking bread, cooking, grinding and other daily tasks. Children were valued by their family because they are expected to take care of their parents when they grow old and give offerings when they die in observance of their belief that the passage in afterlife depends on the living relatives. As early as five years old children were taught how to work and perform household duties. Boys were expected to learn their father’s profession unless they are from a well-off family who can afford to send their son to school with the hopes of achieving a better position in the government. Girls were not sent to school but were taught skills that would prepare them for marriage. At age 12, fathers seek a good husband for their daughters while boys enter manhood through the ritual of circumcision. Education for boys starts at the age of seven. They were taught how to read and write hieroglyphics. Students with mastery of reading and writing would later be taught proper letter composition and draft legal documents. Higher studies are usually for students from upper class families which prepare them for more lucrative jobs in the fields of engineering, history, surveying, medicine, geography, mathematics, astronomy and foreign languages. However, the main goal of the educators is to produce scribes among the students. Scribes comprise the framework of the Egyptian administration (Green 33). Their proficiency in their writing skill determines their rank in the government and the society. Hieroglyphics was the tool of the trade of the scribes, the oldest evidence of this ancient form of writing dates back between 3300 and 3100 BC. Shorthand scripts were also developed from the original form for scribes to use on their everyday writing tasks. The two forms of shorthand scripts were the hieratic which was used since the Early Dynastic period and the demotic used in the later periods. Colorful hieroglyphics are considered as one of the ancient Egyptian art forms. Art and architecture in ancient Egypt are mostly related to religion and life of the king. Temples and tombs exhibit the craftsmanship of Egyptian artists. The naturalistic details and the colors used are characteristics of the art forms such as reliefs and jewelry. Colors are not only used for aesthetics but have particular meanings. Gender is determined by the color of the skin in a relief. Men have reddish-brown skin while women are depicted to have yellow-tan skin. Blue or green denotes the Nile, water and foliage while yellow and gold pertains to the sun and the sun-god. Red and reddish-orange hues may denote the desert, blood, power or life. Sizes in reliefs also represent power and divinity. Kings are depicted larger than other subjects in a relief to emphasize on his extraordinary powers. Architecture of ancient Egypt is characterized by the pyramids and temples. Pyramids served as tombs for the kings and were edifices that signify the political prowess. Other structures such as houses of Egyptians vary and depend on the social status of the family. The average Egyptian home is divided into a bedroom, a kitchen and a storage or spare bedroom. All rooms are fused by a central room which has openings on the wall for ventilation. Contrary to the well-documented art and architecture of ancient Egypt, the musical history of this old civilization remains unknown. Hints on the kind of music ancient Egyptians play can only be deduced with the instruments they used as seen in wall paintings and excavated in archaeological sites. Some of the instruments were the flute made of reed, trumpets, clarinets and harps (Lucas 49). Aside from the arts and music, part of the ancient Egyptian culture was their clothing style, hair and make-up. Clothing signifies the social status of an individual. Royalty and upper class men and women wore more clothing items than those in lower classes. Simplicity is the fashion in the Early Dynastic period with men wearing schenti which are similar to kilts or skirts (Tierney 2). The schenti can be worn in several styles depending on the rank of the man. Kalasiris is the dress-like wrap worn by women (2). Men eventually wore a modified type of kalasiris. People in lower classes wore less clothing items and some wore no clothing. Nude children and slaves were common during ancient times in Egypt. Similar to clothing, hair was also a status symbol. Men, women and children however, shave their heads for hygienic purposes and as part of religious rituals for priests. Children have a tassel of hair on the left side of their head. Adult men and women wore wigs as protection from the scorching sun and for aesthetic purposes. Braided hairstyles were also in fashion during the ancient times. Beauty was of importance to men and women thus enhancing their facial features were done by nature-sourced cosmetics. Eye paints in green and black were used to highlight the contours of the eyes. The green pigment is obtained from malachite which is a green ore of copper and the black pigment was from galena which is from the poisonous mineral lead (Steele 42). Galena for the black pigment was replaced by soot which was made from burnt almond shells. Women tinted their cheeks with red pigment from the red oxide of iron. Aesthetic value was important in ancient Egypt as evident in their edifices and the way they enhance their faces with cosmetics. Daily life of ancient Egyptians also includes courtship and marriage. Girls marry as early as twelve years old while boys wed at ages sixteen to twenty. Men were married at a later age to make sure that they can support their family. Fixed marriages were more common in prominent families while average men and women may choose to go through courtship. Love letters were evidences of courtship during the ancient Egyptian civilization. Marriages were not documented and ceremonies were mostly for the wealthy bride and groom. Wedding ceremonies are comprised of a procession, exchange of vows, a feast and bestowing of gifts. Couples from the lower class are permitted to live under one house without any ceremonies but parental consent is required. Marriage ceremonies do not involve religious rites but were based on arrangement of properties. (Bancroft-Hunt 46) After marriage, couples are expected to have children to complete the family. Families during the ancient Egyptian civilization at times were also in need of medical attention. Medical practitioners consulted by the wealthy were priests, doctors and magicians (Casson 62). Egyptians who cannot afford going to doctors rely on homemade remedies and magic. Ancient Egyptian doctors can perform surgery and used plants to treat patients. Homemade cures also use plants while amulets and charms were believed to ward off ailments. The common diseases back then were tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox and malaria which spread quicker in communities of the lower classes because of their living conditions. If left untreated or treatments take no effect on patients, death was not seen as a negative occurrence for ancient Egyptians. Death for the ancient Nile-dwellers was a transformation of an individual to a new life. Egyptians were known to have lavish tombs due to their belief that the dead still needs material things to have a successful passage to the next life. The famous pyramids were tombs built for kings and queens that reigned Egypt. The burial practices of the ancient Egyptians were well-known for the embalming technique which effectively preserved the bodies of the dead. Aside from mummification, Egypt was also famed for its burial chambers filled with food, utensils, jewelry, clothes and articles intended to sustain the dead on its journey to the afterlife. Death masks and ornate sarcophaguses were also part of the extravagant burial practice of the ancient Egyptians. Peasants, on the other hand, would bury their dead in the desert sand and provide some personal possessions of the deceased as well as a modest amount of sustenance in accordance to their burial practices. Graves buried in the desert sands were never unearthed unlike the grandiose tombs of the departed royals. CITED WORKS Bancroft-Hunt, Norman. Living in Ancient Egypt. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print. Bell, Michael and Sarah Quie. Ancient Egyptian Civilization. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2009. Print. Casson, Lionel. Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt. Baltimore: JHU Press, 2001. Print. Deady, Kathleen W. Ancient Egypt. Mankato, MN: Capstone, 2004. Print Green, Mary. Ancient Egypt. Dublin: Folens Limited, 2003. Print. Hayes, W. and William Christopher Hayes. The Scepter of Egypt: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990. Print. Hazen, Walter. Everyday Life: Ancient Times. Tucson, Arizona: Good Year Books, 2005. Print. Kaplan, Leslie C. Land and Resources of Ancient Egypt. New York: Rosen Classroom, 2004. Print. Kaplan, Leslie C. Politics and Government in Ancient Egypt. New York: Rosen Classroom, 2004. Print. Lucas, A. Ancient Egyptian Materials & Industries 1926. Timperley: Kessinger Publishing, 2003. Print. Smith, Jeremy and Rupert Matthews. Ancient Egypt. Essex: Miles Kelly Publishing, 2007. Print. Steele, Philip. Ancient Egypt. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2009. Print. Tierney, Tom. Ancient Egyptian Fashions. New York: Courier Dover Publications, 1999. Print. Trigger, B. G. Ancient Egypt: A Social History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Print. Read More