Ancient Egypt was a civilisation that is known for it’s pyramids and pharaohs but life for ordinary people in Ancient Egypt wasn’t all about that.
Life in Ancient Egypt
Houses
In early Ancient Egypt, houses were made of mud and papyrus (a thick paper-like material) but they realised this wouldn’t work: the River Nile flooded every 3 months and washed the houses away.
The Egyptians then discovered that bricks could be made out of clay and mud from the riverbank. To make these bricks, they poured a clay/mud mixture into moulds and allowed them to dry in the sun. They lasted a lot longer than the old houses!
Jobs
There were many jobs you could do in Ancient Egypt. Most people worked as farmers or labourers, but there were also other jobs, such as brewers and scribes. Workers would be paid in goods rather than in money, something known as a “barter economy.”
Food
The pharaoh was fairly relaxed on what Egyptians could eat. Apart from a few sacred animals, there were no restrictions on what people could grow or kill.
Meat
The most common animals that Egyptians ate included pigeon, ducks, geese, pork and fish. They avoided beef because cows were thought to be sacred, although researchers have found workers building the Great Pyramid may have been fed beef.
Fruit and vegetables
The Ancient Egyptians ate many types of fruit and vegetables, most of which we still eat today. Peas, chickpeas and lentils were sources of protein. Grapes and raisins were also eaten, as well as palm nuts, which were processed to make juice.
Bread and beer
Egyptian bread was made of a species of wheat that was harder to make into flour than other types of wheat. The way that they made bread changed over the centuries. In early Ancient Egypt, they used pottery moulds, but in later years they used a topless clay oven to bake the bread.
Beer was drunk in Ancient Egypt because it was nutritious (it’s different to the beer that you find today.) Sometimes, it was even used as a currency! Egyptian beer was made by making a special type of bread, called “beer bread”. The bread was then crumbled, washed and left to ferment.
Hieroglyphics
Egyptians used pictures, called hieroglyphs, to write their ideas and thoughts down. A bit like how letters make up the words you’re reading now. There were over 700 pictures Egyptians used to do this.
Hieroglyphs have been found on pots, tombs and other objects from at least 10,000 years ago.
In 1799, Pierre-François Bouchard discovered the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone had hieroglyphs with Greek words next to them. Historians used this to find out what each picture meant.
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