SPORTS & LEISURE

Swimming was an important part of Egyptian culture and children were taught to swim when very young. Water sports played a significant role in Egyptian entertainment as the Nile River was such a major aspect of their daily lives. The sport of water-jousting, in which two small boats, each with one or two rowers and one jouster, fought each other, seems to have been very popular. The rower (or rowers) in the boat sought to strategically maneuver while the fighter tried to knock his opponent out of the craft.  They also enjoyed games having nothing to do with the river, however, which were similar to modern-day games of catch and handball.

Egyptian Hunting in the Marshes

Gardens and simple home adornments were highly prized by the Egyptians. A home garden was important for sustenance but also provided pleasure in tending to one’s own crop. The labourers in the fields never worked their own crop and so their individual garden was a place of pride in producing something of their own, grown from their own soil. This soil, again, would be their eternal home after they left their bodies and so was greatly valued. A tomb inscription from 1400 BCE reads, “May I walk every day on the banks of the water, may my soul rest on the branches of the trees which I planted, may I refresh myself under the shadow of my sycamore” in referencing the eternal aspect of the daily surroundings of every Egyptian. After death, one would still enjoy one’s own particular sycamore tree, one’s own daily walk by the water, in an eternal land of peace granted to those of Egypt by the gods they gratefully revered.

Anubis – God of Death

Anubis was the god of embalming and a god of the dead. He was the son of Nephthys and either Osiris or Seth but Isis raised him. Anubis’ depictions show him as either a man with a jackal’s head or as a jackal. He presided over funerals and guided the souls of the dead through the Tuat to Osiris’ kingdom. He also oversaw the ceremony where the gods weighed a human heart to make sure there was a fair judgment. Anubis became the god of embalming after he helped embalm and preserve Osiris’ body.

Egyptian women had a wide range of rights and freedoms

While they may have been publicly and socially viewed as inferior to men, Egyptian women enjoyed a great deal of legal and financial independence. They could buy and sell property, serve on juries, make wills and even enter into legal contracts. Egyptian women did not typically work outside the home, but those who did usually received equal pay for doing the same jobs as men. Unlike the women of ancient Greece, who were effectively owned by their husbands, Egyptian women also had the right to divorce and remarry. Egyptian couples were even known to negotiate an ancient prenuptial agreement. These contracts listed all the property and wealth the woman had brought into the marriage and guaranteed that she would be compensated for it in the event of a divorce.

Mummification

The earliest ancient Egyptians buried their dead in small pits in the desert.

The heat and dryness of the sand dehydrated the bodies quickly, creating lifelike and natural ‘mummies’.

Later, the ancient Egyptians began burying their dead in coffins to protect them

from wild animals in the desert. However, they realised that bodies placed in coffins

decayed when they were not exposed to the hot, dry sand of the desert.

Over many centuries, the ancient Egyptians developed a method of preserving

bodies so they would remain lifelike. The process included embalming the bodies and

wrapping them in strips of linen. Today we call this process mummification

An important man has died and his body needs to be prepared for burial.

The process of mummification has two stages. First, the embalming of the body. Then, the wrapping and burial of the body.

One of the embalmer’s men makes a cut in the left side of the body and removes

many of the internal organs. It is important to remove these because they are the first part of the body to decompose.

The liver, lungs, stomach and intestines are washed and packed in natron

which will dry them out. The heart is not taken out of the body because

it is the centre of intelligence and feeling and the man will need it in the afterlife.

A long hook is used to smash the brain and pull it out through the nose.

Why did the ancient Egyptians mummify their dead?

The ancient Egyptians believed that when someone died, their soul left their body. The soul would then return and be reunited with the body after it was buried. However, the soul needed to be able to find and recognise the body in order to live forever.

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15 Fascinating Facts About Ancient Egypt

Facts 1 – 5

1. A Pharaoh never let his hair be seen – he would always wear a crown or a headdress called a nemes (the striped cloth headdress made famous by Tutankhamen’s golden mask (pictured above).

2. In order to deter flies from landing on him, Pepi II of Egypt always kept several naked slaves nearby whose bodies were smeared with honey.

3. Both Egyptian men and women wore makeup – eyepaint was usually green (made from copper) or black (made from lead). The Egyptians believed that the makeup had healing power. Originally the makeup was used as a protection from the sun – rather than for adornment.

4. While the use of antibiotics did not begin in the 20th century, early folk medicine included the use of mouldy foods or soil for infections. In ancient Egypt, for example, infections were treated with mouldy bread.

5. Egyptian children wore no clothing at all until they were in their teens. The temperature in Egypt made it unnecessary. Adult men wore skirts while women wore dresses.

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Facts 6 – 10

6. Rich Egyptians wore wigs while the other classes would wear their hair long or in pig tails. Until 12, Egyptian boys had their heads shaved except for one plaited lock – this was as a protection against lice and fleas.

7. It is not known who destroyed the nose of the Sphinx (pictured above). There are sketches of the Sphinx without a nose in 1737, over 60 years before Napoleon reached Egypt and hundreds of years before the British and German armies of the two World Wars. The only person known to have damaged it was an Islamic cleric, Sa’im al-dahr, who was lynched in 1378 for vandalism.

8. Egyptian’s believed that the earth was flat and round (like a pancake) and that the Nile flowed through the center of it.

9. Egyptian soldiers were used as an internal police force. Additionally, they collected taxes for the Pharaoh.

10. In every temple in ancient Egypt the pharaoh was supposed to carry out the duties of the high priests, but his place was usually taken by the chief priest.

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Facts 11 – 15

Egypt Facts 2016

11. The first pyramid (The Step Pyramid of Djoser built around 2600 BC – seen above) was originally surrounded by a 34 ft tall wall which had 15 doors in it. Only one of the doors opened.

12. The women in ancient Egypt enjoyed legal and economical equality with men. Nevertheless, they never enjoyed social equality with men.

13. Contrary to popular belief, excavated skeletons show that the pyramid builders were actually Egyptians who were most likely in the permanent employ of the pharaoh. Graffiti indicates that at least some of these workers took pride in their work, calling their teams “Friends of Khufu,” “Drunkards of Menkaure,” and so on—names indicating allegiances to pharaohs.

14. When a body was mummified, its brain was removed through one of its nostrils and its intestines were also removed and placed in jars called canopic jars. Each organ was placed in its own jar. The only internal organ that was not removed was the heart, because Egyptians considered it to be the seat of the soul.

15. Ramses the Great had 8 official wives and nearly 100 concubines. He was over 90 years old when he died in 1212 BC.

Sources: National Geographic, James’ Interesting Facts

The Social Structure of Ancient Egypt

The social structure of ancient Egypt can be sorted into a social pyramid. At the top of the social pyramid was the pharaoh with the government officials, nobles and priests below him/her. The third tier consisted of the scribes and soldiers with the middle class in the fourth level. Peasants were the fifth tier of society with slaves making up the lowest social class.

Ancient Egypt Facts

was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the

lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It isone of six civilizations globally to arise independently. See the fact file below for more information and facts about Ancient Egypt and its civilization.

The story of ancient Egypt has survived for thousands of years. Ancient Egypt was one of the greatest civilizations of the past. The monuments and tombs of their Pharaohs continue to stand today. They are over 4,000 years old.

A good portion of the Old Testament takes place in or around Egypt. Egypt also plays a major role in the life of many Biblical people from Moses and Joseph to Jesus.

Egypt is situated in the northeast corner of the Africa.

A large river called the River Nile flows through the country into the Mediterranean Sea. It flows for 960 miles (1545 km). This river allowed the Ancient Egyptian civilization to survive and grow. All of Egypt depended on the Nile for water, food and transportation. The Nile also provided the ancient Egyptians with fertile land which helped them to grow their crops and raise their animals. The Ancient Egyptians lived along the banks of the river Nile in Egypt. Farmers first settled in Egypt along the River Nile around 5000 B.C.

Egypt is mainly made up of hot deserts and receives little rainfall. Without the River Nile, the area would be entirely desert. Before modern dams were built the Nile River would flood each year coating the land on either side of the river with thick back mud. This mud was ideal for growing crops, because it made the ground very fertile.

The people in Ancient Egypt divided Egypt into two areas. The ‘red land’ was the deserts protecting Egypt on two sides. These deserts separated ancient Egypt from neighbouring countries and invading armies. The black land was the fertile land (near the Nile River) where the ancient Egyptians grew their crops.

Two separate kingdoms (ruled by different kings) developed along the Nile River. The kingdom in Upper Egypt was known as the white crown and the kingdom in Lower Egypt was called the red crown. In about 3200 B. C. the pharaoh of the north conquered the south and Egypt became united. The pharaoh’s name was King Narmer or Menes. Menes built a new capital city called Memphis. In the Greek language the word Memphis meant “Balance of the Two Lands.”