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Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt’s Social Pyramid
• Egyptian society was structured like a pyramid. The classes
near the top: fewest people and highest status; classes near
the bottom: more people and lower status.
• Pharaohs were looked upon as gods, and their word was law.
Pharaoh
Officials, Officials
Priests, Priests, Priests, Priests
Scribes, Scribes, Scribes, Scribes, Scribes
Artisans, Artisans, Artisans, Artisans, Artisans, Artisans
Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants
Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants, Peasants
Life in Egypt’s Social Classes
• There was little social mobility.
You were likely to die in the same
class that you were born.
• Men were the head of the
household and trained their sons
in their occupations.
• Women managed the home and
raised the children.
• Men were in charge, but women
had more rights than in most
ancient societies.
• Women could own land, run
businesses, ask for divorces, and
represent themselves in legal
matters.
Government Officials
• The vizier served as chief judge, appointed and supervised
other officials, and advised the pharaoh.
• The chief treasurer collected taxes in the form of such things
as grain, cows, and beer.
• The general of the armies advised the pharaoh on protecting
Egypt from invaders and helped make alliances.
• Government officials lived a life of luxury, including
banquets with exotic foods and entertainment.
Priests
• Priests followed many rules, such as bathing several times a day.
• Priests had different jobs, such as advising the pharaoh and supervising
ceremonies.
• Priests oversaw the important task of embalming dead bodies (Egyptians
believed that people needed their bodies in the afterlife. They entombed
the body in a sarcophagus.
Scribes
• Becoming a scribe was one of
the few ways men could rise to a
higher social class.
• Students spent 12 years or more
learning the enormous number
of hieroglyphs in the scribe
schools.
• Life in scribe schools was
difficult, and teachers often beat
their students because they felt
children listen only when beaten.
• Scribes kept many records on
food supplies, the census, taxes,
laws, and military casualties.
• Scribes used pens made from
reeds, paper made from
papyrus, writing tablets, and two
ink wells.
Hieroglyphs
• Egyptian hieroglyphic writing developed around the
time of Sumerian cuneiform about 5,000 years ago.
Hieroglyphs (continued)
•
English is based on 26 characters--letters. Letters that are combined
into words...and then into sentences...which tell a story.
• Ancient Egyptian writing uses more than 2,000 hieroglyphic
characters. Each hieroglyph represents a common object in ancient
Egypt. Hieroglyphs could represent the sound of the object or they
could represent an idea associated with the object.
• A modern type of hieroglyphic writings would be a rebus. A rebus is
a picture puzzle that can be "sounded out" by reading the sounds
symbolized by the pictures. When these sounds are read aloud
together, the statements often becomes obvious. Try solving the
rebus below:
• Hieroglyphic writing is like a picture puzzle.
Hieroglyphs
• Alphabet characters were the basis for hieroglyphic writings. The
basic hieroglyph characters are referred to as the ALPHABET. They
'spell out' names or anything which can't be represented by other
characters. The alphabet characters are read as the sound of the
object they represented.
• Although vowels were used in the spoken language, they were not
usually written unless a word begins with a vowel or where it might
be confusing if left out…like with names.
• EXAMPLE In English, words are often abbreviated by leaving out
vowels.
• mtn = mountain
• blvd = boulevard
• When these abbreviations are read aloud, they are spoken using
vowels.
The Decline and Deciphering of
Hieroglyphic Writing
• Under Roman rule,
hieroglyphic writing
declined. By the 5th century
C.E., few could read the
glyphs.
• Scholars deciphered
Egyptian hieroglyphs after
Napoleon soldiers
discovered the Rosetta
Stone about 200 years ago.
• The Rosetta Stone
contained two types of
Egyptian writing and Greek.
Artisans
• Egyptian artisans included carpenters, jewelers, leather and
metalworkers, painters, potters, sculptors, and weavers.
• Artisans rarely received recognition from the upper classes for
their work.
• Stone carving was difficult work because artisans worked with
hard rock such as granite.
• Artisans and their families lived in modest, rectangular homes
that were barely 10 yards long.
Peasants
• Peasant life revolved around three seasons: flooding season
(summer), planting season (fall), and harvest season (spring).
• Peasants often sang songs to help pass the long hours working in
the fields.
• The diet of peasants was simple: bread, beer, some vegetables, and
maybe fish. In time of famine, they had to eat papyrus.
• During harvest time, peasants were allowed to gather and keep
leftover grain, but they also could be beaten if they had a poor
harvest.