Download Chapter 9 Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

Chapter 9
Daily Life in
Ancient Egypt
History Alive! Pages 81 - 93
9.1 Introduction
Each year the Nile River flooded its banks,
all of Egypt celebrated the Opet Festival.
 Almost everyone in Egyptian society took
part in the festival.
 The Opet Festival brought all these groups
together.

◦ In everyday life, they belonged to very different
social classes.
◦ The social classes made up a social pyramid
with the pharaoh at the top and the peasants at
the bottom.
9.2 Ancient Egypt’s Social Pyramid

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Egyptian society was structured like a
pyramid.
The pharaoh, Egypt’s supreme ruler, was on
the top of the pyramid.
Below the pharaoh were several layers of
social classes.
Government officials and priests belonged to
the top two classes just below the pharaoh.
◦ Government officials were wealthy and carried out
the pharaohs orders.
◦ Priests were also very powerful. They were in
charge of the religious ceremonies.

Next on the pyramid were the scribes.
◦ Scribes were respected in society. It took many
years of schooling to become a scribe.
9.2 Ancient Egypt’s Social Pyramid

Artisans occupied the next layer.
◦ This group included craftspeople, painters,
sculptors and stone carvers.
◦ Highly skilled work force with very little social
status.

The peasants were at the bottom.
◦ They were the largest social class.
Life in Egypt’s Social Classes

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People belonged to the same social class as
their parents.
Egyptians in all social classes cherished
family life.
◦ Children were highly valued.

Men were the heads of their households.
◦ Fathers trained their sons from an early age to take
on their line of work.

Women managed the home and raised the
children.
◦ Women enjoyed more freedoms and rights than
most women in the ancient world.
 Women could own land, run a business, divorce, and
manage legal matters.
Life in Egypt’s Social Classes

The Egyptians believed that their class
system created a stable, well-ordered
society.
◦ Each group had its own role to play.
9.3 Government Officials

Government officials job was to assist
the pharaoh in his or her role.
◦ Most officials inherited their position.

An important official called the vizier had
more power than anyone except the
pharaoh.
◦ He advised the pharaoh and carried out his
commands.
◦ The vizier also served as chief judge.
 He was expected to be fair.
9.3 Government Officials

(continued)
The chief treasurer looked after the
government wealth.
◦ People paid their taxes in grain, cows, cloth,
silver and even beer.

After the pharaoh, the general of the
armies was the top military commander in
Egypt.
◦ He helped the pharaoh make alliances with
other kingdoms.
 An alliance in an agreement between nations to
work together for common interests.
9.3 Government Officials
Lives of Luxury

High government officials led lives of
luxury.
◦ Great wealth, fine homes and plenty of free
time to socialize.
◦ The officials enjoyed lavish banquets that
included a variety of food, music and
entertainment.
9.4 Priests

Priests were powerful and highly
respected.
◦ The pharaoh was considered the highest
ranked priest of all.
 The High Priest advised the pharaoh.
◦ Temple priests were in charge of individual
temples.
 Other priests handled common concerns.
 Women were allowed to be priestesses in Egypt.
 Every temple was home to an Egyptian god or
goddess.
9.4 Priests

(continued)
A temple’s god was thought to live in a
statue.
◦ The statue was housed in a holy room called a
sanctuary.
◦ Only a priest that purified/cleansed himself
could enter the sanctuary.
 Cleansing included avoid certain foods, bath three
or four times, shave his body, and wear only linen
clothes.
The Priests’ Role in Burial
Practices
Egyptians believed in a life after death.
 The thought the spirits of the dead
needed their bodies in the afterlife.
 Priests oversaw the sacred work of
embalming.

◦ Embalming is to treat a dead body with
preservatives to prevent it from decaying.
How to Make an Egyptian Mummy
 The embalming process had many steps.
1. The body organs were removed.
◦
The brain was pulled through the nostrils.
◦
The heart was not removed – it was used to judge a
person’s soul.
2. The organs were packed in jars to preserve
3.
4.
5.
6.

them.
The organs and body were dried out with a
special salt called natron.
After 70 days the body was washed and oiled.
It was then wrapped in 100’s of yards of linen.
Finally, they spread a black, gooey gum over
the body and wrapped it a final time.
The mummy was then ready for burial!
How to Make an Egyptian Mummy
The mummy was placed in a wooden box
that was then placed in a stone coffin,
called a sarcophagus.
 Many items were buried along with the
body including food, furniture, jewelry,
clothes, games and mirrors.
 Even the poor Egyptians wrapped their
dead in cloth and buried them with many
items they thought would be needed in
the afterlife.
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9.5 Scribes
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Scribes were Egypt’s official writers and
record keepers.
They were highly respected and highly
paid.
They worked for the government, priests
and nobles.
Only men could become scribes.
Scribes came from all classes of society.
◦ It was one of the few ways men could rise
above their parents’ social classes.
9.5 Scribes (continued)
Scribe schools were run by priests.
 Students started at age 5.
 Scribe school lasted for 12 years.
 They learned the very complicated system
of writing called hieroglyphs.

◦ Hieroglyphs contains over 700 symbols.

Scribes spent many years practicing on a
variety of objects before they were
permitted to write on papyrus.
9.5 Scribes

(continued)
Scribe school was not an easy life.
◦ Classes lasted from dawn until sunset.
◦ Beatings were common.
◦ Teachers frequently yelled at students for being
lazy or not paying attention.
9.5 Scribes
(continued)
Scribes held a variety of jobs.
 They recorded the government census.

◦ Census – an official count of the population or
number of people living in an area.

Every scribes used the same tools.
◦ Sharpened reed, sheet of papyrus, two ink
wells (red and black) and a small container of
water to wet the ink.

Papyrus was made from the inner part of
the papyrus plant.
CORELL
HATSHEPSUT
RAMESES III
9.6 Artisans
Egypt’s artisans were highly skilled
laborers .
 They rarely got the respect they deserved.
 Artisans included:

◦ Carpenters, jewelers, leatherworkers, metalworkers, painters, potters, sculptors, and
weavers.
◦ Most artisans were men.

The most skilled artisans were the stone
carvers.
◦ They produced the statues, engravings and
reliefs found in temples, tombs and monuments.
9.6 Artisans 
The Daily Life and Work of Artisans
Egyptian artisans were the middle of the
classes in society.
◦ They lived in modest homes.
◦ They worked side by side in large workshops.
◦ They worked 10 days in a row before taking a day
off.
◦ They depended on their employer for food.
Sometimes they went hungry.
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Upper classes often viewed them as little
more than common laborers.
They were not permitted to sign their work.
Occasionally, employers threw the artist a
banquet for their favorite artist. Or even let
them portray themselves in a painting or
engraving.
9.7 Peasants

Peasants made up the lowest and
largest class in Egypt’s social pyramid.
◦ They were considered unskilled labor.
◦ Egypt depended on their work.
 They grew the crops and built the monuments.

Peasant life revolved around the Nile and
its three seasons.
 Flood season – June to September
◦ Peasants worked on royal projects like the pyramids and
temples.
 Planting season – Began in October
◦ Biggest crops were wheat and barley
 Harvest season – Began in March
◦ Everyone worked from dawn to dusk.
9.7 Peasants –

The Daily Lives of Peasants
Peasants had the fewest comforts.
◦ Simple houses of mud bricks and no furniture.
◦ Their diet was simple – bread, vegetables, water
and beer. Rarely was meat available.
◦ Famine – a severe shortage of food.

Peasants spent most of their time working.
◦ They did occasionally have time for games.
◦ They took part in festivals honoring the Egyptian
gods.
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They were rewarded for a good harvest w/
extra food.
However, they could be severely beaten if
their crops were short and/or they couldn’t
pay their taxes.