Daily Life In Ancient Egypt

Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
Written by Em (Written at age 8 or 9)

When you think of Ancient Egypt, you think of pharaohs, right? Well, the history of Ancient Egypt is not just about kings and queens. For thousands of years, the culture of Ancient Egypt grew and grew. Soon, it was one of the most civilized countries in the ancient world. Ancient Egypt had a lot of resources. Those it didn't have, Ancient Egyptians imported from neighboring countries. Ancient Egyptian life was like a pyramid; without one of the levels, the whole pyramid would come crashing down. Now, lets go back in time and see what Ancient Egypt was like.

Food and Drink
Before eating, Ancient Egyptians said their prayers. When that was done, they dug in! You had to eat a hearty breakfast because in Ancient Egypt, there was no lunch! Every morning when Ancient Egyptians were stocking up on food, they must of had had a hard time deciding what to eat. You could choose from many fruits and vegetables. Some of those choices were: melons, lettuce, beans, apples, pomegranates, or figs. You could also have some nice fish, there's more than enough in the Nile! Sadly for those meat lovers out there, meat (excluding fish) was eaten rarely. Only the rich ate meat a lot. Peasants ate meat only on special days and at festivals. All this talk about food is making me thirsty. Regular Ancient Egyptians would drink beer rather than the unclean Nile River water. If you were wealthy, you'd also drink wine.

Clothing
When you woke up in Ancient Egypt, the dry heat hits you like a wall. That's why your linen clothing was lightweight. If you were a girl, you could choose between dresses, dresses, and the occasional tunic.
Guys though, were a different story. They got the choice between tunics, loincloths (these were mainly for workers), and skirts. All Ancient Egyptians wore kohl (eye makeup) and jewelry (to honor the gods). Yes, guys wore make up and jewelry too! If you were lucky enough to be a noblewoman, you'd get the special clothing features of wigs and long, white, pleated, see-through dresses. Noblemen had basically the same clothing as peasant men, though their skirts were shorter.

Jobs
When you grow up, you want to be a movie star or sports player; something like that, right? Well, in Ancient Egypt, none of these jobs were available. One Ancient Egyptian job you might have is one as a carpenter. You'd be building everything from house beams to furniture.
A fairly popular job was one as a merchant. If you were a merchant, you'd buy and trade goods from different counties. A job as a scribe was hard, but worthwhile. You would have to record information, write letters for people, etc. A very common job was that as a farmer. You'd plant your crops and harvest them. Then, as your tax to the pharaoh, you'd give your some of your crops. Now, where were the women during all of this? They're at home, taking care of the house and of the children.


Homes
The basic nobleman home would be simply described as this: " Quite big, very colorful, loads of nicely decorated furniture, with small windows for light". Not a lot like your house, right? There were no electronics in sight. In my opinion, the peasant house was pretty cool. Even though they were small and didn't have many furnishings, peasant houses had a courtyard and stairs leading to the roof where peasants could sleep in the summer. In most villages, the houses were built on sun-dried bricks. When the bricks crumbled, people just flattened the soil and built on top of the bricks.

Childhood
Good news! Unless you were training to be a scribe, you didn't have to go to school. So, starting at the tender age of 5 or 6, young scribes-to-be would start school. When a boy was 12, his dad began to teach in a trade. Ancient Egyptian kids played a lot of games similar to ones we play today. They included: Senet, Checkers, Mancala, Tag, Leapfrog or Tug o' War. Of course, Ancient Egyptians didn't play with their Star Wars action figures (they were invented about 3,200 years later), but they did haves some toys like the ones kids play with these days. All your toys would be handmade. Girls might play with dolls, boys with marbles, or young children might play with their wooden pull animals. While all of this was happening, the kids went around completely bald except for one or two braids or "side locks" worn at the side of the head.


Wow! You've now learned all of this information about Ancient Egypt. How can you use it? Try and imagine yourself as an Ancient Egyptian. Would you be a nobleperson; drinking wine, eating meat, living in big houses, and wearing fancy clothes? Or, would you be a peasant, eating more fruit and fish than meat, wearing not-so-fancy clothes, living in a small house and not going to school?