Egyptian Daily Life

Egyptian Daily Life

Egypt is a dry, hot desert country and ancient life depended on the waters of the River Nile. The Nile was used for:

• water to irrigate the fields; 
• the main means of travelling and of transporting goods, all by boat; 
• an important source of protein food when people caught fish; 

the main building material was mud brick 

Houses

People lived beside the Nile and Egyptian houses were almost all built from bricks of Nile mud. (The palaces of the Pharaohs were built from stone.) The mud was carried in baskets from the Nile and poured into moulds. When the mud in the mould was dry, it was turned out and left to bake in the heat of the sun.

A house built from mud bricks:

• was cool inside. 
• had a flat roof so that in very hot weather people could sleep on the roofs in the cool of the night. 
• often had courtyards with walls built round them. 

Cooking was done out of doors in the courtyard. 

We know about Egyptian daily life from the huge number of wall paintings in tombs and temples. The houses we are shown are the houses of wealthier people, priests and scribes, government officials, and master craftsmen. The paintings show a large number of servants, or probably slaves, working in the houses. From the paintings we know that the servants:

• looked after the charcoal fires; 
• ground wheat to make bread; 
• cooked meat over fires; 

carried baskets full of vegetables. 

The richer families in ancient Egypt had houses with beautiful gardens, looked after by slaves or servants. Men went wild-fowling (hunting wild duck) in the marshes and women are shown sitting on couches talking to each other and listening to music.

Games and entertainment

Children played with toys such as spinning tops and wooden models of animals which they could pull along on strings. They played with balls made of clay and they played at leapfrog. Girls played dancing games, holding hands in a ring, and little boys played at being soldiers.

Adults played a number of board games. We know that they played a game for two people called Senet on a board with 30 squares. The aim was to reach the kingdom of Osiris through all the dangers on the way.

The Egyptians also enjoyed story-telling, parties and music. There were a number of great public festivals, such as the celebration of the resurrection of Osiris (see Egyptian religion) where thousands of people danced to the music of harps and flutes. 

The Farmers

The vast majority of people in Egypt, however, were farmers who farmed the fields on the bank of the Nile. Men, women and children from a young age all worked in these tiny fields.

• They ploughed the land with a wooden plough pulled by oxen.

• They sowed the fields with seed and watered the ground with water from the Nile. 

They harvested the grain using a sickle. 

• They threshed (beat out the grain from the husk) it by getting their oxen to walk round and round treading on it. 

All the grain was controlled by royal officials and kept in a royal granary.

You may remember the story of the Pharaoh who dreamt of the seven fat cattle followed by the seven lean cattle. Joseph interpreted his dream, telling him that there were going to be seven very good harvests, followed by seven poor harvests.

He advised the Pharaoh to collect the grain during the seven good years so that the people would not starve during the seven poor years. This story is more evidence that the grain was controlled by the Pharaoh’s government and was then distributed when necessary.

Food

The crops and vegetables meant that even the poorer Egyptians usually ate a balanced diet.

• The staple food was bread from the grain. 
• They grew onions and leeks and salad vegetables 
• They grew beans and dried them so that they could be cooked and eaten throughout the year 
• They grew fruit such as figs and pomegranates. 
• They caught fish from the Nile. 
• They kept cattle. 

They made beer from barley and richer people drank wine made from grapes. 

Clothes

Farmers also grew flax. Linen cloth is made from flax and Egyptian clothing was made from linen. Men wore a short linen kilt and women usually wore a linen tunic that hung from their shoulders. Little children sometimes wore no clothes at all but often wore jewellery round their neck.

Trades

Although most people were farmers, there were many other trades, carpenters, metal-workers, bakers, goldsmiths, boat builders. Trade was carried out by way of exchanging goods. For example, a farmer might exchange a basket of onions for a bag of charcoal, or a cow for a small boat.

Everything in Egypt depended on the Nile and everything was transported on boats and ships on the river.

In order to fish and to transport goods from one place to another people had small boats made of papyrus stalks bound together. Bigger boats and larger ships were made of wood, which was mostly imported from Lebanon.

We have many paintings of boats carrying cattle and other heavy goods on the Nile. It was a very busy river with constant traffic.

 

History of Egypt

History of Egypt

The ancient Egyptian civilization lasted for more than 3000 years, longer than any other civilisation in human history.  Although we are talking about a period that began more than 5000 years ago, we know a great deal about ancient Egypt.

                      

The River Nile

Ancient Egypt depended on the waters of the River Nile, which flows through harsh and arid desert.  Only the land on the banks of the Nile could be cultivated to support life.  The rest of Egypt was, and is, desert.

Every year rain further south in Africa and melting snow in the highlands of Ethiopia caused the Nile in Egypt to flood.  When the floods went down, the rich soil which the water had brought down from the mountainsides was left on the fields and caused them to be extremely fertile.  The Nile gave the civilization of Egypt its life.

Our knowledge of ancient Egypt

How can we know about people who lived so long ago?

Writing

First, and most important, the ancient Egyptians were among the first people to develop a system of writing.  They believed it was important to write down what was happening.

The best-known of the systems of Egyptian writing (there were more than three) is the system using hieroglyphs, a mixture of pictures and ‘glyphs’ or symbols.  The sentence above, written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs means, “The crocodile eats the King.”

Wall paintings and objects from tombs

Secondly, Egyptians believed that there was a life after death and that a dead person’s body should be preserved and buried in a tomb with everything he would need in the life after death.  From the objects found in these tombs and from the wall-paintings on their walls, we learn much about Egyptian daily life.

                 

In this painting we see a man guiding a plough pulled by two animals, probably meant to be oxen.  You can see that he has a whip to make the oxen move.  Behind him his wife is carrying a basket of grain which she is sowing on the newly-ploughed ground.

Records in temples of important events

Thirdly, Egyptians were ruled by kings, and queens, who were believed to be Gods.  Many of them built temples to commemorate the important events of their reigns.  Much of the history we have is carved in the stone on the walls of these temples, or found on large stone blocks inside. For example, Queen Hatshepsut recorded the expedition which she sent by sea to the land of Punt on a great wall relief in her temple.

Here we can see the Egyptian ships being loaded with the wealth they brought back from Punt; note the hieroglyphic writing which is telling the story of what is happening.

The history of ancient Egypt

As you can see we have plenty of sources for ancient Egyptian history (without sources it is not really possible to write about history). Now let us take a look at what we can learn from these sources.

The history of ancient Egypt lasted until the country became a Roman province in the 1st century B.C.

Egypt was ruled before then by thirty dynasties, or families, of kings and queens, often called the pharaohs.  This is known as Egypt’s dynastic period.

The civilization of Ancient Egypt lasted for more than 3000 years, longer than any other civilization known to us.  From 3500 B.C. (more than 5500 years ago) there were two kingdoms in Egypt:

Lower Egypt in the north was the richer kingdom.  The lands closer to the Mediterranean Sea were richer and more fertile.  Lower Egypt could trade with the lands of the Mediterranean.  The wood to build ships was brought from Lebanon from a very early time.

Upper Egypt in the south had only a very narrow strip of land which could be cultivated.  The rest of the land was dry desert.  Upper Egypt, however, was closer to the land of Nubia.  The kings of Egypt sometimes traded and sometimes made war on Nubia.  Nubia was a source of rare wild animals, of gold, of animal skins, and of slaves.

We can divide the history of Egypt into periods to make it easier to understand and remember.  When writing of ancient history we often say a date is, for example c.3100 B.C.; that little c. stands for the Latin word ‘circa’ which means ‘about’.  We use it when we do not know the exact date.

The Early Dynastic period c. 3100 to c.2680 B.C. The two kingdoms, of Upper and Lower Egypt, were united under King Narmer. This is really the first king whose name we definitely know, so he and his successors  are referred to as the First Dynasty (dynasty means a family who hold power).  From that time on the pharaohs are shown in paintings wearing a double crown, white for   Lower Egypt and red for  Upper Egypt.

Old Kingdom, from c. 2680 to c. 2180 (3rd to 6th dynasties) This period is best known for the building of great pyramids, including the huge pyramid of Giza which is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (do you know what the other six are?) You can read more about the pyramids in Egyptian Architecture.

First Intermediate period, from c.2180 to c. 2055 (7th to 11th dynasties). This was a time when several different kings ruled different parts of Egypt. At the end of this period Mentuhotep II, a king of the 11th dynasty, regained control over the whole of Egypt.

Middle Kingdom. 2055 – 1650 B.C. (12th – 14 dynasties). This was a golden age.  The country was ruled by a number of strong kings who controlled not only all of Egypt but much of Nubia (the modern Sudan).  The Faiyum, a large fertile area around a lake which is fed from the Nile, was developed as a centre of agriculture.  The building of the great Temple at Karnak was begun.

Second Intermediate Period c. 1650 – 1550  15th & 16th dynasties.  This was a period when the Hyksos, a tribe from outside Egypt (we do not know their origin) conquered much of Lower Egypt.

New Kingdom c. 1550 – 1069 B.C. (17th to 20th dynasties) The Hyksos were driven out and the pharaoh regained power over Lower and Upper Egypt. During this period Egypt developed a very powerful civil service of royal officials.

Late Period c. 1000  – 32 AD  (21st to 30th dynasties).  Egypt again was divided into two kingdoms.  From around 700 B.C. Egypt was frequently invaded, by the Nubians, who formed a new dynasty, by the Assyrians, by the  Persians, by the Greeks under Alexander the Great’s general Ptolemy (the Ptolemaic dynasty) and finally by the Romans.

History of taj mahal

                                                            HISTORY OF TAJ MAHAL

The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just looking magnificent. It's the history of Taj Mahal that adds a soul to its magnificence: a soul that is filled with love, loss, remorse, and love again. Because if it was not for love, the world would have been robbed of a fine example upon which people base their relationships. An example of how deeply a man loved his wife, that even after she remained but a memory, he made sure that this memory would never fade away. This man was the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz Mahal, his dear wife. She was a Muslim Persian princess (her name Arjumand Banu Begum before marriage) and he was the son of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir and grandson of Akbar the Great. It was at the age of 14 that he met Mumtaz and fell in love with her. Five years later in the year 1612, they got married.

Mumtaz Mahal, an inseparable companion of Shah Jahan, died in 1631, while giving birth to their 14th child. It was in the memory of his beloved wife that Shah Jahan built a magnificent monument as a tribute to her, which we today know as the "Taj Mahal". The construction of Taj Mahal started in the year 1631. Masons, stonecutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome-builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from Central Asia and Iran, and it took approximately 22 years to build what we see today. An epitome of love, it made use of the services of 22,000 laborers and 1,000 elephants. The monument was built entirely out of white marble, which was brought in from all over India and central Asia. After an expenditure of approximately 32 million rupees, Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653.

It was soon after the completion of Taj Mahal that Shah Jahan was deposed by his own son Aurangzeb and was put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort. Shah Jahan, himself also, lies entombed in this mausoleum along with his wife. Moving further down the history, it was at the end of the 19th century that British Viceroy Lord Curzon ordered a sweeping restoration project, which was completed in 1908, as a measure to restore what was lost during the Indian rebellion of 1857: Taj being blemished by British soldiers and government officials who also deprived the monument of its immaculate beauty by chiseling out precious stones and lapis lazuli from its walls. Also, the British style lawns that we see today adding on to the beauty of Taj were remodeled around the same time. Despite prevailing controversies, past and present threats from Indo-Pak war and environmental pollution, this epitome of love continuous to shine and attract people from all over the world

history of charminar

Charminar

When was it built: 1591 CE

Who built it: Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th Sultan, Qutub Shahi Dynasty

Time taken: Approximately 1 year

Where is it located: Hyderabad, Telengana, India

Why was it built: To commemorate the end of the plague.

iver with the Makka Masjid, another famous Qutub Shahi architecture, in the vicinity.

Dimension: The base is square, each side 20m in width. Four arches on each side are 11m wide and 20 m in height. The four minarets stand at a height of 56m from the plinth.

Materials used: Granite and Lime-mortar

Architectural Style: Islamic 

Lesser Known: As a tribute to the city’s most iconic architecture, Lindt chocolatier Adelbert Boucher created a scaled model of the Charminar out of 50 kilograms of chocolate which was displayed at The Westin, Hyderabad, between 25 and 26 September, 2010.

Situated bang in the heart of the old city of Hyderabad, the Charminar (Urdu ‘Char’ meaning Four and ‘Minar’ meaning Tower) is one of the most recognized monuments in India. It is the architectural icon for the city of Hyderabad, equivalent to the likes of the Taj Mahal of Agra or the Eiffel Tower of Paris and is the most searched historical site of the city on Google. The imposing monument stands regally tall amidst the colorful bangle shops in the labyrinthine Laad Bazar of the old city and presents a beautiful glittering sight after nightfall (7pm-9pm). It is currently maintained by the Archeological Survey of India. The Charminar is situated on the eastern banks of Musi R
Image Credit: indianeagle.com

History

This 400-years-old structure was built by Sultan Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th Sultan of the illustrious Qutb Shahi dynasty. An inseparable part of the history of Hyderabad, the Sultan built the monument right after shifting his capital from Golkonda to Hyderabad. Historians opine that the inadequacy of water and plague forced Quli Qutub Shah to construct a new city. He prayed to the Almighty to end his people’s suffering and pledged to build a mosque at the very site where he prayed. Another legend says that the Sultan saw his beloved, the beautiful Baghmati, at this very site and built the monument as a symbol of his eternal love for her. Though this legend gained popularity, it seems inaccurate when tallied with historical dates. In addition, the couplets inscribed during laying of the foundation stone translate as “Fill this of mine city with people as You have filled the river with fishes O Lord.”, indicating that the construction was concurrent with founding of the city. Structure & Architecture

The Charminar was built at the intersection of the historical trade route connecting the markets of Golkonda with the port city of Machhilipatnam. The city of Hyderabad was designed with the Charminar at its center, spread around in four quadrants along the four cardinal directions. Mir Momin Astarabadi of the Qutb Shahi dynasty played an important role and ordered extensive preparations for the design and layout along with that of the new capital city. Architects from Persia were invited to provide additional designs and suggestions. 

Inspired by the shapes of Shiya Tazias built to commemorate the tragic death of Prophet Muhammed’s grandson, Hussain at the battle of Karbala, the structure of the Charminar is perfectly square, with each side measuring 20m. The four grand arches open into four different streets and stand 11m wide. The square structure accommodates four minarets in each corner. The minarets are 56 meters high, house two balconies, and are topped with small delicate domes and intricate carvings on the outside walls. Unlike other prominent Islamic monuments, the minarets are built into the main structure. Inside the minarets there is a spiral staircase with 149 steps and 12 landings. The structure is a fine example of Indo-Islamic architecture with ample Persian influences. While arches and the domes show the influence of Islamic architecture, the minarets reflect Persian influence. The delicate stucco floral ornamentations on the ceiling, the balconies and the outside walls speak of Hindu influences.wing to its architectural similarity, Charminar is often called “Arc de Triomphe of the East”. 

The second floor of the structure houses the oldest mosque of the city. It is located on the western side of the roof. The eastern part served as the court at the time of Sultan Qutb Shah. There are two galleries inside the Charminar - one over the other. The main gallery has 45 musallah or prayer spaces opening up to an uncovered space that may accommodate more people during Friday prayers. 

Four clocks were added along the four cardinal directions in 1889. The small Vazu in the middle of the courtyard with a small fountain provides water for Ablution for Muslims offering prayer in the Mosque.

Legend has it that an underground tunnel connects the Charminar with the Golkonda fort. According to rumors, the tunnel was built to help the kings and queens escape to safety during a siege. These speculations have not been confirmed till date since the existence of any such tunnel has not been reported.