Ancient Egyptian furniture

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN FURNITURE

Household goods

Houses were mostly sparsely furnished. The majority of Egyptians did not have many belongings that had to be hidden away, so a chest or two or a few baskets would furnish plenty of storing space. Tables were rarely used. Even scribes, more affluent than the average Egyptian, did not write their scrolls sitting at a table, but generally squatted on the floor, holding a wooden board on which the papyrus was spread with one hand and writing with the other. Kitchen work was done crouching with the cooking utensils laid out on the floor. In many houses there would be a few low stools, but people often sat simply on the ground. And while the wealthy slept on beds, the poor had to make do with a mattress filled with straw or wool, a mat or even the plain floor.

Since the early Dynastic Period at least there existed beds with wooden frames on legs covered with strips of leather or cloth and white linen bed sheets. These frames were put together using tenons and mortices. No mattresses have been found, although pictures exist.

Head rest

Like many other African peoples the Egyptians used headrests made of stone, ivory or wood, instead of pillows for sleeping on. It has been proposed that little cushions were placed on the headrests to soften them, but this conjecture is purely speculative. They were at times decorated with images of Bes and other gods, seemingly in an attempt to protect the sleeper from evil.
Headrests were connected with the rising sun and had therefore great symbolic importance. They often supported the heads of mummies or were placed in the tomb near the mummy and figure more prominently in graves than any other piece of everyday furniture.

There were tables, which were generally low and had four legs, though three and even one legged dining and gaming tables were known. These round tables were mostly made of wood, but a few stone tables have also been found and some were made of metal. Their use does not seem to have been widespread, apart from their being placed in tombs as offering tables.

Guests sitting on stools

In funerary depictions these offering tables for the dead are laden with food. Pictures of feasting scenes show similar abundance; the rich liked to spread out their food on tables for all to see, though possibly not for all to enjoy:

Four-legged stools and collapsible stools with seats made from animal skins or woven with leather strips or plant material were provided for honoured guests, while simpler folk had to sit on pillows or mats spread on the floor.

Chairs were known since the Early Dynastic Period at least. Sometimes they were covered with cloth or leather, were made of carved wood like this chair (on the right) from the tomb of Tutankhamen. They were much lower than today’s chairs, with their seats sometimes only 25 cm high.

Chair, tomb of Tutankhamen

Chairs were used by important people, as is reflected by the hieroglyph (a man sitting on a chair), which was the determinative for “dignitary”. In the households of common people it was generally only the master of the household who sat on a chair, if there were chairs at all. Among the better-off they might be painted to look like the ornate inlaid and carved chairs of the rich, but the craftmanship was generally poor.

Armchairs, with or without cushions were reserved for the rich and powerful.

Reconstructed armchair of Queen Hetepheres

Generally speaking, the higher ranked an individual was, the taller and more sumptuous was the chair he sat on and the greater the honour. On state occasions the pharaoh sat on a throne, often with a little footstool in front of it.

The homes of the rich were well appointed. The furnishings of the house of Tabubu, daughter of the prophet of Bastet, in the story of Setne Khamwas and Naneferkaptah were luxurious:

Setne walked up the stairs of the house with Tabubu. He found the upper story of the house swept and adorned, its floor adorned with real lapis-lazuli and real turquoise. Many couches were in it, spread with royal linen, and many golden cups were on the table….Incense was put on the brazier; ointment was brought to him of the kind provided for Pharaoh.

Alabaster box

The average Egyptian family did not have many possessions which were not in daily use, but the little there was had to be put away. Baskets were often used for this purpose. They may not have kept rodents at bay for long, but they were cheap to make and light to carry.

Boxes were made of wood, ivory or the like. Being expensive items – more difficult to build and therefore costlier than baskets – they were made for the wealthy and were often elaborately decorated with drawings or inlays. Their construction could be quite sophisticated. From the Middle Kingdom we know of a box covered with veneer which had sliding lids.

Chest from the tomb of Tutankhamen

Cupboards were not used in the home although the principle of the cupboard was known and applied in religious shrines. The rich kept their utensils and jewellery in storage chests made from alabaster, wood and other materials, sometimes painted or otherwise embellished, like the decorated chest from Tutankhamen’s tomb on the right depicting the king riding in a chariot.

The lids of a few of these chests were hinged, but mostly the cover was completely removed when the chest was opened. Flanges or pegs glued to the lids and inserted into appropriate holes in the chests’ walls kept them in place. In order to lock the chests strings were tied to knobs on the lid and chest and sealed with clay seals.

Drawers were not unknown but not widely used. Gaming tables for instance might have little drawers for the counters.

Left: Leg of a chest or chair, Right: Leg of a stool

The legs of the furniture were often carved in the form of animal legs or the fore and hind-parts of some animal such as the lion. In the first dynasties these were generally legs and hooves of bulls (picture on the left). This bull’s hoof is made of ivory and the pronounced muscles point to a Mesopotamian influence.
From the III Dynasty onwards lion paws (and sometimes whole stylized lions) were more popular (see the stool leg on the right).

The walls were mostly just painted white or yellow, at times decorated with painted frescoes, or hung with ornamental textiles or mats. Along with baskets and rope, these were made from flax, papyrus, palm fibre or grass.

Fresco patterns

Left: Stone lamp from the tomb of Tutankhamen, Right: Pottery lamp, 9th dynasty

There were lamps for lighting the dark, generally shallow pottery containers filled with oil in which a wick was floating. Olive oil or the smellier oil of the kiki, the castor berry, was used. Fat and, possibly, tallow were also used:

At times artisans and scholars must have continued working into the night, especially during the short days of winter; but mostly people went to bed when night fell and rose with the first light.

The wicks were made of linen and the salt was seemingly added to prevent the lamps from smoking.

Drawing of a toilet stool from the grave of Kha

The less wealthy who could not afford to have a limestone toilet built, made do with a toilet stool, under which a ceramic bowl was placed. Despite of what Herodotus wrote, most people probably relieved themselves outdoors, though.

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The author

Professor Yasser Metwally

Visit my web site at: http://yassermetwally.com

Ancient Egyptian house and garden

HOUSE AND GARDEN

The houses

According to Diodorus Siculus’ somewhat speculative report the first Egyptian dwellings were constructed of reeds, a building technique not completely abandoned by the first century BCE:

Traces thereof remain among the herdsmen of Egypt who, to these days, do not have habitations but they are made of reeds, which they consider to be sufficient.

He explained the fact that Egyptian housing was made of perishable materials in his Historical Library as follows:

The inhabitants think little of life on earth; while they put greatest value on the continued existence in glorious memory after death. They call the dwellings of the living ‘hostels’ given that we dwell in them for a short time only. The tombs of the dead they call ‘eternal homes’ as they assume their eternal continuation in the underworld. This is the reason they invest little effort in the building of houses; but are eager to furnish their tombs with unsurpassable equipment.

House building

Since 3800 BCE rectangular houses of about 100 to 125 m² have been built with sun dried bricks. Mud, dredged from the bottom of the Nile and chaff were well mixed, shaped with wooden forms and the soft bricks were dried in the sun becoming nearly as hard as rock. In the hot, almost rainless climate of Egypt adobe (from djeb(et), coptic tob – brick) houses were the most energy and labour efficient buildings.

The mansions of the powerful were palatial, even if they were built of the same materials as the dwellings of the commoners. Metjen, a third dynasty official, received from his king among other gifts

…… a house 200 cubits[9] long and 200 cubits wide, built and equipped; fine trees were set out, a very large lake was made therein, figs and vines were set out.

Foundations were generally non existent. Virgin soil above groundwater level was baked rock hard by the sun and needed just some levelling. In order to build on top of collapsed dwellings, the clay rubble was well watered and let to set and harden.

The wall width was about 40 cm for one storey and up to 1.25m for multi-storey buildings. Beams were let into the walls to reinforce them. Ground storey walls were sometimes built of stone, limestone if there were quarries near-by, granite or anything else, if there were decaying temples or other buildings in the neighbourhood that could be dismantled. (Even kings were not above this kind of scavenging. Ramses II had the granite linings of Senusret’s temple at Kahun removed.)

House with small windows close to the ceiling

In substantial houses the rooms were arranged around an inner courtyard or on either side of a corridor. The crenellated wall facing the street often had only one opening, the door, though windows might be let into the upper storey walls. Windows were small and covered with shutters or mats in order to keep out the flies, dust, and heat.[1][11].

Gateways were generally made of stone, even in poorer households. The wooden doors and leaves of double doors could be barred from the inside[6]. Keys have been found dating from 1550 BCE onwards, but not the bars they locked.

Terracotta soul-house with stair

Excavations indicate that a typical worker’s house had two to four rooms on the ground floor, an enclosed yard, which acted as a kitchen, and two cellars for storage. Niches in the walls held religious objects.

The flat roof served as additional living space and for storage[3]. It was reached by an open stair case.

The town houses of the common people were usually two to three stories high. The ground floor was often reserved for businesses, while the upper floors provided living space for the family. Many people slept on the roof during the summer to keep cool. Cooking was also often done on the roof.

Stone bath

Finer houses had reception rooms and private quarters, while some even had bathrooms and toilets. Toilet seats were made of limestone[2]. Others used toilet stools. Households disposed of their sewage in pits, in the river or in the streets[10].

Herodotus claimed that

they ease themselves in their houses and they eat without in the streets, alleging as reason for this that it is right to do secretly the things that are unseemly though necessary, but those which are not unseemly, in public

The floors in houses were made of packed earth, which wouldn’t do for a bathroom. There, a slab of stone was placed in a corner. Often the adobe walls near-by were coated with stone as well. The water could run off into a bowl which was either emptied by hand, or had holes at its bottom, thus draining slowly into the ground.[2]

Copper pipe drains have been found in an Old Kingdom temple[5], but never in a private house. In one mortuary temple at Abusir copper outlets and a lead stopper were found.[2]. The technology existed, but was too expensive for the common people.

Water was drawn from wells

Water was drawn from wells, either private or public at least since the New Kingdom. At Pi Ramses a number of public wells have been uncovered, the largest with a diameter of five metres, and a spiral staircase leading to the water. But unless its level was very low, the water was raised with a shadouf into a pond.

Water taken from the Nile, or even worse, from a stagnant canal, caused many health problems, from diarrhoeas to bilharziasis, but at least it was generally plentiful. But beyond the flood plain, in the desert areas, the water supply was difficult and the control over it critical. At the Dakhla oasis Nesubast claimed possession of a spring

The legal procedure went on for fourteen years.

In a warm country like Egypt the need for heating is small and there were no big fireplaces. Still, nights could grow chilly, but a store of firewood could make one’s home cosier:

The gardens

The gardens

From an enclosed yard with a few fruit trees to botanical and zoological gardens with exotic trees, ponds, often stocked with fish, and caged animals and birds, gardens are depicted in many tombs.

At least in tomb depictions these gardens were very formal[7][8] with rectangular ponds and trees and vines planted in straight rows.

Trees and shrubs were grown for shade and for their fruit: date and other palm trees, sycamore fig, pomegranate, nut trees and jujube. But willows, acacia and tamarisk also found favour, about eighteen kinds of trees were grown by the Egyptians. Flowers such as daisies, cornflowers, mandrakes, roses, irises, myrtle, jasmine, mignonettes, convolvulus, celosia, narcissus, ivy, lychnis, sweet marjoram, henna, bay laurel, small yellow chrysanthemums, and poppies grew among the trees, papyrus and lotus in the pond. Grapes and other vines were often planted.

Nature with its trees, plants, flowers was often mentioned and used metaphorically in love poems of the New Kingdom. The mouth of the beloved was likened to a lotus bud, and her breasts to mandragore fruit. Gardens were perfect, ordered and secluded corners of nature, romantic, sensuous places, where lovers could meet.

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The author

Professor Yasser Metwally

Visit my web site at: http://yassermetwally.com