Ancient Egyptian Alcohol
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 17, 2008 — Beer, called hqt by the ancients and zythus by the Greeks, was a very important Egyptian drink. It was a drink for adults and children alike. It was the staple drink of the poor (wages were sometimes paid in beer), it was a drink of the rich and wealthy, and a drink offered to the gods and placed in the tombs of the dea
Beer in the morning, beer in the afternoon and beer at night. A little wine thrown in for good measure. And after a hard day of cutting stones for the pharaoh, time and energy left for a bit of hanky-panky.
Workmen at the pyramids of the Giza Plateau were given beer, thrice daily – five kinds of beer and four kinds of wine were found by archaeologists “poking through dumps, examining skeletons, probing texts and studying remains of beer jars, and wine vats” at Giza.
In 1990, the Egyptian Exploration Society approached Scottish and Newcastle Breweries for help. This was the beginning of a partnership which, over the past five years, has considerably increased the understanding of the brewing process as it was at the time of Tutankhamun.
Beer was depicted on the walls of the tombs, as were scenes of the ancient Egyptian brewery. It was probably very similar to the way beer is still produced in Sudan today. Traditionally, beer was regarded as a female activity as it was an off-shoot of bread making – the basis of the beer were loaves of specially made bread.
Most likely, the beer was not very intoxicating, nutritious, sweet, without bubbles, and thick (the beer had to be strained with wooden syphons, used as a straw, because it was filled with impurities). Though the later Greek accounts suggest that the beer, instead, was as intoxicating as the strongest wine, and it is clear that the worshipers of Bast, Sekhmet and Hathor got drunk on beer as part of their worship of these goddesses, because of their aspect of the Eye of Ra. Tenenit was another ancient Egyptian goddess of beer.
Broadly speaking, the established view of ancient Egyptian brewing, drawn from tomb scenes, is as follows. Beer loaves were made from a richly yeasted dough. Malt may or may not have been used. This dough was lightly baked and the resulting bread was crumbled and strained through a sieve with water. Ingredients like dates or extra yeast might have been added. The dissolved mixture was fermented in large vats and then the liquid was decanted into jars which were sealed for storage or transport.
There is a lot missing, but an important question is what did the beer taste like? Thanks to the work done by the Egyptian Exploration Society and the Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, the ancient beer was probably “strongly influenced by the addition of fruit or spices as flavouring.” The word ‘bnr’ causes some problem – it is usually translated as ‘date’, but it may have referred to a different (or to any other) sweet-tasting food the Egyptians used in their beer. Although the dregs from ancient beer jars do show what ingredients were used, further work is needed before the exact flavour of the different beers can be established. In hieroglyphs, the determinative of the beer jug () were used in words associated with beer – short for ‘beer’, ‘tribute’, ‘to be drunk’, ‘food and drink’ and ‘butler’. The importance of beer in ancient Egypt can not be overlooked.
9 February 1996, the Herald-Sun reported that ‘Tutankhamon Ale’ will be based on sediment from jars found in a brewery housed in the Sun Temple of Nefertiti, and the team involved has gathered enough of the correct raw materials to produce “just 1000 bottles of the ale”.
“We are about to unveil a great Tutankhamon secret,” said Jim Merrington, commercial director at Newcastle Breweries, “The liquid gold of the pharaohs. It’s a really amazing inheritance they have left us, the origins of beer itself.”
The beer was reported to have an alcoholic content of between 5 and 6 percent and was to be produced in April, 1996. They were sold at Harrods for £50 per bottle, the proceeds going towards further research into Egyptian beer making.
Want to try brewing your own Ancient Egyptian inspired beer? Have a look at The Egyptian Beer Experiment for some recipes!
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Wine
… May he (Osiris) give water, a cool breeze and wine to the spirit …
– 18th Dynasty, from the stela of Thuthmose the doorkeeper
Wine, known as yrp to the Egyptians, was very expensive. It was drunk by those who could afford it, used as offerings to the gods and to the dead. The resurrected pharaoh was known as one “one of the four gods … who live on figs and who drink wine.” Even in later times, the Greek tourists report that wine was confines to the wealthy. Though wine, too, was occasionally given out as pay – the workmen at the pyramids at Giza had four kinds of wine to drink, along with five kinds of beer.
The word wine, funnily enough, predates the word for vine, so it seems that the Egyptians imported wine long before they imported grapes to the Nile valley.
The Egyptians has several different kinds of wine, some of which have been commended by ancient authors for their excellent qualities. That of Mareotis was the most esteemed, and in the greatest quantity.
Athenæus tells us that the Mareotic wine was “white, its quality excellent, and it is sweet and light with a fragrant bouquet; it is by no means astringent, nor does it affect the head.” Strabo wrote that the wine was also known for its long shelf-life.
Other wines of note to the Greeks were Teniotic, Thebiad, Sebennytic, Thasian, Manfesian, Ecbolada (forbidden to newly married brides!) This was only a small sample of wines made throughout Egypt. It seems, though, that the favourite wine from the Old Kingdom onwards was red wine. The white wine that the Greeks favoured was only produced from the Middle Kingdom onwards.
In ancient party scenes on the tomb walls, wine is seen offered to the guests. It seems that a lot of wine was consumed at the banquets, because there are a number of images depicting the guests throwing up or being carried home because of their drunken state – drunkenness was seen as an amusement to the ancient Egyptians!
At celebrations of drunkenness to the Eye of Ra, wine was also drunk by those who could afford it. The temples associated with the goddesses had their own vineyards to make sure that the celebrants had enough wine for the rituals. Wine was also an acceptable offering to the gods.
The search for the recipes and wine types of the Egyptians have yielded mixed results within the delta region of the Nile. Due to the climatic changes since the time of ancient Egypt, quests for the right vine, the right mixture of materials, and other factors, have left the modern renditions of ancient Egyptian wine with something to be desired … It was not until 1931 that the first modern rendition of ancient Egyptian wine was produced. This rendition of the ancient wine continues to be made in the present day, however, many wine connoisseurs consider it of poor taste. Regardless, the taste of the ancients is still present 3,500 years later.
Egypt had vineyards all over the country, though most of them were in the Nile delta. Grapes were hand picked, then placed in a vat for traditional treading on the grapes, or in special wine presses. The resultant juice was captured in open jars, where the fermentation process took place. When ready, these jugs were sealed and marked with the date, name of the vineyard and the person in charge of the wine. Aged in these earthenware jars, they had to be broken when it was time to decant the wine, and then poured into yet another earthen jar. When the wine was ready to be served, it was poured into shallow vessels with a short stem.
In the Pyramid Texts the god Shezmu (Sesmu) brings the king grape juice for wine production. Although he was a god of wine and of the wine press, he was also a vengeful god – in a papyrus from the XXI Dynasty, Shezmu his cruel side was shown by two hawk deities twisting the net of the wine press which contains three human heads instead of grapes. Hathor, another deity of wine (and beer), was also both a goddess of love and a goddess of destruction.
References
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Egyptian Life by Miriam Stead (Harvard University Press, 1986)
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Women in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Watterson (St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
Humor in Ancient Egypt
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 19, 2008 — Many people will picture ancient Egypt visually as slaves building the Great Pyramids. It is was comes to one’s an the common man’s mind’s eye, though today we believe that the Pyramids were probably not built primarily with slave labor. Still, the concept does not lend itself easily to smiling, happy faces. In fact there seems to have been little outlet for humor within the confines of official funerary and religious art and literature. Yet we know that ancient Egyptians had a since of humor, even as they toiled to build the ancient monumental buildings. In fact, they even had a god of humor in the form of Bes, who was a fat, bearded dwarf; ugly to the point of being comical.
It is difficult for us to analyze humor even in different modern cultures, much less those of ancient civilizations. Humor and satire are most often associated with the subversion and undermining of normal social decorum, but if the normal social decorum is not fully understood, then the humor or satire will be lost to us.
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Figure 1. Humor in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
Most humor comes to us from “unofficial” sources, such as rough sketches and Ostraca, though occasionally we even find official humor, though it most often regards matters outside the Egyptian royal audience. Notable is the scene at the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri that portrays the overweight figure of the queen of Punt, followed by a small donkey. The caption reads, “the donkey that had to carry the queen”, and apparently the ordinary Egyptians thought this was funny as well, for they repeated the drawing in rough sketch clearly copied from the original.
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Figure 2. Humor in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
In a number of texts, scribes corned just about every other trade (with the exception of their own). Some of this was clearly meant to be humorous, though considering the ego that scribes clearly enjoyed, some of the text were probably out and out scorn. Even in private tombs, there was sometimes mockery of some of the laborers.
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Figure 3. Humor in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
Probably the most obvious and one of the largest bodies of humor are sketches and paintings depicting animals such as mice and cats engaged in typical human activities. They are shown beating captives, driving chariots, and in one papyrus, a lion and antelope are shown playing a board game while a cat is shown herding geese. It has been suggested that these might have been illustrations for animal fables, but if this were true, no text has survived as proof.
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Figure 4. Humor in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
We are likely to never know the full extent of ancient Egyptian humor. Today we know have considerable knowledge of the royal and religious aspects of ancient Egypt. But while our understanding of common Egyptians is increasing, there is yet much to be learned. It was probably the common Egyptians who formulated most humor, and who probably needed it the most in order to deal with their lives. Today, Egypt remains a society with a great sense of humor.
References
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Women in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Watterson (St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
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The History of Middle Eastern and Western Dress, Britanica.com
Old Age in Ancient Egypt
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 19, 2008 — A massage from the Insinger Papyrus, in the Ptolemaic period:
A man spends ten years as a child before he understands death and life,
He spends another ten years acquiring the instruction by which he will be able to live.
He spends another ten years earning and gaining possessions by which to live.
He spends another ten years up to old age, when his heart becomes his counselor.
There remain sixty years of the whole life, which Thoth has assigned to the man of god.
From the age of 40 to the expected 100, a man could enjoy the best years of his life, using the fruits of his labor and knowledge. The Egyptians regarded the attainment of this age as evidence of special divine favor and the reward for blameless behavior. Old people were respected for their experience and wisdom and their wise advice received close attention. The Instruction of Ani says “Never remain seated if a man older than yourself is standing.”
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Ideal and Real Life Expectancy
There is no wonder that older people could be seen as almost magical. Today, with modern medicine, we surely think very differently than our more ancient counterparts. Now, people may reach maturity and beyond without ever having even known anyone close to them who has died. But this was certainly not the case in ancient Egypt, when children frequently never made it to adulthood, women often died in childbirth and simple diseases very treatable today could take a loved one at any given moment. In fact, one of the real challenges of understanding ancient times is that it is frequently very difficult for us today to understand the mindset of ancient people, for our modern experience is so very different. Rather than expecting old age, one must have had to prepare themselves for the death of a wife or a child and then to move on.
And yet, one hundred-and-ten years seems to be the ideal Egyptian life-span. There are 27 places in documents where this figure crops up, and it had its widest acceptance during the 19th and 20th Dynasties. King Pepi II of the 6th Dynasty certainly came close, since we know of events that took place in the 94th year of his reign. Ptahhotep, who was vizier to King Djedkare Isesi of the 5th Dynasty, and two others individuals, are reputed to have lived to that age as well. An Old Kingdom nomarch during the reign of Pepi II was named Pepiankh. He is referred to as Neferka in his tomb, where the following text is found:
I spent a lifetime until a hundred years among the living, in possession of my faculties.
Though there seems to be no artistic representations of old people in the Old or Middle Kingdom periods, the Instructions of Ptahhotep, which date to the Old Kingdom, says this about old age:
Age is here, old age arrived,
Feebleness come, weakness grows,
Childlike one sleeps all day,
Eyes are dim, ears deaf,
Strength is waning through weariness,
The mouth, silenced, speaks not.
The heart, void, recalls not the past.
The bones ache throughout.
In the New Kingdom art begins to represent bent figures with round backs, folds of fat on the chest and belly and wrinkled faces, leaning on sticks. In the tomb of Paheri, a mayor of el-Kab and Esna under Tuthmosis I, there is a wall painting showing a series of agricultural scenes. One scene shows a pot-bellied old man with a receding hairline, combing flax. Convinced of the value of his performance, he says to a younger colleague who brings a bundle: “If you bring me thousands of bundles, I will still comb them.” The younger man, unimpressed, replies, “Hurry up, don’t chatter so much, you bald yokel.”
Though the Middle Kingdom funerary stelae and tombs contain biographical information, there are no dates of birth or death or ages mentioned. In the New Kingdom there is at least one reference to the age a man achieved, along with his successful career. Bekenkhons, the High Priest of Amun under Ramesses II, describes his career in detail, indicating that he was apparently active until at least his seventies, probably into his eighties. It is not until the Ptolemaic Period that dates of birth, dates of marriage, and dates of death and sometimes burial, are added. These show the average age at death was 54 years for men and 58 for women.
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Household Units
Today, when a new household is begun, by either marriage, co-partnership, or simply an adult child moving out and starting fresh, it is not always the case that the now aged parents remain as part of the household. That may have been the case in Ancient Egypt as well, but there was a duty and responsibility for the adult children, particularly the oldest son when applicable, to ensure that the parents would be properly buried and their funerary needs met.
One entry from the workmen’s town of Kahun in ancient Egypt shows that a household could include one’s aged parents. The household list reads:
“The soldier, Dhuti’s son Hori;
His wife, Satsopdu’s daughter Shepset;
Their son Snefru;
Hori’s mother Harekni;
Her daughters, Qatsennut, Mekten, Ese, Rudet, and Satsnefru.”
In general, children, daughters as well as sons, inherited all possessions from their parents. One man named Nekhtefmut, a priest of Amun during the 22nd Dynasty, handed over his properties to his daughter during his lifetime, in recognition of the fact that she had taken care of her parents in their old age.
Conversely, a lady named Naunakhte drew up her last will, and in it stated that she had brought up her nine children, given them everything appropriate to their position, but now that they were all grown, they did nothing to care for her. So she disinherited one son and three daughters. Of another daughter who would inherit, Naunakhte said: “She shall have her share in the division of all my property, except for the emmer-wheat, which my three male children and one daughter have given to me.”
It should be noted that Naunakhte had much property and was not placed in a dependency situation, however, it was clear that she at least (and possibly the custom of the time as well) expected that her children provide her with some notice of their care for her, filial duties and such.
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Options when Childless
So children were the blessing to their parents, to care for them as they grew older, and adults longed to have children to ensure their later care. If a couple was childless, they had the options of adoption, divorce and remarriage, and even polygamy.
Adoption was certainly done legally, with formal papers drawn up in front of witnesses, all parties properly named, but it was also possibly done informally, as indicated by a letter from Deir-el-Medina. It states: “He who has no children should get for himself some orphan to bring him up. Then he will be the person who pours water upon his hands, as a genuine eldest son.”
A man could also divorce a childless woman and remarry. Divorce was fairly easy to accomplish; since there was no ceremonial wedding, the bond could be dissolved with no formality. However, it should be noted that there were couples who, though childless, remained together.
The Egyptians tended to be monogamous, but polygamy was not expressly forbidden. There exist a few instances that polygamy did occur in the upper classes. One instance is that of Mery-aa from the 9th Dynasty. In his tomb six women are depicted, all called his wife. Five had children. The most important wife interestingly enough was the childless one.
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Pensions
In this age of Social Security and employment pensions, we are accustomed to the state and our employers looking out for our welfare. What happened in ancient Egypt?
The workmen of Deir-el-Medina worked for the state: they built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings near Thebes. A limestone ostracon lists the quantities of grain that served as basic wages. Four women are also named. They are not noted herein as slaves, though female slaves are appropriately noted as such in other lists. Perhaps these were widows of workmen and were thus being included in compensation. Even if this is true, however, it is not clear if these women were elderly.
The older men of the village, explicitly noted as “old”, received a monthly grain-ration as well, though theirs was lower than that of the ordinary workmen.
The state also supported its soldiers, primarily by allotting them plots of land, together with agricultural workers. There is also evidence that elderly soldiers were given honorary positions in temples. One such was Maya, who served under Tuhtmosis III. He was given the “gold of honor” to reward gallant soldiers. He was awarded the title “governor and chief of the prophets.” Another soldier named Amenemone, a general in the 18th Dynasty, was later appointed steward of a funerary temple of Tuthmosis III. Other examples also exist, and not all may have been honorary appointments.
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Old Age and Administrative Positions
Lastly, in an age today where it seems to be a “new” and startling idea that the elderly might still be capable, talented, and have much to offer, it should be noted that many top officials in the ancient Egyptian government were on in years.
One example is Hemiunu, the Vizier and Overseer of Works for King Khufu. He was head of the entire administration of the state, responsible for the building works on temples and the royal funerary complex, for which he had authority to call up the corvee. He directed the state finances, organized expeditions into the desert and to foreign countries—in short, he was second only to the King himself. Hemiunu’s tomb is one of the largest in Giza, and his life-size limestone statue is a marvel. Clearly Hemiunu was no young man.
Our second statesman, Uni, served under three Kings of the 6th Dynasty. He must have lived at least 60 years. His autobiography was inscribed on his tomb-chapel at Abydos. He was instrumental in discovering a plot within the royal harem that involved the Royal Consort. Uni acted along as judge, though he was not Vizier. Clearly he had the trust of his King to handle such a delicate and significant matter. And later he was placed at the head of a large army which five times defeated the “Sand-dwellers”, inhabitants of Syro-Palestine.
Though there are many examples throughout Dynastic history of aged administrators after Hemiunu and Uni, in both noble and workers’ classes, the last here noted comes from near the very end of Egypt’s independent history in its ancient times. Udjahorresnet became a chief physician under the first Persian rulers of the 27th Dynasty. He began his career under Amasis, a ruler of the 26th Dynasty, and lived into the reign of Psammetichus III, as the commander of the fleet (already middle-aged most likely.) Cambyses then appointed him to be chief Physician and came to live in the palace, composing Cambyses’ royal titulary.
This personal record is interesting not only for its evidence that growing older did not mean going out to pasture, but also historically. Cambyses has been painted as a veritable monster of depravity. Here he is shown as attempting to reconcile the Egyptians to his regime by assimilating his activities to the traditional model of Egyptian kingship.
As further proof that Udjahorresnet was still celebrated long after his death, a statue was found that was made 177 years after his death to replace one that had been found to be decaying.
References
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Life in Ancient Egypt by Eugen Strouhal
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Getting Old in Ancient Egypt by Rosalind M and Jac. J. Janssen
Rahotep and Nofret
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 18, 2008 — Rahotep was a high official who lived at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th Dynasty. According to his titulary, he was the physical son of the king.
Although not accepted by all Egyptologists, it is generally assumed that, based on the placement of his mastaba at Meidum, Rahotep’s father was Snofru, the founder of the 4th Dynasty. It is, however, sometimes argued that Rahotep’s father was Huni, the last king of the 3rd Dynasty, or that the title ‘physical son of the king’ was purely honorific and does not imply that Rahotep’s father was a king at all. There have indeed been examples of the title ’son of the king’ being honorific, but the addition of ‘physical’ in Rahotep’s case does seem to suggest that Rahotep was a prince. The name of Rahotep’s mother is not known.
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Figure 1. Nofret. Note that the artist has highlighted the fact that Nofret wears a wig by painting part of her real her on her forehead.(Click to magnify figure) |
He was also the ‘great priest of Heliopolis’ and a ‘general’, as well as the ‘lord of Pe’, one of the holy cities in Ancient Egypt.
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Figure 2. The statues of Rahotep Note the moustache on Rahotep’s statue,which is rather unusual in Egyptian art. (Click to magnify figure) |
He was married to Nofret, who bore the title ‘known to the king’, which indicates that she was part of the royal entourage. The parents of Nofret are not known and neither is any offspring of Rahotep and Nofret.
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Figure 3. The statues of Rahotep (left) and Nofret (right). Note the moustache on Rahotep’s statue,which is rather unusual in Egyptian art. Also note that the artist has highlighted the fact that Nofret wears a wig by painting part of her real her on her forehead. (Click to magnify figure) |
The quality and beauty of two marvellously preserved seated statues of Rahotep and Nofret, found in 1871 in their brick mastaba at Meidum, confirm their high rank. It is not unlikely that they were created by highly skilled sculptors working for the royal ateliers. The faces of the statues express the same solemness and self-assuredness as the royal statues of the same dynasty. The realism in these statues is increased by the glass inlaid eyes and their realistic sizes: the statue of Rahotep measures 1.20m in height, Nofret’s 1.18m. More personal details, such as the slight frown on Rahotep’s face, and his moustache, add to the impression that the statues were intended as idealised portraits.
References
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Women in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Watterson (St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
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The History of Middle Eastern and Western Dress, Britanica.com
Hair in Ancient Egypt
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 18, 2008 — There was probably no better time for hair than in ancient Egypt. You could dye it, cut it, braid it, shave it, weave charms into it—and then there were the wigs—of countless designs. The ancient Egyptians– both men and women–were known for hating facial and body hair and used all kinds of shaving implements to get rid of it. But hair on the head? They loved it—and had so many ways of showing it.
“Human hair was of great importance in ancient Egypt,” writes Egyptologist Joann Fletcher, Ph.D., for Egypt Revealed magazine. “Rich or poor of both genders treated hair—their own or locks obtained elsewhere—as a highly pliable means of self-expression.”
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Figure 1. Hair in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
But hair styles were more than self-expression. Wigs, which the Egyptians were very fond of, not only allowed for ornate hair decorating, but also helped the ancient Egyptians with cleanliness, protected the (shaved) scalp from the sun and kept the head cool and also prevented that modern-day scourge—head lice, according to Fletcher. She writes, “Our research has turned up the world’s oldest head lice, which bedeviled an Egyptian from Abydos about 5000 years ago.”
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Figure 2. Hair in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
How do we know about ancient Egyptian hair? Egypt’s hot and dry conditions naturally preserved the soft tissues of the body after death, including the nails, skin and hair. This is true even of poor people who were simply buried in the sand and not mummified. From this process we have seen the many different ways the ancient Egyptians adorned their hair. There is archaeological evidence that hair extensions and dyes were used in Egypt at least as early as 3400 B.C.
We have also recovered many different tomb paintings and statues that show elaborate hair styles. A most interesting feature on many of the statues is the artistic rendering of a bit of the person’s natural hair peeking through under the wig, indicating that wigs were a desired form of hair ornament and were an obvious supplement to the hair—and not used to replace the natural hair.
It is the tomb paintings show the hair in “motion.” Many paintings show women with their ornate wigs topped by a perfumed cone, often worn during festive occasions, which melted and cascaded over the wig as the evening went on. The tomb paintings also show men and women getting their hair done by other individuals, probably servants. There is evidence that the Egyptians cut their hair with very sharp blades as early as 3000 B.C.
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Figure 3. Hair in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
What is most intriguing, according to Fletcher, is that women’s wigs were less elaborate than those of men’s. Therefore, they may have appeared more natural looking. One exception was a female mummy discovered in the Valley of the Golden Mummies with a mask on her head with a unique hairstyle at the back arranged in a round cake-like shape, according to Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass.
For the most part, women used hair extensions to fill out thinning hair or just make regular tresses more luxuriant. Wigs and extensions were almost always made of human hair—either collected from the individual or bought or traded from someone else. Wigs and extensions were fashioned with a variety of clever weaves and knots that were secured into or onto the real hair (or scalp) with beeswax and resin. Many wigs had an internal padding of date-palm fiber that gave the wigs their famous fullness.
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Figure 4. Hair in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
Braids were a favorite form of hair extension, and some were woven into intricate designs to give more length and greater style. According to Fletcher, a man buried at Mostagedda had used thread to fasten lengths of human hair to his own. The wavy brown hair of Queen Meryet-Amun had been filled out around the crown and temples with tapered braids. She was also buried, as many well-to-do women, with a duplicate set of braids.
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Figure 5. Hair in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
The ancient Egyptians hated gray hair and would use a variety of methods to eliminate it. Sometimes the hair would be dyed after death. The dye of choice was vegetable henna, which, five thousand years later is still used by many native Egyptians (and people abroad) for the same purpose. In one mummy, the henna dyed the natural dark brown hair an auburn color, while turning the unpigmented white hairs a bright orange.
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Figure 6. Hair in Ancient Egypt (Click to magnify figure) |
Art was a part of everyday life of the ancient Egyptians. And it is clear that they considered their hair as a supreme form of self-art which had endless possibilities. Again, we can thank the skill of these ancient artisans and the climate for allowing us to still enjoy what they did thousands of years ago.
References
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Atlas of Ancient Egypt Baines, John; Malek, Jaromir 1980 Les Livres De France None Stated
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Life of the Ancient Egyptians Strouhal, Eugen 1992 University of Oklahoma Press ISBN 0-8061-2475-x
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Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, The Shaw, Ian 2000 Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-815034-2
Kids in Ancient Egypt
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 18, 2008 — They owned dolls with real hair knotted into the heads, they played ball and stick games, they ran around naked until puberty, and imitated their mothers and fathers at their work at home or in the field. These are the children of ancient Egypt. Although they were kids like kids of every age and place, we have discovered some very intriguing things about the lives of ancient Egyptian children.
- Ancient babies
First, you were considered fortunate to be born and survive to age one in ancient Egypt. Many women died in childbirth and many infants died within days, weeks and months after birth from infections and other diseases. To protect herself and her newborn child, an ancient Egyptian mother may have kept protective deities in her homes, such as Bastet—the cat goddess of fertility. She also wore special amulets, such as the Eye of Horus, to ward off evil spirits.
Children—both boys and girls–were precious to ancient Egyptian mothers and fathers. However, great rejoicing by the family and neighbors, always, followed the birth of a boy; this was less so for the birth of girls. There is evidence that most boys were circumcised.
The mother usually named the child. Many times, the name turned out to be wishes or cries uttered by the mother at the precise moment of birth. Many girls were called nefret, meaning “pretty.” A baby boy might be given the name of his uncle or grandfather in the hopes that he would resemble them.
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Figure 1. An ancient Egyptian family (Click to magnify figure) |
Babies were usually nursed for three years in ancient Egypt. Rich families often hired a wet nurse who became a very important part of the family. The ancient Egyptians carried their babies around on their hips or on their back in slings as they went about their work. The average ancient Egyptian family probably ended up with five or six kids.
Many babies wore protective amulets around their necks. Parents chanted many spells over their children:
“The child should be safe from diseases,
Foreigners, bad-wishing Egyptians
and dangerous waters.”
There were also wishes, many written into the amulets worn by children, hoping safe trips in the future, and that little girls would grow up to conceive children of both sexes.
- Clothes
From what we know from paintings and statues, kids—both boys and girls—mostly ran around naked until puberty. Another distinct sign of childhood was the shaved head with a side lock—often braided–on the right side of the head. In fact, children are often depicted in ancient Egyptian artwork as standing naked near their parents, sucking their right index finger and wearing the sidelock.
In the Middle Kingdom (2040 to 1991 BCE), it appears that children wore linen clothes similar to adults, especially in the cooler months. But even if the kids were naked, they wore jewelry—earrings, collars, bracelets, armlets and anklets. Girls also wore hair ornaments. One relief shows a catfish amulet dangling from a young girl’s sidelock. In the New Kingdom (1570 to 1070 BCE), there is a wide range of hairstyles shown on kids.
- Toys and games
Ancient Egyptian children loved to play. Tomb scenes show that youngsters kept several kinds of pets—dogs, kittens, ducks and pigeons. Mirror handles show young girls with pets in their arms. They also played with the family livestock of goats and cows.
The kids had plenty of toys to play with, also. Rich kids, of course, had more types of toys and perhaps more time to play with them. Ragdolls, various kinds of balls of wood or leather, throwing sticks and painted wooden dolls with moveable arms and legs are some of the toys ancient Egyptian kids enjoyed.
- Learning
As soon as they could walk around, kids helped their parents and imitated the life of an adult. Girls learned household chores and boys learned how to tend the fields with their fathers. But both girls and boys played and helped in the fields.
In general, girls did not attend school, although we have some evidence that girls from wealthy families may have been literate. At the age of four, a boy began being trained by his father in his particular craft. Royal children were taught reading, writing and mathematics in the palace. The kids (boys) of wealthy parents could join temple schools and become scribes—a very prestigious profession—or army officers. Boys who attended these schools started at the age of four and kept going until for ten or twelve years before being assigned a position. Often the boy’s father was instrumental in deciding the subject matter of his son’s education.
Alas, the carefree childhood of most ancient Egyptian kids was over by the time they reached puberty. By age twelve to fourteen, they would be married and begin to have children of their own. Even though the ancient Egyptian life span was short (average—40 years or so), new parents joyfully brought forth children, remembering the love they received from their own parents.
References
- Growing Up in Ancient Egypt by Rosalind M. and Jac. J. Janssen
- The Rubicon Press, 1990
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For Kids: Growing Up in Ancient Egypt by Rosalie David (Eagle Books, 1994)
Medicine of the Pharaohs: For Every Malady a Cure
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 18, 2008 — Of all the branches of science pursued in ancient Egypt, none achieved such popularity as medicine as it was based on an integrated scientific methodology and a system of medical schools. Under this system, the first of its kind in human history, the first school of medicine dated back to the first Dynasty followed by other reputed schools such as Per Bastet in the New Kingdom and at Abydos and Sais in the late period.
- Medical Training
Physicians learnt their profession at schools called Houses of Life. They were no doubt given some practical experience, but chiefly they had to study what was already written. They used to administer their treatments in accordance with a written law composed by earlier famous physicians. Medical texts were used not only as a fount of professional knowledge but also as a safeguard against possible failure.
- Categories of Physicians
Priests were the first to practice medicine as some doctors belonged to the priesthood. Some again were counted among the scribes, as shown in such titles as “chief doctor and scribe of the word of God. Many enjoyed ecclesiastical as well as lay titles. Like other professions, doctors had their own hierarchy. Besides ordinary doctors there were senior doctors, inspectors, overseers and masters of physicians and the Chief of Physicians of the South and the North, a kind of minister of health. Royal and palace doctors had special hierarchy and titles.
There was even a degree of specialization quite remarkable for the time. Each physician used to treat one disease, and no more. There were plenty of physicians everywhere. Some were eye-doctors, some dealt with the head, others with teeth or the abdomen, and some with hidden maladies. Only members of the high strata of society were allowed to learn and practice this honorable profession. Moreover, a physician had to learn the science of drugs especially botany.
Ancient Egyptians held physicians in so much high esteem that they raised Imhotep, the great physician (2700 BC) after his death to a sacred status as the god of medicine.
- Historical Glimpse
According to the ancient historian Biliny, Egyptians used to examine bodies of the dead to know the cause of death. This should not look strange for such people, traditionally accustomed, as they were, to thorough pursuit of knowledge. According to the American historian Breasted, an authority on ancient Egyptian history, ancient Egyptian surgeons were highly skilled as shown in inscriptions. Clean wounds were treated by stitching and adhesive bandages. Other wounds were treated by approximating edges on the first day then with honey and astringent herbs. Moreover, fractures were successfully treated with splints. They used many methods to diagnose pregnancy and to know the gender of embryo before birth. They were the first to use Arabian gum in birth control. They were the first to use delivery stool, with special attention to pediatrics and the patient nutrition. It also appears that for some people, at least, there was a system of free medical aid.
Ancient Egyptian chemists equally excelled in preparing and extracting drugs from mineral, botanical and, animal substances. However ancient Egyptian pharmacopoeia was mainly based on herbs especially vegetables and other foods. Drugs were used in pills and ointment form and drops. Dressings and deodorant preparations were also used. This is clearly shown in the Ebers papyrus which includes names of medical herbs of great medical benefit.
- Diagnosis Methods
It is both interesting and surprising to know that the diagnosis methods currently used in the medical profession are no much different than those used by ancient Egyptian physicians several centuries ago.
According to the Berlin Papyrus No. 154, an ancient report reads as follows:
The patient suffers a great epigastric pain. He feels a heavy, hot and inflamed body. He complains of being unable to tolerate his clothes and feels they do not warm him. He feels thirsty during the night. His saliva has the taste of unripe fruits. His muscles pain him as if he walked for a long distance.
- Conception of Human Body
The Egyptians conception of the human body, then, was as a network of interconnecting channels and analogous to the branches of the Nile and the artificial canals of their own country. Notions of physiology and disease were all anchored in the concept of the heart as the center of the organism. The heart was one’s partner: it spoke to a person in his or her solitude. It was at the same time the engine of all the bodily functions, not only of one cardinal function, the circulation, as modern science revealed. From the heart proceeded channels (metu) linking all parts of the body together.
These channels, the Egyptians believed, conveyed not only the blood, but also air (reaching the heart from the nose, they thought), tears, saliva, mucus, sperm, urine, nutriment and feces, as well as harmful substances conceived to be the agents of pain and illness. Not only blood vessels were considered as metu, but also the respiratory tract, tear duct, ducts of various glands, spermatic duct, the muscles, tendons and ligaments.
References
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Women in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Watterson (St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
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The History of Middle Eastern and Western Dress, Britanica.com
The Ancient Egyptian Bride
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 18, 2008 — For all that religion played in ancient Egyptian life, there was one place it had no role at all: the Egyptian marriage. There wasn’t even a civil ceremony. Rather, marriage simply took place when two young people decided to move in together (usually the bride would move in with her husband) and start a common household. But that doesn’t mean that marriage was not taken seriously. From the paintings we have found, letters that were left from grieved widowers to their deceased mates, and from statues from all periods of ancient Egyptian history, we see that marriage and a close family played an integral role in ancient Egypt.
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Love and Marriage
A bride would be young, about 14 or 15 years old. Her husband could be anywhere from 17 to 20—or older if he was divorced or a widower. The ancient Egyptians were encouraged to marry young, considering that the life span at this time was relatively short.
“Take a wife while you are young,
that she may make a son for you
while you are youthful…” (Instructions of Ani)
Many marriages were arranged with parental consent needed, as they have been in all societies, especially among the upper classes. But the abundance of love poetry between young people suggests that many couples did fall in love and choose each other as mates. Women played an important role in arranging a marriage. A suitor sometimes used a female go-between to approach the girl’s mother, not her father.
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Figure 1. The Ancient Egyptian Bride (King tutankhamen and his wife in a pose from his throne chaire) (Click to magnify figure) |
Interestingly, one of the most affectionate titles one could call their love was “brother” or “sister” in ancient Egypt. This had nothing to do with sibling relations, but led many archaeologists and scholars to wrongly assume that most ancient Egyptians married their siblings. Actually, this usually occurred only among royalty, and was not a common occurrence otherwise. So we find part of a love poem written by a young ancient Egyptian woman which tells us that, “My brother torments my heart with his voice, he makes sickness take hold of me; he is neighbor to my mother’s house, and I cannot get to him!”
Museums are filled with statues and paintings showing husbands and wives with their arms around each other’s waists, holding hands or offering each other flowers or food. Love and affection were indeed a part of the Egyptian marriage, and our Egyptian bride could expect to be loved and respected by her husband.
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The Marriage Settlement
It wasn’t necessary, but most marriages had a contract drawn up between the parties. The poorer classes probably did not do this because they probably had few possessions to consider and also the cost of a scribe would have been prohibitive.
Marriage settlements were drawn up between a woman’s father and her prospective husband, although many times the woman herself was part of the contract. The sole purpose of the contract was to establish the rights of both parties to maintenance and possessions during the marriage and after divorce if it should occur, very similar to today’s prenuptial agreements. What is really fascinating is the equality women held with men in their rights to own, manage and receive property.
If the marriage ended in divorce, the rights of the wife were equally protected. Generally, she was entitled to support from her husband, especially if she was rejected by him through no fault of her own. The amount might equal one third of the settlement or even more. If the bride ended up committing adultery (which was extremely frowned upon for both men and women), she still had certain rights to maintenance from her former husband. Monogamy, except for some of the higher classes and royalty, seemed to be the rule for most ancient Egyptian couples.
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Figure 2. The Ancient Egyptian Bride (The dwarf seneb and his family) (Click to magnify figure) |
Here’s a standard marriage contract that was found among the numerous records left by the ancient Egyptians. It contained:
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The date (the year of the reign of the ruling monarch)
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The contractors (future husband and wife)
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The names of both sets of parents
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Husband’s profession (wife’s rarely mentioned)
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The scribe who drew up the contract
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The names of the witnesses
Then the details of the settlement followed. Here is the beginning of a marriage contract from 219 BC:
“The Blemmyann, born in Egypt, son of Horpais,
whose mother is Wenis, has said to the woman
Tais, daughter of the Khahor, whose mother is
Tairerdjeret: I have made you a married woman.
As your woman’s portion, I give you two pieces of
silver…If I dismiss you as wife and dislike you and
prefer another woman to you as wife, I will give you
two pieces of silver in addition to the two pieces of
silver mentioned above… and I will give you one third
of each and everything that will accrue to you and me.”
The finished document was given to a third party for safekeeping or kept among the records of the local temple.
One of the expectations of the ancient Egyptian marriage was the bringing forth of children. Sometimes there would be a trial marriage for a year to see if pregnancy would occur. This was all stipulated in the marriage contract.
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Figure 3. The Ancient Egyptian Bride (Click to magnify figure) |
In some parts of ancient Egyptian society, men were permitted to have concubines. Naturally, it worked out better for the husband if his bride approved. But concubines did not have the same protective status as wives. And adultery, even in households where there were concubines, was strongly discouraged.
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The Wedding Day
The day of the marriage was really quite simple. The bride merely moved her belongings into the home of her husband. He might be living alone or with his parents. A common term used to indicate marriage was grgp, meaning to set up a common household.
So what did the bride wear? She probably wore a long dress or tunic made of linen, which may have been covered from head to toe with bead-net. If she owned any gold, silver or lapis, she probably adorned herself with those, too. Unless, of course, she just dressed “down” for moving day.
Even though there was no official ceremony known to us, knowing how much the ancient Egyptians loved music, dance and food, there was bound to be family celebrations in honor of the uniting couple.
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Figure 4. The Ancient Egyptian Bride (Click to magnify figure) |
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Divorce Ancient Egyptian Style
What if it didn’t work out? Divorce was as easily initiated as marriage. Divorce could be brought about by either party. It was a private matter and the government took no interest in it.
The most common reasons for a husband to divorce his wife included the inability to bear children, especially a son; the desire to marry someone else, or that she simply stopped pleasing him. A woman could divorce her husband for mental or physical cruelty or adultery. In some cases, if the woman chose to divorce, she forfeited her right to communal property.
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Figure 5. The Ancient Egyptian Bride (Rahotep and nofret) (Click to magnify figure) |
Once divorced, both men and women could remarry as soon as they wished. From the archives we have found, it seems that they readily did so. It’s also apparent that our ancient bride, with the ease of marriage and divorce and the financial protection she generally received, had a better time of it than some brides in modern times.
References
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Egyptian Life by Miriam Stead (Harvard University Press, 1986)
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Women in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Watterson (St. Martin’s Press, 1991)
Medications in Ancient Egypt: Some medicinal plants used by Pharaohs
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 18, 2008 — Ancient Egyptians were as equally familiar with pharmacy as they were with medicine. They conceived health and sickness as an unceasing fight between good and evil. According to historical records, ancient Egyptians involved in the medical and pharmaceutical profession used to recite certain incantations while preparing or administering medications. Ancient Egyptians were also familiar with drug preparation from plants and herbs such as cumin, fennel, caraway, castor, aloe, safflower, glue, pomegranates botanical, mineral substances and linseed oil.
Other drugs were made of mineral substances such as copper salts, plain salt and lead. Eggs, liver, hairs, milk, animal horns and fat, honey and wax were also used in this connection.
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Accurate Diagnosis
Ancient Egyptians were fully aware that accurate diagnosis of diseases and their symptoms was fundamental for effective treatment.
An ancient papyrus says, “”If you find some one suffering from constipation, a pale face and a rapidly palpitating heart and, upon examination, you observe high temperature and flatulence, these could be symptoms of ulcer caused by eating some hot spicy food. Then prepare medicine empties and cleanses his stomach. Soak some sweet ale with some flour for one night and let the patient have this syrup four days.
Prescription No. 201, contained in Ebers papyrus talks about castor saying, “” Soak some castor roots in water until they dissolve, and then apply the solution to the head of a patient who has a headache and he will immediately recover. If a patient complains of maldigestion (dyspepsia), let him chew some castor fruits together with ale. To help a woman’s hair grow, grind and knead castor fruits until they into a lump, soak it in oil and then apply it to her head.”
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Dozens of Drugs for Each Disease
During the Modern Kingdom, medical prescriptions were so varied that dozens of them were available for certain diseases. A physician has to choose the most effective medication, based on prescribed criteria.. Some drugs were rapid-acting, while others were slow-acting. Some drugs were exclusively applicable during specific seasons. For example, there was an eye medication that was exclusively used during the first two months of winter; another during the third and fourth months, while a third was applicable all the year round.
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Medications for All Age Groups
In deciding a specific drug for a patient, a physician normally had to take into account the age of the patient. For treating patients suffering from retention of urine, an adult was given a mixture of water, ale sediments, green dates and some other vegetables, while a child was given an old piece of papyrus soaked in oil applied as a hot band around his stomach. While preparing drugs, chemists had to take into consideration patient’s age. Ancient Egyptian physician noted that “” If the young patient is mature enough, he can take tablets, but if he is still in diapers (an infant), tablets should be dissolved into wet nurse’s milk”
After preparing a drug, a chemist had to test its quality. Oftentimes, he would jot down some annotations on the margin of a medical recipe, such as ” This is good”, I’ve seen and often made it” and ” And look! This is a real drug, made as a result of examining Oon- Nefri Temple manuscripts’. Some drugs derived their fame from the fact that it cured a reputed figure of the time. For example, a specific eye ointment was highly popular with ancient Egyptians, simply because it cured one of their kings.
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Godly Medications
Certain drugs were particularly popular as a universal remedy for all diseases, because they were thought to be made by deities. Of these, they believed that god of the sun Ra’, who in his old age suffered from several diseases, made drugs to cure all men.
The truth is that ancient Egyptian priests and doctors originally made those drugs. One of these was composed of honey, wax and a collection of 14 botanical substances mixed together in equal measures. Of this mixture an adhesive plaster that cured all bodily maladies was made. However, in recognition of the effectiveness of these drugs and in honor of the deities, Egyptian physicians attributed them to the gods.
Medical prescriptions were written with high skill and erudition. A prescription usually began with a description of the medicine, e.g., ” Medicine to discharge blood out of wounds”, followed by ingredients and measures used in addition to method of preparation and usage.
In prescribing a drug, an ancient Egyptian physician sought carefully to get it into the patient’s body in different forms such as tablets, ointment or by inhaling.
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Household Drugs (pesticides)
It is interesting to note that ancient Egyptian chemists invented some other drugs, commonly known as household drugs, meant to eliminate domestic pests. A popular recipe for pest control was to spray the house with nitron water and firewood coal, mixed with ground ” pipit ” plant. Goose fat was used to protect against fly bites and fresh oil to cure mosquito bites. Other interesting recipes were made to control reptiles and rodents. For example, a dried fish or a piece of nitron placed at the entrance of a serpent’s hole, will keep it inside. A piece of cat fat spread around the house will keep rats away.
References:
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Ancient Egypt (Anatomy of a Civilization) Kemp, Barry J. 1989 Routledge ISBN 0-415-06346-9
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Ancient Gods Speak, The: A Guide to Egyptian Religion Redford, Donald B. 2002 Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515401-0
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Atlas of Ancient Egypt Baines, John; Malek, Jaromir 1980 Les Livres De France None Stated
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Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, The Wilkinson, Richard H. 2003 Thames & Hudson, LTD ISBN 0-500-05120-8
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Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, The Shaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul 1995 Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers ISBN 0-8109-3225-3
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Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo Tiradritti, Francesco, Editor 1999 Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-3276-8
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Life of the Ancient Egyptians Strouhal, Eugen 1992 University of Oklahoma Press ISBN 0-8061-2475-x
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Mummies Myth and Magic El Mahdy, Christine 1989 Thames and Hudson Ltd ISBN 0-500-27579-3
Ancient Egyptian Names
The author: Professor Yasser Metwally
INTRODUCTION
May 18, 2008 — Anyone who has studied the ancient pharaohs knows that their names were important from the earliest times through the end of ancient Egyptian history, frequently offering clues to their personality, the period in which they lived and particularly, the gods that they most worshipped. But it was not only the kings who placed great store in names. All Egyptian’s names were carefully chosen, apparently for commoners and royalty alike, though one major difference is that the names of common Egyptians were not preserved in cartouches, as were those of royalty..
At times, some of the naming techniques of the ancient Egyptians could also lead to considerable confusion. This is obvious among some kings, who had a number of different names, but at times also changed their names, particularly when they inherited or otherwise ascended to the throne of Egypt. Furthermore, some individuals seem to possibly have had different names in different parts of Egypt. It has been suggested, for example, that the first born son of Ramesses II, Amunhikhopshef, may have been called Sethikhopshjef in the north of Egypt. Hence, the god Amun of the south was used in Upper Egypt while the favored deity, Seth, was used in Lower Egypt. The possibility that people could be called one name in one location, and a different one elsewhere, has some justification in the names of gods. For example, chapter 142 of the Book of the Dead carries the heading “Knowing the names of Osiris in his every seat where he wishes to be”, and is an extensive list of geographically local versions of Osiris.
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Figure 1. Ancient Egyptian Names (Click to magnify figure) |
However, it should be noted that this may have been a complete name change, or possibly even another son of Ramesses II. Such is the confusion with ancient Egyptian names.
The most simple names in ancient Egypt were nouns or adjectives, such as Neferet, meaning “beautiful woman”. Others took the form of statements such as Rahotep, meaning “Ra is satisfied”, or Khasekhemwy, meaning “the two powers appear”.
Many ancient Egyptian names contained the name of a god. At times, the god may be assumed, so we have names that contain the phrase “god is gracious”, or “whom god loves”, but here the term god undoubtedly refers not to an abstract deity but rather to a specific, assumed deity which might be a local god, or the god to whom the parents prayed. Much of the time, the god was named.
Common words or phrases were often used in names. These included ankh (life), mery (beloved), hotep (peace), nefer (beautiful) and khenemet (one who is joined with)
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Figure 2. Ancient Egyptian Names (Click to magnify figure) |
Many names could be used by both males and females, and in these instances, an identifier, such as a hieroglyphic man or woman, was appended to the name in order to make it masculine or feminine. However, “et” on the end of a name, or sometimes in the middle of it, appears to have been a feminine identifier, and “pa-sheri” (masculine) or “ta-sherit” (feminine) was somewhat similar to the equivalent of “Junior” today. We also find Si, meaning son, or Sit, meaning daughter.
Ancient Egyptians believed in keeping honored names alive within the family. Hence, it was necessary for identification to sometimes provide a “ren nefer”, or beautiful name. Hence, the first name would be the formal name and the second name would be the known by name.
It should also be noted that Egyptian probably used nicknames not unlike we do today, either to shorten longer names or to describe a characteristic of the individual.
“In Egypt the name of a thing or person did more than express identity, it incorporated identity,” writes Stephen Quirke (Who Were the Pharaohs? 1990). The essence of the individual was encapsulated in the name given to the child at birth.
In fact, the ancient Egyptians thought that names were an essential element of the human individual, just as necessary for survival as the Ka (sustenance, life force, or double), Ba (soul) or Akh (effectiveness). Names for non-royal individuals often followed those of the rulers of the time, and often incorporated the name of a deity chosen either because they were pre-eminent at that period or were locally important in the place where the individual was born. Hence, the name of an individual is frequently a clue as to the date or geographical region in which he was born.
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Figure 3. Ancient Egyptian Names (Click to magnify figure) |
The importance of names, not merely as abstract symbols but as physical manifestations of the named phenomena themselves, is re-emphasized by the so-called Memphite Theology, inscribed on the Shabaqo (Shabaka) Stone, in which the god Ptah creates everything in the universe by pronouncing each of the names.
In the same way, the Egyptian reference works known as onomastica simply consisted of lists of names for such things as people, professions and places, without any description or definition, because it was presumed that the name or word was itself a perfect expression of the phenomenon concerned. To the ancient Egyptians, knowing the name of a thing made it familiar, gave it a place in one’s mind, reduced it to something that was manageable and could be fitted into one’s mental universe.
Like the shadow, the name was thought of as a living part of each individual, which had to be assigned immediately at birth, for otherwise it was felt that the individual would not properly come into existence. In the case of the King Lists inscribed on the walls of temples and tombs, the cult of the royal ancestor was celebrated by writing out the cartouches of past rulers, and in a sense, it was the list of names on which the cultic rituals focused rather than the individual rulers themselves.
Names were so important that their removal from monuments or statuary was considered to be equivalent to the destruction of the very memory and existence of that person. So long as one’s name was remembered, the deceased was believed to be immortal so the greatest horror was to have one’s name destroyed. Conversely, the addition of a new name to a relief or statue, known as usurping by Egyptologists, was considered to imbue it with the essence and personality of the new owner, regardless of its actual physical appearance.
The Egyptians attached very great importance to the knowledge of names, and the knowledge of how to use and to make mention of names which possessed magical powers was a necessity both for the living and the dead. It was believed that if a man knew the name of a god or a demon, and addressed him by it, he was bound to answer him and to do whatever he wished; and the possession of the knowledge of the name of a man enabled his neighbor to do him good or evil. The name that was the object of a curse brought down evil upon its owner, and similarly the name that was the object of a blessing or prayer was thought to bring him many good things.
Though this text is primarily concerned with the names of individuals, we must also point out that Egyptians literally seem to have named everything of any importance. Not only was every temple given a name, but so too were individual parts of temples, as well as other buildings, such as gateways, pylons, etc.
References:
-
Ancient Egypt (Anatomy of a Civilization) Kemp, Barry J. 1989 Routledge ISBN 0-415-06346-9
-
Ancient Gods Speak, The: A Guide to Egyptian Religion Redford, Donald B. 2002 Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515401-0
-
Atlas of Ancient Egypt Baines, John; Malek, Jaromir 1980 Les Livres De France None Stated
-
Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, The Wilkinson, Richard H. 2003 Thames & Hudson, LTD ISBN 0-500-05120-8
-
Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, The Shaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul 1995 Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers ISBN 0-8109-3225-3
-
Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo Tiradritti, Francesco, Editor 1999 Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0-8109-3276-8
-
Life of the Ancient Egyptians Strouhal, Eugen 1992 University of Oklahoma Press ISBN 0-8061-2475-x
-
Mummies Myth and Magic El Mahdy, Christine 1989 Thames and Hudson Ltd ISBN 0-500-27579-3
-
Ramesses II James, T. G. H 2002 Friedman/Fairfax ISBN 1-58663-719-3
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