Carina Shanahan

History
March 26, 2013
Word Count: 854
Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egyptians believed in many gods. Some of them are Ra (the sun god),
Osiris (god of the underworld), Isis (the wife of Osiris), and Horus (son of Isis). The king
of Egypt (the pharaoh) was honored as a living representation of Horus. Some other
Egyptian gods are Nut, Anubis, Geb, and Amun. Each of these gods watched over a
different aspect of life. For instance, Nut was the goddess of the sky, Geb (her twin
brother) was god of the earth, the jackal-headed god Anubis was god of the dead, and
Amun was the king of the gods. Many great temples were built in honor of these idols.
Some may still be seen in Egypt today.
The Ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. In order to have a happy
afterlife, ones body had to be kept whole, or preserved. To do this, the person was
mummified after they were dead. The Egyptians believed that the persons soul, or ka,
would return to the body. Of course, to be happy in the next life one would have to have
all the things one liked to have in this life, such as slaves, food, shoes, jewelry, fine
clothing, water, gardens, and other things. Since most of these things would decay after a
certain period of time, they were painted on the wall. The Egyptians believed they would
come to life and serve the ka of the dead person for all of eternity.
In Ancient Egypt, ordinary houses were made of mud brick but the temples were
made of stone, as were the pyramids, because stone was very expensive and difficult to
cut, so only the important buildings were made of it. The pyramids were the tombs of the
pharaohs and were therefore important and made of stone. The entrance to the tomb was
shut and sealed after the funeral to prevent tomb-robbers from gaining entry. Tomb-
robbing was the one of greatest crimes in Egypt at that time. If a tomb was robbed, the ka
of the person would starve. The robbers sometimes dug a secret entrance and did the
robbing a few years after the funeral; relatives and friends of the deceased would by then
have stopped coming with offerings to feed its ka. The crime of tomb-robbing was
usually punished by hanging the criminals either by their leg or by their neck. The stolen
goods were then returned to the tomb and the entrance resealed.
The foundation of farming in Egypt was the Nile River, without which the
farmers would not have been able to sow the seeds due to the hard, cracked earth which
would yield nothing. However, as the Nile flooded its banks generously every year
leaving behind a rich, black soil, the crops were very bountiful for this soil was rich and
Carina Shanahan
History
March 26, 2013
Word Count: 854
fertile, which helped the crops grow. The Egyptian year was divided into three seasons:
the flood season, the planting season, and the harvest season. During the flood season,
obviously, no one could work in the fields but it was not a holiday. It was at this time that
the pharaoh built those magnificent palaces, pyramids, and temples with men hired from
the field. Many of the farmers were ruled over by officials or nobles who, when the
harvest was gathered, came to collect taxes which were mostly paid with grain, as money
was not used in Egypt then. The Egyptians grew corn, wheat, barley, rice, rye, and other
grains. The harvest was gathered by men, and women, called gleaners, came behind to
get the leftovers. The gleaners didnt get much, but they made do.
Plowing was not done by gas-run machines in those days but by cattle-pulled
wooden plows made rather like a rake pulled with the spokes against the ground, which,
when pulled, turned over the fresh-flooded soil and prepared it for planting. The animals
were usually cows, donkeys, goats, oxen, and sometimes pigs. The oxen usually pulled
the plow. The harvest was also done by hand. As one may see, despite the unfavorable
weather, farming was very prosperous in Egypt.
The life of the Egyptian citizen/peasants was not very eventful. It consisted of
religious worship, house cleaning, farming (in the case of farmers), and going to the
market. As the men did most of the farming work, the women did the marketing business.
Coins were not used in Egypt at that time, so women going to market would bring other
articles that were not or less needed than the item to be purchased. The people at the
market had things that were more needed either at home or out on the farm. The Ancient
Egyptians wore large, linen sheets, or togas--as they were properly called. That is, the
men and women wore it. However, the children wore nothing (or very little) until they
came of age. The togas were almost see-through, but nobody cared. That was the style
which was what everybody wore. Men and women were bald, so when they left their
private quarters, they put on a wig. That was how life was in Egypt for a very long time.