Daily Life in Ancient Egypt The New Kingdom

Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

The New Kingdom • Powerful & Stable • Ma’at- combination of ideas: harmony with the universe, justice, order, & peace • Must maintain ma’at for the world to remain safe & stable • To maintain ma’at: work hard, be a good person, live in harmony with one another • Pharaoh: rule wisely & well so order was maintained

The Hittite Empire • Lived in Anatolia (present-day Turkey) • Well-fortified capital • Expanded empire to West & South

The Hittites • Expansion was aided by their development of smelting iron – Swords & other weapons – Chariots

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Adorning the Body • Light & simple clothing • Rich & poor, men & women work jewelry, dyed hair, wore wigs & make-up

Burial Practices • Believed in the afterlife, preserved the body • Wealthy Egyptians were mummified. - removed all organs but the heart, covered it in salt, 40 days later washed, oiled & wrapped body in fabric. Spread black gooey momia over the body • Poor Egyptians were wrapped in old clothing & buried in the ground

Crafts & Trade • Highly skilled- created furniture, jewelry, pottery • Taught their craft at a young age, went to school at the pharaoh’s palace • Traded grain, gold, copper, linen, gemstones, and minerals for timber, iron, silver, tin, and lead

Domestic Life • Married within social class. Girls- 12, Boys-14 • Upper class women oversaw the household, lower class women also cooked, cleaned, and helped in the field • Women had rights and were seen as equal to men in the eyes of the law • Children were allowed to play and be kids

• Food & Drink Most Egyptians spent a lot of time farming to grown vegetables, wheat, and barley, which they made into bread & beer. (Drank water & wine, too) • Very different based on class. • Upper class: Wide selection- meat and fowl (beef, pork, geese, ducks), vegetables (peas, beans, cucumbers, lettuce), cheese, cakes, fruit. • Lower class: simple meals-bread, vegetables, fish

Housing • Houses made of mud brick • Upper class- large homes, 2 stories tall, many rooms including bathrooms • Lower class- simple houses, few small rooms, narrow high windows & little furniture

Medicine • Doctors used parts of plants and herbs, such as garlic, in their treatments • Doctors treated injuries & wounds with bandages and stitches, but did not perform surgery • Relied on magicians to treat illness & to help women during pregnancy & child birth

Music & Dance • Performed at public & religious festivals, holidays, and feasts • Usually women, many were supported by the royal court and nobles • Variety of instruments- harp, lyre, flute, oboe, tambourine, drums

Religious Beliefs • Osiris- passed judgment on the souls of the dead • Anubis- helped prepare bodies of dead for afterlife • Priests and priestesses carried out rituals in temples to honor gods & goddesses • Commoners made offerings to gods and goddesses in their homes

Social Classes Pharaoh ---Royal Family, Nobles, Gov. Officials ----Priests ----Scribes ---Artists/Skilled Workers -----Laborers, Farmers During flood season, famers would work on the pharaoh’s building projects

Warfare • Army of full-time soldiers stationed throughout the empire to protect Egypt • In peacetime, soldiers dug canals or built pharaoh’s tombs • Mercenaries (soldiers from other lands who were paid to fight for Egypt) were sometimes part of the army • Variety of weapons : javelins, swords, shields, padded caps, chariots

Writing & Education • Scribes administered laws, collected taxes, recorded the grain & food supply, kept the census, measured the rise of the Nile & kept military records • Boys attended school for 12 years, often sunrise to sunset with strict teachers • Learned hieroglyphics and hieratic writing