Ancient Egypt Social Classes Things That You May Not Know

1. Cleopatra was not Egyptian.

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Along with King Tut, perhaps no effigy is more famously associated with ancient Egypt than Cleopatra 7. Simply while she was built-in in Alexandria, Cleopatra was actually part of a long line of Greek Macedonians originally descended from Ptolemy I, ane of Alexander the Great'due south nigh trusted lieutenants. The Ptolemaic Dynasty ruled Egypt from 323 to xxx B.C., and most of its leaders remained largely Greek in their civilisation and sensibilities. In fact, Cleopatra was famous for being ane of the outset members of the Ptolemaic dynasty to actually speak the Egyptian language.

2. The ancient Egyptians forged one of the earliest peace treaties on tape.

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For over 2 centuries the Egyptians fought confronting the Hittite Empire for control of lands in modernistic twenty-four hours Syria. The conflict gave rising to bloody engagements like 1274 B.C.'s Boxing of Kadesh, only by fourth dimension of the pharaoh Ramses Ii neither side had emerged as a clear victor. With both the Egyptians and Hittites facing threats from other peoples, in 1259 B.C. Ramses 2 and the Hittite King Hattusili 3 negotiated a famous peace treaty. This agreement ended the disharmonize and decreed that the two kingdoms would aid each other in the upshot of an invasion by a 3rd party. The Egyptian-Hittite treaty is now recognized every bit one of the earliest surviving peace accords, and a copy tin even be seen above the entrance to the Un Security Council Bedroom in New York.

three. Ancient Egyptians loved board games.

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After a long day's piece of work along the Nile River, Egyptians ofttimes relaxed by playing lath games. Several different games were played, including "Mehen" and "Dogs and Jackals," but perchance the about pop was a game of chance known equally "Senet." This pastime dates back equally far as 3500 B.C. and was played on a long lath painted with 30 squares. Each player had a fix of pieces that were moved along the lath co-ordinate to rolls of dice or the throwing sticks. Historians still debate Senet's exact rules, but there is niggling dubiousness of the game's popularity. Paintings depict Queen Nefertari playing Senet, and pharaohs like Tutankhamen even had game boards buried with them in their tombs.

four. Egyptian women had a wide range of rights and freedoms.

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While they may have been publicly and socially viewed as inferior to men, Egyptian women enjoyed a swell bargain of legal and financial independence. They could buy and sell holding, serve on juries, make wills and even enter into legal contracts. Egyptian women did not typically work outside the home, but those who did usually received equal pay for doing the same jobs as men. Unlike the women of aboriginal Greece, who were effectively owned by their husbands, Egyptian women besides had the right to divorce and remarry. Egyptian couples were even known to negotiate an ancient prenuptial agreement. These contracts listed all the holding and wealth the woman had brought into the marriage and guaranteed that she would be compensated for information technology in the event of a divorce.

5. Egyptian workers were known to organize labor strikes.

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Even though they regarded the pharaoh as a kind of living god, Egyptian workers were not afraid to protest for amend working conditions. The nigh famous instance came in the 12th century B.C. during the reign of the New Kingdom pharaoh Ramses III. When laborers engaged in building the royal necropolis at Deir el-Medina did not receive their usual payment of grain, they organized one of the beginning recorded strikes in history. The protest took the grade of a sit down-in: The workers merely entered nearby mortuary temples and refused to exit until their grievances were heard. The gamble worked, and the laborers were eventually given their overdue rations.

6. Egyptian pharaohs were often overweight.

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Egyptian art usually depicts pharaohs as being trim and statuesque, but this was virtually likely not the case. The Egyptian diet of beer, vino, bread and honey was loftier in saccharide, and studies show that information technology may have done a number on royal waistlines. Examinations of mummies have indicated that many Egyptian rulers were unhealthy and overweight, and fifty-fifty suffered from diabetes. A notable case is the legendary Queen Hatshepsut, who lived in the 15th century B.C. While her sarcophagus depicts her every bit slender and athletic, historians believe she was actually obese and balding.

7. The pyramids were not congenital by slaves.

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The life of a pyramid architect certainly wasn't easy—skeletons of workers usually show signs of arthritis and other ailments—but evidence suggests that the massive tombs were built non by slaves merely past paid laborers. These ancient structure workers were a mix of skilled artisans and temporary hands, and some appear to have taken great pride in their craft. Graffiti establish near the monuments suggests they oft assigned humorous names to their crews like the "Drunkards of Menkaure" or the "Friends of Khufu." The idea that slaves built the pyramids at the crack of a whip was first conjured past the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century B.C., but nearly historians now dismiss it as myth. While the ancient Egyptians were certainly not averse to keeping slaves, they appear to have more often than not used them every bit field easily and domestic servants.

8. King Tut may take been killed by a hippopotamus.

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Surprisingly fiddling is known nearly the life of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamen, but some historians believe they know how he died. Scans of the immature king'due south trunk prove that he was embalmed without his heart or his chest wall. This drastic departure from traditional Egyptian burial do suggests that he may have suffered a horrific injury prior to his death. Co-ordinate to a handful of Egyptologists, one of the most likely causes for this wound would have been a seize with teeth from a hippopotamus. Evidence indicates that the Egyptians hunted the beasts for sport, and statues found in King Tut'south tomb even depict him in the act of throwing a harpoon. If the boy pharaoh was indeed fond of stalking dangerous game, then his decease might have been the issue of a chase gone wrong.

ix. Some Egyptian doctors had specialized fields of study.

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An ancient md was normally a jack-of-all-trades, but evidence shows that Egyptian doctors sometimes focused on healing only one part of the human torso. This early class of medical specialization was first noted in 450 B.C. past the traveler and historian Herodotus. Discussing Egyptian medicine, he wrote, "Each medico is a healer of one disease and no more than…some of the eye, some of the teeth, some of what pertains to the belly." These specialists even had specific names. Dentists were known equally "doctors of the molar," while the term for proctologists literally translates to "shepherd of the anus."

10. Egyptians kept many animals as pets.

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The Egyptians saw animals as incarnations of the gods and were one of the first civilizations to keep household pets. Egyptians were particularly fond of cats, which were associated with the goddess Bastet, but they as well had a reverence for hawks, ibises, dogs, lions and baboons. Many of these animals held a special place in the Egyptian habitation, and they were often mummified and buried with their owners after they died. Other creatures were specially trained to work as helper animals. Egyptian constabulary officers, for instance, were known to apply dogs and fifty-fifty trained monkeys to assistance them when out on patrol.

eleven. Egyptians of both sexes wore makeup.

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Vanity is every bit onetime as civilisation, and the ancient Egyptians were no exception. Both men and women were known to wear copious amounts of makeup, which they believed gave them the protection of the gods Horus and Ra. These cosmetics were made by grinding ores similar malachite and galena into a substance chosen kohl. It was then liberally applied around the eyes with utensils made out of wood, bone and ivory. Women would also stain their cheeks with carmine paint and use henna to color their easily and fingernails, and both sexes wore perfumes made from oil, myrrh and cinnamon. The Egyptians believed their makeup had magical healing powers, and they weren't entirely wrong: Research has shown that the lead-based cosmetics worn along the Nile actually helped stave off eye infections.

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Source: https://www.history.com/news/11-things-you-may-not-know-about-ancient-egypt

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