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Egyptian life and culture

Who were the Egyptians?

Egypt is a country in Africa. People have lived in that region for thousands and thousands of years. The Ancient Egyptians settled around the Nile River, and built pyramids that you can still see there today.

The Ancient Egyptians knew a lot about maths, medicine and farming. They also made their own paper out of reeds called papyrus, and wrote using pictures called hieroglyphics.

Top 10 facts

  1. The Egyptians settled in northeast Africa, and that’s where the country of Egypt is today.
  2. They lived in a very dry area, but they got water from the Nile River (the longest river in the world!) so they could grow crops.
  3. Farming techniques to water crops included using machines like the sakia and the shaduf – these are still used in Egypt today.
  4. The Egyptians created paper using reeds, called papyrus. They wrote using pictures called hieroglyphics that stood for different words.
  5. Only certain people studied how to write, and they worked as scribes.
  6. Scribes were ranked in the middle of the order of social groups in Egypt – the pharaoh was at the very top of this list, and slaves were at the very bottom.
  7. The Egyptians built pyramids as places to bury their kings and queens, who were called pharaohs.
  8. The Egyptians were very good at maths – they had to be, to work out how to build pyramids so perfectly!
  9. Both men and women wore make-up. The wealthier people were, the more make-up they’d wear.
  10. Egypt was conquered by Rome and became part of the Roman Empire.

Egyptian timeline

  • c7500 BC
    People began to build homes and farm in the Nile Valley
  • c3000 BC
    Hieroglyphics started to be used
  • c2950 BC
    Upper and Lower Egypt were united into one kingdom by King Narmer (or Menes), and Memphis became the capital
  • c2600 BC
    Pyramids started to be built
  • 2600-2150 BC
    The Old Kingdom
  • 2181-2055 BC
    First Intermediate Period
  • 2055-1650 BC
    Middle Kingdom
  • 1650-1500 BC
    Second Intermediate Period
  • 1500-1070 BC
    The New Kingdom
  • 1473-1458 BC
    Queen Hatshepsut ruled
  • 1332-1323 BC
    King Tutankhamen ruled
  • 1279-1213 BC
    King Rameses II ruled
  • 1069-664 BC
    Third Intermediate Period
  • 669 BC
    Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians
  • 664-332 BC
    Late Period
  • 525 BC
    Egypt was conquered by the Persians
  • 332 BC
    Alexander the Great from Greece conquered Egypt and founded Alexandria
  • 196 BC
    The writings on the Rosetta Stone were carved
  • 51-30 BC
    Cleopatra VII ruled; she was the last pharaoh
  • 31 BC
    Egypt became a part of the Roman Empire

Did you know?

  • The Egyptians made paper from reeds called papyrus – it’s where we get the word ‘paper’ from! It took a long time to make papyrus, but it was easier than carrying around heavy clay tablets, which is what they did before.
  • They wrote in pictures called hieroglyphics. Each picture means something so when you see a few different kinds of pictures in a row, you know what the writer is trying to say.
  • The Egyptians used pictures for writing numbers too – different pictures stood for units, tens and hundreds.
  • The Egyptians were very advanced at maths – they figured out how to work out tricky problems that helped other people after them understand more about maths. In fact, people who lived in other countries even knew that the Egyptians were the best at maths!
  • The Egyptians made most of their clothes from linen, which is fabric that’s made from plants. They’d use different things to colour it, such as saffron to make it yellow and indigo to make it blue.
  • Egyptians would shave their heads and wear wigs instead!
  • Ancient Egyptians had a huge amount of respect for cats, and for a type of dog called a jackal. They also thought scarab beetles were very important; they represented rebirth and life after death.
  • Egyptians loved perfume, and would wear it in solid cones on their head – the cones would melt during the day and keep them smelling nice when the weather was very hot.
  • Both men and women wore make-up, black and green on their eyes and eyelashes, and red rouge for their cheeks.

Egyptian gallery:

  • The Rosetta stone
  • The Egyptian pharaoh Ramses
  • An Egyptian tomb
  • Abu Simbel
  • An image of the pharaoh Tutankhamen
  • An engraving from the temple at Luxor
  • The pyramid at Giza
  • Amun-her-khepeshef, the son of Pharaoh Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari
  • Hieroglyphs
  • Illustrations of Egyptian figures
  • Can you spot the Sphinx?
  • Edfu Temple
  • An Egyptian pharaoh design

Gallery

About

The Egyptians were very good farmers. Over the centuries, they learned the best ways to grow crops in the dry land around the Nile River – but, they’d use different kinds of machines to get water from the river to their crops so the plants would grow. Some of the machines they used are:

  • sakia – a type of water wheel that has buckets to scoop water out
  • shaduf – a long stick that had a bucket on a rope on one end, and a heavy weight on the other; to water a field, the farmer would pull down on the weighted end so the bucket would come up, then swing the whole thing around to water a field next to the river.

Because farmers grew crops near the Nile, they had to schedule their growing season around times when the Nile flooded. This happened every year during June to September, so they’d plant new crops in October that would be ready to harvest in March. By the end of May, all of the crops would have been harvested in time for the Nile to flood again.

Egyptian farmers also had oxen pull ploughs through fields. We know about their farming techniques because of the paintings that archaeologists have found that the Egyptians made. The paintings show all sorts of things that the Egyptians did, such as tending livestock and harvesting the crops.

Make-up wasn’t always worn to dress up. Some make-up had practical uses as well, like black kohl used around the eyes. It shielded eyes from the sun, and it was also a kind of disinfectant that protected against eye diseases.

The papyrus that Egyptians made came from reeds that grew along the Nile River, which were called papyrus. To make paper, they would cut papyrus reeds into strips and spend quite a few days soaking them, rolling them out and repeating that process until the reeds were very thin. All of the thin reeds would be pounded together and clamped down to dry, then polished to smooth it out – the result was a thin yet very strong sheet that was ready to be written or drawn on.

The papyrus reeds were actually used for a lot of things besides paper. It was good for making mats to put on the floor, twisting into rope, plaiting together to make boats, and weaving to make baskets and sandals. The Egyptians also ate it, and used it to make different medicines.

The Egyptians made a lot of discoveries about medicine. We know this from reading what they wrote on papyrus, discovered later by archaeologists. They understood about heartbeats and listening for a healthy pulse, and knew how the body and organs worked because of the process of making mummies. They also learned about the ways that different plants healed different illnesses and injuries, such as aloe vera being good for healing burns.

Egyptian society was ranked into different classes, called a hierarchy. You couldn’t really move up the ranks, and people would usually stay around the rank that they were born into:

  1. Pharaoh – The pharaoh was at the top of the order, and thought to be a god.
  2. Vizier – Every pharaoh had a vizier; they were an advisor, they ran the pharaoh’s household, they acted as a judge, and they made sure that the Egyptians had enough food.
  3. Nobles and priests – Nobles included doctors, lawyers and military leaders. Priests were the ones who made sure the god in their temple was happy, and that they understood any messages the god was trying to say to them.
  4. Scribes and soldiers – Scribes were the only ones who were taught how to write; people in other professions (like priests) may have studied to be a scribe as well, but they could also have just hired someone to write things down for them. Being a soldier was a choice; they were given land to live on after they finished serving in the army.
  5. Craftsmen – This was a large group that included anyone who had a trade, such as potters, tailors, painters and blacksmiths.
  6. Farmers and slaves – The pharaoh and nobles hired farmers to work for them, and grow crops on their land; as payment, the farmers had a place to live, clothes to wear and food to eat. Slaves were people who were captured in battles with other civilisations, and they worked in the homes of the pharaoh and nobles or in temples.

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