Daily Life in Ancient Egypt Chapter 9 Daily Life in Ancient Egypt

Introduction In everyday life, Egyptians belonged to different social classes, a group of society different from other groups by wealth, property, and rights. These classes made up a social pyramid, which is pharaoh at the top and peasants at the bottom with government officials, priests, scribes, and artisans between the top and bottom.

Ancient Egypt’s Social Pyramid There were six different groups in the Egyptian social pyramid: 1) the pharaoh, who was the ruler of Egypt 2) Government officials, who carried out the orders of the pharaoh 3) Priests, who were in charge of temples and religious rituals. 4) Scribes, who recorded information for government and religious leaders 5) Artisans, included craftspeople like carpenters, metal-workers, painters, sculptors, and stone carvers who were highly skilled but little social status 6) Peasants, who were the largest social class. Peasants worked the land, providing Egypt with a steady supply of food.

Ancient Egypt’s Social Pyramid People in different classes had some things in common, but in other ways, their lives were quite different. Men and women had different roles within the family. Men were the heads of the households and worked to support their family and women managed the home and raised the children and noblewomen had servants or slaves to help them. Egyptians believed that their social pyramid created a stable well ordered society and that each group had its own role to play.

Government Officials Government officials belonged to the highest class on the social pyramid, after the pharaoh. Their job was to assist the pharaoh in his or her role as the supreme ruler of Egypt. Government officials usually came from the pharaoh’s family or other upper-class families and most inherited their positions from family members. Three important officials were vizier, the chief treasurer, and the general of the armies. The vizier had more power than anyone except the pharaoh and advised the pharaoh and carried out his commands.

Government Officials The chief treasurer looked after the government’s wealth and main duty was to collect taxes through goods not based on money. The general of the armies was the top military commander in Egypt and advised the pharaoh in matters of war and national security such as protection on the borders. High gov’t officials led lives of luxury. Most were nobles who had great wealth, fine homes, and plenty of time to socialize.

Priests were powerful and highly respected in Egyptian society Priests were powerful and highly respected in Egyptian society. A large network of priests served under the pharaoh, who was considered the highest-ranked priest of all. The High Priest advised the pharaoh and oversaw all religious ceremonies. Other priests handled more common concerns and requests including giving advice and performing healings. Women were allowed to be priestesses in Egypt and generally considered equal to male priests. Priests

Priests had a special role to play in burial practices Priests had a special role to play in burial practices. Egyptians believed in life after death so their bodies were needed in the afterlife so they preserved the bodies through embalming. The embalming process had many steps. 1st step was embalmers removed body’s organs and used hooks to pull the brain out through the nostrils with only the heart left, organs were then packed in jars to preserve them, and then dried out with special salt called natron. After 70 days the body was washed and oiled, wrapped in hundreds of yards of linen, and then decorated with jewelry and charms with mask over head and then wrapped for final time. Not all Egyptians could afford such complicated burials. But, even the poor, wrapped their dead in cloth and buried them with jars of beer, loaves of bread, and other items they would need in afterlife. Priests

Scribes were Egypt’s official writers and record keepers Scribes were Egypt’s official writers and record keepers. Only men were allowed to be scribes. They came from different classes of society. Becoming a scribe was one of the few ways that men could rise above their parents’ social class. Boys who wanted to be scribes had to attend scribe school which were run by priests with most from artisan and merchant families but very few from peasant class. Scribes

Students in scribe schools were in this school from age five and spent about 12 years or more learning hieroglyphs. Ancient Egyptians made all kinds of records, so scribes held a wide variety of jobs. They kept records of the grain and food supply, when a government census counted the people living in Egypt they recorded results, some scribes calculated and collected taxes, legal scribes recorded court cases and military scribes kept track of army’s soldiers and food supply and enemies killed in battle. Scribes

Egypt’s artisans were highly skilled laborers who created some of the most beautiful objects in the world. Yet, unlike scribes, they rarely got the respect they deserved. Artisans specialized in any one of a number of crafts. Workers in this class included carpenters, jewelers, leatherworkers, metalworkers, painters, potters, sculptors, and weavers. The most skilled artisans were stone carvers who provided statues, engravings, and reliefs found in Egyptian temples, tombs, and monuments. Despite artisans’ skill and creativity the upper classes often viewed them as little more than common laborers. Artisans

Peasants Peasants made up the lowest and largest class in Egypt’s social pyramid. They were generally considered unskilled laborers. Yet Egyptian society depended on their work. Peasants grew the crops that supplied everyone with food. Peasants had the fewest comforts of any of the social classes, living in simple house made of mud bricks, and furniture limited to woven mats. Peasants spent most of their lives working, but they did have some time for fun, such as men enjoying a river game that involves knocking each other off papyrus rafts.

Peasants An important time of the year was the end of the harvest season because as a reward for their hard work, they were allowed to gather leftover grain and keep it for food. They could be punished for poor harvest. Farmers had to pay taxes in the form of crops so if a harvest came up short or he couldn’t pay required tax, he was beaten.