 Pharaoh was seen as a living god, and was at the top of society  Nobles and military leaders were next, and they kept track of property, taxes, and storehouses  Priests and scribes made up the next rung, and were the educated class

 The fourth class were craftspeople who produced many of the cultural relics of Ancient Egypt  The common folk were peasants, also known as fellahin, and they made up the majority of the population  Slaves were the lowest class, with virtually no rights as foreign prisoners of war

 Archaeologists have found combs, mirrors, and razors, so personal grooming was important

 Some men and women wore dark wigs to protect from the sun or for special occasions  Men and women wore make-up and perfumes, although only women painted their lips and fingernails

 Clothing was class-specific with farmers wearing loin-cloths or tunics, and wealthy individuals wearing white linens, leather sandals, skirts, and capes

 Homes were also an indicator of social class  Poor folk lived in simple huts whereas the wealthy had larger residences  Wealthy individuals even had rural retreats with vegetable gardens, fruit trees, slaves, and other amenities

 Mud bricks were the primary building material for all homes  Wooden beams covered with papyrus and clay made up the roofs  All homes had a central room, and depending on the social class, could have bedrooms, storerooms, and a personal temple

Interior of an upper-class home

 Wealthy individual’s homes were often walled- in and had gardens or even pools  Poorer individual’s homes were built close together and thus had no gardens  Depending on social status, homes could have been furnished with anything from chairs and tables to decorative walls and candle lamps

 Common people ate bread and drank beer made from barley, supplementing their diet with fruits and vegetables, or ducks and geese  Wealthy people often at beef, antelope, gazelle, baked goods, and drank wines made from grapes, dates, or palm

 Young boys had shaved heads with a single lock of hair; when boys reached manhood, their lock was cut off  Reaching manhood was usually at the same time of marriage  Marriages happened between family members like cousins

 In marriages, male children were most desired because the men were responsible for the parent’s funeral processions  Women did not have the same status as men, and couldn’t hold government office or become a scribe or craftsmen  Instead, she was expected to keep her husband comfortable

 Education was important; children were education at home, then boys went off to serve apprenticeships  Students used ostraca to write on in scribal school as papyrus was too expensive

 Agriculture was the most important economic activity, with the majority of Egyptians practicing farming  The Nile was integral to this, as annual flooding left deposits of minerals in soils for the crops to feed off

 In August and September, farmers harvested their crops and tax assessors would assess the value of the crops  Farms also raised cattle, geese, ducks, goats, and pigs

 In towns, craftspeople produced goods such as textiles, furniture, bricks and jewellery for trade  Egypt had a lot of natural resources too, which could have been traded across the desert, down the Nile, and into the Aegean, Mediterranean and Red seas  Traded with Lebanon, Crete, Syria, and around continental Africa

 Hieroglyphics developed around 3000BCE and were possibly borrowed from Mesopotamian writing style  By the time of the New Kingdom, there were some 700 signs

 Literature developed and included fairy tales, poems, and stories Instructions of the Vizier Ptahhotep, 250BCE

 Paintings and sculptures were created for temples and tombs, depicting scenes of daily life and the afterlife

Task: Create a table to take notes on The Old Kingdom, The Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. (31-33) The Old KingdomThe Middle KingdomThe New Kingdom