THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AT HOME
by Jean Drew
There are
many fallacies people of our time believe about ancient Egypt and I want to put
that right.
They
were preoccupied with death.
Quite the
opposite — they were preoccupied with life. If anyone believed in life after
death, it was the Egyptians. They loved life so much that they wanted to
recreate their current life in the hereafter. This is why scenes of their life
were painted on tomb walls — so the gods would know the kind of life they
wanted to carry on. It was also why their drawings of people looked off
balance, (square shoulders). They were letting the gods know they had two arms
in this life so they would have two in the next.
They
were a pretty sombre lot.
No one
loved a celebration like the Egyptians. Almost every day of the year was
celebrating one festival or another. That meant copious amounts of beer and
wine, not to mention food.
Incomplete
calendar of ancient Egyptian festivals
http://www.angelfire.com/realm3/shadowsofegypt/Festival.html
Women
were kept in their place.
Not
in ancient Egypt. If ever there was a place in the ancient world to be born a
woman, it was ancient Egypt. Egyptian
women had a free life, compared to her contemporaries in other lands. She could
have power and position if she was in the right class. She could hold down a
job, or be a mother if she chose. She could live alone and run her own
business. She could buy and sell property. She followed the latest fashions and
learned to write if she wanted to. She loved and laughed and ate and drank. She
partied and got sick. She helped her husband, she ran her household. Ancient
Egyptian women had hopes and dreams of her own, not too much different from
today's woman. She married for love and was entitled
to a generous settlement should a divorce occur. It was only after various
invasions—Persians, Greeks, Romans— that Egyptian women lost all claims to
independence.
Their
cities were built by slaves.
Perhaps the
biggest fallacy of them all. I mean,
what do you think the average Egyptian did for a crust while “slaves” were
doing all the work? Sure the Egyptians had slaves, but not as many as we have
been led to believe. Their cities were built by Egyptians, many of whom were
conscripted into pharaoh’s service from outlying farms and villages. Many
workers were also farmers, who, during the months when the Nile was in flood
(the inundation), signed on to help so they could feed their families. They
were very protective of their religion and its symbols, so no other religion
would have been allowed to mess with theirs. And have you ever heard of slaves
going on strike? One group of tomb workers did just that. They sat down on the
job until pharaoh sent their wages—bread, eye paint and garlic.
As for me,
I’m besotted with ancient Egypt and have several books on the subject, not to
mention Internet references, right down to Egyptian plumbing.
Caption: Egyptian revellers at the Festival of Opet.
Caption: Statue of Raherka and Meresankh, in a loving pose.
AUTHOR BIO: Jean
has been a member of Hearts Through History for several years. Writing as Jean
Adams she wrote ETERNAL HEARTS, a time-travel, set in ancient Egypt available
on Kindle or paperback, or through Highland Press. She is currently working on
an historical trilogy set during the reigns of three different pharaohs. Visit her at:
ETERNAL
HEARTS available from Highland Press.
She found the love of her life 3000 years too late.
When Alexandra Kelly returns a broadcollar to Egypt, she is swept through a time portal on a breathtaking yet terrifying journey to a land of majesty and splendour, the land of pharaohs.
Death is Lord Khafra's fate if he embarks upon his dangerous quest. Can Alex's arrival save him from his date with a lonely, fiery death?
Together they find love and face terrible danger and hardship but the sexy charioteer could make any woman believe the gods were smiling on her.
At the next full moon Alex must return to the 21st century, where Khafra has been dead for several millennia.
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