Ancient Egyptian Culture Aten Valley

Ancient Egyptian Culture

Ancient Egyptian Culture

Photo by Jeremy Zero

 

Culture

Ancient Egyptian culture flourished between c. 6000 BCE with the rise of technology (as evidenced in the glasswork of faience) and 30 BCE with the death of Cleopatra VII, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. It is famous today for the great monuments which celebrated the triumphs of the rulers and honored the gods of the land.

The Egyptian culture is often misunderstood as having been obsessed with death but, had this been so, it is unlikely it would have made the significant impression it did on other ancient cultures such as Greece and Rome. The Egyptian culture was, in fact, life-affirming, as the scholar Salima Ikram writes:

"Judging by the numbers of tombs and mummies that the ancient Egyptians left behind, one can be forgiven for thinking that they were obsessed by death. However, this is not so. The Egyptians were obsessed by life and its continuation rather than by a morbid fascination with death. The tombs, mortuary temples and mummies that they produced were a celebration of life and a means of continuing it for eternity…For the Egyptians, as for other cultures, death was part of the journey of life, with death marking a transition or transformation after which life continued in another form, the spiritual rather than the corporeal. (ix)

 

An individual's name was considered of such importance that an Egyptian's true name was kept secret throughout life, and one was known by a nickname. Knowledge of a person's true name gave one magical powers over that individual, and this is among the reasons why the rulers of Egypt took another name upon ascending the throne; it was not only to link oneself symbolically to another successful pharaoh but also a form of protection to ensure one's safety and help guarantee a trouble-free journey to eternity when one's life on earth was completed. According to the historian Margaret Bunson:

Eternity was an endless period of existence that was not to be feared by any Egyptian. The term 'Going to One's Ka' (astral being) was used in each age to express dying. The hieroglyph for a corpse was translated as 'participating in eternal life'. The tomb was the 'Mansion of Eternity' and the dead was an Akh, a transformed spirit. (86)

This passion for life imbued in the ancient Egyptians a great love for their land as it was thought that there could be no better place on earth in which to enjoy existence. While the lower classes in Egypt, as elsewhere, subsisted on much less than the more affluent, they still seem to have appreciated life in the same way as the wealthier citizens. This is exemplified in the concept of gratitude and the ritual known as The Five Gifts of Hathor in which the poor laborers were encouraged to regard the fingers of their left hand (the hand they reached with daily to harvest field crops) and to consider the five things they were most grateful for in their lives. Ingratitude was considered a 'gateway sin' as it led to all other types of negative thinking and resultant behavior. Once one felt ungrateful, it was observed, one then was apt to indulge oneself further in bad behavior. The Cult of Hathor was very popular in Egypt, among all classes, and epitomizes the prime importance of gratitude in Egyptian culture.

 

Cultural Advances & Daily Life

Papyrus (from which comes the English word 'paper') was only one of the technological advances of the ancient Egyptian culture. The Egyptians were also responsible for developing the ramp and lever and geometry for purposes of construction, advances in mathematics and astronomy (also used in construction as exemplified in the positions and locations of the pyramids and certain temples, such as Abu Simbel), improvements in irrigation and agriculture (perhaps learned from the Mesopotamians), shipbuilding and aerodynamics (possibly introduced by the Phoenicians) the wheel (brought to Egypt by the Hyksos) and medicine.

The Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus (c. 1800 BCE) is an early treatise on women's health issues and contraception and the Edwin Smith Papyrus (c. 1600 BCE) is the oldest work on surgical techniques. Dentistry was widely practised and the Egyptians are credited with inventing toothpaste, toothbrushes, the toothpick, and even breath mints. They created the sport of bowling and improved upon the brewing of beer as first practised in Mesopotamia. The Egyptians did not, however, invent beer. This popular fiction of Egyptians as the first brewers stems from the fact that Egyptian beer more closely resembled modern-day beer than that of the Mesopotamians.

In daily life, the Egyptians seem little different from other ancient cultures. Like the people of Mesopotamia, IndiaChina, and Greece, they lived, mostly, in modest homes, raised families, and enjoyed their leisure time. A significant difference between Egyptian culture and that of other lands, however, was that the Egyptians believed the land was intimately tied to their personal salvation and they had a deep fear of dying beyond the borders of Egypt. Those who served their country in the army, or those who traveled for their living, made provision for their bodies to be returned to Egypt should they be killed. It was thought that the fertile, dark earth of the Nile River Delta was the only area sanctified by the gods for the rebirth of the soul in the afterlife and to be buried anywhere else was to be condemned to non-existence.

The historian Thompson writes, "Egypt treated its women better than any of the other major civilizations of the ancient world. The Egyptians believed that joy and happiness were legitimate goals of life and regarded home and family as the major source of delight.” Because of this belief, women enjoyed a higher prestige in Egypt than in any other culture of the ancient world.

 Ancient Egyptian Culture

Photo by Jeremy Zero

Class Distinctions in Egyptian Culture

Among the lower classes, homes were built of mud bricks baked in the sun. The more affluent a citizen, the thicker the home; wealthier people had homes constructed of a double layer, or more, of brick while poorer people's houses were only one brick wide. Wood was scarce and was only used for doorways and window sills (again, in wealthier homes) and the roof was considered another room in the house where gatherings were routinely held as the interior of the homes were often dimly lighted.

Clothing was simple linen, undyed, with the men wearing a knee-length skirt (or loincloth) and the women light, ankle-length dresses or robes which concealed or exposed their breasts depending on the fashion at a particular time. It would seem that a woman's level of undress, however, was indicative of her social status throughout much of Egyptian history. Dancing girls, female musicians, and servants and slaves are routinely shown as naked or nearly naked while a lady of the house is fully clothed, even during those times when exposed breasts were a fashion statement.

It was understood that the goddess Isis had given equal rights to both men & women, & men had no right to dictate how a woman should attire herself.

Even so, women were free to dress as they pleased, and there was never a prohibition, at any time in Egyptian history, on female fashion. A woman's exposed breasts were considered a natural, normal, fashion choice, and it was in no way deemed immodest or provocative. It was understood that the goddess Isis had given equal rights to both men and women and, therefore, men had no right to dictate how a woman, even one's own wife, should attire herself. Children wore little or no clothing until puberty.

 

 

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Recommended Reading: Further Explorations of Ancient Egypt

Books on Ancient Egyptian History and Culture

  1. "The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt" by Ian Shaw
  2. "The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt" by Richard H. Wilkinson
  3. "Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt" by Barbara Mertz
  4. "Daily Life in Ancient Egypt" by Kasia Szpakowska

Books on Egyptian Mythology and Religion

  1. "Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt" by Geraldine Pinch
  2. "The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day" translated by Raymond Faulkner
  3. "Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt" by John H. Taylor
  4. "Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt" by Emily Teeter

Books on Egyptian Art, Architecture, and Science

  1. "The Art of Ancient Egypt: Revised Edition" by Gay Robins
  2. "The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man's Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt's Greatest Mystery" by Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin
  3. "Egyptian Architecture as Cultural Expression" by Earl Baldwin Smith 4. "The Science of the Pyramids" by Joseph Davidovits

Books on Personal Growth

  1. "The Wisdom of the Egyptians: The Story of the Egyptians, the Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, the Ptah-Hotep and the Ke'gemini, the Book of the Dead, the Wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus" by Brian Brown
  2. "The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece" by Three Initiates
  3. "Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead" translated by Normandi Ellis
  4. "The Ancient Egyptian Path to Enlightenment: The Teachings of Ptahhotep" by Muata Ashby

Books on Ancient Egyptian Philosophy

  1. "Egyptian Philosophy and the Ancient Wisdom Tradition: A Guide to the Secret Teachings" by Jeremy Naydler
  2. "The Egyptian Mysteries: New Light on Ancient Knowledge" by Lucie Lamy
  3. "The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs" translated by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy
  4. "The Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World" translated by Hilliard III Asa G.

Books on Ancient Egyptian Women and Gender

  1. "Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt" by Joyce Tyldesley
  2. "Egyptian Women of the Old Kingdom and of the Heracleopolitan Period" by Wolfram Grajetzki
  3. "The Role of Women in Work and Society in Ancient Egypt" by Laurel Bestock
  4. "Gender and Power in Ancient Egypt: Art, Archaeology, and History" edited by Barbara S. Lesko

Books on Ancient Egyptian Medicine and Healing

  1. "Medicine in Ancient Egypt: Its Evolution from the Predynastic Period to the Graeco-Roman Era" by Abdel Ghaffar Shedid and Abdel Maguid Mohamed Salem
  2. "The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations: Egyptian, Greek, and Roman" by Walter Addison Jayne
  3. "Ancient Egyptian Medicine" by John F. Nunn
  4. "Egyptian Healing: The Philosophy and Practice of Ancient Egyptian Medicine" by Hakim M. Bey

Books on Ancient Egyptian Language and Writing

  1. "Hieroglyphs: The Writing of Ancient Egypt" by Maria Carmela Betrò
  2. "Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture" by Richard H. Wilkinson
  3. "The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World" by J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams
  4. "The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt" by John Ray

Books on Ancient Egyptian Science and Technology

  1. "Egyptian Science and Technology: Ancient Texts and Modern Science" edited by Mohamed El-Bahey and Nagwa El-Badry
  2. "A History of Ancient Egypt: From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid" by John Romer
  3. "The Dawn of Astronomy: A Study of the Temple-Worship and Mythology of the Ancient Egyptians" by J. Norman Lockyer
  4. "Engineering the Pyramids" by Dick Parry

Books on Modern Applications of Ancient Egyptian Wisdom

  1. "The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying: The Enlightened Way of the Pharaohs" by Joann Fletcher
  2. "The Way of the Egyptian Mystics: Ancient Egyptian Mystical Traditions for Modern Seekers" by Muata Ashby
  3. "The Power of Ancient Symbols: How to Use Sacred Symbols to Connect with the Universe, Activate Your Inner Wisdom, and Manifest Your Desires" by Egyptologist Tamara L. Siuda
  4. "The Egyptian Tarot" by Clive Barrett