The next day, we learned about Egypt's key features. You would fine it stunning that Egypt invented and created many things you, if not, others use in present day. Egypt made some great technological advances that helped the world become more advanced. Some of the key features we will be visiting and exploring hieroglyphics, medical tools, ox-drawn plows and many others. Let's look at Egypt's great inventions
Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics are the way that Egypt could preserve important information in writing and reading. Egyptians used these by writing, using over 1000 glyphs, including 400 Egyptian word examples and over 500 hieroglyphs from the Gardiner list (Source- Egyptian Hieroglyphic Alphabet) Hieroglyphics allowed Egyptians to communicate without talking as well. Egyptians used papyrus, a paper like object made from the papyrus plant, to write on with a reed brush dipped in black ink. Only scribes could read and write with hieroglyphics.
Medical Tools
Egyptian Medical Technology was advanced Egyptian’s commonly used natural resources to make medicines for their treatments and medicines. Egyptians commonly needed these medicines because of the reason that disease was rather common natural in ancient Egypt. Writer873 from the article Egyptian Medical Treatments: Natural Remedies Used in Ancient Egyptian states that “. There were many skin afflictions, such as parasites, that occurred as a result of contact with the Nile waters. Worms and tuberculosis were also common, and were transmitted from their cattle. And pneumonia was a fairly common occurrence, resulting from taking excessive amounts of sand into the lungs.” So this proves that medicines were needed because of the Nile and were very important. Also, embalming mummies helped form better treatments because when the organs were removed, Egyptians were able to observe the organs and learn more about the human body.
Mint and Toothpaste
Believe it or not, toothpaste and breath mints were first invented by Egyptians. Ancient Egyptians invented these things not because they drank sugary drinks and got cavities, but because their bread had grit and sand in it because of the stones they used to grind flour for the bread, and it would wear out tooth enamel to expose the pulp of the tooth, making it vulnerable to infection. Thought Egyptians had many specialists for medical problems, they did not have dentists or oral surgeons. So they suffered with unpleasant odors from rotting mouths. To solve this problem, Egyptians invented the first mints. Their mints included a combination of frankincense, an aromatic gum resin obtained from an African tree and burned as incense, myrrh, an aromatic resinous exudation from certain plants of the genus, and cinnamon boiled with honey and shaped into pellets (Source- dictionary.com). They also invented toothpaste for the same reason and made toothbrushes, which were the ends of wooden twigs with frayed twigs. They made toothpaste with powder from ox hooves, ashes, burnt eggshell and pumice. Scientists found these recipes from Egyptians along with “How-to” instructions for "How-to-Brush.”
Farming Plows
About 4000 B.C. - The plow is invented. This tool that has been around for 100’s of years, has been proven ineffective. Egyptians used plow dig deep into the ground. But this did revolutionize farming in Egypt and made farming there easier than any other society today. In made the Egyptians to continue making big advancements in agriculture. This tool has been proven ineffective. This is because these instruments were light so they were known as “scratch plows” since they weren't able to dig deep into the ground. Plus, the plows would run on nothing but elbow grease. In 2000 B.C. it all changed. Earlier Egyptians would design the plow to attach to the horns of a cattle. In return this would interfere with the animal’s capability to breathe. So, instead the changed it to put the plow on the oxen. This revolutionized farming in ancient Egypt along with the Nile River.
Door Locks
Do you agree with this statement- "Your privacy is important"? Well, Egyptians would agree with this statement. They invented door locks. Door locks were created in 4000 B.C. Basically the lock was a pin-tumbler lock. This was where there was a hollowed out bolt inside the door was connected to pins. Then the pins would change when a key was inserted. The key would push upwards on the key being inserted and then they would slip away from the bolt shaft, allowing it to be withdrawn. The size of this would be to the maximum of 2 feet in length. This method of locks was much safer and secure than a different technology later developed by the Romans, which was designed with a spring rather than a bolt to hold the door stationary.
Beards and Hair
Did you know that Egyptians were the one of the first societies to be concerned about hair? Egyptians considered hair “unhygienic” Patrick J. Kiger and Jonathon Atteberry states. The Egyptians cut hair and shaved their entire body regularly for this reason. They invented the first shaving implements such as a set of sharp sAtone blades with wooden handles (Source- Kiger). In addition to this they invented the barbering profession. Although Egypt disliked hair greatly, they made fake beards with a sundry amount of sizes and shapes to depict the different social classes. The ordinary citizens wore small, false beards that were about two inches long. Kings wore extravagant, long beard, shaped to be squared at the bottom. Gods had even more luxurious beards which were turned at the tip (Source- ANCINETECH).
Ancient Egypt Bowling
The first bowling alley, just outside of Narmoutheos is open! The first bowling alley was right in Ancient Egypt, popular for families and kids of all ages. But there bowling was different from ours now. Here are the rules: you aim for a hole at the end of the 13 feet long and eight inch wide lane, and roll the heavy stone balls of various sizes and hope to get your ball in the hole (Source- ANCIENTECH). But, to make it a challenge, your opponents will stand on opposite sides of the lane and roll balls in the bath of your ball and try to hit your ball of course (Source- Kiger). I think that this was almost like a combination of basketball and bowling in our time. I think they changed it to knock down 12 pins to make it not as challenging.
Egyptian Daily LifeEgyptian Daily Life was based on your job and societal occupation. The top of the social structure was the Pharaoh. This important role was passed on mostly from son to son and the Pharaoh would rule Egypt during their reign. One step lower were the government officials which included vizier, priest, and the noble. The vizier was second in command to the pharaoh. Priests were in charge of all the religious acts like embalming a mummy.
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Nobles were often related to the priests, doctors, etc. and most of the nobles were to oversees the lands worked by slaves and peasants. Next were the soldiers that protected Egypt. Five from the top were the merchants. Merchants were in the middle class and they had a schedule for traveling trading and selling goods. Craftsmen are next, with creating sculptures, goldsmiths, and more all year round. Peasants worked on crops as farmers and Servants were mostly prisoners of wars. If you were a women in Ancient Egypt, you were considered a second class citizen. But, women were able to do more than most ancient society's such as they were able to buy and sell land.
What and Who were Egyptian Scribes?
Egyptian scribe are the only Egyptians who were able to read and write. They wrote things like how much food was produced at a harvest or how many people were in an army. They wrote a combination of pictures and sound symbols and they created an arduous way of writing. These was called hieroglyphics. Scribes used papyrus and reed pens dipped in black ink. Becoming a scribe is not easy. You have to attend a special school for four to five years that teaches you to read and write hieroglyphs. Usually to become a scribe you would be the child of a scribe.
Advancements in Ancient Egypt Medical Technology
Doctors from places in the ancient world were never understood how people got diseases or how to sure them. But the ancient Egyptian doctor had a unique belief of why people got sick. Their method was that evil spirits would go into the body or send poisons to your body to make sure you got sick. To cure this and make the evil spirit go away, the Egyptians believed you had to eat or drink something that was very nasty-smelling. Professor K.E. Carr from Portland Sate University states " They hoped the evil spirit wouldn't like the smell and would leave your body. Of the doctors tried to clean your insides out to get rid of the poison, by giving laxatives or bleeding you." So that was a big step of believing in that method in ancient Egypt's medical technology.
Egyptian Society
The Egyptian Society was organized from most powerful to less powerful. At the top, there is the Pharaoh, who was the ruler of Egypt, so he was the most powerful. At the bottom, there were slaves and servants, who were not powerful and had to work for households of more wealthy families. So, as you can see the most powerful of Egypt was at the top and the least powerful were ta the bottom.
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My Choice
If I could be anyone in ancient Egypt, I would choose to be a scribe for various reasons. Scribes are not at the top of the social structure, but were respected because there are few of us and are very knowledgeable. Scribes were the only people that were able to read and write with hieroglyphs, a hard was of writing that Egyptians used. They would write about important things such as the seasons harvest and other important things. This job is hard not only because it was hard to learn and took four to five years of special schooling, but because of the value of papyrus. It was expensive, and not easy to make, so you would have to compromise on what you would write on. Many people would use ostraca, which are flakes of limestone to practice on. Finally, I would choose to be a scribe because not everyone could be a scribe, so you would be special and scribes are highly needed. Those are the reasons why I would choose to become a scribe in ancient Egypt.
From the book "Voices of Ancient Egypt" by Kay Winters, it says on page 5, titled "The Scribe",
"I unlock secrets in ancient scrolls,
weave wisdom from times gone by.
In kilt of white, I measure the Nile,
count the cattle, register the harvest.
No taxes on my goods!
Because of me, voices of the village come alive.
Hear my people speak.
With reed brush and cake of ink
I record our days."
This book says that "Because of me, voices of the villages come alive," and With reed brush and cake of ink, I record our days" This proves that scribes make the village come alive and are important because they keep the memories and keep the history of ancient Egypt.
From the book "Voices of Ancient Egypt" by Kay Winters, it says on page 5, titled "The Scribe",
"I unlock secrets in ancient scrolls,
weave wisdom from times gone by.
In kilt of white, I measure the Nile,
count the cattle, register the harvest.
No taxes on my goods!
Because of me, voices of the village come alive.
Hear my people speak.
With reed brush and cake of ink
I record our days."
This book says that "Because of me, voices of the villages come alive," and With reed brush and cake of ink, I record our days" This proves that scribes make the village come alive and are important because they keep the memories and keep the history of ancient Egypt.