Divine and royal headdresses and crowns
One of the most astonishing facts about Egypt is how little everyday life changed over the millennia. The rhythm of Egyptian life was the rhythm of the Nile until a few years ago, when the Aswan dam was erected. Even today one can find the ancient shadoof, oxen pulling ploughs and houses made of mud bricks.
Means of transportation: Walking, ferries, litters, chariots, beasts of burden, ships and boats.
Personal Hygiene and Cosmetics: Cosmetics, perfumes, washing, hair, manicure.
Miningof metals, precious stones, natron etc.
Childhood: Origin – Birth – The Toddler – Education – Coming of Age – Death of a Child
Ive tried to be as accurate as possible. Should you find facts which are incorrect, pleaselet me know. Thank you.
[ ] Source of the three 20th century photographs (reaper, potter, winnowers):University of Washington website
Contemporary plan of the tomb of Ramses IV
Dyeing fabrics and other materials.
Glass production: The material, uses and technologies
Diodorus Siculus on the Egyptian judicial system
Animal products: Leather, fur, eggshells, bone, ivory
Social relationships and institutions
The Country and its people: geography, population, flora, and fauna
Slavery: The Enslavement – The Slave Population – The Price of a Slave – The Treatment of Slaves – Runaways – The Setting-free – The Status of Women and Foreigners
Architectural elementsFoundations, arches, pillars, obelisks, stairs
Ships and Boats: The archaeological evidence, the state involvement, ship construction, navigation, constructions facilitating navigation.
Theadministration: The court, the civil adminstration, the military, foreign relations, the temples, regional governments, the vice-royalty of Nubia.
Diodorus Siculus on mining in ancient Egypt
ABestiaryAnimals divine, wild, domestic and imaginary
Humour: What the ancient Egyptians laughed at
Old Kingdom market scene: Egyptian merchants in the Old Kingdom
Vermin: Insects – Birds -Rodents – Remedies
Masters and Workers: Labour relations in ancient Egypt
The funerary cortge and the opening of the mouth ceremony, Ptolemaic period
Transliteration and pronunciation of ancient Egyptian
The gods are gone, so are the pharaohs, the language and the writing. The cities look European in a ramshackle sort of way, transportation is partly 20th century, theres some industry, and radio and television are everywhere. But villages in the farther off corners of the country must still look very much like those of thousands of years ago.
Foreign correspondence: the Amarna letters
Contracts and other legal documents
Medical Care: The healers, the diseases, herbal medicine, pregancy and childbirth, surgery, prosthetics, dentistry, historical perspective.
Walls and ramparts:Private dwellings, palaces, city walls.
Diodorus Siculus on Egyptian medicine
The Social Classes in Ancient Egypt: The nobility, the intelligentsia, labour, the outcast, the military, the priesthood, social stability
The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium
Building in stone:The tools, the stone, the masons craft
Cities and citizens:The cities and their gods – National and regional centres – The citizens – Citizens of the army
Play and games: Childrens games, toys, board games.
Games found at Ballas by W.M.Flinders Petrie
Mummification: the embalmers and their art
Journeys of exploration: Henenus exploration of the Red Sea, journeys to Punt under Hatshepsut, the circumnavigation of Africa
Public ceremonies: Processions, festivals
The Chariot: History, design and use
Overseas trade: Trade routes, goods, traders
Horticulture- Gardens and gardeners.
Minnesota State Universitys eMuseum: Daily life in ancient Egypt
The four kas: Human happiness as gift of the gods
Composition and development of tools
The Religion of the People: Worship in the Temples – Personal Piety
The fourteen kaswith which Re and the pharaos protected the people of Egypt
Man and Woman: The Family – Husband and Wife – Property – Infidelity – Marital Violence – Death – Divorce
The economy: Population, sources of wealth, duties imposed and beneficiaries of the system.
Town planning: Location, city quarters, residential areas, temple districts
I mostly chose topics not widely dealt with on the web. For the time being I do not include anything about pyramids or royal tombs for instance, as plenty of material can be found on these subjects.
Hat-hetep-Senusret (Kahun), map of a planned city
Some of the articles on the Touregypt site are blatant and systematic plagiarisms and no references are given, with the full knowledge of the sites editor
Thegeographyof Egypt through the eyes of Herodotus
Master Index of Articles and Essays on Egypt (Touregypt site)
Procreation: Fertility, family planning, pregnancy, childbirth
Sea-going vessels- warships and merchant men
ABotanical: Plants wild and domesticated
The Weapons: (Clubs, maces,axes, swords, spears,bow and arrow, slingshot,shields, helmets and body armour)
Body and soul: Explanations of the terms associated with the Egyptian view of self
River shipping: Fishing boats, transportation barges, pleasure boats
Friendship: The Teachings – Literary Friendships – Real-life Friendships – The Pharaohs – The Gods
Funerary objects: Amulets, Canopic jars, censers, coffins, funerary cones, funerary masks, hypocephali, models, mummy labels, the nemset vessel, the netjeri blade, offering tables, Osiris beds, papyrus scrolls, the pesesh-kaf, reserve heads, statues, stelae, ushabtis
Personal adornment:Jewellery, body painting, tattoos.
Law enforcement: The police, the criminals and their crimes, the laws, the courts, the punishments
Making beer, much less widespread in Egypt today than it was in ancient times
The priests of Amen and the Theban Kings
Flax- The crop and the production of linen.
Farmed and domesticated animals- Farm animals and pets.
The vizierate: Historic development, rules of conduct, duties
The Egyptians and their Dead: Life after Death – Ancestor Worship – The Dead and the Living – Remembering the Dead
Building in ancient Egypt:Planning, ceremonies, materials, tools.
W.M. Flinders Petrie: The weather in ancient Egypt
Mummification: the embalmers and their art
Marriage as a tool of foreign politics during the New Kingdom
Conviviality: Carousings and Banquets
Desertion and revolt of a discontented army
Metals: sources, technologies, uses
Duties: Taxation, forced labour, military service
These are just suggestions for further reading. I do not assume any responsibility for the availability or content of these websites.
Landed property: types of land, ownership, conveyance, leasing
The people: Composition, numbers, language
– the New Kingdom elite training centre
Agriculture and horticulture- The role of the Nile, irrigation, the crops.
Index of the Petrie Museum website (University College London)
Stone vessels: The stone, the craftsmen, the tools, the vessels
Genderin the economy, literature and art
Descriptions generally refer to the period of the New Kingdom.
Domestic trade: Barter, the exchange of gifts, abstract equivalence values, credit, market places, the merchants.
Early ship construction: Khufus boat
Might and right in international relations
Stone: Quarrying, transporting and working stone
Pliny on Nitre, its production and uses
Economy, crafts, raw materials, trade, transportation and travel
The declarations of innocence: the Negative Confessions
Heka, the Magic of Ancient Egypt: Acquiring Magical Powers – The Practitioners of Magic – Practical Purposes – The Practice of Magic