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Frontispiece of a house
toward the street,
second Theban period |
As in our current society, the size and appearance of an Egyptian house reckoned on the family's wealth and the placement of the building. A typical non professional's home in a city would have a small court facing a close street with a hardly a rooms at the back; It had windows come out high in the walls and reported with wicket work to exclude heat and the sun's glare. Steps at the rear of the house led up to a flat roof, where the
family often slept to enjoy the picnics blowing off the desert. Houses were constructed of dried mud bricks. Although these bricks were inexpensive and enabled fast building, they were not extended over a long period of time.
Egyptian bases had kitchens, and most kitchens were fit with cylindrical, baked clay range for preparing. The basic cooking equipment was a two hands pottery saucepan.
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Ancient house with vaulted
floors, against the northern
wall of the great
temple of Medinet Habu |
The few furnishings in the ancient Egyptian home were easy in design, although the craftsmanship varied. The most common set up of piece of furniture was a low stool, used by all Egyptians admitting the pharaoh. These were made from wood, had leather or braided rush places, and had three or four legs. Usually the three-legged make was used for work because floors were shifting. They used tables, which were often low, for eating and good.
The Egyptian bed had a wooden shape with legs often shaped like the legs of animals; a woven rush mat served as "springs." At one end of the bed was a foot-board; at the different end, a wooden or stone headrest, which was equal to our rest.
Lamps were old to light the house after dark. They were, for the most part, simple pottery or stone bowls containing oil and a taper. The ancient Egyptians did not have closets as we have in modern houses. They practiced wooden boxfuls or baskets to store their home goods. Their
food was laid in in wheel-made pottery.
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