Leisure Activities in Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians taken their leisure time with many pleasant natural processes. They loved good food, drink, music, singing, and dancing. The upper class watched professed dancers at formal banquets. A number of musical instruments accompanied the dancers. The flute, oboe, trumpet, and an cat's-paw resembling a clarinet were the nearly common wind official documents; stringed instruments included various types of harps, lutings, and lyres; and tambourines and thumps were the normal percussion section instruments. In rituals, sistra and glossas were used. Other leisure activenesses included hunting, fowling, and fishing for sport. Hunters practiced a bow and arrow for most game--ibex, gazelle, wild cattle, ostriches, and hares. Fowling and fishing took place in marshlands. For fowling, Egyptians used a hold stick that acted like a boomerang, fair the bird and bumping it out of the sky. For fishing a long, double-barbed lance was used.

The ancient Egyptians enjoyed pets. The dog was the nearly common. Cats as well went popular. The wealthy sometimes had monkeys or baboons.

Members of literate homes (5 percent at about) enjoyed reading. In the gentle of their homes, the ancient Egyptians played a number of card games, the most favorite being senet. Ancient Egyptian children had games and entertainments corresponding to those of Egyptian children today. A number of clean toys like balls and dolls have been seen in tombs. Many details of the Egyptians' daily lives still remain hidden. As archaeologists break more tomb paintings and uncover extra artifacts from burial sites and towns, our noesis of their taking culture increments.

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The Home in Ancient Egypt

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.

Two plans of houses, Medinet Habu
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.

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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Dress in Ancient Egypt

The clothing of women and
men of several social
classes
The dress of the ancient Egyptians consisted not only of the clothes they bore but also of the certain costume jewelry that didst to adorn the usually plain clothes. White linen was most commonly used for clothing though wool was used quite ofttimes. Garments were covered around the body rather than tailored, and tailoring was kept to a minimum. Colored or patterned cloth was seldom used. Prior to the New Kingdom the base dress for men was a kilt, which fell just above the knee. It was made from a rectangular piece of linen covered around the body and tied at the shank with a knot or fastened with a buckle. In the New Kingdom men usually wore a short under kilt over which attended a long, heavily ruffled skirt that was knotted at the hips with a adorned sash. Besides worn was a short, wide cape dealing the upper part of the body and hanging from the shoulders.

Egyptian woman with
a sticky dress with
straps
Anticipatory to the New Kingdom, women wore simple sheath clothes coming from the breast to just above the ankle, but in the New Kingdom dresses became much more elegant. The sheath dress was dead, but only as an undergarment. A heavily pleated decorated robe was worn on top.

Children and those concerned in rigorous exercise frequently wore no clothes at totally. Both boys' and girls' heads were commonly shaved exclude for a long, braided side lock. Although the Egyptians spent much of their time barefoot, both men and women sometimes wore sandals made from papyrus, palm leaves, or leather tied by leather thongs. The basic sandal had a thong that passed between the first and second toenails and related to a bar that went crossways the instep. Sandals were always taken in the presence of a superior. An integral part of the Egyptian costume was a wig or a hairpiece attached to the natural hair. Because of the intense heat, many Egyptians shaved their heads or cut their hair very brief, although some kept their hair very long and intricately coiffed.

Any men and women worn jewelry such as earrings, bracelets, anklet, rings, and beaded necklaces. They agreed into their jewelry many minerals letting in amethyst, garnet, jasper, onyx, aquamarine, and lapis lazuli, likewise as copper, gold, and shells. Because the Egyptians were very nonrational, frequently their jewelry dominated amulets.

Cosmetics were not only an serious part of Egyptian dress but likewise a matter of personal hygienics and health. Many items related to cosmetics have been found in tombs and are illustrated in tomb pictures. Oils and creams were of vital grandness against the hot Egyptian sun and dry winds. Eye paint, both green and black, is probably the most typical of the Egyptian cosmetics. The green paint was malachite, an oxide of copper. The black paint, named kohl, was a sulfate of lead and, in the late Middle and New Kingdoms, was soot. Kohl was commonly kept in a small pot that had a flat bottom, wide rim, tiny mouth, and a flat, disk-shaped lid. Many kohl pots have been found in Egyptian tombs. To color their cheeks, the Egyptians used red green mixed with a base of fat or gum resin; ocher may have also been used as lipstick. Henna, a reddish-brown dye, was surely used to color hair and perhaps also the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and nails.


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Family in Ancient Egypt

An ancient Egyptian family
The center family was the great social unit of ancient Egypt. The father was responsible for the economic better being of the family. Upper-class men often became scriveners or priests, while lower-class men often were farmers, hunters, potters, or other craftsmen. The mother managed the household, accepting servants, and cared for the breeding of the children. Upper-class

Children stuck at home until they reached marriageable age (about twenty years for males, younger of the previous for females). Although Egyptian youngsters had toys and are occasionally represented at play, much of their time was spent setting for adulthood. For example, peasant children gone with their parents into the fields; the male offspring of crafters often served as apprentices to their fathers. Many privileged children received formal education to become a scribe. Priests in temples taught some calling youngsters, and children of the nobility sometimes received private statement from tutors or taken to be an officer in the ground forces.

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