Ancient Egypt: A beginner's guide
Everyday life
Websites
Living in ancient Egypt
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/
aes/galleries/understand5.html
An examination of some of the articles in the British Museum's collection,
divided into four sections: the landscape, household and entertainment,
beauty and jewellery, approaching the gods.
The Fabric of Everyday Life: Historic textiles from Karanis, Egypt
www.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/galleries/Exhibits/
textiles/index.html
'The enduring importance of fabric in our everyday lives – for clothing,
furnishings, symbolic communication, and commerce – is underscored by
the study of historic cloth.' A website based on an exhibit in 2001 at
the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, part of the University of Michigan.
Books
Pharaoh's People: Scenes from life in imperial Egypt by T G H
James (Tauris Parke, 2002) £11.99
Examines the daily working lives of Egyptians low down on the social scale:
bureaucrats, scribes, craftsmen and workers of the land. What sort of
houses did they live in and how were they furnished? How was justice administered?
How were public records kept? And how was business conducted in a thriving
economy largely based on barter?
Growing Up in Ancient Egypt by Rosalind M and Jac J Janssen (Rubicon
Press, 1996). Out of print; may be available from second-hand bookshops.
Deals with such things as childbirth, toys, games, circumcision and education,
with special attention paid to royal infants and their playmates. Concluding
chapters deal with juveniles in Egyptian art and children in relation
to their parents and to society at large.
Getting Old in Ancient Egypt by Rosalind M and Jac J Janssen (Rubicon
Press, 1996). Out of print; may be available from second-hand bookshops.
Covers such things as the aged in art, mummies and medicine, the real
and the ideal lifetime, care of the elderly, and old-age pensions.
Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry lists and love songs by
A G McDowell (Clarendon Press, 2001). Out of print; may be available from
second-hand bookshops.
Deir el-Medina, the village of the workmen who built the royal tombs in
the Valley of the Kings, has bequeathed to us thousands of private records.
This book presents translations of 200 of these, giving an insight into
the secret lives of ancient Egyptian people.
Transport in Ancient Egypt by Robert B Partridge (Rubicon Press,
1996). US edition only; may be available from online bookshops.
Examining all aspects of transport in ancient Egypt, on both land and
water, this book shows how, without the Nile, Egypt would have been no
more than a desert. The river was far more than just a source of water;
it was the main highway through the country, a feature quickly to be exploited
to the full by the ancient Egyptians.
Egyptian Food and Drink by Hilary Wilson (Shire, 1988) £4.99
In this concise book, the two staples of ancient Egyptian life – bread
and beer – are studied, along with other important items in that society's
diet: cereals, meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, fruits and condiments. Cooking
methods are discussed, and the kitchen, its tools and utensils are explained,
based on available archaeological evidence.
Sex and Society in Graeco-Roman Egypt by Dominic Montserrat (Kegan
Paul International, 1996). Out of print; may be available at second-hand
bookshops.
A study of sex in ancient Egypt drawing on documents that include magic
spells and judicial accounts of sex crimes. It also deals with the sexual
practices of individuals and the ways in which sexual activity was woven
into the fabric of social and communal life.
Wit and Humour in Ancient Egypt by Patrick F Houlihan (Rubicon
Press, 2002). US edition only; may be available from online bookshops.
Just like people the world over, the ancient Egyptians delighted in a
good laugh. Artisans introduced touches of comic relief into tomb decoration,
and the Egyptians' humorous side is also apparent from drawings on numerous
limestone ostraca and several papyri, many featuring the amusing antics
of various birds and beasts, often engaged in human activities.
The Animal World of the Pharaohs by Patrick F Houlihan (Thames
& Hudson, 1997). Out of print; may be available from second-hand bookshops.
This book examines all aspects of the relationship between the Egyptians
and animals in art and hieroglyphs. It draws not only on the extremely
rich pictorial record, but also on evidence from textual references, mummified
animals, food offerings placed in burials and bone remains recovered from
settlement sites.
